The world of cricket

Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff: joint ICC Players of the Year in 2005 © Getty Images

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, will announce the shortlists for this year’s ICC Awards in Mumbai this Sunday.

The shortlists for the awards have been compiled by the 56-member voting academy, who were asked to vote for players nominated by a selection panel chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain.

In addition to the individual awards and the Spirit of Cricket Award, this year’s ceremony will also feature the awarding of Test and ODI Teams of the Year. And for the first time, there is an award for Women’s Cricketer of the Year.

The ceremony - in its third year - will take place at the Taj Land’s End in Mumbai on November 3. It has previously been held in London (2004) and, last year, in Sydney.

© Cricinfo

Mohammad Asif arrives at the preliminary tribunal hearing at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore © AFP

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif attended the preliminary hearing of the tribunal investigating the doping case at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) headquarters in Lahore today. Both players - suspended from the Champions Trophy after testing positive for nandrolone, a banned steroid - recorded their statements separately. They were asked to submit their written statements for the next hearing, scheduled for October 26, after a break in proceedings for Eid.

“The hearing lasted around four hours as we had to do some initial work and then heard Akhtar and Asif,” Shahid Hamid, the chairman of the tribunal, told reporters. “We have given them reports of their tests and have asked them to submit their written statements in the next hearing.” The tribunal consists of Hamid and Intikhab Alam while Waqar Ahmed, the third member and medical expert, was unable to attend the hearing.

The tribunal is expected to return its findings in two weeks, after which the PCB will decide on a final course of action. Both players are liable to face bans of anywhere between one and two years. Hamid said that the players were briefed about the procedures and added that they had the option of bringing their lawyers in the next hearing.

(more…)

Damien Martyn: a classy innings to seal England’s fate © Getty images

The pundits had been anticipating a firecracker of a contest to celebrate Diwali, but England’s batsmen and bowlers contrived instead to produce yet another damp squib, as Australia secured an emphatic six-wicket victory in the unofficial Ashes curtain-raiser at Jaipur. In a game full of sub-plots and psychological by-plays, Australia’s greater determination won the day, as they recovered from shaky starts in both innings to win by a margin even more emphatic than the scoreline would suggest.

It was Australia’s young guns, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson, who stole the show with the ball, grabbing three wickets apiece as England capitulated dismally from 83 for 0 to 169 all out. And then, having lost three early wickets in reply, it was over to the old stager, Damien Martyn, on his 35th birthday, who steadied Australia’s run-chase with a classy and confident 78 that included another filleting of Steve Harmison’s bowling figures. Mike Hussey piloted his team home with an unbeaten 32, as England looked like becoming the first major nation to be eliminated from the ICC Champions Trophy.

It was a typically listless one-day display from England, although in the early exchanges of the innings it looked as though a real contest was on the cards. Ian Bell and Andrew Strauss established an excellent platform for their team with a coolly compiled opening stand, a partnership that included a premeditated assault on Glenn McGrath, who looked sluggish when he entered the attack as first-change, and whose demeanour was not improved when Martyn of all people dropped an absolute sitter at mid-off to reprieve Bell on 23.

(more…)