The annual central contracts for Indian cricketers were announced today, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India announcing a three-tier structure for 15 players.As expected Irfan Pathan was the only addition to the premier Group A category while Zaheer Khan, selected for the Pakistan tour, was demoted from Group B to Group C. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was given a central contract and was slotted in Group B while Parthiv Patel’s contract was not renewed. Ashish Nehra and Lakshmipathy Balaji, the former contracted players, were also ignored while Murali Kartik, who was not picked for the Pakistan tour, was retained in Group C. Gautam Gambhir was included in Group C, replacing Aakash Chopra from last year’s contract.At the moment the BCCI has allocated 26% of total profits towards payment of players’ salaries. Of this, 13% goes towards payments to the national team, while 13% goes to payments of domestic cricketers, cricketers who go on A-tours etc. It is expected that the premier slab A will fetch Rs 80 lakh to 1 crore (previously Rs 50 lakh), the second slab Rs 60-70 lakh (previously 35 lakh) and the last slab Rs 30-40 lakh (previously 20 lakh).Player contract detailsGroup A:Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan PathanGroup B:Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajit AgarkarGroup C:Murali Kartik, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer khanLast season’s contractsGroup A:Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh.Group B:Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Lakshmipathy Balaji.Group C:Parthiv Patel, Aakash Chopra, Murali Kartik.
Most of the Indian cricketers have a high level of motivation and mental strength, but the inability of the set-up to allow players to make mistakes and learn from them is the biggest roadblock to their progress – these were some of the revelations of a report by Sandy Gordon, a sports psychologist at the University of Western Australia.Gordon spoke to The Times of India about the findings of a study he conducted with current and former Indian cricketers over an 18-month period from July 2003. “Every player that I interviewed has a very high level of motivation and commitment which goes a long way in being mentally tough. Though they are different individuals, there were more similarities than dissimilarities that came up during my discussions.” The report mentioned the names of 14 players who Gordon spoke to, including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and former players like Bishan Bedi, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar.Talking about the biggest flaw in the Indian cricketing system, Gordon said: “Indians are far too intolerant of mistakes. Players should be allowed to make mistakes. They need to try and fail and then try again. This gives them motivation and resilience. Right now, if a player performs poorly – doesn’t take too many wickets or scores a couple of ducks – the Indian selectors are most likely to drop him. The player knows this too. That shouldn’t be the case. If India want mentally tough players, they need to learn to be patient and give the players a chance.”Gordon also talked about the Australian system to highlight his point: “There are plenty of examples in Australian cricket where players made mistakes but bounced back because the selectors stuck with them.”In his interviews with the Indian players, Gordon asked them their views on how mental resilience could be developed. “Most players thought that mental toughness cannot be taught. You can’t teach it in a classroom, and neither are you born with it. It’s something that you develop, and we have to develop that environment for them to become resilient.”Gordon was involved with the Indian players during the 2003 World Cup and on their tour to Australia in 2003-04, and was instrumental in introducing the celebratory huddle in the field every time the Indians took a wicket. Many players admitted that Gordon’s technique of having the cricketers stay positive had a huge role to play in India’s journey to the finals of the World Cup. With a view to having the upcoming players pick up these techniques at an early age, the board also had Gordon work out a specific programme for the National Cricket Academy, highlighting the ways in which the players training there can work on the mental aspect of their games.Gordon also revealed that he was doing a similar study for the Australian board as well. “The Aussies don’t lack in mental toughness. Cricket Australia’s reason for doing this study is to see how the bar can be raised. I’ve already interviewed four of the 21 players – Steve Waugh, Trevor Hohns, David Boon and Greg Chappell – and I must say the results are very interesting.”
