ICC criticism of Dhoni out of line - India

The BCCI has objected to ICC general manager Dave Richardson's comments about MS Dhoni after the India captain questioned the Decision Review System (DRS) in the wake of India's tied game against England in Bangalore. It has also reiterated its concerns over the use of the system in the ongoing World Cup and says the DRS's "inadequacy has been exposed" during the tournament.

In a letter to ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, and released to the media, N Srinivasan, the board secretary and president-elect, said that "for ICC's representative to criticise a player for his post-match press conference while the World Cup is being played [is] tantamount to pressuring the player. Mr. Richardson has no right to do so. BCCI has strong reservations about the statement made by Mr. Richardson. He should be instructed not to react in this fashion."

Richardson made the comments after Dhoni had called the system an "adulteration" of technology with human judgement in the aftermath of a reprieve for Ian Bell. Dhoni had asked for a review of a not-out decision, and television replays appeared to show the ball hitting a forward-stretching Ian Bell low on the pad with the ball in line with middle stump. Bell even began to walk off the field, but umpire Billy Bowden did not declare him out because the distance between the point of impact and the stumps was shown to be 2.5m.

Richardsontold the Indian news channel, CNN-IBN, that Dhoni should be aware of the rules before passing judgement. "There are a set of rules along with the Hawk-Eye to assist in making the decision when UDRS is implemented ... Most of the time, a player is not fully aware of all the rules. If MS Dhoni is made aware of the specifications of these rules, then I am sure that he will accept the decision that was made."

Lorgat also defended the system, telling ESPNcricinfo that Dhoni's characterisation of it wasn't exactly accurate.

The ICC's DRS rule pertaining to the Process of Consultation, No. 3.3 (i), states that if a 'not out' decision is being reviewed on the 'point of impact' issue, the third umpire must tell the on-field umpire whether the ball is past 2.5m or not and then pass on the following information: the distance from the wickets of the point of impact with the batsman, the approximate distance from the point of pitching to the point of impact, and whether the ball is predicted to the hit the stumps. According to the explanation given on the ICC's website, along with the 2.5m rule, should the distance between point of pitching and point of impact with the pad be less than 40cm, "the umpires are not obliged to follow the normal rules for using Hawkeye to determine whether the batsman is out or not and shall have a discretion in determining whether or not to overturn their original not out decision."

The letter also said that the BCCI had been consistently opposed to the use of the review system, and that its inadequacy had been exposed at the World Cup, specifically citing the need of the 2.5m rule as proof of its failing. "ICC in consultation with Hawk-Eye formed playing conditions which specifies when the umpire can rely on Hawk-Eye and when he cannot. This itself is an admission on the question of the reliability of the system, including ball tracking technology."

Ballots best means of releasing tickets - Lorgat

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, shook off the World Cup ticketing fiasco, saying that the ticket ballot which is about to be instituted for the finals and semi-finals was the best way to deal with the heavy demand for the ruling body's "flagship event".

"It is a much fairer way," Lorgat said. "It will avoid the kind of physical risks we want to avoid and I am confident that will be a much better system to release tickets." The lack of a centralised ticketing system in the Indian arm of the three-nation World Cup has exposed two major issues: the lopsided availability of public tickets as well as a delayed distribution system by local associations, which has led to anger from fans and disgruntlement amongst sponsors.

Speaking in Bangalore, Lorgat described the police baton-charge on the crowd queuing outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium as, "unfortunate" but that "you have to accept that the rush for tickets is an indication of how popular this game is. Those are scenes we would not like to see, none of us would like to see that. It is also a fact that the local police and the local associations know best how to handle it. It is something we have no control over."

Lorgat said the letter written by the ICC's legal head David Becker to ICC president Sharad Pawar in his capacity as the chairman of the central co-ordination committee, "was not an issue". He said he had spoken to Pawar and the tournament director Ratnakar Shetty, several times since the letter became public and was sure the issue would be resolved.

"From time to time we turn to the President or in this case the chairman of the central co-ordinating committee, Mr Sharad Pawar, to intervene or to assist us with issues we are having difficulty with. In the past, whether it was issues related to visa or any other, the good offices of Mr Pawar have been very supportive and he has assisted us to sort out those issues. I'm sure that in this instance as well having turned to him for that sort of support, we will get it... Professor Shetty is entitled to react in the fashion that he did but I have no qualms about that."

He said that contrary to common perception, and the tone of the Becker letter, "there's no sponsor who wants to walk away. In fact many are wanting to come in. That's again a reflection of how fortunate we are and the strength of the game, but yes, we do have challenges with managing the requests of sponsors and their needs to receive physical tickets so that they can distribute it further to the public."

