Cricket News, Live Scores - PakCricket

Ishant and Zaheer make inroads

pakcricket — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:54:23 GMT

Yousuf agrees to end deal with ICL

pakcricket — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:01:28 GMT

KARACHI: Star batsman Mohammad Yousuf has agreed once again to end an agreement he signed with Indian Cricket League (ICL).According to sources, he could represent the Pakistani side in One-Day series against Australia once the agreement is terminated. Sources also said some more players may follow suit if given an opportunity to represent the country.

IPL to begin on April 18 in South Africa

pakcricket — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:27:01 GMT

The IPL will now finally take place in SA after IPL chairman Lalit Modi met CSA chief Gerald Majola at an undisclosed venue to discuss the possibility of hosting the second edition of the Twenty20 event here. They both attended a joint press conference and the salient points of the press conference are here as follows

* The main reason for choosing SA was the Weather, Lalit Modi also thanked the ECB for extending their support, but finally Weather tilted the scales in South Africa's favor

* The tournament will now be played from April 18th to May 24th.

* It will now be a 5 week event instead of the original 6 weeks

* There will be no Pakistan players allowed as the squad list has already been announced and there will be no changes to the IPL rules

* Only if a player is injured and is ruled out of the entire season can a replacement player take his place

* There will be 22 double headers and more matches on week days, and most days will have evening games.

* There will be no home bases for the franchises, instead each team will play in all the 6 venues equal times, so that fans can have an experience of them

* For logistics reasons there will be only 6 venues this time

* The IPL was delayed by a week so that the Indian players can spend some time with their families before embarking on another gruelling International series.

* The tickets will be priced moderately so that the people of SA can embrace cricket in a huge way

* SA is planning a premier league of their own so staging this event should help them in that regard

* Johannesburg-based sports channel SuperSport hold the rights to IPL and international cricket in South Africa, clearing a huge hurdle.

South Africa won by an innings and 20 runs

pakcricket — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:57:30 GMT

Chanderpaul shines for West Indies

pakcricket — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 14:57:46 GMT

West Indies v England, 2nd ODI, Providence Stadium, Providence, Guyana

Scorecard

Weather gives SA the edge in hosting IPL

pakcricket — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:57:10 GMT

In a sudden volte face South Africa has overtaken England as the preferred venue to host the IPL next month. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman who always advocated SA as the main candidate to host the IPL will be flying to South Africa tonight to meet with senior officials of the South African government and an announcement is expected on Wednesday.

Weather turned out to be the deciding factor in the decision to shift the venue from England after strong possibilities of rain disrupting the matches in England.

The weather in South Africa seems to have become the deciding factor," the sources said. "Besides, South Africa is working out to be a much cheaper option. The South African government's interest in hosting the event is a major factor, too."

South Africa is also considered a better option when it comes to TV timings when compared to England.

That apart, Modi and Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, are known to enjoy a good personal relationship, "This gives both the boards a lot of room for negotiations, adjustments and quick decisions, something that may not be possible with the ECB, which has to go by its board for almost every decision," the sources said.

India register a win in NZ after 33 long years

pakcricket — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:46:56 GMT

New Zealand v India, 1st Test, Hamilton

Scorecard

IPL 2nd edition to be played outside India

pakcricket — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:00:51 GMT

Cricket's lucrative Indian Premier League will be held abroad this year, organisers said on Sunday, blaming the government for being unable to provide security for the showpiece tournament.

An IPL source said South Africa and England were being considered as the new venue for the six-week tournament, whose high-paying contracts have attracted some of the most celebrated players in the game.

Safety has been a major worry after the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in November and an attack targeting the Sri Lankan cricket side in Pakistan this month that left eight people dead and eight people from the team wounded.

But the Indian government said it could not lay on additional security because of deployments for national elections being held at almost exactly the same time as the April 10-May 24 tournament.

"Due to the attitude of the government that it cannot provide security for the tournament, we are forced to take a decision to move the IPL out of India," the country's cricket chief Shashank Manohar told reporters.

"A final decision on the venue will be announced in two to three days."

The tournament, which pits star-studded teams against each other in the short-form Twenty20 format of the game, was eagerly awaited by millions of fans in India after its inaugural event last year proved a huge success.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said the 59 matches in the event would be scheduled so that they still fell at 4pm and 8pm in India, prime time for the massive cricket audience in this nation of more than one billion people.

Manohar said he wanted to "apologise to the people of India for moving the tournament," but stressed India's cricket board was not left with any other option.

"The tournament generated a lot of interest last year and we wanted the same to happen this year. It will still be popular, whether it is watched at the ground or on television," he said.

Indian authorities declined to release security forces needed to guard the tournament due to the five-phase parliamentary elections that will take place from April 16 to May 13.

