ddca asks bansal to resign in 3 days
New Delhi: The factional war at the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) continued as vice-president Chetan Chauhan on Monday asked sports body’s president and BCCI vice-president Sneh Bansal to resign within 72 hours on allegations of financial irregularities. However Bansal remained defiant and said that he would not tender his resignation and is getting ready for a pitched legal battle. A few days back, Bansal’s powers were withdrawn by the all-powerful executive committee of the DDCA on allegations of siphoning association funds to the tune of ` 1.55 crore. Chauhan said that at a meeting of the executive committee, it has been unanimously decided that Bansal should resign within 72 hours as there are additional charges of financial impropriety apart from the ones levelled against him, which also includes the India versus West Indies ODI in Delhi on October 11 this year.
sachin named ambassador for wc
dubai: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, who is the all-time leading run-getter in World Cup history, was on Monday named the event’s ambassador for the second successive edition. “The International Cricket Council on Monday announced Sachin Tendulkar as the World Cup 2015 Ambassador. It will be the second successive time that the India maestro will be the Ambassador of ICC’s pinnacle tournament, after he fulfilled the role in the previous event in 2011,” the ICC said in a statement. In his role as ambassador, Tendulkar will promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29. ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said Tendulkar is the perfect ambassador for the marquee event. The 11th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup will kick off in Christchurch on February 14 when co-hosts New Zealand take on former champion Sri lanka. Apart from the 10 Full Members, four qualifiers —Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates will take part in the tournament.
Binny hopeful to seal wc spot
New Delhi: Cut-throat competition is expected when it comes to making the final15 for the 2015 Cricket World Cup and all-rounder Stuart Binny feels the extra pace he has gained of late makes his case stronger ahead of the all important selection early next month. Binny has not made the most of his international opportunities, both with bat and ball in three Tests and six ODIs. The 30-year-old, however, remains confident of securing a World Cup berth. Three games into the Ranji Trophy, the Karnataka player says he is especially satisfied with how his bowling is coming along. Binny was impressive in his eight-over spell against Railways during a Group A game here on Monday. Binny, however, feels he needs to be more consistent with the bat. He has got starts in three of his four Ranji innings but has only one big knock to his name, the 77 against Tamil Nadu in Bangalore.
Don’t write off Windies yet: Ramdin
Johannesburg: Captain Denesh Ramdin has warned detractors not to write the West Indies off just yet following their innings defeat in the first Test against South Africa. The tourists were humiliated by an innings and 220 runs on the fourth morning of the opening Test at Centurion Saturday, to send them 1-0 down in the three-Test series, reports CMC. The West Indies now head into the second Test starting Boxing Day in Port Elizabeth, a venue where they pulled off their only success on their last tour of South Africa seven years ago, when they won by 128 runs. Ramdin is taking hope from that performance.
“Our last memory there we won a Test match and from this game, we would like to take some of the positives when we go down there,” he told reporters. We should be having that little bit of confidence from the last time we won but having said that, cricket plays on the day and everyone needs to come up with their ‘A’ game.
Sri lankan stars poised for CPl draft
Castries (St. lucia): Sri lankan superstars Mahela Jayawardene, lasith Malinga and Tillakaratne Dilshan have been confirmed for the Caribbean Premier league (CPl) draft, set for early next year. All three players have already had limited participation in the tournament but it will be first time they will be entering the draft to take up extended contracts, reports CMC. The trio join South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis whose participation in the tournament was announced last week. “Now that the CPl is well established among the cricket community, we have had huge interest from the top international players which bodes well for the future of the tournament,” said Tom Moody, the CPl International Cricket director. “The quality of cricket in 2014 was outstanding and we hope for more of that drama and action next year so being able to announce players like Malinga, Jaywardene and Dilshan is a great boost and a fantastic endorsement for CPl.” Jayawardene turned out for Red Steel in the latter stages of last year’s tournament while Malinga represented Guyana Amazon Warriors in the knock-out rounds of the inaugural competition. Dilshan also did battle for Amazon Warriors as a replacement for Martin Guptill deep inside the tournament last year. All three players said they were keen on being involved in the tournament again.