No mercy for ICL rebels, asserts PCB

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Nasim Ashraf has ruled out the possibility of giving a general amnesty to players who were banned for participating in the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

“Well it is something that can be discussed by our governing body members and they have the authority to take a decision on this. But I must emphasise that the players knew what they were doing and the consequences of playing in the ICL when they signed their contracts, he said when asked whether the players would be pardoned.

Ashraf said the decision to ban the players was not unilateral and was agreed upon in an ICC meeting.

“I don’t know why this impression is being given that only the PCB has taken this decision. The fact is this was a policy decision discussed by all member boards of the ICC and also agreed upon. So we have done nothing new or unilateral,” he explained.

Pakistani Test discards Imran Farhat, Shabbir Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq appeared in the ICL in its inaugural edition last month.

And on returning home they were told by their departments that the board has instructed them not to select them as they had appeared in an unauthorised foreign league.

Ashraf said the players were aware of the problems they could face when they signed up to play in a event which is not recognised by the ICC or any of its member boards.

“We have nothing personal against these players. They can go and play in the ICL and earn good money. But when they were available we tried to talk sense into them and they didn’t listen. The PCB as a governing body of the sport in Pakistan has to follow certain regulations,” he said.

Chanderpaul and Powell put West Indies on top

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa – A disciplined century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and an incisive spell by fast bowler Daren Powell put West Indies on top on the second day of the first test against South Africa on Thursday.

Chanderpaul became the third player after West Indian Everton Weekes and Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower to score half-centuries in seven consecutive test innings with 104 in his team’s first innings 408. The left-hander faced 253 balls and hit 12 boundaries in an innings lasting more than six hours.

Powell followed up with three for 40 as South Africa stumbled to 122 for five at the close.

“It’s great to be up there with those names,” Chanderpaul told a news conference. “When you get an opportunity to get in, you want to make a big score. That’s something I’ve been working on for the past couple of years.”

After West Indies resumed on 281-4, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini struck in the seventh over of the day when he found the leading edge of Dwayne Bravo’s bat.

The ball looped up on the off-side where Ntini and Herschelle Gibbs, who was fielding in the gully, collided.

Ntini took the catch to dismiss Bravo for 12. Neither Gibbs nor Ntini were injured.

In Ntini’s next over, a superb away swinger took the outside edge of Denesh Ramdin’s bat and he was caught by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for one.

Chanderpaul and Daren Sammy consolidated with a partnership of 57 that was ended after lunch when AB de Villiers swooped from the covers to run out Sammy for 38. Chanderpaul was the ninth man out when fast bowler Andre Nel hit the top of his off stump.

POWELL STRIKES

Nel ended the innings three balls later by having Fidel Edwards caught by Ashwell Prince in the gully for a duck.

Powell struck when Gibbs was caught behind without scoring by wicketkeeper Ramdin with the fifth ball of South Africa’s reply.

Jerome Taylor claimed his first wicket when Graeme Smith was trapped in front for 28.

Twelve balls later South Africa slipped to 53-3 after Jacques Kallis attempted to leave a delivery from Taylor and was smartly caught by Bravo at third slip for nought.

Hashim Amla played over a full toss from Powell and was bowled for 29 before Prince and AB de Villiers stood firm in a stand of 33.

Powell ended the partnership when Prince, who scored 20, drove at a wide delivery and was caught by Runako Morton at second slip.

“The bowlers fought back nicely this morning to take the last six wickets for 127 runs,” Prince said. “Obviously, the batting didn’t go according to plan.

“There were a few soft dismissals, including myself. A few guys got starts into the 20s, and I’m sure the others will feel as disappointed as I do at the moment.

“Chanderpaul was very patient, and if he didn’t come at us we didn’t feel we had a chance of dismissing him early.

“Maybe our guys were a bit impatient, wanting to play a few too many shots.”

Six more Pak players may join ICL

LAHORE: Reports have suggested that at least six more Pakistan cricketers may join the ICL, and they are mainly players who don’t have permanent places in the national team.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already banned six of its Indian Cricket League (ICL) players from playing domestic cricket.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Shabbir Ahmed, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat and Azhar mahmood have been told that they cannot represent their parent department in any PCB-recognised tournament after participating in the recently held ICL.

Farhat, Umar and Ahmed have said that they will move the courts over the ban.

Meanwhile, the PCB’s Media Director, Ahsan Hameed Malik, has confirmed the player ban.

“Yes, the PCB has written a letter to all the affiliated units on December 6, instructing them not to allow (to play) any such players, who are involved with any league cricket, not recognised by the board,” the Dawn quoted Malik, as saying.

“The PCB is only punishing the players to please its Indian counterpart, otherwise there is nothing wrong in the entire matter,” Imran countered.

Australia still pack punch, says Ponting

Ricky Ponting remains unsure what attack he will have in the first cricket Test against India but believes Australia still pack their punch post Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

Australia won’t name their final XI until Wednesday morning because the captain and selectors wanted extra time to analyse an MCG wicket which has had its preparation hampered by rain the past week.

