Afternoon Despatch & Courier www.afternoondc.in
MUMBAI | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015
Will cherish the debut moment for life: Manish Pandey
H
arare: Glad to have made it count after getting the "lucky" break in India's one-day team, batsman Manish Pandey said receiving his ODI cap from senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was a moment he would cherish for the rest of his life. The 25-year-old Pandey was picked for the third and final ODI against Zimbabwe after Ambati Rayudu was ruled out due to injury. He made the most of the opportunity by scoring 71 runs. "This has been my dream for a long time now and I consider myself very lucky to have played for India. I was waiting for this opportunity for a while now and when I got it I just wanted to make it count. I thought I did pretty okay," Pandey told 'bcci.Tv'.
Pandey was handed his cap by Harbhajan and the youngster said it was an overwhelming moment for him. "It meant a lot to me and it is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. You know the feeling you have when you finally get something you have loved so much? It was a similar feeling and that gesture of kissing the cap just came out of those feelings. This was a dream not only for me but also my family and everybody who has worked with me over the years. It was for them," he said. Asked whether the experience of playing in 70 first-class matches worked to his advantage in the international debut, Pandey said it certainly did. "I didn't feel a lot of pressure because I knew I have seen this and done this before. It is definitely beneficial to have a lot of experience behind you when you start playing for India. It makes you more prepared to face any situation you might encounter and you will not be overwhelmed," he said. Pandey said he would look to build on the fine debut. "It is very important to have a good debut. It builds your confidence and gives you the belief that you belong. But I will not be thinking about this performance for too long. I have a long way to go and I will focus on what I have to do next.
WATSON FACES AXE AS SPORTS
AUSTRALIA SEEK TO LEVEL ASHES
L
ondon: Australia, reeling from the late withdrawal of wicket-keeper Brad Haddin, are reportedly set to drop Shane Watson for the second Ashes Test at Lord's on Thursday as they bid to level the five-match series at 1-1. Watson was twice out lbw cheaply in all-too familiar fashion as England, against many pre-series predictions, won the first Test in Cardiff by the crushing margin of 169 runs with more than a day to spare last week. With his medium-paced bowling barely used by captain Michael Clarke at Sophia Gardens, Australia's Fairfax Media reported Wednesday that the 34-year-old Watson would be dropped at Lord's and replaced by fellow allrounder Mitchell Marsh, 11 years his junior. Watson's lbw double in Cardiff means he has now passed fifty in just two of his past 16 innings. "My gut feeling is they'll probably go with Mitchell Marsh," former Australia captain Steve Waugh told Sky Sports before the Fairfax report, subsequently cited by Cricket Australia's own website, was published. "A guy at that age... When he's played a long time, when you make a decision like this now -- it's pretty much final. There's probably no way back from being dropped now." Marsh, the son of former
10-team World Cup is a retrograde step: MCC
L
ondon: The MCC World Cricket Committee, which includes former India captain Sourav Ganguly among others, feels the ICC's decision to limit the ODI World Cup to 10 teams is a "retrograde step" and detrimental to the sport's chances of finding a place in the Olympics. The committee met at Lord's on July 13 and 14 -the first gathering for new members Ganguly, Ricky Ponting and Ramiz Raja, and the last for outgoing members Rahul Dravid and Steve Bucknor. "The ICC Cricket World Cup should be a twelve-team tournament The committee believes that the organisa-
tion of a ten-team ICC Cricket World Cup for 2019 and 2023 is a retrograde step that damages the potential for growth in cricket's developing nations," the committee said in a statement after the meeting. "The committee urges the ICC Board to reconsider its position and take a decision that it believes is in the best interests of the global game. This would need to be done in the next twelve months for cricket to have a chance of being included in the 2024 Olympics. "A preliminary qualification round could be held for the lower ranked Full Member teams and the top Associate nations, that wouldn't lengthen the tour-
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nament and would give more teams a chance to compete in the sport's best 50-over competition. The committee has asked ICC to look again at its decision to limit the numbers to only ten teams," it added. The committee also recommended that every effort should be made to make cricket an Olympic sport. "The Olympics is a fundamental opportunity for cricket – in both the men's and women's game – and with a global reach, such a presence would expose the game positively to new markets. "Competing in an Olympic Games would be a huge opportunity for players, a massive boost to developing cricket nations and give much greater exposure for the sport to a new audience. Government funding in many countries is specifically linked to a sport's Olympic status, and cricket's inclusion would unlock investment to cricket's governing bodies in ICC Associate and Affiliate countries," it said.
