Police officers criticised for Lahore ambush

Senior Pakistan police officers have been heavily criticised in a judge's report for being ill-prepared, poorly equipped and incompetent in their efforts to prevent a terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team bus last year.

Calling one officer a lazy coward, Shabbar Raza Rizvi of Lahore High Court identified more than a dozen senior policemen in a report on the attack that is due to be submitted to the International Cricket Council.

Excerpts of the 120-page report, which has not been made public, were provided to The Associated Press on Friday.

Rizvi wrote that police officials failed to perform their duties on March 3, 2009 when gunmen killed six policemen and a van driver in the team convoy, and injured several Sri Lanka players and team officials.

Senior Lahore police officer Haji Habibur Rehman was supposed to be the overall commander of the Sri Lanka team's security, but Rizvi said he failed to do his job.

"I wish I had seen him marching on the road ... or at least sitting in his office before 8 am," Rizvi wrote. "Unfortunately, he only became visible and audible after the occurrence had taken place."

The Pakistan Cricket Board is still waiting for permission from the government to submit the report to the ICC despite reminders by the game's governing body. The report was completed last year.

A spokesman for the ICC confirmed it had not received the report and had no further comment.

The ICC carried out its own investigation following the attack. It recommended a series of security measures to be implemented by member countries, including requiring cricket boards to have security managers and establish security standards.

Isaac set for smooth run to ICC's top job after approving IPL window

The man who has replaced John Howard as Australia and New Zealand's nominee for the ICC presidency, Alan Isaac, supports the creation of windows in the future tours schedule for the Indian Premier League.

Isaac, chairman of New Zealand Cricket, was given unanimous support by Cricket Australia as the region's nominee to take the ICC's vice-presidency, which after a two-year term leads to the top post. Howard was rejected as a nominee by six of the 10 ICC member nations.

The biggest issue facing the game is the overcrowding of the Future Tours Program (FTP), with the influx of domestic leagues like the IPL squeezing an international calendar already packed with three forms of cricket. An ICC sub-committee is remodelling the FTP to leave holes for the IPL and Champions Twenty20 League, both multimillion-dollar tournaments that feature the world's best players.

''The Future Tours Program has to allow the IPL, because unless it is accommodated we will end up with more challenges,'' Isaac said. ''There will be more pressure put around the scheduling of ICC events [such as World Cups and the Champions Trophy], and those ICC events are so critical to members because of the revenue generated. It has to be worked into the Future Tours Program because there is a demand and an interest. The players seem to like it, and there is more money coming into the game.

''The sub-committee work is being done on that basis [that the IPL will be
part of the FTP].'' Isaac is also supporting the creation of a Test championship series. He assumes the ICC presidency in 2012 and hopes at the end of his tenure all international cricket matches have context and happily co-exist with lucrative domestic leagues.

Now, ProBatter robot can bowl like anyone in world cricket

The English Cricket Board (ECB) has unveiled ‘ProBatter’, a robot bowler capable of replicating the exact delivery of any of the world''''s top players, for its team. According to Sky News, England captain Andrew Strauss has already tested the ProBatter in preparation for the first Test against Pakistan at Trent Bridge.

"It looks very futuristic and very funky. Anything that gives players that level of realism, has to be welcomed. There are definite advantages to facing deliveries from bowlers you know you're going to face in the near future," he said.

‘ProBatter’ uses the same Hawk-Eye technology seen in tennis. For an added realism, it produces an image of the bowler steaming into the crease via a video screen before unleashing the ball at high speed.

Players have a chance to simulate facing the world's fastest bowlers, such as Australia''''s Mitchell Johnson or South Africa's Dale Steyn.

And with the Ashes series due to start in Australia this November, the ECB would be hoping that the new technology, which retails for around 29,000 pounds in the US, could give England an edge over their old rivals.

The ProBatter is already being used extensively by Major League Baseball teams, and the machine, which is based at England''''s National Performance Centre in Loughborough, is expected to give players at all levels of the game the chance to hone their skills ahead of competitive action.

NZC sticks by its chairman for ICC Vice President

Refusing to nominate a candidate other than rejected John Howard, Cricket Australia decided to support New Zealand Cricket Chairman Alan Isaac for the post of ICC Vice President. An angry CA said it believed former Prime Minister Howard was the best candidate for them so instead of making a fresh nomination they would support Isaac, whose name has been proposed by the New Zealand Board.

Both the boards were asked by the ICC to re-nominate a person by July 31 after Howard's nomination was blocked by influential Afro-Asian bloc at its Executive Board meeting in Singapore.

