Retired cricketer Warne denies romance with Jemima Khan

SYDNEY (AFP) – It was the story the cricketing world found too good to be true — retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was romancing the Jemima Khan, the former wife of Pakistan cricket legend Imran Khan.

And it was just that.

In a front page story on the cover of Woman’s Day magazine, Khan was named as the “other woman” in Warne’s life and the cause of the latest split from his ex-wife Simone Callahan.

But Warne, embroiled in a messy public tit-for-tat exchange with Callahan over alleged infidelities, Wednesday dismissed the story as nonsense, saying he was “just friends” with the glamourous Khan.

“There’s absolutely no truth in that one whatsoever,” he said in Melbourne.

“We’re good friends, friends with the family and that’s it. Hopefully that all clears it up with you guys.”

Warne retired from international cricket this year and moved to England where he attempted to reconcile with Callahan, whom he divorced in 2005.

But the pair now say they have parted for good, with Callahan recently claiming in a paid magazine interview that the relationship ended after Warne accidentally sent her a cheeky text message intended for another woman.

Warne has denied her account but Wednesday said he would not engage in a public feud with the mother of his three children.

“I’m not going to start a tennis match with Simone, backwards and forwards,” he said. “Simone knows the truth, that’s the end of that one.”

Sri Lankan players cleared for IPL

The Sri Lankan cricket authorities on Wednesday cleared seven of its eight players to play in the BCCI backed multi-million Indian Premier League (IPL) scheduled to begin from April 2008.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene and spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan are among the players to sign up to play in the inaugural season of the IPL.

“We have approved the names of seven players to play for IPL and the eighth player Nuwan Zoysa does not have a contract with us though his name will also be cleared for playing in the league,” secretary of Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) K Mathivanan said.

Despite announcement of the Lankan players signing up for the IPL on Monday , the SLC sources had earlier maintained silence on the issue.

The sources had merely said that only the Sri Lankan cricket board could make any announcement regarding their national cricketers who had a contract with the SLC.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had recently launched the IPL, which will be played in the globally popular Twenty20 format and  will operate in direct competition with the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).

McGrath set for another Sydney farewell

October 3, 2007

Glenn McGrath might wear New South Wales colours one more time © Getty Images

Glenn McGrath could make one last appearance in a Twenty20 match for New South Wales this season. The Age reported that the Blues were talking to McGrath about playing Queensland at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium on January 8.

That would give McGrath a final chance to farewell his home state before he becomes available for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition. As part of the IPL and Champions League concept, McGrath could potentially be recruited by a domestic side from another country to play against the best Australian Twenty20 teams, even if that means lining up against New South Wales.

Dave Gilbert, the chief executive of Cricket New South Wales, said Australian states would struggle to do the same and lure an international star like Kevin Pietersen. “You never say never, but with the commercial opportunities available to those guys these days, they don’t get out of bed for less than probably £100,000, so it’s going to be very difficult to lure them here,” Gilbert said.

The rapidly evolving league creates an interesting challenge for state sides who will undoubtedly take the domestic Twenty20 tournament more seriously this season. “A lot has changed in the last couple of weeks,” Gilbert said.

“Now it’s on the world stage, and if you finish in the top two, you’re guaranteed $250,000 for participating in the Champions League and potentially $2 million. It’s extraordinary, when you’ve got a Pura Cup where the winning team gets $100,000.

“I suppose that’s my concern – is it going to change the focus of our players in terms of the financial rewards? I just hope we get the balance right. Twenty20 has its place but we must not overdo it.”

Sri Lankan Cricket Surprised Over BCCI’s Claims Of Having Signed Eight Test Cricketers For Indian Premier League (IPL)

With the BCCI claiming that it had already signed eight Sri Lankan players for its Indian Premier League (IPL), its counterpart in Sri Lanka has expressed surprise over such disclosures.

A UNI report from Colombo on Tuesday said that the Sri Lankan Cricket expresseed surprise over reports of top eight signings, including skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan,Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumara Sangakkara joining IPL.

“We are unaware of anything regarding this. As far as we are concerned, no Sri Lankan national team player has informed us to this effect,” a top Sri Lankan Cricket official was quoted as saying to UNI on conditions of anonymity.

