A hit-or-miss brand of cricket

Our bowling is good for all conditions: Ganguly

Knight Riders is a well balanced side: Wessels



GETTING READY: Knight Riders’s Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting at a training session ahead of the big clash against Super Kings.


CHENNAI: Sourav Ganguly was typically frank while talking to the media here on Friday.

He called Twenty20 cricket “a hit-or-miss brand of cricket” where “anything can happen.”

The captain of Kolkata Knight Riders added that a cricketer did not require “the skill level and the talent needed to succeed in Tests and ODIs for the Twenty20 matches.” This format is more about quick runs and entertainment, he said.

Asked about great Test bowlers such as Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan bowling extremely well in a format loaded in favour of the batsmen, the Dada replied, “A good Test cricketer will do well in all forms of the game, whether it is Twenty20 or ODIs.”

He was pleased about leading the Knight Riders, but said “it is not the same as leading the country.”
Pat for bowlers


Ganguly said all the eight teams in the competition were strong and it was difficult to predict the winner.

He was all praise for his bowlers Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ajit Agarkar and Murali Kartik for their performances in the first two games. “Our bowling is good for all conditions,” he said.

The former Indian captain was conscious of the fact that Super Kings had a strong batting line-up.

“They have Hayden, Hussey, Raina, Dhoni and Badrinath, who has done well in the domestic competitions. But, in Twenty20, every match will be different. In Tests or ODIs, you can fight back from a bad session or an hour, but here the game can get away from you very quickly.”
Enjoyable


He said it was enjoyable captaining a side with Ricky Ponting in it. Ponting had been forthcoming with his ideas, Ganguly said.

Super Kings coach Kepler Wessels said Saturday’s clash was the best match-up of the IPL league stages. “These are early days yet in the tournament, but the match will be between the two top sides,” he said.

He called the Knight Riders a “well balanced and dangerous side.”
Biggest threat


Wessels was conscious of the threat from paceman Ishant Sharma and said, “how we play him would depend on the conditions and the situation.” He said the Super Kings bowlers were putting in the effort at the nets and improving with every match.

Asked what a safe score in this format was, he replied, “Two hundred is a good score to defend and anything over that is a bonus.”

Super Kings batsman Badrinath said he was enjoying Twenty20 cricket and its challenges. “I am aware of my strengths and weaknesses,” he said.

ICC chief Speed goes on leave

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The International Cricket Council (ICC) asked outgoing chief executive Malcolm Speed to go on leave on Friday following major differences at the top of the organisation.

"The ICC President, Ray Mali, and the CEO Speed have agreed that Malcolm Speed will be on paid leave from April 30 until the end of his contract term on July 4 2008," an ICC statement from its president-elect David Morgan said.

"This change of plan is the result of a fundamental breakdown in the relationship between the CEO and a number of (ICC) board members, including the president, over a variety of issues that include Zimbabwe."

South Africa's David Richardson, the ICC general manager for cricket, will hold the post until his compatriot Haroon Lorgat takes over the job at the ICC annual conference in early July.

Asking Australian Speed to go ahead of schedule is the latest crisis to hit the organisation, indicating serious divisions among its member boards.

The affairs of the troubled Zimbabwe board has been one of them. The national team has been out of test cricket since January 2006 after the side were depleted in the wake of a series of confrontations between players and the administration.

Last month, an independent audit found serious financial irregularities in the Zimbabwe board accounts but the ICC did not call for any sanctions.

The ICC's board decided there was no evidence of criminality and no individuals had gained financially.

A media report on Friday suggested the ICC's annual conference in late June, traditionally held at Lord's, London, could be moved to its headquarters in Dubai due to visa problems for Zimbabwe board chief Peter Chingoka. 

NZ confirm three-match cricket series in Pakistan

KARACHI (AFP) — New Zealand have given a go-ahead to a three-match one-day series against Pakistan agreeing to the hosts' proposal, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced Friday.

"New Zealand will play three one-day matches in late August in Pakistan. The first match will be played at Multan on August 24 while the remaining two games will be played at Faisalabad on August 27 and 30," said a PCB announcement.

The one-day series will also allow the Black Caps to warm up for the Champions Trophy to be staged in Pakistan from 11-28 September.

It will be New Zealand's first visit to Pakistan in six years. They were forced to cut short a tour of Pakistan after a suicide bomb blast outside their team hotel in Karachi in May 2002 which killed 14 people, including 11 French naval staff.

The news is a further fillip for Pakistan following Australia's acceptance to reschedule their postponed tour in 2009 and 2010.

Australia had postponed their tour, originally scheduled for March and April this year, owing to security concerns arising from suicide bombings in Pakistan.

McCullum proves his worth in IPL opener

Black Caps wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum produced a stunning batting performance to kick off the Indian Premier Leaguue Twenty20 cricket competition in style.

McCullum smashed a sensational 158 not out to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to a crushing 140 run victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers in Bangalore.

His 73 ball onslaught included 13 sixes and 10 fours.

The Knight Riders amassed a whopping 222 for three on the back of McCullum's innings, before ripping through the Royal Challengers' batting line up, to reduce the home side to 82 all out in reply.

Black Caps batsman Ross Taylor was not in the Royal Challengers' starting 11.

Indian Premier League changes cricket

As the Bangalore Royal Challengers square off against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore this Friday night, there's a lot more than prestige at stake.

If it succeeds, the newly-formed Indian Premier League (IPL) will place cricket in India firmly at the centre of a multimillion dollar business.

India's economic boom has created a new middle class that wants to be entertained and has money to spend.

India's new corporate elite is keen to oblige.

Talent pays

Even before a single ball has been bowled, there are already some winners.




It's attracted interest from very many different parties


Sundar Raman, IPL's chief operating officer


How will the IPL change cricket?

Players have seen their pay soar, as rival teams outbid each other to win the best talent.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of India's one-day team, finds himself $1.5m (£750,000) richer thanks to the Chennai Super Kings.

Young up-and-coming players like Abhishek Nayar now see the IPL as a way to make their mark.

"It's almost like a shortcut to get into the Indian team," he says.

"If you do well, you obviously have the talent to go on and play for India."


The Board of Control for Cricket in India, which set up the IPL, has also scored some early hits.

Corporate sponsors are lining up to promote their brands to an audience of a billion consumers.

Behind-the-scenes at Bangalore

"It's attracted interest from very many different parties," says IPL's chief operating officer, Sundar Raman, pointing to how Kingfisher, Hero Honda and Pepsico have all come onboard.

"The ones who are key stakeholders in the business of cricket in India," he explains.

Television rights for the league have been sold for $1bn. The auction of the 8 rival teams raised a further $723m.

Scramble for the best

With that kind of money on the table, India has at a stroke transformed itself into the financial giant of global cricket.



This is not a business that's going to be made or unmade in one year




R Balachandram, Mumbai Indians


But if the IPL has been tough in negotiating deals, it is the teams themselves that are now under most pressure to bring in the cash.

The new team owners are a curious mix of construction and media companies, power and entertainment firms.

They are Boom India's new elite - the people making enough profits in the new economy to take a sizeable bet on the future of cricket.

Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta are up against drinks tycoon Vijay Mallya and industrial kingpin Mukesh Ambani.

The Deccan Chronicle newspaper is behind the Hyderabad team, while Delhi went to an airport developer and Chennai to India Cements.

They have already bid millions to sign up their players.

Long haul

So how are they planning to recoup their money?

They too are looking to sign up sponsors, strike franchising deals and maximise ticket sales.

But despite all the hoopla, success is far from guaranteed.

R Balachandram, who manages the costliest of the eight teams auctioned, the Mumbai Indians, insists that the whole project will be financially viable.

But it'll take time.

"This is not a business that's going to be made or unmade in one year," he says.

"We, as Reliance, are in it for the long haul. That's the most important thing."

