Four South Florida teams locked at top of Simms Cup standings</h1> <article> <h1>Four South Florida teams locked at top of Simms Cup standings</h1> <p>openingbat — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:47:00 GMT</p> <p><em>By Ricardo Inniss<br /> </em><br /> What was formerly called the SFCA Keith Graham Memorial Classic, is now 2010 Annual South Florida Cricket Alliance (SFCA) Simms Cup Cricket Classic Competition, or in its shortened form - the Simms Cup!<br /> <br /> At the end of round six in the hunt for the Simms Cup, four teams are locked on 20 points each at the top of the standings. Each team has had a bye in 6 rounds of matches played. <br /> <br /> The teams are: Reigning Champions Team USA, last year’s second place India, Jamaica and Guyana. Next is Trinidad & Tobago (T & T), with 10 points from their 5 matches played. And, all tied at the bottom with 5 points each from 6 matches are: Barbados, SFCA Under 23 Team and Combined Islands.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, so far 13 centuries have been recorded, and those hitting centuries so far are as follows: Sheldon Irving, Dave Wallace and Shawn Beckford of Team USA (3), Fredrick Redwood, Jermaine Thompson and Mark Johnson of Jamaica (3), Sai Ramesh (2) of India, Justin Holder and Raymond Denny of Barbados (2), Ashton Dennis of Combined Islands (1), Earl Stephens of Guyana (1) and Clarence Salmon of the Under 23 Team (1).<br /> <br /> Last week’s sixth round action produced some exciting cricket, as Barbados’ Jason Holder and Raymond Denny banged tons, to steal the spotlight. The victors were Barbados, India, Trinidad & Tobago (T & T) and Jamaica, with victories over Pakistan, SFCA Under 23 Team, Team USA and Guyana respectively.<br /> <br /> <strong>Barbados vs. Pakistan at Lauderhill Sports Park:</strong><br /> <br /> Batting first after winning the toss, Barbados rattled up an imposing 310 for 5 off the arranged 40 overs. Leading the way Justin Holder, Counted 6 fours and 13 massive sixes in an unbeaten scintillating 115, former USA wicket-keeper batsman Raymond Denny, also unbeaten, blasted 15 fours and 2 sixes in a stroke-filled 105 and Anton Alleyne chipped in with 19. Bowling for Pakistan, Adil Bhatti bagged 2 for 21, Salim Saddique 2 for 22 and Shawn Qureshi 1 for 17. In reply, Pakistan was dismissed for 186. Irfan Khan cracked 9 fours and 3 sixes in brisk 59, Rizwan Ahmed hit 48, Saddique got 31 and Azfal Qureshi 17. Bowling for Barbados, Michael Springer took 3 for 26, Tony Reid 2 for 25, Holder 2 for 73 and Robert Hinds 1 for 34.<br /> <br /> <strong>India vs. SFCA Under 23 Team at BRCC/Delray Beach:</strong></p> <p>Winning the toss and electing to bat first, India reached 216 for 6 from the regulated 40 overs. Vaibhav Nayar, banged 3 fours in an enterprising topscore of 58, skipper Nalinikanth Jammula slammed 4 fours and a six in his 55, Sunil Nair got 25 (2 fours) and Prabhakar Dixit 22 (1 four). Bowling for the SFCA Under 23 Team, Joseph Smith was the best of the bowlers with 2 for 28 from 6 overs. In reply, the SFCA Under 23 Team, could only manage 154 all out after 33.2 overs. <br /> <br /> The most resistance came from, Jamell Douglas who got 34 and Ensworth Wallace with 31. Bowling India to a convincing 62 run victory, medium pacer Jammula, returned with the ball, to top off a fine allround performance by ripping out 5 for 35 from 8 overs, ably assisted by Sai Sitaram Ramesh, who snared 3 for 26 also from 8.<br /> <br /> <strong>Team USA vs. T & T at Myrtle Grove Elementary School</strong><br /> <br /> Sent in to bat after losing the toss, reigning Champions Team USA knocked up a fairly respectable 234 all out off 39 of the allotted 40 overs. The run-hungry Shawn Beckford, was in tip-top form smashing 6 fours and 7 sixes in a sparkling 82, Rhaines Boothe hit 46 spiced with 4 fours and 2 sixes, Mark Simpson hit 29 (4 fours) and Andre Forbes got 20 (1 four & a six). <br /> <br /> Bowling for T & T, Ken Singh captured 3 for 18, Baliram Nayaik 3 for 20, Ravi Ramlal 1 for 31, Timothy Surujbally 1 for 45 and J. Lee 1 for 56. In reply, T & T cruising to an emphatic 5 wicket victory, was led by a sizzling 89 from Surujbally, who lashed 9 fours and 6 sixes, Singh in a fine allround performance hitting 3 fours and 4 sixes in an exact 50, Nayaik also in a good allround show, smacked 5 fours whilst carrying his bat for a well played 46 and Asad Alrashid got 22 (1 four). Bowling for Team USA, Simpson took 2 for 35, Boothe 1 for 29, “Romeo” Ahmed 1 for 42 and Dave Wallace 1 for 65.<br /> <br /> <strong>Guyana vs. Jamaica at lake Stevens Middle School:</strong><br /> <br /> Asked to occupy the crease first after losing the toss, Guyana reached a not so competitive 177 all out after 33.2 of the allotted 40 overs. Nazim Ali stroked 8 fours and 2 sixes in a topscore of 71, Earl Stephen got 28 (3 fours & a six), Fazal Sheriff (1 four) and Kaiume Mohmed (2 fours) got 16 each. Bowling for Jamaica, Neville Dawkins and Fredrick Redwood captured 3 for 24 each and skipper Ricardo Wilson 3 for 35. In a bold and positive reply, Jamaica hustled to 181 for 2 to inflict a decisive 8 wicket victory. <br /> <br /> Young Steven Taylor, the USA U-19 up and coming batsman, cracked 8 fours and 3 sixes in an superb undefeated 82, Sunil Mittoo had 7 sweetly timed fours in an exciting knock of 43 and Mark Johnson carried his bat for 23 (1 four & a six). Taylor and Johnson put on 94 runs in an unbroken third wicket partnership. Bowling for Guyana, Kaiune Mohamed took 1 for 23 and Vickram Ramoutar 1 for 31.</p> </article> <article> <h1>Think it Over - Double of the Century</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:31:00 GMT</p> <a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOILogo_v1.png"></a><br /> <br /><div align="center"> <p>Over #2: <b>Double of the Century</b> <br /></p> </div> <p><b>Note:</b> Go <a href="http://www.dreamcricket.com/dreamcricket/news.hspl?nid=13687&ntid=4">here</a> for <font color="#bb133e"><b>answers</b></font><b> </b>to and our "<font color="#bb133e"><b>leader board</b></font>" at the end of Over #1 of "Think it Over" .<br /></p> <p>It has already been written, discussed, gushed profusely and waxed elaborately about in the 2 weeks since Sachin Tendulkar boldly went where no other international cricketer has gone before, thereby reminded his few, yet determined, detractors just why he captures the imagination of billions even as he increasingly leaves very little to their imagination as regards what can be achieved on the cricket field.</p> <p>So, in our own take of this event, here’s an over of queries, all linked by the number 200, hurled in your direction.<br /> </p> <p>Take a shot at the 6 balls in this over by emailing us your answers to: <font color="#bb133e"><b>FR</b></font><font color="#bb133e"><b>O</b></font><font color="#bb133e"><b>NTFOOT@DREAMCRICKET.COM</b></font><br /> </p> <p>The subject of the email should read "Think it Over - Enter the Quiz #, Enter the name of the quiz".<br /> You will have exactly one week to do so. Entries will be closed by midnight of the Tuesday after each quiz is announced.<br /> </p> <font color="green"> <ol> <li>First, let’s start with this photograph of the man himself. It was taken during a match in which Sachin Tendulkar achieved one of his very first landmarks and records involving the number 200. What match? What landmark? What record? Who holds that record now? Remember, the more details ... the more DreamRuns!<br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-2.1.jpg"></a></div></li> <br /> <li>Connect the following 3 photos using a bowler. Then tell us how that bowler's career connected to the number 200?<br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-2.2.jpg"></a></div></li> <br /> <li>Identify this rather counter-intuitive picture and its subjects. How is this picture related to the number 200.<br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-2.3.jpg"></a></div></li> <br /> <li>Identify the following cricketers and connect them using the number 200?<br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-2.4.jpg"></a><br /></div></li> <br /> <li>Fifth ball of the 2nd over. Will this be the one to clean you up? Let’s see ... identify these 2 wicketkeepers and how they are connected to the number 200?<br /> <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-2.5.jpg"></a><br /></div></li> <br /> <li>How are these 2 individuals connected to double centuries? <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-2.6.jpg"></a><br /></div></li> </ol> </font> </article> <article> <h1>Let us not distract Tendulkar from his biggest prize, the World Cup - Gulu Ezekiel</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:31:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><i>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><i>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</i></a>.</p> <hr /> <p><i>By Gulu Ezekiel</i></p> <p>Trust our politicians to jump on the bandwagon and bask in reflected glory after Sachin Tendulkar’s latest world record feat.</p> <p>With both the ruling Congress party in Maharashtra and the Shiv Sena endorsing awarding the Bharat Ratna to Tendulkar, we will no doubt see many more politicians adding their support to this movement. Now every Indian cricketer too is being asked his opinion on the subject. Dare even one of them disagree?</p> <p>What is most amusing is that it is the same Shiv Sena who had roundly condemned Tendulkar just a few months back after the maestro had made the innocuous and obvious comment at a press conference that Mumbai is for all Indians.</p> <p>At the outset let me state my opinion which is that Sachin is indeed a jewel of Indian cricket.</p> <p>But these national awards have long since lost their lustre as the ruling party at the Centre invariably awards them to favourites of the party, irrespective of the individual’s achievements or merit.</p> <p>Every party in the opposition will condemn such meaningless awards. But no politician is willing to start a campaign to scrap them altogether which is exactly what needs to be done.</p> <p>As far as I am concerned, the Bharat Ratna lost is value back in the 80s when the Congress party in power granted it posthumously to late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran simply because his party, the AIADMK was at the time supporting the Congress at the Centre. </p> <p>Tendulkar has received every national and sporting award from the Arjuna to the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan. Only the Bharat Ratna remains, the highest civilian honour in the land.</p> <p>But why only for a cricketer? What about hockey, badminton, chess, billiards, shooting and tennis which have brought us international laurels? And remember, cricket is played at the top level by just a handful of countries while the above mentioned sports are practiced worldwide. </p> <p>So the question will invariably crop up: if for Tendulkar, then why not posthumously for hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, former world badminton champion Prakash Padukone, Olympic gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra, world chess champion V. Anand and so many more, including former cricketers ranging from CK Nayudu to Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar? </p> <p>Let us not fool ourselves. Just because cricket is the most popular sport in the country, it does not stand to reason that it should monopolise national honours. After all, football is Britain’s number one sport by far. But the Queen’s annual birthday honours list hands out gongs to sportspersons across the spectrum.</p> <p>Giving Tendulkar the Bharat Ratna will only open the floodgates and drag him into an unseemly controversy. Let us treasure him for his contribution to Indian cricket and not distract him from the biggest prize that still awaits him, the World Cup. Just one year to go for that.</p> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Indian cricket will never produce another Kapil Dev - Partab Ramchand</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:32:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><i>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><i>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</i></a>.</p> <hr /><i>By Partab Ramchand<br /> </i> <p>The news that Kapil Dev has been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame is a most welcome one. The honor is, indeed, long overdue for a cricketer of his manifold achievements for, after all, it is exactly 16 years since he played his last Test. He took the last of his 434 wickets in this match against New Zealand at Hamilton and, of course, that was the world record at the time. These days, with bowlers taking over 700 wickets – albeit playing in more Tests – the figure 400 may seem insignificant. Nothing could be farther from the truth. For any Indian bowler to hold the world record was a notable achievement but for an Indian opening bowler to do so was quite unthinkable. As one who grew up in the sixties, when the Indian new ball attack was a farce, I could never imagine that one day an Indian fast bowler would head the list of wicket takers in Test matches.</p> <p>Let cricket fans hail Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar as the greatest Indian cricketers of all time. Kapil Dev will always get my vote and that is why I was doubly happy when he was voted the Wisden Indian cricketer of the century in 2002. I have always believed that while it is possible that Indian cricket can produce another Gavaskar or Tendulkar it will never produce another Kapil Dev. It’s not just a matter of scoring over 5000 runs and taking more than 400 wickets though, of course, this all round record is of the mind-boggling and eye-rubbing variety. In fact, he is the only one to perform this stupendous feat in Test cricket and even with the proliferation of matches no one has come even close to that unique double. More importantly he has proved to be the inspiration for a whole generation of young fast bowlers.</p> <p>How pathetic was the Indian fast bowling scenario before Kapil Dev and what a metamorphosis has been seen in the last couple of decades? An Indian team that was struggling with one Ramakant Desai or one Rusi Surti or one Vasant Ranjane and had Ajit Wadekar, Salim Durrani, ML Jaisimha, V Subramanyam, Sunil Gavaskar and Budhi Kunderan opening the bowling now has half a dozen contenders vying for two places. Indian pace bowlers are almost as feared as the spinners. They have won matches on their own and troubled the best of batsmen at home and abroad. Ten-wicket hauls which were the prerogatives of spin bowlers have been notched up by pacemen with Javagal Srinath taking as many 13 in a match. Zaheer Khan is today recognized as the leading exponent of seam and swing bowling in the world.</p> <p>All this can be traced to the emergence of Kapil Dev who made his Test debut as a 19-year-old in Pakistan in 1978 and over the years transformed Indian cricket into a world power with his amazing ubiquitous skills, his dynamic leadership qualities and his charismatic personality. If Gavaskar was the pioneer in proving that fast bowlers could be faced squarely and even scored off fluently it was Kapil who proved that the Indian new ball attack was one to be respected and even feared. It was Kapil who proved that a cricketer could score 5000 runs and take 400 wickets. It was Kapil who proved that limited overs cricket was not alien to the Indians. With each passing tournament the 1983 World Cup triumph, shaped largely by Kapil’s leadership qualities and all round skills, glows brighter. Again, it was this shock victory that gave the impetus to the one day game in India and the team since then has registered numerous significant triumphs.