Australian Test cricket Captain Michael Clarke laughs as an Ashes mascot is led into position for pictures during a visit to St Edward’s Primary School in London, Wednesday. Australia opener Geoff Marsh, has played in four Tests and impressed in the team's opening two tour matches by scoring hundreds against both Kent and Essex. Cricket Australia told AFP Wednesday they would not comment on the Fairfax report, saying that the Test side would be announced as scheduled on Thursday morning at Lord's. Haddin, 37, withdrew on Tuesday for what a team spokeswoman said were "family reasons", although he will remain with the squad in London. Peter Nevill, also Haddin's New South Wales deputy, is now set for an international debut on Thursday. This is not the first time Haddin has put his family ahead of his cricket career. In 2012, Haddin took several
months out of the game after his then 17-month-old daughter Mia was diagnosed with neuroblastoma -- a rare form of cancer. Meanwhile the 29-year-old Nevill faces the prospect of making his Test debut at Lord's, which can prove tough for wicket-keepers because of how the ball can deviate alarmingly after passing the bat. But in the tour selection chief Rodney Marsh Nevill can consult one of Australia's greatest wicket-keepers. Australia appear to be increasingly confident that leftarm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, the pick of their attack in Cardiff, will be fit for Lord's despite suffering an ankle injury in Wales.Starc took a full part in training on Tuesday and, with Australia fast
bowler Ryan Harris announcing his injury-induced retirement on the eve of the Cardiff clash, the experienced Peter Siddle appears to next in line to come in. Siddle, however, was upbeat about Starc's fitness, saying Tuesday: "Starcy got through well today, bowled out in the middle off the long run, both ends, he's feeling good." Australia coach Darren Lehmann said he hoped the pitch at Lord's was quicker than Cardiff, but Siddle said adjusting to local conditions was a skill of the game. "That's part of the challenge of world cricket. Teams come to Australia and they get fast, bouncy ones (pitches). You've got to adapt to other conditions if you want to be one of the best teams."
Ponting has Olympic Twenty20 vision L
ondon: Australia great Ricky Ponting has given his public support to calls by the MCC world cricket committee for Twenty20 cricket to be included as an Olympic sport. Some officials in major cricket nations such as England have long been resistent to the idea of the sport joining the Olympics, fearing the impact it could have on its own home season. But others within cricket see the Games as an ideal way to spread the game globally, as emerging nations can receive government funding for Olympic-linked sports. Ponting, who serves on the MCC world cricket committee alongside fellow former Test captains Mike Brearley (England), Shaun Pollock (South Africa) and Sourav Ganguly (India), told reporters at Lord's on Tuesday: "It was quite unanimous throughout the members of this committee that we should look to grow the game into an Olympic sport. "The opportunity to open
up different markets, considering the Olympics is the pinnacle of global sport, to be able to get cricket into something like that would be an awesome spectacle in itself," he added at a news conference following a two-day meeting. "It would be great for the growth and development of cricket, obviously talking about T20 cricket here." Ponting continued: "There were a number of things that were tossed around, whether,
like with football, make it an Under-23 tournament. The whole discussion round cricket being in the Olympics was very positive. "That's one way of breaking into some of these markets and attracting new audiences into the game, which I think the game needs right now." Rugby Union, where many of the major nations are the same as those in cricket, will see its shortest format, Sevens, make its Olympic debut at next year's Rio Games. Meanwhile the committee said a plan by the ICC, now effectively controlled by the sport's three wealthiest nations of India, England and Australia, to cut the 2019 World Cup in England to a 10-team event was a "retrograde step". This year's edition in Australia and New Zealand featured 14 teams and there are fears for the future of cricket in emerging countries if they no longer have the incentive of a realistic shot at World Cup qualification.