Mallya Desired England As IPL Venue

Liquor baron and owner of the Bangalore Royal Challengers, Vijay Mallya, has said that he would have preferred England to host the second season of the Indian Premier League.

Vija Mallya and Lalit Modi

The Twenty20 competition was moved out of India because of a clash of dates with general elections and the IPL organisers sealed a deal to organise the event in South Africa.

“To be honest, I would have preferred England to South Africa,” the Daily Express quoted Mallya, as saying.

Mallya agreed that there is a huge possibility of rain disruptions; but he believed the tournament would have drawn bigger crowds in England.

“You could have taken just one flight from five or six cities in India to England and it would have been cheaper. Besides, an average Englishman loves his cricket and the stands there would have been full of spectators. But, I guess the weather conditions clinched the issue for South Africa,” he said.

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Indian Fans Disappointed

The change in venue for the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought disappointment to the Indians who were batting for the Twenty20 competition being played in India.

Fans Enjoying Cricket

“It is like imagining Wimbledon in England, Australian Open tennis, or the UFA cups being played abroad. The charm of an Indian event has gone. It has become a television event,” said Diana Edulji, former Indian women”s Test cricketer.

Jitender Kumar, a cricket coach, said: “It will send out a wrong message to the world that such a big country like ours could not provide security to a sporting event. I believe it would have been better if IPL would have been held in India.”

Disappointment was writ large on the faces of young cricket enthusiasts who felt that IPL should be hosted in India as very few matches are played on Indian soil.

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TV Rights Not Weather, Took IPL Away

Television rights and not the weather, it appears convinced Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi to chose South Africa instead of England for the second edition of the twenty20 tournament.

Lalit Modi,chairman IPL and(CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola

According to The Independent, Modi did not bother going on to London as initially planned to hear a pitch from the England and Wales Cricket Board for staging the game’s most lucrative competition.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India became less enthusiastic about hosting the event in Britain when they realised that apart from the bad weather in April and May, there may also encounter problems with broadcasting rights and revenue.

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England in line to host IPL

England is most likely to host the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) 2009 edition after South African Chief Gerald Majola revealed that his country is not the first choice for organizers.

Convenor of IPL Lalit Modi is likely to arrive in London on Monday to hold further discussions with England and Wales Cricket Board to draft out ways which will fit twenty20 tournament around the county season.

Indian Premier League (IPL) Chairman Lalit Modi,Shilpa Shetty and Priety Zinta

England and South Africa are the primary two venues where IPL is likely to be played, but it seems BCCI prefers former for its huge Asian crowd.

“England is a very attractive venue,” Modi told The Daily Telegraph.

Board of Control for Cricket in India, contacted ECB and insisted for a decision to be made as soon as possible to check the practicability of hosting IPL on such short notice.

ECB, chief executive David Collier will fly back to England to meet IPL officials on Wednesday or Thursday.

Speaking to British media giant, Sky Collier clarified, “We have opened up discussions with the BCCI and IPL with the last 36 hours and we’ll be continuing those discussions in the middle of this week-and then we’ll be reporting to our board at the back end of the week.

“Clearly with only three weeks to go to the start of the competition, I think all parties recognize an early decision has to be made.”

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England gifted first win

England claimed their first international win since August in farcical circumstances when West Indies miscalculated the Duckworth-Lewis target at the end of the opening one-dayer in Guyana on Friday.

stuart-broad-paul-collingwood-andrew-strauss

West Indies, chasing England’s 50-over total of 270 for seven, were offered the chance to go off due to rain and bad light and their Australian coach John Dyson beckoned the batsmen off the field.

However the hosts were one run short of the Duckworth-Lewis target, the method used to calculate results when the full overs are unused, and with no opportunity to return to the field England were declared winners with West Indies on 244 for seven from 46.2 overs.

Dyson left his seat in the pavilion to consult match referee Javagal Srinath and England were soon celebrating their first win since a one-day victory over South Africa at Lord’s.
“I was on the wrong column (on the sheet) … I thought we were ahead of Duckworth-Lewis but in fact we were behind by one run,” Dyson told Sky Sports television. “There was a lot of noise going on and it was my responsibility so that was it. DYSON’S MISTAKE “I accept responsibility for it and I’ve apologised to the team and that’s all I can do. It was my mistake.

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The Summer of 1984

As we debate England’s defeat to West Indies, in a series they probably should have won, a run down memory lane, and we see, teams have ruled cricketing field in the past… some with power and some with panache. Whenever a debate spurs over a cup of coffee, on who’s the best cricket team ever…certainly, 1984 team of West Indies, which toured England, hits the awakened mind.

I may appear as a practitioner of clairvoyance to say that a West Indian recovery could be on the cards as they try to come out from the shambles of recent past in which their glory was tarnished and slaughtered …over and over again.

The Queen at Lord's meeting the West Indian fast bowlers (l to r) Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner - introduced by captain Clive Lloyd .

Their splendor of the past was lost in the dark corners of 1990s. Once a mighty force, they crumbled to dust as their series of new generation cricketers couldn’t hold, to what was build with sweat and blood …of opponents mostly!

In the last 15 years they faced defeat at home and were creamed when on travel. It was after five long years that they won a Test series at home, thanks to some resilience in the new looking West Indians side and partly, to a sluggish overcautious English response.

But the story was never like this. West Indies were the most dominant force of cricket in 1970s and 80s, arguably the best ever cricketing side.

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West Indies Magnificent

England face a quest for survival after West Indies made 749 for nine declared thanks to a masterful 261 run partnership between double centurion Ramnaresh Sarwan and Denesh Ramdin.

Ramnaresh Sarwan

Sarwan fell just nine runs short of a triple century, after batting from the evening of the second day, while wicketkeeper Ramdin made 166 before being bowled by five-wicket Graeme Swann.

The West Indies score, the ninth highest innings total in a test match, sets up an unexpectedly tricky final day for Andrew Strauss’s side after they made 600 for six declared in their first innings.

No team has ever lost a test match after making such a big first innings total but West Indies will take heart from the first test when they bowled a panicking England out for 51.

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Flintoff to Confront ECB

England all rounder Andrew Flintoff could be heading for a showdown with ECB bosses over playing in the Indian Premier League.

andrew-flintoff

reddie, 31, is struggling with a hip problem that will keep him out of Thursday’s Fourth Test against West Indies and maybe more matches.

ECB chief executive David Collier confirmed that the board has the power to withdraw Flintoff from the IPL on medical grounds.

Flintoff has been signed up by the Chennai Super Kings for a record price of 1.55 million pounds, making him the joint most valuable cricketer in history with Kevin Pietersen.

The ECB have agreed to a three-week IPL window for England’s Test players starting on April 10 so, in reality, he will receive around 540,000 pounds from the Chennai Super Kings.

Collier said: “We’d be concerned if any player was carrying an injury that may affect his participation in the Ashes. There are medical clauses in Andrew’s contract. The IPL are very responsible in that area.”

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Strauss is Learning it Hard way

England captain Andrew Strauss, in charge of his first tour, is learning the lessons of captaincy the hard way after suffering two hard-to-take results against West Indies in his opening tests.

After an innings and 23 run defeat in the first test in Kingston, when his team collapsed to 51 all out, came a 10-ball abandoned match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, followed by a bitterly disappointing draw in the hastily arranged third test at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

Andrew Strauss

England had the upper hand for all five days of an enthralling test match, Strauss’s 169 helping them to 566 for nine declared in their first innings. They sat in command after setting West Indies a near impossible target of 503 to win.

But in four-and-a-half sessions of bowling, England could only get nine West Indian wickets as the last pair of Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell hung on for 10 agonising overs.

“Clearly when you get so close in a Test and you don’t make it over that final hurdle it is very hard to take,” said Strauss.

“In some ways it does feel like a defeat, but once the emotion subsides and we realise there’s a lot of positives to come out of the Test.

EXCEPTIONAL BOWLING

“The way we batted after Jamaica was the way to respond, the way Graeme Swann bowled was exceptional and Stuart Broad as well bowled very well.

“Hopefully we have shifted the momentum away from West Indies and if we can get better as the tour goes on there’s no reason why we can’t win the series.”

“Test wins don’t come easily, especially on a wicket like this even against numbers 10 and 11 it’s hard to force the issue.

“I can’t fault the bowlers, they did as well as they could in those conditions. It was just one of those things, it wasn’t meant to be,” he added.

Critics might point to Strauss’s decision not to enforce the follow-on or his sending in James Anderson as a night watchman at the end of the third day, which slowed down England on the morning of the next session.

But the England skipper was also restricted by Andrew Flintoff’s hip injury and Steve Harmison’s stomach upset.

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Flintoff’s Fitness in Doubt

Concerns about Andrew Flintoff’s fitness are gaining fresh ground after  his friend and bowling partner Steve Harmison hinted a serious problem with English all-rounder.

Andrew Flintoff

Fears are that he may miss the fourth Test in Barbados starting on 26 of Feb are growing, after he just balled three uncomfortable overs on the fourth day of third Test and left the field.

English management initially denied anything wrong with the talismanic all-rounder, but when he left the field, they admitted that he had an anti-inflammatory injection in a hip, and Harmison said: “I am not going to lie to you and say that everything’s all right. Where he goes from here, nobody knows. We just hope he’ll be fit for the next Test in Barbados.”

Big lad of England cricket is struggling with a series of injuries in recent past. He has been off-field because of troubling knee injury and has also complained of a side strain which forced him to have a scanner in St Kitts, Jamaica just before the series.

The fourth Test is not the only concern, but team is worried that he may miss rest of the tour to make sure he fit for the two Test match series against West Indies at home and the all important Ashes.

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