Ok – any early one today...
News:
In Day two of the Cairnes vs Modi trial in the High Court - Chris Cairns, the retired New Zealand international, has been confronted with allegations of corruption made by former team-mates on the second day of his libel action against the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi. Cairns, who is suing Modi over a 2010 tweet that claimed the former allrounder was involved in match-fixing during his time in the rival Indian Cricket League (ICL), said that the accusations made him "angry" and "sad". In the times of india
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl-2012/news/Modis-Cairns-tweet-was-based-on-Mongias-claim/articleshow/12167740.cms they are also following the trial In the face of persistent questioning by Modi's barrister Ronald Thwaites, Cairns, seated in the witness box of Court No. 15 in the Queen's bench of England and Wales' ancient Royal Courts of Justice, rejected the allegations. He repeatedly said that such assertions came from "self-confessed cheats" (meaning Mongia and others); and reiterated he was not one of them.
John Major is taking on the leadership of the MCC in a slightly bazaar battle over the controversial Lords ground redevelopment plan: Now the genteel organisation, based at Lord’s, the home of cricket, is threatened with civil war after a letter of complaint from one its most high-profile members, Sir John Major.
The former prime minister has attacked the leadership of the MCC, founded in 1787, accusing it of “traducing” his reputation and damaging the club. His comments, which follow a dispute over a £400million redevelopment of Lord’s, could lead to calls for the resignation of the club’s president and chairman.
A huge cricket fan, Sir John was appointed to the MCC’s main committee in 2005 but resigned last December after it voted not to proceed with a redevelopment scheme.
Sir John had been a keen advocate of the plans, known as the Vision for Lord’s, but said his resignation was prompted by his concerns over how the decision was reached under the MCC’s chairman, Oliver Stocken.
Matches:
Chris Martin has ripped through the much vaunted SA TOP order over night in the NZ SA match – which has implications as to Eng’s world Number 1 status – although I dread to think what Morkal and Stein will do to the New Zealand batting when the roles are reversed
South Africa 191/7 v New Zealand
http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand-v-south-africa-2012/engine/current/match/520603.htmlPlayer News:
The Australia captain, Michael Clarke, is a major doubt for the deciding game of the Commonwealth Bank Series final against Sri Lanka due to a hamstring injury. The 30-year-old is set to have a scan on the injury after pulling up during Sri Lanka's eight-wicket win in Adelaide on Tuesday. Clarke looked to be struggling with the problem while scoring a century in his side's total of 271 for six, which proved insufficient as Sri Lanka easily chased down their victory target to level the three-game series. Cricket Australia has called up the Twenty20 captain George Bailey as cover for Clarke, as well as the off-spinner, Nathan Lyon. The complaint continues a frustrating time for Clarke, who has been sidelined for long periods after originally straining his right hamstring against India in Adelaide on 12 February.
In the same game, Mahela Jayawardene has been fined 10 per cent of his match fee for arguing with the umpires.
Chaos in Bangladesh as a selector quits citing interference - Bangladesh's chief national selector Akram Khan resigned citing interference in the squad for the forthcoming Asia Cup by the country's cricket board.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/asia-cup-2012/top-stories/Bangladesh-chief-selector-quits-protesting-interference/articleshow/12172579.cmsAnd finally Chris Tremlett’s pr machine is in progress, talking about another comeback -
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/9126804/England-fast-bowler-Chris-Tremlett-confident-back-surgery-will-extend-Test-career-for-another-six-years.htmlEngland fast bowler Chris Tremlett confident back surgery will extend Test career for another six years - On the raw day Derik Pringle meet, at his old cricket club in Hampshire, Chris Tremlett, the colossal England and Surrey fast bowler recovering from a recent back operation, is on the outfield doing a series of TV interviews in a short-sleeved shirt.
Update - here is today's "Spin" always worth a read
Mark Boucher: an irritant, a provocator and as feisty a competitor as they come
It's not hard to understand the admiration felt by hard-nosed players for the feistiness Mark Boucher's behaviour symbolised
Rob Bagchi
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 March 2012 07.53 EST
Mark Boucher became as effective with the bat as he was behind the stumps. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images
THE TWILIGHT SAGA
Introspection is not something one normally associates with Mark Boucher but this week the most-capped wicketkeeper in Test history has been unusually forthcoming about the anxiety he is suffering as his career draws to an end. After 144 Tests in which his demeanour has epitomised the South African Test cricketer – game, energetic, vociferous and uncharitable – he has seemed impervious to criticism.
Of course, he looked hopelessly deflated when he dropped Nasser Hussain on 23 in the second innings of the 1998 Trent Bridge Test during the great Mike Atherton-Allan Donald duel. When Donald screamed in frustration Boucher blanched in mortification, his expression more guilty than sheepish. Rarely has someone looked so crestfallen and, given England's perilous position, rarely has the Spin found something so hilarious.
To Donald's great credit, though, before he began his next over he walked up to the 22-year-old Boucher and patted him on the backside. England went on to win the Test and the series and soon enough South Africa's aggravation at the life Atherton was given by the umpire Steve Dunne, when Boucher had clinched the "catch" off the opener's glove, eclipsed any condemnation of the young wicketkeeper.
If criticism was muted for Boucher's drop at Nottingham, it has intensified over the past year. The retirement dilemma for any player who has enjoyed a career of such longevity is whether to jump before you're pushed or to persevere for as long as you can. When brashness and unsentimentality have been hallmarks of your approach then logic suggests you would recognise that you may one day become a victim of a similar philosophy. Yet the very quality that makes elite sportsmen consider themselves exceptional is their uncompromising capacity for confidence in their ability, sometimes akin to self-delusion.
Now, though, Boucher seems suddenly vulnerable and reflective. He scored only 20 in three innings during the two Tests against Australia in November and, although he made 65 against Sri Lanka at Centurion, his errors in the New Year Cape Town Test provided ammunition for his critics.
"I dropped two sitters that I should have taken, and I probably would take every day of the week, but that's what pressure and lack of confidence does to you," he told Cricinfo's Firdoose Moonda. "A couple of other things creep into your head that shouldn't really be there, like what people are saying about you. You've got to take that stuff and hide it as best as you can. It gets to you mentally and that drags on to you physically as well. You keep trying so hard and you find yourself almost sinking. The harder you try, the deeper you go down."
Such soul searching contradicts the public perception of Boucher but it mirrors the uncharacteristic uncertainty that other players with more than 100 caps felt besieged by as the end of their careers drew closer. In his autobiography Steve Waugh wrote about his reaction at being dropped from Australia's one-day team, saying: "I let all my pent-up emotions gush out and bawled like a baby." Emotional candour seems to be a coping mechanism when even the toughest feel their prestige and self-esteem threatened.
It is interesting that Boucher mentions "what people are saying about you" as a cause of his disquiet. It is obvious that he is not referring to the barbs thrown at him by opposition supporters but during three tours of England he probably got up the Spin's nose more than any other player. Being an irritant and a wicketkeeper can be a profitable combination, their incessant blather galvanising the fielding side and their pugnacious spirit signalling that the batsmen are in a fight.
Ian Healy was his model and at times Boucher's charmless chirping and sledging were disproportionately tasteless and repetitive, bordering on harassment of the batsman and based on the premise that mental interference led to mental disintegration. But it is not difficult to understand the admiration felt by hard-nosed players such as Nasser Hussain for the feistiness that Boucher's behaviour symbolised.
Relentless cheerleading and provocation, however, only take you so far and without the talent to back it up Boucher would not have played 144 Tests of a possible 147 since his debut. As well as his record number of caps, he is also the most prolific wicketkeeper in Test history with 544 dismissals. He became exceptionally sound behind the stumps and equally effective as a batsman. Twice when England supporters were willing him to get out – at Kingsmead in 1999 when he joined Gary Kirsten with South Africa four down in their second innings following on and only 34 ahead and at Edgbaston nine years later when his side were five wickets down needing 110 to win – his battling spirit, obduracy and sharp running broke their hearts. He was just as busy in one-day cricket but more fluent and his mettle saw South Africa home with a four to the long-on boundary when they chased down Australia's 434 at Johannesburg in 2006 with the last pair at the crease.
Boucher won his 145th cap on Wednesday and was run out for four in Dunedin. Two more in New Zealand then three on what he hopes will be his fourth and final tour of England this summer will take him to 150 when, he says, he will retire. He will never win a popularity contest but, as Hussain wrote, "he is a tough competitor, the sort of bloke you want on your side". The Spin will never warm to him but when he goes it would be churlish not to recognise that his record has been outstanding.
GUILTY
"It is a relief that 12 jurors saw it the way we did. We were scammed. The bottom line is still we've lost. But it is justice, and there's been no justice for the victims. We've been pretty much ignored, and now we aren't being ignored."
Cassie Wilkinson, a Houston investor who lost $500,000, on the jury's verdict in the Allen Stanford fraud trial after the financier was found guilty of conspiracy and 12 other criminal charges including obstruction, in relation to a $7bn Ponzi scheme. Stanford faces up to 20 years in prison.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
While Sir Vivian Richards is blowing out 60 candles on Wednesday, 7 March also marks another anniversary. Twenty-five years ago, on Richards's 35th birthday, Sunil Gavaskar became the first batsman in Test history to score 10,000 runs. He reached the milestone during the fourth Test in Ahmedabad against Pakistan in 1987, cutting Ejaz Fakhir for two. Thousands of spectators ran on to the field before he had even completed his second run and held up play for 20 minutes. He was garlanded with marigolds and at the end of play said: "It was a moment of sheer joy for me."
Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have subsequently gone beyond his career total of 10,122 runs and Mahela Jayawardene, the newest member of the 10,000 club, is only 36 behind. Of the four batsmen he identified as likely to emulate his achievement – Border, Richards, Javed Miandad and David Gower – only Border made it. "There is so much Test cricket these days," he said, "they have a good chance to overtake me. But then it is always nice to be the first to do so. After all, a lot of people climbed Everest but the ones I remember most are Hillary and Tenzing."
p.s. anyone who wants to help write a daily round up, please let me know!
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Topic: Cricket in the news today (Read 19475 times)