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Monday, August 22, 2011

Waqar Younis announced his resignation, says Misbah


LAHORE: Waqar Younis for playing a key role in helping the Pakistan cricket team deal with complicated times, captain Misbah-ul Haq said the outgoing cricket coach would be missed roughly by the side. 

"Waqar has done a good job with the team and played an crucial role in this transitional and difficult period for Pakistan cricket. Obviously team will feel his deficiency and there will be a void in the side," Misbah told the media on Monday. 



"He has played a well role in reduction the new players into the team. Whoever replaces him will have a good model to work with. 

Waqar shocked the Pakistan cricket community on Saturday by announcing his resignation because of personal reasons and on health reason. 

The former Test captain, who has coached the team since last year, said he would not be offered after the Zimbabwe tour. 

"Pakistan Cricket Board considers it suitable to rebut reports in certain media suggesting that resignation of Waqar Younis is due to some differences with PCB officials or selection committee," the release said. 

"Working with Pakistan team is a respect and I enjoyed being part of it. I have my personal reasons to resign and all the stories about my differences with anybody are absolutely incorrect. 

Waqar said, "When you work as a team there can be a various opinion but that happens anywhere. I want to say again again that my resignation is purely on his personal reasons and all other suggestions are totally unfounded. I really thank PCB for their support and understanding. I will be available again to serve Pakistan team as soon as I settle my personal troubles.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

WIPA welcomes Caricom's initiative on Gayle

chris Gayle
The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has welcomed the lead taken by Caricom (Caribben Community) to resolve the ongoing dispute between estranged Jamaican opener Chris Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

In a statement on Monday, WIPA said it viewed the move with "considerable optimism" and thanked Caricom for deciding to play an active role in the impasse.

"WIPA is pleased that Caricom has heeded the call by Chris Gayle to intervene. Chris made a telling point which we see that the Heads of Government have picked up," said WIPA president and CEO Dinanath Ramnarine.

"West Indies cricket is bigger than the WICB. West Indies cricket belongs to the people of the region and not a miniscule group of administrators who want to dictate to everyone.

"We fully support the move and will do all we can to make it succeed in its desire to put our cricket on a firmer foundation."

Caricom chairman Denzil Douglas, the prime minister of St Kitts and Nevis, announced on Sunday that the Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on Cricket would be revived in an attempt to broker a solution in the standoff that has seen Gayle repeatedly overlooked for selection for the ongoing India series.

The announcement came after Gayle made an impassioned plea last Friday for the regional Heads of Government to get involved.

His appeal was backed by Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo who on Saturday criticised the WICB for acting as if they were the "private owners of West Indian cricket".

Gayle has been at loggerheads with the WICB ever since he gave a highly controversial interview to a Jamaican radio station in April when he was highly critical of the Board.

Ramnarine pledged WIPA's full cooperation with the Caricom sub-committee.
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Friday, June 17, 2011

I am not against DRS, says Tendulkar

 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is not against the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) but he wants it to be more consistent, the Indian batsman said.

The general perception is that the powerful Indian cricket board's steadfast opposition to DRS stems partially from the apprehension that Tendulkar and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, share about the technology's accuracy.

Tendulkar, however, said he was not altogether against the technology.

"I am not against DRS, but I feel it will be more effective with the support of the Snickometer and Hot Spot technology. This will give more consistent results," he told a cricket website.

The Snickometer is used detect edges, while Hot Spot gives more convincing indications of the ball's point of contact. Hawk Eye technology, used more often, replicates the ball's trajectory.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has recommended the mandatory use of DRS, under which teams currently can make two unsuccessful appeals against an umpire's decision per innings, in all formats of the game but the Indian cricket board have vowed to oppose it.

Incidentally, Tendulkar's one-day opening partner Virender Sehwag is an admirer of it while former India coach Gary Kirsten has also backed the technology which, the ICC claimed, has improved correct decisions by seven percent.