India: Truth, Facts & Cricket

W hereas, the craze for the games like Football & Tennis is getting momentum in American & other European countries, the cricket fever is in full swing in the Asian countries. Especially, the cricket is everything in South Asian countries. The countries like Bangladesh & Sri Lanka have not only organized their cricket teams but they are throwing a challenge to the world teams in cricket also.

Undoubtedly the media has played an important role to make cricket popular in Asian countries. The most important role has been played by the increasing network of the television. At present cricket has become everything. Cricket has entered in the life of a common man But how far it is proper that the few professionals have taken rights to telecast the cricket matches?

In the last days, a Twenty-20 world cup in cricket was organized in South Africa. Although all the matches were thrilling & interesting but two Semifinals & a Final caused a shivering sensation to the lovers of cricket, the Semifinals were between India Vs Australia & Pakistan Vs New Zealand & the final was between India & Pakistan.

These matches were a centre of excitement for the public. But the common people couldn’t watch matches being telecast. The reason was that a TV channel company has bought all the rights to telecast it. It simply means that only that TV channel can telecast these matches that have got rights to telecast the cricket World Cup.

If we talk about the countries of Southern Asia, especially India, Pakistan & Bangladesh, we see that most of its population lives in villages. Those people mostly lack the television ownership. Generally the national programmes are telecast on their TV sets. Whereas the only private channel that has got the rights to telecast the World Cup, can’t be received unless there is a cable network.

If there is no cable network, the dish available in the market, being sold by many companies can be made use of to watch the matches. But all these things whether cable network or dish can only be made available by the rich people or by the dwellers of the cities.

As it was observed that on one side, there was a final match between the traditional cricket rivals India & Pakistan, being fought in the playground & on the other side, the common people were craving to watch the final on their TVs.

This match was not being telecast by the Indian Doordarshan. Undoubtedly, the electronic media & different TV channels have molded themselves in the globalization. It is also true that profession can’t be linked with the feelings But, can this so called professionalism, ban the rights of watching a thrilling match of players of one’s own country?

Can the rule of telecast not be liberalized to the extent that the people of the country, whose players are playing the match to see it? Or the national TV channel is available for the people of the country? If there can’t be such a setup then what else can it be called but only a planned conspiracy against the people of that country?

Clearly this electronic media aroused the interest of the people by its open telecast in the beginning. When the people became habitual of inebriation, some professionals deprived them to watch by buying the rights to telecast. This professional maneuvering means that if someone wants to watch the match, he must arrange for the dish, may not for his bread & butter.

This craze for watching cricket matches has given good chances of earning to professionals & at the same time, it has compelled India to turn again towards its golden age of games. The hockey which kept itself as a national game of the country is being forgotten by the people of India. From 1928 to 1956, it was golden age of hockey.

During this period, India played 24 matches & won all of them. India scored 178 goals in all. It means the average score was 7.43. Hockey is the only game in which India won 8 Gold Medals. The highest award of games in India is the Arjun Award. By now, only hockey players succeeded to secure this award maximum number of times.

Today we are well known to the names of Sachin Tendulkar & Saurav Ganguly. But it was an age when the names such as Dhyanchand, K D Singh Babu, Pragat Singh, Ajit Pal Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh, Zafar Iqbal, Bhaskaran, Aslam Sher Khan, as players of hockey were well known in the world.

First of all Indian hockey federation was organized in 1928 in Gwalior. Hockey team was the first team to go on world tour in 1932. It toured places such as, Malaya, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Omaha, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paraguay, Budapest etc. & brought credit to India.

Undoubtedly, the revolution in media has enabled us to know instantly about the games of the world level players, their records & their extraordinary talents. But there was the golden age of hockey & electronic media was in its infancy, even at that time the name of Dhyanchand was well known by the people of the world.

The world record in 1936 in Berlin Olympics set by Indian Hockey team has not reached yet. In this match there were 38 goals in all. Out of these, 11 goals were scored by the captain of Indian hockey team Dhyanchand. Dhyanchand was called the magician of hockey stick.