"Cricket Australia's Board has today re-affirmed that former Australian Prime Minister John Howard is the best candidate available for nomination for the position of Vice President of the ICC and has decided it will not consider suggesting any other names for the role," a CA statement said.

"New Zealand Cricket has proposed its chairman, eminent businessman and corporate governance practitioner, Mr Alan Isaac, for the role and CA will now support that nomination," the statement added.

The CA said its board is disappointed and most concerned by the ICC Executive Board's lack of support of Howard's nomination and regards it as completely unacceptable that no reason has been provided as to why he has not been accepted.

"We still have been given no official reason why a strongly-credentialed candidate of Mr Howard's qualification's, skill and stature was not supported," CA Chairman Jack Clarke said.

Counties facing bankruptcy, Deloitte report reveals

Some of English cricket's most iconic grounds face the prospect of insolvency unless there is significant change to the game's financial structure and a new approach to Twenty20. The stark warning is contained in a draft report into cricket's finances by Deloitte.

The report, which will be finalised and submitted to the England and Wales Cricket Board next month, has been commissioned by a working party mainly comprising administrators from the Test match grounds, one representative from the smaller counties, David East of Essex, and ECB chief executive David Collier.

It is the first root-and-branch review of the finances of county cricket's leading clubs and reveals the parlous state of the game's economy. It details an over-reliance on broadcast money and the pitfalls of the competitive bid process for hosting Test matches, while raising the opportunity to earn income from a new 'elite' T20 competition.

The report is designed as a discussion document, has cost around £100,000 and relies on information provided by the first-class counties, the MCC and ECB.

Clearly it promotes the interests and problems of the Test match grounds but contained within the report's 73 pages are some startling figures that tell a story of a game that could be mired in debt for decades.

The report reveals that Test match grounds have invested £150 million in facilities since 2000 with another £56 million committed over the next four years and the prospect of a further £126 million between now and 2019.

The massive building projects have largely been funded by heavy borrowing from banks and the public sector. The investment has coincided with a highly competitive tendering process for hosting international matches in which counties bid blindly against one another for Tests and one-day internationals.

Next year the ECB is expected to rake in £17.5 million from this process, a significant hike from the £5.4 million it earned in 2006.

Unfortunately for the Test match grounds, the rise in staging fees has coincided with an economic downturn which has hit income from corporate hospitality and ticket revenue, leaving them with what they view as unfair risk when hosting matches.

They do still make profits from hosting major matches – an average of £250,000 to £500,000 per day – but this will not be enough to cover annual overheads.

The report, entitled 'Building a Stronger Future for the Domestic Game', states: "Without corrective action there is a looming risk of CAVs [Category A Venues] facing financial difficulties and maybe even insolvency."

The debt levels of the Test match grounds stands at £91 million which, if the status quo is preserved, will increase over the next decade with interest payments alone costing £36 million up to 2015. These are large figures for a group whose combined profit, excluding the MCC, between 2006 and 2009, was only £2 million.

The report says: "The current arrangement for allocation and pricing of rights to stage major matches are unsustainable and a new commercial relationship between ECB and CAVs is required."

Yorkshire suspend Azeem Rafiq for outburst

Yorkshire have suspended Azeem Rafiq for a week after he was stripped of the England Under-19 captaincy for disciplinary reasons.Rafiq was dropped for the second Youth Test in Scarborough, along with Derbyshire left-arm seamer Atif Sheikh, after a late night out during last week's first Test, and then launched a four-letter tirade on Twitter against England Under-19 manager John Abrahams.

Rafiq is expected to appear before an England and Wales disciplinary panel next week but Yorkshire have already made their displeasure known by suspending him for Sunday's match against Holland and next week's County match.

"Whilst Azeem has apologised formally to the ECB, the club and the coach in question the club still intend to carry out a full investigation before deciding on what disciplinary action to take," said Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan. "In the meantime, he is suspended on full pay and unavailable for selection."

Yorkshire's director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, has also warned his players of posting cricket-related matters on social networking sites. "You can't stop people having a Twitter page, or whatever, but I don't want to see any cricket issues posted or discussed from now on," Moxon said.

Pak bowler Md Asif to make Malayalam film debut

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammed Asif will make his film debut with a Malayalam movie, directed by lyricist Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodiri.The shooting of the film, titled Mazhavillinnattamvare (Till the tip of the rainbow), is scheduled to begin in September. Besides Asif, Mazhavillinnattamvare will also mark the directorial debut of Kaithapram, who has penned hundreds of songs and won several national and State awards. “Asif is now busy playing cricket in England. He will be free by September to begin shooting in Kannur,” Kaithapram said.