</p> <p>One can really go on and on about Kapil Dev, singing his praises in never ending vein. What Indian cricket and so many players owe him is immeasurable. He always had only the good of the game and the cricketers at heart and his humble reaction at being given the latest honour is very much in keeping with a man who has always been down to earth. Has India produced a more dedicated, selfless and fitter cricketer I wonder. On this happy occasion of his being honoured by the ICC, we wish that he is around for many more years to serve the cause of Indian cricket off the field as keenly and unselfishly as he served it on the field.</p></div> </article> <article> <h1>Auburn Cricket hits the pitch - Auburn Plainsman</h1> <p>openingbat — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:30:00 GMT</p> <p>Auburn captain Naveenan Thiagarajah will lead the newly chartered Auburn University Cricket club in its season opener against 18 other teams in the 2010 American College Cricket Championships in Ft. Lauderdale March 17 -21.</p> <p>The club will face its most experienced opponents to date, including exhibition matches against the University of the West Indies and the U.S. under 19 World Cup team, though the players feel confident in their abilities, experience and track record.</p> <p>The cricket club made it to the semifinals in its first outing as a team and its record only improved since that time, going undefeated in the 2009 Bulldawg Championship hosted by Mississippi State University. <br /><br /><a class="" href="http://www.theplainsman.com/view/full_story/6561575/article-Auburn-Cricket-club-hits-pitch?instance=home_news_lead_story">Full article in the Auburn Plainsman.</a></p> </article> <article> <h1>Rutgers Cricket Club all set for national college cricket tournament</h1> <p>openingbat — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:23:00 GMT</p> <p>From the Daily Targum:</p> <p>The Rutgers Cricket Club team will compete March 17 to 21 against 19 other clubs from all over North America for the right to bring home the Shivnarine Chanderpaul Trophy. </p> <p>“This is a national tournament, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many players,” said Hardik Jogani, club president. “Even though there is no monetary reward for winning the tournament, each player is determined to give their best because we know that this means a lot to us and for cricket.”</p> <p>Jogani, a School of Engineering sophomore, said the team is not just playing for a victory. They also want to bring some recognition to the game at the University and around the nation.</p> <p>The team has come a long way since its founding two years ago, when the cricket team had to fight just to become an official club, said Ankit Pandya, co-founder of the club. </p> <p>At DreamCricket.com, we remember those beginnings! Click <a class="" href="http://www.dailytargum.com/university/club-team-set-to-bat-at-national-tournament-1.2184871">here to read the full article.</a><br /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Thunderbird School of Global Management in American College Cricket Tournament</h1> <p>openingbat — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:04:00 GMT</p> <p><em>By Ashish Namjoshi (Communications, Thunderbird Cricket Club)</em></p> <p>Fourteen spirited individuals from Thunderbird will embark on a journey to take on top college teams from different schools in the US at the American College Cricket Spring Break Championship from March 17th to 21st at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is the biggest collegiate cricket championship in the country which aspires to be comparable to other NCAA sports.</p> <p>T-birds (as the Thunderbirds a popularly known as) will play against USC (University of Southern California), USF (University of South Florida), UM (University of Miami), and UWI (University of the West Indies) as part of the Southern conference in the league stage.<br /> <br /> Founded in 1946, <a href="http://www.thunderbird.edu/">Thunderbird School of Global Management</a> in Glendale, Arizona is the first and oldest graduate management school in the World focused exclusively on Global Business. It is regarded as the world's leading institution in the education of global managers and has operations in the United States, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Central and South America, Singapore and China.</p> <p>Ranked as the World’s number 1 Business School in International Business for the last 15 years by the likes of Financial Times, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal etc, Thunderbird is dedicated to educating global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide.<br /> <br /> The number 1 school in Global Management in the world + the presence of students from 76 different countries + the most diverse campus + the most inclusive student body + the most interactive cross-cultural environment = what do you get?<br /> <br /> <strong>The global sport of cricket!</strong></p> <p>Yes, you read it right. The gentlemen’s’ game of cricket in Thunderbird has only risen in popularity over the years. Given the high percentage of overseas students on campus, the sport has spread like a virus and has infected all sport enthusiasts. No longer baseball on valium, cricket now sizzles as a global sport in its Twenty20 avatar. A fact that is reflected in the sport's growing popularity nationwide in the US and also the popularity and buzz created by the Indian Premier League.<br /> <br /> What does this mean for Thunderbird students? <br /> <em>Playing Cricket on campus regularly?</em> Yes.<br /> <em>Watching Cricket matches in the wee hours of the morning despite the paucity of time due to hectic schedules?</em> Yes, again.<br /> <em>Playing in the Arizona Cricket League? </em>Yes, sure.<br /> <em>Playing in a tournament with National and Global recognition?</em> Hell Yeah!<br /> <br /> The Thunderbird team consists of players from different backgrounds, but with a common goal, the desire and the passion to succeed. The tournament in Florida is a new beginning, a new opportunity. 14 Players, 1 mission! Team Thunderbird is ready to roll!</p> <p><u><strong>Thunderbird Cricket Team (T-birds) </strong></u></p> <p>The Thunderbird Cricket Team are supported by the Thunderbird Students Government, Thunderbird Finance Association, Thunderbird Consulting and Management Association and the Thunderbird Global Supply Chain Club.</p> <p><strong>Sudeep Misra (Captain)</strong></p> <p>Plays for AZ Cricket League and was selected for the USA South West Division team in 2009. Has played extensively in India at various levels. A left Arm Spinner and a good batsman.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p><strong>Abhishek Sharma</strong></p> <p>The most famous and funniest company in Thunderbird history! In sports, everything takes a back seat as he gets the courage of a Mad Bull. Untamable passion for Sports and a great team player besides being a good batsman.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Aditya Bhagchandani</strong></p> <p>He has a huge passion for fielding and loves this team! He enjoys Cricket and smiles every single moment on the field. A very good batsman!</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Ashish Namjoshi</strong></p> <p>Ashish our communications guy is a tall and dashing left-hand batsman, who can unsettle any attack. A die hard ‘Mumbai Indians’ Fanatic. A very handy medium pacer.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Devaarchit Harkauli</strong></p> <p>Kashmir, Mumbai, Indonesia have produced an amazing Wicket-Keeper - Batsman in DC, as he is popularly known. Leadership skills and constant strategy formulation keeps him serious…always!</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Nimish Jalan</strong></p> <p>As a complete Cricketer, he is an excellent batsman, a good spinner and fielder and also acts as the back-up Wicket-Keeper for the team. He brings with him Sports (Cricket) Management experience from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Dubai and understands the nuances of the game very well.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Nitin Sahni</strong></p> <p>The McGrath of the team! Swing and control are his greatest strengths. On his day, he is unplayable.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Parth Bahuguna </strong></p> <p>The docile Delhiite packs a punch when he comes out to bat. He is directly come from Mexico from a course abroad to showcase his Cricket skills in Florida. A very good spinner too.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Phalgun Balasubramaniam</strong></p> <p>Vice-Captain of the team. Played for Tamil Nadu in India. One of the better all-rounders in the team. Plays for the AZ Cricket League and has represented AZ in the USA South West Division trials in Los Angeles.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Priyaranjan Parida</strong></p> <p>The researcher par-excellence. ‘Ranjan’ is a very hard worker and is always full of suggestions for the team. Has the thinking ability to do just about anything.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Rahul Bhosale</strong></p> <p>A good Batsman and a handy spinner. His passion for Cricket originated from the lanes of Mumbai and is still going strong in the deserts of Arizona.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Rishi Chaturvedi</strong></p> <p>This smiling assassin has got a lovely bowling action and a huge array of shorts including some special T-20 unorthodox ones.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Rohit Singla </strong></p> <p>Timing, hand eye co-ordination and the want to bat 24/7 makes him a tough opponent to control. A very handy medium pacer.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Saurabh Goyal</strong></p> <p>His cheerful attitude makes him a good team player. His sling-arm bowling action is hard to read. He is got a some confident drives too.</p> </article> <article> <h1>IPL bid for Pune franchise by Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan Pataudi annulled</h1> <p>openingbat — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:36:00 GMT</p> <p>Bollywood couple Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan Pataudi were among the bidders for the Pune IPL franchise before IPL annulled all bids and postponed the tender for two new franchises. <br /></p><p>It was reported in the Indian media that Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan Pataudi had entered a bid for Pune along with Kareena's sister Karishma Kapoor and her husband Sunjay Kapur (owner at Sona Group). Saif himself has famous cricket connections - his father the 9th Nawab, Mansur Ali Khan "Tiger" Pataudi captained India and grandfather the 8th Nawab, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi has the rare distinction of having played tests for England and India.<br /></p><p>Talking about the IPL bid, Saif said: "Yes, we were interested in buying the Pune team but the bidding process was cancelled. Kareena and I had submitted our bid and there was one other person but Lalit cancelled it. It would've been great if we could have bought the Pune team and entered the IPL as I love cricket too."</p><p>According to some media reports, the two had bid $300 million for the Pune franchise in consortium with Karisma, Sunjay, Videocon's Venugopal Dhoot and Panchshil Group's Atul Chordia!<br /> <br /></p><p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/page3/Kareena2.jpg"></a> </p><p>Kareena Kapoor would have joined Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta as a celebrity owner had her bid been declared winner!</p><p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/page3/KareenaSaif.jpg"></a> </p><p>They will have to continue to support Mumbai Indians for now! <br /></p><p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/page3/Kareena1.jpg"><br /></a> </p><div id="TixyyLink" style="border:medium none;overflow:hidden;background-color:transparent;text-align:left;text-decoration:none;"><br /></div> </article> <article> <h1>A wedding, a final and a semi final</h1> <p>namya — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:41:00 GMT</p> One was watching the finals of the T10 Gully cricket league played between Ludhiana and Jalandhar on the weekend. It says a lot about one’s love for ANY form of cricket but it says even more about one’s extremely interesting and busy social life. The only other person who can be a serious contender in the serial sociopath stakes is Jimmy Shergil. But then one got to know that Jimmy boy actually owns the Ludhiana team and hence he was seen cheering for his team at the stadium. One was even more surprised...(<a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/not_cricket/archive/2010/03/08/a-wedding-a-final-and-a-semi-final.aspx">read more</a>) </article> <article> <h1>Will John Howard look beyond the bottom line?</h1> <p>openingbat — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:47:00 GMT</p> <p> <em>By Suresh Menon</em><br /> <br /> It is a tribute to India’s clout in the International Cricket Council that Australia have chosen a former Prime Minister to head the body in 2012. John Howard who will take over from Sharad Pawar (whose term begins this year) is a genuine fan, unlike the Indian who is a politician and might take offence if it is suggested that he is steeped in the traditions of the game. <br /> <br /> It was the turn of Australia-New Zealand to nominate a President, and although they made a dog’s dinner of it, a ‘consensus’ candidate finally emerged. Part of Howard’s brief will be to get the much weakened ICC back where it belonged, as the most powerful body in the sport and a true repository of all that is great and good. <br /> <br /> In recent years, goes the argument, India have hijacked the ICC, using it as their plaything, making it jump through hoops because this is where 75 percent of the money in the game is generated. If Howard does his job well, he will keep the family united, with India and Australia and the West Indies and the rest all keeping their communication lines with the parent body and with one another open.<br /> <br /> If he does it too well, then it might lead to a split in the cricketing world, with one lot following the colour of the skin and the other lot following the money (although these may be directly related). <br /> <br /> Australia’s desperation to have their own man in place (ahead of New Zealand’s John Anderson, a businessman who has represented his country at the ICC for many years) was clear when, following a disagreement, a committee was formed to choose the vice president. It comprised two representatives each from the two countries, under the chairmanship of an Australian. The big brother syndrome in that part of the world is as strong as the one in Asia where India call the shots and are criticized for it.<br /> <br /> New Zealanders have questioned Howard’s cricketing credentials but he is at least an unabashed fan, as the cricket writer and historian David Frith has pointed out in a recent article on cricinfo. When the Indian team toured in 2004, Howard held a reception at his place where he showed off Don Bradman’s cap and other memorabilia.<br /> <br /> It will be interesting to see how India react to the appointment of Howard. His track record as a supporter of apartheid and white rule in Zimbabwe is well known. That alone could bring him into conflict with India, especially if his unstated brief is to create just such a conflict and put India in their place. The Test cricket world can be split five and four on the basis of colour if we leave Zimbabwe out for the moment (but Howard can’t, the ICC will have to deal with that country).<br /> <br /> But ultimately, the cricketing world will not be ruled by either colour of skin or political convenience, but something more basic – money. Keeping India happy has been on the ICC agenda for a few years now, ever since Jagmohan Dalmiya showed the body how it could make money if only it knew how to market itself.<br /> <br /> Thus cricket ceased being a mere sport and became a product (or ‘property’), and those who played it or were involved with it became businessmen.