Friday, October 5, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
T20 organisers ditch water after players get bug
A local drinking water supplier strongly defended its product on Tuesday even as World Twenty20 organisers jettisoned their bottled water after several players, including Australia's Mitchell Starc and Brad Hogg, went down with stomach flu.
LAUGFS Aqua System said they had asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for samples of suspect bottles of water, but got no immediate response except a statement that their product was off the table.
"We have done our own tests and confirmed that there is nothing wrong with our water," LAUGFS general manager Chaminda Wijesinghe said.
"We asked the ICC to give us water samples but we have got no response yet."
He said players and officials may also have consumed bottles from other suppliers rather than LAUGFS mineral water while staying at Sri Lankan hotels.
"We don't know what caused the problem but I can tell you it is not our water," Wijesinghe said. "I am drinking it all the time."
Several players from New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa and Australia have reportedly been treated for stomach bugs since their arrival in Sri Lanka, with Kiwi Tim Southee even requiring hospital treatment for dehydration.
An ICC spokesman said on Monday that the brand of bottled water used by players and officials had been replaced.
Players were supplied with a locally-produced American branded mineral water during training on Tuesday.
Since last Thursday, there had been no reports of any player coming down with stomach flu.
"Although there is no evidence to suggest that water was the cause of any illness, the product supplied for use in the tournament has been replaced," the spokesman for tournament organisers said.
A Sri Lankan source connected with the tournament said public health inspectors had checked the food given to the players and found nothing untoward.
"If an entire team, or at least a majority, go down, we can understand that there is something wrong with the food and beverages department," the source said. "Just a few players have been affected."
No official complaints had been lodged by any of the teams, he added.
Among players who went down with gastro trouble over the past two weeks were New Zealand's Daniel Vettori, Mitchell Starc and Brad Hogg of Australia, and Paul Stirling and George Dockrell of Ireland.
The 12-nation tournament, Sri Lanka's biggest sporting event, opened on September 18 and runs until October 7.
AFP
Tags: sport, cricket, sri-lanka, australia First posted September 25, 2012 21:36:26Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Players initiated fixing deal, court hears
Explosive claims about corruption in Pakistan's cricket team stunned a London courtroom on Wednesday as three guilty players and their agent spoke out on each other's roles as they awaited sentence.
Judge Jeremy Cooke was due to pass sentence on Pakistan's former Test captain Salman Butt, fast bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, plus their agent Mazhar Majeed, whose guilty pleas can now be reported.
They could each be jailed for up to seven years for conspiring to accept corrupt payments and up to two years for conspiring to cheat by arranging deliberate no-balls in a case that has rocked a sport rooted in ideals of fair play.
With the four stood in the dock, their lawyers sent claims and counter-claims flying across the packed court four at Southwark Crown Court.
Butt, 27, whose second child was born on Tuesday just 30 minutes before he was found guilty, watched as his lawyer said he admitted his career was over and he stood to lose his family.
The lawyer for Majeed, 36, pleaded in mitigation - a submission which included a string of extraordinary claims about what was going on within the Pakistan team.
Accepting that his client was facing jail, he told the court of the agent's frustration at the "lies" the jury had heard from the defendants, the BBC reported.
The lawyer said Butt had approached Majeed in 2009 to get involved in fixing and that Butt and another player, who is not among the three in the dock, had taken him to a meal in March 2010 to push him into fixing.
He said Majeed was introduced to a mysterious bookmaker called Sanjay, who was running the racket.
Majeed claimed that of the $233,000 he received from an undercover newspaper reporter with the News of the World tabloid, Asif got $101,000 and Butt $15,500.
The judge then heard that Asif was given such a huge amount to keep him from joining another fixing racket.
Lawyers for Butt and Asif dismissed the claims about the sums of cash.
Justice Cooke also dismissed claims that Aamer was only involved in one episode of spot-fixing.
He said that text messages sent from murky contacts in Pakistan suggested that the talented youngster was also implicated in fixing during the preceding Test at The Oval.
Aamer claimed he was being leant upon and feared for his future in national side if he did not take part in the conspiracy.
"I refuse to accept that basis of plea on the material I have seen," Justice Cooke said.
"There are certainly texts and the like which suggest that Aamer's first and only involvement was not limited to Lord's, it was not an isolated and one-off event."
Amir offered a heartfelt apology during the sentence hearing.
"I want to apologise to all in Pakistan and all others to whom cricket is important...The best day of my life was when selected by Pakistan. I was given my shirt the night before. I stood for hours wearing it in front of the mirror," he said.
"I would have worn it all night but I didn't want to ruin it. I want to apologise for not pleading guilty before. I wish I had had the courage to do it earlier. I did the wrong thing. I was trapped, because of my stupidity. I panicked."
Meanwhile former Pakistan captains urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to act immediately to save future players from corruption.
"We desperately need to save our future generations after what happened to Butt, Asif and Aamer," Rashid Latif, who blew the whistle on match-fixing in 1995.
"We have not done enough in the past and that's what we are paying for."
Fellow former skipper Aamer Sohail said the PCB had to be more pro-active.
"The PCB should have played a more pro-active role last year... brought the players back to Pakistan immediately and tried them under our code of conduct," he said.
The case continues.
AFP
Tags: cricket, sport, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, england, united-kingdom, pakistan First posted November 03, 2011 07:44:56Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Big Bash players set for open market
Cricket Australia (CA) says players have from Thursday until July 22 to find a contract with teams, which are allowed two overseas cricketers each.
"Team salary caps and minimum player retainers will be announced (on) June 29 after the state contracting process has ended," CA said on Monday in a statement.
Each Twenty20 outfit must contract a minimum of 14 players during the 23-day player contracting window, with final 18-man squads submitted by December.
"Contracting will be conducted under a free agency player allocation model," CA said.
"Teams and players can negotiate with each other as they choose, within the defined salary cap."
Overseas players can be replaced during the event with up to two other overseas players, in the event of injury or international duties.
-AAP
Tags: sport, cricket, twenty20, australiaSaturday, May 21, 2011
Test Cricket Is Always Appreciated By Fans And Players Alike
Since the existence of the game, test cricket has always been played and esteemed by the players. It is considered as one of the best cricket in the world of cricket. Test cricket is the traditional from of cricket that has always been well-liked by many people. During the early period of cricket when there were very people who knew about cricket, then only test matches were played. This form of cricket is played for many days. The transformation to playing from test matches to one day matches started at a much later period. Today also the players are very fond of playing test matches. They find extreme pleasure in playing for the test matches. They are able to show their best performances through this game.
It is said that old is gold and so the same case applies in test cricket. Traditional things always their own importance in any aspect and it never diminish and the same applies to test cricket. Almost every player who is playing at the international level is anytime willing to play test cricket as well as one day internationals. There are many players who have played one day cricket but are yet to make their debut in the test cricket. Every player dreams of playing test cricket for his country. But it is also known that all players do not have that aptitude to play in test cricket. It needs extra effort and talent to play for the test cricket. A player is able to show his abilities through this game. The fans are always fanatic about to watch any form of cricket. They just need a game of cricket no matters what type of cricket is being played.
Test cricket has made many players outshine in their career. They have got big boost in their career through test cricket. It has helped many crickets to make records that are still remembered in the history. There are some people who do not like this form of cricket as it takes a lot of time and so they feel boring. They somewhere miss the thrills and action that attracts a lot of people towards itself. But there are still many people who love to watch test cricket. In the game of test cricket both the teams get equivalent chance to show their proficiency and prove their potential within a period time. After the toss, the team that wins decides whether to bowl first or bat first in the game. The captain of the team has to consider certain factors that makes him to decide if his team will bat or bowl first.
Generally, in the game of test cricket the team that wins the toss opts to bat first but sometimes it happens that the situation gets reversed. A cricket fanatic can get any information related to cricket on the web.Today, it has become one of the easiest accessible medium to know all about cricket at any time. You can get all the past information as well. There are special tv channels that telecast only about cricket. They also happen to discuss about world records, best performance of the players and the teams and much more about cricket. You can catch the live glimpse of cricket on the sports channel and if you happen to miss it due to some reason. Then no need to worry as the sports channel also replay the matches.
Ella Wilson is a cricket fanatic. She simply loves the game and tries to catch live action no matter where she is.At Stickiewicket she works on Online cricket score,test cricket,live cricket score, and cricket world cup among other things.You can see her works at http://www.stickiewicket.com
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Sri Lanka recalls players from IPL
Sri Lanka's sports authority has ordered its cricketers playing in the ongoing Indian Premier League to return home for training ahead of next month's tour of England.
Sports Minister Mahinadananda Althugamage said he wanted team members to prioritise the national side over the IPL, which is financially lucrative for players.
"In future, national cricket players can participate in foreign tournaments only in a manner that will not affect practices of the Sri Lankan national team," the ministry said in a statement.
It said those who are selected for the three-Test series in England will have to return home for practices despite their commitments in the ongoing IPL Twenty20 tournament.
Former skipper Kumar Sangakkara and his deputy Mahela Jayawardene are among 11 Sri Lankan national players in the IPL and at least five of them are tipped to be included in the squad for England.
The statement did not say how the players will be penalised if they did not attend practices as required under a new sports ministry decree, but official sources said they were likely to be dropped if they did not comply.
Sri Lanka cricket has seen a spate of resignations following the side's defeat in the World Cup final against India earlier this month.
-AFP