The man who wished to win the world was Hitler. He was a dictator & once at the time of the dinner, he put a proposal before Dhyanchand. He offered him the title of Colonel, if he accepted the citizenship of Germany. But Dhyanchand, who was a patriot to the backbone & full of Indian ideology, refused this offer.

Because of hockey, the name of Dhyanchand touched the heights that Bradman’s in Cricket & Pele’s in Football. The adorers of Dhyanchand crossed all the limits in Vienna. A statue of Dhyanchand has been set up in the memory of Dhyanchand in Vienna in which he has been shown with four hands & a hockey stick in each hand.

The people of Vienna say that a man with two hands & a stick can’t play hockey as Dhyanchand used to play. So it is proper to show him in this form.

Anyhow, India has won the Twenty-20 World Cup in Cricket. Before it, India was the winner of World Cup in Cricket in 1983. It was an event that happened 24 years ago. Undoubtedly, the cricket players of India deserve to be congratulated for this success. But the fame of the success of Cricket, ignoring the success in Hockey & this craze for the Cricket & to fall a prey to a professional circle, doesn’t look proper.

Interview: Matthew Hayden

October 3, 2007

Purple patch: five of Hayden’s ten ODI hundreds have come this year, and he isn’t slowing down any

Damien Martyn retired at 35. He confessed that the challenge of international cricket called for “people who are more than 100% committed, dedicated, disciplined and passionate about the game”. Matthew Hayden is fast closing in on 36. And he possesses in abundance the qualities his former team-mate listed. Don’t bother asking him if he has a valedictory speech lined up for anytime soon.

“I can give you an answer, but it’ll be a flippant answer,” Hayden says when the subject is brought up. “As long as I’m enjoying the game, and stay in good touch with the game, I’ll play,” he said in Bangalore before the first game of the Future Cup.

Tall and bear-like, Hayden’s eyes look at you with an intensity that burns. Ask him a question and the answer does not come at the breakneck speed with which he dispatches the ball on the field. He gives the matter his full consideration first.

It has been an extraordinarily plush year for Hayden so far. In February he made a masterful 181 not out against New Zealand in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, the highest individual score in ODIs since October 2005, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni made 183 against Sri Lanka. Of his ten career ODI hundreds, five have come this year. His 1364 runs from 26 games are 310 more than second-placed Mahela Jayawardene, who has played two more matches. Unsurprisingly Hayden has hit the most sixes in 2007 so far, 33. He was the top run-getter at the World Cup, and for good measure also in the World Twenty20, supposedly a young man’s game.

All this from a man who was dropped from the side in the wake of the 2005 Ashes and only played two ODIs the following year, before being recalled for the CB Series early this year where he stuttered initially but hung on to finish strongly with two fifties and a hundred in his last five matches. Just how did Hayden reinvent himself?

“It’s a bit of a fallacy that I’ve reinvented myself,” he says. “I just have had a particularly good run. I’ve played 150 one-day games [147 to date], my record’s been consistent the whole time really – probably been exceptional over the last six months or so. What you’re saying is, I’ve had a really good run of form.”

That may have something to do with the fact that he has begun to spend more time at the crease. “I’ve been batting longer and that way it sort of gives us a platform and gives me the opportunities to score big scores. The pace of my innings has been good, I’ve picked target players, I’ve summed up the conditions well – it’s just experience and not that my skills have improved or anything.”

The English cricket media, among others, have in the past written off Australia’s old dogs at their own peril – most notably just about a year ago when Ricky Ponting’s men were lampooned as a Dad’s Army ripe for the toppling. Instead the Australians just seem to get better with age: Ponting, Hayden, Gilchrist and Michael Hussey are all still at their peaks; all four figure in the top ten of the ICC ODI rankings.

That is not to say that there isn’t fresh blood coming through. There is, and Hayden, for one, likes the idea of being kept on his toes. Moreover, the elder-statesman role is one he enjoys. “Firstly I stay fit and motivated. Younger guys coming in make it a fresher environment. In addition I see my role as mentor to some of the guys, in particular the young batsmen, so that keeps me fresh in the mind.”

