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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#271

Gavaskar says sorry to Hookes' family
By: PTI
March 20, 2007

Melbourne: Sunil Gavaskar has apologised for linking Australian cricketer David Hookes' death with the champion side's poor on-field behaviour, saying his remarks were "uncalled for and inappropriate".

"On live television and radio, sometimes you respond on the spur of the moment with a remark that can cause hurt and pain to others. I realise and I accept that what I said was uncalled for and inappropriate," Gavaskar reportedly told 'SEN' radio here.

"Having said that, I hope they have the bigness of heart to forgive me for what I said about David Hookes," he was quoted as saying in 'SEN' by the local media.

The former Indian captain recently wrote in a column that Australia were an "unpopular" team despite their world domination in cricket due to their "awful" on-field behaviour.

It invited a stinging response from skipper Ricky Ponting who drew attention to Gavaskar almost walking off the field with his batting partner during a Test match in Mebourne in the early 80s.

Gavaskar reacted by saying that the Aussies would not get away if they behaved the same way in a bar, and cited the instance of Hookes who was punched outside a Melbourne hotel and died due to injury a few years ago.

Those remarks invited widespread criticism from former and current players, including his contemporary Allan Border who said the comment would put their friendship under strain.

Gavaskar, however, maintained his criticism of the Aussies. "What I was trying to say, the West Indies in the 1970s and 80s ... they were winning just about everything, but they were universally admired," he said.

"There are so many champions who are universally admired, like your Rod Laver, today there is Roger Federer. The Australian team can also be universally admired if they can only curb their behaviour on some occasions."

http://www.mid-day.com/news/nation/2007/march/153857.htm

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#272

PCB chief Ashraf, panel of selectors quit
By: Agencies
March 20, 2007

Karachi: Pakistan's unceremonious exit from the cricket World Cup today prompted a host of resignations with the PCB chairman Naseem Ashraf and the entire selection panel quitting their posts, accepting moral responsibility for the debacle.

A day after captain Inzamam-ul Haq announced his retirement from one-day internationals following the fiasco against Ireland and the mysterious death of coach Bob Woolmer, it was the turn of Ashraf to put in his papers as the cricket-crazy nation tried to come to terms with the shocking developments since Saturday.

According to PCB sources, Ashraf has submitted his resignation to President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the chief patron of the board.

"Ashraf spoke to an official of the Presidency and told him he wished to resign in the wake of the team's poor performance", the source said.

It was still not known whether the President had accepted his resignation yet.

Ashraf had taken over as the PCB chairman last October after the resignation of Shaharyar Khan and the local media had launched a scathing attack on him, demanding his resignation for Pakistan's humiliating World Cup ouster.

Initially, Ashraf had said that he would not resign as he had been in the Board only for six months and would announce a new action plan for the future.

But the PCB chief today told reporters in Mirpurkhas that he was disturbed with the team's performance and wanted to apologise to the nation for letting them down.

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#273

Got what we wanted'
By: Sanjjeev K Samyal
March 20, 2007

Trinidad: Okay, we were not playing the strongest side in the world, but the victory felt equally sweet yesterday even though it may have come against a lowly Bermuda. From the start of India's second match, it was not about the win, it was a formality; the challenge was about attaining the targets to stay ahead in the race for Super Eight qualification.

At the end of it, the team had enough reasons to be pleased. The crucial part was the run-rate and the margin of victory, and India skipper Rahul

Dravid believes his men have achieved what they set out to from the game. India scored 413 for five and restricted Bermuda to 156 for a 257-run victory.

"I think we have achieved what we wanted to do. We had sort of set ourselves a victory margin if we had to bat first, which was close to what Sri Lanka had achieved against Bermuda. We have achieved that," said Dravid.

The Indian bowlers though would not be too happy with their performance.
They would surely have liked to finish the job earlier than the 43.1 overs it took them to. They failed to make an impression on Bermuda's left-hander David Hemp who remained unbeaten on 76.

"They had one professional batsman in their side and he played quite well. He took his chances a little bit and it came off. That probably was a stumbling block as we tried to wrap them up a little earlier," said Dravid.

"But having said that, it was quite an easy wicket to bat on. There wasn't much in it in terms of spin or any appreciable sideways movement in the afternoon.

"But the margin of victory is pretty satisfying. We are pleased with it and it gets us into the picture a little bit. Dravid said the team was confident of taking on Sri Lanka in their do-or-die final group match.

"All the boys know what they have to do. The real challenge is now. We have got to win our next game. We have to be ready and be at our best," the skipper said.

