WC team felicitated; Sachin, Durrani honoured

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar and former all-rounder Salim Durrani bagged top honours, while the World Cup winning Indian team led by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was felicitated by the Cricket Board at it annual awards function this evening.

Tendulkar was bestowed with the `Polly Umrigar Award for India`s best cricketer of 2009-10` and received a trophy and cheque for Rs five lakh, while Durrani was felicitated with the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award for which he received a trophy, a cheque for Rs 15 lakh and a citation.

Members of the World Cup winning Indian team were felicitated and presented cheques worth Rs two crore each by BCCI president Shashank Manohar and BCCI secretary N Srinivasan.

The support staff of the team too were honoured and presented cheques of Rs 50 lakh each as declared by the Cricket Board earlier.

However, former coach Gary Kirsten, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and bowling consultant coach Eric Simmons were absent.

Among those present were members of the 1983 World Cup winning squad, including then skipper Kapil Dev, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sandeep Patil and Yashpal Sharma.
On the occasion, Dhoni thanked fans for supporting the team and said that winning the coveted trophy after 28 long years was a proud moment.

"I thank all of you for the support we got throughout the World Cup. Hundred crore people supported us in the country as well as outside. It was a great moment for us.

"When you play for the country, the one thing you want to win is the World Cup. It is a proud moment for all of us. The victory was achieved thanks to the combination of experienced players and youngsters. We exploited the conditions really well. It was a great moment."

After receiving the best Indian cricketer award, Tendulkar thanked his team-members and also lauded the role played by Dhoni and the support staff in India`s second World Cup win.

"Indeed its a great honour to win the Polly Umrigar Trophy once again. I won it few years ago. It wouldn`t have been possible without the support of the Indian team members who are all here. I congratulate the team for becoming number one in Tests which was our dream followed by something
absolutely magical less than two months ago... We won the World Cup.

"It was a combined effort of all the team members and superb leadership exhibited by Dhoni. I also want to thank the support staff. They worked very hard and planned very well. We executed the plans and the results came," he said.

The 38-year-old Tendulkar, who has completed more than two decades in international cricket, scored 1064 runs from 10 Tests at an average of 82 during 2009-10 season. The fine performance included a double hundred and five centuries.

He also scored 695 runs from 12 ODIs at 69.5, inclusive of the first double hundred in ODIs by a male cricketer.

Durrani, who represented India in 29 Tests scoring 1,202 runs at an average of 25 and took 75 wickets, recalled the exploits of Col. Nayudu in a domestic match that he played while representing Rajasthan in 1958.

"I played against Colonel Sahab for Rajasthan. He was representing Uttar Pradesh in the match at Benaras and made 84. In our team we had great bowlers like Subhash Gupte and Vinoo Mankad, and top batmen like Vijay Manjrekar and myself.

"He (Nayudu) hit three sixes, two of them off Mankad over the roof, and the other of Gupte. I still remember that. Its an honour to get the award and I thank the BCCI for it," said Durrani, one of the most popular cricketers of his time who was known to hit a `six on demand`.

After representing Holkar for many years, Col. Nayudu was associated in a coaching role with Uttar Pradesh and had played that match.

In his address, Manohar congratulated Dhoni`s team for becoming the number one Test team in the ICC rankings and for winning the World Cup after 28 years.

"We are all proud of you. It was in 1983 under Kapil Dev that we won the World Cup and proved that India can do it. And it was MSD`s team that did it on April 2nd this year and fulfilled the dream of every Indian," he said.

K Hariharan was named as the `Umpire of the Year` and was presented with a cheque of Rs 50,000.

The other awardees (October 2009-September 2010):

Madhavrao Scindia Award (Highest Scorer in Ranji Trophy): Manish Pandey.

Madhavrao Scindia Award (Highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy): Abhimanyu Mithun

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best Under-16 cricketer): B Aparajith.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best Under-19 cricketer): Bhargav Merai.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best Under-22 cricketer): Nataraj Behera.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer): M D Thirushkamini.

M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer junior): Reva Arora.

Cricket legends come together for Terry Jenner's farewell

Melbourne: Cricketing greats gathered at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday to bid farewell to spin coach and former Australian bowler Terry Jenner, with Shane Warne declaring that he owed his success to his mentor.

Those who bid farewell to Jenner included former batting great Doug Walters, Test wicketkeepers Rod Marsh and Ian Healy, and former Australian captains Ian and Greg Chappell.

Jenner was born in Perth in 1944 and represented Western Australia before shifting to South Australia, where he won three Sheffield Shields.

He went on to play for Australia and took 34 wickets in nine matches over a four-year period, including a Test-best 5 for 90 against the West Indies in Trinidad in 1973.

He also played a single one-day international.
Jenner suffered a massive heart attack while coaching in England just over a year ago and never fully regained his health.

Warne told about 450 mourners at Adelaide Oval that Jenner was a character, and both cricket and life were better to have had him around.

He said Jenner had played a big part in both his personal and sporting lives, and saying goodbye recently was difficult, The Age reports.

“The last chat a few weeks ago was quite tough. We didn’t say a lot but we said enough. I just thanked him for everything he had helped me with. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve without TJ,” Warne said.

Warne also served as a pallbearer at the funeral along with South Australian leg spinner Cullen Bailey.

Jenner died last Wednesday.

England call Dernbach as Anderson's cover for second Test

Cardiff: Uncapped Surrey seamer Jade Dernbach was called up into a 12-man England squad announced on Tuesday for the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord`s starting on Friday after James Anderson was forced out with injury.

Anderson suffered a side strain during the course of England`s first Test win and the swing bowler was not on the field when Sri Lanka were shot out for just 82 at Sophia Gardens here on Monday to give the hosts an innings and 14 run victory that left them 1-0 up in this three-match series.

Steven Finn, who played in the first two Tests of England`s Ashes win in Australia, retained his squad spot after being the man left out of the final XI from a 12-man party selected for the Cardiff opener.
The tall Middlesex seamer will now aim to see of the challenge from Dernbach in order to make a Test return at Lord`s, his home ground.

England’s squad :

Andrew Strauss (c), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach.

Eng to reclaim 2nd spot in ICC Test rating

Dubai: England`s stunning victory against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Cardiff has kept it on course to reclaim second position on the ICC Test Championship table for the first time in more than three years.

Although the Test Championship table will be updated only at the end of the series, a 3-0 series win will put England one ratings point ahead of South Africa. England last occupied the second position in November 2007.

England players Chris Tremlett, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell, who engineered the stunning an innings and 14 runs victory over Sri Lanka, also achieved their career-best rankings in the list released today.

Swann, who bagged 4-16 in the second innings to finish with figures of 7-94, has strengthened his second position on the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, which is still headed by Dale Steyn of South Africa.

Tremlett, who claimed 4-40 in the second innings to earn match figures of 5-121, has gained seven places and is now on a career-best ranking of 27th.

Among the Test batsmen, man of the match Jonathan Trott, who scored 203, has moved up one place to join former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara in third position.

Ian Bell was also rewarded for his innings of 103 not out with a jump of three places to the 18th position for the first time in his career.
Skipper Alastair Cook also earned 15 ratings points for his innings of 133 which has put him on 818 ratings points and just 38 points behind the pair of Trott and Sangakkara.

Sri Lanka opener Tharanga Paranavithana and wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardena moved up one place to 44th spot and six places to 51st position respectively.

Chance for youngsters to step up and perform: Raina

Mumbai: Stand-in India captain Suresh Raina feels that the absence of senior cricketers during the ODI series in the Caribbean will be an ideal opportunity for those who did well in domestic cricket to show their performance at the international level.

