‘Captain’s faith is important for spinner’
new delhi: Indian spin legend Erapalli Prasanna says it is imperative for a spinner to have the captain’s faith in his abilities as a bowler. “The most important thing for a spinner is that the captain should have faith in you. He should also be able to correctly assess you as to how good you are as an independent bowler. He has to allow you to bowl your way with your fields,” Prasanna was quoted as saying by bcci.Tv. For a spinner to thrive, he needs to have a good rapport with his captain, something Prasanna had with his then skipper MAK Pataudi.
“With MAK Pataudi, once I set my field, he knew exactly what I was trying to do. He knew what ball was coming up next. There was an unspoken understanding between us. All the other aspects like setting up a batsman or making subtle changes in the field come when you share that kind of understanding with the captain.”
PCB set to hike retainership fees
karachi: The PCB has decided to increase the monthly retainership fees of the centrally contracted Pakistan cricketers from 25 to 75 percent. According to an official in the PCB detailed discussions have taken place with the players representatives Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali on the terms and conditions of the new central contracts which will be for the period July 1st 2015 to June 30th 2016. “There was a deadlock over the issue of whether the PCB should give the players bonuses or winning a series or matches also with the board only ready to give bonuses for series wins,” the official said. He said the board had now seriously discussed a proposal to do away with the system of awarding bonuses for winning series or matches in all three formats and just increase the central contract monthly retainers and the match fees.
Did not get support from media: Umar
karachi: Pakistan’s controversial young batsman, Umar Akmal complained of a media witch-hunt against him and revealed that he contemplated retirement after being dropped this year. The 25-year old, who has represented Pakistan in 16 Tests, 111 ODIs and 63 T20 internationals, criticised media for always going after him and creating controversies. “I don’t think I have got the support from the media that I deserved every little issue I have been involved has been blown out of proportion and my statements also misunderstood. In all this I have been made out to be a controversial and indisciplined player and person,” he said. Umar said the thought of retirement did cross his mind at one stage. “When they dropped me from the Pakistan ODI squad I was very upset and emotional and was thinking about announcing my retirement from international cricket,” Umar said.
BCCI to discuss affiliation of Manipur
new delhi: There might be some good news in the anvil for the cricket lovers from India’s north-eastern region as BCCI is planning to take up the full membership issue of Manipur and Mizoram in the upcoming BCCI Affiliation Sub-Committee meeting in Bengaluru on August 23. It has been reliably learnt that BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, who is also convenor of affiliation committee, has written a letter to its members Dr Sekhar Salkar of Goa and Prakash Dixit of Vidarbha to join him for a meeting in Bengaluru. Apart from Manipur and Mizoram, the case of Chattisgarh will also come up for discussion.
Roy Hodgson joins Ashes build-up
london: England football manager Roy Hodgson dropped in at The Oval on Tuesday ahead of the fifth and final Ashes Test. Hodgson, accompanied by assistant Ray lewington, chatted to players from both the England and Australia teams as they trained ahead of the Ashes finale at the south london ground, which starts on Thursday.
Hodgson had been invited to The Oval by Australia doctor Peter Brukner, who worked with the England boss, when they were both at Premier league giants liverpool. The former Reds manager even had time to cast his eye over the England cricketers’ warm-up football kickabout before they got down to the serious business of cricket training. And he stayed on to give a short team talk to Alastair Cook’s men, who’ve already clinched the Ashes after their innings and 78-run win over Australia in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge gave them an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.