Monday Sports News

ICC asked to overturn result 
of forfeited Oval Test 
Agence France-Presse . New Delhi 

The Marylebone Cricket Club, the game’s rule-makers, asked the International Cricket Council on Sunday to overturn the result of the 2006 Oval Test between England and Pakistan.
  The result of the forfeited Test match was changed from an England win to a draw by the ICC in July but the MCC said the move contravened the laws of cricket.
  ‘The MCC’s World Cricket Committee met here over the weekend and states that ICC was not justified in overturning the result of the Oval Test,’ MCC Head of Cricket John Stephenson said in a statement.
  ‘The Committee urges ICC to revoke its decision which is contrary to the laws of cricket and to confirm that the original result of the match still stands.’
  What was the first and only forfeit in the history of Test cricket took place at The Oval in August 2006 when Australian umpire Darrell Hair and his West Indian colleague Billy Doctrove penalised Pakistan five penalty runs for alleged ball-tampering.
  That sparked an angry response from Pakistan, who refused to take the field after tea on the fourth day in protest — a move that saw the umpires declare that Pakistan had forfeited the match and award it to England.
  Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq was subsequently cleared of ball tampering charge and Hair was removed from the ICC’s elite panel of umpires.
  He was only reinstated as a Test umpire earlier this year after a legal battle which saw Hair allege he was the victim of racial discrimination by the ICC before dropping his case at an employment tribunal hearing in London.
  In overturning the result, the ICC said its decision was based on the view that in light of the unique set of circumstances the original result was felt to be inappropriate.
  Stephenson said whatever the circumstances, ICC did not have the power to alter the result of a match.
  ‘The ICC does not have the power under the laws of
  cricket to decide that results should be altered whether it feels them to be inappropriate or otherwise.
  ‘The ICC decision is wrong and sets a very dangerous precedent. Cricket is worse for this decision.’
  MCC was formerly the governing body of cricket in England and across the world. But most of its global functions were passed on to the ICC in 1993 and its English powers were passed to the England and Wales Cricket Board.
  It remains the framer and copyright holder of the Laws of Cricket. 
Hayden ready to counter Zaheer 
Agence France-Presse . New Delhi 

Australia’s struggling opener Matthew Hayden said on Sunday he would go after India’s Zaheer Khan despite being dismissed by the bowler three times in the series.
  Hayden, 36, said Zaheer’s behaviour during the second Test in Mohali revealed an unstable temperament which he wanted to exploit in the third Test beginning here on Wednesday.
  ‘There’s method behind my madness,’ Hayden told reporters here.
  ‘Zaheer Khan has been put under pressure a lot by myself and (Adam) Gilchrist in all the tournaments we’ve played in one-dayers and I’ve also tried to emulate that when we’ve played Tests.
  ‘I just feel like he’s vulnerable when he’s like that. His temperament was revealed the other day by his send-off. He loses consistency and control when he does that.’
  Zaheer was docked 80 per cent of his match fee for an angry exchange with Hayden and for pointing him to the pavilion after Hayden had belted four fours in his quickfire knock of 29 before being dismissed by Harbhajan Singh.
  ‘It’s something that would be in the back of his mind and I can use that to my advantage,’ said Hayden, who has just 42 runs from four outings in the four-Test series so far.
  Hayden said he would
  adopt the same aggressive approach when he came out to bat again.
  ‘We saw straight away what happened when I was making those runs in Mohali, there were blokes going in every direction in the outfield.’
  Hayden, who attained batting renaissance in India during the 2001 series, has 835 runs from nine Tests in India at an average of 49.11.
  The burly Queenslander admitted his team, trailing 1-0 after the 320-run hammering in Mohali, needed him and pace spearhead Brett Lee to fire if they were to catch up with India.
  ‘You’ve got to have a strong presence from the guys that have been playing for a long time, it’s been no different this series.
  ‘When you look at it, myself and Binga (Lee) do need to play good cricket. We’re a vital part of that leadership group.’
  Hayden also said the team was expecting Stuart Clark to be fit for the Delhi Test and share the bowling responsibilities with Lee, who has just four wickets from four innings.
  ‘Taller guys who bowl into the wicket as we have seen with (Ishant) Sharma do make a difference and a bit of variation in height and bounce can be effective when you’ve got height into the wicket,’ he said.
  ‘So Stuart will be a big plus assuming that he is fit.’ 
Lawson to seek legal help 
over pay dispute 
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Karachi 

Sacked Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson is seeking legal advice over a pay dispute, sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Sunday.
  PCB director general Salim Altaf said the Australian former test bowler had returned a cheque given to him as full and final payment because he was unhappy with the sum. Lawson was due three months’ pay as compensation for the early termination of his contract and Altaf said this obligation had been met.
  ‘We will look into it and have it sorted out by our lawyers. Contractual obligations will be fulfilled,’ Altaf said.
  Sources in the board told Reuters that Lawson had told the PCB that he was in touch with the Australian high commission for legal advice and that he would not leave Pakistan until the matter was settled.
  Lawson declined to comment. Lawson’s contract was terminated by the Pakistan board on Friday with nine months remaining of his two-year contract.
  He was appointed coach last year after the death of Bob Woolmer during the World Cup.
  The PCB has appointed former test player Intikhab Alam as coach for next month’s one-day series against West Indies in Abu Dhabi and also offered him a two-year contract that has to first be ratified by the governing body. 
‘England players must play 
substantial amount of IPL’ 
Cricinfo 

Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, has said the chances of England players appearing in the league are dim unless they are available for a significant portion of the 2009 tournament. The England board is believed to have made its players available for 14 days of the IPL as part of a deal in which 20 IPL players will be released for the ECB’s proposed Twenty20 league.
  ‘The critical issue for us is whether it is appealing enough for our club owners to have English players only for a few matches,’ Modi, told Observer Sport. ‘They must be there for a substantial number of games or for all the matches.
  ‘Are the franchise owners happy for Kevin Pietersen to play a handful of matches and then go away? I don’t think anybody would be happy with that. He wouldn’t add any value and would be more of a disruption. It takes time to gel with team-mates and to become part of team strategy and implement that strategy.’
  Modi said it would have been different had the England players joined the IPL in the beginning, before its commercial rights were sold. ‘Their impact and market value would have been reflected in our broadcast rights or in the amount of sponsorship we could have sold. But we have sold those rights for ten years already. So we in the IPL do not benefit from their addition to the league.’
  Sean Morris, the Professional Cricketers’ Association chief executive, said he will discuss the matter with the England players and then talk to the ECB. ‘Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are keen to play in the IPL, so they will not be very happy with this news,’ Morris said. ‘But they are pawns in a game of international politics between the two boards.
  Everyone says you need to create an official window in the international cricket calendar to let the IPL happen. What I’m seeing is the manipulation of Test teams.’
  Sri Lanka cancelled their tour of England in 2009 to allow their players to participate in the IPL. West Indies are expected to take their place but Morris was doubtful whether any strong team will be available to play England. ‘Chris Gayle [the West Indies captain] is getting $900,000 to play in the IPL, so what do you think is going to happen there? What are the chances of him coming to play for West Indies in England? It’s not going to happen. Who, actually, will be available for England to play? Go through the teams. Scotland or Ireland? There’s no one else left.
  ‘The reality is world cricket has all the eggs in one basket and we’re not one of them. It’s hurting us domestically with things like the Champions League,’ Morris said. ‘Because Australia and South Africa have a 30 per cent and 20 per cent share, they will be receiving $150 million over the next ten years which they can obviously invest in their players and game. We will be receiving a participation fee of $1.5 million a year. That’s because we’re not a shareholder.’