Rafique ponders T20 pullout

Veteran left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique may pull out of the Bangladesh’s Twenty20 World Cup squad due to some personal problems, said the player on Sunday.
Rafique, who is in the Bangladesh’s 30-member preliminary squad, has been nursing a rib injury since he returned from Sri Lanka after playing the Test series against the hosts.
He did not appear in the subsequent one-day series to stay with his ailing son, who had been suffering from a urinary tract infection and needed to get circumcised.
‘My son is recovering gradually. But I am not very
sure about the recovery of my injury.
I visited a doctor at the Apollo Hospital in Dhaka on July 18. He advised me to take rest for at least 25 days,’ said Rafique.
Injury is not the only problem that forced the left-arm spinner to ponder Twenty20 pullout. The current flood situation in the country also compelled him to give a rethink on the tournament starting in South Africa on September 11.
‘My house is still free from the flood water, but it is at risk. Water is all around my house and it is difficult for me to play cricket leaving my family in such a situation,’ he said.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board is due to announce the final squad for the Twenty20 World Cup on August 9.
When contacted, chief selector Faruque Ahmed said he has no idea about the injury
condition of Rafique and his possible withdrawal from the squad.
‘I don’t know anything about it. Maybe he informed the board about his problem.
‘I don’t want to make any comment at this point,’ Faruque told New Age.

Pakistan cricketers reject offers from new Indian league

Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Asif have turned down offers to play in the unofficial Indian Cricket League Twenty20 series.

The three told Reuters on Saturday that playing for Pakistan was far more important for them and they had not been tempted by offers made by the ICL organizers.

"I got a very good offer but in the end I was not tempted as I have a few more years to give to Pakistan cricket which is far more important for me as a player," Akhtar said.

Indian and Pakistan cricket boards have threatened to ban players who decide to play in the league which is not recognised by the International Cricket Council.

The league organisers have signed up recently retired West Indies skipper Brian Lara and also hope to lure Australians Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne out of retirement.

"I can't let my people down and disappoint them. I have just started my career for Pakistan and I enjoy the feeling of performing for my country. Nothing, not even money, can match that," Asif said.

Leicestershire look to gain from Asian influence

"Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega," - the constant chorus was not at any Indian stadium, but here during India's practice match against Sri Lanka A, and local wisdom says that the decibel level will only go up as and when the Indian batsmen take centrestage.

Indian students, who are in large numbers at the university here; professionals and businessmen settled here and families who migrated from India years back are the "local" Indian fans here.

It is to acknowledge the presence of this sizeable Indian population here that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decided to slot this practice match at Leicestershire.

The Leicestershire County Cricket Club, struggling with infrastructure problems, can't really hope for an international match. But, till they come up to that level, practice matches like these-featuring India or Pakistan- are welcome.

The club is looking for sponsorships that can help them buy land so that the club can be shifted and a new stadium built. The current Grace Road address has not helped. "For starters, the entrance is not from Grace Road. The public finds it very confusing," says Caroline Lucy, the commercial manager here.

Given the Asian dominance in Leicester, and their influence on cricket in this region, the club can try to improve facilities which, in turn, will assure major financial gain if international cricket is held here on a regular basis.

The clubs present address was actually supposed to be temporary, when it was shifted from near Aylestone Road, when the original venue was used as a wartime depot.

"It is not as if this venue doesn't have proper facilities. We have a lot of space. But again, if we intend to convert this into one that satisfies international requirements then there is a lot of work to do, lot of money that will be needed," says Paul Maylard-Mason, the chief executive of the club.

And news that the original ground of the club has been marked for developmental plans by the city council has invited criticism.

Maylard-Mason added that hiring Asian cricketers to play in the first division county here is a successful way of luring sponsors. "The community is flourishing here. Big names from Asia can play a huge role in marketing the game and that is very important if the club is looking to open up financial avenues," he said.

Huge posters saying Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly will be batting here tomorrow have fans rushing for tickets. Though they will not see two of them -Tendulkar and Ganguly-in action.

A tour game in a packed stadium, with spectators indulging in beer and the bhangra-it is definitely due to the Asian influence here.

Tigers excited about military training

Bangladesh cricket captain Mohammad Ashraful is excited at the prospect of having military training as planned by the newly-appointed interim committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
The new committee in their first meeting on Wednesday decided to put the national cricketers on strict military regimen before they leave for South Africa to play Twenty20 World Cup in September.
‘It will be a very good experience for us. We need a change and I hope the military training will give us that change. It will help us gain physical strength and mental toughness,’ Ashraful told New Age on Thursday.
Sources said the BCB president Major General Sina Ibn Jamali himself had proposed to impart military training to the national squad at the meeting and the other members readily agreed. The training will be held in Sylhet from August 11, two days after the announcement of the Twenty20 World Cup squad.
However, the BCB has planned to send coach Shaun Williams and physio Azmal Hossain Mithu to Sylhet earlier to make the necessary arrangements for the training, said the sources.
‘Military training is not a new phenomenon for international cricketers. India, Pakistan and Australia teams have endured it previously. So I don’t see any problem for us to take it,’ said Ashraful.

PCB completes dope tests

The Pakistan Cricket Board completed its out-of-competition dope tests on 26 leading players, including Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, almost a week before naming the final 15-man squad for September’s Twenty20 World Championship.
Sohail Salim, the PCB’s medical officer, said urine samples had been collected from all players featuring in the Karachi-leg of the training camp. The samples will be sent to a WADA-accredited laboratory in Malaysia.
‘All the samples have been collected and we hope to get the results of the tests in about a week’s time,’ Salim told the News.
Four players from the probables haven’t yet given samples as they are currently playing county cricket in England, though Salim said a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) representative will collect their samples on behalf of the board soon.
Results of the tests will be available with the board before the national selectors name the final squad on August 6, thus avoiding the situation that arose during the Champions Trophy last year when Shoaib and Asif were included in the squad only to pull out a day before the first match because their positive results came late. This is the third time that the board has opted for out-of-competition dope tests on the country’s leading players in less than a year.
The tests weren’t without controversy as it emerged later that the board may not have adhered strictly to WADA regulations during its testing, despite claims that its policy was now fully WADA-compliant.
Doubts were raised in a radio report because samples from some of the players were taken on Monday evening while others were asked to be available for the procedure on Tuesday. The WADA code says that an athlete must present himself for testing within one hour after being notified in writing.
The code reads: ‘The players have a maximum of one hour to present themselves at the Doping Control Room for testing. During this time, they will be free to attend any post-match commitments, such as a presentation or press conference, but they will always be accompanied (albeit discreetly) by Sampling Officers, including inside the dressing rooms. All Team Managers and the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit are aware of these protocols.’
Dr Danish Zaheer, a WADA accredited officer told Voice of America that if the one-hour notice protocol has been done away with, WADA can challenge the collection of players’ samples.