Newsletter
November 11, 2010 Issue #112
Hello and welcome to this edition of the I.E.C.C. Newsletter.
Index
- Japanese season winding up
- The fine print
- Asia & EAP news –
- Indian Engineers’ Japan Cricket Rating – New results
- IECC poll results
- Reader’s corner
- Best of the web
- Snippet of the month
- Trivial facts from our Archives
Japanese season winding up
The warm November appears to have encouraged KCL finalists to move their match to November 28, which otherwise may have been played by now. The teams had their own reasons for postponement (no surprise here) with reports that one team even sought postponement to next year but the KCL Committee set the date for November 28th with the caveat that that if, for any reason, the match cannot be held then both teams will be declared as joint winners.
With this it is quite likely that the Japanese season will come to an end and teams would enter the party mode!
Japan’s team sponsor extends deal
Japanese men’s team principal sponsor, Imperial Woodpecker, has agreed to extended its deal to support the men’s national team till 31 December 2011. During the course of 2011, Japan’s national team is scheduled to feature in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7 in Botswana to be held in May 2011. Japan finished fourth in the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 7 in 2009. Japan will also feature in the ICC EAP Trophy Division 1 in Papua New Guinea, to take place later in 2011. The tournament will serve as the regional qualification tournament to the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.
Wyverns CC win the inaugural SriLankan Airlines Japan Cup
Wyverns CC have become Japanese National Champions for the first time, after winning the inaugural Sri Lankan Airlines Japan Cup, which was held on the 10th and 11th of October at the Fuji Cricket Grounds. The Sri Lankan Airlines Japan Cup was held as the National Championships with teams from across Japan competing.
Indian Engineers on Twitter
Follow the Engineers at http://twitter.com/ieccjapan/ for live match updates and other cricket updates.
The Fine Print
Pakistan’s Javed Miandad, who is China’s Lahore-based ‘Ambassador of Cricket’ feels that the next big thing in world cricket could be China. He is seconded by former India women’s team player Mamatha Maben, who thinks China could be challenging “top-rung teams” in about five years’ time. “China is a huge country but cricket is not very popular. However, it is a known fact that when they decide to do something, they go all out. Same is the case with cricket,” said Miandad who is helping the Chinese team’s preparations for their debut international appearance at the Guangzhou Asian Games that begin on November 12. “Just as an example, they have a player who until three months ago did not know what cricket was, he was completely clueless. I don’t remember the name but today he can bowl leg breaks as good as many professional players. Their complete devotion to mastering anything is simply awesome. Something that is missing in Pakistan
and India”, he said.
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In a stunning endorsement of the International Cricket Council’s vision of China being one of the sport’s major new markets, all tickets for for the week-long women’s cricket tournament during the Asian Games have been sold out, the organisers said. China will make its bow in international cricket on Saturday amid high-pitched excitement and huge expectations at the sport’s Asian Games debut. A full house will cheer the Chinese women as they take on Malaysia in the opening match at the brand new 12,000-seater cricket stadium in the university area of Guangzhou.
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Australian pacer Brett Lee feels Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, West Indian Brian Lara and England’s Kevin Pietersen are part of a select band of international batsmen who should never be sledged as the strategy generally backfires. “There are guys you can stir up and get stuck into and there are others you leave alone,” Lee said.”Sachin Tendulkar is a guy you don’t want to chat to period, because he will knuckle down, same as Brian Lara. Kevin Pietersen has controlled aggression and he likes it when someone has a chat to him. He takes it personally and it fires him up and he’ll want to score a big hundred,” the fast bowler was quoted as saying
by the local newspapers here.
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He has “forgiven and forgotten” former umpire Darrell Hair but Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan says the chucker jibe that came from Australia’s ex-Prime Minister John Howard still rankles him. “I have forgiven (him) and forgotten. People do make mistakes and I think he made a mistake. My action has been cleared,” he was quoted as saying by ‘The Daily Telegraph’. “What I really didn’t like was the comments Howard made (in 2004). That was why I didn’t come on the next tour here. From someone in his position, that was worse than anything the crowd said”, Murali
said.
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In 1998-99, when Md Azharuddin was riding the crest of his career graph, he described himself as a ‘professional model’ and an ‘amateur cricketer’. And it wasn’t out of modesty the then Indian cricket captain described himself so. The ace cricketer, who was to later find himself entangled in an ugly match fixing scandal, had dumbed down his credentials to seek tax exemptions on his earnings from the Income Tax department. His plea for exemption has now been pending for 12 years and came up for hearing on Thursday here when his auditor argued once again how at the time of filing the tax exemption plea, the cricketer (who had by then led India in 47 Tests and 174 ODIs) was indeed an ‘amateur cricketer’, apart from being a model for various commercials. The matter will now be heard on January 3 next year.
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Inspired by Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar, Australian Mike Hussey today said he has no plans to retire despite the criticism of his continuing poor form and growing age. The 35-year-old said watching Tendulkar, who is two years older than him, play gives him enough inspiration to continue. “It does give you a bit of inspiration … and I’ve got a lot of inspiration from a lot of guys,” Hussey was quoted as saying by ‘The Australian
Associated Press’.
