wednesday, march 19, 2014
guyanatimesGY.com
No going back over K KP – Clarke
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Pietersen to lead Daredevils in IPL 2014, Karthik named deputy
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iles Clarke, the ECB chairman, has said there is no going back to Kevin Pietersen, putting a line through any speculation of a potential England recall. Clarke said the decision to sack Pietersen was a “brave one” as England look to rebuild following the disastrous Ashes tour and Andy Flower stepping down as team director. His message to England supporters clamouring for Pietersen’s return was to “move on”. “Who plays for England is a matter for the national selectors and their decision was a brave one,” Clarke told the Evening Standard. “You select your captain, you discuss what that captain requires, what he’s looking for. He has to decide what that team is about and what
Kevin Pietersen
needs doing. This is about the culture of the team.” Pietersen was sacked in February for breaking team ethics and the only possible path back into the national side would be via a new head coach who insisted on Pietersen’s selection. Clarke
appeared to have ruled out such a scenario. “English supporters must move on. There isn’t going to be any going back, that’s for sure. The Ashes tour was a watershed. “Your No. 3 batsman leaves the tour after the first Test. That’s pretty cataclysmic, frankly. Then your world-class offspinner retires. You cannot stop men retiring even during a series. Then you lose the series. You’ve got to build a team. You’re going to need to make changes.” Creating a new team ethic is at the heart of England’s rebuilding, under new managing director Paul Downton, and Clarke is hoping English cricket can learn from rugby, where head coach Stuart Lancaster has led a revival. (Cricinfo)
World Twenty20: Afghanistan win to knock out Hong Kong
Shafiqullah
H
ong Kong became the first side to be knocked out of the World Twenty20 as they lost by seven wickets to Afghanistan in Chittagong. Set 154 to avoid an early exit of their own, Afghanistan won the Group A game with two overs to spare thanks to Shafiqullah’s unbeaten 51 off 24 balls. He effectively settled the contest with three sixes in the 17th over, after Mohammad Shahzad fell for 68. Bangladesh beat Nepal by eight wickets on the same ground later on Tuesday. The hosts overhauled a modest target of 127 with 4.3 overs unused to go two points clear at the top of the group. The winners will join West Indies, India, Pakistan and Australia in Group 2 for the Super 10 round-robin section of the tournament, which starts on 21 March. Shafiqullah’s treatment of Aizaz Khan in an over costing 24 ended Hong Kong’s hopes of victory in their first major tournament.
Aizaz was also responsible for dropping a simple catch offered by Shahzad on 24, and the same batsman
was reprieved again shortly before he was superbly taken by a diving Irfan Ahmed at deep extra-cover. Hong Kong captain Jamie Atkinson, who hit 31 off 21 balls in an otherwise laboured team effort after they won the toss, said: “We were unhappy that we didn’t get 15-20 more. The dropped catches let us down.” Bangladesh, the only Test-playing nation in the group, predictably outclassed qualifiers Nepal, who managed only 126-5 despite Paras Khadka’s 41 and 40 from Sharad Vesawkar. In reply, Anamul Haque (42) and Tamim Iqbal (30) shared an opening stand of 63 for Bangladesh before Shakib Al Hasan flayed an unbeaten 37 off 18 balls, wrapping up victory with our sixes in eight deliveries. (BBC
Sport)
SCOREBOARD Hong Kong innings (20 overs maximum) Irfan Ahmed b Shapoor Zadran 0 Waqas Barkat c Dawlat Zadran b Mohammad Nabi 32 JJ Atkinson*† lbw b Hamza Hotak 31 MS Chapman b Dawlat Zadran 38 Babar Hayat c Asghar Stanikzai b Mohammad Nabi 5 Nizakat Khan c Mohammad Nabi b Hamza Hotak 9 Munir Dar run out (Najeeb Tarakai) 3 Tanwir Afzal c Gulbadin Naib b Shapoor Zadran 11 Haseeb Amjad not out 7 Aizaz Khan not out 1 Extras: (b 1, lb 2, w 8, nb 5) 16 Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 153 Did not bat: Nadeem Ahmed Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Irfan Ahmed, 0.1 ov), 2-42 (Atkinson, 4.4 ov), 3-102 (Waqas Barkat, 13.3 ov), 4-115 (Babar Hayat, 15.3 ov), 5-117 (Chapman, 16.2 ov), 6-127 (Nizakat Khan, 17.3 ov), 7-135 (Munir Dar, 18.2 ov), 8-147 (Tanwir Afzal, 19.2 ov) Bowling: Shapoor Zadran 4-027-2, Gulbadin Naib 2-0-23-
0, Hamza Hotak 4-0-32-2, Samiullah Shenwari 3-0-170, Dawlat Zadran 3-0-24-1 Mohammad Nabi, 4-0-27-2 Afghanistan innings (target: 154 runs from 20 overs) Najeeb Tarakai c Nadeem Ahmed b Tanwir Afzal 7 Mohammad Shahzad† c Irfan Ahmed b Haseeb Amjad 68 Asghar Stanikzai c Babar Hayat b Aizaz Khan 13 Shafiqullah not out 51 Mohammad Nabi* not out 6 Extras: (lb 1, w 7, nb 1) 9 Total: (3 wickets; 18 overs) 154 Did not bat: Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Gulbadin Naib, Hamza Hotak, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Najeeb Tarakai, 2.4 ov), 2-69 (Asghar Stanikzai, 10.2 ov), 3-116 (Mohammad Shahzad, 15.3 ov) Bowling: Tanwir Afzal 3-0-191, Haseeb Amjad 4-0-35-1, Nadeem Ahmed 3-0-22-0, Irfan Ahmed 3-0-15-0, Nizakat Khan 2-0-23-0, Aizaz Khan 3-0-39-1