<br /> <br /> Will Howard have the strength of character to look beyond the bottom line and focus on what has made the game unique over a century and a quarter? Or will he overplay his hand, alienate India, and split the cricketing world?</p> </article> <article> <h1>The Tenth MCC Tour of USA - March of 2010</h1> <p>openingbat — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:12:00 GMT</p> <p><strong>A brief history of MCC Tours</strong><br /> <br /> In 1859, a team led by George Parr toured America, playing two matches at Hoboken, two in Philadelphia and one match at Rochester. This was the first overseas tour by any English side. The team, a composite English side that drew from several first class teams before the dawn of international cricket, featured several members of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC - the custodian of the laws of cricket). The MCC members that took part in that first tour including Alfred Diver, William Caffyn, Thomas Lockyer, James Grundy, and John Lillywhite. George Parr subsequently joined MCC in 1863. Thus began MCC’s long love affair with USA.<br /> <br /> The 1859 tour was also instrumental in triggering a tradition of visits by international teams to USA including the first such tours by Australia (1878) and West Indies (1886). Matches versus Gentlemen of Philadelphia (GOP) formed the backbone of many of these tours, and in time, the GOP began to improve and sometimes defeat the visiting teams. This emboldened the Gentlemen of Philadelphia to undertake overseas tours themselves in 1884. On the 1884 tour, the GOP played seventeen games on their first tour of England, winning nine, losing four and drawing four. </p> <p>The Harvard Crimson noted with satisfaction: “Barring a crushing defeat at the hands of the celebrated Marylebone Club, generally known as the "MCC," which numbers amongst its three thousand and more members, (almost every amateur cricketer of note in England), the record of the team was very creditable.” This was a USA team's first overseas match against the MCC.<br /> <br /> In 1905, an exclusively MCC side toured USA - a forerunner for many such MCC tours. In 1959, MCC marked the 100th anniversary of the historic tour of 1859 by traveling to USA, playing matches against Philadelphia and Washington DC. To date, MCC toured USA nine times, including most recently in 2004 when they played seven matches at four venues including New York.</p> <p><strong>The 2010 tour of MCC (March 14th - 31st, 2010)</strong><br /> <br /> Fast forward to 2009, when a tour to North America was planned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the 1859 tour of George Parr XI. That much anticipated tenth tour of MCC to USA was postponed and will now take place in March of 2010 (March 14-31). For the first time ever, this MCC side will not play any matches in Philadelphia, opting to play all its matches in California and Florida, endowed with better March weather and turf wickets.</p> <p><em>Pic (Right): John Stephenson, MCC Head of Cricket (Coutesy: MCC)</em><br /> <br /> Without referring to the historic nature of the tour, John Stephenson, MCC Head of Cricket said: "MCC’s 2010 touring schedule whets the appetite. More MCC Members are applying for tours than ever before, and our tours continue to prove themselves beneficial to both our players and, most importantly, cricket in the countries we visit."</p> <p><strong>MCC Tour of March 2010 - Tour Program<br /> </strong></p> <p>The visitors will land in Los Angeles on March 15th. After a day of rest on March 16, the MCC side will play an exhibition match against the Southern California Cricket Association (SCCA) on March 17th. </p> <p>On March 19th, the USA Western Region team captained by Aditya Thyagarajan will play a 40-over match, to be played at Woodley Field. Reginald Benjamin will coach the Western Region side, Imran Khan, the Manager of Team USA will assist as manager and Ganesh Sanap of NCCA will be the scorer/statistician for the match. Following the match, the <a href="http://hollywoodcc.hitscricket.com/default.aspx">Hollywood Cricket Club</a> will host a banquet honoring the MCC. </p> <p>After playing a Twenty20 match against Hollywood CC on March 20th, the action will shift to the Bay Area where on Sunday, March 21st, a North West side captained by Vijay Beniwal will play a 50-over match against the visitors at the Santa Clara cricket ground on Benton Street. The region has also planned a banquet honoring the visitors that evening.</p> <p>From the San Francisco Bay Area, the visitors will proceed to Sacramento where they will play a 30-over match against the home side on March 22nd. On March 24th, the MCC will offer coaching to the Western Region’s U-19 and U-15 probables at the Collins Elementary nets in Cupertino.<br /> <br /> From California, MCC will travel to Florida, where they will play a Twenty20 match against a West Indian XI on Friday, March 26th. The tour will end with back to back 50-over matches against USA on Saturday (March 27) and a West Indian XI (March 28th). All three matches will be played at the Lauderhill Stadium, Central Broward. The composition of the Western Region, the North West team, Team USA and West Indian squads for the matches against MCC are not yet known and will be published on DreamCricket.com when they become available.</p> <p><strong>The MCC Squad</strong></p> <table> <tr> <th><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:smaller;">Name</span></span></th> <th><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:smaller;">Role</span></span></th> <th><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:smaller;">Represented</span></span></th> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Frank Russell</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>Manager</strong></p> </td> <td> <p>Buckinghamshire CCC; Gerrards Cross CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Michael Foster</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>Captain</strong> & batsman</p> </td> <td> <p>Victoria; Reigate Priory CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Rupert Swetman</p> </td> <td> <p>Batsman</p> </td> <td> <p>Old Brisotlians; Westbury CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Shani Kamalia</p> </td> <td> <p>Batsman</p> </td> <td> <p>Shepherds Bush CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Paul Bryson</p> </td> <td> <p>Batsman</p> </td> <td> <p>ECB XI; Cheshire CCC; Highfield CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Torquil Deacon</p> </td> <td> <p>Batsman</p> </td> <td> <p>Romany CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Karl Pearson</p> </td> <td> <p>All-rounder</p> </td> <td> <p>Herefordshire CCC; Gore Court CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Paul Davidge</p> </td> <td> <p>Wicketkeeper</p> </td> <td> <p>Huntingdonshire CC; Godmanchester Town CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Matt Friedlander</p> </td> <td> <p>All-rounder</p> </td> <td> <p>Boland; Northamptonshire CCC; Cambdridge MCCU; Cambridge Granta CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Tom Bartram</p> </td> <td> <p>All-rounder</p> </td> <td> <p>Durham MCCU; York CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Simon Montgomery</p> </td> <td> <p>All-rounder</p> </td> <td> <p>Prestbury CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Paul Terry</p> </td> <td> <p>Bowler</p> </td> <td> <p>Chicester Priory Park CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Will Hodson</p> </td> <td> <p>Bowler</p> </td> <td> <p>Durham MCCU; Castleford CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Ajaz Akhtar</p> </td> <td> <p>Bowler</p> </td> <td> <p>Cambridgeshire CCC; Peterborough Town CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Sid Poole</p> </td> <td> <p>Umpire</p> </td> <td> <p>Middlesex League umpire</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Don Shelley</p> </td> <td> <p>Scorer</p> </td> <td> <p>Middlesex CCC scorer</p> </td> </tr> </table> <p><em>Courtesy: MCC</em></p> <p><strong>MCC Tour Itinerary -</strong> <strong>Sunday 14 March - Wednesday 31 March 2010</strong></p> <table> <tr> <th>Date(s)</th> <th>Info/Match</th> <th>Venue</th> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Sun 14 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Team meeting at Lord's</p> </td> <td> <p>Lord's</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Mon 15 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Depart for LA, USA</p> </td> <td> <p>Heathrow</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Tue 16 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Accliamatisation & nets</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Wed 17 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Coaching session<br /> <strong>MCC v SCCA</strong> (40 overs)</p> </td> <td> <p>Woodley CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Thu 18 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Rest day</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Fri 19 March</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>MCC v Western Region</strong> (40 overs) followed by banquet hosted by Hollywood CC</p> </td> <td> <p>Woodley CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Sat 20 March</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>MCC v Hollywood All Stars</strong> (20 overs)<br /> & transfer to San Jose</p> </td> <td> <p>Woodley CC</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Sun 21 March</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>MCC v North West Region</strong> (50 overs)</p> </td> <td> <p>Santa Clara Cricket Ground, Benton Street</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Mon 22 March</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>MCC v Sacramento</strong> (30 overs)</p> </td> <td> <p>Sacramento</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Tue 23 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Rest day</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Wed 24 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Coaching in California</p> </td> <td> <p>Collins Elementary, Cupertino</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Thu 25 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Transfer to San Francisco<br /> Fly to Miami</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Fri 26 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Coaching<br /> & <strong>MCC v West Indian XI</strong> (20 overs)</p> </td> <td> <p>Central Broward</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Sat 27 March</p> </td> <td> <p><strong>MCC v USA</strong> (50 overs)</p> </td> <td> <p>Central Broward</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Sun 28 March</p> </td> <td> <p>USA v West Indian XI (50 overs)</p> </td> <td> <p>Central Broward</p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Mon 29 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Rest day</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="odd"> <td> <p>Tue 30 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Depart for UK</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr class="even"> <td> <p>Wed 31 March</p> </td> <td> <p>Arrive back in UK</p> </td> <td> <p> </p> </td> </tr> </table> <p><strong>Past MCC Tours - Statistics</strong> (Courtesy of our stats partner - Cricket Archive)</p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1859_USA_G_Parrs_XI_in_North_America_1859.html">G Parr's XI in North America 1859</a> (not officially an MCC tour - comprised of several MCC members)</p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1905_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_North_America_1905.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1905</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1907_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_North_America_1907.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1907</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1959_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_North_America_1959.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1959</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1967_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_North_America_1967.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in North America 1967</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1990-91_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_United_States_of_America_1990-91.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 1990/91</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1992-93_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_United_States_of_America_1992-93.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 1992/93</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/1999_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_United_States_of_America_1999.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 1999</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/2000_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_United_States_of_America_2000.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 2000</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/USA/2004_USA_Marylebone_Cricket_Club_in_United_States_of_America_2004.html">Marylebone Cricket Club in United States of America 2004</a></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Michael Vaughan releases his new Autobiography</h1> <p>namya — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:34:00 GMT</p> You are extremely right Michael . ummm.. Or is it supposed to be extreme right? For the minority of the readers of this blog, which doesn't understand German, My struggles is translated from the German Mein Kampf....(<a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/not_cricket/archive/2010/03/05/michael-vaughan-releases-his-new-autobiography.aspx">read more</a>) </article> <article> <h1>There are no ambiguous views about the IPL - Partab Ramchand</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:47:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><em>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><em>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</em></a>.</p> <hr /> <p><em>By Partab Ramchand<br /> </em></p> <p>The excitement in the air is palpable and the countdown has started. Exactly a week from now and it will be time to usher in another edition of the IPL. The three magical letters need not be expanded for they are by now a household name not only for cricket followers but also for those whose interest in cricket before the first edition in 2008 may have been minimal. The three magical letters are famous not only in India but also wherever the game is played – and perhaps not even played in an organized manner. The build-up has already started with several eye-catching ads on TV and I must say the marketing gurus for the tournament certainly know their job.</p> <p>Yes, IPL III will soon be upon us, engulfing us as much as the first two editions did. The stars have been smiling on both Lalit Modi and his tournament ever since he came up with his cash-rich and ultra glamorous competition that caught the fancy of virtually everyone – including Bollywood stars, industrialists, sponsors and administrators. The inaugural edition was a whopping success and the cynics who predicated that the follow-up last year would not live up to expectations because of the shift to South Africa – for reasons all too well known – were proved woefully wrong. Indeed the move out of India gave the IPL a truly international touch, enhanced its scope and it could no more be dismissed as a glorified domestic league. Moreover, on the more responsive pitches in South Africa, the bowlers were not cannon fodder and this meant for interesting contests between bat and ball.</p> <p>If anything the stars seem to be shining even more brightly for Modi and the IPL. Well before the first ball has been bowled it has already hogged the headlines thanks to the controversial rejection of Pakistan players by the franchisees and cricketers from other countries voicing concern over security aspects. All that is in the past and it is now time to look forward to five weeks of cricketainment – a phrase coined by the success of the IPL. It can be taken for granted that the third edition will be another successful venture. The return of the IPL to India seems to have guaranteed that.</p> <p>One way or the other there is no denying the fact that the IPL has already left its mark on the game in unmistakable terms. In just two seasons the tournament has been praised and criticized in almost equal measure. There are no ambiguous views about the IPL. It has been hailed as the best thing to have happened to cricket or vilified as something that will ultimately have an adverse impact on the game and the players. The growing popularity of Twenty20 cricket, while being good for the finances of the game, has had its own drawbacks and traditionalists have expressed the fear that the ultimate adverse effect would be on Test cricket. Under the circumstances it was not surprising to read a few months ago that the MCC World Cricket Committee was of the view that Test cricket was on the verge of a sad death in most countries with more and more players considering an IPL contract their ultimate goal.</p> <p>At this stage my mind goes back to April 18 2008, to the floodlit M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore and the inaugural match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Brendon McCullum lit the night sky up with an electrifying, unbeaten 158 – he highest score in Twenty20 cricket – and that set the stage for six weeks of glitz and glamour. The inaugural edition’s success was already guaranteed what with the unbelievable build up, the innovative format of having franchisees complete with auctioning of players and city based teams. With the tremendous interest the project generated around the cricketing world a favourable outcome was always on the cards. But hardly anyone could have expected the kind of roaring success and spontaneity that the IPL attracted. Whichever way one examined the event there was little doubt that the IPL had struck the right chords around the country.</p> <p>The inaugural edition was also closely followed by cricket fans all over the world, what with the IPL having a truly international flavour. Also keeping a tab on it were administrators who were quick to see Twenty20 as the game’s future. On the eve of the tournament, Sachin Tendulkar predicted that the IPL would be a super-hit and indeed it caught the public fancy in this country like few events in the past. Everywhere you went the discussion among cricket enthusiasts – and even those having only a passing interest in the game – centered around various aspects of the IPL. The fact that film stars, prominent industrialists and media barons were among the franchisees added more than a touch of glamour while the astronomical amount of money involved was the subject of much debate. Various opinion polls focused on the large number of women followers among the millions of TV viewers and also significant according to the pollsters was that the IPL scored over the soap operas.</p> <p>Describing the IPL as "a landmark time in cricket" Adam Gilchrist was of the view that, after 30 years, when people look back, they would say it is the most important thing to have happened in cricket. "In time to come people will say IPL changed the direction of cricket," he said. On the eve of the third edition’s inauguration, it can be said that the former Australian great was remarkably percipient. Indeed, even as the first edition had just gotten over cricket fans were impatient for the second to get started. Such was the impact the IPL created. Similarly we all just can’t wait for action to begin in IPL III.</p> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Cricketers and their Ferraris!</h1> <p>openingbat — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 02:35:00 GMT</p> <p>Cricketers love their Ferraris....can you blame them? </p><p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/page3/Modena360.jpg"></a> </p><p>The Ferrari 360 appears to be the most prized wheels among cricketers. Scroll down and you will see who owns the 360. <br /></p><p>Here are two: </p><p>1) Sachin Tendulkar and his Ferrari 360 Modena<br /></p><p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/page3/SachinFerrari.jpg"></a> <br /></p><p>2) Aravinda De Silva had a 355 before he upgraded to a 360 Modena!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/page3/AravindaFerrari1.jpg"></a></p><p>More pics of the De Silva Ferrari <a href="http://www.elakiri.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166809%20">here</a>.<br /></p> </article> <article> <h1>Will Tendulkar's record be broken this year itself? - Gulu Ezekiel</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:45:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><em>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><em>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</em></a>.</p> <hr /> <p><em>By Gulu Ezekiel</em></p> <p>Perhaps the biggest surprise surrounding Sachin Tendulkar’s record 200 not out in the Gwalior ODI is that it was so long in coming.</p> <p>The number of ODIs will cross the 3,000 mark this year which is a huge amount of matches considering the first was played 39 years ago at Melbourne.</p> <p>Tendulkar is just behind Sanath Jayasuriya in the most matches played with close to 450 and on at least three previous occasions in his career he had come close to breaking the barrier.</p> <p>One suspects now that it has fallen, there will be quite a few others—perhaps even Tendulkar—who will go past the mark.</p> <p>Such sporting landmarks tend to be as much psychological as physical, the best example being the 4-minute mile.</p> <p>Till Roger Bannister broke through in 1954, it was considered to be an impossible feat. And yet after Bannister, it has been surpassed over 1,000 times, including on 100-plus occasions by New Zealand’s John Walker and Steve Scott of the US.</p> <p>The previous record of 194 was shared by Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar and Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry who remained unbeaten just six months ago at Harare.</p> <p>It should be recalled though that back in 1997 had Anwar used the fleet-footed Shahid Afridi as his ‘runner’ almost throughout as he was suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration due to the oppressive Chennai weather.</p> <p>Ironically, it was Tendulkar as the rival captain who was criticized for being lenient on the Pakistanis and acceding to Anwar’s request when he was well within his rights to turn it down.</p> <p>Coventry is the only one of the three who did not open the innings, coming in at the fall of the first wicket in the second over. But the bespectacled Zimbabwean would be the first to admit he is not in the same league as Anwar and Tendulkar. And the Bangladesh bowling is frankly cannon fodder by international standards.</p> <p>The big surprise over why it took so long for the 200-barrier to be breached is mainly due to the conditions and laws of the game which have been rapidly altered to suit the batsman.</p> <p>The umpire has already been reduced to a cap stand due to electronic aids (all the better for the game). Now the bowler is being reduced to a faceless entity whose sole task it appears is to be carted all over the field.</p> <p>This is mainly due to the rise of the T-20 format and the ludicrous ‘free-hit’ front foot no-ball law and also the reduction in the size of boundaries. At Gwalior as Tendulkar and others cleared the ropes at will, it was beginning to look like the size of the ground was fit only for a school game. Fielding restrictions and power-plays add to the bowlers’ misery.</p> <p>Add to that the restriction on bouncers and the calling of a no-ball for any delivery which is above waist high plus the advancements in bat design and you can see why bowlers around the world are throwing up their arms in despair.</p> <p>The only question now is: will Tendulkar’s record be broken this year itself? No raised eyebrows if it is.</p> <p><em>--This article was originally published on butjazz.com</em></p> </div> </article> <article> <h1>DreamCricket's Winter Cricket Tournament a Big Hit</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:44:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><i>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Please help us popularize cricket in USA by </i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><i>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</i></a>.</p> <hr /> <p>After the 1st weekend of DreamCricket’s inaugural Winter Cricket Tournament 2010, the teams assembled again at the Hillsborough, NJ indoor facility for what became affectionately referred to as cricket’s version of “Super Saturday”.</p> <p>The events of the evening got underway at 6:45PM when Derby (the top team to emerge out of Group “A”) faced off against the Dream Runners (The 2nd place team from “Group B”, who barely scraped through to the Semi Finals with one win after ending their first match with a negative score. Derby won the toss and bowled first. Dream Runners’ first batting pair of Rushi Amin and Lalit got their team off to a good start and the next pairs also chipped in with useful contributions to muster 23 runs in 6 overs. This is a score that, in the 6-over Indoor cricket world, would be considered ‘something that the bowlers could bowl at’.</p> <p>Derby started cautiously, but once they lost their first wicket, the burden of a negative score started weighing each of their pairs down progressively and the proverbial floodgates blasted open. Dream Runners added to their misery with some brilliant fielding and tight bowling that ensured that they were the first entrants into the Final.<i></i></p> <p>The next match started as scheduled at 7:30PM. This one, between the favorites, Woodlot from Group “B”, and the Desi Warriors from Group “A”, started with Desi Warriors scoring their highest total, the 2nd defendable total of the day, 26. They must have started that defense with one eye firmly set on the Final. But one over where a Desi Warrior was no-balled for a back foot ‘No Ball’ 4 times and gave away few more 2s saw Woodlot miraculously pull of a victory and entered the Finals against Dream Runners. This is probably why they say ‘champion teams find a way to win’ or ‘winning is a habit’.</p> <p><i>Photo (Left): Winners of the DreamCricket Winter Tournament, <b>Woodlot</b></i></p> <p>Woodlot proved that once more when they lost the toss to Dream Runners in the Finals and, with a meager total of just 14, still took crucial wickets at the right time and added pressure of the Dream Runners batting combinations. Dream Runners still entered the last over with 10 runs to go, but another wicket in that over pretty much sealed the tournament in Woodlot’s favor.</p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9847016">DreamCricket's Winter Tournament</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user453856">Rushi Amin</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>. <p>At the ensuing awards ceremony, Kranthi Bayya, CEO of DreamCricket, welcomed and thanked all gathered for making this tournament a success and announced that a few Winter Tournaments were in the works. Venu Myneni, CEO of Radiant Systems and a partner and advisor at DreamCricket presented the Winner’s trophy to Woodlot. The Winners also received a certificate for free practice hours at the vast 6000 sq. ft. facility at DreamCricket’s Hillsborough, NJ location. Ms. Bayya also awarded free practice hours to ALL the teams that participated in this inaugural tournament.</p> <p>The captains of the teams assembled expressed their gratitude to DreamCricket for an opportunity to “…play some sport and get some exercise during the winter …” as Sriram from Woodlot put it. Dream Runners awarded their Runner Up trophy to Derby as a gesture of goodwill, gratitude and upheld the spirit of this sport that has been instrumental in its longevity.</p> <p>For <span><b>indoor cricket practice</b></span>, go to <br /> DreamCricket, 5 Jill Court, Bldg 14, Door 16, Hillsborough, NJ.</p> <p>If you or someone you know would like to participate in <span><b>future DreamCricket tournaments</b></span> or events,</p> <ul> <li>please contact:<br /> frontfoot@dreamcricket.com for more information or</li> <li>keep checking <a>this page</a> for updates on ore winter leagues and tournaments at DreamCricket.</li> </ul> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Bharat Ratna for SRT? Not yet.</h1> <p>namya — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:33:00 GMT</p> After his stupendous double ton against the Saffers many politicians including the CM and the deputy CM of Maharashtra have stated that they will recommend Sachin Tendulkar’s name for the highest Indian civilian award – Bharat Ratna, for the champion. Former cricketers like Kapil, Wadekar and Vengasarkar have also supported this wish. The award has never been awarded to a sportsperson and a majority of the 41 awardees have a political background. It is high time that the Bharat Ratna be given to...(<a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/not_cricket/archive/2010/03/02/bharat-ratna-for-srt-not-yet.aspx">read more</a>) </article> <article> <h1>Think it Over - Grand Achievements</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:00:00 GMT</p> <p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOILogo_v1.png"></a>At a time when the sport of cricket is simultaneously living out an existential nightmare where its past, present and future are co-happening, thereby baffling all of us that are intricately intertwined with its existence, we at DreamCricket.com have decided to add to the fun ... yes, F-U-N.</p> <p>Admit it, at some level, short-lived as it might well turn out to be, all of this talk and speculation about which version of cricket will survive and which one will be archived makes for some very entertaining opportunities for thought exchange.</p> <p>Along those lines, here's an ode to cricket and its vagaries, presented to you in the form of topical quizzes. A "Test" of your knowledge in cricket with a "T20" slant to it.</p> <p>Starting on Wednesday, the 3rd of March 2010, we at DreamCricket.com will be bringing to you, our weekly - okay, let's call it a - quiz called "Think it Over".</p> <p>Each of these quizzes shall contain 6 questions related to some recently relevant topic. <br /> These would be the 6 "balls" of the "over". <br /> Needless to say, there are bound to be bouncers, googlies and banana swingers in each over! <br /> You can take a shot at each of these 6 balls in the over by emailing us your answers at: <font color="#bb133e"><b>FRONTFOOT@DREAMCRICKET.COM</b></font>. <br /> The subject of the email should read <font color="#bb133e"><b>"Think it Over - Enter the Quiz #, Enter the name of the quiz".</b></font><br /> You will have exactly one week to do so. Entries will be closed by midnight of the Tuesday after each quiz is announced.</p> <p>Our 3rd umpire, Gokul, will decide how many runs - we like to call them <b>"DreamRuns"</b> - you score in each. The 3rd umpire's decisions will be final. This score would then go into your running tally of DreamRuns that would get added to from week to week. There would be 20 such quizzes or ... overs (remember?).</p> <p><u><font color="#bb133e"><b>The prize, you ask?</b></font></u> At the end of the 20th over, the quizzer with the most DreamRuns will be allowed to exchange her/ his DreamRuns for items from our PavilionShop online cricket store.</p> <p>Then we move on to another ... you said it ... T20 match!</p> <p>So, here comes the first over ... let's see if you can stay on your two feet at the end of these overs and, if possible, maybe even score some DreamRuns!