Jesse Ryder to miss NZ A tour; World Cup hopes dim
Wellington: Jesse Ryder has withdrawn from the New Zealand A tour to the United Arab Emirates later this month, likely ending his bid to play at next year's cricket World Cup. Ryder told New Zealand's selectors Monday he is unavailable for personal reasons for the A team's tour which involves two limited-overs matches against Ireland and others against the UAE and Afghanistan. The tour is part of the process which will lead to the Dec.8 announcement of New Zealand's preliminary World Cup squad. Ryder yesterday failed to join his Otago provincial team on a flight to Christchurch for a domestic Twenty20 match, only advising team officials later of his unavailability.
Modi gets flavour of cricket ahead of MCG
Brisbane: A day ahead of his visit to the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday got a flavour of cricket. The occasion was a breakfast meeting hosted here for Modi by Queensland Prime Minister Campbell Newman where the former Aussie pace bowler Michael Kasprowicz was present. Kasprowicz, who was the master of ceremonies, brought the house down when he said how Indians used to relish batting legend Sachin Tendulkar smashing him for fours and sixes. After his Summit talks with Australian counterpart Tony Abbott and addressing the Australian Parliament in Canberra tomorrow, Modi heads to Melbourne tomorrow evening where he will pay a visit to the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). "Cricket is a shared passion of Australia and India. I thank PM@Tony AbbottMHR for hosting me at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground," said Modi on Twitter, ahead of his visit.
Aamir puts acting career on hold
Karachi: Pakistan's banned pace bowler Mohammad Aamir has put his acting career on hold after the country's cricket governing body PCB said that it would be requesting the ICC to allow the tainted player to play domestic cricket before his ban ends in August 2015."For me cricket has always been the top priority. And now due to the efforts of the PCB it appears I might finally get a chance to get back into cricket very soon," Aamir said. "For now I have postponed plans to act in the film offered to me, "Blind love" and I just want to focus on preparing myself for the comeback to first class cricket," he added.
Clarke in doubt for India series
Sydney: Australia's preparations for next month's home Test series against India have been thrown into jeopardy after it was revealed today that inspirational skipper Michael Clarke might be forced out owing to a hamstring injury. The 33-year-old, who picked up the injury during the ongoing ODIs against South Africa, might have to undergo surgery, according to media reports here."We are putting the World Cup and Ashes right up there and if he's right for the Indian Test series so be it," team performance chief Pat Howard told Fairfax Media. We saw (paceman) Nathan Coulter-Nile go through hamstring surgery and come back in eight weeks, so obviously that is one possibility," he explained when asked about Clarke's availability for the series against India.
Kohli jumps to 2nd in ODI rankings
Dubai: Virat Kohli has moved to second place in the ICC ODI Rankings for batsmen following his impressive batting show in India's 5-0 series win over Sri lanka while world record breaker double centurion Rohit Sharma jumped to the 15th spot in the latest chart. Kohli, who hit 139 not out in the fifth ODI on Sunday, having earlier scored 66, 53 and 49 to be adjudged man-of-the-series, jumped one place to be behind A B de Villiers of South Africa. Sri lanka captain Angelo Mathews has surged to the top of the Reliance ICC ODI Player Rankings for all-rounders for the first time after accumulating 339 runs, including 139 not out and two half centuries (75 and 92 not out), to finish the series with an average of 113.00 with the bat. Ravichandran Ashwin climbed one place to 15th to be 21 points off a place in the top 10.
England to play 4 tests in Sa in 2015-16
Johannesburg: England will tour South Africa for a four-test series in late 2015 and early 2016. The England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket South Africa announced the schedule Monday for a tour that will also include five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 games. The tests will be in Durban from Dec. 26-30, Cape Town from Jan. 2-6, Johannesburg from Jan. 14-18 and Centurion from Jan. 22-26. Despite South Africa's success in the five-day format, it hasn't played a four-test series since England's last visit in 2009-10 when the teams drew 1-1. Agencies