Samuels returns in new-look squad

ESPNcricinfo staff

April 6, 2011

West Indies have announced a new-look squad for their one-off Twenty20 international against Pakistan in St Lucia on April 21, featuring four new caps and recalls for Lendl Simmons and Marlon Samuels, who is once again eligible for selection after serving a two-year ban for his alleged involvement with illegal bookmakers

Sri Lanka news

Sangakkara steps down as ODI and T20 captain

April 5, 2011

Kumar Sangakkara has stepped down as captain of Sri Lanka's ODI and T20 teams but has offered to continue as the Test captain on an interim basis for the forthcoming series against England and Australia "if this is considered helpful for the new captain". He will continue as a player in all formats of the game.

His decision, revealed on Tuesday, comes days after he led Sri Lanka to the World Cup final. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Angelo Mathews are among those tipped to take charge of the limited-overs' sides, while Thilan Samaraweera is being discussed as an option to lead the Test team.

Sangakkara was the third highest scorer in the 2011 World Cup and scored 48 in their defeat to India in the final.

"I would like to announce that after careful consideration I have concluded that it is in the best long-term interests of the team that I step down now as national captain so that a new leader can be properly groomed for the 2015 World Cup in Australia", a statement from Sangakkara said.

"This was a decision I made prior to the 2011 World Cup. I will be 37 by the next World Cup and I cannot therefore be sure of my place in the team. It is better that Sri Lanka is led now by a player who will be at the peak of their career during that tournament.

"It has been a true honour and a great privilege to serve my country as captain during the past two years and, although bitterly disappointed that we could not win the final, I am very proud of the performances of the team.

"I met with the selectors on Monday and I explained my reasons for my decision and I assured them of my fullest support in helping our new captain settle into the leadership.

"In this regard, I have offered to continue as the Test captain for the forthcoming series with England and possibly Australia if the selectors believe this would help the new captain and aid the transition.

"I have no plans of retirement from international cricket at this stage and subject to form and fitness I would like to be considered for selection in all three formats of the game for the foreseeable future. "

The best World Cup of all time

But the ICC's decision to chop out the Associates - especially Ireland, who were integral to the excitement - is both baffling and tragic

April 5, 2011

Four years ago in the Caribbean, it was said that the ICC got the World Cup it deserved. The 2007 tournament was a bloated, corporate, soulless sell-out of an event, infused with a noxious blend of controversy and apathy that turned the self-proclaimed Carnival of Cricket into a six-week wake. In Asia in 2011, however, the ICC got the World Cup that it needed, and that is not the same thing whatsoever.

By the standards set in 2007, not to mention those in South Africa in 2003 and England in 1999, the 2011 tournament was a resounding triumph. In fact, an impromptu survey of approximately 1.2 billion people might well conclude that it was the best World Cup of all time. Admittedly some non-Indian observers might suggest those findings had been skewed a touch, but try telling that to the jubilant masses who spilled out of the Wankhede Stadium and onto Mumbai's Marine Drive on Saturday evening, or to anyone who shared the scenes of delirium in every street of every city, town and village of the world's second-most populous nation.

'ICC's decision a joke' - Porterfield

April 5, 2011

Ireland captain William Porterfield has described the ICC's decision to trim the next World Cup to just the ten countries as "an absolute joke". The ICC, in its executive board meeting in Mumbai on Monday, decided to restrict the 2015 World Cup to its 10 full-member nations, thereby denying Associate countries like Ireland and Netherlands the chance to qualify on the basis of their position in the ICC one-day rankings or by a qualification tournament.

"It's an absolute disgrace," Porterfield said, "and I don't know how they can even comprehend doing this. We have done everything they asked of us over the last few years in terms of restructuring Irish cricket and I can't come to terms with how they can just shut us out, do away with the qualification period and then try and call this a World Cup."

Pune wait on Mathews fitness

April 4, 2011

Pune Warriors have not ruled out playing Sri Lanka allrounder Angelo Mathews in the IPL despite the player saying he has a pulled muscle that will take about eight weeks to heal.

The franchise wants to have their team physio evaluate the player's injury and decide whether or not Mathews can recover in time to play a part in the tournament, Abhijit Sarkar, director of Sahara Adventure Sports Limited, told ESPNcricinfo. The franchise begins its final camp for the tournament on Tuesday at the DY Patil stadium in Mumbai, and Mathews will be examined over the next few days. If it is determined that his injury will not heal in time, then the team will look for a replacement player.

Mathews left the field during the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand with a minor quadriceps muscle injury, and his movement was hampered when he came out to bat with a runner. He played a crucial role in Sri Lanka's campaign, as back-up seamer and middle-order batsman, and Sri Lanka missed his all-round skills in the final, which they lost by six wickets. His place in the squad was taken by offspinner Suraj Randiv.

A rash of injured players has forced a number of franchises to scrimmage for replacement players. Kings XI Punjab signed Ryan McLaren after losing Stuart Broad and Dimitri Mascarenhas to long-term injuries. Mumbai Indians have also signed a replacement player, snapping up Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Fernando for Australia fast bowler Clint Mckay, while Deccan Chargers have to do without the services of Kevin Pietersen, who is recovering from hernia surgery.

Under IPL rules, the replacements have to be chosen from the pool of players who went unsold in the January auction, and cannot be paid more than the players they are replacing, though they can be paid less, depending on their base price in the auction. This limits the choice of players to those whose base price is equivalent to, or less than, the players being replaced.

Dhoni the best captain I have played under - Tendulkar

ESPNcricinfo staff

April 4, 2011

Two days after India were crowned World Champions, Sachin Tendulkar has rated MS Dhoni as the best captain he has played under during his 22-year cricket career.

"He [Dhoni] is the best captain I have played under," Tendulkar said in Mumbai. "He is very sharp and always alert. He reads the situation well and is open to sharing ideas. He always has discussions with bowlers, batsmen and senior players separately."

Tendulkar, who has played under six captains, including Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, praised Dhoni's ability to maintain his composure whatever the match situation. "He is always calm and never shows his frustration. These are some of the human qualities which have made him such a good captain. He is a fantastic captain."

India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final in Mumbai after coming through the knockout stages with hard-fought wins over Australia and Pakistan and a patchy performance in the group matches. Tendulkar said that India had "peaked" when it mattered the most. "In the knockout stage we peaked at the right time; it was most important. We knew either the batting was clicking, or bowling, or fielding but everything was not clicking together, but [apart from] in the last three games. Everybody contributed, right from seniors to the juniors in the team. No one can guarantee results but efforts can be [guaranteed]."

After India's victory in the final, Dhoni had said the team had felt the pressure of expectations right through the tournament. Tendulkar said the key to handling that pressure lay in focussing on individual performances. "Pressure and expectation are always there, we were thinking that as individuals we should perform our best. We were not thinking that if a bowler fails, others will take wickets like that; we wanted to do our individual best and perform as a team.

"The responsibility is on all the team members equally. Like me, it was the dream of all the team members to get this World Cup."

Tendulkar said that while lifting the trophy was on the players' minds, the focus was on restricting Sri Lanka to a gettable target and "go through the process and finish the game". He said the pre-World Cup preparatory camp the team had in Bangalore also played a key role in the team's preparation.

Tendulkar paid tribute to the efforts of outgoing coach Gary Kirsten, saying that while he would like Kirsten to continue, he respected his decision to leave, and that the team would "miss" him.

'An absolute black day for the sport'

Andrew McGlashan

April 4, 2011

Warren Deutrom, the Cricket Ireland chief executive, has slammed the ICC's decision to trim the next World Cup to just the ten Full Members nations, describing it as "nothing short of outrageous".

The 2015 event in Australia and New Zealand will only include the ten Test-playing nations after the ICC decided against a qualification system for the tournament, which means no chance for the likes of Ireland or Netherlands to earn a place. For 2019 there is the prospect of Associates and Affiliates finding a way back in through qualification, but today's decision has effectively frozen them out of the game's showpiece event for eight years.

The decision, while tough on all the Associate nations, is particularly hard on Ireland, who proved themselves to have been a cut above the rest of the second-tier teams during the 2011 event, with a memorable victory over England in Bangalore to add to their scalping of Pakistan on their World Cup debut in 2007. Though they still finished sixth in Group B, they were more consistently competitive than either Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, the two main beneficiaries of today's ICC's decision.

"The conclusion can only be reached that the decisions made today were based purely on the protection of the existing membership entitlements for Full Members and the commercial imperative that a ten-team event delivers nine guaranteed matches for India and England," Deutrom told ESPNcricinfo. "It's nothing short of outrageous. All of the principles by which a decision should have been made in the first instance - which is what's best for the sport and what's acting in the best interests of all 105 members - have clearly been abandoned today.

Irish reactions on twitter Gary Wilson: What is going on? Excuse the French but that is a sh*t decision! Not a world cup now, just a trophy with 10 teams. Heads up their own a***s Paul Stirling: @gwilson14 Didn't think u cud get a worse decision than ure lbw gainst the windies... I stand corrected ha! Trent Johnston: The ICC have certainly made my decision to retire after the 2012 T/20 World Cup very easy, thanks for the memories... #cricket #icc. Boyd Rankin: Thanks ICC!! What does Irish cricket got to do?? Shambles!! William Porterfield: Trying to compensate it with 16 teams in the T20, is that cuz they make more dollars by having a few more teams in this format by any chance!!#icc Niall O'Brien: mate just got of the field and I'm gutted with this news! This could halt the progress of irish cricket beyond repair. So sad now Barry Chambers (media manager): ICC - no morals - no sense of fair play or natural justice. They are a disgrace and unfit to govern

"And after such a terrific event, and the wonderful occasion of the final, where the sport was incredible and regarded in such glowing terms around the world, I'm afraid this is an absolute black day for the sport. It's a genuinely awful decision that has been reached."

Scarcely three weeks have elapsed since Ireland were the toast of world cricket, with their successful run-chase against England, led by Kevin O'Brien's record-breaking hundred, destined to remain as one of the abiding memories in World Cup history. Boyd Rankin, one of the players who featured in that game, posted his thoughts on Twitter. "Thanks ICC!! What does Irish cricket got to do?? Shambles!!"

Ireland also fought hard against West Indies and Bangladesh, and Deutrom believed his team had done enough at least to force the ICC into some sort of dialogue. "It's a betrayal of the principles of sport and the principles of meritocracy and a level playing field," he said.

"Surely the principle of sport is that if you are good enough you should have the chance to be involved. You have an Associate member who has been out-ranking a Full Member [Zimbabwe] for most of the last four years, who has got through to the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup, and who has been genuinely been recognised as having performed even better at this one, yet on the back of those performances it has been seen fit to reduced the number of participants at the World Cup."

Although ICC have offered an expanded World Twenty20 in place of 2015 World Cup places, Deutrom has serious concerns about the impact on the sport below Test level. Part of Ireland's success comes from the generous support of sponsors and sports funding, but without the major prize of a World Cup to aim for, the product could be less valuable.

"It's difficult to expect sponsors to remain on board and the government to continue to offer support when the question they could quite legitimately ask is 'why should we support you when your own sport won't?," he said. "High Performance countries would regard themselves as proper cricket countries who play three forms of the game. The decision here, effectively, is saying the other 95 members out of 105 should go away and concentrate on 20-over cricket."