ECB wants DRS in India series

ECB wants DRS in India series
London, Wed, May 23 2012		Text Size

ECB wants DRS in the India-England 4 Test series beginning in November, but is not very optimistic a

[© Getty]

England and Wales Cricket Board has written to the BCCI, asking for the implementation of Decision Review System (DRS) during England's four-match Test series later this year, though it was not optimistic of the Indian Board agreeing to it, a media report said on Wednesday. 

India have strongly resisted the use of the DRS because of their senior players' doubts over its accuracy and it was not used when the two teams met in England last summer. 

Umpire Daryll Harper, who called for a DRS referral report in the Daily Telegraph, said that "The ECB has written to the Indian Board, asking for the implementation of the DRS during the Test series (beginning November 15)." 

"But insiders at the ECB privately concede that attempts to persuade their Indian counterparts to employ it will be futile ahead of the Test series, which starts in Ahmedabad on November 15," the report said. 

"England believe the Decision Review System benefits their attack, particularly Graeme Swann," it said. 

According to the report, England regard the tour of India as important as an Ashes series, a view underlined with the inclusion of three warm-up matches in the itinerary mirroring their last trip to Australia. 

"(Coach) Andy Flower acknowledged his team's long break after the English summer last year could have contributed to their poor performances in the Emirates (against Pakistan). The itinerary for the India trip shows he is attempting to avoid a repeat of that mistake," the report said. 

England will spend three days at a training camp at the ICC's Global Cricket Academy in Dubai before flying to India for their first warm-up match in Mumbai on October 30. 

Controversy over cricket contracts

Financially ailing Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is facing a race against the clock to sign the new contracts with players before the Pakistan tour begins in a few days time as they haven’t been able to complete the payments of players for the previous year’s contract.

Ken de Alwis, representative from the Sri Lanka Cricketers’ Association which is negotiating the contracts with SLC said yesterday that players can refuse to sign the new contract if the SLC fails to honour the due payments.

“We have informed the board (SLC) that there is no point signing new contracts if the previous contracts have not been sorted out” said de Alwis but added that SLC has promised to settle the outstanding amounts shortly. “They have promised to sort everything out by end of May. That’s in a few days time because they are expecting money from the ACC for the Asia Cup matches. Those funds haven’t come in as yet. Once they come, they are going to settle the boys. This is the reason why they wanted to wait till the end of the month to sign the contract if at all” said de Alwis.

The previous player contract ended on February 28 this year but SLC has only paid the players up to January 31 leaving a month’s payment outstanding, according to de Alwis who reiterated that no contracts will be signed till the salaries are settled.

“We have told them clearly that the previous year’s contracts have to be honoured before signing a new contract” he said. “I am not too sure on the total outstanding figure. But they have to pay for February, for the Asia Cup and for England’s tour of Sri Lanka” he explained. De Alwis said that the contracts are being processed rapidly at the moment in order to facilitate the signing before the Pakistan tour which begins on June 1. He said the Association will have a final discussion with Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene today morning before he attends the Pakistan tour inaugural press conference. “We are looking at the contracts at the moment. The lawyers are discussing it. We are going to meet Mahela tomorrow morning and discuss what he wants and he doesn’t. After that meeting we will have something positive” said de Alwis.

De Alwis also revealed that there is no clause in the contract which prevents the players from exercising their democratic freedom to talk to the media. “There is no such clause in the contract at the moment to say that the players have to seek SLC permission for a media interview. But they always had the clause to say that when they talk to the press they cannot be critical of the employer. That has been there all the time. There is nothing new” he said.

“We have gone through the contracts and the clauses regarding players talking to the media have not changed this year” he said. “But there are two changes to some other clauses in the contracts. We’ll sort it out. Apart from that, there are no additional clauses. No new things have been added on as at now” he said.

“I don’t think cricket board is going to block media from talking to the players. What they say is you can have interviews, but it is not correct for the players to talk against the employer – against the cricket board”.

De Alwis felt that the players cannot tell media even if they feel there are frauds taking place at SLC.

“In my opinion they should have the freedom to talk to the press. But you can’t let an employee of a company to accuse the company. Even if there are fraudulent things taking place and whether they are good or bad” felt de Alwis.

He felt that it is the responsibility of the player to decide what he speaks to media and said that placing a blanket ban blocking players from media is not the ideal situation. “It is up to the player to see whether he can comment or not. When you look at the contract there is no clause like that (banning players speaking to media)” explained de Alwis.

“This is only the draft that we have seen. Subsequently, we have to go and talk to them and get certain things ironed out. I am not too sure whether they are going to insert certain other things in between. A lot of things can happen from the cup to the lip” said de Alwis.

Players will be additionally paid US $ 5000 per test match, US $ 3500 per ODI and US $ 3000 per T20. 1. National players will be paid 50 percent of the match fee for local tournaments. 2. Provision for fifteen additional contracts will be kept vacant, in case any deserving player emerges. 3. If a player is selected for a national tour while playing professionally overseas, he will have to return for training 14 days before tour starts. 4. If a players refuses an offered contract he will not be permitted to use SLC facilities or given medical facilities by SLC.

නිශාන්ත රණතුංග - කි‍්‍රකට් කී‍්‍රඩකයන් ගිවිසුම් ගත කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන්

''දේශීය කි‍්‍රකට් කී‍්‍රඩකයන් වෙනුවෙන් අප දස්කම් පදනම් කරගත් කොන්ත‍්‍රාත් ක‍්‍රමයක් හඳුන්වා දෙනවා. ඒ විතරක් නොවෙයි අප ගිවිසුම් ප‍්‍රමාණය අඩු කරන්නත් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. කි‍්‍රකට් ආයතනය සමග ගිවිසුමක් දිනාගන්න නම් වඩාත් හොඳ දස්කම් දක්වන්න කී‍්‍රඩකයන් දිරිගන්වන්නයි අප බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ”

නිශාන්ත රණතුංග - කි‍්‍රකට් කී‍්‍රඩකයන් ගිවිසුම් ගත කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන්

ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනයේ තහංචි ගැන ක්‍රීඩකයන්ගේ බලවත් අප්‍රසාදය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය සමග කොන්ත්‍රාත්ගතව සිටින ජාතික තලයේ ක්‍රීඩකයන්ට දිගින් දිගටම නීති පැනවීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය කටයුතු කිරීම සම්බන්ධව එම ක්‍රීඩකයෝ දැඩි අප්‍රසාදය පළ කර සිටිති.

වාර්ෂිකව අත්සන් තැබෙන ක්‍රීඩක කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවේදී ක්‍රමානුකූලව වැඩි විය යුතු සියයට 10 ක කොන්ත්‍රාත් මුදල මෙන්ම ක්‍රීඩකයන්ට ලැබිය යුතු මුදල් නිසි ලෙස ලබා නොදීත් මෙආකාරයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීම දැඩි අසාධාරණ ක්‍රියාවක්‌ බවද ඔවුහු "දිවයින" හමුවේ අදහස්‌ දක්‌වා සිටියහ.

එමෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය සමග කොන්ත්‍රාත්ගතව සිටින ක්‍රිඩකයන් හට අවසරයිකින් තොරව මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ අදහස්‌ ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමේ අයිතියටද මුඛවාඩම් දැමීමටද එම බලධාරීන් කටයුතු කර තිබීම ඒ අතර සුවිශේෂී වේ.




ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය ප්‍රකාශ කරන ආකාරයට මින් ඉදිරියට කණ්‌ඩායම් නාකයා, පුහුණුකරුවා හෝ ක්‍රීඩකයකු මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටින්නේ නම් ඒ සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනයේ අතිරේක ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරියා වන අජිත් ජයසේකරගෙන් අවසර ලබාගත යුතු තත්ත්වයක්‌ මේ වන විට පවතින බව වාර්තා වේ.

මෙවැනි තහංචි දැමීමක්‌ ඉකුත් කාලයේ නොතිබූ අතර එයද අසාධාරණ මෙන්ම අනවශ්‍ය මුඛ වාඩම් දැමීමක්‌ බව එම ක්‍රීඩකයෝ සඳහන් කර සිටියහ.

2011 වසරේ විස්‌ඩන් ක්‍රීඩකයා ලෙස කුමාර් සංගක්‌කාර නම් කළද ඔහු සමගින් සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක්‌ ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා අවසර ලබා නොදීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය මීට පෙර පියවර ගත්තේය.

ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය සහ ක්‍රීඩකයන් අතර අත්සන් තැබීමට නියමිත කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවෙහි විනිවිදභාවය සම්බන්ධ ගැටලූ පැන නැගීම මත එය අත්සන් කිරීමද මේ දක්‌වා ප්‍රමාද වී තිබේ. ඒ සම්බන්ධව ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට්‌ ක්‍රීඩකයන්ගේ සංගමය ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනයෙන් මේ වන විටත් ප්‍රශ්න කර තිබෙන බව දැන ගන්නට ලැබී තිබේ.

මෙම කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුව සම්බන්ධව තම අප්‍රසාදය පළ කළ වේග පන්දු යවන ලසිත් මාලිංග කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවට අත්සන් තැබීම ඉකුත්දා ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කළේය. මාලිංග සමග අනුගතව යමින් තවත් ක්‍රීඩකයන් කිහිප දෙනෙකුද එය ප්‍රතික්‍ෂ්ප කිරීමේ සූදානමක සිටින බවද වාර්තා වේ.

එසේ ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කරන ලබන ක්‍රීඩකයන් වෙතොත් ඔවුන්ට ව්‍යායාම් කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් පාලක මණ්‌ඩලය සතු කායවර්ධනාගාරය, රක්‍ෂණාවරණය මෙන්ම භෞත චිකිත්සකවරයාගෙන් ප්‍රතිකාර ගැනීමද තහනම් කිරීමට ක්‍රිකට්‌ ආයතනය බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් පසුවන බව වාර්තා වේ. මෙය පිටුපස ක්‍රීඩා ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයේ ඉහළම බලධාරියාත් සිටින බව සඳහන්ය.

මේ සම්බන්ධව අදහස්‌ දක්‌වා සිටි එම ක්‍රීඩකයන් පිරිස, "අපි සල්ලිවලට පෙරේතයි කියලා ගොඩක්‌ අය අපිට චෝදනා කරනවා. එහෙම නම් අපි අවුරුද්දකට වඩා වැඩි කාලයක්‌ සල්ලි නැතුව ක්‍රීඩා කළා. අපි ඒ සම්බන්ධව කිසිවක්‌ කතා කළේ නැහැ. ඒවා ගැන අපි ලෝකයාට කියන්න ගියෙත් නැහැ. එහෙම කරලත් අපිට විරුද්ධව මේ වගේ දේවල් කිරීම කිසි විටෙකින්වත් අනුමත කරන්න බැහැ" යනුවෙන් සඳහන් කර සිටියේය.
 
News Source: http://www.divaina.com/2012/05/28/sports01.html

Matthews inspires Lanka's 139-run win over India

India's status as the number one one-day team proved shortlived after the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side slumped to a 139-run defeat against Sri Lanka in an inconsequential match of Compaq Cup tri-nation cricket series here on Saturday.

Although India were already assured of a place in Monday's final of the tri-nation series after their big win over New Zealand on Friday, Dhoni and his men needed an unbeaten run in the tournament to maintain their number one ODI team status.

However, Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilina Kandambi combined with the bat and then Angelo Mathews ignited fire with the ball to take the hosts to the convincing victory. Chasing a formidable 308 for victory India were bowled out for a paltry 168 in 37.2 overs as only six batsmen could manage to reach double figures.

Earlier, opting to bat Sri Lanka rode on Jayasuriya's blistering 98 off 79 balls and Kandambi's unbeaten 91 down the order to score 307 for six in their alloted 50 overs.

Needing 308 for win, India's makeshift opening duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik (16 off 23) started the innings on a positive note adding 32 runs in the first six overs before Sri Lanka pulled back with the wicket of Karthik.

Trying to glide a leg side delivery to the fine-leg boundary, the Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper gloved a simple catch to Kumar Sangakkara off left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara's bowling in the sixth over.

From there on both Tendulkar and new man in Rahul Dravid found going tough although the the master blaster managed to find the fence in between.

Tendulkar hit some elegant flicks and glances to score his boundaries before Nuwan Kulasekara got the vital wicket in the 14th over with India scoreboard reading 67. He struck five fours in his short but classy 33-ball 27-run innings.

Vice captain Yuvraj Singh made his arrival in style, clobbering Kulasekara for four over mid-on in the very second ball he faced but thereafter went to a shell as he played and missed Lasith Malinga on several occasions.

Boundaries were far and few as Dravid and Yuvraj kept the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos before the right-hander cut loose in the 19th over, hitting a four and a six of Dilshan's consecutive deliveries to pick 13 runs off the over. But Malinga broke the dangerously-looking 38-run fourth wicket stand as Yuvraj edged one to Sangakkara.

After that the famed Indian batting line up crumbled like a pack of card as they lost five wickets for mere 25 runs as Angelo Mathews wreaked havoc, picking three six wickets for mere 20 runs in his six overs.

Suresh Raina's misery with the bat continued as he made a duck. He gave a catching practice to Sangakkara in the very first ball he faced off Mathews.

Dravid was the next to follow, bowled by Mathews as the right-hander went for an extravagant drive.

In his next over and innings 28th, Mathews struck twice, first castling skipper Dhoni's stumps and then Yusuf Pathan handed a regulation catch to Sangakkara, thereby dashing India's hopes with the scoreboard reading 130 for seven. Mathews' rampage continued unabated as he disturbed both Harbhajan Singh and Asish Nehra's timbers.

The duo of RP Singh (19 not out)and Ishant Sharma (13) did make a last ditch effort to take India's score to some respectability by adding 29 runs before Ajantha Mendis wrapped up the proceedings.

Earlier, Jayasuriya returned to form with a blistering fashion. The 40-year-old left-hander, who had failed to score a half-century in his last eight previous outings, smashed 13 boundaries in his innings.

However, after the good start Sri Lanka were struggling at 176 for five at one stage but Kandambi and Chamara Kapugedara (36) rattled up 83 runs for the sixth wicket to pour water on India's hopes.

The duo batted sensibly dealing mostly on singles with occasional fours and saved their last for the final power-play.

A direct hit by RP Singh separated the pair at the fag end but Kandambi batted with vigour and punished all the Indian bowlers with utter disdain.

His 91 came off just 73 balls which included 11 shots to the fence as the last four overs yielded 46 runs. Sri Lanka got off to a flying start with Dilshan (23) and Jayasuriya relishing batting on a good track.

Dilshan hit a flashy square cut to fence off Nehra in the first ball of the match and then sent an exquisite straight drive to boundary ropes, to start the proceedings in a brilliant fashion.

With Both Nehra and RP Singh not making any impact, Dhoni brought gangling pacer Ishant into the attack as early as in the fifth over of the innings.

The lanky bowler soon produced result, dismissing Dilshan, who played a casual drive to give an easy catch to Dhoni behind the wicket.

Jayasuriya was unperturbed and severely punished RP Singh, fetching 15 runs from his over, en route to his half-century, which came off just 45 balls.

The hosts were cruising comfortably but some exceptional glove work by Dhoni resulted in the fall of Mahela Jayawardene (17) off Yousuf Pathan and then Harbhajan Singh trapped Kumar Sangakkara (5) to make it 102 for three.

Jayasuriya continued with his aggressive batting as he hit Yuvraj Singh for successive boundaries. He survived a run out chance and together with Angelo Mathews (19) put up 70 runs for the fourth wicket before his heartbreaking dismissal. Mathews too joined him soon when he gave charge to Raina, got foxed by the spin and Dhoni stumped him.

Nehra bowls India into Tri-series finals

India left-armers Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh shared six wickets on Friday to take their team to a six wicket win over New Zealand and a place in the Tri-series final against hosts Sri Lanka.

After dismissing New Zealand for 155 from 46.3 overs, India reached their target in the 41st over.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35 not out) and Suresh Raina (45 not out) shared an unbroken 72-run stand for the fifth wicket after they had lost their first four wickets for 84. Sachin Tendulkar contributed 46 off 55 balls.

New Zealand, who won the toss, failed to find any momentum.

Man-of-the-match Nehra trapped openers Jessie Ryder and Brendon McCullum lbw off successive overs with McCullum's dismissal giving him his 100th wicket in one-day internationals.

After the initial damage had been done by Nehra, the left-arm spin of Yuvraj crippled the New Zealand middle order. Yuvraj ended with figures of three for 31 and Nehra with three for 24.

India will play Sri Lanka in their second match on Saturday in what will be a dress rehearsal for Monday's final.

ICC announces schedule of warm-up matches ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy

The ICC has announced the schedule of warm-up matches to be played in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy to be staged at The Wanderers and Centurion from 22 September to 5 October.

The matches will be played on 18 and 20 September in Potchefstroom, Benoni and Pretoria. In line with previous ICC events none of these matches will carry official ODI status.

On 18 September, South Africa takes on the West Indies in Potchefstroom and Pakistan faces South Asian rival Sri Lanka at Willowmoore Park, Benoni. Both the matches will be day/night fixtures and will start at 1430 (SA time).

In the other match of the day, which will start at 0930 (SA time), New Zealand plays the Warriors (Eastern Cape franchise team of Cricket South Africa) at LC de Villiers Oval, University of Pretoria.

On 20 September, India plays New Zealand in Potchefstroom and Pakistan takes on the Warriors at Willowmoore Park in two day/night fixtures while Sri Lanka meets the West Indies in a day game at LC de Villiers Oval.