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BATSMEN WILL HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IN WEST INDIES SAYS RAHANE

Board of Control for Cricket in India, West Indies Cricket Board, India's Tour of West Indies 2016, West Indies vs India, WICB, BCCI, WIvsIND, Virat Kohli, Jason Holder, Murali Vijay, Kohli, Rahane, Darren Bravo, Samuels, Ramdin, Ishant, Umesh, Ashwin, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach, Phil Simmons, Anil Kumble, Sanjay Banger, Abhay Sharma

Team India look well set to take West Indies head on in the first Test at Antigua on July 21. Indian middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane said the slow tracks in West Indies puts more responsibility on Indian batsmen to score runs and give enough time for the bowlers to take 20 wickets. “It is not easy to take 20 wickets on these pitches, especially on the slower tracks. As a batting unit, we will have to take responsibility and I think one or two batsmen will have to get set and score big here,” Rahane said.

Ajinkya Rahane also said the batsmen need to settle down first in these conditions before playing their shots. “You cut out certain shots because technically I don’t think we will have to change anything really. But we will have to cut out some shots initially, in the first or second session, and after that when you get used to the conditions, you will play your shots,” said Rahane.

Rahane also explained the bonding between players and newly appoionted head cocha of India, Anil Kumble. “He has been handling it really well, and we are really happy to have him as the coach with us, because his experience will take us forward as Indian team,” Rahane concluded.

STEVE ELWORTHY APPOINTED AS THE HEAD ORGANISER OF ICC WORLD CUP 2019

Steve Elworthy, ICC, South Africa, ICC World Cup 2019

South African Steve Elworthy has been appointed as the head organiser of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup being hosted in England and Wales. Steve Elworthy, who played 39 ODIs and four Tests for South Africa after being capped at the ripe old age of 32, has accrued vast experience in the organisation of major tournaments. He was tournament director of the 2007 and 2009 World Twenty20 competitions and the 2013 Champions Trophy held in England and Wales.

After being appointed as the head organiser of ICC World cup 2019, Steve Elworthy said, “Since I retired from professional cricket in 2003, I have been given some fantastic opportunities in cricket administration and managing the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is the biggest and the best yet.” England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive officer Tom Harrison said Elworthy was the perfect man for the job based on his previous handling of tournaments. “He has an outstanding track record of delivering fan-friendly tournaments which have been widely admired not just in cricket, but across the wider sports industry, Our congratulations to Steve on his appointment and we will be offering him and his team all the support they need to deliver successful tournaments in both 2017 and 2019,” said Harrison.

Mustafizur Rahman finally recieves his visa for England

Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh Cricket Board, England and Wales Cricket Board, Natwest T20 Blast, Royal London one-day cup, Sussex, Cricket

Bangladesh left-arm sensation Mustafizur Rahman has finally received a visa after having to wait for several days and now is all set to fly to UK to join the county team Sussex. The 20-year-old talented speedster got his visa on Tuesday afternoon. His flight is due to leave at 10:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The Bangladesh national team will begin its preliminary camp for the England series the same morning, but their pace ace will be off to that country at that time, reported bdnews24.com. Mustafizur will feature in the Natwest T20 Blast and Royal London One-Day Cup. Each of the tournaments are being played among 18 teams who are divided into two groups of nine.

Sussex next fixture is against the Essex in the T20 Blast at Chelmsford on Thursday. Taking this game into account, Mustafizur will be with the team for seven matches. On July 1, Mustafizur had told reporters, “It will be great if I can go to Sussex. England comes first (when talking about) cricket, so it will definitely feel good to be there. If I am given the opportunity I will try to give my best.

Sussex announced the news of signing Mustafizur on March 2 earlier this year. He was supposed to go to England at the beginning of June. But the youngster’s hamstring injury, which he picked up by playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) delayed his departure. Sussex, however, did not give up and gave Mustafizur more time to recover but the delay stretched on. Mustafizur then regained his fitness at the start of this month before having to wait for the visa. Two other Bangladeshis, the top all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and the star opening batsman Tamim Iqbal had also featured in England’s county cricket competitions.

Sachin Tendulkar’s name crops up in disputed property controversy

Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Narang, Manohar Parrikar, Rajya Sabha, Cricket, India

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar who is also a member of Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday, confirmed that he had attended a meeting in which he had sought help in sorting out problems faced by one of his friend regarding his house in Mussoorie.

Tendulkar, the man of highest integrity, reacted to the news reports in this regard, Tendulkar’s spokesperson issued a statement in which he, however, claimed that the cricketer does not have any “economic interest” in the Landour cantonment where the property is located.

“Mr. Tendulkar attended a meeting following which a formal written representation was submitted to the Ministry of Defence on a pending dispute regarding some development undertaken in Landour by Mr. Narang.

“Mr. Tendulkar has always maintained that the prevailing laws of the land should be upheld while giving a fair opportunity to all parties concerned to present their points of view,” the statement added without giving details of whom he had met in the government.

The news report had said Tendulkar tried to intervene on businessman Sanjay Narang’s behalf when he met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to sort out a security dispute over the land with a neighbouring DRDO establishment.

A spokesperson for Tendulkar said he did not have any business relationship with Narang, who owns the property–Dahlia Bank–in Landour, which has allegedly violated construction norms.

“Mr. Sachin Tendulkar has no present business relationship with Mr. Sanjay Narang nor does he have any economic interest, whatsoever, in the Landour cantonment,” he said in a statement.

Sanjay Narang also denied any lawbreaking doing and rejected reports that Tendulkar is his business partner in the property.

“Dahlia Bank belongs entirely to Mr Sanjay Narang and is his personal residence. Mr. Tendulkar is a personal friend with no existing business relationship and having no ownership of Dahlia Bank,” a spokesperson for Narang said in a statement.

“The construction at Dahlia Bank has been carried out in accordance with the law and with permissions granted by the Cantonment Authorities. The construction is also beyond the prescribed distance of 50 meters from the DRDO establishment. In short there is no illegality whatsoever.”

Narang, in fact, accused the Cantonment authorities of harassing him.

“The Cantonment authorities however have subjected Mr Narang to harassment, including seeking to illegally revoke the permissions granted. This has created a situation whereby Mr Narang has been forced to seek legal remedy available including filing of a review petition under section 57 of the Cantonment Act with the Ministry of Defence, which is pending hearing for over a year,” Narang said.

de Villiers to be replaced by Ahmed Shehzad for the last part of CPL 2016

AB de Villiers, Ahmed Shehzad, Caribbean Premier League, Barbados Tridents, CPL, South Africa Cricket, Pakistan Cricket, Cricket

With a number of Proteas internationals players set to complete their Caribbean Premier League (CPL) stints, the tournament organisers have confirmed a list of three replacement players for the remainder of the tournament.

Barbados Tridents duo AB de Villiers and Wayne Parnell as well as Dale Steyn of the Jamaica Tallawahs have been recalled by Cricket South Africa to fulfill a contractual obligation to attend the annual Cricket South Africa / South African Cricketers Association Awards ceremony which takes place in Johannesburg.

Both de Villiers and Parnell made a winning contribution to the Tridents in their last game on Sunday night when they helped the home side defeat the St. Lucia Zouks by 25 runs. The duo will be replaced by Pakistan’s Ahmed Shehzad and Proteas fast bowler Marchant de Lange, respectively. Shehzad is expected to link up with the Tridents squad ahead of their next game against Jamaica Tallawahs in Sabina Park on Wednesday (8pm) and de Lange will be available from the St. Lucia leg.

Steyn, meanwhile, will feature in the Tallawahs’ final two home fixtures against the Trinbago Knight Riders (Monday, 8pm) and the Tridents (Wednesday, 8pm) before being replaced by his compatriot Dane Paterson who will be making his CPL debut.

Shehzad, 24, previously played for the Tallawahs and is an experienced top order batsman having represented his country in 11 Tests, 75 One-Day Internationals and 44 T20 Internationals. In 140 T20 matches overall, the Lahore man has a strike rate of 126.05 and averages 29.13.

Capped four times at Test level for South Africa to date, 25-year-old de Lange previously featured for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Hero CPL. He also has four ODI’s and six T20 international games under his belt, and has claimed 53 wickets in 44 T20 first-class games to date.

Fast bowler Paterson, meanwhile, will link up with the Tallawahs later this week ahead of the St. Lucia leg of matches and he could come into the frame for the opening game of the Central Broward Stadium, Florida leg of matches. Paterson, 27, has claimed 245 first-class wickets and boasts strong figures in the shortest format of the game, having taken 33 wickets at an economy rate of 6.79 in 32 games to date.

SC VERDICT TO HELP BIHAR TO FIND A PLACE IN BCCI

Bihar, which lost its place in the BCCI set up after Jharkhand was carved out of it, will have a representation in the Board with the Supreme Court accepting the recommendations of Lodha committee of having one state one association. However, before getting a permanent membership, three cricket bodies — Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), Bihar Cricket Association and Association of Bihar Cricket (ABC) — have to sort out their differences.

When BCCI opposed the recommendations of the Lodha committee, CAB was first to approach the apex court for implementation of the measures suggested by the committee. Later, former cricketers Bishan Singh Bedi and Kirti Azad joined in his support along with Union territory association of Chandigarh for the implementation of the Lodha panel’s recommendations which also stated that Bihar and two new states,Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, and six north-eastern states — Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram and Nagaland, were unrepresented on the Board.

Justice lodha panel said, “Of course, the most significant omission was Bihar, which, being the third most populous State in the nation required the cricket representatives of its 100 million populace to migrate to other States to ply their trade. Apart from Tripura, the other six sister-States of the north-east had been relegated to various categories of membership (Associate, Affiliate and Future) which really have no voice on the Board.”

ICC Top 10 Test Batsmen: Steve Smith at no. 1, no place for Virat Kohli

Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, ICC Test Rankings, ICC Batsman rankings, Kane Williamson, Hashim Amla, Joe Root, AB de Villiers, Younus Khan, Adam Voges, David Warner, Misbah ul Haq, Angelo Mathews, Cricket

As per the latest ICC Test Rankings, there is no place for Virat Kohli in the list of top 10 Test batsmen. Australian skipper Steve Smith is sitting at the top with a comfortable lead of 57 points, from New Zealand’s skipper Kane Williamson, who is number 2 in the latest ICC Test rankings. South Africa’s ace Test batsman Hashim Amla is at number 3, followed by England’s Joe Root at 4. There are two Pakistani batsmen in the list; Younus Khan at 6 and Misbah-ul-Haq at 9. Interestingly, there is no Indian batsman in the list of top 10 batsmen in Test cricket. Here’s the full list

ICC Test Rankings (Top 10 batsmen)

Rank Player Team Pts Ave HS Rating

1 Steve Smith Aus 925 60.18 936 v Eng at Lord’s 2015

2 Kane Williamson NZ 868 49.23 893 v Aus at Perth 2015

3 Hashim Amla SA 860 51.45 907 v Pak at Abu Dhabi 2013

4 Joe Root Eng 820 52.20 917 v Aus at Trent Bridge 2015

5 AB de Villiers SA 818 50.46 935 v Aus at Port Elizabeth 2014

6 Younus Khan Pak 811 53.64 880 v SL at Lahore 2009

7 Adam Voges Aus 811 95.50 811 v NZ at Christchurch 2016

8 David Warner Aus 800 50.06 880 v NZ at Perth 2015

9 Misbah-ul-Haq Pak 786 49.07 842 v NZ at Abu Dhabi 2014

10 Angelo Mathews SL 765 48.70 877 v NZ at Christchurch 2014

TIM BRESNAN BACKS COOK’s COMMENTS ON PAKISTAN’s CELEBRATION AT LORD’S

Pakistan Tour of England 2016, England and Wales Cricket Board, Pakistan Cricket Board, England vs Pakistan, ENGvsPAK, ENGvPAK, Test Cricket, Alastair Cook, Misbah ul haq, Cook, Root, Hales, Younis, Misbah, Azhar Ali, Anderson, Broad, Finn, Amir, Wahab, Yasir, Mickey Arthur, Trevor Bayliss

Pakistan registered a historic win against England in the first Test match of the series by 75 runs at the Lord’s. After the historic win, Pakistan celebrated their win by performing a series of push-ups which was a tribute to their army camp which they had been a part of ahead of the series. The England skipper had, later on, said that the celebration wasn’t a pleasant viewing. England seamer Tim Bresnan also joins Alastair Cook saying that the celebrations might come back to haunt Pakistan later in the series. Bresnan tweeted saying, “That might bite you, boys. Carma [sic] catches up with you eventually. It did with the Sprinkler.”

That might bite you boys. Carma catches up with you eventually. It did with the Sprinkler.

— Tim Bresnan (@timbresnan) July 17, 2016

It was a reference to the dance performed by the England team including Bresnan and Cook after they had retained the Ashes at Melbourne in 2010-11. But it was a different story altogether when Cook’s side visited Australia three years later which they lost 5-0, though the result had more to do with Mitchell Johnson than the Sprinkler.

Anderson, Rashid and Stokes added to England 14-man squad

England selectors have added James Anderson, Adil Rashid and Ben Stokes to the squad for the second Investec Test at Emirates Old Trafford starting on Friday.

Lancashire bowler Anderson and Durham all-rounder Stokes, currently playing against each other in the Specsavers County Championship at Southport, have come through the first innings of the match without any issues in respect of their recent injuries.

Anderson has recovered from a stress fracture of his right shoulder and bowled 22 overs in the match taking three wickets for 58 runs.

Stokes, who has not played Test cricket since England’s victory over Sri Lanka at Headingley in May, has fully recovered from surgery to address a cartilage tear in his left knee and made a wicket-taking return too.

Yorkshire leg-spinner Rashid, who last played for England in a Test last November against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, will be looking to add to his three caps.

England are looking to bounce back in the four-Test series after Yasir Shah’s 10-fer inspired the visitors to a 75-run victory at Lord’s.

Nottinghamshire seamer Jake Ball, who made his debut in the first Test at Lord’s, was aware of tightness in his left thigh during the match and will be reviewed by the England medical team ahead of the match starting on Friday.

Middlesex seamer, Toby Roland-Jones, who was selected in the squad ahead of the Lord’s Test, has joined up with the England Lions.

England 14-man Test squad

Alastair Cook (Essex) (Capt)
Moeen Ali (Worcestershire)
James Anderson (Lancashire)
Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Gary Ballance (Yorkshire)
Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Steven Finn (Middlesex)
Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Ben Stokes (Durham)
James Vince (Hampshire)
Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

BCCI HAS SIX MONTHS TO IMPLEMENT ALL RECOMMENDATIONS OF LODHA COMMITTEE SAYS SUPREME COURT

Board of Control for Cricket in India, Justice Lodha, Supreme Court, India, Indian Cricket, Anurag Thakur, Rajiv Shukla

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has been provided a deadline of six months to implement all the major recommendations of the Lodha Committee by the supreme court of India, which was set up by the apex court to bring structural reforms in the BCCI. The apex court set up the Lodha committee in January 2014, following allegations of betting and spot-fixing surfaced in the Indian Premier League. The three-member panel led by former chief justice of India RM Lodha had suggested a number of administrative changes in the BCCI.

The BCCI challenged those recommendations which would mean only one cricketing body representing a state would have voting right in the BCCI. The court on Monday discarded all these arguments and asked the board to implement these recommendations within six months. It means from now on, only one association from each state will have voting right. Though the court also mentioned that states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have multiple affiliated associations, can use this voting right on a rotational basis. There will also be no vote for institutional teams like Railways, Services and Universities. Besides, CCI and National Cricket Club too will lose their voting right at the BCCI AGM. Also the court mentioned that no central or state minister and anyone one above the age of 70 can be a part of BCCI’s administrative set-up.

The court has left it on the Parliament to decide whether BCCI should come under RTI or not. Court has also left it to the Parliament to decide whether betting can be legalised in the country. The Lodha panel suggested in favour of it. Supreme Court has accepted the Lodha panel’s recommendation that a member of CAG will be part of the BCCI governing council. Although, the court felt more time is needed to decide on the Lodha panel recommendations on the broadcasting related issues.

Following this verdict the Chief Justice said, “We hope this verdict will bring in some reforms and BCCI must accept change, We will show greatest respect in Implementing the judgment,” chief justice said. Justice Lodha reacted on this court order saying that, “It’s a great day for Indian cricket. I am sure that BCCI will implement the recommendations at the earliest.”