"The other things like net run-rate etc are not in our control, what's in our control we will try to do it well; win the game and win it as well as possible. We will just try and focus on that, then other things will probably fall into place as well."

I believe if we can win the next game then we will put ourselves into a very good position (to qualify)."

Used to fans venting their anger: Dravid
Trinidad: Reacting to reports about players being criticised and their effigies being burnt by upset fans back home following India's shocking defeat to Bangladesh, skipper Rahul Dravid said the players were unfazed by it and have seen enough to become used to such gimmicks. The only cause of concern for the players Dravid said was the safety of their families and parents.

"We are used to it by now. They have burnt our effigies so often. I don't think the guys get too upset. The only worrying thing for the guys is the safety of their families back home. "We have got young families and parents back home. That's what really worries us. You are not concerned about your effigies being burnt, being criticised, or some people walking the street shouting: 'Rahul Dravid hai, hai'. I don't lose any sleep over that.

"You don't want anything untoward to happen to someone back home.
That's one concern. But other than that, we are not really concerned about the fact that people burn effigies.

"Guys are pretty used to it by now and they get on," said Dravid.
— SKS

Scoreboard

India
R Uthappa c Leverock b Jones 03
S Ganguly st Minors b Borden 89
V Sehwag c Jones b Hurdle 114
MS Dhoni c Tucker b Borden 29
Y Singh c Jones b Leverock 83
S Tendulkar not out 57
R Dravid not out 7
Extras (lb 7, w 17, nb 7) 31
Total (for five wkts; 50 overs) 413
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-205, 3-238, 4-269, 5-391,
Bowling: Hurdle 10-0-53-1, Jones 7-0-74-1, Tucker 9-1-67-1, Hemp 2-0-32-0, Leverock 10-0-96-1, Borden 5-0-30-2, Cann 7-0-54-0

Bermuda
O Pitcher b Zaheer 0
S Outerbridge b Zaheer 9
D Borden lbw b Munaf 13
D Hemp not out 76
I Romaine lbw b Kumble 0
J Tucker b Kumble 0
D Minors c sub b Agarkar 21
L Cann c Uthappa b Agarkar 0
A Hurdle b Agarkar 0
D Leverock c Dhoni b Tendulkar 9
M Jones lbw b Kumble 1
Extras (lb 12, w 12, nb 3) 27
Total (all out; 43.1 overs) 156
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-18, 3-47, 4-57, 5-63, 6-106, 7-106, 8-110, 9-154, 10-156
Bowling: Zaheer 10-1-32-2, Agarkar 10-0-38-3, Munaf 8-2-20-1, Kumble 9.1-0-38-3, Sehwag 5-0-15-0, Tendulkar 1-0-1-1

India win by 257 runs

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#274

shot! India's Sachin Tendulkar (right) plays the reverse sweep as Bermuda wicketkeeper Dean Minors looks on during their Group B World Cup match at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad yesterday pic/AP

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#275

Woolmer family not to travel to Jamaica
By: Agencies
March 20, 2007

Karachi: Bob Woolmer's family in South Africa have authorised the Jamaican authorities to go ahead with the autopsy as they were unable to travel to the Caribbean in time, a Pakistan cricket team official has said.

Wooolmer, Pakistan's coach, died in Kingston, Jamaica, on Sunday, a day after the team's shock loss to minnows Ireland in the World Cup.

Pakistan team officials confirmed that Woolmer's family would not be coming to Kingston to collect the body, but had asked the Pakistan team trainer Murray Stevenson to oversee the entire process and send back the body to Cape Town.

"Local laws in Kingston make it mandatory to have a post-mortem with the permission of the deceased's family. We think he might have died of a heart attack but until this autopsy is completed we have to wait," one official said.

Woolmer was found dead in the washroom of his hotel room on Sunday with vomit on the floor and walls, and the team official said there was also a sugar check metre lying close to him.

The former England player was a diabetic patient and also suffered from the rare sleeping disorder of Epnia where the patient stops breathing while sleeping.

The team official said apparently Woolmer didn't get enough time to call anyone for help. "The condition in which his body was discovered was very tragic. His face had gone blue and his hands and feet were white."

He said that the Pakistan team was expecting a report from the coroner's office by Tuesday or Wednesday latest.

Due to the post-mortem process, the Pakistan team will now return from Kingston on Saturday instead of Thursday.

Team officials said they were unhappy with reports in the local media in Jamaica expressing suspicion about Woolmer's death.

"As it is the players are already depressed and in grief because Woolmer was like a father figure to them. And then to read such reports has upset them.

"They are certainly not in the right frame of mind to play Wednesday's game against Zimbabwe," one official said.

"However, the boys want to complete the match as it is a World Cup game and they feel their coach would also have done the same thing," he added.

The impact Woolmer's death has had on the Pakistan team was obvious from the fact that players living on the same floor as Woolmer had shifted out of their rooms due to stress, the official said.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/world/2007/march/153856.htm

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#276

So what if the ton's against Bermuda?
By: Sanjjeev K Samyal
March 20, 2007

Port of Spain, Trinidad: After 60 matches, Virender Sehwag finally scored a century in a one-day international and the fact that it came against minnows Bermuda does not bother the Nawab of Najafgarh.

"To score a century against any team is a tough task. There have been other batsmen who have played against Bermuda, but who haven't scored a century yet," he said, after his 87-ball 114.

"A century comes through a lot of hard work. This is the result of all the hard work I have put in," he added for good measure.

The batsman, on the verge of being dropped after a series of failures, said he always had faith in his abilities. "I had the confidence before as well. I knew the captain, coach and selectors were backing me up, and I had to deliver," said Sehwag.

"It was a case of just one innings. It was due for a long time. Thank God, it has come at the right time," said Sehwag.

The century, however, has been a long time coming. His previous century was in April 2005 against Pakistan in Kochi. Sehwag, however, does not want you to forget his his two 90s in 2006 in the West Indies.

"I think I missed two centuries in the West Indies, when we came here last. So I was very confident that if I get a start, I will have a good chance of getting some big runs."

Sehwag revealed that during yesterday's innings he focused on staying at the wicket and playing straight.

"I just wanted to spend some time in the middle, leave some balls and play in the V, especially the first 10 to 12 balls. After that, if the ball is there to be hit, I will try to hit it.

I just wanted to stay on till the 30th over. I knew that if I could do that, we would be in a good position."

Rahul impressed
Rahul Dravid, who has received a lot of flak for persisting with Sehwag, said he was pleased that Sehwag was firing before the big match against Sri Lanka.

"When I see Viru working really hard on his physical fitness and in the nets, I generally know that he is just a few knocks away from a big one."

"Whenever he has been in a purple patch, there are certain things you see in Viru and that has been pretty evident to me all along. The effort he has put in after coming from South Africa - not just in the nets, but also on his fitness, has been fantastic for me to watch.

"I am happy he is a part of my team. He is back in form when we need him and before a very critical match for us. That's what is important for me."

Dravid refused to take any credit for backing his player. "It's not about me, it's about him. The credit goes to him. He has done all the hard work."

http://www.mid-day.com/sports/national/2007/march/153846.htm

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#277

PCB chief Ashraf, panel of selectors quit
By: Agencies
March 20, 2007

According to PCB sources, Ashraf has submitted his resignation to President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the chief patron of the board.

"Ashraf spoke to an official of the Presidency and told him he wished to resign in the wake of the team's poor performance", the source said.

It was still not known whether the President had accepted his resignation yet.

Initially, Ashraf had said that he would not resign as he had been in the Board only for six months and would announce a new action plan for the future.

But the PCB chief today told reporters in Mirpurkhas that he was disturbed with the team's performance and wanted to apologise to the nation for letting them down.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/world/2007/march/153858.htm

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#278

Definite morale-booster for us, says Dravid

We did it! Rahul Dravid (centre) congratulates Zaheer Khan (left) for claiming the wicket of Bermuda's Oliver Pitcher yesterday PIC/AFP

TRINIDAD: India skipper Rahul Dravid was a delighted man yesterday as India notched up their first win of the 2007 World Cup — against Bermuda. Sourav Ganguly (89), Virender Sehwag (114), Yuvraj Singh (83) and Sachin Tendulkar (57) got going and amassed 413 — a record total in World Cups and later skittled Bermuda out for 156 to register a thumping 257-run victory.
"We needed a big performance and all of them contributed," Dravid said post-match. "We had good all-round performance and we will try to carry the same tempo in the next match too," he added.
For India, who lost to Bangladesh by five wickets in their opener on Saturday, the win yesterday will surely help them bounce back. And Dravid agrees. "This win was definitely a morale-booster. There are some things not in our hands. The last match was disappointing. We are in control and would like to carry on. We need to play to our potential," he added.

