Hello and welcome to this edition of the I.E.C.C. Newsletter.
It is that time of the year again. The time that reminds the cricket fans of
the start of a new cricket season in Japan.
The Kanto Cricket League AGM will be held on Sunday 17th February at the
Restaurant Nawab, Nihonbashi, to elect a new Administration to oversee the new
season. Usually, the AGM would see a report of the previous season, income and
expense statement, form groups of teams, if required, and elect a new Committee.
The KCL this year is likely to be boosted by at least three new teams. The KCL
Committee encourages all teams wishing to play in the KCL in 2008 to send at
least one representative to the meeting.
LACHLAN Murdoch has beaten a long list of celebrity bidders to emerge as the
mystery
buyer of an Indian Premier League cricket franchise - the Jaipur franchise in
the
Twenty20 Premier League for $US76 million for the team – the lowest price of all
franchises. Murdoch beat many celebrity bidders to the sale, including a joint
bid from Peter Holmes a Court and Russell Crowe. India’s richest man Mukesh
Ambani paid $US127 million for his Mumbai team, the highest of all franchise.
Murdoch joins a high-profile list of Premier League franchise owners, with
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan a part owner of the $US75 million Kolkata team
(Kolkata Red Chillies), and leading lady Preity Zinta a part-owner of the Mohali
franchise. Murdoch's partner, the UK-based Emerging Media, feels it will break
even only in the third year of the league.
Editor: Here is good link to IPL's money flow: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Indian_cricket_gets_auctioned_for_whopping_718_mn/articleshow/2728891.cms
###
Former Zimbabwe Test player Mark Vermeulen admitted today that he set fire to
the Zimbabwe cricket headquarters - and blamed it on being hit by a ball while
playing in Australia.
###
Legendary English umpire Dickie Bird believes Steve Bucknor has gone on too
long and it's now time for him to retire from international cricket. But West
Indian great Clive Lloyd and South Africa coach Mickey Arthur have come out
in support of Bucknor and criticised the ICC for dumping him. "When you get
to that age ... I have said to Steve, 'Don't go on too long, get out while
you are still respected'. I think he has gone on too long,'' said Bird. "If
they (India) feel that an umpire is not up to I think they have the right to
say so. That is my view of it". Lloyd, however, felt it was silly. "That's
just silly, you can't do that,'' said Lloyd. "Does that mean when anybody
says they don't want a particular umpire we're going to move them?, he asked.
"If we don't like a particular umpire can we also have him removed?'' Arthur
asked.
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Former England captain Tony Greig attacked Ricky Ponting's double standards
saying, "Ponting got an edge down the leg side and was out (but didn't walk).
Then he got a bad decision for an lbw and carried on about it. There are double
standards. At the same time Ponting is trying to persuade opposition captains
to take his word on catches.They're all over the place".
###
Peter Roebuck's provocative column in the Sydney Morning Herlad questioning
Ricky Ponting's captaincy was one of the most read sporting stories of all
time on their website, with more than 552,000 individual page impressions.
An online poll accompanying the story had attracted more than 82,000 votes -
60 per cent of whom agreed with Roebuck. Suggestions the voting had been
dominated by Indians outraged by the treatment of their team were off the
mark. smh.com.au revealed that only 5.2 per cent of readers on that day were
from India; two-thirds were from Australia. The results suggest many in
Australia feel uncomfortable about the team's conduct, Sydney Morning Herlad
reported.
###
"India's stunning performance in the third Test at the WACA should be dedicated
to a lot more than the 11 players out on the field," a report in the 'Courier
Mail' said. "They should share their pay cheques with their bullying officials
back home, the weak-kneed administrators at the International Cricket Council
and certain members of the media who have taken every opportunity to put the
knife into the Aussies since this series began," Mike Colman wrote in the daily.
"In the space of a week the Australians got civilised...So instead of a
confident,
arrogant, winning team, we get a nice, civilised one. Maybe a losing one," he
added.
###
Since 1991-92, India and Australia have met 21 times in Test cricket; the
numbers
now stand at 10-8 in Australia's favour. In the corresponding period Australia's
record stands at 27-9 against England, 12-2 against Pakistan, 15-4 against South
Africa and 9-1 against Sri Lanka.
###
British Prime Minster Gordon Brown said he would like to see some of the great
players of the modern era — like Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne — be proposed
for honorary Knighthood.