New rivals
At the end of the day, the critical question is; how many people will actually watch?






It's almost like a shortcut to get into the Indian team



Abhishek Nayar, professional cricket player

India may be a nation of cricket lovers, but it has no real tradition of city teams battling each other.

That local team spirit will have to be built from scratch over the weeks ahead.

The IPL itself is philosophical.

India is home to a billion people, it points out, and they are wealthier now than they have ever been.

"We believe that cricket will increase in value and the Indian premier league will accelerate that process," says Raman.

"Will we reach the heights of football? We'd certainly like to not only reach there, but probably better it."

Cricket needs IPL window to survive - Ponting

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, fears for the future of international cricket if administrators don't carve out a six-week window for the Indian Premier League. The tournament opens in Bangalore on Friday and while the cricket world is waiting to see how big it will be, Ponting is concerned about how it could influence players.

"If they don't [have an international window], I fear for the long-term impact that it will have on the game," Ponting wrote in the Australian. "Much has been said about the veterans coming to the end of their careers, but what about those players just starting out?

"I think it's vital that we have a six-week period carved out of every international team's program because the money being thrown around becomes very appealing to young kids coming into the game."

Ponting expressed concern that players might choose the lucrative Twenty20 league over national duties. "Seeing the big dollars there and having the chance to take that and turn your back on international cricket is the biggest danger that will be posed out of this event," Ponting said. "For those young guys starting out who haven't had a taste of international cricket, they might not want to put themselves through the rigours of travelling the world for the next 15 years.

"And the guys at the end of their careers have family at home and it's getting harder and harder for them to go away on tours every year. For them, they could make the equivalent amount of money in only seven weeks."

Ponting highlighted the exodus faced by countries such as New Zealand, with key players like Shane Bond having joined the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League. "I know it has lost a couple of its bigger and better players because of the difference in pay playing for New Zealand," Ponting said. "The Kiwis' IPL contracts are probably four times the value of their international contract.

"That's where the dangers are. You would hate to see a situation where New Zealand is no longer playing international cricket because it has no players."

John Buchanan, the former Australia coach who is with the Kolkata Knight Riders, expressed similar concerns in the Sydney Morning Herald. He said cricket needed to sort out its finances and the likes of Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire hoping to revive West Indies cricket, should be welcomed.

"With the exception of Australia, England and India, every country in world cricket is struggling to pay their players sufficiently," he said. "For example, we have Brendon McCullum with us, and there's no way New Zealand Cricket could be paying him in a day what the IPL is.

"But there shouldn't be any debate in terms of him playing for his country. That is of utmost importance. But administrators should allow the IPL to subsidise his income with New Zealand Cricket."

Threat and opportunity

Cricket is about to plunge deep into the unknown with the Indian Premier League. On the face of it, it is merely a domestic tournament, but few developments have shaken the game up the way the IPL, variously described as audacious, crass, visionary and brazen, has. Few cricket tournaments have been as eagerly awaited; there is a mixture of fear, excitement, anxiety, and a sense of anticipation.

It is such an outrageously grandiose design that only a man of Lalit Modi's ambition and audacity would have had the nerve to propose and execute it. Modi is a sharp and driven man and it would seem he will stop at nothing to make the IPL the showpiece event in the cricket calendar. In a sense it is ironical this ambition has cast a shadow on the IPL even before it has begun. It is astounding how much ill-will he has managed to attract for a tournament that could do with all the goodwill it could gather.

Of course, there is no denying that the IPL has the potential to be a watershed event in cricket. Not since the Packer revolution, which fast-tracked cricket into the professional age, has an event challenged the status quo as much the IPL has, and that too to gain sanction, however grudging, from all those who matter in world cricket. If the IPL succeeds, its effects on cricket could be profound. Whether they will be for the better or the worse can only be left to speculation.

The worst-case scenario first. Some of the potential dangers have been pointed out already. As Osman Samiuddin has articulated perceptively, one of the biggest dangers is the concentration of power and the
consequent misuse of it. India's has been the most powerful chair at the ICC for a while now, and the fear is that the riches from the IPL could turn the BCCI into a law entirely unto itself.

	Will the Twenty20 pack care as much when both fame and fortune are so readily available? If administrators are not careful many promising players could give up the struggle to win a Test cap for the easy riches of the IPL. That's a dreadful thought.

Equally insidious in the long run could be the impact on the other forms of the game. Ultimately, money will rule and the tournament will have to become a fixture in the already packed international calendar. Modi has already spoken of a second IPL season later this year. Something has to give.

But the worst thing to happen to cricket is that the IPL, and its Twenty20 variants, could end up becoming the real thing.

India have just finished a Test series with South Africa, their rivals for the No. 2 spot on the ICC Test table. For the most part it felt like a sideshow everybody wanted to get out of the way before the main event began. There were whispers about players cotton-woolling themselves for IPL, and a few South African cricketers have been released from their domestic responsibilities to be able to play for their IPL employers. The workload-to-remuneration ratio is so attractive in the IPL that it would be unnatural if the thought of chucking away a humdrum county contract, say, didn't appear tempting to most.

Test cricket is a hard job. Apart from considerable skill, it requires application and perseverance. Every player worth his salt recognises the
primacy of the form. Despite all his success in one-day cricket, Yuvraj Singh is desperately aware that his place in the pantheon will be not
secure if he does not prove his worth in Tests.

Will the Twenty20 pack care as much when both fame and fortune are so readily available? It is now eminently possible for a cricketer to only play in the IPL and end up earning more than one who plays only Test cricket. If administrators are not careful many promising players could give up the struggle to win a Test cap for the easy riches of the IPL. That's a dreadful thought.

Worst of all, riding on the IPL's success, Indian cricket could conceivably become a world by itself, and like in American baseball, run its own World Series. It has 80% of the world's cricket audience, and as has already been demonstrated, it will have no problems in attracting the world's top talents. If enough money can be churned out of the IPL, why bother with the rest of the game? Twenty20 could become the premier version of the game. And that would be the death of cricket as we know it.

All shook up

The advent of the IPL will possibly lead to the professionalisation of Indian cricket, which is not such a bad thing © AFP

However, little will be gained by moaning. The IPL cannot be wished away. Indeed, nudged in the right direction, it has the potential of doing
much good. Let's begin with the Future Tours Program.

One fear is that with pressure mounting for the creation of a window for the IPL in the international calendar, teams that are lesser draws - read
Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies, in that order - may end up getting squeezed out. That's not as horrible as it sounds.

The FTP was a noble concept. Cricket needed, and needs, its central authority to prevent the calendar from getting lopsided. But that said, the assumptions underlying a system of reciprocal tours have been shown up to be flawed. It's another matter that India have disregarded the FTP by refusing to ever invite Bangladesh home, but the disparity between the teams at the bottom of the table and the established ones is so huge that
Test cricket between them is an insult to the concept. South Africa's recently concluded tour of Bangladesh is an emphatic case in point: they broke a record that had stood for more than half a century, but the meaninglessness of it dulled the senses.

Test cricket is at its best when the competition is even; it is even compelling when a weaker side can compete beyond expectations. But it is a waste of time when the teams are completely mismatched. There is a sense of dread developing already about Australia's tour of West Indies next month.

It might seem unfair, but it might not be such a bad idea if the top tier in Test cricket consisted of the six leading teams, and more five-Test series between them. It's an utopian idea, and the IPL's bosses are certainly not thinking about it, but if it is an unforeseen by-product of the IPL, cricket should welcome it. Either way, the FTP needs a shake-up and the IPL has made it inevitable.

	Nationalism has been the core of cricket since its inception and the IPL seeks to challenge that with a combination of an exciting format, star power and razzmatazz. Will the fans be shaken and stirred without the bond and passion of national colours?

The creation of a new layer in cricket is exciting. And in a sense, it could only have been achieved through Twenty20, which offers cricket the best chance of succeeding as pure entertainment. If it does succeed, the IPL is likely to expand the reach of cricket. Test cricket may or may not benefit from the trickle-down effect, but that's not the point.

Also, the IPL could be a catalyst for reform in the sterile domestic competitions in other countries. The shake-up could start with England, who will have to create space for their own proposed Twenty20 Premier League. In its present form, the county season runs on and on with each of the 18 teams playing 16 matches each. That makes it a mind-numbing 144 first-class games. In addition to the 50-overs championship and the Twenty-20 competition, there is also the Pro40, which makes it one tournament too many. A tighter, more competitive structure is more than welcome.

In an Indian context, the introduction of private enterprise via the IPL might finally unshackle cricket from the iron fists of the BCCI. It does sound like a paradox, because the BCCI's monopolistic tendencies are well established, but team owners are likely to increasingly gain control over the business of cricket and professionalism is bound to follow. Already there is a parallel structure with franchises taking over the selection
process, and they will have a big role to play in creating a better environment for watching cricket in the stadiums. Despite being the single biggest factor in India's growing influence in world cricket, the Indian spectator has been the most neglected soul in the country's cricket. That he can now demand a better deal is a welcome change.

In the end the spectator is the one who holds the key to the future of the IPL. All the planning, all the spending, all the forecasts have gambled heavily on the Indian cricket fan buying into the concept. Nationalism has been the core of cricket since its inception and the IPL seeks to challenge that with a combination of an exciting format, star power and razzmatazz. Will the fans be shaken and stirred without the bond and passion of national colours?

The future of cricket is now in the hands of the fans. Which is not such a bad thing.

Cricket websites shut out of IPL matches

A worker pulls his rickshaw past a billboard featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the cricketing superstars who will play in the lucrative new Indian Premier League. Photograph: R S Iyer/AP

Specialist cricket websites, including Cricinfo, have been cut out of an agreement to allow news organisations full access to the inaugural Indian Premier League, which starts tomorrow.

Unlike websites affiliated to traditional news groups, online outlets such as Cricinfo and Cricket 365 will not be able to cover the Twenty20 tournament's matches from inside grounds.

Under the IPL's finalised accreditation terms, these websites will also have to buy images from an officially sanctioned syndication service and not from local agencies as traditional news groups will be able to.

Sambit Bal, the editor of Cricinfo, said the restrictions were discriminatory and unjust. "We are being denied our basic rights to cover a cricket event in a professional manner," he said.

International news body the News Media Coalition also attacked the IPL's deal.

"It is an attack on freedom of choice and on press freedom to force controls on the media which mean news pictures of the tournament will not be seen on cricket fans' favourite websites," the News Media Coalition said.

"It is ironic and gravely worrying to the media and fans alike that websites which have provided general cricket news to a worldwide fanbase should no longer be able to provide full coverage. It is a sad day when a sporting body attacks its fans and media partners in this way."

The IPL had to modify its original accreditation terms after an outcry from media groups.

It has conceded that news groups will be able to use a "reasonable" quantity of pictures on their websites at the time matches are played.

Previously the IPL had stipulated that a maximum of six pictures could be used for each game - and that these could not be uploaded to a newspaper's website until its print edition had been published.

The IPL also changed another contentious clause in its initial guidelines by allowing agencies to supply images to online operations.

A number of British newspapers were among the organisations that protested to the IPL, challenging some of their accreditation conditions.

The IPL, which features some of the biggest stars of world cricket, starts tomorrow with the match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders, two of the eight big city franchises.

Setanta has secured the British TV rights to live coverage of the 59 matches in this year's tournament as part of a five-year deal.

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'Spirit of cricket pledge would not affect players'

Mohali (PTI): Yuvraj Singh is sure the "spirit of cricket" pledge, which all the IPL T20 captains are required to take in tournament, would not bar players from playing their natural game.

"It's a good thing to happen and I think it will affect our game in a good way. I don't think it will affect the way we play or conduct ourselves," Yuvraj, who would lead Kings XI Punjab, told reporters here on Wednesday.

He said the youngsters playing in the IPL will have a lot to learn from the international players.

"Our youngsters will learn various aspects of the game by playing along side international cricketers. They will certainly learn new things like how to cope with pressure situations. It will be good for future of our cricket," he felt.

The recent Indian team's tour of Australia was marred by controversies and Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble had even accused the Aussies for breaching spirit of the game.

Echoing Yuvraj's sentiments, Chennai Super Kings coach and former South African batsman Kepler Wessels says taking the pledge does not mean "the players have to lessen the aggression".

"I don't think it will take away spark and charm from the game," Wessels said.

Indian Cricket League seeks ICC recognition

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has written a letter to the ICC seeking recognition for their Twenty20 league and asking why they continue to be labelled as 'unsanctioned' or 'unofficial' by the BCCI.

While Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, confirmed that the letter had been received, Himanshu Mody, the ICL's business head, said that they have also sought a meeting on the issue. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, however, maintained that "any tournament which is not recognised by the member body can't be recognised by the ICC."

"We want to know why they [the BCCI] keep calling us 'unofficial', we want to find the reason behind it," Mody told Cricinfo. "We have requested the ICC for a meeting on the issue. So far, we haven't got a response from the ICC. Hopefully, we will get a reply soon."

Speed told reporters in Mumbai that the ICC's lawyers were studying the ICL's application and the official stand will become clear in a week. Speed, who was in Mumbai to felicitate the captains of Australia, South Africa and India for their accomplishments in the ICC events in the last calendar year, said this was the first time the "question" was asked.

Pointing out it wasn't a simple, open-and-shut case, Speed said: "There are two parts to that. Until recently, the ICL had never sought recognition from the ICC, so it never asked the question. About 10 days ago, lawyers acting on behalf of ICL contacted ICC and sought recognition from the ICC."

Asked if the ICC was backing the BCCI on this issue, Speed said there was never a written statement from the Indian board on not granting official status to the ICL. "The BCCI has never sent anything in writing to the ICC terming the ICL as 'unsanctioned' or [that] they don't recognise it," Speed said.

"We are awaiting advice from our lawyers on that issue and I expect [that] within the next week or so, we'll respond to the ICL lawyers. The question has never been asked, whether ICC will recognise ICL one way or another. It's a fairly complicated legal issue and we are taking legal advice," Speed said.

Speed also said that it was not the ICC's concern if the any ICL player was allowed to play in his own country's domestic competition. Recently, Mervyn Dillon, the former West Indies bowler who had played in the ICL last year, returned to the Caribbean to play in the domestic competition. "That's the matter for those countries to work out - whether they want to have those players back. It might become clearer when we get final legal advice and there's dialogue with the ICL" Speed said.

Pietersen defends IPL interest

LONDON (AFP) — Kevin Pietersen has insisted England players' interest in appearing in the Indian Premier League is not a sign of disloyalty but something "anyone in their right mind" would consider seriously.

It has been reported that Pietersen, the most gifted batsman currently in the England side, was offered a seven-figure sum to take part in the inaugural IPL, a domestic Twenty20 tournament in India, which starts on Friday.

But all centrally-contracted England players have been barred from this year's edition because the IPL clashes with both the start of the English domestic and home international seasons.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke has also expressed reservations about centrally contracted players featuring in next year's IPL and running the risk of injury ahead of the 2009 Ashes.

Pietersen, who has previously labelled talk of a ban on the involvement of England players in the IPL as "ridiculous", said Thursday: "I don't see anything wrong with saying we want to go and play and earn that kind of money.

"People who nail us for it are not going to pay for my child's school fees in 15 years' time.

"You have to look after yourself because you are not going to be playing cricket when you are 50 or 60.