"It`s a great opportunity for the youngsters who have done well in domestic cricket. I hope they will do well," said the 25-year-old Raina at the pre-departure media conference of the team on Tuesday sitting alongside newly-appointed chief coach Duncan Fletcher.

The Indian team will be playing in the ODIs without Gautam Gambhir, prolific opener Virender Sehwag, man-of-the-tournament in the World Cup Yuvraj Singh--- all of whom are out with injuries. Regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and senior pacer Zaheer Khan have been rested keeping in mind the gruelling two and a half month tour of England that starts in July.

"I am really honoured to be leading the side. I am happy with the side as we have some very good batsmen in Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Shikhar Dhawan all of whom have done well in first-class cricket.

"Badrinath especially has done well in first-class cricket and deserves to be in the team. I hope we will do well in the West Indies," said Raina who will hand over the reins to Dhoni when he returns for the three-Test series to be held after the conclusion of the five ODIs.

The Indians start the tour with a lone T20 international at Port of Spain on June 4.

Coach Fletcher said he had followed the rotation system when he was the England coach and received criticism from the authorities.

The burly Zimbabwean wants to go slow about this supposed rotation policy.

"While I was in England, I started the rotation policy resting senior guys. I was heavily criticised by the English authorities. It`s important to do that considering the heavy schedule. We need to look into the matter as we go into the future," said the Zimbabwe-born Fletcher for whom it will be his first assignment as the Indian team`s coach after taking over from his protege Gary Kirsten after the World Cup.

"There is a lot of talent in India and my job is to prepare these youngsters. It`s a pleasure to blood them in ODIs," said Fletcher.

Asked about the club-versus-country debate, Fletcher said it`s not specific to cricket.

"That`s the way it is in modern day sports. We have to ensure that all the players are fit enough," he said.

Raina said the Indian team had done very well over the last three years, having climbed to the top among Test nations and winning the World Cup after 28 years.
"There`s always pressure and we have done well under pressure. We have done well over the last three years and have won the World Cup. It`s for us as players to execute the plans of the coach well. We have to play our natural game," he said.

Fletcher did not see the trip as an easy outing though the West Indies are not the same force they were in 70`s and 80`s.

"Any team playing at home is difficult to beat. We should not be complacent," said the new coach who said he intended not to look too far ahead in his job.

Fletcher admitted that beating England and Australia in their den will be the biggest challenge but as of now the focus is on the Caribbean tour.

"Yes, we would like to beat England in England and Australia in Australia. But the first job is the tour of West Indies. It`s very important not to look too far down the road. India have a plan to stay at the top. The young players have the potential and this tour will show the depth of talent we have," he said.

Raina said the West Indies had some good all-rounders in Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo.

Asked about the likely return of Chris Gayle after the first two ODIs for which he had been left out, the southpaw said his team has Ravichandran Ashwin to counter the threat from the West Indian opener.

"We have Ashwin. It`s a good challenge for us," said Raina about his Chennai Super Kings teammate`s success-rate in the just-concluded IPL against Gayle.

He credited Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Dhoni for learning the ropes of captaincy.

"I learnt a lot about captaincy from Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid and Dhoni. They have captained with a lot of honesty," he said.

Afridi makes quiet exit from cricket

  Huge-hitting Shahid Afridi makes such a noise on the field that they call him "Boom Boom", but the crowd-pleaser is leaving the game quietly after clashing with Pakistan's cricket hierarchy.

The imposing all-rounder, who bowls dangerous leg-spin and smashes sixes for fun, is widely regarded as one of limited-overs cricket's most destructive batsmen, and Pakistan's foremost player.

But Afridi, 31, announced his retirement late on Monday after a row with coach Waqar Younis which saw him stripped of the one-day captaincy, despite taking scandal-hit Pakistan to the World Cup semi-finals in March.

The bearded Afridi, born in the Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan, cracked the world's fastest one-day century in his first ever international innings, and holds the world record for one-day international sixes -- 289.