CloseAuckland 317-8 (T McIntosh 96, S Singe 57, C Pryor 57*, J Ryder 4-14, M Orchard 2-65, W Cornelius 2-72) met New Zealand Academy Selection.Auckland gave another demonstration of its latent batting depth on the opening day of their two-day match with the New Zealand Academy Selection at Lincoln Green at the High Performance Centre yesterday. Despite the fact their regular openers Matt Horne (injured) and Mark Richardson (playing for the Selection XI) were not playing, Tim McIntosh and Shane Singe put on 165 for the first wicket.Auckland ended the day on 317-8 with McIntosh, who scored 820 runs in first-class cricket last summer, falling four short of a century. The stand was an impressive one, built on well-run singles before the more free-flowing batting started to emerge. The Academy attack of Shane Bond, Wade Cornelius and Mark Orchard could make no early impression and Aaron Redmond’s leg-spin was brought into action for the 25th over.But nothing could stop the batsmen. McIntosh’s 50 came off 100 balls and the century partnership off 172 balls. Singe had a life just before the lunch break when Auckland had 116 without loss. Singe’s half-century was scored of 122 balls. On 96 McIntosh latched onto a short ball from Cornelius but was taken at square-leg. He had faced 161 balls. A double breakthrough occurred when Singe was caught behind by Bevan Griggs off Cornelius for 57.Cornelius had taken 2 for 15 off five overs in his post-lunch spell while Orchard took 2 for 15 off nine overs to further stem the run flow from Auckland. While Bond and Cornelius took the new ball they had no more luck and it was left to Jesse Ryder to come in and pick up three quick wickets, and nearly a fourth, before the day ended.
Karnataka pulled off a three-wicket win against Delhi in the finals of the HSBC National Cricket Tournament for the Blind at the SPIC-YMCA ground in Chennai. The final was the obverse of the last league match between the same two teams yesterday at the Southern Railway Ground, a match that was won by Delhi. Shekar Nayak was the chief architect of today’s victory with a majestic ton.Delhi won the toss and decided to bat first, echoing yesterday’s decision. They scored 291 for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted 40 overs. Delhi openers Ram Karan and Pratap Bisht batted splendidly and added a mammoth 177 for the first wicket before the former fell to a direct hit from Manjunath after making 65 (74 balls, 3×4). Bisht made 39 (110 balls, 1×4), but his effort contributed 78 runs to the team score as he was completely blind.Barring Sunil Kadyan, the rest of Delhi’s batsmen failed to impress; Kadyan remained unbeaten on 40 off just 36 deliveries with two hits to the ropes. The Karnataka bowlers continued with their habit of gifting extras, with 53 wides and 25 no-balls featuring in the 86 extras. Manjunath was the pick of the Karnataka bowlers with three for 33 from his eight overs. Mahesh had a good day in the field, picking up two wickets and also effecting two stumpings.Chasing 292, Karnataka reached the target with just 11 balls to spare. Shekar Nayak was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match for his mammoth 161 off 138 balls with 13 fours. He won the match singlehandedly for Karnataka today, with the extras (62) being the next highest individual score.Nethraj gave good company to Nayak and scored 20 runs and contributing 40 to the team total. Like the Delhi middle order, the Karnataka middle order too failed to score runs. In fact, towards the end, Karnataka lost wickets in a hurry. When even Nayak was dismissed, Ravikumar held his nerve and made an important run-a-ball 17 not out. For Delhi, Gaur, Ram Karan and Ramesh Kumar picked a wicket each.Nayak also won the Man of the Series award in the partially sighted category for his consistent performances through the four days of the tournament. Bisht was the Man of the Series in the totally blind category and Mahesh in the partially blind category.The awards ceremony after the match was presided over by Ashok Kumbhat, Honorary Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association. Prakash Kuruvilla, Senior Manager – South India, HSBC, was the chief guest, and he handed over the trophies and prizes. Badri Seshadri, MD, CricInfo India Pvt. Ltd., offered a speech of thanks at the end of the ceremony, bringing to an end a tournament that should go a long way in promoting the worthwhile cause of blind cricket.