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Sunil Gavaskar has been the most influential voice in Indian cricket – if not the world itself – for a long, long time. Now, it seems he’s in danger of becoming persona non grata after rubbing certain powerful board officials the wrong way in recent times. Gavaskar’s role in the Kochi IPL team is said to be playing a major role in his fall from grace as some BCCI officials are said to be not happy with this association. More than anything else, they see it as a clear case of conflict-of-interest as it is being whispered that Gavaskar has been assisting the Gaikwads right from Day One, even while he was on the governing council.
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Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar’s willow fetched the highest bid of Rs 4.2 million(US$10,000) at a glittering sports auction in Mumbai that saw personal items donated by 25 top sportspersons from the country and overseas go under the hammer. Tendulkar had scored an unbeaten 163 against New Zealand at Christchurch last year, his fourth highest one day score, with this bat. Rahul Dravid’s bat, with which he had scored a century in each innings in the Kolkata Test of 2005 against Pakistan went for Rs 2 millionThe bat signed by all team members of the 1983 World Cup winning team and donated by former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar’s willow went under the hammer for Rs 1.75 million. Anil Kumble’s jersey which he wore when he equalled Jim Laker’s ten-wicket in a Test innings record against Pakistan in New Delhi in 1999, and his Test cap that he wore between 2004 and 2006 went for Rs 1.15 million.
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The Kerala High Court’s recent ruling that cricket administration officials are public servants and are liable to be investigated by the vigilance department should be see as a significant leap forward in the sport feels noted columnist Peter Roebuck. “That thought alone will help to keep them on their toes. It will also force them to publish accounts. Boards tend to forget that the game belongs to the public. Not long ago a Cricket Australia official remarked that they had every right to control all proprietary interests in ‘our game’”. He had to be reminded that it was actually Australia”s game, yours and mine. Cricket officials are servants not masters. Honesty is the least that can be expected from them. If they cannot abide by those standards, let them join the honest thieves.
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A glittering concert in will be held in Durban on January 9 next year to bid farewell to the South African fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, who announced his retirement from cricket recently. The New Age Friendship Celebration Concert will take place after an International Pro20 match between the South Africa and India. To add to the glamour, the oranisers have invited Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra to entertainmen an expected capacity crowd of about 60,000 people, making it the biggest to attend a cricket match in South Africa.
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England batsman Kevin Pietersen has hit back at John Buchanan for criticising him and described the former Australian coach as “a nobody”. Buchanan had earlier said that Pietersen had the potential to be a ‘major problem’ during the Ashes if he did not halt the alarming slump in form which has seen him go 27 Test innings without a century. “I’m not interested in what he has to say. Who is he? He’s a nobody,” said Pietersen.
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Source: Various web and print media
Asia & EAP News
Muttiah Muralidaran to visit PNG in December
Cricket PNG has announced that Muttiah Muralidaran will be visiting the country for the first time in December as part of an annual cricket festival. The Don’t Drink and Drive Bash is a feast of
high quality, super exciting T20 Cricket featuring six cricket legends who are placed into teams made up of the best emerging talent in Papua New Guinea. This year’s line-up includes cricket
legends from Australia, England and Sri Lanka and constitutes the highest profile group of sportsman to ever visit Papua New Guinea. Participating legends include Muttiah Muralidaran, Andy
Bichel, Michael DiVenuto, Craig McDermott, Adam Holliaoke, Greg Ritchie and Steve Rixon.
Indian Engineers’ Japan Cricket Rating – New results
Results as of October 31:
With their semi-final qualification, the Shizuoka Kytes got themselves a spot in the top 10, pushing down the YC&AC.
Here is the latest top 10 (last month’s ranking in brackets):
1 Lalazar (1)
2 Tokyo Giants (2)
3 Tokyo Wombats (3)
4 Al Karam (8)
5 Adore (4)
6 Indian Engineers (5)
7 Serendib (7)
8 Wyverns (6)
9 Shizuoka Kytes (12)
10 MAX (9)
We encourage all teams to send us your result statistics regularly so that your team’s rankings remain as accurate as possible. We are in a position to obtain the results of the official tournament matches on our own but we are looking for the results of the friendly matches.
Readers’ Corner
IECC Poll results
Do you think every no ball or wide from now on will be looked at with suspicion in light of the spot fixing scandal recently?
Yes 58%
No 3%
May be 17%
Take the new poll:
Will England retain the Ashes?
Visit our home page today to vote!
Best of the Web
Some fights on the field between players
Here is a list of some of the famous fights in a cricket field.
http://in.yfittopostblog.com/2010/07/08/fights-on-the-cricket-field
Snippets of the Month
Note: Beginning the Issue #39 (May 6, ’04), we bring you some interesting snippets from the cricket world, to celebrate the fourth anniversary this Newsletter and first anniversary of our popular “Trivial Facts” series. The same will be published on the front page of our website too.
“In Pakistan a life ban lasts only as long as the life of the ban.” – A made up quote by a Cricinfo writer.
Trivial facts (from our Archives)
Most man of the series awards in Tests: 11 by Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.
That’s all in this edition ! !