evin Pietersen will captain Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League this season, while Dinesh Karthik has been named vice-captain. The pair were the most expensive purchases for Daredevils at the IPL auction last month. Pietersen was bought for Rs 9 crores ($1.5 million) in the auction in February, after the franchise used its Right to Match card. Karthik was purchased by Daredevils for Rs 12.5 crores ($2.08 million). The season will be
Pietersen’s second stint as captain of an IPL franchise - the England batsman had captained Royal Challengers Bangalore for a brief period in 2009. Pietersen, who transferred to Delhi Daredevils from the defunct Deccan Chargers in 2012, has scored 305 runs in eight matches for the franchise. Overall, Pietersen has 634 runs in 21 IPL games at 42.26. He missed the last season due to injury was but was seen promoting the franchise during the tournament. Pietersen was one
of the marquee players at the auction, after Daredevils decided not to retain any players, and was expected to attract interest in spite of the abrupt end to his international career earlier in February. In 92 matches across six seasons, Karthik - who was part of the Daredevils’ squad for the first three seasons of the IPL before moving to Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians - has scored 1741 runs and was one of the leading run-getters for Mumbai in their title win last year. (Cricinfo)
Dhoni moves to Madras High Court over fixing allegations
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he Madras High Court has restrained Zee Media Corporation Limited, an Indian television conglomerate, and News Nation Network Private Limited, another private television news channel, from airing any interviews or news related to fixing allegations against MS Dhoni. The interim order was passed on Tuesday after the India captain sought Rs 100 crore from four respondents, including police officer G Sampath Kumar, as damages for tarnishing his image. In his affidavit to the court, Dhoni stated his hardearned reputation was at risk from unverified reports. Dhoni had earlier issued notices to ZMCL, Zee News editor and business head
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Sudhir Chaudhary, Kumar and News Nation. Justice S Tamilvanan, in his interim order, stated, “I am of the view that there is a prima facie case and the balance of convenience is also in favour
of the plaintiff. Hence, interim injunction granted for a period of two weeks,” the judge said in his order after perusing Dhoni’s affidavit.* In his affidavit, Dhoni, represented by the firm of BCCI lawyer PR Raman, accused all four respondents of intentionally projecting Dhoni as an object of hate and ridicule, thereby maligning his image in the eyes of cricket lovers, especially fans of Chennai Super Kings. This is the first time Dhoni, albeit through his lawyers, has reacted in any manner to the IPL scandal. He had been silent at the time, even after the arrest of Super Kings official and the BCCI president N Srinivasan¹s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan. (Cricinfo)
Injured Hosein to miss Barbados match
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rinidad and Tobago allrounder Akeal Hosein will miss the national team’s next Regional Four-day Championship fixture against Barbados at Kensington Oval in Barbados starting Friday with a thigh strain. The T&T squad will leave for Barbados today without Hosein, who scored an unbeaten 102 against the Leeward Islands in the second round match at Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain which T&T won by an innings and 107 runs yesterday. He also took 11 wickets in T&T’s first round 186run win over the Windward Islands. The left-arm orthodox spinner and left-handed batsman came off the field in the first session on the third day of the match against the Leeward Islands and it was confirmed yesterday by chairman of selectors Alec Burns that the all-rounder had a second degree tear and would be out for at least three to four weeks. All-rounder Daron Cruickshank comes in for Hosein, while left-arm orthodox spinner Ricky Jaipaul re-
Akeal Hosein
places Kavesh Kantasingh, who was on the bench for the first two games. “Kavesh for personal reasons, his studies and so on, has opted out,” Burns told the Express yesterday. T&T skipper Rayad Emrit described Hosein’s absence as a big loss to the T&T side heading into their crucial clash against the Bajans. “It came at a time when we were expecting him to continue the good job, but that is how cricket goes. Hopefully the guy who is re-
placing him can come in and do the job he has been doing,” said Emrit. Hosein was also disappointed be sidelined and is looking to recover as fast as possible. “It is really disappointing but at the end of the day I have no control over that. The Father is the boss and I guess he probably don’t want me in the other couple of games so I am going to do what the doctor says, try and recover as fast as possible,” he said. “It is fairly serious but if I get the right treatment and do the right things and listen to the doctors, hopefully I will be back,” Hosein added. The all-rounder starts therapy today. T&T squad: Rayad Emrit (Captain), Adrian Barath, Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Jason Mohammed, Jonathan Augustus, Imran Khan, Steven Katwaroo, Shannon Gabriel, Yannic Cariah, Daron Cruickshank, Ricky Jaipaul, Marlon Richards. Kelvin Williams (coach), Manohar Ramsaran (manager), Clinton Jeremiah (Physio/Trainer) (First Published In The
Trinidad Express)