Tuesday, September 22, 2009

England backs Test World Championship

The England and Wales Cricket Board has today been in touch with ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat to seek immediate clarification of his comments on the ECB's stance regarding an ICC World Test Championship.

In an interview to the Guardian Lorgat was quoted as saying that, "I would like to create some additional context for Test cricket and there's no doubt a Test championship would be of great benefit. I would like to convince people that the way to ensure Test cricket survives is through a championship model. Those recent series between South Africa and Australia had greater context because they were tussling over the No1 slot.

"And let's say you and your mate are South African and Australian - and India are about to play Sri Lanka. If the result impacts on your team's championship standing you are bound to be more interested. The only two countries who do not see the argument are India and England - but debate is growing all the time. The MCC seem to have come out in favour but when I met the ECB recently it was the wrong time to tackle them in detail. They were too high on the Ashes."

David Collier, the ECB chief executive, said today: "England has consistently stated it supports a play-off for a Test Championship.

"Indeed Haroon Lorgat's own staff have approached ECB in the past month to stage the final in England which was warmly received and supported by ECB.

"The original proposal from the ICC for a two-year cycle with two years of an uncertain fixture programme in regard to the Test Championship would have been detrimental to Test cricket and ECB's prime consideration is to ensure that Test cricket is at the pinnacle of the world game.

"We are pleased that David Richardson has a full understanding of the benefits of the Test Championship play-off system and that this is being actively pursued.

"The ECB has been reassured by correspondence from the ICC chief executive in which he tells us that he is unhappy at the slant put on his comments.

"He also confirmed that he had been at pains to communicate to journalists why there were justifiable concerns about the original proposal for a Test Championship which had been found to be unworkable and therefore this is the reason the play-off concept proposed by the ECB is now being pursued by the ICC."

Opening changed my life: Dilshan

Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, who scored a brisk 106 against South Africa, said opening the innings for his team has proved to be a big turning point in his career.

"I am in good form for last six month or one years and I want to deliver in this tournament also," Dilshan said.

"I have changed my batting order. I think this is the turning point for me. I open the innings which gives me opportunity to play my stoke and take my chances during the powerplays so that is the turning point I feel," he added.

Dilshan was dropped from the ODI side in September last year after his average slipped to 25.87 in 21 matches. When he returned early this year, he was promoted to open in ODIs and he produced sparkling form in all forms of the game.

Dilshan got the Player-of-the-Series award after amassing 317 runs at an average of 52.83 in the Twenty20 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara has asked his team to capitalise on the victory and get better as the tournament progresses.

"This game is gone. Whatever have happened its gone. So we have to go back to square one, back to the drawing book and see how we can improve and get better as the tournament goes on. We have got a good start but if we don't capitalise on it, this match will be worthless," Sangakkara said.

Sri Lanka registered a 55-run victory over South Africa via the Duckworth Lewis method in the rain-interrupted first one-day international of the Champions Trophy here last night.

Ajantha Mendis claimed three crucial wickets to help his team and Sangakkara said the right-arm spinner was one of the few bowlers which batsmen can never get enough of.

"One good thing about Ajantha is that even if you see him on and off in a couple of games but still it is a big challenge playing him," Sangakkara said.

The Lankan skipper believes his side has match-winners in Ajantha, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga, whom he considers not a mystery but a little unorthodox.

"Especially with him (Ajantha) and with Murali and Lasith in our side, there are a lot of unorthodox, mystery not as much, but unorthodox match-winners. So we have our bowling attack in place as long as we can back that up with good fielding and minimise extras," he said.

Sangakkara said it was a big challenge to build up a defendable score against the South Africans.

"It was going to be a challenge trying to build a defendable total. History says that batting first or second does not make much of a difference here, so it was a case of doing our basics right and getting the partnership going.

South African skipper Graeme Smith said they didn't get their basics right and failed to implement their game-plan but hoped to come back strongly against New Zealand on Thursday.

"We can't make a excuse. We didn't get our basics right tonight," Smith said.

"We got to improve very quickly and we have one day in between before we meet New Zealand on Thursday and we have some planning to do for that game and hopefully we will get the performance which we know we are capable of," he added.

ODI cricket's survival at stake as CT gets underway

Ashish Shukla

Johannesburg, Sep 22 (PTI) The next couple of weeks could well be the beginning of end of one-day cricket if India are knocked out early in the Champions Trophy, an event that has been called irrelevant by many current and former cricketers.

If Champions Trophy isn't going to be in its final edition, a few things would certainly be of help.

For one, India winning the trophy and finishing on top of one-day cricket rankings would be a boost even if it means the barren run of South Africa without an ICC trophy is stretched to another year.

Too much rides on India's good show for advertisers and television companies to stay interested and it isn't funny.

If India were to depart early, it would hurt Champions Trophy, and one-day cricket, very badly. As it is, there are no takers for this format of the game now. The advertisers haven't shown up.

South Africa win toss, elect to field

STAFF WRITER 17:43 HRS IST

Centurion, Sep 22 (PTI) South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to field against the West Indies in the opening match of the Champions Trophy here today.

Teams:

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Albie Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga, Ajantha Mendis.


Sushil fails to do a Vijender in Wrestling WC

STAFF WRITER 17:48 HRS IST

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar failed to replicate boxer Vijender Singh's feat and lost out on a medal opportunity in the World Wrestling Championship after losing the bronze medal play-off in the 66kg freestyle category in Herning, Denmark.

Sushil was no match for his Japanese opponent Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu, losing 0-5 in the repechage.

Earlier, Sushil, who got a opening round bye, beat Pietro Piscitelli of Italy 7-0 in the second round and then went on to stun top-ranked Stefan Daniliuc of Romania 5-2 in the pre-quarterfinals.

The diminutive Delhi wrestler's next casualty was Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, whom he defeated on the basis of technical points to reach the semifinals, according to the information received here. .

Somdev climbs up to 131 in ATP singles ranking

STAFF WRITER 18:31 HRS IST

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) India's new tennis hero Somdev Devvarman rose two rungs to 131 in the latest ATP rankings while Sania Mirza dropped two spots to 65 in the WTA list.

The teen sensation Yuki Bhambri, who won his Davis Cup debut match on Sunday, also climbed up in the rankings bu seven places to 415.

Another Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna also moved up by 36 places to 415th position in the singles chart.

Meanwhile, there was no change in the doubles ranking of veterans Leander Paes (8) and Mahesh Bhupathi (6).