World Of T20 Cricket

written by Swapnil \\ tags: Twenty20

Middlesex have signed a contract with Adam Gilchrist, and are in talks with Sachin Tendulkar, to play Twenty20 cricket for the county during the 2010 domestic season.

Vinny Codrington, the Middlesex chief executive, said he was “absolutely delighted” with the signing of Gilchrist. “We’ve worked extremely closely with the MCC to ensure that Adam comes on board with us next season,” he said “and this signing is great testament to how well our two clubs are working together to guarantee that Middlesex supporters and MCC members alike are rightfully treated to the very best world talent that Twenty20 cricket has on offer.”

Codrington confirmed that the county was also in discussion with Tendulkar and his agent. “As a result of Sachin’s busy schedule of late however; representing India in the one day series against Australia, playing in the current Test series against Sri Lanka and celebrating his twenty years in international cricket, this is yet to be confirmed,” Codrington said. “He is due to be speaking to the BCCI about playing for us next season when the time is right.”

Gilchrist has played 13 Twenty20 internationals for Australia, while Tendulkar gave up the format at the international level after just one match, but both batsmen are captains of their respective IPL franchises – Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians. Gilchrist has never played for a county while Tendulkar’s only appearance was as a 19-year-old for Yorkshire in 1992, when he was the county’s first overseas player.

Signing up Tendulkar will be an expensive proposition but the MCC and Middlesex could hope to recover costs partly through gate money – targeting the sizeable South Asian community in and around London – and, given that England’s domestic limited-overs games are shown live on Indian television, from international sponsorship deals.

written by Swapnil

The IPL has initiated steps to ensure that all cricketers who have been contracted by its franchises are available to play for the entire season from next year, except those with international commitments. This effectively means that players in this category, and their national boards, will have to put the IPL ahead of their domestic commitments.

A press release issued on Monday said that in case of a default, the IPL will impose penalties on such players, including termination of player contracts and a ban on future participation, although Lalit Modi, the league’s chairman, told Cricinfo that this would only happen in a worst-case scenario.

In what can be seen as a two-pronged deterrent, the IPL, which is owned by BCCI, will also ask the governing council of the Champions League Twenty20, comprising senior officials from India, Australia and South Africa, to take “appropriate action” against participating national boards in that tournament if they don’t issue an IPL clearance for their players citing domestic commitments as a reason. While an IPL ban will affect players directly, any sanction on participating in the Champions League will impact the national board, which gets a share of the money from the organisers apart from an appearance fee for its competing domestic team.

However, the IPL said that this move does not cover players with international commitments and those who will play in matches scheduled under the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP) during the tournament. These decisions were finalised during the league’s workshop in Bangkok last week to ensure that the IPL franchises get their best players, who have been paid huge amounts by the teams, to be part of the league.

“The IPL will work with all the cricket boards to ensure that cricketers contracted with the eight franchises are available for the season,” Modi told Cricinfo. “The IPL 2010 season is in March-April, when a lot of domestic domestic tournaments will still be on. This is a one-off situation. The IPL requires No-Objection Certificates from the home boards for players to participate in IPL. This was essentially done to protect the FTP commitments. However, this (NOC) does not include domestic tournaments. A worst-case scenario could mean penalties on such players, including termination of contracts, jeopardising future participation. However, we do not want to walk that path and are hopeful to sort this through discussions with the boards.”

The next IPL will be held from March 12 to April 25, instead of the usual April-May slot, to avoid a clash with the ICC World Twenty20 that starts soon after. However, this advanced IPL schedule clashes with the Australian domestic season, which ends on March 23, and the South African season that ends on March 28. Players from both these countries are among the most sought-after in the Indian league. The Australian cricketers will then be busy with the New Zealand series that ends on March 31.

Apparently, the IPL wants to adopt the model of the Champions League Twenty20, which ensured that the best players from the top domestic teams from the seven participating countries (India, Australia, South Africa, England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand) were available for the multi-nation club tournament. “Given that this was also the founding principle of the Champions League Twenty20, it was agreed that in the event any of the member boards not issuing an NOC to their players for participation in the IPL, on the pretext of domestic engagements, IPL could make a representation to the governing council of the Champions League for taking appropriate action against the members boards’ participation in the League,” the IPL release stated.

The BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa are founding partners of the Champions League and its governing council comprises Lalit Modi, its chairman, Niranjan Shah, its vice-chairman, N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, Dean Kino, CA’s business and legal affairs head, and Gerald Majola, CSA’s chief executive.

The IPL press release added that the measures discussed at the workshop in case of a no-show by the players include “termination of player contracts and barring from future participation in the IPL, of players that have signed contracts, but fail to make themselves available for playing in the IPL.

“This will exclude any instances wherein players would have international and FTP commitments and was aimed at ensuring that players make themselves available for the IPL post their FTP commitments, especially, since such players would have already received a player release to play in the IPL from their respective boards.”

written by Swapnil \\ tags: IPL

The IPL will use pink balls at practice games ahead of the third season of the Twenty20 Indian domestic league starting on March 12, Lalit Modi, the tournament chairman, has said. The IPL will also experiment with four fielding substitutes instead of just the twelfth man.

“IPL teams to test pink ball in their practice matches and sessions in partnership with MCC,” Modi posted on his twitter site. “Four fielding substitutes rather than 12th man.”

Modi is currently in Bangkok where the IPL is holding a workshop to discuss the third season, to be held across India.

The MCC had suggested using pink balls as an alternative to white ones, which often get discoloured and can be difficult to spot in day-night matches. Although this suggestion was rejected by the ECB in county cricket, the IPL had shown interest in trialling them.

The introduction of pink balls is considered essential if Test cricket is to be played in the day-night format – an idea that the BCCI has supported to increase spectator interest.

“The IPL are quite interested in using pink balls and I am waiting to hear back from them”, John Stephenson, MCC head of cricket, told the Daily Telegraph last month. “We will continue to use pink balls because we believe that they retain their colour longer than white balls. If we are going to play day-night Test cricket in the future then we are going to have to find a solution.”

written by Swapnil \\ tags: IPL

Dav Whatmore has been confirmed as the new coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, filling in the vacancy left by the sacking of John Buchanan after IPL 2009. His appointment was part of a team management overhaul: the franchise also recalled Sourav Ganguly as captain, named Wasim Akram as their mentor, signed on Vijay Dahiya, the former India wicketkeeper and Delhi coach, to assist Whatmore, while retaining Andrew Leipus as physiotherapist and Adrian Le Roux as physical trainer.

Ganguly said in a press release issued by the team management today that he was keen to bring a turnaround in Kolkata’s fortune after a nightmarish 2009 season, in which they finished last. “I am excited at the prospect of working with Dav and the entire team closely in addition to playing at our home ground once again,” he said. Ganguly would be responsible for all cricket-related decisions for the next season.

Speaking to Cricinfo, Whatmore said his main objective as coach would be to ensure that his players gel as a unit and start thinking positively after two bad IPL seasons – in which Kolkata finished sixth and eighth – and, to that end, he would bank on Ganguly’s wealth of knowledge and Akram’s exceptional game-reading skills to turn the team around.

He also said he was confident his experience in the region – he coached the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lankan team and later, Bangladesh – would help him develop a “decent relationship” with Ganguly, who has had a controversial history with foreign coaches including Greg Chappell for the Indian team and Buchanan. “I have a fair idea and a fair understanding of the importance of Sourav in Kolkata and it’s about getting the best out of him as it is with everyone else.”

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written by Swapnil \\ tags: Dav Whatmore, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders