Cricket
Thirteen of the greatest West Indian cricketers have been recognised as initial inductees into the new ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame, launched in partnership with FICA as part of the ICC centenary celebrations, includes these legendary Caribbean cricketers: Garfield Sobers, Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, George Headley, Malcolm Marshall, Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Rohan Kanhai, Andy Roberts, Lance Gibbs and Gordon Greenidge. The complete list reads as follows:
ICC Cricket Hall of Fame – initial inductees (55): Sydney Barnes, Bishan Bedi, Alec Bedser, Richie Benaud, Allan Border, Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Donald Bradman, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Denis Compton, Colin Cowdrey, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Lance Gibbs, Graham Gooch, David Gower, WG Grace, Tom Graveney, Gordon Greenidge, Richard Hadlee, Walter Hammond, Neil Harvey, George Headley, Jack Hobbs, Michael Holding, Leonard Hutton, Rohan Kanhai, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Jim Laker, Harold Larwood, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Clive Lloyd, Hanif Mohammad, Rodney Marsh, Malcolm Marshall, Peter May, Javed Miandad, Keith Miller, Bill O’Reilly, Graeme Pollock, Wilfred Rhodes, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Andy Roberts, Garfield Sobers, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Derek Underwood, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes, Frank Woolley, Frank Worrell.
The living members of the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame will also have the chance to help choose new inductees, part of an inclusive selection process.
In just a matter of days, England head out for a tour of the West Indies, but all is not well. England smelled success by beating South Africa in their one day series, this after losing the test series, but since then, it has been all downhill for them. They lost to India in both the test and one day series, and now internal strife seems to be the norm.
Once the wonder captain, Kevin Pietersen is now a huge bone of contention. Pietersen and coach Peter Moores seem to be at opposite ends of the pole. And the captain wants the matters to be sorted out as quickly as possible.
The two men are finding it difficult to work together and the poor results on the pitch since Moores became coach in April 2007 are not helping. Pietersen opined that the situation is not healthy. "We have to make sure it is settled as soon as possible and certainly before we fly to the West Indies. Everybody has to have the same aims."
Moores has declined to comment on the issue, but BBC Sport reports he will sit down with Pietersen and ECB managing director Hugh Morris this week to discuss the problems. Former England captain David Gower told BBC 5 Live's Sportsweek: "When Pietersen was appointed captain he asked Moores to stay in the background and organise nets while he got on the with the job of organising the team. "If there is a character clash in terms of personalities, Pietersen is the bigger one and it's not the sort of situation where compromise is going to work."
Pietersen was appointed England captain last August following Michael Vaughan's resignation. Before accepting the role, he made a special trip to Loughborough for a private meeting with Moores with a view to establishing what each man's precise roles would be. But the pair have failed to gel and, after a honeymoon period in which they won the final Test against South Africa and the one-day series 4-0, England flopped in the Stanford Super Series in Antigua before losing the one-dayers and Tests in India.
Moores is on a rolling contract and a decision to dismiss him at this stage could prove expensive. BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew said: "There will be a routine review of the tour of India which will, I believe, assess Moores's performance as coach, and importantly the measure of support for him within the team. "Whatever the verdict, Moores's position will be seriously undermined by a poor performance in the West Indies."
The England players are due to fly to the Caribbean on 21 January.
England in West Indies 2009 - Itinerary
Jan 21: England team arrives
Jan 25-27: v St Kitts XI, St Kitts
Jan 29-31: v West Indies A, St Kitts
Feb 4-8: 1st Test, Jamaica
Feb 13-17: 2nd Test, Antigua
Feb 21-22: v BCA President's XI, Barbados
Feb 26-March 2: 3rd Test, Barbados
Mar 6-10: 4th Test, Trinidad
Mar 14: v WIPA President's Select XI, Trinidad
Mar 15: Twenty20 international, Trinidad
Mar 20: 1st ODI, Guyana
Mar 22: 2nd ODI, Guyana
Mar 27: 3rd ODI, Barbados
Mar 29: 4th ODI, Barbados
Apr 3: 5th ODI, St Lucia (d/n)
Remaining Games
Jan 7: 3rd ODI, Wellington (Westpac Stadium)
Jan 10: 4th ODI, Auckland
Jan 13: 5th ODI, Napier
Summary of matches played:
Dec 5-7: v Auckland Aces, Auckland
Match drawn
Dec 11-15: 1st Test, Dunedin
New Zealand 365 & 44-2 drew with WI 340
Dec 19-23: 2nd Test, Napier
West Indies 307 & 375 drew with New Zealand 371 & 220-5
Dec 26: Twenty20 International, Auckland
West Indies 155-8 (20 ovs) tied with New Zealand 155-7 (20 ovs). WI won by 10 runs in super-over
Dec 28: Twenty20 international, Hamilton
New Zealand 191-9 beat West Indies 155-7 by 36 runs
Dec 31: 1st ODI, Queenstown
First one-day international, Queenstown:
West Indies 129-5 v New Zealand
Match abandoned - no result
Jan 3: 2nd ODI, Christchurch (d/n)
Second one-day international, Christchurch:
West Indies 158-5 (28 overs) beat New Zealand 152-8 (28 overs) by five wickets (D/L method).