He may well have one of these youngsters opening the batting with him in Tests soon. Australia’s first Test against Sri Lanka in November will be the first in years where Hayden won’t be opening with Justin Langer, with whom he paired up in 64 Tests (of which Australia won 46). How much is the absence of his long-time partner going to matter?

“For sure, yeah, I’ll miss him,” Hayden says. “Justin was such a solid human being and a wonderful little tenacious cricketer. He had a lot of skills which you really do need as an opener. It’s gonna be an interesting time, a challenging time, to get used to another partner.”

Does he think Australia need to take the plunge and opt for a young player like Phil Jaques or Chris Rogers at the top of the order? “It’s not just [specialist] openers, there are middle-order players as well that are putting their hand up to open,” Hayden says. “The batting structure or the selection policy will be to pick the best batsman available.” This could well be a nod at what Ponting hinted at before the ICC World Twenty20, of Australia possibly opening with an allrounder like Shane Watson.

For Hayden it is yet another challenge that he is up for. “It’s important to me that the game stays strong in Australia for many years to come,” he says, “and if I can be a part of that, that’s definitely a role that I see myself playing.”

Symonds and Haddin set up big Australia win

KOCHI, India (Reuters) – Andrew Symonds and Brad Haddin powered to 87 runs apiece to set up Australia’s convincing 84-run win over India in the second one-dayer on Tuesday and avenge last month’s Twenty20 World Cup semi-final defeat.

Australia, playing their first full one-dayer following their long break after claiming a World Cup hat-trick in April, overcame early trouble to amass 306 for six on being asked to bat first.

India, on a high since winning the Twenty20 title, were all out for 222, conceding a 1-0 lead in the seven-match series which began with a rain-abandoned fixture.

Symonds shared 108 runs for the fifth wicket with Haddin, who was unbeaten after his second successive fifty, after adding 94 runs with opener Matthew Hayden (75) for the fourth wicket to rescue the innings from two for eight runs in the fourth over.

Haddin was named man of the match.

Fast bowler Stuart Clark removed Sachin Tendulkar (16) in his first over and trapped the aggressive Robin Uthappa (41) in reply to reduce India to 87 for four and snuff out the chase.

Skipper Mahendra Dhoni top-scored with a slow 58 before being the last man out as injury-hit Australia stamped their class on the match.

India frittered away advantage in both batting and bowling.

Left-arm Zaheer Khan had stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist caught at slip for nought and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth removed Brad Hodge for three runs.

Michael Clarke (27), who hit a career-best 130 in Bangalore, led the early recovery before Symonds took centre stage.

Hayden hit five fours and three sixes until he was bowled by left-arm Irfan Pathan, the only bowler to escape punishment while returning two for 47 off 10 overs.

Symonds bludgeoned nine fours and two sixes facing 83 balls and joined forces with Haddin, who hit eight fours and three sixes facing only 69 deliveries.

Symonds got into verbal exchanges with Sreesanth, who had him caught and bowled to claim three for 67.

Sreesanth made a run out appeal against Symonds after he walked down from the non-strikers’ end to confront the bowler, who appeared to say something to Haddin after a delivery.

Sreesanth has been fined several times in the last year and was docked 25 percent of his match fee and warned over his behaviour during the Twenty20 tournament.

Tendulkar and Uthappa took 18 runs off one over from Brett Lee but Clark took the pace off the ball to great effect with the fight ending once Rahul Dravid (31), who added 49 runs with Dhoni, was caught in the deep.

The third game will be played in Hyderabad on Friday.

Format gets shakeup with addition of Twenty20

The increasingly popular form of Twenty20 cricket is about to hit the Southland club competition.

Southland Cricket officials have given the format for the 2007-08 club season a shakeup, which includes scrapping the two-day competition in an attempt to boost interest in the sport in the south.

The longer form of the game had become tiresome for many players in the province. Instead, this season’s club competition, which starts on Saturday, will feature the inclusion of the high-paced Twenty20 format and an extra round of 50-over-a-side cricket.

The shortened form of the game, in which teams bat for just 20 overs each, seemed to grab the public’s attention during the recent World Cup held in South Africa, and Southland Cricket executive officer Richard Hoskin said he hoped it would rub off in Southland.

