India's cricket board on Wednesday offered amnesty to players involved in the rival Indian Cricket League if they sever ties with the unsanctioned Twenty20 tournament by the end of next month.
The players can participate in domestic cricket immediately, but will have to wait for a year before they are considered for selection for the Indian national team, Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar said Wednesday.
"We are giving amnesty to all ICL players provided they sever ties with the ICL by May 31 and come back to the BCCI," Manohar told reporters after a BCCI meeting.
The BCCI decision came less than two weeks after the International Cricket Council rejected the ICL's bid for official recognition.
Himanshu Mody, the ICL business chief, said if the players fulfilled their contractual obligations, they were free to go.
"The ICL management has decided not to renew the contracts of some of the ICL players and support staff that have expired. As cricket professionals they are free to decide and explore their options," Mody said.
Shreyas Khanolkar, an ICL player, welcomed the BCCI decision, especially for younger players. "But one month's time given to players to decide is too little," he said.
The ICL is a rival to the BCCI sanctioned Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition and was started by Essel Group, owners of Zee Television _ one of the largest television networks in India _ and fronted by former India captain and all-rounder Kapil Dev. The ICL has been in operation for two seasons.
"Many (ICL) players have approached us and asked us to give them a chance to rectify their mistakes and we are doing so," Manohar said.
The ICC considered a similar application for recognition by the ICL last year and asked the BCCI to meet ICL officials in a bid to resolve conflicts between the rival leagues.
Discussions between BCCI and ICL officials broke down and the Indian cricket board maintained its stance that life bans on all Indian players participating in the rebel competition will be enforced.
The BCCI's firm opposition to the ICL had also led several other national cricket boards to impose bans on players who are contracted to the rebel league.
The ICC, at its meeting in Dubai on April 18, stressed the "importance of protecting the fabric of the game" and added that it hoped to send a message to players that they "could not swap between official and unofficial cricket at will."
However, the ICC left it up to the individual boards to determine the sanction for any player returning from the ICL.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Flintoff may be fit for World Twenty20
The England and Wales Cricket Board expects all-rounder Andrew Flintoff to be fit for the World Twenty20 competition in June after he successfully underwent a knee operation.
Flintoff required keyhole surgery on torn cartilage after he was forced to pull out of the Indian Premier League, where he had a forgettable debut for the Chennai Super Kings.
"The surgeon has informed the England and Wales Cricket Board's chief medical officer Nick Peirce that the operation went extremely smoothly," The Telegraph quoted Hugh Morris, the managing director England Cricket, as saying.
"I am grateful to the ECB medical team, the surgeon and radiologists as well as the Chennai Super Kings for keeping the England team management and me informed about Andrew's injury and the subsequent operation," he added.
The all-rounder will be out of action for between three and five weeks, meaning he should be available to play in the World Twenty20 competition, starting on June 5.
He will, however, definitely miss the two-Test series against West Indies. (
Flintoff required keyhole surgery on torn cartilage after he was forced to pull out of the Indian Premier League, where he had a forgettable debut for the Chennai Super Kings.
"The surgeon has informed the England and Wales Cricket Board's chief medical officer Nick Peirce that the operation went extremely smoothly," The Telegraph quoted Hugh Morris, the managing director England Cricket, as saying.
"I am grateful to the ECB medical team, the surgeon and radiologists as well as the Chennai Super Kings for keeping the England team management and me informed about Andrew's injury and the subsequent operation," he added.
The all-rounder will be out of action for between three and five weeks, meaning he should be available to play in the World Twenty20 competition, starting on June 5.
He will, however, definitely miss the two-Test series against West Indies. (
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Hayden placed among the all-time greats
Dubai: Australia's Matthew Hayden, just retired from international cricket, can look back on his international career that puts him in the top-10 Test batsmen and top-20 ODI batsmen of all-time.