Federal Home Minister P. Chidambaram said last week that the elections were "unquestionably" first priority for the government.

"I can't exempt any state government from giving to the election commission the forces they have promised," Chidambaram said. "I have also made it clear that I cannot spare any central paramilitary forces (for the IPL)."

At stake was a tournament that has generated more than 900 million dollars in television rights, and tens of millions of dollars in advertising, players' fees, merchandising and tickets.

As the government's position became clear, advertisers and sponsors had expressed concern over the prospect of losing their big chance of the year to reach fervent cricket fans in India and around the world.

Coca-Cola and Vodafone are among the IPL's major sponsors, keen to associate themselves with India's adored players such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar as well as international stars such as Kevin Pietersen.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said the sport's tour calendar made it impossible to reschedule, and the decision to move abroad was made after several meetings with the government.

South Africa's cricket authorities confirmed they had been approached by the BCCI for exploratory talks about hosting the tournament.

The England and Wales Cricket Board also confirmed on Sunday that they are looking into the feasibility of staging the event.

"The ECB have confirmed that, at the request of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) / Indian Premier League (IPL) ECB is examining the feasiblity of hosting the 2009 IPL in England and Wales," a statement read.

"The IPL is scheduled to be played between April 10 and May 24, 2009 and officials from both Boards have held exploratory discussions to relocate the tournament to England and Wales. Further meetings will be held during the forthcoming week."

Negotiations betwen IPL and Sony fail

pakcricket — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:48:50 GMT

Talks between the IPL and Sony, aimed at reaching an out-of-court settlement after the league terminated its contract with Sony last week, have failed. The matter is currently being heard by Bombay High Court but it is likely the BCCI's Twenty20 league will have a new broadcaster from this season.

Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, told Cricinfo the talks failed because Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd (MSM), which holds the IPL contract under the Sony umbrella, wanted a non-terminable contract, which the BCCI/IPL refused to provide. "We had agreed on various commercial terms but if we agree to a non-terminable contract we cannot terminate the arrangement even in case of a serious breach," Modi said. "No one can accept that." Rohit Gupta, president of network sales at Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd, refused to comment on the development.

Apparently, MSM was prepared to compensate the IPL for further violations of contract, if any, but the league did not agree.

Sony had leased the IPL's subcontinent broadcast rights last year from WSG (India), who had won an original ten-year bid for US $1.02 billion. But the IPL terminated Sony's contract on Saturday night after claiming the broadcaster had repeatedly violated the integrity of telecast by prematurely cutting to breaks and inserting commercials during a live match, replays and other on-field action. Early on Sunday morning, the league signed a fresh telecast contract with WSG (Mauritius) even as Sony appealed against the termination order to Bombay High Court which issued a freeze on any such arrangement till the dispute was resolved. The court will determine if the IPL's decision to terminate Sony's contract is legitimate.

However, the BCCI/IPL continues to maintain that the new deal with WSG-Mauritius is still valid as it was signed before they received the freeze order issued by the court.

The IPL's relationship with Sony had turned rocky last month after the IPL lost out on a US $31.16 million deal because of a dispute between Sony and Big TV, a direct-to-home provider. Ties between the two dipped further after the subsequent resignation of Kunal Dasgupta, the then Sony CEO, who was known to be close to Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman.

Sony is also understood to have been keen on renegotiating the financial terms of its contract with the IPL and had concerns about the tournament's revised dates and some of the venues that were being considered.

Pakistan would be popular in England and Wales

pakcricket — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:46:35 GMT

David Morgan, the ICC president, has said Pakistan would receive great support if they used England and Wales for "home" matches following the fallout from the Lahore terrorist attack. Bangladesh cancelled their hosting of Pakistan due to security concerns and the team's first international engagement will be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi next month for limited-overs matches against Australia.

"They seem to want to play in England, and there will be a great deal of support should they want to play in England or Wales, with the Pakistani population in those two nations," Morgan told the Sydney Morning Herald. "The important thing is not to reduce the volume of international cricket, and I believe the other nations are very keen to give them every support."

He said that as long as Pakistan's matches were broadcast on television, the people in the country would still be able to see their side perform. "In Pakistan, Test match cricket is not being followed by large numbers of people in stadiums," he said. "Obviously, home advantage is a very important thing, and they will clearly miss that."

Morgan did not want Pakistan to become isolated after the events of March 3, when the Sri Lanka team bus and ICC officials were targets of the raid. Eight people were killed and seven members of the Sri Lanka squad suffered injuries.

"It's produced some of the world's most attractive cricketers for 30 years, household names, perhaps disproportionately to any other country," Morgan said. "It's important that other Full Members recognise the significance of playing against Pakistan."