Now Border raises ‘Monkeygate’ issue
Sydney: The furore over the infamous 'Monkeygate' episode refuses to die with former Australian captain Allan Border now saying that Cricket Australia should have called "India's bluff" instead of letting its own players down. In his upcoming book 'Cricket As I See It', Border, Australia's 1987 World Cup winning captain, gave his version of the incident involving Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh and Australian batsman Andrew Symonds. At the peak of the controversy during the 2007-08 series, India had threatened to pull out of the rubber if a three-match ban on Harbhajan was not lifted. "I was on the Cricket Australia board at the time, and we ultimately accepted the ICC appeal finding and moved on, but it's never sat well with me. We hung Andrew Symonds out to dry and at the time I was annoyed about it. I thought 'This isn't right'. Obviously something happened out there," Border wrote in his book, excerpts of which has been released by 'foxsports.Com.Au'. He added: "The realisation at board level was that we couldn't have India go home. But morally and ethically we should have called their bluff and hoped the global community would hold them to order...." Border's book is releasing close on the heels of Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography 'Playing It My Way', in which the legend spoke about how they were on the verge of calling off the tour after Harbhajan was suspended on allegations of racial abuse. "We were encouraging - and the ICC was encouraging - players to report racial slurs and vilification on the field, but when it actually happened, it went nowhere. It got ugly," Border writes.
ICC warns against abandoning tours
Dubai: The representatives of ICC Board today expressed their deep disappointment at West Indies team's decision of abandoning their India tour mid-way, stating that a repeat of this kind from any team or players may lead cancellation of their T20 contracts with their franchises. Top West Indies players like Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy freelance as T20 specialists for various private leagues across the globe. According to a release issued by ICC, it states,"In a show of solidarity, all Member Boards collectively expressed the view that they consider such player action to be extremely disruptive, damaging and unacceptable. "Players, who behave in a similar manner in the future will not only risk breaching the disciplinary rules of the relevant Member Board and being sanctioned accordingly, but may also put in jeopardy their ability to conclude future contractual arrangements with domestic franchises or clubs in other jurisdictions." ICC chairman N Srinivasan, said:"It was undoubtedly a sad chapter in our sport. It damaged cricket's integrity and reputation, as well as affecting confidence within the cricket community, especially that of the fans. The ICC Board was determined to address this situation and ensure such incidents never happen again." "The ICC is working with the concerned Members towards finding a positive resolution and is confident that there will be constructive outcomes for our game."
Pakistan subdue New Zealand
Abu Dhabi (UAE): Ahmed Shehzad hit a spirited unbeaten century and shared a record-breaking opening stand of 178 with Mohammad Hafeez to steer Pakistan to a commanding 269-1 at stumps on the first day of the first test against New Zealand on Sunday. Shehzad made the Black Caps pay heavily for a missed stumping on 16 before cruising to 126 off 290 balls, hitting 14 fours after captain Misbah-ul-Haq won his third successive toss and chose to bat. Azhar Ali, who was also dropped by wicketkeeper BJ Watling on 31, was not out on 46. Shehzad bettered Pakistan's 24-year-old record for the first wicket against New Zealand by putting on 178 before Hafeez missed out on his first hundred in over two years. Hafeez was caught and bowled by Corey Anderson for 96 off 137 balls, hitting 10 boundaries. Former captain Ramiz Raja and Shoaib Mohammad held the previous record when they put on 172 runs against New Zealand at Karachi in 1990. New Zealand bowlers toiled hard for the entire day on a slow wicket without much reward and on the same venue where Pakistan thrashed Australia by 356 runs only six days ago for a 2-0 victory in the series. Brief Scores — Pakistan: 269/1 (Ahmed Shehzad 126 not out, Mohammad Hafeez 96; Corey Anderson 1/31) against New Zealand.