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GUYANA CHRONICLE Saturday, April 2, 2016
Khawaja, Burns and Voges Messi out of this earn Australia contracts world, says Barca coach Enrique
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) - Batsmen Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and Joe Burns have been rewarded for their strong form over the past 12 months by being awarded central contracts by Cricket Australia yesterday. The trio became regulars in the side in the last year and have moved onto the centrally contracted list after the retirements of six players following last year’s unsuccessful Ashes series in England. They were not on the original list but were upgraded throughout the season with the more matches they played. Khawaja scored 713 runs in six Tests at an average of 101.85 in the last 12 months, while he was also consistent in the small number of one-day and Twenty20 international
Usman Khawaja matches he played. Voges, who only made his Test debut last June, posted a Donald Bradman-esque average, scoring 1 337 runs at an average of 95.59, with five centuries and four half-centuries. Burns scored three Test centuries and 692 runs in his eight matches in the last 12 months at an average of 53.23. Cricket Australia typi-
cally award between 17 and 20 central contracts each year. Centrally contracted players earn a minimum of A$270 000 ($206 577) for the year, with match payments on top of that. Bowlers Nathan CoulterNile, John Hastings and Peter Siddle, who is battling stress fractures in his back, were all given central contracts, as was Test wicketkeeper Peter Nevill. “We believe the players chosen in this group are those that are right in contention to represent the country over the next 12 months,” chairman of selectors Rod Marsh said in a statement. “Following a number of high-profile retirements, we believe this group of players gives us a healthy blend of youth and experience to represent Australia at the highest
level, allowing us the best chance of maintaining our number-one rankings in Test and ODI cricket, as well as improving our performances in the T20 format.” Australia were knocked out of the World Twenty20 in India in the pool phase earlier this week, with their next tour a triangular one-day series against West Indies and South Africa in the Caribbean in June. Centrally contracted players: George Bailey, Joe Burns, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Adam Voges, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
Proposed Afghanistan tour of Pakistan on hold after Lahore blast
THE Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has put on hold its ongoing discussions with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) with regard to Afghanistan’s proposed tour of Pakistan in April, following the terrorist attack in a recreational park in Lahore on Sunday. Kenya Women’s trip to Pakistan has also been called off amid the new wave of security concerns. Afghanistan were in talks to tour Pakistan next month for a series of three ODIs as well as a four-day game against Pakistan A. But with the blast in Gulshan-i-Iqbal park - about 15 minutes away from Gaddafi Stadium - which killed over 70 people, the tour is now in
International cricket in Pakistan has been a rarity following the 2009 Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan team. have visited as part of a doubt. Afghanistan’s ODIs in Pakistan had been tentatively set for the period between April 15 and May 8, with Lahore and Karachi serving as venues. Kenya Women were to
CRICKET QUIZ CORNER (Saturday April 02, 2016) COMPLIMENTS OF THE TROPHY STALL-Bourda Market & The City Mall (Tel: 225-9230) & AUDREY’S TASTY SNACKETTE-176 Charlotte Street, Georgetown (Tel: 226-4512) Answers to yesterday’s quiz: (1) India’s Irfan Pathan (2007) (2) England’s Katherine Brunt (2009) Today’s Quiz: (1) Who are the finalists of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2016? (2) Who are the finalists of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2016? Answers in tomorrow’s issue
development programme, which would have seen them play a series of matches against a Pakistan Women’s developmental team. In 2011, Afghanistan became the first international team to tour Pakistan, for a series against Pakistan A, following the terror attack on the
visiting Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March 2009. They also visited frequently for conditioning camps at the National Cricket Academy facility. But now, ESPNcricinfo understands, the Pakistan government has advised against hosting the series. Pakistan successfully hosted Zimbabwe for two T20Is and three ODIs last year, with heavy security arrangements in place, but has not been able to attract any other international team since then. With the exception of that Zimbabwe tour, Pakistan have had to play all their home matches since March 2009 at neutral venues, mostly in the United Arab Emirates. (ESPN Cricinfo)
By Richard Martin
BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Lionel Messi’s strike rate “is from another galaxy” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said yesterday as the Argentine maestro bids to score his 500th career goal in this weekend’s ‘Clasico’. Messi’s penalty against Bolivia in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier took him to 499 goals for club and country and there could be few more fitting scenarios for Barca’s talisman to make it 500 than today’s clash with Real Madrid at the Nou Camp. “The figure (499) is from another galaxy. If you add the goals of all our other players, including the ones I have scored, you don’t even get close to it, but I’ve seen Messi’s face and he and his team mates are desperate to win the game and give joy to our supporters,” Luis Enrique told reporters. Five-time World Player-ofthe-Year Messi has netted 449 goals for Barcelona and now has 50 for Argentina, six behind his country’s record scorer Gabriel Batistuta. The 28-year-old is also the all-time top scorer in La Liga. With Barca 10 points clear of third-placed Real Madrid and nine ahead of Atletico Madrid with eight games remaining ‘El Clasico’ is unlikely to affect the title race. However, asked if that made it any less important for his team, who could become the first Spanish side to win successive trebles, Luis Enrique laughed off the suggestion. “I don’t think so,” he said. “We are playing to win everything, we are league leaders
Lionel Messi and playing to take another big step towards the title, and we’re playing against one of the best teams in the world with one of the best squads in the world. It’s a very difficult game for us and we know that.” It will also be the first Barca game since the death of club great Johan Cruyff, who had a big impact as a player but more success as a coach, winning four league titles, the King’s Cup, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and their first European Cup, in 1992. A minute’s silence will be held before the game in memory of the visionary Dutchman and Barcelona’s players will bear the message ‘Thanks Johan’ on their shirts, although Luis Enrique said his players did not need any extra motivation. “Barca have a competitive spirit which is bombproof and we know we’ll have to be motivated or else we’ll lose, but that should be easy against Real Madrid, our eternal rivals,” he added. “What Cruyff would have wanted the most is that we won the game deservedly by playing spectacular football.”
NOTABLE DATES
CAESAR Barrow started professional boxing on April 1 1955. Barrow was 20 years old when he collided with Joe Primo in British Guiana and won the four-round contest on points. Five years later Barrow grabbed the local lightweight title when he defeated Emmett Smith who was stopped in round five. Barrow had 19 victories in a 10-year career. Born on
March 4, 1935, the skilled lightweight boxer knocked out 46 percent of his opponents. On October 30, 1959 Barrow stopped Kid Chocolate II (Elmer Yearwood) in round two at the Wrightson Road Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad. The fight produced the 11th straight victory for Barrow. It was the second meeting between the skilful Guyanese and Kid Choco-
late in two months of that year. Barrow had defeated Yearwood via a unanimous 10- round decision in August of the same year and was undefeated in 12 fights when he challenged Trinidadian James Harper at the BGCC ground in March 1960. Harper seemed in a hurry and so knocked out the Guyanese in the first round. However, Barrow was quick to
return the favour and gained revenge in September of the next year. Then, Harper was KOed in round three. A year later, Barrow stopped American Arthur Persley in round three and lost by knockout to Lennox Beckles in 1964. Barrow stopped fighting one year later. His record includes seven defeats. He died on July 4, 2005 at the age of 70.