WICB working on launching 'commercial T20 league' - Hilaire

Ernest Hilaire, the outgoing chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), has revealed that a "commercial Twenty20" league in the Caribbean is in the works. Hilaire's term comes to an end on September 30, but he said he would like to leave having finalised the deal, which was being supported by an unnamed investor.

"We're in the advanced stages of discussions to have a commercial Twenty20 league in the region and I have been leading the negotiations on that. We're very close to completing the negotiations. I would like to complete that whole process before I move on," Hilaire said in an interview with the Antigua-basedObserver Radio. "We are in discussions with an investor. Once we have an understanding, we can move forward with it."

Hilaire did not elaborate on the exact structure of the Twenty20 league and if it would be a mirror image of other popular domestic leagues like the IPL. He did make it clear though that the existing Caribbean Twenty20 will be played next year. "We will be having the Caribbean Twenty20 in January as scheduled. The board will meet next week and make some decisions on its structure and how it will be organised."

On September 14, the WICB directors are scheduled to meet to discuss the governance structure of the board. Hilaire said the board would also discuss the planned T20 league and finalise its structure. He would be bringing on board both the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) to discuss issues pertaining to players, he said, to make sure there were no hurdles. "We will need to speak to WIPA and FICA, and other stakeholders, to make sure everybody is on board."

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Lampard praises young midfielders

Frank Lampard has hailed youngsters Tom Cleverley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after England’s 5-0 win against Moldova.

The 34-year-old, who scored the country’s opening two goals, believes the impact and influence from the inexperienced pair was equal to that of a player beyond their years and that they were integral to England’s control over the game.

“Tom played with such intelligence in midfield, he’s a pleasure to play with and at such a young age he’s going to be right in the middle of the team for many years to come,” Lampard told the Football Association’s official website.

“And Alex was brilliant. He lit up the first half with his injection of pace and running with the ball. It’s great to see exciting young players like that playing for England.”

Lampard did, however, concede that there is room for enhancement in the squad, which he hopes will be displayed during the second qualifier against Ukraine on Tuesday.

“We will try and improve,” he said.

“Whenever we play, even if we play pretty well, we always look for areas to improve. I think we took our foot off the pedal at times in the second half, and maybe that’s natural when you are 3-0 up with another game in a couple of days.

“But we need to keep a high level for 90 minutes on Tuesday and try to win against Ukraine.”

Cleverley made his competitive debut for England – after a run-out against Italy in the August friendly – and the Manchester United man was humble with his post-match thoughts.

“The win is the most important thing and 5-0 away from home anywhere is a good result,” he said

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Teams seek World Twenty20 edge

We've been here before: England's seemingly-quite-resistible force against South Africa's immovable Hashim Amla. This time the tourists are the No. 1-ranked side going into the series, however, andEngland are merely the reigning World Twenty20 champions. Both have solid records from sporadic outings in the shortest form this year and both will be looking to nail down their plans for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, which starts in less than two weeks' time.

For England, it means a change in captain and Stuart Broad will aim to become the first of the now-defunct triumvirate to hand South Africa a series defeat. Andrew Strauss retired from cricket after his side were steamrollered in the Tests, though Alastair Cookdid marginally better, clinging on to the one-day top ranking and gaining a promotion into the bargain. Broad will probably settle for a trio of consistent performances from the squad, as well as the avoidance of injury.

There is no respite for AB de Villiers, who had the wicketkeeping gloves thrust upon him at the start of the Test series and now continues to balance his own personal three-for in the T20s as captain, batsman and keeper. After two months away from home and with one eye on the subcontinent, he will need all his powers of multitasking and compartmentalisation to help drag his team towards the finish line.

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Yuvraj centre of attention in opening T20

Yuvraj Singh is no stranger to attention. On Saturday, when he walks down the pavilion steps at Visakhapatnam (provided he is picked), he can expect the kind of standing ovation and cheers normally reserved for Sachin Tendulkar at grounds all over the world. His faster-than-expected return from germ cell cancer is an inspiration to millions and even if his contributions turn out to be underwhelming, his team-mates will savour his return to the dressing room.

Yuvraj has had no serious match practice, but those who've watched him train remarked that he was hitting the ball as hard as ever. His inclusion in the squad show that the selectors and team management value his presence, even with strings attached. he has just two games before the World Twenty20 later this month to prove that his selection was inspired. The danger, though, is that the hype will overawe the match itself, and India's captain MS Dhoni made a plea not to let Yuvraj's return distract the team.

India will have had played six Twenty20 games this year before leaving for Sri Lanka. New Zealand on the other hand have been the busiest, having already played seven in 2012. While teams look to stack their calendar with matches in a World T20 year, India's previous bilateral series, in Sri Lanka, included just one Twenty20 (following a five-ODI series). India, curiously, have never been involved in a bilateral series featuring more than two games. This series will only be their fifth bilateral series, out of 14, involving two games. Fortunately for India, most of the players picked for this series and the World T20 are regulars in the one-day squad, so they understand each other's game well.

