Friday, April 4, 2008

Inzamam-led Hyderabad Heroes out of ICL

The Hyderabad Heroes led by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq faltered in a do-or-die match here Wednesday evening, crashing out of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20 championship after losing to the Kolkata Tigers by 53 runs.

The Kolkata Tigers, who became the last team to make it to the semi-final round of the breakaway championship, finished on top of the points table.

With the Brian Lara-led Mumbai Champs already out of the semi-final slots, the Heroes became the second star-studded team to be knocked out of ICL at the Tau Devi Lal cricket stadium.

The Heroes, who opted to field first after winning the toss, could not put up a solid batting performance as Tigers’ bowlers S Tarafdar, who was declared the player of the match, and Lance Klusener picked up three wickets each.

Chasing a target of 169 runs, the Heroes were bundled out for 115 runs in 16.2 overs.

Earlier, the Tigers scored 168 runs for five wickets in their 20 overs with skipper Craig Macmillan leading from the front with a 35-ball 50 runs, including four sixes.


resource:indiancricketleaguenews.wordpress.com

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Shane Bond joins rebel Indian Cricket League

Fast bowler Shane Bond left New Zealand to play in the rebel Indian Cricket League, clinging to hope the ICL will eventually be officially recognised and that his international career may resume.

"I'm sure the restraint of trade things will eventually be tested and who knows what will open up. The landscape is changing all the time," Bond said.

New Zealand has joined all Test-playing nations in refusing to sanction the ICL, while allowing its players to join the Indian Premier League which will operate under the auspices of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Bond, 32, will receive a reported USD 800,000 a year for playing in the ICL. In doing so, he has had to give up his international career because New Zealand Cricket has instructed its national selectors not to consider players with ICL connections.

Bond is shortly to join the English county Hampshire on a short-term contract but that involvement might also suffer because of his ICL involvement. The England and Wales Cricket Board has warned that players with an ICL affiliation may not receive the necessary clearances to be registered for county play.

"The ECB board (is) determined to disassociate and distance itself from any promoter, agent or individual involved in such events," it said in a statement yesterday.

"It was further noted that unqualified cricketers requiring a 'no objection certificate' to be registered for cricket in England and Wales are unlikely to receive such certificates from their home boards if they participate in unauthorised events.

"In order to protect the genuine interests in the development of grassroots and county cricket and protecting anti-doping and anti-corruption measures, the ECB policy to condemn unauthorised events will be taken into consideration when evaluating any application to register players for county cricket.


resource: www.expressindia.com

Thursday, March 13, 2008

ICL vs IPL, leagues apart

Six more Pak players may join ICL

Ever since the launch of IPL last week by BCCI one wonders if the latter was just a knee jerk reaction to ICL or was conceived for the benefit of the game. Indian Cricket League's (ICL) goal is create enthusiasm amongst the budding cricketers, carry that enthusiasm and momentum in the Sachins’ of tomorrow and give the domestic cricketers a chance to showcase their talent. On the other hand IPL's launch last seemed to be a "me too" by bureaucrats who have dominated the game more than the game itself.

Apparently the BCCI league had been conceptualized about 10 years ago but had recently been finalized. I think I can assume with reasonable comfort that ICL's announcement early part of this year expedited IPL by good couple of years.

BCCI top honcho believed just a couple of months ago that a Twenty20 league format (referring to ICL) would serve no good to the game of cricket. And it is rather ironic that a league was launched by the same governing body just a few months later in the same format.

Ever since the launch of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) BCCI mocked at the league commenting from time to time that who would watch a bunch of retired cricketers. On IPL launch in Delhi last week, all I saw was great cricketers who were either retired or on the verge of retiring from the game.

ICC refuses to recognize Indian Cricket League, we all know why. It's interest is to promote its own agenda in the world rather than promoting the game it represents. ICC would never disappoint the richest cricketing board in the world; rather going forward when BCCI current head Mr. Pawar becomes its chief will turn into Indian Cricket Council. It is rather appalling that an incompetent man will represent the council. A man who is on a mission, a mission to progress his personal agenda and solidify BCCI’s monopoly over the game in India.

I see Indian Cricket League emerging as a successful business organization, not ridiculed with bureaucracy and corruption like its counterpart, operating as a autonomous organization, investing in building the cricketing infrastructure and take advantage of its media arm to reach out to all cricket loving fans in India and abroad.

Resource: /www.indiancricketleague.com

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

ICL - Taking Cricket to a Higher League

The goal of Indian Cricket League (ICL) is to promote and foster the best of the talent in the country. ICL will work to create a highly competitive domestic environment, giving the talented an equal opportunity and ensure that cricket provides superior entertainment, value and service against its sporting peers. And in the process creating a fun and friendly atmosphere for our player and fans.

Indian Cricket League 2008 season

The inaugural season for the Indian Cricket League will begin in October 2008 with 6 teams. The first tournament will be organized on a double round-robin basis in which each team will be playing the opposite team on home and away basis. The top four teams will reach the semi-finals and the final be played between the top teams. There will be a total of 20 matches for the entire season.

Resource: www.indiancricketleague.com

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The big squeeze

In the battle between the ICL and the ICC-BCCI, New Zealand cricket is becoming a helpless casualty, and the loss of Shane Bond is a prime example.