“It has caught us all a bit by surprise by how much interest there has been in Twenty20 cricket,” he said yesterday.

There had been an overwhelming support at a club forum recently to scrap the two-day form of the game and introduce more limited-overs cricket, Hoskin said.

He conceded there may be a downside to the revised format, with promising young players unable to get a shot at batting and bowling in the longer form of the game.

The six club teams will play each other twice during a three-week period in the Twenty20 competition, with two rounds being played in a day. The competition will start on January 12, with the top two teams squaring off in the final on January 26.

As a result of the compact form of the Twenty20 championship, an extra round of 50-overs cricket will be played, meaning each team will play each other three times before the top teams meet in the final on March 8.

The club season will get under way with the 50-over-a-side form of the game on Saturday, when Invercargill-Old Boys take on defending champion Central-Western in Winton, Marist will play Southland Boys’ High School at Marist and Appleby will square off against the Metropolitan Tigers at Appleby.

Twenty20 format has come to stay: Pawar

The rapid fire Twenty20 format has not only caught the imagination of people but will receive due importance for its promotion and proliferation all over the country, opined the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sharad Pawar.

Speaking at the prize distribution of the maiden Symbiosis Super Shield T20 Corporate cricket tournament, Mr Pawar said the Indian entry in the new format was at the last minute.

While attending the International Cricket Council (ICC) meeting in London, he (Pawar) felt that India would be isolated as all other countries of the world had already opted to take part in the first World Cup to be orgainsed by South Africa.

Mr Pawar said after returning to India, he summoned a meeting of the Board and prevailed on the members that India should take part in the new concept of the game, otherwise, it would have to remain isolated despite having gained recognition in the five-day Test and the ODIs.

Despite having no experience in the shortest format of the game, India entered the fray after playing a friendly game against the hosts South Africa. But Team India scale dizzy heights and captured the maiden Twenty20 World Cup event, getting the better of the reigning ODI World Champions Ausralia on their way to capture the trophy.

The euphoria that followed all over the country has given the BCCI to think very positively about making the Twenty20 format popular in the entire nation so that young boys and girls could gain the experience to reach greater heights in future as well, the BCCI chief assured.

The people all over the globe certainly took an instant liking to the rapid fire cricket for its entertainment value and packed the stadias whereever it was played, he pointed out.

With the changing lifestyle the world over, no one has the time to watch the five-day Tests or the ODIs. The shorter version of the game was digested by the people but now the T20 has given a new way of entertainment, Mr Pawar said.

Though BCCI was seriously thinking of starting Twenty20 cricket for the corporates and the universities, the Symbiosis International University had given the lead by hosting the first-ever tournament for the corporates, he added.

Mr Pawar complimented Dr S B Mujumdar, the Dean of SIU, for introducing the innvotaive Twenty20 tournament, which proved to be a resounding success.

‘We’ll play aggressive cricket too’ – Gilchrist

 

Adam Gilchrist: “I also saw a few things that I wouldn’t expect from my son, Harrison, in a backyard game of cricket”

In the end, Australia won by the proverbial mile, but much of the talk afterwards was of some heated scenes in the middle involving Andrew Symonds, Harbhajan Singh, Michael Clarke and the man who’s quickly becoming the match referees’ favourite, Sreesanth. And while Adam Gilchrist basked in the glow of an 84-run win, he was also less than complimentary about some of the things he witnessed.

“I saw some really hard-fought cricket,” he said after the game. “There were some comments between different players and that happens. I also saw a few things that I wouldn’t expect from my son, Harrison, in a backyard game of cricket.”

The allusion to a certain individual wasn’t missed by anyone. “Sreesanth was quite outspoken about how he was going to take the challenge to us,” said Gilchrist later. “He’s said a lot in the press, and we see it. That’s fine. We’re not questioning that. That’s no doubt the way he wants to play cricket. When we get our chance, we’ll play aggressive cricket too.”

Brad Haddin, named Man of the Match after his magnificent 69-ball 87, was less diplomatic. “There’s a fine line between stupidity and the spirit of cricket,” he said, referring to the run-out that never was. “You can judge for yourself.”