Lorgat did point out that the hosts of every ICC event were in charge of the sale of tickets and that the ICC sets and agrees on certain policies with them "well in advance" along with "several commitments" It is a fact of life that we have commitments to the sponsors who support us over a long period in our cycle. It is a fact that local hosts have a commitment whether it is to local organisations, whether it is to clubs, whether through the BCCI."

Lorgat said the diverse distribution of tickets through various means across Indian venues mean that they find their hands of cricket lovers. "What is unfortunate is that there is a few number that go to the public as a general sale, but whether it is through the clubs, through associates, through ICC channels they do arrive at the door of the public."

All through his media conference Lorgat repeated made the claim that the ticketing crisis and the official ticketing website crashing when tickets for the final went on sale, proved the 'strength of the game', and that the supply would never be able to catch up with demand. "This is how wonderful the growth in our sport has been. It is a reflection of the popularity of the game. It certainly negates those naysayers about the demise of 50-over cricket; it shows you what the flagship event means. Sure we need to find better ways of being able to distribute tickets, but the reality is if tomorrow [we had] a 100,000-seater, we would still not have enough tickets to satisfy the demand."

When asked when a centralised ticketing system would be put in place by the organisers of the 2015 World Cup, Lorgat said, "If my memory serves me correctly, that's exactly how the 2015 will work in any event in Australia and New Zealand. These are the reflections we will have to consider and look at improving the mechanisms in future."

With the World Cup being the first use of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) in an ODI, Lorgat said that he thought the "bold decision" had been a good one. The future of UDRS in ODIs, he said, would only be made after a review of the feedback of the World Cup experience at a ICC cricket committee meeting in May. "That expert committee will consider all of the feedback and will decide on the way forward in so far as one-day cricket is concerned."

Millions tune into India’s Cricket World Cup opener

The opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup on 19 February, which saw India beat , scored an average television rating (TVR) in India of 7.47 and peak of 12.2, according to new figures from Tam Sports (C&S4+).
The average TV rating rose slightly to 7.8 in India’s six metro areas. Bangalore leads the pack with average TVR of 9.17 for the first match followed by Mumbai (9.14 TVR), Kolkata (7.7 TVR), Delhi (7.65 TVR), Hyderabad (6.43 TVR) and Chennai (4.94 TVR).
The figures show 33 million viewers in India watched the opening match from Dhaka on Star Cricket; 28 million watched the state channel Doordarshan 1; 25 million tuned into ESPN; and 17 million to Star Sports.

Of these viewers, 12 million watched on terrestrial television, and 76 million on cable and satellite, according to Indiantelevision.com. A total of 14 million viewers watched the initial cricketing action via digital transmission on either direct to home (DTH) satellite platforms or digital cable.
Fourteen million Indian viewers also tuned into the opening ceremony of the tournament on 17 February.
Broadcast rights holder ESPN Star Sports has also announced that requests for its live streaming of the Cricket World Cup on its website had reached over 3 million in the first four days of the tournament. Of these, one million were unique video viewers.
“We are indeed delighted with the ratings,” said Sanjay Kailash, Executive Vice President – Advertising Sales & New Media, ESPN Software India. “There have been lots of discussions and comparisons with rival properties over the past few months but the opening match of the tournament has clearly proved the fact that ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is indeed the ‘The Cup That Counts’.

"In fact, the ratings of the opening match of the ICC Cricket World Cup are substantially higher than the corresponding opening match of IPL 3 for starters,” he added. “And here we are talking of a larger time duration vis-à-vis a T20 match in IPL. We expect the ratings to go up even further as the Indian cricket team marches on in its quest for victory and we wish them all the best.”
The opening match between India and Bangladesh began at 2pm on Saturday 19 February, and lasted for 470 minutes. The ICC Cricket World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, runs until 2 April 2011.

ICC bans Salman Butt,Muhammad Asif & Muhammad Amir

The ICC tribunal has announced a sanction of ten years' of ineligibility for Salman Butt (with five years of a suspended sentence); seven years for Mohammad Asif (with two years suspended) and five years' ineligibility for Mohammad Amir.

The announcement on Saturday evening followed a day of deliberations in Doha between the three-man tribunal - comprising Michael Beloff QC, Sharad Rao and Justice Albie Sachs - and the players and their legal teams.

The tribunal released a statement after announcing the decision. The full text is reproduced below:

'The independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal which has been hearing the cases of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif under the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code for Players and Player Support Personnel had adjourned on Tuesday 11th January 2011 after a six day hearing.

'The Tribunal reconvened today for further submissions and thereafter announced the following decisions.