"To be offered the kind of money I have been offered, it is ridiculous for someone to abuse you about it. It is like winning the lottery and anybody in their right mind would go for it," added Pietersen.

South Africa-born Pietersen, 27, who averages nearly 50 in his 36 Tests, made it clear he had no intention of sacrificing his England career for the lure of the Rajasthan Royals or the Kolkata Knight Riders.

But he said there were sound cricketing reasons for England players, whose commercial worth has been established by their performances in international cricket, to participate in the IPL.

"The best players in the world will be honing their skills for the next six weeks," Pietersen added.

"It will increase the scores in one-dayers and it will make players make a few more shots in Test too."

English officials have responded to players' IPL concerns by talking to Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, the man behind the West Indies' domestic Twenty20 competition which has proved popular in the Caribbean.

England tour the West Indies next year and there is a possibility of a 10 million pounds (20 million dollars) winner-takes-all Twenty20 match against a local All-Stars side.

"I hope I get selected," Pietersen said. "It is very exciting because money like that hasn't been talked about in cricket before.

"For a one-off fixture, to know you could come home with the best part of a million in your pocket, it's amazing."

An increasingly congested international programme means fewer and fewer top-class overseas players are now able to spend a full season with an English county as was the widespread case in the 1970s and 1980s.

Pietersen said the IPL would make county cricket even less attractive for cricket's top stars.

"The guys are going to get so much money from the IPL," he said.

"Why would a fast bowler want to come and play in England, tour up and down the country for six months, play in everything that he has to, and have the pressure that he is under, to earn 70 grand (thousand pounds), when he could play in India for six weeks and earn 500 grand?

"It just doesn't make sense to me."

Crass discrimination

	The IPL's outrageous regulations are a brazen assault on the concept of freedom of the press by a sports body apparently drunk on its sense of power

Our worst fears have come to pass. Cricinfo, and all other cricket websites, who serve millions of cricket fans, have been subjected to a crassly discriminatory set of regulations by the Indian Premier League that seek to severely undermine our ability to cover the event. Cricinfo's journalists have been barred from entering the press box, and it has been made clear that agencies will not be able to sell us match pictures.

It is not merely a denial of our basic rights as a media organisation and with nearly ten million readers, we can lay claim to be the world's largest cricket media organisation. It is a denial of the rights of every cricket fan, each one of you who follows cricket on Cricinfo. It is also a brazen assault on the concept of freedom of the press by a sports body apparently drunk on its sense of power.

The IPL's attitude towards the media has been insolent from the outset. They began with the premise that they owned every photograph taken by press photographers and agencies at their matches, and by demanding that news organisations hand such photographs over to the IPL for perpetual use, free of cost. They also decreed how photographs ought to be used, how many could be used, and who could use them.

Inevitably, their bluff was called. Faced with a media boycott, the IPL was forced into withdrawing, one by one, its obnoxious clauses. Lalit Modi, to whom must go the credit of conceiving the IPL, and with it these outrageous regulations, had apparently not reckoned with the clout of newspapers. But websites remain a soft target. There are only a few of us dedicated to cricket, and we don't feature on the political map.

The reason advanced to keep us out couldn't be more spurious - and potentially more dangerous. It has been argued that "standalone cricket portals" will not be entertained at the ground and be allowed to use agency pictures because the IPL has sold its web rights. What next? Newspaper rights? News agency rights? Photo rights? Surely, freedom of the press can't be a partial and expedient device. Speciously, websites run by newspapers, and general-interest websites have been exempted. Only we, the ones who spend all their energy and resources in covering cricket, have been isolated and targeted.

Flintoff returns to Lancashire action

ANDREW FLINTOFF is set to return to action for Lancashire’s LV County Championship Division One opener against Surrey at The Brit Oval.

The 30-year-old underwent a fourth operation on his troublesome left ankle in October and has been making a steady comeback to full fitness.

He featured as a specialist batsman in England Lions’ tour of India in February before bowling in Lancashire’s Pro ARCH Trophy campaign in Abu Dhabi.

Lancashire are without a trio of seam bowlers. Centrally-contracted England paceman James Anderson is rested at the ECB’s request, experienced seamer Dominic Cork has a side strain and Kyle Hogg is nursing a broken finger.

Former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq is set to make his competitive Surrey return four years after his last appearance for the county while fellow new signings Usman Afzaal and Pedro Collins could make debuts.

Former New Zealand paceman Shane Bond will make his Hampshire debut in their opener against champions Sussex at the Rose Bowl.

Dimitri Mascarenhas leads his side before leaving to play in the Indian Premier League for a fortnight at the end of the month, but will be without Kevin Pietersen.

Sussex are set to recall Mushtaq Ahmed and Murray Goodwin.

Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood makes his Kent bow against Nottinghamshire at Canterbury.

Vaughan welcomes 'English Premier League'

England captain Michael Vaughan has backed plans for an English version of the Indian Premier League.

The England and Wales Cricket Board have been exploring the possibility of a sibling event to the IPL from 2010 onwards with Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford keen to be one of the investors in such an event.

Asked about the possibility of setting up a tournament in this country, Vaughan said: "It would be silly if we didn't. Whether you can throw the monies which have been thrown about in India into a league in England, I'm not sure."

He added: "But we would be silly not to try to produce our own kind of competition.

Yorkshire on Wednesday began their LV County Championship campaign against Hampshire at Headingley.

But all the pre-season chat, according to Vaughan, has been about the newest product of the sport.

"Even young players at Yorkshire want to talk about IPL cricket," he said. "It is on the tip of everyone's tongues.

"They all love Twenty20 cricket; we want to win the Championship, the Friends Provident and the Pro40 but the one day the players would love to get to is that Twenty20 finals because we have never been.

"That shows how important and special Twenty20 cricket is."

Australia to play in Pakistan

Cricket Australia says a potential fine of close to two million dollars had nothing to do with its decision to schedule not one but two tours to Pakistan over the next two years.

Presenter: Alison Caldwell
Speakers: Security expert Clive Williams from the Australian National University.

CALDWELL: Foreign diplomacy is never easy, especially when it comes to cricket.

Just three weeks ago, the Pakistan Cricket Board threatened to cancel its team's tour to Australia late next year if Australia didn't agree to play their postponed series in April 2009. That came a fortnight after Cricket Australia axed its tour of Pakistan this year due to security fears. But both tours are now back on, for the time being at least.

Cricket Australia's Michael Brown:

BROWN: The decision was made at the time that we would postpone the program and we always agreed that we would find the appropriate dates for us to fit back into our FTP (Future Tours Program) obligations and that's been done and we're looking forward to -subject to all of the obvious concerns that need to be addressed - that we'll be, tours will be taking place in 2009 and 2010.

CALDWELL: Rescheduling the tour was important for both countries. Pakistan had insured the series for over $7-million. Had Australia cancelled its tour and not rescheduled, it may have faced a potential fine of as much as $2-million.
Michael Brown says this year's tour was only ever postponed.

BROWN: Our obligations under the Future Tours Program are that we must give every intention to play the matches on a reciprocal basis and we've followed that through.

We made that decision in conjunction with the PCB. It was not just a Cricket Australia decision, it was a decision discussed with the PCB and agreed with the PCB that we'd look to postpone the matches because at that moment in time they were having difficulties in their country. Now we hope that we've all moved on and the games are able to be undertaken in the future.

CALDWELL: It will be Australia's first tour of Pakistan since 1998.

In a joint press release Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Dr Nasim Ashraf, says that "although disappointed that the tour couldn't be completed as originally scheduled, the PCB is very pleased that the Australian team will come to play in Pakistan". In turn, he's confirmed that Pakistan's next tour of Australia will go ahead in 2009.

The day Australia decided not to travel to Pakistan, two big bombs went off in Lahore where the PCB is based. With a bombing on almost a weekly basis over the past 12 months, Australian cricketing officials simply weren't prepared to risk the security and welfare of their players and touring staff.