###
Mike Procter now joins Steve Bucknor and Darrel Hair in that he is an immensely
experienced match official whose judgement has been severely discredited by his
own employers. The ICC owes Procter, and umpires Bucknor and Benson, a thorough
explanation of why their original verdict has been overturned - The Guradian of
the U.K
###
Around Australia, most notably among an older generation and the professional
elite in the big cities, there was a sense of guilt. The personal abuse that
Cricket Australia habitually justifies as hardened professionalism had gone
too far - The Guradian of the U.K
###
The BCCI described the Australian media's attack on the 'reprieve' to Harbhajan
Singh in the racial abuse case as "demeaning and insulting" to the office of the
appeals commissioner. "As far as BCCI is concerned we went according to the
ruling
of the ICC. The ICC had appointed Appeals Commissioner Justice John Hansen who
is
a respected High Court judge in New Zealand. So to find fault and criticise his
decision is demeaning and insulting to the office of the Appeals Commissioner",
BCCI Chief Administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said.
###
Source: Various web and print media
Japan's Nagoya C.C won the Plate final of the Icor Ichor International Hong
Kong Cricket Festival 2007 held in December last year while the Tokyo
Instrumentalists, a social team founded by David Todd and Mark Ferris, both of
the YC&AC, were the Spoon Champions. The Cup Champions were the Shanghai Dragons
(China). Raja Akram of Nagoya was declared the Player of the Plate Final and Raz
of Tokyo Instrumentalists won the Player of the Spoon Final award.
Adam Hollioake, the former captain of England and Surrey, was the star player of
the tournament.
The Festival is part of the Asian Cricket Sixes Tour (www.cricketsixes.com), the
series of club cricket events in Asia which includes tournaments in Shanghai,
Chiang Mai and Phuket. 22 teams were represented last year(18 men's team and 4
Women's) of which 3 were from Japan. The 3rd team from Japan was the KRAC of
Kobe, who lost in the quarters of the first division.
The Vanuatu Cricket Association have won the coveted award for “Best Overall Cricket Development Program” of the The ICC East Asia - Pacific Regional Development Program Awards for 2007, outlining their achievements in ongoing improvement in developing junior and women’s cricket and their willingness to involve the disabled in cricket programs. Vanuatu also took out “Photo of the Year”, capturing the joy of a young disabled woman playing cricket for the first time.
Japan Cricket Association’s (JCA) Kenichiro Matsumura has won the Lifetime Service Award for his tireless and ongoing efforts in developing cricket throughout Japan. His achievements include establishing the JCA as an NPO legal entity, and then was the first President of the JCA subsequent to this. Kenichiro still delivers cricket clinics and coaching courses, and is actively involved in running junior cricket competitions in Fuji. In addition, Japan also won the award for “Best Women’s Cricket Initiative” for the team’s tour of Shanghai, participating in the Coca-Cola Shanghai International Cricket Sixes in September 2007.
Results as of January 31:
There is no movement in ranking last month.
Here is the list of the top 10 teams(last month's ranking in brackets):
1 Tokyo Giants (1)
2 Friends (2)
3 Tokyo Wombats (3)
4 Wyverns (4)
5 Kansai Fighters (5)
6 Al Karam (6)
7 Osaka Bulldogs (7)
8 Gunma XI (8)
9 Myoden (9)
10 KRAC (10)
See the full list here.
Here is the last poll result:
Do you consider cricket a gentleman's game any more?
Yes 50%
No 33%
Not sure 17%
Take the new poll:
Many believe that the Australians copped with the flak for their behaviour in
Sydney as much as they did simply because it was Australia. Had it been between
India and any other country, that country wouldn't have had to cop with the flak
as much as the Australians did. Do you agree?
I liked the new addition to dictionary section in the last issue. Very funny!
- Bobby Philips
It was sad, but it simply had to happen
What did Harbhajan tell Symonds?
This is how Harbhajan escaped the ban
Note: Beginning the Issue #39 (May 6, '04), we bring you some interesting snippets from the cricket world, to celebrate the fourth anniversary this Newsletter and first anniversary of our popular "Trivial Facts" series. The same will be published on the front page of our website too.
"Sunil Gavaskar is a bomb-thrower and bomb-defuser put into one" - Gideon Haigh on Cricinfo.
1. Andy Lloyd of England has the distinction of being the only player to open
in a Test and never be out. He opened against West Indies in 1984 and
half-an-hour into his first innings, he ducked into a bouncer from Malcolm
Marshall and was led off, suffering from double vision. He remained there for
the rest of the match, and was never picked up again for a Test.
2. Sunil Gavaskar was reported to have been inadvertently involved in a
baby-swapping incident soon after his birth when baby Gavaskar was found
sleeping peacefully in a crib alongside a fisherwoman.
That's all in this edition!