Chris Nevin and James Franklin make an odd couple – the former short, stocky and with a batting approach which mixes urgency and pugnacity; the other tall, more languid and more fluent, an easy shot-maker.Again, the former keeps wicket, bats left-handed and has added to his rounded first-class experience which affords local seniority a number of one-day appearances for New Zealand.The other is right-handed, bowls probing medium pace and is in the infancy of a career which holds great promise. He has opened the bowling and the batting for New Zealand Under-19s but is still finding his way in the domestic first-class game.However, the two found much in common today when, as comrades in arms – partners in defiance – they achieved complementary though dissimilar half centuries for Wellington against New South Wales on the second day of a two-day match at the Basin Reserve.Nevin was Wellington’s top-scorer with 83, Franklin made 63 and in company they added 141 for the fifth wicket in a stubborn partnership which spanned lunch and tea and made Wellington’s total broad-shouldered after it had slumped.There was little swagger in their batting, more cold purpose and application but with their added impetus Wellington reached 337-6 in their first innings, replying to New South Wales’ first-day total of 387. Both teams batted into the 100th over.Wellington found themselves unable to overhaul New South Wales’ total today – could neither keep continuous pace with the demands of that target nor replicate the late onslaught which so much enlarged the visitors’ innings in the last hour yesterday. The result could be counted in New South Wales’ favour on the first innings.But in Nevin’s effort and in Franklins’, in Matthew Bell’s solid 46 and Richard Jones’ quickly-compiled 40, in Matthew Walker’s accomplished 53 late in the innings and Mark Jefferson’s 37, Wellington found some solace and some satisfaction.The match was designed to give them a leg up into the Shell Trophy series which begins next week and there was enough in the batting form of the middle order, the bowling performances of Mark Gillespie and Jeetan Patel, to make it a success in that regard.Nevin and Franklin came together in the 32nd over today, shortly before lunch and at the termination of Bell’s fine innings when Wellington were 100-4. They saw them through lunch at 119-4, to 173 by the afternoon drinks break and to 225 at tea when Nevin was 77 and Franklin 52.Then, as so often happens with long partnerships in which two players become almost co-dependent, Franklin was out and Nevin followed shortly afterwards.Franklin was caught by spinner Matthew Higgs from his own bowling when Wellington were 241 and Nevin fell to the same bowler two overs and eight runs later, caught by Shane Lee at first slip.Franklin had batted 192 minutes and faced 168 balls, hitting nine fours and Nevin had batted 170 minutes, received 146 balls and peppered the boundary rope with 13 fours. The partnership had occupied a total of 162 minutes.Nevin was quicker to his half century. He reached that mark in 98 minutes from 88 balls while Franklin laboured 182 minutes and took 157 balls. Both 50s included eight boundaries.The combination provided, throughout the day, a study in differing styles. Franklin, uses his height well, gets over the ball in his preferred cut shot and uses his long legs in controlling his front foot shots to the off side.Nevin has the short man’s habit of jumping to counter bounce and his shots are arguably more deliberate and more brutal.Before their partnership Bell and Jones had added 74 for Wellington’s second wicket after Michael Blackmore had been out without scoring to the fifth ball of the day. There were hazards in the early part of Jones’ innings but he showed nerve, eventually commanding the bowling to take 40 runs from 56 balls with six fours.Bell applied himself for almost two hours before lunch, taking 46 from 90 balls before being stumped by Greg Mail from Higgs.Later, Walker and Jefferson joined in an unbeaten partnership of 88 runs for the seventh wicket – a stand occupying little more than an hour. Walker finished 53 not out and had to his name, from 77 balls, a total of 10 fours and one six. Jefferson hit four fours in his supportive role.Higgs was the most successful of the New South Wales bowlers, taking 3-69 from 20 overs.The teams meet again tomorrow in a day-night match at the WestpacTrust Stadium. Play begins at 2pm.
West Ham are still interested in signing Benfica forward Darwin Nunez this summer according to reports.
What’s the news?
Popular journalist Fabrizio Romano tweeted that the Hammers could be back in for the striker in the next transfer window, saying: “Darwin Núñez will be another big name to watch in the summer.
“West Ham made an official bid for him on Deadline Day in Jan: €48m [£40.4m] turned down by Benfica. Hammers alongside other clubs will be back in the summer for Núñez, this time with good chances.”
Potential gem of a signing
West Ham could find themselves in a European competition again next season, which will most likely result in a summer transfer window full of investment from Co-Chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold.
Currently with just Michail Antonio the only natural striker in the first team squad, that position is one area that is likely to be strengthened at the end of the season – particularly if the club is to endure midweek ventures deep into the continent once again next campaign. Therefore, should a new face arrive to bolster their ranks, it will surely leave supporters delighted, especially if it’s a player of Nunez’s capabilities.
One man that could sign to not only give Antonio support, but also competition to try and take his place in the first team is Nunez, who scored for his club yesterday to knock out Ajax in the Champions League.
Nunez has been one of the best up and coming strikers in Europe this season, scoring 20 goals in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, making him the top goalscorer in the division, despite having made just 19 starts.
