Murali joins Victoria for Big Bash

Legendary off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has signed a contract with Australian domestic side Victoria Bushrangers to represent them as an overseas player in the 2009-10 Big Bash Twenty20 tournament. The Melbourne Cricket Ground famous for the throwing incident involving umpire Darrell Hair and Muralitharan is the home ground for Victoria and this deal will mark Murali’s return to the ground as a ‘home’ player.

Murali is now the second overseas player after Dwayne Bravo to sign up for Victoria and with this the team has filled it maximum limit of overseas signings. Murali will also be the second Sri Lankan spinner after Ajantha Mendis to sign for an Australian domestic side.

“What a thrill it will be to play in front of a ‘home’ crowd at the mighty MCG, representing Victoria in a strong competition. It’s an exciting prospect and a great honor, and I look forward to playing my part in the Bushrangers team and hopefully entertaining Victorian and Australian fans. Shane Warne and I share the honor of having a trophy that bears our names, and I’m delighted to be following in his footsteps as a Victorian spinner,” Murali said.

Victoria coach David Shipperd said, “It could be an all-spin attack because really we’ve got Hodge, Hussey and White, Murali and also Holland and McGain. Across the competition Australian batsmen have shown some weakness in the past to spin. My business is about developing players, and this decision has not been taken lightly. And it has been taken with the view that there are 53 days of first-class cricket in the Australian calendar year and this represents only five of those. We think that the interaction of him and others over that five- to seven-game period still allows plenty of time for players to develop in all forms of the game.”

Recently Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi turned down the offer from Tasmania while other overseas players to take part in Big Bash Twenty20 are Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle.

Maharoof leaves Delhi Daredevils

Dirk Nannes, the left-arm fast bowler from Australia has decided to represent his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Daredevils in the Champions League whereas Sri Lankan Farveez Maharoof has decided otherwise. The all-rounder will play for his home side Wayamba, the only team representing Sri Lanka in the 12 team event.

Nannes who hogged the limelight during IPL 2009 with his fiery performance, got a big breakthrough in to international cricket when he represented Netherlands in the World Twenty20 because of his Dutch passport. However, after Australia’s first round exit in World Twenty20 tournament, the Australian selectors have named Nannes, who represents Australian domestic team Victoria Bushrangers, in their national T20 squad that will play England in the upcoming 2-match series.

The decision by Nannes means that team Delhi has to shed USD 200,000 to Victoria for Nannes’s services. On the other hand, Maharoof said the decision to choose between Delhi and Wayamba was a difficult one. “Choosing between Wayamba and Delhi was one of the hardest decisions of my career, but in the end I felt Wayamba was representing Sri Lanka in the Champions League and therefore it was my national duty to play for them,” Maharoof said.

“The decision was difficult because I have really enjoyed playing for Delhi in the past two years during the Indian Premier League and the franchise has looked after me and always been really supportive,” he added.

Earlier South African Herschelle Gibbs opted to play for his home team Cape Cobras instead of his IPL team Deccan Chargers, after he was named in the provisional 20-member Cobra squad. However, West Indian Dwayne Smith who’s both away teams – Deccan Chargers and English county team Sussex – have qualified has decided to play for Sussex. Similarly New Zealander Brendon McCullum will play for his home team Otago while his away team New South Wales has also qualified for the tournament.

The others who qualified for multiple teams are Australians Nathan Bracken, David Warner, Cameron White and Andrew McDonald are yet to decide their teams that they are willing to play for.

Deccan Chargers lose Smith too

Dwayne Smith, the West Indian all-rounder, has decided to represent English county team, Sussex, over his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Deccan Chargers, in the upcoming Champions League held in India.  Smith becomes the second player after South African Herschelle Gibbs to opt for an alternative to the Chargers. However Gibbs will be playing for his home side Cape Cobras whereas Smith is an overseas player for Sussex.

Sussex emerged the winner in England’s domestic Twenty20 tournament that concluded earlier this month. The other team to qualify from England is Somerset. Sussex is also upbeat about availability of Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, whose IPL team Kings XI Punjab failed to qualify for the tournament. On the dark side, Murray Goodwin, the team’s mainstay in the batting order cannot take part due to his ties with rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).

With Smith and Gibbs opting out of Deccan Chargers, the IPL Champions are in further trouble as their vice-captain Rohit Sharma injured his shoulder in a domestic tournament a couple of days ago is in danger of missing out the tournament. While Deccan is losing out on players with international experience, Sussex has eight players with experience at the highest level.  Mark Robinson, Sussex coach said, “This is a great chance for us to pit our wits against the world’s best. It will be a great challenge for what is still quite a young squad. It will be a test of the squad’s mental and physical toughness and will be a fantastic learning curve for the whole side.”

Sussex is grouped with Australia’s New South Wales and South Africa’s Diamond Eagles in Group B. the team is slated to play both their league matches in Delhi’s Feroshah Kotla stadium on October 11 and 13 and will move on to Hyderabad for their next round. Sussex captain Mike Yardy said, “It’s a fantastic honor to be the first club captain to take Sussex to an international competition. We’ve got a strong squad that should suit Indian conditions and we’re all very excited about this great opportunity.”

Sussex Squad: Mike Yardy (Captain), Rageeb Aga, Yasir Arafat, Will Beer, Ben Brown (Wk), Piyush Chawla, Joe Gatting, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Andrew Hodd (Wk), Chris Hopkinson, Ed Joyce, Chad Keegan, James Kirtley, Chris Liddle, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Chris Nash, Matt Prior (Wk), Ollie Rayner, Dwayne Smith, Luke Wright

Murali is throwing the ball: Richardson

Former New Zealand player Mark Richardson joined the list of critics across the world who has questioned Muttiah Muralitharan’s bowling action. Richardson is now a part of the commentary team that is covering the Sri Lanka- New Zealand series in Sri Lanka. The former opener said, “Many of his deliveries may fall around the 15 degrees but, in my opinion, too many. In particular his faster deliveries appear well beyond it and since the introduction of the 15 degree allowance his action appears to have deteriorated.”

“I know he’s been tested, re-tested, tested again and cleared. And I know, with the special makeup of his limbs to the naked eye, his action looks worse than it is. But, for goodness sake, half of cricket is now not watched with the naked eye, thanks to the invention of super-slow-motion cameras, hot-spots, snicko and Hawkeyes. Many of the slow-motion replays I’ve seen of Murali have only strengthened my conviction he is exceeding the 15 degrees bending and straightening allowance. Is it not meant to be the other way round? Isn’t the hi-tech equipment meant to alleviate my fears?” he remarked.

Careful IPL schedule needed: Vaughan

New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan has said that the organizers of the Indian Premier League (IPL) should be careful about scheduling the tournament as many players are willing to skip their national assignments to play in cash-rich league.

Vaughan who is now in Chennai with New Zealand A side said, “IPL has come a long way and benefited cricketers worldwide. But in the process, a lot of players tend to play in all the matches due to obvious reasons.”

Recently former players Matthew Hayden, Shane Warne and Richard Hadlee have called for elimination of ODI cricket to accommodate more such leagues. However, Vaughan had a different opinion said elimination of ODIs is not the solution but to maintain the right balance between all three formats. “Cricket is lucky to have these many formats. Each and every formula has an essence of its own. Taking out ODI’s altogether is not a solution,” he said.

In response to the situation of players pulling out of national commitments, IPL organizers have said that no player would be allowed to take part in the league if he misses an official Test or ODIs with his national team. Recently six New Zealand cricketers including captain Daniel Vettori delayed in signing the national contracts sighting that the home series against Australia next year largely overlaps with the IPL. Earlier this year, Dwayne Smith skipped West Indies tour of England to take part in IPL held in South Africa.

Vaughan was also strongly against changes in the number of days Test cricket is played. “Why would anybody want it to be a four-day affair? There would be more drawn matches than results. After all, it’s Test cricket we are talking about where a player’s endurance is pushed to the limits in the course of five days.”

Selection powers for Vettori and Moles

Selection powers for Vettori and Moles

In a significant move to produce greater results on field, New Zealand cricket board has granted its captain Daniel Vettori and coach Andy Moles voting rights in the selection process. Until now the duo were involved in team selection only during the tours to select the playing eleven and not the squad.

Dion Nash who was one of the selectors has withdrawn from the panel citing personal reasons. Daniel Vettori and Andy Moles will join other two members with voting rights Glenn Turner and Mark Greatbatch. Renowned coach and former New Zealand opener John Wright will be the non-voting advisor of the panel, considering that he has to concentrate on his work as a high performance coach. Meanwhile, Wright has also shown interest for coaching job with an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders and also figures in the shortlisted candidates.

It is understood that after India’s tour of New Zealand, Moles approached the cricket board to express his view on he being a part of the selection panel to make sure the captain’s and his views are considered in building a winning unit.

On new appointments Justin Vaughan, the chief executive of New Zealand cricket said, “Andy and Dan see and work with our leading players constantly, and are directly accountable for team performance. Therefore we believe it is important they have a formal input into the selection process. Both captain and coach currently form our ‘on-tour’ selection panel, who select teams when the Blackcaps are playing.”

Many cricket playing countries involve the team’s captain and coach in the selection meetings. However, this will be the first time they will have a formal voting rights. Vaughan said, “Daniel is a strong and very able leader. He has vast international experience, and is absolutely committed to driving the team to improved performance. New Zealand Cricket has complete trust and confidence in Daniel Vettori being up to the task and we are convinced the team will benefit as a consequence.”

Pacers make a comeback for Champions Trophy

Australia’s Brett Lee and Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif are set to make a comeback to their respective national sides during the Champions Trophy in South Africa this September. Brett Lee who missed out the entire Ashes due to injury will be a relieved man, so will be Mohammad Asif whose one year ban for testing positive during the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) is coming to an end this September 22.

Australian selectors have shown faith in Michael Hussey by retaining him for the tournament; however his brother David has been shown the door along with Marcus North and Doug Bollinger who were part of the team that played Pakistan in UAE.

For Pakistan the surprise omission of all-rounder Abdul Razzaq is puzzling considering that he played a vital role in team’s victorious campaign in the ICC World Twenty20. Fast bowler Naveed-ul-Hasan Rana and opener Imran Nasir gets a look in whereas Pakistan’s regular opening batsman in the last one year Salman Butt has been dropped after drastic dip in form and confidence. 19-year old Umar Akmal, Kamran’s brother who impressed in the recent ODI series against Sri Lanka retains his place in the side.

On team selection, Iqbal Quasim, Pakistan’s chief selector said, “Asif is back after he satisfied with his fitness and this is the best possible team for an event which is regarded as the toughest of all the events as the world’s top eight teams compete in it. We had a tie between Razzaq and Naved-ul Hasan when it came to selecting an all-rounder, so the best one was picked. It was not a case of Razzaq not performing well.”

Host South Africa has also announced its squad for the tournament that includes Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Robin Peterson.

Australia squad: Ricky Ponting (Captain), Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin (Wk) Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson and Cameron White

Pakistan Squad: Younis Khan (Captain), Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal (Wk), Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar and Saeed Ajmal

South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (Captain), Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher (Wk), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Roelof van der Merwe

Reeve running in for Kolkata job

Former England all-rounder Dermot Reeve has made it to the shortlist of candidates for the Knight Riders coaching job, as the owners of Kolkata Knight Riders are looking for a coach with hands on Twenty20 coaching experience. This along with the position as a national selector for New Zealand has made favorite John Wright’s claims for the post a little difficult though it is believed that Wright has the backing of team’s icon player Sourav Ganguly.

It is also confirmed that Richard Pybus, who coached South African domestic side, Northern Titans, to title last year will meet owner Shah Rukh Khan at his residence for series of interviews. Other candidates running for the post will be Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach and Lalchand Rajput, the man in charge of the Indian team that won the Twenty20 world cup in 2007.

