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I think Ian knew in his heart he was going to be here next year and I wasn’t worried for one minute. –Karl Robinson.
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Sunday, 30 June, 2013
Tampering allegations ‘unacceptable’: Bopara SPORTS DESK Ravi Bopara has described Bob Willis’ accusations of ball-tampering by England during the Champions trophy as “annoying, sad and depressing”. Willis, the former England captain, claimed England had been scratching the ball to promote reverse-swing during their defeat to sri Lanka at the oval. the England coach, ashley Giles, issued a firm denial at the time and now Bopara has also rubbished the allegation. “We were doing well in that tournament and i felt it was unacceptable to make that sort of noise,” Bopara told the London Evening standard. “it was annoying, sad and depressing, especially in the middle of a global competition. “When England are doing well, why does something negative have to come from it? Why not just get on the wave with England and enjoy it?” Willis, as a pundit on sky sports, claimed that an unnamed England player was scratching the ball after it was changed during the group match defeat to sri Lanka at the oval -
officially because it had gone out of shape. Willis said umpire aleem Dar was “on England’s case” after Dar and his colleague Billy Bowden had initiated a ball change that England appeared unhappy with. Bopara was often responsible for looking after the condition of the ball, so an allegation of tampering could be regarded as a personal slight. But the iCC saw no reason in the umpire’s report of the match for any investigation. England found great success with reverse swing during their victory over australia at Edgbaston - which George Bailey said he had been “very surprised” at - but struggled without any reverse movement against sri Lanka. it was conventional swing that aided them in victories over new Zealand at Cardiff and in the semifinal against south africa. “We’ve learned over the last 12-18 months that we need to look after the white ball as well as we do the red ball,” Bopara said. “We discussed as a team how we were going to shine it. You have to look after them to make them ‘talk’.
fica fan fLaMes in dispute with icc SPORTS DESK another strongly-worded statement from the Federation of international Cricketers’ associations continued the feud between the players’ union and the world governing body. the international Cricket Council last night refuted FiCa claims it had failed to act on concerns over the legitimacy of a vote for player representatives on its cricket committee. FiCa executive chairman Paul Marsh was, however, in no mood to let things lie.
“the iCC’s media release is a disappointing attempt to deflect attention from the real issue here,” he said. “the clear facts of this matter are that FiCa has evidence that boards pressured captains into changing their votes in the process of electing the players’ representative to the iCC cricket committee. “We believe this is a clear breach of the iCC’s own code of ethics. We asked the iCC to follow their own processes and independently investigate this matter more than six weeks ago. they have refused to do this.”
LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board has rejected umpire Nadeem Ghouri’s appeal against the ban imposed on him for indulging in fixing after he failed to submit the required fees for the hearing. Ghouri, who was banned for four years by the integrity committee of the board in April for his role in a sting operation carried out by an Indian television channel to highlight corruption by umpires, said he was unable to submit the appeal fees of Rs 100,000. “I am financially in a tight position and the board told me to submit a fee of one lakh rupees with the appeal application and I was also to pay another 250,000 as legal fees for the hearing proceedings to be conducted by a PCB lawyer,” he said. “The board has rejected my appeal on this grounds and honestly speaking I am totally shattered and heartbroken at this stage and I don’t know what else to do because all my life I either played cricket or umpired and I don’t know any other way to earn my livelihood,” he said. Ghouri and another Pakistani first class umpire, Anis, were banned by the board after an inquiry. Ghouri was shown in the sting operation talking on Skype to a reporter posing as a businessman and discussing chances of fixing games and giving favourable decisions. A Bangladeshi umpire was also banned for life for his role in the sting operation. But Ghouri insisted if he had earned anything from fixing he wouldn’t be in such dire need of money. “Anyone can check my accounts. Fortunately in the days I was playing and later on the ICC panel, I managed to build my own home. That is all that I have,” he said. “If I was corrupt I wouldn’t be in a position where I can’t even pay one lakh rupees to the board for my appeal to be heard by them,” he said. STAFF rePOrT
LAHORE STAFF rePOrT
inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has shown his interest in working with the national team as a batting coach but made it clear that he has not received any such offer from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as yet. the PCB appointed trent Woodhill, an australian, as Pakistan’s batting coach earlier this year. However, the Green shirts miserably failed to deliver the goods with the bat in the recentlyconcluded iCC Champions trophy 2013 in England. it is highly likely that Woodhill will not be a part of the team management in near future and
there are some unconfirmed reports that the officials are considering inzamam for the important post. Quoted by Pakpassion, the former cricketer from Multan said that he would be willing to accept the offer if the PCB contacts him. the former skipper, who worked with the team before the tour of india last year, is confident that he can help the Pakistani batsmen overcome their deficiencies. inzamam said, “i’m ready to serve my country again. if the PCB wants me to work as the batting coach then i would be interested in working with the boys. i worked with the batsmen ahead of the tour of india and i felt it went well. We have some very good players who just need some guidance and help.” However, the 43-year-old former player further added that some of his friends have been informing
him about the reports but he is yet to be contacted by any official of the cricket board. “My phone has been very busy since yesterday with lots of friends mentioning the batting coach role, but let me categorically state that there has been no communication from the Pakistan Cricket Board,” he added. inzamam played 120 tests, 378 one Day internationals and a t20 international for Pakistan between 1991 and 2007, scoring more than 20 thousand runs at the ultimate stage of the game with the help of 35 centuries. He is considered to be one of the finest players produced by the country. Pakistan’s next assignment in international cricket is the tour of West indies next month, which includes five oDis and a couple of t20 internationals.