In Pakistan, Afridi is so exciting and so popular that once he is out, stadiums can empty out. And uniquely, he completes the package with uncanny spin bowling and brilliant fielding.

The story starts in 1996, when Afridi, aged just 16, hammered a 37-ball century past Kenya in his international batting debut, after not being required to bat in the series opener two days earlier.

The knock made world headlines but there was no place for Afridi in Pakistan's powerful batting line-up as they finished World Cup runners-up to Australia three years later in 1999. Four years later in South Africa, he continued to warm the bench before things got even worse in 2007.

A month before the World Cup, Afridi was banned for two matches on charges of threatening to hit a spectator during a one-day match in South Africa. He ended up watching Pakistan lose to Ireland from the sidelines before playing an inconsequential match against Zimbabwe.

But in 2009, Afridi starred in Pakistan's World Twenty20 win with crucial -- and uncharacteristically responsible -- knocks in the semi-final against South Africa and the final against Sri Lanka.

He took over as Test and one-day captain last year, but abruptly retired from the five-day game after a heavy defeat against Australia at Lord's. He later said he "sensed" the spot-fixing scandal which was to engulf the team.

"When I retired from Test cricket and sensed spot-fixing in the team, I fought against it, and after the fixing episode (I) united the team which was broken and divided," he said on Monday.

His success in galvanising the squad could be seen at this year's World Cup, when he led Pakistan to the semi-finals only to be beaten by eventual champions India.

But after the tournament he publicly criticised Younis over his interference in team selection, prompting his replacement as one-day skipper by Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

According to former captain Imran Khan, Afridi has shown unique motivational skills, along with his well-documented batting and bowling exploits. "Afridi is the only man who can motivate and unite the team," Khan, a World Cup-winning skipper in 1992, said during this year's tournament. He can win matches single-handedly."

Wasim Akram, Pakistan's captain during the 1999 World Cup, highlighted Afridi's resilience as one of his greatest assets. "It's remarkable that his best comes when the going gets tough," Akram said.

Afridi scored 6,695 runs in 325 one-dayers and took 315 wickets as a leg-spinner. He has a tally of 1,716 runs and 48 wickets in 27 Tests.

Dernbach replaces Anderson for Lord's Test

  

                                                                                                      

Uncapped Surrey seamer Jade Dernbach was called up into a 12-man England squad on Tuesday for the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's starting on Friday after James Anderson was forced out with injury.

Anderson suffered a side strain during the course of England's first Test win and the swing bowler was not on the field when Sri Lanka were shot out for just 82 at Sophia Gardens here on Monday to give the hosts an innings and 14 run victory that left them 1-0 up in this three-match series.

Dernbach was the only addition to the England squad, having seen off the challenge of the already-capped Ajmal Shahzad and Graham Onions and will now compete with Middlesex fast bowler Steven Finn, left out in Cardiff, for a place in the side at Lord's.

The 25-year-old Dernbach has yet to play for any senior England team despite being called up to the one-day squad for the World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka in March. Dernbach wasn't selected to for that match but starred for the second-string England Lions by taking nine wickets against Sri Lanka in a recent tour match.

His inclusion means five players in England's 12 man squad -- captain Andrew Strauss, batsmen Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen and wicketkeeper Matt Prior are the others -- were born in South Africa, with Trott, Pietersen and Dernbach all educated in the Republic.

England hope to have Anderson fit in time for the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl, starting on June 16 and national selector Geoff Miller said: "It's obviously disappointing to lose Jimmy Anderson for the next Test as he is world-class and the leader of our attack.

"But we're fortunate to have a healthy stock of pace bowlers at present. We're hopeful Jimmy will be available for the third Test but in the meantime we're excited by Jade Dernbach's inclusion.

"Jade is a talented young bowler and after excelling with the England Performance Programme over the winter he enjoyed considerable success with the ball against Sri Lanka while playing for the England Lions prior to the first Test," former England off-spinner Miller added.

Squad:

Andrew Strauss (c), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wk), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach.