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Government
unlikely to clear the Sharjah tourney
New
Delhi, March 22: The
government is unlikely to clear India's participation in the three-nation
Coca Cola Cup at Sharjah in April this year. India along with Pakistan and
Sri Lanka are scheduled to compete in the seven-match tournament from 8 to
19 April.
According
to sources, India's withdrawal from the three-nation tournament is a mere
announcement away. The government has indicated this in meetings with the
President of International Cricket Council, Mr. Malcom Gray, and
representatives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
While
the government on the other hand has expressed its support in principle for
hosting of the ICC Knockout tournament in India next year. Initially, the
BCCI had rejected this offer of ICC citing rigid taxation laws in India,
which require deduction of withholding tax on any revenue generated from
India. Since all sponsorship and television revenues from the Knockout
tournament go to the ICC the BCCI felt that withholding tax would lead to a
problem.
The
meeting of the ICC and the BCCI chief with the sports and finance minister
seem to have elicited support from the government to favorably tackle this
issue.
Traditionally,
the ICC Knockout tournaments have been staged at non-regular centers as part
of former ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya's globalisation plans. But Mr. Gray
feels that such big events must only go to major centers like India.
The
sports minister Uma Bharti and the finance minister Mr. Yashwant Sinha
assured Mr. Gray of the government’s cooperation if the event came to
India. The finance minister informed Mr. Gray that his ministry would
examine the possibility of waving the tax requirement.
Dr.
Muthiah also informed the ministers that the BCCI gets fifty percent of the
gate receipts and this would be a big source of income for the various
centres. The ICC bears all staging costs for the Knockout tournament.
On
the issue of participation of India in Sharjah tournaments, the government
is quite skeptical due to the recent months allegations of underworld and
ISI links have tarnished the reputation of the Sharjah tournaments. The
government wants to investigate this matter before it clears any tours to
this destination. Sports ministry sources indicate that the BCCI would not
allow sending a team to Sharjah as the issue was not about sporting contacts
with Pakistan but about the venue itself.
The
home minister, Mr. L K Advani has expressed a similar viewpoint to Mr. Gray
and BCCI representatives, Mr. Raj Singh Dungarpur and Mr. Shukla when they
called up on him on Thursday.
The
home minister informed the delegation that a decision on Sharjah is still
being processed and Thursday's meeting should be confined only to the ICC
Knockout tournament.
The
home minister further assured the ICC chief that there would be no problem
with Pakistan's participation in the tournament.
Geoff
Allott finally gives in to injury; announces his retirement from game
Auckland,
March 23: Allott's
retirement has resulted from a stress fracture to his lower back, which has
refused to heal sufficiently for him to continue bowling. He has had a
history of lower back stress fractures over the past five years. He was
forced to entirely rebuild his bowling action in 1998 so that he was
delivering more front-on and therefore putting less pressure on his back.
He
fought his way back to fitness for a second time for the tour to Zimbabwe
and South Africa late last year. His workload was managed through both of
those one-day series but on his return to New Zealand he was again diagnosed
with a stress fracture to the lower back. It was the sixth of his career.
"No
player has worked harder to fight his way back to fitness than Geoff Allott,"
said New Zealand Cricket chief executive Christopher Doig. "He has
always been 100 percent committed to New Zealand cricket and to his career
and it is a testament to his courage and determination that he has played as
long as he has and achieved significant success."
"Geoff
Allott was a talented bowler," said New Zealand convenor of selectors
and former fast-bowling great Sir Richard Hadlee. "He was particularly
dangerous in the one-day game. Being a left-armer gave him an advantage and
he had an ability to move the ball away and across the right handed batsman,
which he did with devastating effect in the World Cup taking 20 wickets. He
was an asset with the new ball and also later in the innings when he had an
ability to reverse swing the ball and take wickets."
It
was indicative of the injury problems which dogged him that, over his
seven-year career, Allott played in only ten Tests and 31 one day
internationals, but his talent was plain during the 1999 World Cup in
England, when he was the tournament's leading wicket-taker, with 20 victims
at an average of 16.25. English conditions suited his action perfectly and
his performance was one of the main reasons behind the Black Caps' push to
the semi-finals. Australia's Shane Warne tied for the crown, having played
one game more.
In
the limited overs game, he took 52 ODI wickets at an average of 23.21: in
the Test arena, just 19 wickets at 58.47, six stress fractures to his back
preventing him from being anything but an occasional player. Even in the
first class arena, he played just 31 matches, taking 102 wickets at 30.36.
Allott
debuted for Canterbury as a 23-year-old medium-fast strike bowler in 1994/95
and, after only two games for Canterbury and two games for a New Zealand
Selection XI, he made his debut in the first Test against Zimbabwe in
January 1996. His final Test was New Zealand's historic first-ever victory
over England at Lord's in July 1999. In the deciding final innings he took a
crucial 3-36. New Zealand went on to win the series 2-1.
Allott's
name will likely remain in the record books for some time to come but, even
though he was the archetypal tailender, it was for his contribution with bat
rather than ball. In the drawn first Test between New Zealand and South
Africa at Eden Park in March 1999, Allott batted for 101 minutes without
scoring, passing the 97-minute record of England's Godfrey Evans. He was
eventually caught out for nought but, for an hour and a half, he had
successfully fed the strike to his partner Chris Harris, who ended on 68 not
out. Harris had batted for five hours and along with Allott, the pair
effectively denied South Africa the likelihood of winning. When he was out,
Allott held his bat aloft and acknowledged the applause of the crowd, much
akin to a batsman reaching his century.
Jadeja
and Aditi Jaitely to wed on March 30
By
a special corrospondent in New Delhi
New
Delhi, March 21:
Banned cricketer but a Former cricket star Ajay Jadeja will marry the
daughter of former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly, Aditi, on March 30.
According
to sources, the marriage ceremony will be solemnized at the residence of
former defence minister George Fernandes' residence at 3 Krishna Menon Marg.
Veteran
umpire Ramaswamy blames media for distorting their image
Islamabad,
March 21: Veteran cricket umpire, V K Ramaswamy has blamed the media for
distorting the image of the sub-continent's umpires at the international
level.
"It
is wrong to assume that there was something lacking in the sub-continent
umpires. They are among the best in the world," he said in an
interview.
Blaming
the media for playing spoil sport, he said the umpires in the sub-continent
supervised matches under the most demanding conditions. They make an all out
effort to give their best under these tiring conditions, he said adding that
no umpire willingly made a mistake as it affected his future.
Ramaswamy
who has officiated 26 Test matches is in Pakistan to conduct the advance
course for umpiring being organised by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
Ramaswamy,
who made his debut in 1984, also blamed the respective boards for not
properly backing the umpires.
"It
is the duty of the boards to fight for the cause of their umpires at
international level," he said.
He
said the concept of third umpire has no way diminished the importance of the
umpires on the field. He also rejected the idea that the third umpire should
be called to decide on the appeals relating to bat and pad catches.
"If
you cannot give a batsman out if you have any doubt and the benefit of the
doubt should go in favour and that is the beauty of the game," he
said.
Video
to aid umpires understand complex rulebooks
London,
March 21: The Britain's
Association of Cricket Umpires and Scorers, together with cricket law maker
MCC and the England and Wales Cricket Board has produced a new training
video, 'The Laws of Cricket - 2000 Code', which aims to aid umpires in their
understanding and application of the sport's complex rulebook.
The
officials took this first step in responding to concerns about declining
standards of umpiring.
The
video, shot in Barbados, features West Indies great Garfield Sobers.
"Since
I stopped playing the game has changed. It's very noticeable the appealing
of players, even to people who haven't played the game," the legendary
all-rounder said.
"They
are continuously appealing, almost trying to scare the umpires."
English
Test umpire John Holder, who was born in Barbados, also features in the
video.
"When
I first thought about becoming an umpire I went on an ACUS course. The
scales fell from my eyes. I played for 24 years and I was amazed at how
little I knew," Holder said.
Greater
use of TV replays has been suggested as a way to improve decision making but
Holder insisted they were "not doing the game any good at all and
sometimes they are not even conclusive."
The
key, he believes, to successful umpiring at first-class level is to
"gain the respect of the players".
That
respect appeared to be severely lacking on occasions from players on all
sides during England's tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, although the umpires
did not always help themselves.
"There
were a couple of decisions that were given to balls pitching outside
leg-stump, of batsmen being given out lbw. To me that's a 'never
never'," said Holder.
"What
disappointed me about the first Test in Sri Lanka was the speed with which
decisions were made.
"As
an umpire you should never give the impression of being trigger-happy. Even
if it's plumb lbw, you always replay it in your mind quickly and give it in
your own time," he explained.
"I'm
doing a Test match here (at Lord's) against Australia in July and I
certainly hope my partner and I do far better than that." He added.
The
major change in updated 2000 code is that umpires can now award penalty runs
against either the batting or fielding sides for various offences such as
"batsman wasting time" or "deliberately obstructing the
striker".
However,
penalty runs will have no place in Test matches because world governing body
the International Cricket Council has opted out.
ICC
claim that as the players can be fined and/or suspended by match referees,
penalty runs make cricketers subject to unfair 'double jeopardy'.
ACUS
chairman Barrie Stuart-King is not impressed. "The weakness of referees
has contributed very considerably to the problem.
"The
idea of suspended sentences and don't you do that again or I'll slap your
wrist doesn't help.
"If
you said to a player 'you are suspended for two matches,' this would have a
greater effect than saying 'this is a warning', 'this is a serious warning'
and 'this is an even more serious warning'."
At
present there is no standardised method for training umpires. Stuart-King
would like to see a global grading system introduced and an international
umpires association created to monitor standards.
"A
grade system would address a lot of the problems we have at the moment. An
umpire could go up as well as down and this would help keep standards
high."
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