The 22-year-old’s positional intelligence, technical ability and work ethic has helped him to earn plenty of goalscoring chances, and despite having improved on his finishing massively, the forward has also missed 14 big chances in league football – suggesting there is still plenty more improvement to be made.
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However, that will be viewed as a positive by manager David Moyes, as despite the former Almeria youngster not yet being a polished product, he would already improve West Ham greatly, and with plenty of game-time in the English top-flight, he could realise his potential and become one of the top strikers in the world while playing at the London Stadium.
In other news: Signed for £15m, now worth 170% more: WHU struck gold on “superb” £47k-p/w “master”
Five counties will join UAE in a six-team event in the United Arab Emirates next March as part of their pre-season preparations.Essex, Lancashire, Somerset, Sussex and Yorkshire will all compete in the Arabian Cricket Challenge which will be held at the state-of-the-art Abu Dhabi Stadium with two matches in Sharjah.”Sussex and Essex came out on pre-season last year and played against each other in Abu Dhabi,” organiser Mathew Jackson told Cricinfo. “They enjoyed it so much that that they requested to play other counties this year.”The main problems facing counties with pre-season tours is the unknown standard of the opposition and uncertainty over the pitches they are likely to play on. By arranging county-standard opponents at top-class venues, those fears have been removed.The sides will play four 50-over matches – each of them will miss playing one other county – with a trophy for the winners. On most days there will be two games on each ground, with match starting in the morning followed by a day-night match.”The aim is to develop the cricket in the UAE,” Jackson said. “The climate and the proximity to the UK – it’s only six and half hours flying time – during the off season means that it could become like Florida where they hold baseball spring training.” While no official sponsor has yet been found, Jackson is in talks with several interested parties.The highlight of the event is what is believed to be the first competitive Roses match outside the UK (the sides met in a friendly in South Africa last year).The organisers will also be staging an Under-19s school tournament at the same time. It will feature sides from Worth, Wellington, Eastbourne and St Bedes in a round-robin 40-over competition.
Pakistan rode on a fluent 92 by Mohammad Hafeez and his breezy 87-run opening stand with Kamran Akmal to cruise to an emphatic seven-wicket win at Karachi and seal the series 3-1. On a flat batting track, West Indies only managed 238 despite a battling 101 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and they were made to pay for the lack of runs on the board, as Pakistan sailed home with 19 deliveries to spare.West Indies were coming off a convincing win themselves at Multan, but they carried none of that momentum into this match as Pakistan – bolstered by the return of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf – dominated right from the start. Chanderpaul managed his fourth ODI century – and his first against Pakistan – but his knock consumed 142 deliveries, and the West Indian innings had little urgency till Brian Lara came to the crease and stroked a crisp 44, in the process becoming only the fifth batsman to get to 10,000 ODI runs.Pakistan’s bowlers, though, maintained a stranglehold on the scoring rate for most of the innings. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, especially, was outstanding, nailing Chris Gayle right at the start – the fourth time Gayle fell to him in the series – and then returned with a swinging yorker at the end to dismiss Lara. He finished with well-deserved figures of 4 for 43, while Abdur Rehman, the promising left-arm spinner, had another impressive day, conceding just 39 from his ten overs for two wickets, including a peach to draw out and stump Marlon Samuels, West Indies’ hero at Multan.On a pitch which offered little pace, bounce or seam movement, the West Indian attack was woefully inadequate to curb the free-stroking Pakistan batsmen. Akmal’s 59-ball 56 offered the early impetus, as he creamed the short balls to the square boundaries and even struck a high full-toss from Daren Powell over square leg for six. Hafeez was relatively quiet, but he had his moments too – a straight six off a good-length ball from Powell was particularly spectacular.Reeling under the early onslaught, Lara delayed the third Powerplay till after Akmal fell, but that hardly helped matter, as Yasir Hameed joined the fun with a fluent 41. Hafeez, meanwhile, carried on in typically unhurried fashion, nurdling the singles and knocking off the odd boundary. Lara tried both pace and spin, but apart from Corey Collymore, none of them even managed to staunch the run-flow.Hameed fell to his own impetuosity when easy runs were there for the taking, but that only spurred Shoaib Malik to end things fast as he rushed to 34 from 36 balls. Hafeez lofted Gayle for a magnificent six to get into the 90s, but soon after fell to one from Dave Mohammed which kept low and beat his attempted pull. By then, though, the result was a foregone conclusion.