Pybus said he is in India only for a fact finding mission, “I hope to find out what they are looking for and to see whether that meets up with what I am looking for. It really is a fact-finding weekend from my side, and I can’t go further than that at this point.” The decision on coach and the captain is expected to be made by end of this month.

IPL asks franchises to deal directly with players

Indian Premier League (IPL) has directed all the franchises to deal directly with the players over their contracts and not through player agents in order to ensure clarity and preventing agents from misguiding players and franchises. The decision was taken after complaints from various franchises related to recruitment of a few ICL players.

“The rationale for this decision again was based on the problems being faced by cricketing boards around the world, where some agents have been responsible for misguiding players and the franchisees, with detrimental effects on global cricket. The league will only recognize as valid, contracts signed directly between the players and franchisees,” according to IPL reports.

The new rules are laid in process to streamline the player recruitment process and bring all players under one window. It is also believed that the sudden influx of ICL players is the main reason behind such a decision. The ICL players have a salary range of Rs 8 – 20 lakh.

The IPL release also said that the league would not recognize players signed outside the set guidelines. “The IPL has taken this stand based on complaints received from multiple quarters about individual franchisees tweaking the terms of conditions of signing up young and new players as per their convenience and were not part of the prescribed contract templates provided by the league.”

The league has also given all the franchise of August 25 deadline to submit the list of all contracted players after with the IPL player registry will be updated and will be released on August 27, the release said.

Gibbs in for Cobras

Cape Cobras got a big boost as Herschelle Gibbs decided not to represent Deccan Chargers in Champions League while another South African team Diamond Eagles has decided to go with a complete pace attack for the upcoming tournament in India. The decision from Gibbs will leave a big hole in Deccan’s line-up as the opening batsman played a prominent role in taking them to Indian Premier League (IPL) title earlier this year.

Cobras CEO Andre Odendaal said, “The Chargers confirmed over the weekend that Herschelle would not be in their squad and we are thrilled that a player of his pedigree will now be in the team.” However the move is set to cost Cobras USD 200,000 that they were about to receive from Deccan but Andre said, “t means a loss of potential income, but our first priority has always been to go to India to win.”

On the other hand, Eagles have named fast bowlers Dillon du Preez, Ryan McLaren, CJ de Villiers, Obus Pienaar and Charl Pietersen in their squad. Du Preez and Ryan McLaren have IPL experience with Royal Challenger’s Bangalore and Mumbai Indians respectively however they have been included in the squad. Eagles now await confirmation over Du Preez from his IPL franchise Bangalore on his availability.

South African captain Graeme Smith will lead Cobras in the tournament which also includes other international players in JP Duminy, Charl Langeveldt, Vernon Philander and Justin Ontong. Eagles are a young team will be lead by Boeta Dippenaar which also includes wicket-keeper Morne van Wyk and off-spinner Thandi Thshabalala with international experience.

Eagles coach Sarel Cilliers said, “We definitely put an emphasis on bowling in limited-overs matches and I believe they can win matches for us. The bowlers must put pressure on the batsmen and work as a unit.”

Cape Cobras Squad: Graeme Smith (Captain), Derek Brand, Ryan Canning, Henry Davids, JP Duminy, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Herschelle Gibbs, Claude Henderson, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Richard Levi, Carl Nieuwoudt, Justin Ontong, Vernon Philander, Francois Plaatjies, Andrew Puttick, Gurshwin Rabie, Leonard van Wyk, Stiaan van Zyl, Monde Zondeki

Diamond Eagles Squad: Boeta Dippenaar (Captain), Morne van Wyk (Wk), Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks, Ryan Bailey, Rilee Rossouw, Adrian McLaren, Dillon du Preez, CJ de Villiers, Jandre Coetzee, Ryan McLaren, Thandi Tshabalala, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Victor Mpitsang, Allan Kruger, Con de Lange, Charl Pietersen, Wendell Bossenger, Aubrey Swanepoel, Obus Pienaar

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