‘WC 2015 will be tough for Spinners’
Melbourne: Even as the teams get ready for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Michael Hussey has predicted that spin will not play much of a part in the mega-tournament and only “mystery spinners” like Saeed Ajmal and Sunil Narine have a chance of succeeding. “We have got very flat one-day pitches here in Australia and certainly New Zealand. New Zealand grounds are very small, with the field restrictions these days you can only have four players outside the circle. With batting power plays plus much bigger bats it makes one-day in cricket for spin bowlers in this country and New Zealand extremely difficult,” former Australian batsman Hussey said. “Other than probably (Pakistan’s) Ajmal and (West Indies off spinner) Sunil Narine who are mystery spinners, I am fearful that spin won’t play much of a part in the upcoming World Cup,” the former Australian batsman said while addressing the audience as the guest speaker at the Melbourne Cricket Club’s annual Bradman luncheon.
Pak prepared for worst in Ajmal case
Karachi: Pakistani cricket authorities are prepared for the worst possible scenario in the Saeed Ajmal bowling action case. An official in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Wednesday that Ajmal had joined the Pakistan squad in Sri lanka for the final one-day international. “We’ve been told we’ll be informed about the findings of his bowling action tests conducted in Brisbane in seven to eight days,” the official said. “The Brisbane lab will first send the report to the ICC who will than as per protocol inform us,” he added. The official conceded that the board was prepared for the worst possible scenario since it had now become clear that the ICC had decided to come down hard on bowlers with suspect action. “The worst we are expecting is that Saeed may be stopped from playing and be told to remodel his bowling action. If that happens we anticipate it will take around 45 to 60 days for him to complete this process of remodelling his action and getting it cleared by the ICC,” he said. The official said that the second scenario was that Ajmal might be advised to refrain from bowling certain deliveries like the doosra and work on his action while delivering them. “It is best to prepare for the worst,” he added.
Modi’s Passport restored, RCA upbeat
Jaipur: The officials of the banned Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) are now upbeat with the news that former IPl commissioner lalit Modi’s passport was restored and he’s expected to come in soon at the Pink City. There was an air of optimism in the RCA office situated in the north wing of the Sawai Man Singh Stadium and sweets were distributed among the office bearers and employees. It was felt that with restoration of Modi’s passport, RCA would be able to carry on its fight against BCCI with more determination. Mehmood Abdi, the General Counsel & Constituted Attorney of lalit Modi and Deputy President of RCA said that the restoration of Modi’s passport vindicates RCA’s stand. “Our stand that his passport was revoked essentially on erroneous and legally un sustainable grounds has been vindicated by this order. “The court has found that there was no case at all for revocation of his passport and the passport authorities weren’t justified in revoking his passport as there was no element public interest involved.”
PCB confident of ClT20 participation
Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board said on Wednesday it was confident that the lahore lions team would get clearance from the Indian government to participate in the forthcoming Champions league in India. “The lahore lions team is due to leave around September 8 for the event and so far the only correspondence we’ve had with the BCCI on the Champions league is the invitation they sent to us,” he said.