Ponting said the wicket still looked damp on Tuesday morning, but sunshine in the afternoon and forecast good weather on Wednesday will help it dry for the series opener.

Still, with conditions likely to favour fast bowling in the morning, Australia must decide between using an all-pace attack for the first time in almost 16 years, and picking spinner Brad Hogg and three quicks.

Young speedsters Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait will battle for the third spot if Hogg plays.

The decision is an intriguing one given Johnson’s impressive start to Test cricket the variety of his left-arm swing, while Tait’s pace and knack of ripping through opposition sides makes him dangerous.

Good weather is forecast throughout the match, but Ponting expected Wednesday’s early pace-friendly conditions to make the selectors’ decision a tough one.

“You’ve just got to try to get the conditions right with the players you’ve got available,” he said.

“If it looks like it’s going to be pretty damp in the morning then we’ve got a tough decision to make.”

It could also make for a tough call for Ponting should he win the toss, as he famously came in for heavily criticism in England in 2005, when he inserted Michael Vaughan’s side at Edgbaston.

England won that Test and later regained the Ashes.

Regardless of which attack Australia get as they seek a 15th successive victory, Ponting was confident it would be more dangerous and boast more variety than the outfits which struggled to bowl India out four years ago, when McGrath was injured and Warne was suspended.

Ponting said spearhead Brett Lee was in career-best form, after a man of the series performance against Sri Lanka last month, Stuart Clark’s record (54 wickets from 11 matches) was among the best in the world and Johnson had been impressive.

“I’m very confident in the attack that we’ve got, that it’s going to be good enough to take 20 wickets in every Test we play this summer, so I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ponting said.

Ponting said even with McGrath and Warne and their combined 1271 wickets retired, Australia had the bowlers to land big blows on India’s star batsmen.

“(Lee) is a wicket-taking bowler and for different reasons to Shane was,” he said.

“That’s what Tait is as well.

“If Tait happens to play in this game he’s exactly like that, he’s a guy who can break a game open in a couple of overs.

“So the wicket-taking options we lost with McGrath and Warne, we’ve just gained other guys in different roles to do that for us.”

Ponting said it was important Australia learned from prior mistakes to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and not bowl too short and over-attack India’s bats.

Only a handful of Australians took part in Tuesday’s training session before Christmas lunch, but all Indian players trained to make up for their limited preparation.

The Melbourne Cricket Club expects a first-day crowd of 75,000.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait (12th man to be named).

India (from): Anil Kumble (capt), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pankaj Singh, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar.

Pakistan board imposes domestic ban on ICL players

KARACHI (Reuters) – Pakistan’s cricket authorities have banned players who appeared in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) from playing in the ongoing domestic season.

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shabbir Ahmed, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar and Azhar Mahmood — all test players — appeared in the first edition of the ICL in India that finished earlier this month.

The breakaway Twenty20 ICL is not recognised by the International Cricket Council or its member boards including India and Pakistan.

“It is a policy decision that players who play in unauthorised leagues cannot be allowed to play in any domestic competition organised by the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board),” said Shafiq Ahmed, PCB domestic cricket general manager.

“We cannot allow violation of our rules and regulations by anyone. We don’t think it is a harsh decision.”

The PCB has already said it would not consider the ICL contracted players for national selection.

The affected players said they would seek to get the ban removed by a court.

“How can they stop us from playing domestic cricket. It is not fair on us. Cricket is our bread and butter. This is a violation of our fundamental rights,” Farhat told Reuters.

Shabbir accused the PCB of pandering to the whims of the Indian board which was stung by the ICL success.

“But we will go to court and get a stay order. They cannot stop us from playing even domestic cricket,” he said.

Taufiq said going to court was the only option available to the players.

“Our Pakistan careers are already finished. What else can we do,” he said.

Pak ICL Players to go to Court over ban

NEW DELHI: Indian Cricket League-contracted Pakistan players are set to approach court to obtain a stay order against the ban restricting them from playing domestic games.

The Pakistan Cricket Board initially stated that players joining ICL would not be considered for national duty – but now they have also been disallowed from participating in domestic matches.

The home games ban means applies to Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Imran Farhat, Shabbir Ahmed and Taufeeq Umar – and the situation has prompted them to seek assistance from court.

Opener Farhat told The News: “Cricket is our bread and butter. This is a violation of our fundamental rights.

“We will go to court and get a stay order. They cannot stop us from playing even domestic cricket.”

It is believed that Razzaq, Shabbir and Taufeeq will join Farhat in the legal proceedings tomorrow

ICL demands damages of Rs 4 crore from Mohd Yousuf

Mumbai (PTI): Indian Cricket League (ICL) on Monday filed a statement of claims before the arbiter, seeking damages of Rs 4 crore from Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Yousuf for alleged breach of contract.

Yousuf had signed up for the rebel league’s T20 championship which concluded earlier this month in Chandigarh, but later backed out. ICL took the dispute to the arbiter, B P Saraf, a retired High Court judge.

Yousuf was not present before the arbiter, but his lawyers sent an application from Pakistan seeking time. The hearing has been adjourned till January 28.