“The film begins with Asif coming to a cricket camp in Kannur as a coach. When he travels from Lahore to Kerala, he has a personal mission too. The film will progress through his journey to his goal.”
Kaithapram has also penned the story, besides writing the the script and lyrics. There will be five songs and a ghazal, the mixing of which will be done in London. The songs will be rendered by K.J. Yesudas, Udit Narayan, Shankar Mahadevan, K.S. Chitra, Deepankuran and Shreya Ghoshal.

The film is being produced by a Sharjah-based entrepreneur M. Mukundan, who hails from Kannur, under the banner of Valluvankadavu Recreations.

Bedi a controversy monger, ordinarry bowler: Muralitharan

Retired spin great Muttiah Muralitharan lashed out at his long-time detractor Bishen Singh Bedi, calling the former Indian captain a controversy monger and ordinary bowler who would have been hammered by any batsman if he was playing now. Bedi has been an untiring critic of Muralitharan by repeatedly calling the Sri Lankan a "chucker" and asking the ICC to ban the Sri Lankan's "doosra" as it was illegal. Muralitharan, who retired last week after completing 800 Test wickets at Galle against India, made an uncharacteristic attack on Bedi, saying that he was just an ordinary bowler.

Asked about the lack of world-class spinners in India, except for Harbhajan Singh, Muralitharan said Bedi was not in the league of B S Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Erapalli Prasanna. "Bedi, I don't think he even comes to a contest on that. I saw some (of his) bowling of his playing days. In modern era, if he plays he will get hammered every ball, that is what will happen. So no comparison," the world's most successful spinner said. "Prasanna is a good bowler. I have seen his bowling. Venkataraghavan is good. But Bedi does not come under it," he said.

Though without mentioning the constant criticism he got from Bedi, the affable Sri Lankan advised the former Indian captain to refrain from whipping up controversies. "He (Bedi) is also a controversial person. He has lot of controversies everywhere in the world. And he should think about himself first rather than talking about other people," Muralitharan said.

Asked about Bedi's comments to ban the 'doosra' from international cricket, Muralitharan lampooned the Indian by saying that he has no variations in his bowling and was therefore critical of others. "He (Bedi) did not have any variation. He just bowled left arm spin and pitch did the variation for him. That is what he bowled," he said.

Muralitharan said Anil Kumble was the best spinner India has produced and records speak for themselves. "You forget the best spinner is Anil Kumble. Not Bedi or Venkataraghavan or any other. I think the best ever spinner produced (in India) is Kumble. No doubt about it and nobody can doubt it. Statistics-wise and on the basis of other things, he is far ahead than other guys", he said.

Warne b ecomes Liz Hurley's partner at Goodwood races

Liz Hurley and Shane Warne were an unusual sight together, when seen at the Glorious Goodwood race meet. Warne was filling in for Hurley''s husband and Indian textile heir Arun Nayar, who was not to be seen around. Hurley, who has just entered into owning thoroughbred racehorses, may have been getting some betting tips off Warne – a famed gambling fan.

“Glorious Goodwood tomorrow - just got some tips from my racing mad shepherd whilst trying on hats,” The Courier Mail quoted Hurley as writing on Twitter.

Warne, who wore an expensively tailored pale grey suit, stayed with Hurley, who looked glamorous in pale pink chiffon and ruffled fascinator. The unlikely couple have been friends for years and occasionally share friendly chats on the social network site Twitter.

Murali Kartik steers Somerset into Friends Provident t20 Finals Day

Barely 24 hours after extending his contract at the County Ground for another season, Murali Kartik provided further confirmation of his value as Somerset eased into the T20 finals.

The 33-year-old Indian spinner has been a revelation, in all forms of the game, since arriving in Taunton earlier this season. Thirty-one first class wickets at an average of 12.6 and 18 more in one-day cricket left director of cricket Brian Rose in no doubt that securing his signature for 2011 was, perhaps, the most important task of the week. So, with the contract safely filed and his star turn suitably content, Rose took his place on the Taunton balcony and witnessed Kartik play a leading role in a consummate seven-wicket victory over the Steel backs.

In front of another full house on the banks of the River Tone, the inspiring Kartik bowled with customary ease and authority before making way for his batsmen to finish off the job and keep alive Somerset's hopes of a first-class and one-day treble. "Brian has done a wonderful job in bringing in players like Murali and Alfonso Thomas and to get Murali for another season is a real boost to everyone at the club," said chief executive Richard Gould.