Despite packing their international schedule with Twenty20s, New Zealand have slumped, and are coming off four consecutive defeats, against South Africa and a resurgent West Indies. It didn't help that their most recent games, in Florida, were heavy losses (56 and 61 runs respectively), with injuries hampering their plans. They will be boosted by the return of Daniel Vettori from injury and he will at least be an asset with his containing role, even if he doesn't pick up wickets. Having run India close in the Bangalore Test, they will begin this series feeling more confident. Now with a fitter squad, they will begin their preparation for the World T20 with games against three tough opponents - India, Australia and South Africa (the last two part of the warm-ups in Sri Lanka).

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Pietersen not awarded central contract

Kevin Pietersen is notable by his absence from the list of players awarded central contracts for the 2012-13 season by the ECB.

Pietersen has been left out of the England team since the Leeds Test against South Africa following the revelation that he sent messages containing derogatory remarks about the England captain, Andrew Strauss, to members of the South Africa touring squad. It later emerged that Pietersen's relationship with several members of the England squad had deteriorated to an unhealthy level.

In releasing a statement containing the names of the ten centrally contracted players, the ECB said: "In respect to Kevin Pietersen discussions are ongoing and they remain private." It is understood that Andy Flower, the England coach, and Pietersen met last weekend, but that there is some way to go before a resolution to the issue is found.

While the ECB can add to the list of centrally contracted players at any point, time is running out before the Test squad to India is announced. The ECB originally hoped to announce the squad before the team depart for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in about a week's time, though they could delay it to allow Pietersen and Flower to continue their discussions during the tournament. Pietersen is due to be in Sri Lanka working for ESPN STAR as a summariser.

There is also some doubt as to Pietersen's desire to sign a central contract. While he recently reaffirmed his commitment to England in all forms of cricket, not signing a central contract would allow him to perform in the whole IPL and other T20 leagues such as Australia's BBL. It is also understood that Pietersen remains underwhelmed about the parody Twitter account that he feels may have been more directly influenced by some England team-mates than is thought by the ECB.

Chris Tremlett, who has been injured for almost the entire season and Strauss, who has retired, are also omitted from the list of players awarded contracts last year.

Eoin Morgan retains a central contract despite having not featured in the Test side since the series against Pakistan in the UAE, while Graham Onions is the one player added to the list of those players awarded incremental contracts. Morgan's inclusion may also provide encouragement to him ahead of the announcement of the Test squad to India.

Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: "Congratulations to Graham Onions who is the one addition to the list of players who have been awarded increment contracts and is in recognition of the effort he has put in since his return from injury in 2011 and an indication that we feel he has plenty to offer England in the coming months."

"Contracts are on-going recognition for those players who have regularly been selected for England and have performed consistently as well as players who we feel could play an important role for England over the next 12 months."

England central contracts James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Matt Prior (Sussex), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire)

England incremental contracts Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Craig Kieswetter (Somerset), Graham Onions (Durham)

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Pakistan take series after Super Over

Seldom has the fickleness of Twenty20 been more evident. Pakistan claimed the series against Australia, but did so in circumstances as far removed from the hiding dealt out in the first match as could be imagined. Mohammad Hafeez's team celebrated their victory in the minutes after midnight in Dubai, yet George Bailey's Australians could also take solace from a much-improved display.

Two days after being routed for 89 on the way to a seven-wicket hiding, Australia scrapped to an enthralling tie. They owed much to the captain George Bailey, who on his 30th birthday compiled the most critical and substantial innings of his T20 career to date, proving his worth as a batsman as well as a captain in the process.

But it would be Pakistan's players who were to be jubilant after the extra deliveries were completed. Umar Gul conceded only one boundary in his Super Over while claiming David Warner's wicket, and the 11 runs Pat Cummins had to defend were to prove too few, the teenager delivering a motley collection of short balls that betrayed the draining effect of the contest and offered meat and drink to Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq. It was unfair that Cummins be left the loser, for it was he who struck a mighty six to tie the match up.

Warner and Shane Watson had earlier given Australia a suitably quick start before the top order experienced their now familiar difficulties with the high-class spin bowling of Saeed Ajmal. After three overs he had the figures of 2-10, but Ajmal's last ball was to be crashed over the boundary by Bailey to ease the pressure on Australia's chase. Ten were required off the final over, bowled by Razzaq, and Pakistan were expectant when Bailey fell. Cummins conjured a stunning six from the penultimate ball to level the scores, before miscuing the final delivery for a simple catch to force the use of the Super Over.

Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed provided the spine of Pakistan's innings with a stand of 76, broken only by a superlative catch by Dan Christian, before Umar and Kamran Akmal hit out freely at the finish in a union of 46. Mitchell Starc bowled with swing, speed and economy on his T20I debut to follow up some fine 50-over efforts in Sharjah, but Brad Hogg endured a more difficult outing and was attacked with some relish by Pakistan's batsmen.

Warner has struggled for batting momentum at times on this trip, but he made a swift start to the chase, punching Hafeez's first ball for six and prospering against the pacemen in the company of Shane Watson. However he was to prove no closer to extricating himself from Ajmal's web, bowled in the off spinner's first over having tried unsuccessfully to switch-hit his first ball.

The wicket brought an immediate halt to Australia's momentum, the rate slipping from almost 10 to less than seven in a handful of balls. Michael Hussey and Watson rallied briefly, before Ajmal's reintroduction had the vice-captain sweeping fatally. When Cameron White was thrown out from backward point the next over, Pakistan sensed a series win.

However Bailey, on his birthday, summoned some telling blows off both spinners and pacemen, overcoming a nervy start to make his most meaningful batting contribution since he was named Australia's T20 captain at the start of the year. Michael and David Hussey both perished, but Bailey kept the equation within sight when he pulled Ajmal's final delivery for a towering six.

Bailey brought the equation down to 12 to win from nine balls with consecutive boundaries off Gul, before Matthew Wade was run out to keep Pakistan breathing. Their pulse strengthened with Bailey's exit, but Cummins forced the contest into extra balls.

Having lost the toss, Australia's opening bowlers found some new ball movement. Hafeez snicked and stroked 12 from the first over of the match, while also surviving a desperately tight LBW appeal to a sharp in-swinger. Starc showed the swing and speed that had made him man of the ODI series, swerving one through Imran Nazir second ball.

Hafeez and Jamshed then combined for a noteworthy partnership, which alternated between the considered and the cantankerous in terms of strokeplay. Jamshed was the beneficiary of an uncharacteristic dropped catch by Michael Hussey from the bowling of his brother David, and capitalised by taking to Hogg in his first overseas international since 2007.

Jamshed's stay was ended by a stupendous diving snare from Dan Christian, sprinting with the flight of the ball and sticking out a despairing hand, then finding with great delight after he landed that the ball had stuck.Watson turfed a less difficult chance from Hafeez off Starc, though he atoned for the error by having Pakistan's captain caught in the deep the following over.

The run-rate had hovered around seven, and helped by a steady diet of full tosses the brothers Akmal took it past 7.5 in the closing overs. Umar would be called on for an encore, as Pakistan enjoyed the right side of the nearest run thing many of them will have seen

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'Sri Lankan pitches have changed' - Sangakkara

 

Kumar Sangakkara has said that Sri Lanka will be one of the favourites at the upcoming World Twenty20, despite Sri Lanka's pitches having become less spin-friendly. Pitches at Pallekele and Hambantota - stadiums built for last year's World Cup - have suited seam bowling, while the relaid square at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo has also seen bounce and carry in the last year. No team breached 200 in the Sri Lanka Premier League played in Colombo and Pallekele in August and four of the top five wicket takers in the tournament were seam bowlers. 



"Our sides have changed a little bit," Sangakkara said. "We don't depend on spin alone anymore or just one fast bowler in Chaminda Vaas. We have different sets of fast bowlers and different sets of spinners. With the change in conditions our sides have changed, but home advantage is not only about wickets. It's about playing in your country, playing in front of the people who cheer and love you."



Sangakkara said the Premadasa pitch changed after the ground was renovated, and that winning the toss held no obvious advantage as it had once done. Fifteen of the 27 matches in the World Twenty20 will be played at the Premadasa, including both semi finals and the final. 



"When the wickets were relaid, in the first few games there was a lot of turn and now they've settled down into beautiful wickets where batting first or second you have an equal chance of winning. Batting under lights has become so much easier that some sides now prefer to chase," he said. 



The wickets at Pallekele and Hambantota also offer challenges not traditionally associated with Sri Lankan venues, Sangakkara said.

"Pallekele seems to have a lot in it at night. It seams and swings around and that will be an interesting challenge for us being a Sri Lankan side playing in our conditions to encounter those conditions. Hambantota is completely different. There is quite a strong wind from one side and the pitch can be a bit up and down. The vicious turn that [Sri Lankan pitches] used to have is no more, so sides have to adjust accordingly."



Sangakkara said that in addition to a home crowd that will give Sri Lanka "a massive advantage", the team's recent history of good performances at ICC events would also be a source of confidence. Since 2007, Sri Lanka have been runners up in successive World Cups, and were finalists in the 2009 World Twenty20 and semi finalists in the 2010 tournament.

"Sri Lanka have always been favourites in my view in any tournament that we play because we've been able to rise to those big occasions really well as a unit and adjust accordingly. If you take our last 4-5 years, it's been an amazing run in big tournaments. We just need to believe in ourselves and believe in that fact and keep playing."



Sangakkara missed the SLPL due to a fractured finger, but is expected to be fit for the World Twenty20 which starts on September 18. Sri Lanka play Zimbabwe in Hambantota in the tournament opener. South Africa is the other team in their group.

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New Odi Bowlers Ranking..

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Bailey floored by heavy defeat

Australia's captain George Bailey has admitted his side stands no chance of winning the World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka if their performances mirror a shattering first-up loss to Pakistan in the series in Dubai.

The seven-wicket hiding was Australia's heaviest in terms of balls to spare for the chasing team, after Bailey's men were shot out for a measly 89, their lowest total since England rolled Ricky Ponting's team for 79 in only their second T20I, at the Rose Bowl in 2005.

What's more, the Australians can now slip to 10th in the ICC's T20 rankings before the global event begins. Should Pakistan sweep the series - a possibility given the lopsidedness of the opening match - then Bailey's team will line-up for their tournament opener ranked below their opponents Ireland.

"I'm very disappointed and there's plenty to go away and work on," Bailey said. "You don't ever want to be setting those sorts of records. But in terms of the group we've got together and what we're capable of, it certainly hasn't altered my thoughts that we can still be a very good team.

"I still think we can win it. Definitely. Absolutely. I certainly don't think we'd win if we played like we did today. It's hopefully just a bad performance and one that you won't see again. Even if we gained a tiny bit of momentum, we gave it back by losing a wicket."

The poverty of Australia's batting was stark, unable to hit a six in the innings and striking only three boundaries. Bailey agreed that the top five had to do far, far better in future and put the match down as an experience that had to be learned from, particularly given the sorts of slow, spinning pitches also likely to be seen in the World T20 in Sri Lanka.

"Twenty20, all the stats we look at, you want your top four or five batsmen batting most of the innings," Bailey said. "So to be four down at the seven or eight over mark, we were certainly behind the game. We learned a lot about the wicket, but we already knew that Pakistan were going to be very competitive in this format, and that played very well."

Despite all players having taken part in the pre-season camp in Darwin where spin was a major consideration, and most then having the benefit of the ODI series against Pakistan in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, Australia's efforts against the spinners were particularly poor. Bailey admitted improvements had to be made to what he described as a "real key" to the team's chances.

"The spinners are outstanding, and on the back of the one-day tournament the spinners were certainly the key to their bowling and our quicks were probably the key to ours," he said. "So it's a work in progress, it's going to be a real key the way we play spin and the way we play spin heading into the World Cup too, so we're working on it.

"In terms of the World Cup there's no better practice than playing against the world class spinners that Pakistan have in these three games."

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Pakistan could boycott ICC awards over Ajmal omission

 

 PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has reopened the debate surrounding Saeed Ajmal's exclusion from the ICC awards shortlists by hinting that Pakistan's players could boycott the awards function, to be held in Colombo on September 15, as a "robust protest". The ICC, responding to the PCB's protest on Monday, had ruled out a rethink and the matter seemed to have ended there.

However, Ashraf's comments, made during an interview to ESPNcricinfo, suggest the issue is still alive for Pakistan. "We are facing a lot of pressure from the public and from our former players to push for his inclusion," Ashraf said. "I think the ICC should check whether the independent jury is coming up with the best name and they should not give away the due right of any player in the world.

"If anyone else has more wickets than Ajmal, then we are ready to withdraw our concern and instead we will support their pick. But this isn't reflecting well of the ICC and they should rectify it.

"Meanwhile we probably have to give a second thought to even boycott the function as a robust protest."

Ajmal was in the longlist for the award this year but missed out when an independent 32-member jury, that included former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail and Pakistan journalist Majid Bhatti nominated Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander, Australia captain Michael Clarke and South Africa opener Hashim Amla for Test Cricketer of the Year.

Ajmal, 34, took 72 Test wickets between August 4, 2011 and August 6, 2012 - the qualifying period for the award - including 24 at 14.70 as Pakistan swept aside England, the then No. 1 side in the world, 3-0 in January. He has climbed to No. 3 in the ICC Test bowling rankings and is the highest ranked spinner.

After the PCB lodged the protest, the ICC refused to reconsider Ajmal's case, saying it had no authority to change the results of the academy. The process was monitored by the independent auditor Ernst & Young, and the longlist was prepared by a five-member Selection Panel headed by Clive Lloyd and included Clare Connor (England), Tom Moody (Australia), Carl Hooper (West Indies) and Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka)

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