Gilchrist was at his most caustic though when repeatedly queried about how India’s one-day displays stacked up against their Twenty20 heroics. “The quicker we move on from this Twenty20, the better,” he said with a wry smile. “Everything keeps getting drawn back to that. Congratulations to India, they had a wonderful victory, beautiful celebrations … we all enjoyed it, we’ve never seen anything like it. But I’m more interested in the fact that we’re 1-0 up in this one.

“You can’t compare. Twenty20 is a different form of the game. We’re not sitting back and reflecting on that Twenty20. It means nothing to us now.

“We’re here, 50 overs, and that’s what we’ve got to do. In 20 overs, there’s so much good fortune that needs to go your way. If you play 10 Twenty20s in a row, you can’t put money on who’s going to win because it’s so variable. But in 50-over cricket, the better side will win more often than not. That’s what we’re striving to be.”

The win itself pleased him immensely. “To have that frustrating washout [in Bangalore] and then come down here and win in front of this crowd … it’s an amazing stadium,” he said. “To get that win was very satisfying.

“I was thrilled with that total, I must admit. They were very quick to win the toss and bowl. They thought there was going to be a little bit of moisture and movement in the air, which there was. And they did bowl particularly well at the start. They [Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan] bowled in a very clever fashion – took a bit of pace off it, swung it, and were pretty accurate. They did have us on the back foot early. To climb out of that and then slowly accelerate to finish the innings off like we did was quality batting and I think our group will take a lot of confidence from that.”

Once again, Australia had to do it the hard way though. In Bangalore, they had slumped to 91 for 4. Here, it was 66 for 3. “That’s two games in a row now that myself and Brad Hodge have been knocked over and we’ve been under pressure a little bit with the bat,” said Gilchrist. “But two games in a row, we’ve responded and rebounded really well.

“The rest of the guys applied themselves really well. Those are the type of conditions we expect over here, those type of pitches. And we’ve discussed a lot about how we’ll approach batting on these wickets.”

He was guarded in his assessment of the Indian bowling. “It was too good for me [laughs]. They obviously have a very aggressive game plan. They’re talking up a very aggressive game. That’s fine, and we expect that from any team we play against. They had us on the back foot in Bangalore, and in a similar scenario today. Their captain said after Bangalore that it seems to have been a bit of a trend for them to let teams off a little bit. But I’m not saying it was their bad bowling. I prefer to think it was our good batsmanship.”

India’s run chase got off to a splendid start, despite the early loss of Gautam Gambhir, but the manner in which Australia stormed back to more or less seal the deal within 30 overs was a subtle reminder of why they haven’t been on the one-day pedestal for nearly a decade. “I thought our bowlers started well, we got the early wicket,” said Gilchrist. “And then they were very quick to adapt and change their pace a little bit.

“They went a little bit hard and a few boundaries came from bowling a bit too quickly, but they were very quick to adapt eventually. James Hopes came in and bowled a particularly good spell, but we were able to take wickets as well.”

Australia’s dominance extended to the spin department as well. Whereas Harbhajan and Ramesh Powar went wicketless while conceding 87 from 15 overs, Brad Hogg and Clarke had combined figures of 5 for 75 from 18.3 overs. “I thought our spinners did a particularly good job,” said Gilchrist. “Clarke is not considered a frontline spinner, but he came on and bowled beautifully. Hogg’s had his first bowl today since the World Cup final. He’ll be better for that. The ball came out of his hand very well.”

Haddin smiled quietly as his captain answered most of the questions, and he could afford to after his bat had done the sort of damage that you normally associate with Gilchrist. “I’m just enjoying the opportunity now to play as a batsman,” he said. “It’s a new role for me, and one I’m enjoying. It’s my first time touring India and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. You don’t get opportunities to play in a unique cauldron like this very often.”

As for the nonsense that went on, it was all water off a quack-quack’s back. “I didn’t take too much notice of what was going on,” he said wryly. “I wasn’t really interested.”

Some of the players involved in those distasteful scenes will count themselves very fortunate if the match referee takes a similar view. Given Chris Broad’s reputation, they won’t be holding their breath though.