'The Tribunal found that the charge under Article 2.1.1 of the Code that Mr Butt agreed to bat out a maiden over in the Oval Test match played between Pakistan and England from 18 to 21 August 2010 was dismissed, whereas the charge under Article 2.4.2 that Mr Butt failed to disclose to the ICC's ACSU the approach by Mr Majeed that Mr Butt should bat a maiden over in the Oval Test was proved.

'The Tribunal found that the charges under Article 2.1.1 of the Code that (respectively) Mr Asif agreed to bowl and did bowl a deliberate no ball in the Lord's Test match played between Pakistan and England from 26 to 29 August 2010, Mr Amir agreed to bowl and did bowl two deliberate no balls in the same Test, and Mr Butt was party to the bowling of those deliberate no balls, were proved.

'We impose the following sanctions:

'On Mr Butt a sanction of ten years ineligibility, five years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education.

'On Mr Asif a sanction of seven years ineligibility two years of which are suspended on condition that he commits no further breach of the code and that he participates under the auspices of the Pakistan Cricket Board in a programme of Anti-Corruption education.

'On Mr Amir sanction of five years of ineligibility.

'No further sanctions are imposed on any player and no orders are made as to costs.

'The Tribunal has recommended to the ICC certain changes to the Code with a view to providing flexibility in relation to minimum sentences in exceptional circumstances.

'The Tribunal note that it is for the ICC, whether and if so when, the fully reasoned decision in respect of the breaches of the Code and of the sanctions imposed in consequence should be published.

'It is our strong and unanimous view that it is in the interests of all concerned in the world of cricket that publication should take place as soon as possible.'

ICC ‘puts’ Pakistan cricket affairs on right track

With the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) having started working on the guidelines of the International Cricket Council (ICC), let us hope our topsy turvy cricket affairs are put on the right track. It is, however, disappointing that what should have been done by PCB chief Ijaz Butt and his predecessors at their own is being done under the instructions of the ICC and that too when the world cricket body threatened to suspend Ijaz or the PCB if their instructions were not followed. To ensure prompt implementation the PCB hurriedly drafted a code of conduct for players and got it signed before the Pakistan team departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to play ODI and Test series against South Africa.

The ICC code of conduct existed for all times while there was a similar code of the PCB also. One fails to understand why were these codes not strictly enforced by the PCB chairman, a serious neglect which resulted in the players going astray to involve themselves in undesirable activities. If the PCB administration was run properly, the players should have been briefed about the codes of conduct and other instructions, rules and regulations. In addition the copies of these documents both in English and Urdu should have been issued to them for detailed study.

The attitude of ‘yesmanship’, which prevails in the board, must end and officials who understand cricket must pick up the courage to speak against any thing going wrong. Similarly, members of the so-called ‘Advisory Board’ should wake up and play an active part in the affairs of cricket. The chaos occurred because rather than acting as a democratic head Ijaz assumed the powers of a ‘dictator’. With one stroke of pen or a word of mouth he could do what ever he liked. Frequent appointments and dismissals of board officials became a routine with the result that whatever unity, harmony and understanding existed amongst them was destroyed. The responsibility for such a state of affairs rests partly with the federal ministry of sports and the sports committees of the Senate and National Assembly. They have frequent meetings to discuss cricket affairs but remain oblivious to the fact that a very vital issue is lying in the ‘cold storage’ for years now. It is the ‘draft PCB Constitution’. It will surprise many cricket lovers to know that the PCB is running without a constitution for the last 10 years. The document, which is supposed to be approved by the President of Pakistan, was discussed at various levels of the government and dumped. Sincere efforts were not made to reach a consensus on its contents and got it approved. Once the constitution is promulgated, the powers to run the PCB will be automatically divided between the chairman and the advisory council, marking an end to dictatorship.

The President of Pakistan, who is the patron-in-chief of the PCB, and the ministry of sports must take notice of the dictatorial policies going on in the t board and take immediate action to stop them. It is not necessary for the PCB chief to visit every country. When touring abroad, the team’s affairs are supposed to be handled by the manager and the tour management committee. Is not it amazing that Ijaz made 30 foreign trips during the last two years staying abroad for 233 days and spending around Rs15 million from the PCB’s coffers. It has become a common practice to send a horde of officials with the team. The team that left for the UAE the other day carried eight officials including a masseur. I think such a gang of officials is a bad influence on the team. Since each one of them has players of his liking in the team. Such ‘favouritism’ is bound to create groups in the team. In our times there used to be only 2-3 officials with a touring squad and the results were much better. A lot depends on our team’s performance against South Africa. The inclusion of Younus Khan in the side is surely a plus point but the eyes of the cricket lovers are focused more on Misbahul Haq’s captaincy. An impressive performance and good behaviour of the team can give a new lease of life to Ijaz.