Hayden's highest Test rating of 935 came during the Ashes series of 2002-03 and puts him level in 10th position with South Africa's Jacques Kallis and just behind four others -- Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and a West Indian triumvirate consisting of legends Clive Walcott, Viv Richards and Garry Sobers.
Hayden's One-day performances put him 18th in the all-time ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen with a career-high rating of 854 points, a tally that puts him level with New Zealand's Glenn Turner and just behind Sri Lanka's Aravinda de Silva.
To put this in perspective, only 25 batsmen in the history of the game have amassed 900 rating points or more in Test cricket while just 20 have passed the 850-point mark in ODIs.
Hayden's achievements in the game are remarkable. In 103 Tests he scored 8,625 runs at an average of 50.73, including 30 centuries and 29 fifties.
His highest score of 380 against Zimbabwe at the WACA in 2003 was a world record at the time and at his best he was an impossibly aggressive and mentally strong player who loved to dominate bowling through brute force.
Hayden twice scored centuries in four successive Tests, putting him in an exclusive club of just three batsmen who have achieved that feat (the others being Don Bradman and Ken Barrington) and he passed the 1,000-run mark in a calendar year on five occasions.
He played 161 ODIs, scoring 6,133 runs at an average of 43.80. An obvious highlight was when he smashed 10 sixes on his way to an unbeaten 181 against New Zealand in the last ODI of the 2006-07 Chappell-Hadlee series.
Then, later in 2007 he was the leading run-scorer at the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, knocking off 659 runs at an average of 73.22.
Indeed, 2007 was a great year for the Queenslander which resulted in him winning the ODI Player of the Year at the prestigious ICC Awards. This accolade was made all the more significant considering a year earlier he was not even in the Australia One-day team.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
No plans to host IPL in England: Modi
Indian Premier League [Images] (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi [Images] has dismissed reports that the second edition of the Twenty20 [Images] extravaganza would be co-hosted by England [Images], saying the IPL is a domestic league with global appeal which will be played only on Indian soil.
"Right off the drawing board we were certain that the Indian Premier League was not just a domestic league with limited appeal for the Indian cricket fan but a global league that would draw in viewership across a global diaspora of fans from around the world, making the IPL one of the most watched sporting spectacles in modern day sport.
"But we have no plans to host IPL in England. It's a domestic league which will be played in India," Modi said.
Some media reports had stated that the second edition of the cash-rich IPL, which is scheduled for April-May next year, was expected to be split with five weeks of action in India and three weeks in England.
Modi, who is a BCCI vice president, also hoped that English cricketers, who missed out on the inaugural edition after ECB restricted them for domestic competitions, will feature in the event soon.
"The IPL has garnered huge interests from players across the world and the English are no different. IPL will be holding a fresh player auction on February 6 2009 and I am certain that the quality of talent available to the franchisees on offer will be similar if not better than what was available during the historic first ever player auction held last year.
"It is only a matter of time before everybody are made aware of all the players from England and across the world that want to be a part of the IPL," he was quoted as saying by sportzpower.com.
"Right off the drawing board we were certain that the Indian Premier League was not just a domestic league with limited appeal for the Indian cricket fan but a global league that would draw in viewership across a global diaspora of fans from around the world, making the IPL one of the most watched sporting spectacles in modern day sport.
"But we have no plans to host IPL in England. It's a domestic league which will be played in India," Modi said.
Some media reports had stated that the second edition of the cash-rich IPL, which is scheduled for April-May next year, was expected to be split with five weeks of action in India and three weeks in England.
Modi, who is a BCCI vice president, also hoped that English cricketers, who missed out on the inaugural edition after ECB restricted them for domestic competitions, will feature in the event soon.
"The IPL has garnered huge interests from players across the world and the English are no different. IPL will be holding a fresh player auction on February 6 2009 and I am certain that the quality of talent available to the franchisees on offer will be similar if not better than what was available during the historic first ever player auction held last year.
"It is only a matter of time before everybody are made aware of all the players from England and across the world that want to be a part of the IPL," he was quoted as saying by sportzpower.com.
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