Kapil interacts with Chennai Superstars

CHENNAI : Legendary cricketer Kapil Dev on Saturday held a four-hour long discussion with the members of the Chennai Superstar team that won the inaugural Indian Cricket League tournament early this month, exhorting them to do well in the coming season.

Kapil told them it is important that they do well as the coming season had more tournaments.

The former Indian captain held one-to-one discussions with the players and then interacted with the team.

According to T.Kumaran, a former India player, the players enjoyed the discussions.

“We were totally surprised at Kapil’s gesture of coming to the city all the way to discuss with us about the recently concluded 20-20 tournament.

“He had explained to us the importance of being fit and performing in the coming tournament since the 2008 season is going to be almost year long. In between we shared jokes too,” he said.

Give us a break, Tendulkar tells cricket bosses

MELBOURNE, Australia: India batsman Sachin Tendulkar called Saturday for cricket administrators to cut international fixtures and prevent players burning out.

Tendulkar, who is making his final tour to Australia with India, said the workload of international players was too demanding and administrators need to schedule longer breaks in the season.

“We can have more cricket, but it’s equally important to have a little more gap in between the tours,” Tendulkar said.

“So you kind of get some time to unwind yourself and spend some time with family, assess what happened the last test series and work on certain things and then come to Australia very well (prepared).

“But that is how the calendar has become and we can’t do much about it. We just have to get on with it.”

Tendulkar, 34, has played 142 tests and 407 one-day internationals in 16 countries during his 18-year international career, said the toll on players’ was overwhelming.

“We started our season in May and it’s been quite some time,” he said.

Tendulkar is confident India can beat Australia in their four test series starting on Boxing Day despite the hosts’ imposing home record.

Australia has not lost a home series since 1992-93, although India did draw its last test series in Australia four years ago.

“It would be the most important tour if we can pull it off,” he said.

“Beating Australia is obviously the ultimate thing because the way they have played for so many years makes it a special tour.

“Having come here four times, it would be a wonderful occasion.

“As far as I am concerned we are ready and we would like to go out there and put on a good show.”

India will go into the first test at Melbourne on Wednesday with a severely limited preparation after their three-day match against Victoria state was disrupted by rain. Only 48 overs were bowled over three days.

Keep spinners out of T20, say Australian players

Melbourne: The Australian Cricketers Association has found out from a survey of player attitudes towards Twenty20 cricket that if quality spinners have to be preserved then they should not be thrown into the shortest and the trendiest form of the game, the Australian media reports.

A report in The Age says while the super-abbreviated format has gained credibility even among traditionalists, there is a strong view among Australian players that it threatens to destroy budding spin bowlers.

Harbhajan might have to sit out: Dhoni

Among players contracted to Cricket Australia, 64 per cent said Twenty20 diminishes spin bowling skills. “Anecdotally players believe T20 encourages negative bowling and as such is counter-productive to the development of spinners,” the study found.

That argument was wholeheartedly endorsed last night by spin bowling mentor Terry Jenner, the day after chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said he was disappointed in the development of young South Australian pair Dan Cullen and Cullen Bailey, who are contracted to Cricket Australia but have been unable to nail their spots with the state side let alone press for national selection.

Jenner refused to discuss Hilditch’s remarks, but the man who coached Shane Warne throughout his exceptional career has consistently argued that young spinners take time to mature to the point where they can defend themselves in the first-class arena, and that limited-overs cricket is their enemy.

“There is no place for a developing spin bowler in Twenty20 cricket,” Jenner said. “In my view, you might as well bowl Michael Clarke and all those (part-time) guys in those forms of the game because the outcomes are pretty much the same.’’

“I watched (Indian off-spinner) Harbhajan Singh in the Twenty20 final and I reckon he bowled 90km/h plus from wide of the crease. He was effective, but picture a developing spinner trying to do that and he would be lessening his capacity to improve.”

Jenner believes Twenty20 in England, where it was first played at domestic level, has inhibited the development of spin bowlers in that country. “If we are looking for Test cricketers we are not going to find them in Twenty20 and, dare I say this, we’re not going to find them in 50-over cricket either,” he said.

Yeareneder 2007

“Someone who spins the ball should not be encouraged to take away his spin to try and bowl four overs and go for less than 50. They may as well roll out a bowling machine.”

In general, state and national players believe Twenty20 enhances skill development, with spin bowling the exception. Interestingly, state-contracted players were less inclined to think that Twenty20 was damaging for young tweakers.

Australia’s premier one-day spinner, Brad Hogg, has not played a Twenty20 international since last summer, while other teams have persevered with spinners.

New Zealand skipper and left-arm finger spinner Daniel Vettori, for instance, thinks there is a place for spin bowling in the shortest form of the game. In fact, he believes they will flourish. “If you look at the (Twenty20) World Cup, spinners were some of the most successful bowlers. And every time I have watched a game or played in a game spinners held quite a bit of control not only over wicket-taking but over run-rate,” Vettori said.

“I think they are going to be a more and more important part of it. We’re playing two, we even played two at the WACA (Ground). We realise how important it (spin) is and I think other teams are seeing it around the world as well.”