</p> <div align="center"> <p>Over #1: <b>Grand Achievements</b> <br /></p> </div> <p>In spite of the cricket cliché “you need to take 20 wickets to win a Test match” having proved its worth in the recently concluded Test series between the top 2 Test teams in the world, it was also the case that there were some herculean batting feats that were also on show. </p> <p>Hashim Amla played more than a 1000 balls, scored 3 centuries in 3 innings including a double-ton, amassed almost 500 run and was only dismissed once. </p> <p>Alviro Petersen scored a century on debut and, that too, in his very first Test innings, a feat only two other South Africans have managed to accomplish before him. </p> <p>Sachin Tendulkar scored a century in each of the 2 Tests, taking his streak to 4 tons in 4 Tests now. </p> <p>Virender Sehwag also scored 100+ in both Tests. </p> <p>Jacques Kallis and MS Dhoni scored centuries at their usual sing-song pace. </p> <p>But VVS Laxman, in scoring 143* in Kolkata, his only ton of the series, achieved a rather unique feat, at least in the Indian context. He became only the 2nd Indian Test cricketer, after a certain Sunil Gavaskar, to score 1000+ runs at one venue. Gavaskar, in fact, had scored 1000+ runs in two venues: the Wankhede Stadium in Bombay and Chepauk in Madras (those were the names of both the grounds and the cities back when Gavaskar achieved those landmarks). </p> <p>This brings us to a whole bunch of interesting questions relating to batsmen scoring runs on a certain venue.</p> <p>Take a shot at the 6 balls in this over by emailing us your answers to: <font color="#bb133e"><b>FRONTFOOT@DREAMCRICKET.COM</b></font><br /> </p> <font color="green"> <ol> <li>First, let’s start with this India-South Africa series. The only 3 South Africans to have scored more than 1000 runs in one venue were both involved in this Test series. In fact, one of them holds the record in 4 different venues. Who are these 3 cricketers we are talking about? </li> <br /> <li>What unique achievement connects the following 4 photographs with respect to runs and venues? <div align="center"><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-1.jpg"></a><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/think-it-over/TOI-1-Small.jpg"></a></div></li> <li>Almost all of the Test batsmen who have scored more than 1000 runs at one particular venue have done so on a ground within their own country ... except one legendary figure. Whenever Test batting records are spoken of in true earnest, he figures alongside the likes of Bradman, Tendulkar, Lara, Sobers and the like. Who is this batsman and where, outside his country, did he score more than 1000 runs?</li> <br /> <li>Before VVS Laxman, there were 41 different men who had scored more than 1000 Test runs on a single venue. Of these, half a dozen had done so on 2 grounds and five had done so on 3 different grounds. But only two of the best batsmen to have ever played Test cricket have made 1000+ runs at 4 different venues each. Who and where? Hint: Obviously, one of these two batsmen is also mentioned in the "first ball" (question) above.<br /></li> <br /> <li>Now, let us look at it from the point of view of the grounds! There are 24 grounds across the world on which at least one batsman has scored 1000+ runs in Tests. On more than half of these, more than one batsman has scored more than 1000 runs. But one particular ground towers well above the rest in terms of the number of different batsmen it has allowed to plunder runs on its hallowed, lush fields. With as many as 8 different Test batsmen having scored 1000 runs or more in Tests, which ground are we talking about? </li> <br /> <li>The final ball of the over. Of all the Test batsmen who have ever scored more than 1000 runs on one venue, there is only one pair of brothers. Which one? </li> </ol> </font> </article> <article> <h1>Interview: Don Lockerbie sits down to talk about the latest announcements in USA cricket (Part 1)</h1> <p>openingbat — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:34:00 GMT</p> <br /><p>A few days before the start of the ICC World Cricket League Division Five Tournament in Kathmandu, Nepal, Peter Della Penna of <a href="http://www.dreamcricket.com/">DreamCricket.com</a> had the opportunity to sit down with USA Cricket Association CEO Don Lockerbie to ask him about recent developments that have been making headlines for USACA. In particular, the biggest news announced ahead of the tournament was that New Zealand and Sri Lanka will be coming to the US in May to play a series of Twenty20 matches in Florida. <br /> <br /> Over the course of the interview, Lockerbie revealed several other pieces of new information. Among these are that Pakistan might possibly join Sri Lanka and New Zealand to play in May’s Twenty20 series, an MCC team will be coming to Florida to play a USA development squad in March, his potential plan to bid for the 2013 Champions Trophy and a more in-depth look at how he plans to professionalize cricket in America.</p> <p><i>Pic (Right): USA Cricket CEO Don Lockerbie with IPL Chairman Lalit Modi. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</i><br /> <br /> Here is part 1 of the interview.<br /> <i><b><br /> Peter Della Penna: </b>The partnership with New Zealand, these matches that are announced with Sri Lanka, obviously everybody’s known about New Zealand for a while now, the partnership that’s been established with them, but how did Sri Lanka become involved in this in trying to arrange these matches?</i><br /> <br /> <b>Don Lockerbie:</b> Back in November, we met with the Sri Lankan secretary at the ICC meetings and it was made expressly by them that they wanted to follow in the footsteps of other Full Members, particularly like New Zealand, and come sooner than later to the United States. Nishantha Ranatunga is the secretary general for the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and funny enough, his brother was formerly the secretary and now lives in Washington, D.C. So he knows USA well, he’s followed USA cricket. They want to help and there’s a good feeling about Sri Lankan cricket around the world.</p> <p>Sri Lanka are a fun team to watch, they’re very energetic. They were World Cup finalists in the 2007 World Cup. I’ve seen them play a lot and I just think it’s a great brand of cricket so absolutely wanted to honor their desire to come play and with our partnership, Justin Vaughan has been doing a great job from New Zealand making the case to come to the United States. With the West Indies hosts of the 2010 World T20, all the teams are coming to the neighborhood so a lot of them are knocking on the door and looking to find a chance to play with us.<br /> <i><br /> <b>Peter Della Penna:</b> Obviously these are matches between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, but what kind of money, what are the potential earning opportunities in terms of possible television rights and other sources of revenue that would go to USACA from this kind of event?</i><br /> <b><br /> Don Lockerbie:</b> It’s hard to say right now what the final tally like that could be estimated at, but I can tell you that in this day and age in cricket, the way that you’re going to make some commercial rights stick are to create some long-term partnerships and relationships. So in the coming weeks, with our partners New Zealand, we’ll be looking to create some long-term match opportunities and series where we can sit down with some of the top broadcasters of the world and look for something that they can count on. <br /> <br /> Doing one-off events is never going to be profitable. What we need to do is start creating a consistency of matches that are probably best played in the United States between, let’s just say April to September, something like that, where it’s a good time of year for the <br /> <br /> Full Members who are looking for places to play and we think that trying to establish some long-term value to our broadcasters, our sponsors, having good paydays for the teams that come and play in the United States are all very very important in commercial consideration. So right now what we’re doing is we’re developing the strategic plan that we can bring to sponsors and broadcasters and it also has a lot to do with who is playing. <br /> <br /> So one of the things that we’re also looking to do is at the same time we announced the Sri Lanka-New Zealand opportunity, which we’re still finalizing all the nuts and bolts on that from dates, to the competition schedule, to again working with any potential broadcasters, there’s an opportunity for a third Full Member to come in as well and it’s no secret that we’ve been in discussions with Pakistan. So obviously I think the value of the television rights or long-term rights for the United States Cricket have to do with the high level of competition that’s coming to the country and if we can bring in two or three Full Members in May this year after the World T20, that will be a great start for us. <br /> <br /> It’ll be the first time that we really have two or three Full Members playing and that’s what we want our stakeholders to realize, that this will be annual, this will be several times a year and your question about how commercially viable it is will have to do with the ability that we start off well. If we play to empty stadiums and nobody’s all that interested, then the whole business of the commercial viability of the United States is nothing more than a rumor. So what we really need is for people who’ve been wanting to see cricket, who are hungry for cricket, support what we’re doing. Get out there, watch it, support it and let broadcasters know and let sponsors know that this is exactly what fans of US cricket have been wanting or fans of world cricket have been wanting. <br /> <b><br /> <i>Peter Della Penna: </i></b><i>Obviously the dates haven’t been finalized yet, but potentially what would be the kind of price range that fans would be expecting to pay? There’s no real precedent that’s been set for a kind of US cricket event obviously in terms of ticket-selling but has there been any discussion in terms of what the price range would be for fans who might want to come and fly to Florida or fans in Florida who would want to buy tickets to this kind of thing?</i><br /> <br /> <b>Don Lockerbie</b>: No. It’s a little premature to say what our ticket prices are going to be. But I can say that we want them to be reasonable. We’re essentially a new business and like any new business, you want to set up price points that are going to get people to the stadium and to enjoy it and come back. So I think that we are absolutely looking at the opportunity to develop the kind of matches that people will find affordable. <br /> <br /> I know that our Full Members will be generous with us and see their own coming to the United States as a way to help USACA and the way to do that is not to be too terribly expensive for them and that’s why we’re looking at generous partners. <br /> <br /> The whole thing with the New Zealand partnership, this is a long-term deal we’re putting together with them. We’re looking at New Zealand actually investing in United States Cricket and by doing that, they’re not out to do anything but make the game more popular and we all agree that the way to do that is to fill up the stands as best we can. So we’ll be reasonable with our ticket prices, with our concessions, with our merchandise.<br /> <br /> <i><b>Peter Della Penna:</b> What else are these teams doing besides obviously playing matches? Is there anything that’s going to be set up in terms of running a local youth coaching clinic or running a local community thing, anything like that?</i><br /> <br /> <b>Don Lockerbie</b>: Without a doubt, we’d be looking always to set up coaching clinics and youth camps and opportunities maybe for local VIPs and celebrities to try hitting the ball and trying to make it fun for all. Without a doubt the sport, particularly in the Twenty20 game, is one of family entertainment and fun and it’s a fast paced experience and I’m sure that we’ll be looking to address some of the entertainment around the grandstands. <br /> <br /> Perhaps concerts, perhaps going as far as the IPL with cheerleaders, we want to make sure that cricket is the exciting fast paced game that it’s now become in Twenty20 and I know that part of what we want to do is become the place to come play. United States is going to be a place that will have full stadiums and lots of fun and entertainment and great atmosphere. That’s what everyone thinks cricket should be for the United States and that’s what we’ll be planning to do.<br /> <br /> <i><b>Peter Della Penna: </b></i>You mentioned with Pakistan obviously could be a team that comes in May, along with Sri Lanka and New Zealand. But they played, in the past year, series in Abu Dhabi, one day series, and they obviously don’t have a permanent home right now to host matches. What is the likelihood of them playing 50-over matches in 2010 in the US against other teams?<br /> <br /> <b>Don Lockerbie: </b>Right now, I don’t think there’s any plan for them to play one-day internationals. The invitation that has been made has been to come to the United States in April where they could be creating a training camp and perhaps some warm-up matches before they go defend their world championship in the West Indies at the T20 World Cup and then the other option is to see if they’re interested to come play in May. <br /> <br /> I need to be clear, the current negotiation between New Zealand and Sri Lanka is moving forward. The invitation is being made to Pakistan, but their interest is very very high and it has a lot to do with their own scheduling, with the players who would be available, and we made it clear to all three teams that we’re looking for their powerhouse teams. We’re looking for them to come and make history in the United States. <br /> <br /> To be clear, the announcement that we made about New Zealand and Sri Lanka is significant. It’s one where we are very very excited that they are now finalizing negotiations with us to make it real. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to take place and with Pakistan we’ve just made the invitation for them to study very quickly whether April and or May would be something that they want to do. So that puts them in a Twenty20 mindset. We made it very clear to [Pakistan Cricket Board] Chairman [Ijaz] Butt that we again want a long-term relationship with them. <br /> <br /> We want to be helpful and useful to their situation and current condition of having difficulty finding places to play and there’s millions of Pakistan fans in the United States. We’ve got I’m sure for them a very loyal following that would be very eager to support that team. Therefore, the idea that there could be 50-over cricket from a Pakistan side soon is very reasonable to expect.<br /> <i><b><br /> </b></i><i>Pic (Left) - L to R: Nabeel Ahmed (USACA - First VP), IS Bindra (ICC Principal Advisor), Don Lockerbie (USA Cricket CEO) and Ahmed Jeddy (Central West Regional Representative to USACA Board)</i> <i>[Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</i></p> <p><i><b>Peter Della Penna:</b> In terms of getting the US team playing in these Twenty20 matches in Florida, would these be actual matches or would it just be warm-up matches? Would they be listed as warm-up matches or would they be classed as full?</i><br /> <br /> <b>Don Lockerbie: </b>The matches in April would be to help benefit the teams who are going on to the World T20 in the Caribbean. We would have liked to been one of those teams, but we finished essentially in a tie for fifth with Kenya. We had to finish in the top two to have that shot. <br /> <br /> So now it’s really a matter of being good members of the ICC and fulfilling an opportunity to help the guys that are going to the World T20, those teams. <br /> <br /> In May, it’s a different matter. In May, with Sri Lanka and New Zealand coming in, we would be in a position to be one of the competing teams and that’s exciting for us because that truly will be full-on cricket with the United States being the third or fourth team in a series of double-headers.<br /> <i><b><br /> Peter Della Penna:</b> There’s this letter (press release) that was made at the end of January in regards to professional coaching being one of your intentions for the future. How close is that or how far away is that from happening? Also part of that statement was professional contracts for players. How close are those things to happening?</i><br /> <br /> <b>Don Lockerbie:</b> They should happen in 2010. The expectation is that we’re professionalizing cricket in the United States. It started with my hiring in April of a year ago. We’re fast approaching the end of the first year and we’re fast approaching the ability to feel comfortable with some of the initiatives that we’ve put in place and some of the financial planning that we’re putting in place and can soon announce. <br /> <br /> We’re adding staff to my office which would include hiring a national director of coaching, an assistant coaching staff, kind of retooling the way we select players throughout the country. <br /> <br /> We’d be looking at a regional coaching staff around the country that we’d want to incentivize with paid positions. So in other words, I think that a lot of people know that my strategy all along has been to start at the national team level and work our way down because I believe that club cricket and regional cricket is healthy. Certainly, they can always use more funding and more facilities and more initiatives and we’ll get that to them in the near future, but the first thing to do in my opinion is to meet the mandate of the ICC and the mandate of the ICC is to make sure that we’re developing professional cricket teams that can make it to World Cups. <br /> <br /> So we’re going to start that way, but I think that the stakeholders of US cricket will soon find that there will be funding for all areas of US cricket and that the goal is to make noise and noteworthy headlines at the national and international level so that the funding can come in so that there are broadcasters and sponsors and investors who want to be part of US cricket and so that it then makes its way throughout all specters and spectrums of US cricket.<br /> </p><p><em>Pic (Right): USA Cricket CEO observes a team meeting before USA vs Nepal (which USA won) [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</em></p><p><em><strong>Peter Della Penna: </strong>(Moving on to professionalization of cricket). How many contracts do you foresee initially being handed out? Is it going to be 15 for the full national team squad or is it just 5 or 10 or incrementally over the course of the next year or so? How many initially are there going to be?</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Don Lockerbie:</strong> I can’t say that now. I haven’t finalized that plan. A lot of it has to do with how fast we also move towards development of a professional T20 domestic league in the United States, which is also very much on the table. We are currently very far along with a group that we’ve been talking to since the summer of 2009 who are putting together a very impressive proposal for us regarding the development of a league by 2012. <br /> <br /> Now, we’d be looking for an American summer of international cricket at the domestic T20 league which would professionalize many of our players and would contract many of our players. What we have to look at is following kind of the professional soccer model which is you professionalize your players because they’re part of franchise teams and then you incentivize them for the national teams with a secondary contract when they’re playing at the international level and that’s kind of the model that we’re following. <br /> <br /> Obviously we want to professionalize as many players as possible and the league will do that. If you figure that in a few years, we might have six to eight professional teams in the United States with say seven or eight Americans on each team, we could soon have whatever that math is, 50-60 players with professional contracts and that also would mean that there would be administrators and coaches with professional contracts and then our selection process would be completely different as to how we then devise and create national teams. <br /> <br /> We really see that part of our strategy to professionalize cricket is also to create this domestic league and that’s very high on our radar and we’ve not been talking about it a lot but we can announce that in 2010, we’re making very serious progress and look forward to some announcements about that later in the year.” <br /> <br /> <em><strong>Peter Della Penna: </strong>How many and which cities are being targeted to host these teams and where would the matches be played? Obviously there’s only the one major stadium in Florida at the moment. Where would these matches be played?</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Don Lockerbie:</strong> These stadiums are going to have to come online in the next few years in the cities that want and so again I’m not at liberty to share the business model right now. I just wanted to be able to share the fact that we’ve made more progress than most people think and I’m talking about a domestic league right now. I’m not talking about the IPL coming to the United States. That’s another matter. To be clear, this is something we’ve been working on since really June of last year. </p> <p>You’ll recall there was an international tender that took place. Well, it’s been making progress. So to say how many teams are gonna be or how many cities would be premature because the business model’s still being worked on. But what I can say is at the right time, there’ll be an opportunity for franchises. There’ll be an opportunity for cities to bid. Part of that will have to be the development of stadiums and we’ll get more information out about that probably by the summer.<br /> <br /> <em><strong>Peter Della Penna: </strong>Where are you expecting the fans to come from to support this kind of thing? Obviously over the past year that I’ve seen anyway, nobody’s really shown up to the USACA tournaments and nobody really shows up to club cricket in the US. Where are you anticipating or how are you going to try and get fans to come out to start supporting domestic cricket?</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Don Lockerbie:</strong> Domestic cricket doesn’t mean it doesn’t have international players. Domestic cricket means that it is American city based. It’ll be owned and operated by a USACA joint venture and it will be ICC approved and it will be the kind of league that deals in a very significant and friendly manner with the Full Member boards from around the world. </p> <p>We will absolutely be a team where fans will see some of their favorite players and maybe some other players that are up and coming from various boards and clubs around the world. Again, the business model isn’t finalized, but I know that everybody we’re talking to is pretty excited about it and the important piece of it right now is that we’re making the necessary progress. It’s not stagnant, it’s not static.<br /> <em><strong><br /> </strong></em><em>Pic (Left): Don Lockerbie addresses a gathering of students at Lincoln School in Nepal [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</em></p> <p><em><strong>Peter Della Penna:</strong> You talked about players, new selection process, a whole lot of new things coming in with hopefully the new professional structure, etc. Why should players who are currently in the domestic system who have been overlooked continuously in the past, why should they feel that a new system, why should they feel convinced that things are going to change when in the past they’ve been frustrated at having not been selected?</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Don Lockerbie:</strong> Well, unfortunately US has played such little international cricket over the last five years that when there’s only 14 men selected to a team, it’s difficult to either break in or it’s just not that much cricket. So for even the men who’ve been on the 14 and who’ve been here for years like Steve Massiah, Lennox Cush, Orlando Baker, all these guys who’ve been playing for years, that they’re still around is a testament to their dedication and commitment to cricket so it’s exciting to see these guys.</p> <p>In the same vein, we now have professional management. We’re not just a board anymore with volunteers who give up their time and dedication and when there’s an opportunity to play cricket, they put a team together. Now, we’ve got a 24/7, 365-day management that is looking to try and find a way for our teams to play more cricket.</p> <p>If some of the current players can be patient and some of the younger players can stay dedicated, there’s no reason why again, with a professional league coming, you couldn’t be a professional cricketer. 50-60 players can be professional cricketers. That’s something you’re going to be able to see in the next two to five years.</p> <p>The US national team is going to play more frequently, I mean even this year in 2010. Let’s look at 2009. There was not one single international match for the US national team in 2009. In fact, when we played in Dubai in February, it would have been November ‘08 since the last match so maybe we were a little rusty. We hadn’t played in, what would that be, 15 months. So here we are. But now, we (played) a month of cricket in February in Dubai and Nepal.</p> <p>In March, we’re gonna play the MCC in Fort Lauderdale. In April, we’ll play warm-up matches for the T20 World Cup. In May, we’re gonna be part of the Sri Lanka-New Zealand series. Then we have the Americas Championships in May-June and WCL Division Four in Italy in August. I mean that’s an amazing amount of cricket in comparison to what this team has done.</p> <p>Some of the guys are gonna be able to play all of it, some are not. We’ll be able to move players in and that doesn’t even count the other ideas we have right now – series with Canada, series with other countries that all want to come and play in the United States. So honestly, if you’re a cricketer, the next few years could be the beginning of the dream to play as much professional cricket as people ever hoped. For the guys that we’re watching today and are currently playing, I hope that they still have a lot of good years left in them to play. Now, I’m not sleeping at night until what I’ve promised, which is professionalization of cricket in the United States, is alive and well.<br /> <strong><br /> </strong><em><strong></strong></em><em>Pic (Right): Don Lockerbie believes that the fans will come if we do it right. A picture of the spectators that came to watch USA vs Nepal. [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</em></p> <p><em><strong>Peter Della Penna: </strong>What else is new or what are some of the other things on tap for the United States in the next nine months, ten months through the end of 2010?</em><br /> <strong><br /> Don Lockerbie: </strong>Well, we’ve made the announcement that we’ve met with Lalit Modi, Sundar Raman, and we’ve definitely got a working group that will be starting in May with the IPL. Lalit has agreed to meet with us again in May, right around the T20, and we will be setting up a working group that will study how the IPL does come to the United States, when does it come, how does it come. Right now, the concepts are on the table, everything from just individual teams or several of them coming and touring the United States and playing matches to the potential of maybe a shorter version, smaller version of the IPL in the American summer. Those are all concepts that are no secret because other people are talking about them.</p> <p>So we’ll start talking seriously. The IPL has made the announcement that they’d like to be in the United States in 2011. So that sounds like a pretty serious commitment. The good part about it is that when people are reading headlines about what the IPL is saying about America, Americans should understand that we’re very much part of the picture. We know what’s going on, we’ve been quiet about it until now, but it’s exciting to state that things are moving in the right direction.<br /> <br /> <em> <strong>Peter Della Penna: </strong>You talked with David Morgan and Haroon Lorgat in Dubai?</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Don Lockerbie: </strong>Absolutely. In fact, I was summoned to a meeting by them which was a great opportunity for me to update them while I was in Dubai as to all the plans that we’re working on and kind of give them more first-hand information on the details from the press releases they were reading.</p> <p>I think they’re very very pleased with the direction we’re headed. They were very very complimentary of our relationship with New Zealand Cricket and we seem to be handling things correctly. I think as an Associate, we might be an anomaly. We’re trying to be an Associate team that’s going to act and behave like a Full Member until someday that we have the kind of teams that can beat Full Members and maybe become a Full Member. It would certainly be our goal following what Ireland is trying to do.<br /> <strong><br /> </strong><em><strong>Peter Della Penna: </strong>Did you talk to them at all about the possibility of trying to bring an ICC event to the US?</em><br /> <br /> <strong>Don Lockerbie:</strong> Well, there’s one ICC event that is available, open and unscheduled and unlocated and that’s the Champions Trophy of 2013. It’s our understanding that the ICC will inform all members that there will be a tender process probably in the next month and I learned that while I was in Dubai.</p> <p>I will put this before the board of USACA, but it would be my own personal goal to bid for the 2013 Champions Trophy. We understand that we would need essentially two stadiums and several training grounds that would all be within an hour or two of one another, maybe an hour or two or three of one another. I already know that there would be tremendous interest in Florida. I know that there would be tremendous interest in New York and I would be happy to know if there were other cities in the United States that would be interested.</p><p><b> <u><br /></u></b></p><p> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Wooster to compete in American College Cricket Spring Break Championship</h1> <p>openingbat — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:25:00 GMT</p> <p>WOOSTER,Ohio - March Madness will stretch beyond the basketball court this spring when an international group of students from The College of Wooster competes in the USA College Cricket Championship next month (March 17-21) in Fort Lauderdale.</p><p><a href="http://community.dreamcricket.com/community/blogs/usa-college-cricket/WoosterPresident.jpg"></a> </p> <p>Wooster, which is the smallest school in the field and the only independent liberal arts college to participate, will join 20 other collegiate teams from the United States and abroad, including the University of the West Indies and York University from Toronto. All matches will follow the One Day International (ODI) 20/20 Format, and will last no more than three hours. The semi-finals and finals will be played in the International Cricket Council ODI-certified stadium in Central Broward Regional Park, and will be broadcast live on the web.</p><p><a href="http://www.wooster.edu/en/News-and-Events/News-Releases/2010/February/Cricket-Championship">Click here for detailed article.</a> <br /></p> </article> <article> <h1>The double was a triumph of traditional cricket - Suresh Menon</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:55:00 GMT</p> <div align="JUSTIFY"> <p><i>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><i>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</i></a>.</p> <hr /> <p><i>By Suresh Menon<br /> </i></p> <p>It was said of the great Ranji as he charmed English crowds with Oriental magic that he “never played a Christian stroke in his life.” In Gwalior, Tendulkar never played an un-Christian stroke as he made 200, and that is nearly as significant as the record itself.</p> <p>A double century in a one-day international was a milestone whose time had come. The possibilities of attacking batsmanship in a limited overs game had been demonstrated in two Twenty20 World Cups and the annual IPL tournaments. There were enough centuries in 20-over games to suggest that a double in a 50-over match was just round the corner.</p> <p>The favourites to get there first were Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag. A decade ago, it was Sachin Tendulkar. It needed to be an opening batsman (or a number three) guaranteed to last 50 overs and with a range of unorthodox strokes that would enable him to score consistently.</p> <p>And yet, when it came, the double was a triumph of traditional cricket and the coaching manual rather than a paean to the somewhat manic hitting of the shorter formats. Tendulkar, who has sanctified a few unorthodox shots of his own, hardly played any of the manufactured shots of today – the reverse sweep, the switch hit, the upper cut, the Dilshan scoop. The cover drive, the on drive, the flick, the leg glance, the square cut – it was all classical batsmanship.</p> <p>In a few weeks, Tendulkar will be 37. Over the years various parts of his body have protested in various ways, and he has had to adapt his game so the pain would be bearable. He has had to return to the shelf some of the innovative shots that put excessive pressure on his back. Yet here he was, against one of the best bowling attacks in the game, hitting with a ferocity and a consistency that make grown men weep. And running singles with the enthusiasm of a fresher. If this is the twilight of a great career, then nighttime is a long way off.</p> <p>What is his secret? Sehwag put his finger on it. “Sachin still practises more than anybody else,” he told an interviewer. After 166 Tests, 442 one-dayers, 93 centuries and 30,000 runs? Even those kissed by the gods have to train like humans.</p> <p>There is a symmetry about the best batsman making the highest score that is not very difficult to understand. It satisfies our craving for harmony, it caters to our need for seeing things put in their right places. It stills the discomfort of seeing a journeyman rule over all-time greats. That is one reason that Tendulkar’s double is so befitting. He is the greatest to have played the game.</p> <p>One-day cricket has often failed to put the best batsman at the top. Before Tendulkar, there was Viv Richards; his 189 not out was scored a quarter century ago. Previous record-holders include Dennis Amiss, David Lloyd and Glenn Turner, hardly the first names to come to mind when one-day cricket is discussed. Tendulkar restores appropriateness to an important record.</p> <p>It has taken 40 years for the first double century. But the curious thing in sport is that once a barrier is crossed, then it is done by more people more often, leaving everyone to wonder what the fuss was all about.</p> <p>Tendulkar has shown that the one-day 200 is no longer a dream. Cricket’s conceit is that it does not chase records, such things are merely by-products. Yet batsmen know they can do it now. The record will be broken, but Tendulkar, like Edmund Hillary in another context, will always be remembered as the man who got there first.</p> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Nepal takes tournament title after magnificent seven wicket haul by Vishvakarma</h1> <p>allrounder — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:55:00 GMT</p> <p><em>By Peter Della Penna</em></p> <p>In a rematch of Friday's showdown at Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground, Nepal exacted revenge on USA as the host team won Saturday's World Cricket League Division Five championship match by five wickets in Kathmandu, Nepal. Rahul Vishvakarma was named Man of the Match after turning in a stunning performance with the ball, taking 7 for 15 bowling left arm orthodox spin.</p> <p><em>Pic to the left: Rahul Vishvakarma pics up his Man of the Match award after taking 7 for 15. Courtesy <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM:medium none;BACKGROUND:none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%;CURSOR:hand;" id="lw_1267307653_1" class="yshortcuts">Daniela</span> Zaharia/USACA.</em></p> <p>"We would have loved to win this today, but full credit to Nepal," said USA captain Steve Massiah. "I thought they took the game away from us. 150 for 3 and then Rahul came in and got seven wickets. They deserve it."</p> <p>USA won the toss and elected to bat first on a cool morning. For the third game in a row, USA used a different opening combination as Orlando Baker came out to bat with Lennox Cush. Cush tried to be his usual aggressive self and struck a six over point off his second ball to get off the mark but was out for 10 after only 11 balls and USA was 19 for 1 in the 4<sup>th</sup> over.</p> <p>Steve Massiah came in and continued his solid form by constructing a methodical partnership with Baker. The two kept the Nepal pacemen at bay as they added 81 runs for the second wicket. Baker was starting to look stronger as his innings went on, but was run out for 49 on a piece of lazy cricket. Massiah was on strike facing Vishvakarma in the 27<sup>th</sup> over and slogged a full ball wide of long on. He didn't run thinking it was going for four. Gyanendra Malla chased after it hard and swatted it back inside the rope when Massiah and Baker decided to get moving. Off the bat, it should have been a comfortable two, but because neither man started running hard at first, Baker came back for what become a very risky second. Malla scooped up the ball after knocking it down, fired an accurate throw from the boundary to Vishvakarma over the stumps and the bails came off with Baker well short.</p> <p>However, Massiah did well to shake off the blunder and steeled himself for another long stay at the crease. Sushil Nadkarni came out and joined him to put on 41 runs for the third wicket before he was out stumped for 17 trying to slog off-spinner Sanjam Regmi to make it 141 for 3 in 36 overs.</p> <p>With the batting power play still in hand and Massiah well set, it appeared USA would motor on to score between 220 and 240. Massiah brought up his 50 with an impressive six over midwicket off left arm spinner Shakti Gauchan in the 39<sup>th</sup> over. In the next over though, USA would have no answer for Vishvakarma's plan to bowl over the wicket. Previously, the spinner had bowled only around the wicket, but after the first ball of the 40<sup>th</sup> over, decided to change his angle and it paid immediate dividends. Massiah tried to slog him and top edged one high over the keeper's head to Gauchan who made a great catch diving forward running in from short third man to send Massiah on his way for 55 as USA had fallen to 152 for 4.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Pic above: Lennox Cush bowls to Anil Mandal with Rashard Marshall (left) and Orlando Baker (right) fielding close in as the crowd looks on. Courtesy <span style="BORDER-BOTTOM:medium none;BACKGROUND:none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%;CURSOR:hand;" id="lw_1267307653_1" class="yshortcuts">Daniela</span> Zaharia/USACA.</em></p> <p>From there, things unraveled for USA at an alarming rate. Aditya Thyagarajan was out two balls later edging a drive to the captain Paras Khadka at point for 4. Carl Wright and Timroy Allen fell in identical fashion, driving him in the air to be well caught on the long off boundary by Mahaboob Alam. Usman Shuja's foot dragged slightly out of his crease going for a slog to be stumped while Rashard Marshall and Imran Awan got out when they top edged attempted slogs. USA's last 7 wickets fell for 20 runs. In Vishvakarma's second spell of bowling, he bowled 5.2 overs, had 2 maidens and took 7 wickets for 3 runs as he just about singlehandedly bowled out USA for 172 in 47.2 overs.</p> <p>The crowd in excess of 10,000 had even more reason to cheer when Mahesh Chhetri and Anil Mandal got Nepal off to a strong start, putting on 85 for the first wicket before Mandal slammed one to midwicket facing the off-spin of Allen and was caught on the boundary by Shuja for 37. Cush then had Chhetri caught behind for 28 to make it 88 for 2 in 24 and followed it up by nabbing the captain Khadka for 5 to make it 104 for 3 in the 30<sup>th</sup>.</p> <p>USA tried to keep making breakthroughs, but more terrible fielding, a chronic problem on tour, held them back as dropped chances, misfields and overthrows gave Nepal room to breathe. The pressure was relieved and Nepal managed to get closer and closer until they had passed the target with 19 balls to spare. Usman Shuja took two wickets to try and give USA a chance, but Malla and Alam put the pressure straight back on USA's bowlers with an aggressive 35-run partnership to end the match. Malla, who is only 19-years-old, finished 28 not out a day after top-scoring with 52 against USA while Alam was unbeaten on 17. The crowd erupted when the winning four was hit by Alam as Malla immediately grabbed a souvenir stump out of the ground.</p> <p>While USA finished in second place as a team, they had some impressive individual distinctions. Massiah finished as the tournament's leading run scorer with 289 runs in six games. He had the most 50s in the tournament with four, including a high score of 74 against Fiji. Kevin Darlington was the leading wicket-taker in the event with 14 in six games. His best return was 4 for 65 versus Singapore.</p> <p> </p><pre>Official Scorecard ICC WCL Division Five Nepal vs. USA Nepal won by 5 wickets USA won the toss and elected to bat Man of the Match: Rahul Vishvakarma USA Batting Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal OM Baker 49 105 3 2 runout (Malla/Vishvakarma) LJ Cush 10 11 1 1 b Das SJ Massiah* 55 114 4 1 ct Gauchan b Vishvakarma SS Nadkarni 17 29 2 1 st Chhetri+ b S Regmi A Thyagarajan 4 12 1 0 ct Khadka b Vishvakarma CD Wright+ 1 2 0 0 ct Alam b Vishvakarma RA Marshall 4 9 1 0 ct B Regmi b Vishvakarma TP Allen 2 12 0 0 ct Alam b Vishvakarma KU Shuja 3 9 0 0 st Chhetri+ b Vishvakarma I Awan 7 8 0 1 ct Gauchan b Vishvakarma KG Darlington 0 6 0 0 not out Total Extras 20 (0 no balls, 0 byes, 7 leg byes, 13 wides) Team Total 172 all out in 47.2 overs Fall of wicket: 19/1 (Cush), 100/2 (Baker), 141/3 (Nadkarni), 152/4 (Massiah), 152/5 (Thyagarajan), 157/6 (Wright), 158/7 (Marshall), 162/8 (Allen), 164/9 (Shuja), 172/10 (Awan). Nepal Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets M Alam 3-0-16-0 BK Das 7-1-27-1 P Khadka 5-0-19-0 SP Gauchan 9-1-31-1 B Regmi 9-0-37-0 RK Vishvakarma 8.2-2-15-7 S Regmi 6-1-20-1 Nepal Batting Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal MK Chhetri+ 28 73 3 0 ct Wright+ b Cush AK Mandal 37 66 5 1 ct Shuja b Allen SP Gauchan 23 58 0 0 LBW Shuja P Khadka* 5 9 1 0 ct Marshall b Cush S Vesawkar 11 26 0 0 ct Wright+ b Shuja G Malla 28 31 3 0 not out M Alam 17 18 1 1 not out Total Extras 26 (0 no balls, 2 byes, 4 leg byes, 20 wides) Team Total 175 for 5 in 46.5 overs Did not bat: B Regmi, S Regmi, RK Vishvakarma, BK Das Fall of wicket: 85/1 (Mandal), 88/2 (Chhetri), 104/3 (Khadka), 127/4 (Vesawkar), 140/5 (Gauchan). USA Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets KG Darlington 8-3-25-0 KU Shuja 10-0-46-2 I Awan 2-0-13-0 LJ Cush 10-1-27-2 TP Allen 10-0-26-1 </pre> </article> <article> <h1>ICC WCL Division 5 Cricket: USA advances to Division Four with dramatic five-wicket win over Nepal</h1> <p>openingbat — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:47:00 GMT</p> <p><em>By Peter Della Penna</em><br /> <br /> Sushil Nadkarni delivered in a big way for USA, scoring 57 not out in a match-winning performance to lift USA past Nepal by five wickets on Friday at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, just outside of Kathamandu, Nepal on day five of the ICC World Cricket League Division Five tournament. USA's chase was interrupted after the 32nd over in controversial circumstances as a riot broke out in the hill stand when USA needed 13 runs to win.</p> <p><em>Pic (Right): Nadkarni smashed 57 not out. </em><em>[Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</em></p> <p>In front of a crowd of about 1000 fans at the start, which would grow to over 12,000 by the start of the second innings, Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first on another good batting track. However USA’s pace attack was too much for Nepal’s young lineup. Crucially, Usman Shuja was included in place of Sudesh Dhaniram, who was left out due to injury according to USA captain Steve Massiah. <br /> <br /> “I was definitely on the boundary for quite some time and the crowd was really loud,” said Aditya Thyagarajan, who hit the winning runs for USA. “It was I think it was a great experience to play in that crowd and to see the passion of the Nepalis. They were really loud, but I think what really happened is that it motivated everybody else to go out there and give your best. I think this game, we played really motivated and we were on the ball. From the first ball, we all were right there and I think the crowd played a part in it.”<br /> <br /> Shuja teamed up with Kevin Darlington to blitz the Nepal top order. Darlington continued his excellent form as he took three more wickets to remain USA’s leading wicket-taker in Nepal with 14 in five games. Dipendra Chaudhary was the first to go, trapped on the crease by Darlington for 7 to make it 14/1 in the 5th over. Shuja then struck five balls later, clean bowling Anil Mandal with a full and straight delivery for 4 before Darlington came back in the next over to knock Shakti Gauchan’s off stump out of the ground for a duck to make it 16 for 3. <br /> <br /> “It was great to bowl with Usman today,” said Darlington. “Actually, Usman is my roommate. So we had a chat about this last night, basically going over our strategies after our team meetings. So we basically tried to hit the deck really hard today, try to hit the top of off stump, make it kind of difficult for the Nepalis today.” <br /> <br /> Shuja should have had another wicket when Nepal’s captain and leading run-scorer in the tournament, Paras Khadka, edged one to first slip a short time later on 6, but was put down by Lennox Cush. However, it wound up not costing USA much as Khadka dragged a pull onto his stumps to be bowled for 12 by Orlando Baker as Nepal sunk to 39 for 4 in the 17th over. Baker then accounted for Nepal’s other danger man Sharad Vesawkar, dismissing him for 15 caught behind by Carl Wright. <br /> <br /> Tight bowling by the USA pacemen combined with aggressive field settings by Massiah heaped more pressure on Nepal. A runout was the result when Mahesh Chhetri was indecisive on a single and couldn’t beat Rashard Marshall’s throw to the bowler, Saurabh Verma, over the stumps and when the bails came off, Chhetri had to go for 3 to make it 80 for 6 in the 32nd. <br /> <br /> Nepal staged a solid fightback with Gyanendra Malla and Mahaboob Alam putting on a 64-run partnership for the 7th wicket. While Malla grinded out his runs, Alam had a more adventurous stay at the crease, swinging with reckless abandon and offering several edges that always fell safely out of reach from the fielders. <br /> <br /> Nepal could have scored even more runs had they not made a crucial tactical blunder. Malla and Alam had each got their eyes in and were well set by the 40th over, but opted not to use the batting power play until the last five overs of the innings. This backfired spectacularly on them in the 45th over when Alam was run out for 38 by Wright darting out from behind the stumps to field a ball hit by Malla in front of point and fired a direct hit at his own end. Four balls later, Cush speared one full on the stumps to hit Malla in front and he was gone LBW for 52 to make it 143 for 8. <br /> <br /> Instead of making a charge with two set batsmen, the power play was wasted on two tailenders fresh at the crease. Darlington came on again and gave away only seven runs in three overs of the power play to go along with the wicket of Basanta Regmi for 12. As a team, Nepal only managed 19 runs from the final five overs, even with fielding restrictions, and as a result only finished with 162 for 9 in their 50. </p> <p><em>Pic (Left): Riot police were brought in after crowd turned violent! [Courtesy: Daniela Zaharia/USACA]</em><br /> <br /> USA came out and made a decent start in the first few overs with Wright and Baker opening before Baker was given out caught behind for 7, gloving a short ball outside off to the keeper Chhetri off the left arm pace of Alam. Massiah then came out and consolidated with Wright as the two inched their way towards the target. Wright was uncharacteristically defensive and finally was out for 14 in the 14th over, LBW to left arm spinner Gauchan, to make it 43 for 2. <br /> <br /> At around the same time Singapore was racing to their target of 193 against Jersey and met it in only 26 overs to boost their net run rate dramatically to +1.347. If USA reached their target of 163 in 37.4 overs or less, both they and Singapore would move on to Division Four in Italy this August and Nepal would be stuck in Division Five.<br /> <br /> Nadkarni came out and at first struggled to middle the ball. Massiah took the reins and looked to up the ante with a couple of sixes over the bowler’s head. After eight dots in his first nine balls, Nadkarni started to become slightly more comfortable looking for singles to get Massiah back on strike. The two put on 45 runs when Massiah tried for another six against off spin bowler Sanjam Regmi but was well caught for 42 at long on by the sub fielder Amrit Bhatterai. Marshall got out four balls later to Basanta Regmi for a duck and the double-strike balanced the scales to make it 88 for 4 in 25. <br /> <br /> Cush came out and as he has all tournament long in Nepal, tried to hit runs quickly. But after a two half-centuries to start the series, got out cheaply again, chopping a short ball from left arm spinner Rahul Vishvakarma onto his stumps for 9 to make it 112 for 5 in the 29th over. <br /> <br /> Thyagarajan then came to the crease in yet another pressure situation. Yet again, he came through for USA and teamed up with Nadkarni to get USA over the line. However, the two men accomplished it the midst of frightening scenes. <br /> <br /> The crowd had been unruly for much of the afternoon. During the lunch break, several USA players mentioned feeling uncomfortable fielding on the boundary and one player reported having a rock thrown in his direction. Fights and disturbances had been happening in the crowd on and off throughout the second innings depending on the fortunes of the home team. <br /> <br /> The 32nd over started with the score on 131 for 5 with Basanta Regmi on to bowl. After two dot balls, Thyagarajan belted a six over extra cover and then notched a single to get Nadkarni on strike, who was on 43. Nadkarni belted back-to-back sixes over midwicket to bring up his 50 and take the score to 150 and help cement his eventual status as Man of the Match. <br /> <br /> “Frankly speaking, I’m actually coming back after six months,” said Nadkarni. “I had a major injury and I was out of cricket period for six months so for me to come back, I was at a point where I’m probably 90-95% really feeling good. The initial two games, I didn’t get going so the confidence levels were low. Going into today’s game against spinners, the one thing I did back myself was that if I can get in and really get my eyesight and my rhythm going, then I should have no problems against these spinners because I back myself. I’m a natural player of spin bowling so that really helped.”<br /> <br /> The crowd then became violent at the conclusion of the over, throwing rocks as well as bottles and other objects over the fences and onto the field. Nadkarni and Thyagarajan recognized there might be a delay and initially only asked for drinks to be brought out to them. However, the situation deteriorated rapidly and moments later, both men were rushing off the field into the USA locker room. Nepal’s players soon followed as riot police, who had been stationed on the boundary throughout the match, finally went into action. Within minutes, more than half the crowd fled out of the ground. The field was flooded with rocks and large stones. Wheelbarrows were brought out by the ground staff to help carry the mess away. <br /> <br /> “The crowd was brilliant up until the 18 runs,” said Massiah. “It happens. They’re emotional, they love their cricket. I guess it was just disappointing to see a Nepal loss.”<br /> </p> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9758787">Post Match Interview vs. Nepal with Darlington</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1811698">Peter Della Penna</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p> <p><br /> After a 45-minute delay, play resumed with the Duckworth-Lewis formula coming into effect. Four overs were taken off the innings which had a massive effect on the final standings. The target was reduced from 163 to 157 as well. If USA scored seven runs in seven balls, USA and Singapore would advance. If it took slightly longer, USA would move on with Nepal. In the end, Thyagarajan hit a four to finish the match nine balls after play resumed. Had the match not been stopped, USA would have had to score 13 runs in 34 balls out of the 18 overs remaining for Singapore to finish second. Instead, Nepal finished as the second place team with a net run rate of +1.351, just four thousandths of a point better than Singapore. <br /> <br /> The celebrations for USA were marred as well when more stones and rocks were thrown from behind the pavilion onto the field as Nadkarni and Thyagarajan were about to come off to be greeted by their teammates. USA’s squad was rushed back into the locker room again while the two batsmen, along with Nepal’s entire team in the field, were forced to wait out in the middle until it was safe enough to sprint for the locker rooms.<br /> <br /> USA will return to the same field against the same team for the right to be called WCL Division Five tournament champions on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. in Nepal, Friday night at 10:15 p.m. EST in America. Live coverage will once again be available on <a href="http://www.dreamcricket.com/">Dreamcricket.com</a>. <br /> </p> <p> </p> <pre>Official Scorecard<br />ICC WCL Division Five<br />Nepal vs. USA<br />USA won by five wickets (D/L Method)<br />Nepal won the toss and elected to bat<br />Man of the Match: Sushil Nadkarni<br /><br />Nepal Batting <br />Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal<br />D Chaudhary 7 17 0 0 LBW Darlington<br />AK Mandal 4 14 1 0 b Shuja<br />SP Gauchan 0 6 0 0 b Darlington<br />P Khadka* 12 45 1 0 b Baker<br />S Vesawkar 15 39 2 0 ct Wright+ b Baker<br />G Malla 52 81 5 0 LBW Cush<br />MK Chhetri+ 3 21 0 0 runout (Marshall/Verma)<br />M Alam 38 44 2 1 runout (Wright+)<br />B Regmi 12 17 1 0 b Darlington<br />S Regmi 4 14 0 0 not out<br />RVishvakarma 1 2 0 0 not out<br />Total Extras 14 (0 no balls, 2 byes, 2 leg byes, 10 wides)<br />Team Total 162 for 9 in 50 overs<br /><br />Fall of wicket: 14/1 (Chaudhary), 14/2 (Mandal), 16/3 (Gauchan), 39/4 (Khadka), <br />53/5 (Vesawkar), 80/6 (Chhetri), 142/7 (Alam), 143/8 (Malla), 161/9 (S Regmi).<br /><br />USA Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets<br />KG Darlington 10-4-23-3<br />KU Shuja 8-1-19-1<br />TP Allen 10-1-17-0<br />OM Baker 6-1-20-2<br />S Verma 8-0-44-0<br />LJ Cush 8-0-35-1<br /><br />USA Batting<br />Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s Dismissal<br />CD Wright+ 14 44 1 0 LBW Gauchan<br />OM Baker 7 5 1 0 ct Chhetri+ b Alam<br />SJ Massiah* 42 58 3 2 ct sub (Bhatterai) b S Regmi<br />SS Nadkarni 57 59 3 4 not out<br />RA Marshall 0 4 0 0 ct Gauchan b B Regmi<br />LJ Cush 9 15 1 0 b Vishvakarma<br />A Thyagarajan 18 16 1 1 not out<br />Total Extras 12 (0 no balls, 1 bye, 4 leg byes, 7 wides)<br />Team Total 159 for 5 in 33.3 overs (Target 157 in 46 overs for D/L Method)<br /><br />Nepal Bowling Overs-Maidens-Runs-Wickets<br />M Alam 2-0-12-1<br />P Khadka 6-0-23-0<br />B Regmi 9-3-33-1<br />S Gauchan 6-0-18-1<br />R Vishvakarma 5-0-25-1<br />S Regmi 5.3-0-43-1<br /></pre> </article> <article> <h1>Hot-headed Harbhajan Needs to Grow Up - Gulu Ezekiel</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:05:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><em>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><em>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</em></a>.</p> <hr /> <p><em>By Gulu Ezekiel<br /> </em></p> It is a pity Harbhajan Singh had to spoil the mood of the party after India’s last-gasp win in the Kolkata Test against South Africa last week. <p>It was silly on his part to lambaste the entire media for a satirical depiction that appeared on a Hindi TV news channel that no one should take seriously in any case.</p> <p>After being an international player for the last 12 years and now approaching his 30th birthday, it is time the off spinner shed his ‘angry young man’ persona and learned to act his age.</p> <p>Harbhajan never fails to acknowledge the positive role Anil Kumble played and continues to play in his career. Yet the younger man has failed to imbibe even a drop of the dignity and good grace Kumble displayed over nearly two decades of representing the country.</p> <p>Despite being India’s greatest match winning bowler of all time, Kumble felt under-appreciated at times. But he never displayed any bitterness towards his critics.</p> <p>Harbhajan on the other hand has continued taking on coaches, the media, opponents and even his own teammates—the notorious Sreesanth slapping affair of 2008—and this has hardly endeared him to cricket fans around the world despite his sterling bowling feats over the years.</p> <p>There is no escaping facts and figures and in this regard it is undeniable that Harbhajan has failed to step into Kumble’s shoes as the team’s senior spin bowler. Indeed, his record over the last four years has shown a considerable dip in performance compared to his earlier feats.</p> <p>While his fighting qualities have often helped dig India out of a hole as it did at Eden Gardens, too often he has let his temper get the better of him.</p> <p>In American cop parlance, Harbhajan has a rap sheet as long as his arm. And yet it was the ICC’s blunder, deliberate or otherwise, which helped him escape a lengthy ban two years ago after his contretemps with Andrew Symonds in Sydney.</p> <p>The rights and wrongs of that case can be argued ad nauseum but the damage it did to India-Australia ties is still being felt at the highest levels.</p> <p>His comments after skipping the Padma Shri awards investiture at Rashtrapati Bhavan last year left a bad taste in the mouth. In fact probably going by his disciplinary record, it was not the BCCI that put his name up for consideration as is the norm. He was directly nominated by Sports Minister MS Gill.</p> <p>Harbhajan has always been prickly about criticism. Reportedly he calls up ex-players who comment adversely on his bowling on TV and bad-mouths them.</p> <p>This not only shows bad manners but a streak of paranoia that is unhealthy in anyone, let alone a sportsperson. It is still not too late to shed this attitude as he surely has many years of quality cricket ahead of him.</p> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Lee will be remembered as a great Test fast bowler - Partab Ramchand</h1> <p>gchakravarthy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:02:00 GMT</p> <div align="justify"> <p><i>DreamCricket.com, USA's cricket destination, is now on Facebook. Join us by </i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/dreamcricket" target="_blank"><i>becoming a fan of our Facebook page</i></a>.</p> <hr /> <p><i>By Partab Ramchand<br /> </i></p> <p>Brett Lee’s retirement announcement did not come as a surprise. Not only because he had been hinting at quitting Test cricket for some time but it was also clear that his body had `had it’. Bowling at express speed consistently does take its toll on the frame however sturdy it might be. One recalls how another famous fast bowler England’s Frank Tyson was plagued by injuries and his career was restricted to 17 Tests between 1954 and 1959. Given that, it is a tribute to Lee that he lasted as long as he did, playing in all the formats of the game. A combined total of 76 Tests, 186 ODIs and 17 Twenty20s in about a decade was obviously more than he could take and, after dealing with long-term foot, ankle, side and elbow injuries over the past 15 months, Lee knew more than anyone else that his body couldn’t take the strain any more.</p> <p>Yes, there have been fast bowlers who have prolonged their careers by cutting down on pace and concentrating on seam and swing but Lee was always an express fast bowler. He made a name for himself by hurtling down deliveries consistently at over 150 kph and touching 160 on one famous occasion and it was not in his nature to be anything else. He remained a true blood fast bowler till the end. Fortunately, however, both for Australia and cricket fans the world over, Lee will be around to grace the shorter versions of the game and, in this, he has followed the likes of Andrew Flintoff and Shane Bond.</p> <p>These days Lee has reached the status of elder statesman for there are a number of young pace bowlers who have suddenly cropped up. The bench strength of the team is so strong that even following the departure of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz quality pace bowlers still abound and this is one reason why Australia are still able to maintain their #1 ranking in ODIs.</p> <p>Lee thus faces the unenviable situation of forcing his way back but then he has always been a fighter and patience is one of his many virtues. He had to spend a lot of time on the reserve bench as the Aussie pace trio led by McGrath was irreplaceable. But even when they were around he made himself a regular in the ODI squad and with 22 wickets played a leading role in Australia emerging triumphant in the World Cup in South Africa in 2003.</p> <p>His tremendous pace, boyish good looks and gregarious personality made Lee an exciting discovery and he exploded on to the scene with 46 wickets in seven Tests before he required surgery following a severe elbow injury that threatened his career. Following his recovery Lee graduated to first change after McGrath and Gillespie. But with the decline of Gillespie and Kasprowicz in the early years of the new millennium Lee became a first-choice weapon for Australia between 2005 and 2008. He really announced his arrival in the memorable Ashes series in England and from then on there was no looking back. And finally with the departure of McGrath after Australia had regained the Ashes in 2006-07 he finally took over as spearhead guiding young bowlers like Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson.</p> <p>With 310 wickets in 76 matches since making his debut in 1999, Lee is Australia’s fourth most successful Test bowler behind Shane Warne, McGrath and Dennis Lillee. He is also credited with sending down the second quickest recorded delivery when he bowled at 99.9 miles (160.8 kms) per hour in 2003, a speed beaten only by Pakistan’s maverick speedster Shoaib Akhtar.</p> <p>Lee’s last Test was against South Africa at Melbourne in December 2008 when he suffered a serious foot injury. This kept him out of last year’s Ashes series even as the younger brigade took over.</p> <p>Ricky Ponting possibly put it best. "If we all just take a minute and think about what he's put himself through in the last 10 or 12 years, running 35 metres to bowl every ball, bowling every ball at around 150kph, and putting his heart on the line every ball he bowls, this bloke deserves a massive pat on the back." And though he will still be around in the shorter versions of the game – he has a particularly splendid record in ODIs - Lee will first and foremost be remembered as a great Test fast bowler.</p> </div> </article> </main></body></html>