Test cricket is losing popularity: MCC study

A study conducted by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the custodian of the game, has raised fresh doubts on the future of Test cricket.
The study revealed that only seven per cent of followers in cricket-crazy India nominate Tests as their preferred form of the game.
The poll commissioned by Lord's-based MCC covered fans in three countries where Test crowds have declined - India, South Africa and New Zealand.
On the basis of the results, MCC's World Cricket Committee have requested the administrators to give the longest form of the game the "loving care and attention" it deserves.
"It's not as if the game is falling apart, but it has been scooped by Twenty20 and I think we would be foolish if we didn't think it was universal," former England captain Tony Lewis, who chairs the committee, was quoted as saying by The Age.
MCC is trying to push its cause for Tests to be staged at night and the global Test championship.
The key findings were presented to the International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier this month in Dubai and both groups reaffirmed their commitment to preserving all three forms.
Source:- http://cricketnext.in.com

Dilshan leads Sri Lankan reply against India

AHMEDABAD - Tillekaratne Dilshan cracked an unbeaten half-century to put Sri Lanka in the comfort zone against India at tea on the second day of the first cricket Test here Tuesday.

At tea, Sri Lanka were cruising at 155 for one in the first innings, chasing India’s 426, with Dilshan on 88 and skipper Kumar Sangakkara 23.

The Sri Lankan bowlers managed to restrict India to 426 in the first innings in the morning session, and the batsmen complemented with a superb show.

Dilshan and Tharanga Pranavitana (35) start briskly, adding 74 runs. Pranavitana was the more dominant of the two and even though he was troubled by Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma, the left-handed batsman hit six fours during his 55-ball stay.

Sharma ended Pranavitana’s innings after the batsman edged an away going delivery to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dilshan on the other end looked at ease and drove Zaheer for two consecutive fours to set the tone of the Sri Lankan reply. The introduction of spinners didn’t help India and Dilshan smacked leg-spinner Amit Mishra for two back-to-back fours in Mishra’s first over.

After Pranavitana’s dismissal Dilshan and Sangakkara added 118 runs in the post-lunch session to reduce the lead to 271.

Earlier, India could add only 41 runs to their overnight score of 385 for six as the last four wickets barely lasted an hour.

Sri Lankan fast bowler Chanaka Welegadara (4/87) got some swing right from the start and Muttiah Muralitharan (3/87) got a good purchase to pack up India’s innings in 15 overs.

Rahul Dravid failed to add to his overnight score of 177 and played on, with a thick edge from Welegadara’s inswinging delivery.

Harbhajan Singh (22) and Zaheer Khan (12) offered some resistance with their 25-run partnership.

Harbhajan looked at ease against the fast bowlers and drove them through covers for two fours. Zaheer also cut Prasad for two back-to-back fours as 21 runs came off the first six overs.

But the early introduction of spin did the trick for the visitors. Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath trapped Zaheer leg before wicket while Muralitharan picked up Harbhajan and Ishant Sharma to wrap up the innings.

Source:- http://blog.taragana.com/

ICC and Indian officials to meet WADA over dope tests

Top officials from the ICC and the Indian board are to meet later this month with David Howman, director-general of WADA, the world anti-doping agency, to discuss a "workable solution" to the impasse over cricket's anti-doping policy. The meeting will come three months after the Indian board publicly rejected the contentious whereabouts clause in the ICC's policy and stalled its implementation.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, confirmed to Cricinfo that such a meeting was on the cards and described discussions on the issue as "work in progress". Lorgat did not reveal any details but Cricinfo has learnt that a possible resolution will involve two options, both of which were first proposed by Cricket Australia (CA) soon after BCCI rejected the ICC's whereabouts procedure in August.
The first option has WADA, the ICC and BCCI exploring whether India's concerns about out-of-competition testing -- over the privacy, freedom and security of its players in the testing pool -- can be addressed effectively within the existing policy. Basically, given the packed international schedules, India's cricketers are expected to be on the road for most of the year, and the objective would be to convince the BCCI that any out-of competition testing will, for all practical purposes, take place only at official training sessions.
Apparently, the feeling within the ICC and among some of its 10 full members is that the BCCI was initially unaware that the WADA guidelines could be interpreted in a practical manner. But a senior BCCI official said that though the Indian board would approach the proposed meeting in November with an open mind, it prefers the second option, which is based on the model adopted by FIFA, football's governing body.
This option involves further negotiations with WADA and requires the ICC to go back to the table, possibly constitute a working group, and return with a whereabouts procedure similar to FIFA's. The football model, which has not been challenged by WADA, has three testing pools and only those in the first pool -- high-risk players (read: doping suspects) , those penalized before for doping offences and those coming back from injury -- need to comply with the daily individual whereabouts procedure that has been objected to by the BCCI. FIFA has two other testing pools where, instead of individual players providing whereabouts information, "elite teams" will provide the required information and, that too, only on team activity days -- match venues, official training sessions, official functions and the like.
Source:- http://www.cricinfo.com

Making Test debut in Karachi was the greatest high: Tendulkar

On the eve of completing two decades in international cricket, Indian batting ace Sachin Tendulkar has said that for him the greatest high in life was walking out with the Indian team for his first Test against Pakistan in Karachi on November 15, 1989.

The 36-year-old will join a list of 15 players whose international careers have spanned more than 20 years when he plays in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad from Monday (November 16).

"The first day walking in the playing eleven, playing a test match with Pakistan was the greatest feeling... and the journey began...and whatever I did after that was a mere reflection of my contribution towards the nation of course but the first...first experience definitely has to be right at the top," Tendulkar told reporters here on Friday.

Tendulkar has been the face of Indian cricket since his Test debut in November 1989.

Tendulkar thanked his family for not letting him get carried away by his early success.

"The earlier stage of my career, when I had not played for India, I was just playing school cricket, I was since scoring lot of runs but nobody got carried away in my family by my success. It's quite easy for a 12-year, 13-year old boy to get carried away when he sees pictures printing in the newspapers, that's something special, but that's where you know ...I felt, may family made sure that my mind...is on the ground," the batting maestro said.

Tendulkar said he owed his character to his father who instilled good virtues in him.

"There is something which has kept me grounded, then needless to say that watching my father, my father has really... to teach me but by just looking at him closely, I picked up lot of things, the most important thing that he told me was your nature will stay permanently with you and if you are a good person, you will be even liked after you stop playing cricket," he said.

He now holds the record for most Test runs (12,773), Test centuries (42), ODI runs (17,178) and ODI centuries (45).

Source:- http://www.dnaindia.com

Ponting proud of understrength Aussies

Australian captain Ricky Ponting says winning the recent one-day series in India was a very proud moment in his career.

Despite missing several of its leading players through injury, Australia clinched the series 4-2.

Ponting says it rates as one of his side's biggest achievements.

"I put this up there with World Cup wins and Champions Trophy wins, considering the adversity we faced early in the tour," he said.

"I think even through the year we've used about 34 or 35 players in our one-day team and that's three teams as we know, so we've had a fair bit of turnaround.

"To reinforce our standing as the number one team in the world in one-day cricket is a great achievement by a relatively young bunch of players."

Ponting says his players need to recharge ahead of another busy summer.

"It's getting increasingly difficult, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"Especially when you consider some of the guys that are arriving home have been on the road for six months non-stop and played a lot of cricket.

"So it's something that we're going to have to continue to address and continue to look at."

Ponting arrived in Melbourne overnight and will today watch Tiger Woods contest day two of the Australian Masters at Huntingdale

Source:- http://www.abc.net.au.

Be prepared for a bleak summer

AUSTRALIAN cricket is facing its most deflating summer for decades. Following hard upon the feckless nomination of Chris Gayle as leader of the West Indies, the news that Younus Khan had stepped down as Pakistan captain is a hammer blow.

Pakistan and the West Indies are the summer's main attractions but both will arrive as fractured outfits. Whether the Younus decision or Gayle's reappointment is the bigger calamity is a matter of opinion. It's a close-run thing. All the evidence suggests that it's going to be a long summer and a hard sell.

Nowadays, the West Indies and Pakistan seem to spend an inordinate amount of time backstabbing and striking. And so cricket stumbles from crisis to crisis. The miracle is not that cricket frays at the edges but that it does not disintegrate. All the more reason to recognise the importance of strong and statesmanlike captains. Other sports can talk about coaches and managers. In cricket, the captain sets the tone. Put a turkey in charge and before long all and sundry will be squawking. Put a lion at the helm and soon the pride will be playing with pride. Younus was an impressive leader.

Honourable and intelligent, he tried to hold together a team unable to play matches at home and undermined to no small degree by defections to the Indian Cricket League and by rampant egos. Through it all, his reputation has remained intact. Despite the handicaps, the team continued to play its inimitable version of the game. Along the way, Shoaib Akhtar was dumped and Shahid Afridi turned into a frontline bowler.

And then the gripes began as older hands sought a leader more to their taste. All too soon Younus faced all sorts of allegations. There were suggestions Pakistan threw away the Champions League match against Australia because defeat meant eliminating India. Younus dropped a sitter and stuttered at the crease. Cricketers are not machines. His form has been poor. Not for the first time Pakistan's batting lacked logic. It was an oddly subdued performance. But Younus' team fought to the last and was only denied by tailenders. No one else came remotely as close to beating the Australians.

Source:- http://www.theage.com

Celebrating Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar has been playing top class cricket for 20 years and he’s still playing blistering innings, still looking hungry, still demolishing attacks, still a prized wicket, still a proud competitor. He has not merely been around for two decades. From his first outing to one of his most recent efforts, a stunning 175 against Australia in the Hyderabad ODI, he has been a great batsman.

Longevity counts amongst his strengths. Twenty years! It’s a heck of a long time and it’s gone in the blink of an eye.

When Tendulkar first took guard in his country’s colours, Nelson Mandela was behind bars, Allan Border was captaining Australia, and India was a patronised country. In those days Tendulkar was a tousle-haired cherub prepared to stand his ground against all comers, including Wasim Akram and Merv Hughes, the most menacing of the Australians.

Now he is a tousle-haired elder still standing firm, still driving and cutting, still retaining some of the impudence of youth but nowadays bearing also the sagacity of age.

It has been an incredible journey, a trip that figures alone cannot define.

Not that the statistics lack weight. To the contrary they are astonishing, almost mind boggling. Tendulkar has scored an avalanche of runs, thousands upon thousands of them in every form of the game. He has reached three figures 87 times in the colours of his country and all the while has somehow retained his freshness, somehow avoided the mechanical, the repetitive and the predictable. Perhaps that has been part of it, the ability to retain the precious gift of youth. Alongside Shane Warne, the Indian master has been the most satisfying cricketer of his generation.

Source:- http://www.sportstaronnet.com