But who is to say Australia won't postpone the tour again next year? Security experts say it's far too early to judge. For his part, the ANU's (Australian National University) Clive Williams believes nothing much will change between now and then.

WILLIAMS: There's nothing to indicate there's any likelihood of a changed or improved security situation in Pakistan. And in fact, given that the current coalition government is a fairly uneasy coalition, there could in fact be increased political instability in Pakistan next year.

CALDWELL: What's the situation been like in Pakistan in recent weeks?

WILLIAMS: Well there's been ongoing violence but a lot of that has been in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas but the dynamics are going to remain much the same. Musharraf is going to be trying to drive a wedge between the two coalition partners which will of course guarantee his survival politically.

The activity in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas is going to remain much the same. The army is not a position really to dominate there. And what they're trying to do is to make peace agreements with local tribes. And the local tribes then are supposed to prevent Taliban and al-Qaeda operating in their areas, but in fact that's not happening.

So I can't see that there's really going to be much improvement. And the intelligence service will continue to support the militant groups that are operating into Kashmir and into India. So essentially the level of terrorism within Pakistan isn't likely to change over the next 12 months.

CALDWELL: And it would follow then that travel advisories wouldn't change much either.

WILLIAMS: No, that's right. You know, if Cricket Australia wants to reschedule and think about next year that's fine, but I doubt that there will be much change in the travel advisory and that obviously will be the benchmark for them to continue to monitor that.

Agencies pull stumps on cricket

IT garnered months of hype in the lead-up but, now it has begun, international news coverage of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament has been sharply curtailed by a decision by the top wire services to shun the event to protest curbs on how they can use their photographs.

On Friday, the day the 44-day, 59-match tournament started, Agence France-Presse told clients it would not "offer any text, photo or graphics coverage of the inaugural Indian Premier League cricket ... due to restrictions imposed on international news agencies on the distribution of photographs".

Reuters, Associated Press and Getty Images are also participating in the blackout. Their stand has been supported by the members of the London-based News Media Coalition, which include News Limited (publisher of The Australian) Fairfax Media, and other media bodies, such as the Editors Guild of India.

The ban has left local newspapers largely bereft of images, which domestic news organisations had expected to source from the international wires.

The News group sent a reporter and a photographer to cover the tournament's opening days, but they returned last night.

"We wanted to cover the start of the next revolution in cricket. It was never our intention to cover the whole thing as a sporting tournament," said News group editorial operations director Campbell Reid.

"We also very strongly support the decision of the international news agencies. Frankly, if the organisers don't really want to have their event covered by the world's media, then we can assist them in that."

Fairfax had a reporter at the tournament but no photographer, said spokesman Bruce Wolpe.

"Our (accredited) India correspondent may go to one or two matches and take photos, so we may get some shots that way. There is also a Sun-Herald journalist on holidays there. But these are snippets, and not how we want our readers served," he said.

"So we are suffering like every other user of news agency content in that there are no pictures being made available, and we think it's a disgrace. It is not in the public interest."

AAP said it was covering only the performances of the Australian cricketers off the Ten Network's live TV coverage.

No one from the IPL could be contacted for comment.

Although the IPL scrapped the most onerous restrictions in its initial accreditation terms, including a ban on newspapers using pictures on their websites and a demand that it be given all photographic copyright, it kept a ban on agencies supplying pictures to standalone specialised websites.

The News Media Coalition, a lobby group for global news and photograph agencies, said it was discriminatory to prohibit international news agencies from serving a specific group of users.

"The interests of the Indian Premier League are protected by the fact that its accreditation terms limit news content generated by the news agencies to be used for editorial purposes only," it said.

The IPL row is the latest in a string of picture rights disputes.

In Australia, media outlets including News have tussled with Cricket Australia, the Australian Football League and the International Rugby Board over demands for payment to use photos for editorial purposes or restrictions on how photos can be used.

Media companies argue sports events are news events and they should be allow to cover them freely and for free.

The next dispute is already brewing, with New Zealand Rugby Union seeking to control usage of photos from June's rugby tournament between New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and England.

The IPL tournament runs until June 1. Lured by big payouts, 24 Australian players and coaches are involved, including Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath and Andrew Symonds, who is the highest-paid with a salary of almost $1.5 million.

ACA chases Australian Premier League

The Australian Cricketers' Association is encouraging Australia to develop a Twenty20 competition that is similar to the Indian Premier League and could run in conjunction with the main tournament. Paul Marsh, the ACA's chief executive, has been in India to monitor the opening week of the IPL and said the expansion of the concept could follow soccer's model.

"The Indian league will be the Premier League, and then you have the Australian league as the second league, or even the English league," Marsh said in the Daily Telegraph. "Over time players could go and play in one of these leagues and then you'll have a situation where the ICC could license each league, get a return and distribute it to each of these boards."

The initial success of the IPL has other countries trying to think of ways to benefit financially from the concept. Support is also growing for the ICC to implement a set time each year for Twenty20 so it doesn't overlap with Test and one-day internationals.

"We need to find this window and then find how to get a return from it for each of the boards," Marsh said. "We might find a window and it opens a door for a whole lot of these leagues."

Marsh is also interested in the idea of an IPL team based in Australia. Michael Brown, Cricket Australia's general manager of cricket operations, has said the franchise idea would be considered.

Brown told AAP on Tuesday the start of the IPL had been "outstanding". "It's fantastic for cricket - we're here in Melbourne in an incredible AFL environment, yet people are talking up cricket," he said. "That's a real positive for the game and the little bits I've caught from our players, it's been very successful."

Gillespie boosts Glamorgan

OVERSEAS signing Jason Gillespie is set to make his Glamorgan debut tomorrow in the championship opener against Middlesex at Lord’s.

The Australian arrived in Cardiff last week after receiving clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board to play, despite his appearances in the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.

Gillespie’s inclusion for Huw Waters is set to be the only change in the 12-man squad who travelled to Oxford for last week’s drawn first-class opener at The Parks.

And Glamorgan cricket manager Matthew Maynard is hoping the arrival of the 33-year-old paceman, and the weekend capture of South African big-hitter Herschelle Gibbs for the Twenty20 campaign in June, will provide the Welsh county with a major boost before the start of their championship campaign.

“The mood in the camp is very high, especially after confirmation that Jason will be playing for us this summer, and now the news of Herschelle signing for the Twenty20 matches,” said Maynard.

“I have been very impressed by all the squad during our pre-season matches.”

While Glamorgan will welcome Gillespie into their ranks, they will be without 17-year-old James Harris who has an ankle problem.

Harris had a scan and is now in a race against time to make next week’s championship clash with Gloucestershire in Bristol.

Former Middlesex all-rounder Jamie Dalrymple will also be in the Glamorgan line-up as he looks to return to a ground where his new side have not triumphed in a first-class fixture since Wilf Wooler’s men back in 1954.

“The match at Lord’s is a big game because we know one win can make such a difference,” said Maynard.

“So the emphasis of our pre-season work has been to build up to this contest and hit the ground running.”

Glamorgan (from): G Rees, M Wood, D Hemp (c), M Powell, J Dalrymple, M Wallace (wk), AWharf, R Croft, J Gillespie, D Harrison, R Watkins, D Cosker.

FORMER England off-spinner Robert Croft has been left out of Glamorgan’s squad for their opening Friends Provident match against Gloucestershire on Sunday.

IPL gets inspiring start but still long road ahead

Cricket is confused. It wants the money and it wants to retain its purity. It wants it all.

At every turn over the past week, players and administrators have offered more or less the same answer to the same thorny question - they love Twenty20 but they could not live without tests, and together they can co-exist.

But when the talking stopped for a moment, the Indian Premier League could not have had a more auspicious innings to grab the world's attention.

At the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Brendon McCullum did what no amount of money or entertainment appendages could do. He played cricket from the gods.

In 73 balls of selective destruction and brutality for the Kolkata Knight Riders against Bangalore Royal Challengers, he supplied the reason for this tournament's existence - the prospect that it could, just, become the most enticing series in the game.

The world record 158 not out killed off the match, but just this once that did not matter. What an act it was for Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings, not to mention Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals, to follow.

Shane Warne has fashioned a career out of making cricket a piece of theatre. At 38 and not quite at his physical peak (indeed probably sliding down the other side of it) this is perhaps a bit late for him, but if anybody was going to turn that notion on its head, the blond from Ferntree Gully was just the boy.

Warne is the only non-Indian captain in the IPL, but they will probably become more commonplace if the fans take to the concept of following a city team. But these are not yet teams in the accepted sense- they were thrown together just three days before it was all due to begin.

The upshot of the bidding system for players is that there is no sense of team loyalty. It will be intriguing to see how Warne takes to Graeme Smith, and vice versa, when Smith arrives, for they have hardly had open-ended reciprocal invitations to share Sunday tea.

Another, of special significance to the England and Wales Cricket Board considering what is riding on it for their members, is the Twenty20 Champions' League.

When the IPL was announced last September it was as an ancillary to the Champions' League, which was to feature the top two Twenty20 teams from India, England, Australia and South Africa, with a top prize of 1 million ($2.53 million).

Trouble was that when the IPL took off and India's richest industrialists and Bollywood actors hitched their stars and oodles of rupees to its wagon, the Champions' League was sidelined.

The ECB were here in force last week to drag it back on to main street.

The World Twenty20 Cup in South Africa confirmed the format's status both as a compelling game in its own right and a slice of showbiz.

The next step is to ensure its popularity.

It will be a fortnight before we know whether Indians have taken to it. They adore cricket and worship Twenty20. This is a severe test of their idolatry, and all cricket depends on it.

Cricket Australia praises IPL

CRICKET is facing challenging times at every level, senior Australian administrator Michael Brown said yesterday.

Brown, the operations manager for Cricket Australia, said the ICC's Future Tours Program was the game's "bread and butter, and we need to make sure that is protected".

Brown was confirming that the Australian tour of Pakistan scheduled for this month, but postponed for security reasons, would take place in two parts next year and in 2010.

He also said the crowded international schedule would make it difficult to plan a dedicated annual timeslot for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition, which he said was already "very successful".

Australia and Pakistan would have preferred a single tour but it wasn't possible to fit it in, Brown said.

So Ricky Ponting's team will go there for five one-dayers and a Twenty20 match on its way back from South Africa in April and May next year.

The three Tests will be in August and September the following year, while the Pakistanis will tour Australia in 2009-10 for three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 match.

Brown said it was too early to guarantee the visit to Pakistan would not be called off again if security was a worry, but said Australia had every intention of playing the matches.

Asked about an IPL timeslot, Brown said: "It's a very difficult discussion. We often talk about the program being chess in three dimensions. There are a number of factors to be considered before you talk about carve-ups.

"The difficulty is that so many different groups would want to be involved in such programs."

Asked what CA thought of the IPL, which started on Friday night, Brown said: "It's been outstanding.

"I think someone described it as being like the Olympic Games.

"It's fantastic for cricket. We're here in Melbourne in an incredible AFL environment, yet people are talking up cricket.

"The little bits I've caught from our players, it's been very successful - a great credit to (the Indian board) and the people involved."

 

Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly -- India

Player profile

Full name Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Born July 8, 1972, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal


Current age 35 years 283 days

Major teams India, Asia XI, Bengal, Glamorgan, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lancashire

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm medium

Height
5 ft 11 in

Education St Xavier's College

Relations Brother - Snehasish C Ganguly

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	106	174	15	6792	239	42.71	13184	51.51	15	34	862	53	69	0
ODIs	311	300	23	11363	183	41.02	15416	73.70	22	72	1122	190	100	0
First-class	233	366	41	14424	239	44.38			30	83			163	0
List A	423	407	42	15161	183	41.53			31	93			130	0
Twenty20	18	17	1	377	73	23.56	350	107.71	0	1	47	9	6	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	106	96	3050	1642	32	3/28	3/37	51.31	3.23	95.3	0	0	0
ODIs	311	171	4561	3849	100	5/16	5/16	38.49	5.06	45.6	1	2	0
First-class	233		10841	5965	164	6/46		36.37	3.30	66.1		4	0
List A	423		7949	6454	168	5/16	5/16	38.41	4.87	47.3	4	2	0
Twenty20	18	17	297	393	19	3/27	3/27	20.68	7.93	15.6	0	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996 scorecard
Last Test	India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 scorecard
ODI debut	India v West Indies at Brisbane, Jan 11, 1992 scorecard
Last ODI	India v Pakistan at Gwalior, Nov 15, 2007 scorecard
First-class debut	1989/90
Last First-class	India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 scorecard
List A debut	1989/90
Last List A	East Zone v West Zone at Hyderabad (Decc), Mar 17, 2008 scorecard
Twenty20 debut	Glamorgan v Somerset at Cardiff, Jun 22, 2005 scorecard
Last Twenty20	Bengal v Mumbai at Ahmedabad, Apr 19, 2007 scorecard

Profile

Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history.

When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing exposes in 2000, he quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. Under his stewardship India started winning Test matches away, and put together a splendid streak that took them all the way to the World Cup final in 2003. Later that year, in Australia, an unexpected and incandescent hundred at Brisbane set the tone for the series where India fought the world's best team to a standstill. Victory in Pakistan turned him into a cult figure but instead of being a springboard for greater things, it was the peak of a slippery slope.

The beginning of the end came in 2004 at Nagpur - when his last-minute withdrawal played a part in Australia clinching the series - and things went pear shaped when his loss of personal form coincided with India's insipid ODI performances. Breaking point was reached when his differences with Greg Chappell leaked into public domain and his career was in jeopardy when India began their remarkable revival under Rahul Dravid.

His gritty 30s at Karachi, when India succumbed to a humiliating defeat in early 2006, weren't enough for him to retain his spot and some felt he would never get another chance. Others, as always, thought otherwise and they were proved right when he was included in the Test squad for the away series in South Africa in 2006-2007. He ended as the highest Indian run-scorer in that series and capped his fairytale comeback with four half-centuries on his return to ODIs. He continued his fine run in England, where he finished as the second highest scorer in Tests, and went on to slam back-to-back hundreds against Pakistan at home, the second of which was a glorious 239 in Bangalore.

Ganguly was surprisingly omitted from India's ODI squad for the CB Series in Australia.

Michael Vaughan questions England and Wales Cricket Board stance on Indian Premier League

London: England could be losing its fight to keep its players from the lucrative Indian Premier League.

Test captain Michael Vaughan added his voice to that of star batsman Kevin Pietersen on Tuesday and suggested it was inevitable that England's leading professionals will eventually join their international counterparts in the IPL.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has ordered centrally contracted players such as Vaughan, Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff to sit out the game's newest competition. The ECB is concerned about scheduling conflicts with the English season and what is seen as a shift in power away from cricket's traditional home and toward Asia.

But the Twenty20 tournament begins for the first time on Friday, with many of the world's leading players - including Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Shane Warne - in action.

And Vaughan thinks it's only a matter of time before England's players join in.

"I've seen a few of the previews over in India with the adverts and the billboards, and it looks like it is going to be a big event," Vaughan said. "If there are big grounds, and there is a lot of money involved, you're going to want to play in it.

"I think it will be sooner rather than later that we will see England players playing in the IPL."

Dimitri Mascarenhas is the only England player taking part in the inaugural season, but the one-day allrounder is not centrally contracted to the ECB, giving him greater leeway.

Rather than taking up his bat in the IPL, Vaughan is available for Yorkshire's season-opener against Leeds Bradford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence, which starts Wednesday.

Pietersen has called the ECB's decision to block its players "ridiculous," and Vaughan seemed as interested as any fan when he talked about the tournament on Tuesday.

"I've heard so many people say that all the best players are in the world are there, and you want to go and play in it," Vaughan told Sky TV. "I think we're all naive if we don't think that England players are going to end up playing in the IPL."

If England's players are to take part, the ECB could have to rethink its whole domestic setup because the English season begins in April.

The county championship has run since 1890 and has traditionally been seen as the heart of the English game, giving homegrown players an arena in which to hone their skills before elevation to the national team.

Several solutions have been mooted by commentators and the British press, such as a reformatted and rescheduled championship, a reduction in the number of competitions, or even a season break to allow a similar "English Premier League" in June or July.

"Maybe there will be a league set up in England, and with leagues set up elsewhere there could be something like the Champions League (in soccer) where the top few who win their leagues go and play," Vaughan said. "Certainly it is not a negative thing for the game. "It is exciting for the players, it is exciting for the supporters, so we should look forward to it."

As well as the players' enthusiasm, is the threat of an exodus from the national side if the ECB forces its stars to choose between the high wages and sponsorship of the ICL and test cricket.

"England can't afford to lose all their best players to the IPL, but the players have families to worry about, mortgages to pay, and futures to consider," the chairman of the England's Professional Cricketers' Association, Dougie Brown, said last week. "You can't blame them for looking at the chance of being able to earn twice as much in a month as they could do in a whole year and concluding, 'I want a piece of that."'

While the ECB wants to protect domestic cricket and the England side and the International Cricket Council is trying to preserve the prestige of five-day test cricket, TV companies are seeking to exploit the huge audience for the shorter form of the game - prompting the explosion in Twenty20 tournaments.

Vaughan is among those thinking that there must be a way of harnessing the excitement surrounding the Twenty20 game to the benefit of the sport as a whole.

"It's exciting for the game and we shouldn't look at it as being a threat - it is a really exciting time for the game with all these leagues," Vaughan said. "Exposure for cricket is being thrown out to the world and everyone is talking about it."

India to coach Brazilians in cricket

Rio de Janeri (PTI): You help us in cricket and we will help you in soccer!

This was the message as President Pratibha Patil visited this soccer-obsessed, Latin American country as part of her 13-day, three nation tour to Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

Under an understanding arrived between Brazil and India, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will soon send a coach to train the cricketers here.

"BCCI will soon be sending a coach as Brazil wants the status of a cricket Test playing nation," Indian Ambassador to Brazil Hardeep Singh Puri said here.

While a coach from India, which ranks number two in Test cricket in world, has been selected to train the Brazilians, search for a football coach for India was still on, he added.

"Football in this part of the world is highly professional and coaches charge a large amount. But something will be worked out shortly," Puri said.

Brazil became an ICC member in 2002 and its international debut came in 2006 when it participated in Division Three of the ICC Americas Championship in Suriname.

It lost all three games in the tournament and remains in Division Three in 2008.

India had signed a cultural agreement in 2006 with Brazil, which ranks Number 2 in soccer in FIFA rankings, under which the two countries would cooperate in promoting exchanges in the field of football and training of Indian players and coaches.

Meanwhile, Puri added, Union Information and Broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi, also the president of All India Football Federation, was working closely for finding a coach for the Indian soccer team.

Akram fears IPL damage to cricket

Wasim Akram, former Pakistan bowling great, has warned that the Indian Premier League (IPL) could seriously damage international cricket if the game's governing body fails to intervene.

The lucrative IPL, which starts from Thursday, has already stirred controversy with high profile players willing to retire to feature in the multi-million dollar tournament.

"I fear the IPL can be a serious distraction and destruction if the International Cricket Council (ICC) doesn't intervene because it involves huge money and players are ready to abandon international cricket," Akram told AFP.

The Twenty20 competition, promoted by the Indian cricket board and featuring stars from around the world, features eight teams bought by franchises which selected their players via auction last month.

"The new ICC chief executive seems a level-headed man and I hope he finds a solution." Wasim Akram

The tournament marks the first time that international cricketers will put aside national allegiances to play for privately-owned and city-based teams.

"The ICC should have foreseen the danger 10 years ago because the ICC and cricket boards of countries earn billions of dollars with players getting a small percentage, so such a thing was bound to happen," Akram said.

"Had players been paid properly by the ICC and the boards they would not have joined such leagues. Now there has come a stage where players are willing to opt out of international cricket, which is dangerous."

One-dayers in danger

Akram, who played 104 Tests and 356 one-day matches during an illustrious career for Pakistan, said he hoped Haroon Lorgat, new ICC chief who will replace Malcolm Speed in June, would handle the problem.

"The new ICC chief executive seems a level-headed man and I hope he finds a solution," Akram said.

The Pakistani great also said that huge interest in Twenty20 was a potential danger for 50-over one-day cricket.

"Test cricket will stay on as it is but I think the ICC will have to find some ways to keep the 50-over interest alive," said Akram who holds the world record of most one-day wickets with 502.

"Overs 20 to 40 are starting to prove boring for fans - even I would not watch the middle overs if players like Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi aren't batting," he said.

Akram further criticised the IPL authorities for their strict media guidelines, which have forced international agencies to boycott the event.

"In a culture like ours no event can get off without media coverage," Akram said.

"I see these restrictions as odd, unwise and hope they relent because people want to see pictures and coverage in print."

ICL- IPL to change cricket: Streak

FORMER Zimbabwe senior national cricket team captain Heath Streak believes that the Indian Cricket League and the Indian Premier League will change the face of the game the same way as the past Kerry Packer series.

Streak, who recently returned from India after playing in the ICL, said the two competing Indian leagues would have an impact on international cricket the same way that the Packer series did in the 1970s.
“I think the IPL and ICL will change world cricket the same way as the Kerry Packer series did. Money is a big draw card and many players will soon start choosing to play in the two leagues over international cricket,” said Streak.
Packer, an Australian, caused headaches for the cricket administrators in 1977 when he founded the World Series Cricket and this led to a confrontation between him and the cricket administrators as a number of top players rushed to join his initiative at the expense of their international sides.
The World Series introduced many of the features of One-Day International cricket that includes coloured clothing, white ball and day night matches.
Streak turned out for the Ahmedabad Rockets who finished last in the eight Edelweiss 20s second edition of the ICL. The 34-year-old Streak has a three year deal with the unofficial league and is the only Zimbabwean to play in the league that features other former international stars like former West Indies captain Brian Lara, former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, former Australian batsmen Michael Bevan and Damien Martyn.
Playing in the unsanctioned ICL meant that Streak has effectively called time on his international career. He said that he played in the ICL since no one in ZC contacted him about his availability for national duty.
Former Zimbabwe captain, wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu has signed up to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the official IPL, a 44-day league that starts on Friday.
The ICL was launched first but was not sanctioned by the International Cricket Council before the Board of Cricket Control in India set up the IPL, which has been embraced by the ICC and its associates.
Both leagues follow a franchise system.

Twenty20 is not going to relegate Test cricket to backstage: Symonds

Hyderabad, Apr 13 (ANI): The advent of Twenty20 format is not going to relegate Test cricket to backstage, Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has said.

Symonds, who represents Deccan Chargers in the Indian premier league (IPL), told reporters in Hyderabad that the exciting new format would not undermine Test cricket.

“I don’t think Test cricket will take a back seat (because of the Twenty-20 format of the game). But it will change the way one-day cricket is played. I think one-day cricket will be getting faster,” Symonds said.

Meanwhile, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting had a workout session with his IPL team of Kolkata at Eden Garden.

Ponting said that the IPL presented a good opportunity for young Indian players to rub shoulders with the senior pros of cricket from around the world.

“It is also great opportunity for the young Indian players as well to get chance to play with some pretty experienced international players,” said Ponting.

The Mohali team of IPL began sale of the tickets on Saturday for the upcoming matches.

Bollywood actor Preity Zinta, the owner of the Mohali team was present at the ticket sale counter, selling tickets to the enthusiasts.

Member of the Mohali team and Aussie speedster Brett Lee said that the IPL would help players to understand different cultures.

“The thing I am excited about is the fact that the players of different cultures coming together and playing in one side. I think it’s great for world cricket. It’s really going to build bond between different nations,” said Brett
Lee.

The IPL is a new concept unveiled by BCCI for Twenty20 cricket to be played along the lines of soccer’s English Premier League and the US’ National
Basketball Association.

The championship would feature eight franchise teams of the IPL — Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mohali and Mumbai to vie for the cash rich trophy.

During the IPL Twenty20 matches, 59 matches will be played in a span of 44 days starting April 18. (ANI)

Twenty20 cricket in 2020

Grand Finals Day of the Indian Premier League. The glow of the floodlights streams out over the Arabian Sea as Mumbai's spanking new stadium reaches boiling point. A young Pakistani fast bowler, dressed in the garish yellow-and-orange strip of the Cape Town Cheetahs, is running in like a big cat chasing a gazelle. The hometown champion, wearing the royal blue of the Mumbai Indians, lifts his bat in anticipation.

As the bowler reaches his delivery stride, there is a blur of movement as the batsman switches his feet and spins around 180 degrees. The ball is released — and clattered left-handed high into the turquoise vault of the sky.

As fireworks explode over the city, Tony Greig roars, "Aww, he's smashed that one like a kicking horse. These switch-hitters are really turning it on this year."

In the neighbouring commentary box, the man from CNN turns to his neighbour and exclaims: "Hot dog! And that's gonna be a home run — I mean, sorry, a sixer!"

It has been another dramatic year for 20-over cricket — and we still have six months to go. Yuvraj Singh's world record of 115 sixes in a season is already coming under pressure from Jurgen Schwarzmann, a 6ft 9in prodigy who was fortuitously discovered as he felled trees in the Black Forest.

Known as 'The Jurgenator', Schwarzmann has swiftly become the hottest property in the game. The only man who seems capable of keeping him in check is Shane Wijewardene — a gobby leg-spinner born to an Australian father and a Sri Lankan mother — who in May became the first player to bowl a maiden since 2015.

This has been an exciting season for marketing men, too. We have seen the launch of the first team selected according to the results of a television talent show, the West Bengal Wannabes. Since the WBWs have so far failed to win a game, the public may soon be invited to start voting off the players they originally chose.

Meanwhile, the new substitution rules have encouraged some of the franchises' celebrity owners to make brief appearances on the field. We hope that the cosmetic surgery on Shahrukh Khan's broken nose will not hold up his filming schedule for too long, and remind any disappointed fans that a 60-foot holograph of Khan is still being projected above his team's home stadium in Kolkata.

Indian sports lovers can look forward to yet more stimulation when the New Delhi Olympics begin in November. This will be the first Olympiad to be staged on the sub-continent, and also the first to feature cricket since the Paris Games of 1900.

Back then, the only nations to send a team were England and France, but this year's competition will be wide open. Look out for tightly-drilled outfits from China and the United States. With Twenty20 cricket, the English have reverted to a familiar pattern: they invent a sport, then sit back and watch the rest of the world take it to the next level. Perhaps some of their diffidence can be explained by the lingering survival of the Test-match game, which still retains a hard core of support.

Virtually ignored beyond its dwindling outposts in England and Australia, this Victorian throwback takes three whole days to play, and uses a ball made from red cow-hide. Historic techniques such as the forward defensive can be observed, and the scoring rate rarely rises over 10 runs an over. Curiously, the retro styling of Test cricket have been adopted by a sub-culture of young British dissidents, who claim that whites are the new black. They say they have had enough of mainstream sporting events, with their laser light shows and Hawk-Eye headsets, and want to get back to simpler pleasures.

"My dad told me he used to enjoy lying quietly on a grassy field in the sun, and listening to the sound of leather on willow," one spotty youth remarked last week. "Nowadays, it's more like Kevlar on tungsten."

Optimism should delay Flintoff call

For cricketers April is the most optimistic month. Dreams have yet to be shattered. The muscles have been toned in the gym; new shots have been honed in the indoor nets (not the forward defensive - there is no money in that anymore - but exotic flicks over the keeper's head).

All teams are still on course for those trophies. Individual players can contemplate the run glut or wicket haul that might lead to international recognition and - who knows? - a contract with an Indian franchise. It has yet to become obvious that this year's batch of balls are not swinging, that the batmaker has dispatched a duff implement and that the selectors are overseeing a cartel that protects those they have previously awarded central contracts.


We shall seek to maintain this mood of optimism for as long as possible even though the brightest lights of English cricket, now known as the Lions, could make little impact for the MCC against Sussex at Lord's. The county champions piled on the runs between the showers.

It was not a day for wrist-spinners, barely 10C and a pitch of cold, dry grass. So Adil Rashid, though he bowled respectably, could have little impact. Rashid is the most interesting of the wannabees, who could one day have a role in a revamped England lower middle-order alongside a burly Lancastrian, who will be resuming his first-class career at the Oval on Wednesday.

Yes, Andrew Flintoff is back on the agenda. Reports of his progress on Lancashire's pre-season tour in Dubai were encouraging. Flintoff himself is bullish: 'There's a Test match [the first against New Zealand starting on 15 May] that I'd love to be involved in.'

Let us stay optimistic and assume that Flintoff's ankle does not rebel when he starts the season for Lancashire. My inclination would not be to bring him back to international cricket immediately. He needs to prove not only fitness, but form. The ideal would be to reintroduce him for the third Test against New Zealand on 5 June at Trent Bridge; then some one-day internationals; then the series against South Africa when England will need to be at their best to win.

In Peter Moores' utopia Flintoff might bat at six, Rashid at seven, a wicketkeeper, presumably Tim Ambrose, at eight, Stuart Broad at nine. On dry pitches, which favour a second spinner, that is a potent lower middle-order.

The ECB's central contract system has served Flintoff well over the past couple of years, when he has barely played for England. Since he is instinctively loyal we do not anticipate Flintoff bellyaching about the Indian Premier League as soon as he proves his fitness again.

The advent of the IPL has overshadowed the ritual opening match of the season, which has long been an anachronism anyway (why do we launch the season before winter's out?). The IPL is often perceived as a threat; it could just as easily be seen as an opportunity.

Already it has raised the profile of the game as we contemplate whether the format will work and whether the matches will matter. Assume it is a success: what happens to our summer game?

The impetus to create a 'window' when all international players, including England's, are available for the IPL will strengthen. As a result it becomes necessary to revamp an international calendar that is random and bloated. If the ICC's role becomes diminished in the process, who cares? In England the Twenty20 competition may also be relaunched, perhaps enlarged, so that we have three domestic competitions that mirror what happens at international level. Thus the Pro40 is ditched. More good news.

Currently, the perception is that Giles Clarke, the chairman of the ECB, is the arch establishment man, desperate to preserve the status quo, rebuffing Kevin Pietersen's cravings to play in the IPL. That is not quite accurate. Clarke and Lalit Modi, the pioneer of the IPL, are peas from the same pod, open to any lucrative project.

But for the moment it suits Clarke to sound bullish, see how the IPL functions and sort out the odd compromise later. In any case how many English players are currently hot property? Pietersen certainly, Flintoff if fit, but not many others. Twenty20 specialist Luke Wright? Maybe, even though the Sussex youngster suggested yesterday that he might be learning to play some longer innings as well.