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#279

Indian fans mess with a Virender Sehwag poster in a lake in Bhopal, on Sunday, to protest India's loss to Bangladesh at the World Cup. Viru cracked 114 against Bermuda yesterday, so he may have redeemed himself to an extent. However, (right) an Indian cricket fan holds a banner during the India vs Bermuda match in Trinidad yesterday, warning them of their precarious situation

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43685

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

#280

No regrets

Woolmer had his share of troubles but he had learned to adjust and laugh, says his biographer

Back to Section Stories Posted On Tuesday, March 20, 2007


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Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal looks shattered by the death of team coach Bob Woolmer as he attends the press conference where Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his decision to quit from captaincy and one-day international cricket

Not long before his death, Bob Woolmer and had begun work on a sequel to his autobiography that would have included the time he spent coaching South Africa, Warwickshire for a second spell, and Pakistan, Woolmer's biographer Ivo Tennant told timesonline.com.

Woolmer, who died in Jamaica on Sunday, would ask himself from time to time why he had taken the Pakistan job when he would have been better remunerated coaching, say, Surrey and living in the Home Counties he knew well from his playing days in England.

Why he came to Pakistan
"I had heard a lot about the intolerance of failure when I took on the job," Tennant said Woolmer had told him. "There was much to put me off — many stories and rumours of match-fixing and ball-scratching — and yet the talent emerging from the country appeared to be endless. Indian and Pakistani cricket, turning pitches, wristy batsmen, reverse swing, held a sort of mystique for me.

"I felt I could see the game and coaching in a completely different light. "I was met by a cacophony of sound. Yet traffic accidents were minimal and road rage almost non-existent."

Religion and cricket
When he and his wife, Gill, invited the team to a barbecue in Cape Town during their tour to South Africa this year, he was taken with the way they insisted on all praying together, on his lawn. No matter that the food was almost overcooked. He did not join in, telling them cricket was his religion, Tennant says.

While concerned about the all-pervading influence of the madrassas, Woolmer studied the Koran to understand the team that much better. Although he felt that they were too inclined to believe tales of black magic and superstitions, he valued the discipline that religion imposed, that there was no drinking and hence no need for curfews.

Musharraf's influence
After Pakistan's poor results in Australia in 2004-05, coach and captain were summoned to see President Musharraf, who convinced Inzamam that he needed to improve his leadership, Tennant reveals. "Inzamam did lead from the front after that, but I had to take into consideration his mood swings and a perception that he was too powerful," Woolmer told Tennant.

Miandad, the bitter man
Of even greater concern was the influence of Miandad, one of Pakistan's greatest batsmen, who, apart from having been dismissed as coach, disliked the fact that the Pakistan Cricket Board had employed a foreigner in his place.
Woolmer immediately arranged a meeting with him upon succeeding him in 2004, but, to his surprise, found that there was a press photographer present. "He generously gave me supper and we discussed the team player by player, but I am afraid all I gleaned from this experience was that he was a bitter man who did not think the team could play," Tennant quotes Woolmer as saying.

Shoaib and his antics
His most testing relationship, though, was with Shoaib, which culminated in a spat in front of the television cameras in Port Elizabeth during Pakistan's tour to South Africa in January. Woolmer was well aware that Shoaib was a proven wicket-taker, a potential match-winner and the fastest bowler in the world, but he was not convinced by the player's attitude. He wanted him to reduce his run-up to prolong his career, and to work on his fitness.
Shoaib, he reckoned, was not adverse to the good life. "I suppose the bottom line was that he never really knew how to handle it and the dedication needed to play at the highest levels," Woolmer said. "I doubt if Roger Federer parties every evening during Wimbledon."

Imran offers helping hand

Islamabad: Cricket great Imran Khan has offered his services to help restore Pakistan's status after its shocking exit from the World Cup.

"I am ready to sit down with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Naseem Ashraf, and see what could we do to bring the nation out of this cricketing crisis," Khan said in a television program.

Khan blamed captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for the debacle after Pakistan lost both its group matches — against the West Indies and Ireland - to become the first team to slump out of contention in the 16-team competition.

"His captaincy was timid. Inzamam himself said before the World Cup that he would bat at No. 4, but when the tournament began he came out to bat at No. 5. This built pressure on the team and we simply collapsed against medium pace bowlers of Ireland."

After the untimely death of coach Englishman Bob Woolmer, Khan advised the PCB to bring in two coaches — one for the bowlers and other for batsmen.

"I would suggest Aqib Javed should be the bowling coach because he had coached Pakistan to win two Under-19 World Cups," Khan suggested. However, without recommending the name of any former Pakistan cricketer, Khan said the PCB should look for a good batting coach. Khan also backed Younis Khan as the future captain.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&am p;sectid=59&contentid=20070320210115375bc11d9c5