Shane Bond's signing with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) makes him the first New Zealand player to be, for all intents and purposes, stolen from the team. Bond had unfinished business as a New Zealand player. The New Zealand public, while frustrated with his spasmodic appearances, were not ready to let go of him either.

Craig McMillan's health reasons for his retirement were plausible until he turned up in the inaugural ICL teams' photo, but the public thought, "Hey, we've loved him, hated him, and - though his stocks had risen recently - we can cope if he's not going to be around any longer." The stars of Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Darryl Tuffey and Hamish Marshall had had their supernovas and were distant memories. But when negotiations between New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Bond broke down, leading to a severance of ties, the festering little sunspot called the ICL quickly became a growing cancer on the surface of New Zealand cricket.

Surprisingly, though, the hostility that usually surrounds unpatriotic back-turnings of this sort was in this case not directed at Bond, but rather more towards the NZC. The people felt they could not blame Bond. However it is the rationale behind this reaction that is most concerning.

How can you blame Bond for accepting a deal that pretty much immediately provides financial security for him and his family? The deal he signed is rumoured to be in the vicinity of US$2.3 million over three years. With NZC, he would be somewhere around the top of the contracted players' pecking order, and hence would draw an annual retainer of around $100,000. With match fees of about $4700 per Test and $2000 per ODI, his immediate earning potential, before adding on bonuses such as prize money and sponsorship (the equivalent of his base ICL signing fee), would amount to approximately $200,000 per year. This is a best-case scenario, of course: when you take into account Bond's medical history, he would likely miss a good chunk of match fees each year. The disparity of pay is just too large for him to turn down the ICL.

Okay, so the ICL has robbed New Zealand of a match-winner, which is one thing to be despondent about, but what really scares New Zealanders is what will happen when the ICL scouts come sniffing round for emerging talent. Sure, the deals they hand out then may be considerably smaller, but they will be plenty big in a country that just cannot afford to match the Zee TV dollar. New Zealand simply does not have a talent bank of players and thus cannot afford to lose a few, however small that number may be. Right now they'd actually quite like to borrow a few.

The New Zealand public feel their cricket is at the frontline of the ICL v ICC/BCCI battle, with no weapons to defend itself. On the other side is the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has its eyes on the rest of New Zealand's top players: Stephen Fleming, Brendan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Scott Styris. But here again, the IPL has probably taken Styris from Test cricket, and when the power-mongers who have paid megabucks for an IPL franchise decide they want their pound of flesh from the players, we can expect a lot more premature Test cricket retirements.

If my sources are correct, in fact, this ICC/BCCI-concocted saviour, the IPL, may in fact prove to be a bigger cancer on New Zealand cricket than the presumed evil ICL. "Evil" is how the establishment would have you view the ICL. It's a competing league trying to take the best players away. Well, is it really?

To the best of my knowledge, written into the ICL contract is a clause that stipulates contracted players will be available to play for their countries when required. Therefore the ICL is, in fact, not trying to steal players from world cricket, but just providing an extra forum for them to participate in and earn from. So why all the hoopla? Simply because the ICC, BCCI and ESPN Star don't want to share the goodies. So up pops a ruling that stipulates that the ICC's full-member countries cannot allow players to play in unsanctioned cricket events, and thus Bond is released from his New Zealand contract and deemed to be unavailable for New Zealand selection.

The New Zealand public has rightly read the current situation as NZC buckling under the pressure of financial heavyweight and world cricket bully boys, the BCCI. In reality, it is the only way New Zealand's dependent cricket economy can lean, and the public do concede this point, but they don't like being treated as fools either. They have been told that Bond didn't want to play for New Zealand, which is incorrect. They have been told NZC risks an Indian backlash if it doesn't do what it's told, and that India may not tour, leaving NZC out of pocket to the tune of about $23 million. That's incorrect too, because India will have to reimburse NZC's loss. More accurately, NZC may miss out on an extra tour from India, offered as a sweetener for them to side with the BCCI on ICL matters.

Simply, the New Zealand public understands Bond had to take the money, but what they don't understand is how greed and selfishness have spiralled a situation so far out of control that the national team is being unnecessarily decimated.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Saqlain on ICL’s radar

The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has zeroed in on seven Pakistan players, including former spinners — Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq — for its next edition.

Sources said apart from these two, the ICL has also sounded out Naved Latif, Hasan Raza, Mohammad Hafeez, Humayun Farhat and Imran Nazir.

Neither Mushtaq and Saqlain have played for Pakistan since 2003/2004 and are currently busy with the county championship in England.

Saqlain will also qualify as a British national to play for England in April.

Sources said the players were contacted by former Pakistan captain Moin Khan, who is the ICL representative here and also coaches one of the ICL teams. When contacted, ICL official Kiran More declined to comment.

The ICL already has six players including former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar, Shabbir Ahmed and Azhar Mahmood on its payroll. — PTI

Source : http://www.hindu.com/

More Aussie players for ICL

More Australian players are set to join the rebel Indian Cricket League for the next edition of its Twenty20 series, ICL executive board Director Dean Jones said.

The ICL currently has the trio of Stuart Law, Michael Bevan and Ian Harvey as its Australian recruits and Jones said the number is set to increase for this year’s edition.

“There will be a couple of Australian players in there, yes,” Jones was quoted as saying in The Sydney Morning Herald. — PTI

Source : http://www.hindu.com