A two-nil whipping from India, and now, two down against South Africa, with the third and final test in progress seems to spell the end of an era. The victim-Australia. Taking over from the West Indies in 1995, Australia are now beginning to decline. They have lost key players through retirement, indiscipline and injuries, and at the same time, the other countries are catching up. Should Australia lose the third test, South Africa will replace them as the number one test team in world.
Dec 11: South Africa v Western Australia, Perth
Western Australia won by seven wickets
Dec 12-13: South Africa v Western Australia, Perth
Match drawn
Dec 17-21: 1st Test, Perth
South Africa 281 & 414-4 beat Australia 375 & 319 by 6 wickets
Dec 26-30: 2nd Test, Melbourne
South Africa 459 & 183-1 beat Australia 394 & 247 by 9 wickets
Jan 3-7: 3rd Test, Sydney - Match in progress.
Remaining Games
Jan 11: Twenty20 international, Melbourne (d/n)
Jan 13: Twenty20 international, Brisbane (d/n)
Jan 16: 1st ODI, Melbourne (d/n)
Jan 18: 2nd ODI, Hobart
Jan 23: 3rd ODI, Sydney (d/n)
Jan 26: 4th ODI, Adelaide (d/n)
Jan 30: 5th ODI, Perth (d/n)
It was decided that Lee should have surgery on Saturday as the 32-year-old was also expected to be out for some time with a metatarsal injury. Lee suffered a stress fracture of a metatarsal bone during the second Test against South Africa in Melbourne. But he is expected to be available for the World Twenty20 in June.
Australia team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said: "If Brett's rehabilitation program goes to plan he is expected to be available for selection for Australia for the ICC World Twenty20 later this year." Lee told Australia's Channel Nine: "I have been through four of these (operations) now ... I know that I can overcome it and I am looking forward to the challenge. "I want to offer a few more years of cricket and I know that I can offer that. "It is going to be a challenge, it is going to be hard work, there is no doubting that. But I know that if I do put my mind to it I do really want to come back and play for Australia." The principal target would, of course, be the Ashes series with the first of five Tests in Cardiff from 8 July.
He will meet with the team's medical specialists in Pretoria next week to plan his recovery from both injuries. He has a good chance of being ready for the home Test series against Australia, which starts on 26 February.
Cricket South Africa released a statement, saying: "Medical opinion is that he will not require surgery - the injury has been placed in a plastic cast - and that the recovery time should be approximately six weeks, the same length of time he is likely to require to allow his elbow to recover."
The duration agreed by the ECB and the PCA means players will be able to play in first few rounds of the IPL, starting in April, before returning for the first Test against the West Indies starting at Lord's on May 6.
"We think this is realistic and sensible," PCA chief executive Sean Morris was quoted as saying by 'The Times'.
"There was some pressure to get back for a four-day game before the Test. The guys understand that and I think they are happy. I would say we are now 99 per cent there," Morris added.
The final details involving compensation package remain to be sorted out as counties demand reimbursement for losing their players' service during the 15-day window.
However, there was optimism that the deal could be worked out before England leave for the West Indies on January 21.
If it does go through then Pietersen and Flintoff could earn up to 300,000 pounds for little more than a fortnight's work when the IPL auction is held on February 6.
The thirteen man squad: Jason Haynes, Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Patrick Browne, Johnathan Carter, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Ryan Hinds, Rohan Nurse, Dale Richards, Kemar Roach, Dwayne Smith, Kevin Stoute.
Also named as reserve players are: Rashidi Boucher, Nikolai Charles, Kirk Edwards, Corey Edwards, Shane Ramsay, Barrington Yearwood, Carlo Morris.
The team will be led by Daren Ganga and includes experienced players Lendl Simmons, Sherwin Ganga and Reyad Emrit, while West Indies spinners Dave Mohammed and Amit Jaggernauth are also part of the unit.
Trinidad and Tobago’s first match will be played in Barbados at the Police Sport Club, just outside Bridgetown.
SQUAD: Daren Ganga (captain), Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Justin Guillen, Sherwin Ganga, Gibran Mohammed, Reyad Emrit, Richard Kelly, Dave Mohammed, Amit Jaggernauth, Atiba Alert, Sunil Narine.
In his First Class career, Dowlin has played 62 matches making 2679 runs with a top score of 176 not out. He has also taken 15 wickets. Dowlin was the hero of Guyana’s inaugural Stanford Twenty20 triumph in August 2006 when he endured a back injury to lash 80 off 60 balls retired as Guyana defeated Trinidad and Tobago to capture the US$1 million winning prize.
"Shoaib is up for trade... We cannot have room for two pacers (that includes Umar Gul)," KKR coach John Buchanan told reporters on the sidelines of their first day's selection trials at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
Many players are being put on sale by their respective franchises with the trading window closing on January 22.
The eight franchises will have opportunities during the trading window to trade players either by offering to sell a player or by expressing an interest to acquire one.
The World Cup winning Australian coach, however, said the team was happy with the controversial speedster's performance.