The world of cricket

Nafees added to the century he scored in Zimbabwe in August

Shahriar Nafees made 123 as Bangladesh completed a 101-run consolation win over Zimbabwe in the Champions Trophy.

Dropped in the covers on nought, Nafees shared 84 in 20 overs with Saqibul Hasan (37) and 80 from only 14 overs with skipper Habibul Bashar (30).

Brendan Taylor hit a patient 52 but two comical run-outs and tight slow bowling saw Zimbabwe skittled for a paltry 130.

Neither team was able to qualify for the main tournament after both were beaten by Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Looking to atone for a 3-2 series defeat in Zimbabwe in August, Bangladesh made a nervous start, losing Rajin Saleh who was trapped in front in the fifth over after making no contact with an agricultural swipe across the line.

Aftab Ahmed soon joined him in the pavilion when he gloved a leg-side delivery and was superbly snaffled one-handed low to his left by diving wicket-keeper Taylor, leaving Bangladesh 26-2 in the 10th over.

Nafees and Saqibul rebuilt the innings slowly, bringing up the 100 in the 28th over, with the opener completing his fifty from 92 balls shortly afterwards.

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Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, has replaced Tino Best for the fifth one-day international against Zimbabwe at St Lucia today. Bravo, who played in the first two matches in Antigua, returns after a brief rest at the expense of the inconsistent Best.

Best was taken for 70 runs and managed just one wicket in his ten overs in West Indies’ 82-run win in Guyana on Sunday. That uninspiring performance, in which he was very erratic with his line, has cost him his place.

The West Indies lead the seven-match series 3-0 ahead of a historic match at the Beausejour Stadium, which will host the first day-night match in the Caribbean.

Brian Lara, the West Indies captain, embraced the historic status of the game and said all the players were aware of its significance. “It would be good to see how many [other] grounds in the region will have these facilities, because day/night cricket is a big attraction all over the world. I hope it takes off in the region,” he told reporters. “We know there are areas in our game that we have to improve upon, but we are working on that… As for the lights, we have tropical weather here in the Caribbean. We will just have to see how it starts and take it from there.”

Lara added that West Indies would continue to experiment against a weak Zimbabwe ahead of the tougher series against India later this month. “I think it is a situation of everybody getting a game…we still want to make sure we have the right players and we have everybody peaking at the right time,” he said. “We have to take into consideration that Zimbabwe, because of their situation, is not at full strength, and in a matter of a few days we’ll be playing one of the top teams in the world. We do have that in the back of our minds and we do know that we have to improve to actually do very well against India.” (more…)

This weekend’s back-to-back one-day internationals in Guyana are already in doubt after heavy rain left the Bourda soaked.

Chetram Singh, president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), told The Nation that groundstaff were working overtime to get the venue fit and ready. “It’s been raining really heavily and you know how Bourda is when the rain falls,” he explained. “If the rain stops now we have a chance of play over the two days. If it continues, we’re in very big trouble. It looks very bad and we are doing all we can do to ensure there is play.”

Although it was dry yesterday, the forecast was for scattered thunderstorms and heavy showers over the next three days.

The West Indies team arrived in Guyana late Wednesday and were scheduled to train at the Everest Cricket Ground in Georgetown yesterday, but had to cancel that outing because of a wet outfield, and were forced to go indoors.

The Zimbabweans arrived from Antigua on Thursday night and had a training session scheduled for this morning.

It has emerged that Zimbabwe’s cricket players have signed new contracts, ending speculation over their feud with the government-appointed Zimbabwe Cricket interim board.

Media reports had said that the players had gone back on strike again, but Cricinfo has been told that about 16 players sealed the deals after a meeting with representatives of the interim committee, adding to the six who had already signed late last year.

It had become clear that the players would be compelled to sign after most of them were said to be broke and were too weary of the row to have the energy to go into a prolonged legal battle with the interim board.

The decision to end the strike now leaves the remaining cricketers in a tricky situation. Either they have to comply with the board or they walk away in an event of another dispute. ZC’s decision to refuse to recognise Clive Field, their representative, means they have no-one to fight their collective corner in the instance of another conflict.

It is not clear what was proposed with regards to the outstanding sums totalling over $200,000 owed to players

© Cricinfo

Kenyan officials have said they were willing to host Zimbabwe in a series of one-day internationals after the country withdrew from Test cricket for the next 12 months.

“We are prepared to play Zimbabwe in March,” said the Cricket Kenya (CK) chairman Samir Inamdar. “We have already talked with Zimbabwe with the view of having their team come here before we leave for Bangladesh.” The proposed itinerary is set to involve three ODIs.

The tour of Bangladesh, which may also involve Zimbabwe will start on March 10. The Kenyans are also scheduled to play three one-day internationals against their hosts during the tournament, which has been organised through the initiative of the ICC.

Last week, the interim committee of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) announced they would not play any more Tests in 2006 although they were still committed to honouring their one-day commitments. It is likely that one of the conditions placed on Zimbabwe was that they play matches against the likes of Kenya and Bangladesh during the following year.

Zimbabwe’s decision to suspend its Test team for the rest of the season is double-benefit for Pakistan and a great benefit for India too.

Even as the crisis-ridden Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) announced the suspension yesterday in a bid to build for the future, India and Pakistan get the chance to firm up plans for a lucrative one-day series later this year, with an effort to also involve Australia.

The idea is to have it in September, ahead of the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy in India in October-November. The tri-series, which will be held in India or Pakistan, will replace Zimbabwe’s scheduled tour of Pakistan in September.

“When we discussed it with Indian officials earlier this month, the only hurdle was that Zimbabwe were due to tour Pakistan in September,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said today. “But now… that hurdle has gone.”

The tri-series has been tentatively to be between September 12 and October 5, soon after Pakistan return from a tour of England.

A similar decision was taken by the ZC in 2004 as performance on the field became increasingly humiliating. The decision was announced by ZC interim board chairman Peter Chingoka.

There could another bounty for Pakistan in this: compensation. PCB officials will discuss that possibility with the ICC.

International Cricket Council president Ehsan Mani insists the world governing body will not shirk from making tough decisions over the status of Zimbabwe.

The country’s cricketing crisis deepened recently when Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute were questioned by police in a fraud investigation.

They were both detained for 48 hours before being released without charge. But their release was the last straw for a group that is fighting to oust them from power for alleged maladministration.

The crisis in the sport led to the resignation of captain Tatenda Taibu, protesting the way the game was being run. He is now playing cricket in Bangladesh. (more…)

Zimbabwe’s cricketing crisis got worse today when an emergency meeting of Zimbabwe Cricket which was expected to secure the position of Peter Chingoka as chairman ended with delegates turning on him and demanding that he ignore the board’s constitution and force through changes regardless.

The meeting was called to endorse the creation of five new provinces, and it was widely believed that these would have hand-picked chairmen who would back Chingoka’s ailing regime. But in the event, former allies called on him to stand down and for the recommendations of the Sports and Recreation Commission to be implemented.

The authority of the meeting was immediately invalidated as, yet again, there were not sufficient delegates to form a quorum. All seven existing provinces were supposed to approve the changes, but only three - Masvingo, Manicaland and Mashonaland - attended. Those three, however, are run by boards that are being disputed themselves. (more…)