Newsletter
April 11, 2011 Issue #116
Hello and welcome to this edition of the I.E.C.C. Newsletter.
Index
- Japanese season pushed back
- 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 pushed back
Both the KCL and JCA tournaments have been delayed due to various reasons. While the JCA is reported to have pushed its season back by a month due to the uncertainty over some of its grounds, the KCL has given out no reason for the delay starting its tournament. The KCL was not even able to hold its AGM this year on time and when it was decided to do so, the Tohoku disaster struck and the Committee decided to postpone the AGM indefinitely. It is not known when, if at all, it will be held.
It may be recalled that the Chiba Sharks, Tokyo Predators and Tokyo Giants had already decided not to participate in this year’s KCL, which considerably weakened the tournament and took the sheen off it.
Indian Engineers on Twitter
Follow the Engineers at http://twitter.com/ieccjapan/ for live match updates and other cricket updates.
The Fine Print
The budding romance between Shane Warne and Liz Hurley is the real deal, according to one of the spin king’s friends. Comedian Glenn Robbins shared Chinese takeaway and a bottle of wine with the pair at Warne’s Brighton mansion in February and said the pair made a great couple. “It really was just a mate ringing up and saying ‘Come and meet my new girlfriend’,” the Herald Sun quoted Robbins as saying. “She was delightful and he’s an old friend of mine, and it’s as simple as that. “People have been so desperate for information but there isn’t any. We had a nice night, but nothing happened,” he said. Asked if the couple were the real deal, Robbins replied: “Yeah, I don’t think they are playing out anything. I wish them all the best. “There have been speculations that Warne has left Australia to meet up with Hurley during this week’s English school holidays.
###
Australian spin great Shane Warne has reportedly slept with a London-based porn star and bombarded her with a series of raunchy text messages even while his romance with Hollywood beauty Elizabeth Hurley was blossoming, a report has claimed. The British tabloid newspaper ‘Sunday Mirror’ reported that Warne had bedded 26-year-old Chloe Conrad in the same presidential-type suite at London’s Bentley Hotel where he and 45-year-old mother of one Hurley later spent two nights. The 41-year-old Warne and London-based Australian Conrad were put in touch by a mutual friend. At a time when the flirtation between Hurley and Warne was well advanced, the cricketer was busy sending lewd text messages to Conrad, according to the report. “If Liz thinks he has changed, she’s sorely mistaken.
On the night he was with Liz at the Bentley he was sending texts to me. I never for a second thought I was the only woman. Everyone knows Shane is not the ideal guy to settle down with. Liz is a lot older than me and should be wiser,” Conrad was quoted as saying by the tabloid. Conrad also claimed that she was left with a scar on her back from carpet burn that she now calls her “Warnie stamp” after their meeting at the hotel.
Comment: That must have Warnie’s googly to Liz Hurley 🙂
###
A Twitter feud between hard-hitting batsman David Warner and fast bowler Brett Geeves erupted during Tuesday night’s Big Bash preliminary final between NSW and Tasmania when Warner blasted Ben Hilfenhaus for six and celebrated by shouting ‘that’s massive’. Writing on Twitter, Geeves accused Warner’s act as “an example of humility gone wrong”, to which the batsman responded by reminding
the Tasmanian he was “lucky one player refused to follow up on your racial vilification slur u made on the field”. The two then traded insults, with Warner labelling Geeves a ‘cock’.
###
Local police foiled a burglary attempt at Lonwabo Tsotsobe’s house when they arrested two thieves and recovered goods worth R 50,000. The two were caught within minutes of escaping with some of the cricketer’s personal goods. The police recovered CDs, DVDs, a laptop and jewellery, captain Johann Neethling of the Swartkops Police said. The incident took place on Wednesday night at the 24-year-old’s home in Lynn Street, Bluewater Bay. Tsotsobe, who will play in the fourth one-dayer against India on Friday, was staying with his parents
when the incident happened. He asked a friend to keep an eye on his house. The friend confirmed that there had been a “break-in” and that several items had been stolen. “The men were hiding in a bush when we arrived at the scene. We found them and locked them up.”, Cricket South Africa (CSA) spokesperson Michael Owen-Smith said.
###
Canadian all-rounder Rizwan Cheema has traveled miles, across three countries, to finally reach his dream destination. Born in Pakistan, Cheema moved to the USA as a 20-year-old but eventually settled in Canada. All through his arduous journey, the 32-year-old never lost sight of playing top-level cricket. Just as he managed to break into the USA’s top league, three years after he had stepped into the foreign land, 9/11 happened. As incidents of racism and violence towards the South Asian community increased, Cheema moved to neighboring Canada. Migration meant that Cheema had to wait for a few years before he could earn the Maple leaf cap. He took up a job of a taxi driver. “It was the best job for a person who was obsessed with cricket. I used to plan things as to how I could take out time to play. And on some days I would skip my job and only concentrate on cricket. Although it cost me financially, I was satisfied,” adds Cheema who finally made his international debut in 2008 aged 30.
###
Anti-aircraft missiles, guns and robotic bomb-disposal units were deployed in and around Mohali ahead of the diplomacy-laced cricket encounter between India and Pakistan that was watched by the political who’s who from the two sub-continental rivals. While the missiles were deployed by the Indian Army’s Western Command around the stadium to foil any airborne terrorist attack, the bomb disposal units were equipped with British-made remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) built to defuse powerful explosive devices. Several columns of troops
from the Western Command were on alert to deal with any eventuality.
###
Source: Various web and print media
Asia & EAP News
Japan U19 team records a win
Japan recorded its sole win in the recently concluded 2011 ICC EAP Under 19 Cricket Trophy held in Brsbane, Australia against Fiji U19 team. Japan U19 lost all its other engagements against Vanuatu, PNG and Indonesia.
Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 2 to be held next week
Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 2 (WCL Div. 2) tournament wikll be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 8 to 15 April. The top four sides of the tournament ill become eligible to receive dedicated ICC High Performance Grants and two of the top four, as determined by the ICC Development Committee, will join the eight-team ICC Intercontinental Cup which will commence later in 2011. The sides that finish fifth and sixth in WCL Div. 2 will be relegated to Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 3.
Samoa Win EAP Division 2
Samoa are the Pepsi ICC East Asia-Pacific Division 2 champions after a commanding 9 wicket victory over the Philippines in the final at the Garden Ovals in Apia on Friday, April 8. The win was set up by a magnificent 5 wicket haul form Winston Mariner which was then followed by a brilliant century from tournament leading run scorer Ben Mailata who made 107 not out to top off an incredible event in which he was not dismissed in any match.
Brief scores:
Philippines 179-10, 46.0 overs (F Khan 46, D Sohal 27; W Mariner 5-34);
Samoa 183-1, 40.3 overs (B Mailata 107 not out, S Cotter 56 not out; R Thakur 1-35)
Singapore cricket records rise in popularity
Singapore Cricket has had a large increase of participation in the game and now holds some impressive figures; as well as promoting officials’ courses. The number of cricketers, teams and all round fixtures have all a dramatic upsurge. It is estimated that there are 2500 cricketers, 104 teams, 80 umpires, 35 fixtures a week and a large amount of emerging young male and female cricketers. Singapore Cricket Association (SCA), General Manager Dharmichand Mulewa is very excited by these new figures and what they could potentially mean for cricket in Singapore: “It’s keeping us all very busy as we prepare for the new season, we have six divisions of cricket and a corporate league as well as school and friendly matches which we take an interest in, as well as our international commitments,” says Mulewa.
Indian Engineers’ Japan Cricket Rating – New results
Results as of March 31:
There is no change in rankings this month. Here is the latest top 10 (last month’s ranking in brackets):
1 Al Karam (4)
2 Lalazar (1)
3 Adore (5)
4 I Engineers (6)
5 YC&AC (11)
6 P Foleys(12)
7 C Sharks (13)
8 Wyverns (8)
9 S Kytes(9)
9 Serendib(7)
10 T Wombats(3)
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
Who is your favourite to win the World Cup?
India 80%
Australia 0%
England 7%
South Africa 13%
Note: We didn’t include Sri Lanka in our list of possible candidates for the title winner. As they say, it is our bad. Also, it is noteworthy that Australia didn’t receive a single vote!
Take the new poll:
Do you agree with ICC’s decision to keep the Associates out of the next World Cup?
Visit our home page today to vote!
Best of the Web
Top batmaker Gray-Nicolls is unbeat about the challenges facing the British family business – hopefully with the help of Ashes success.
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.
“I’m afraid the next World Cup will be like the American World Series – you are crowned World Champions but the world did not take part” – Irish coach Phil Simmons on the exclusion of Associate countries from the next World Cup
Trivial facts (from our Archives)
Cricket has been discovered by shepherds in England who started playing the early forms of cricket sometime in the 17th century.
That’s all in this edition !