If Pakistan’s effort with the bat was impressive, then their bowling display was even better on a pitch which offered little assistance to bowlers. Almost all bowlers kept a tight control over line and length, bowled on one side of the wicket, and gave few scoring opportunities.The dominance started early, when Naved nailed Gayle with one that straightened after pitching on middle, trapping him plumb in front. Lendl Simmons started to get into his stride before chopping Mohammad Sami back onto his stumps, and when Samuels fell to a peach of a delivery from Rehman – it drifted in, then spun away, completely beating the batsman – West Indies were struggling at 104 for 4 in the 27th.On a pitch where 250 seemed to be the par score, West Indies were clearly behind the eight-ball, but Lara and Chanderpaul went about rectifying that. Lara had only managed 27 in his three previous innings in the series, but here he was at his purposeful best. After a slow start, where the intent was to knock the ball around for singles, Lara soon started using his feet against the spinners. Chanderpaul continued to turn the strike over, and the runs soon started coming at more than five an over. Lara’s footwork was at his best against Mohammad Hafeez, whom he tonked over cover for four, and Rehman. Naved, though, ensured that the innings remained only an entertaining cameo, as he slipped in an inswinger which crashed into the stumps off the pads.With Lara back in the hutch, the onus was on Chanderpaul to keep it going, but instead Pakistan’s bowlers seized on the opportunity to exert pressure. Chanderpaul himself was struggling with a leg injury which forced him to opt for a runner, and could only take the singles when boundaries were needed. With Naved bowling his swinging yorkers with outstanding accuracy, West Indies only managed 38 in the last six overs, and in the end the total they managed posed few problems for Pakistan.
Shane Warne, who holds the world record for the most wickets in a calendar year, believes the “cheap” offerings in Test cricket will limit the length of his new mark. While not naming Muttiah Muralitharan, who is Warne’s closest rival on the overall wickets list, Warne told he expected his new record to be overtaken soon.”It would be nice if it [the new record] lasted another 25 years, but I don’t think it will,” Warne told the paper after passing Dennis Lillee’s 85 victims. “There’s a lot more cricket being played these days and you have teams like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in there, with some teams playing them a lot more.”I’ve never played a Test against Bangladesh and only one against Zimbabwe, but there are some teams out there that play them a lot. And some blokes bowl at one end all day against those sort of countries and take lots of wickets. I’m sure that whoever those people are, they might get it [the record] next year,” Warne said, leaving little to the imagination about the identity of the principal contender for his record.Muralitharan, who has a tally of 578 Test wickets, has 34 dismissals in four matches against Bangladesh and 89 in 14 Tests against Zimbabwe. Warne will have a chance to play his first Test against Bangladesh when Australia makes its first tour there in April 2006.Warne attributed his 2005 tally to his decision not to play one-dayers and its beneficial effects on his body. “The demands of one-day international cricket come because there are so many tournaments of three weeks or so here and there,” Warne said. “In international cricket, it’s the back-to-back games and all the diving and throwing at training. In one-day cricket, you need to be good in the field, you need to dive around and have a good, flat throw. I hardly throw at all now, so that keeps my shoulder strong.
In a dramatic break with tradition, New Zealand and the World XI – who are to play a three-match series after Sri Lanka cut short their tour following the tsunami disaster – will be allowed to practise on the match surfaces ahead of the games.According to the , organisers hoped that such a measure would take some of the early juice out of the pitches, thereby neutralising the early advantage which has been known to settle matches in New Zealand. Each team is likely to be allowed an hour of practice on the pitch the day before the game, whereas traditionally the playing surface has been the groundsman’s preserve until the start of play.The experiment has been made possible by the ICC deciding not to give the matches full one-day international status, and Stephen Fleming, New Zealand’s captain, was interested in finding out how the new provisions would alter the balance between bat and ball.”People are obviously working hard on solutions, and if this is going to make a better contest I’m all for it,” he said. Fleming added that no-one would be taking the games lightly, with the funds raised providing even more aid to the tsunami victims.”The importance of the series is very clear to us – we need tough matchplay before Australia arrive, so we’ll be working very hard,” he said. “It’s crucial we keep our structure and shape and treat these games like fully fledged ODIs.”