"I have even told the ICC that we have no problem with Hot Spot. Our objection is to ball tracking," Indian cricket board president Shashank Manohar told website.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan shot off an angry letter to the ICC in March, claiming the technology's "inadequacy" had been exposed in this year's 50-over World Cup, which was won by India.

The BCCI's opposition meant the DRS would not be used in India's tour of England starting next month.
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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cricket World Cup 2011: India's Sachin Tendulkar falls shy of 100th ton but racks up 18,000 one-day runs

Sachin TendulkarSachin Tendulkar, India's in-form batting maestro, missed a chance to score his 100th international hundred when he fell short in the World Cup quarter-final against Australia.

Tendulkar, 37, looked in sublime form during his 68-ball innings, hitting seven fours on his way to 53. It was his 94th one-day half-century for India.

Tendulkar edged paceman Shaun Tait to wicket-keeper Brad Haddin in the 19th over and had started walking when umpire Marais Erasmus called him back while he confirmed the legality of the delivery.

Once the replays showed that the delivery was legal, Tendulkar walked away, much to the disappointment of the frenzied crowd packed in to the Sardar Patel stadium for India's do-or-die encounter.

Nevertheless, the veteran batsman, playing his sixth World Cup and probably his last, completed 18,000 one-day runs in the process, consolidating his position as the most prolific one day batsman of all time.

Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya is second with 13,428 runs, while Australian captain Ricky Ponting is third on 13,288
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Monday, February 28, 2011

Sehwag and Tendulkar rise in ICC ODI rankings

Their brilliant performance in the first couple of World Cup matches has helped Indian batsmen Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar to rise to fifth and 10th respectively in the ICC one-day rankings issued on Monday. Sehwag, who smashed 175 against Bangladesh, is up six places in the latest chart, while Tendulkar, riding on his 120 against England, has risen five spots. Indians are headed northward even in the bowling rankings with Zaheer Khan in 14th (up by nine places), Harbhajan Singh in 16th (up by four places) and Munaf Patel in 22nd (up by 11 places).
Sehwag and Tendulkar
England captain Andrew Strauss, who struck a 158-run knock in yesterday's thrilling tie against India, is in 13th spot in the batting list, up by eight places.

Others who have gone up the charts are Tamim Iqbal in 23rd (up by three places), Misbah-ul-Haq in 32nd (up by 12 places), Younus Khan in 44th (up by four places) and Kevin O'Brien in 52nd (up by four places).

Australia's Shane Watson, JP Duminy of South Africa, Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate and South Africa's Dale Steyn have all achieved personal landmarks.

Watson has climbed four places to break into the top 10 for the first time in his career.

Duminy's has risen two places to share the 15th spot with captain Graeme Smith and West Indies' Chris Gayle while Ten Doeschate has jumped 12 places to 20th.

In the bowling list, Steyn has jumped four places to fourth position.

Batsmen losing ground are Virat Kohli in third (down by one place), Kumar Sangakkara in eighth (down by one place), Gautam Gambhir in 10th (down by one place), Jacques Kallis in 14th (down by six places) and Chris Gayle in 15th (down by five places), Ricky Ponting in 19th (down by six places).

South Africa's duo of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers maintain the top two positions in batting chart.

Apart from Steyn, Mitchell Johnson of Australia has rocketed 12 places to fifth position after figures of 4-19 and 4-33 against Zimbabwe and New Zealand, respectively.

Also on the move are are Shahid Afridi in 11th position (up by 12 places), Shaun Tait in 29th (up by eight places), Tim Bresnan in 30th (up by 11 places) and Shoaib Akhtar in 37th (up by seven places).

England's James Anderson has taken a nosedive in the latest rankings dropping 12 places to 24th after figures of 0-72 and 1-91 against Netherlands and India, respectively.

Daniel Vettori of New Zealand continues to lead the field with South Africa's Morne Morkel in second place and Ray Price of Zimbabwe moving up one place to third position.

In the Rankings for all-rounders, Ten Doeschate has moved up four places to a career-best fifth as the top four remain unchanged with Bangladesh's Shakib-Al-Hasan leading the way.