Pietersen announces his ouster from squad via Twitter

Tue, Aug 31 10 07:52 PM

London, Aug 31 (PTI) Even as ECB plans to ban English cricketers from using social networking sites, former captain Kevin Pietersen used ''Twitter'' to announce his ouster from England''s ODI and Twenty20 squads against Pakistan next month. The dashing right-handed batsman has failed to score a century in any form of cricket for the last 18 months and was facing the axe for quite sometime now. "Yup... Done for rest of summerMan of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too. Its a f**k up," Pietersen wrote on his twitter page in reponse to the queries of the rumours of him being dropped, according to the ''Metro'' newspaper. "However, The tweet was removed from his Twitter feed almost immediately - although it is not clear if it was originally sent in error or if he had a change of heart about announcing the news publicly," the newspaper reported. Pietersen also said that he has signed a deal to play for county side Surrey after quitting Hampshire this season. Australian cricketer Phil Hughes had also announced his ouster from the national team during the Ashes last summer via Twitter. Interestingly, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is planning to ban English cricketers from social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook while on national duty. "England''s cricketers are facing a ban from social networking websites Twitter and Facebook," a ''Daily Mail'' report had said.

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Rathore skips last day's trials, dropped along with Rajput

Published>Tue, Aug 31 10 07:38 PM

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) Athens Olympics silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Arjuna Award winner rifleman Sanjeev Rajput were axed from the shooting squad for the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games.

Though the squad will be announced here Wednesday, national coach Sunny Thomas told IANS that Rathore, who has been struggling for form since winning silver in the double trap event in Athens, missed the last day of the trials at the Karni Singh Shooting range here Tuesday and stands disqualified.

Thomas also said that Rajput, who was conferred with the Arjuna Award Sunday, lost his place to Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra because only two shooters can participate in any event in the Commonwealth Games.

Rajput had won the silver in the 10 metre air rifle event in the Sydney World Cup earlier this year. The other shooter in the rifle event will be Gagan Narang, who won the bronze in the 10 metre air rifle event at the recently concluded World Championships.

'Rathore missed today's trials and we were forced to drop him. He turned up for trials Monday, but he skipped the trials today. As a result, he stands disqualified and will not be part of the Commonwealth Games squad,' said Thomas.

Rathore was not available for comments but on social networking site he Tweeted: 'I am not taking part in trials, however my full support to team India.'

Thomas said it would have been a tough for Rathore to make the cut because he had lost form of late.

'Despite his indifferent form, Rathore was kept in the core group. But he had faired poorly in the international events in the last few years,' said Thomas.

In the absence of Rathore, World No.5 Ronjan Sodhi will be India's best bet in the double trap event at the Commonwealth Games. The other shooter in the double trap event could be Vikram Bhatnagar.

At the trials, Rathore's average score was 130 while Bhatnagar shot 136 and Sodhi had 140.

'Sodhi will be our brightest hope to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. He has done well in international events and is also performing well at the trials,' said Thomas.

On Rajput, Thomas said that the Navy man was unlucky.

'At the trials, Sanjeev was second and Bindra was third. But due to his gold medal in Beijing, Bindra gets three extra points and in that case he becomes second. So I must say that Sanjeev was really unlucky, because unlike other events in Commonwealth Games we can field only two shooters,' said Thomas.

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Former Tour de France winner Fignon dies at 50

Published>Tue, Aug 31 10 07:18 PM

Former Tour de France winner Laurent Fignon has died of cancer at the age of 50.

"He died at 1230 local time (1030 GMT)," Radioshack team manager Alain Gallopin told Reuters on Tuesday.

Frenchman Fignon won the Tour in 1983 and 1984, the Giro d'Italia in 1989 and the Milan-San Remo classic in 1988 and 1989 and was regarded as one of the best riders of the 1980s.

He failed to win the Tour a third time in 1989 when he started the final-stage time trial with a 50-second lead but was pipped by eight seconds, the closest margin ever, by American Greg LeMond.

In a book published in June 2009, "We Were Young and Carefree", Fignon revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer. He also admitted having used doping products but said he did not know if they had caused his illness.

"I don't want to die at 50 but if my cancer is incurable, what can I do?," he told Paris-Match magazine in January.

"I love life, I love a good laugh, travel, books, good food. I'm a typical Frenchman. I'm not afraid of death, I just don't want to die."

In 1983 at the age of 22, Fignon, with his round glasses and ponytail, became the youngest rider for 50 years to win the Tour, after taking advantage of the withdrawal through injury of Bernard Hinault who had won the race four times.

The young champion again defeated his elder in 1984, winning the nickname of "The Teacher" for his tactical skills.

After he ended his career, Fignon managed races including the Paris-Nice before becoming a television consultant.

He worked for France television on the last Tour de France despite a voice broken by his illness and said at the end of the race that he would be back in 2011.

"We knew that Laurent was not well but we thought that once again he would survive," Jean-Francois Bernard, a former Tour de France rider, told Radio France-Info.

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Players to be punished before they take field: ICC chief

Tue, Aug 31 10 06:52 PM

New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI) International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat today said the governing body will take action against the players found guilty in the ''spot-fixing'' scam before they take to the field in the current tour of England. "We are working to gather evidence with the Police and the United Kingdom. We are very determined to bring to book any perpetrator or any player found to be corrupt," Lorgat said. "But this is a moving hour. It is a difficult process. These are allegations that have been labelled and charges which are serious ones. "We will do utmost to ensure that before any of the players, who are found to be guilty actually takes the field of play, are brought to book," he told ''Times Now''. World cricket was rocked by the spot-fixing scam last Sunday after ''News of the World'' posted a ''sting operation'' video showing an alleged fixer Mazhar Majeed making bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif bowl deliberate no-balls during the fourth Test against England at Lord''s. British investigators are probing the involvement of Pakistan skipper Salman Butt, from whose hotel room 50,000 pounds was recovered by police, and bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif in the spot-fixing scam. England and Pakistan are due to play two Twenty20 internationals in Cardiff, the first this coming Sunday, and five one-day fixtures. Pakistan''s will play a warm-up match against Somerset in Taunton on Thursday but the three players, at the center of the scandal, have been stopped from practicing today and asked to return to London for another round of questioning by the Scotland Yard.

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Brit MP Khalid Mahmood warns cricket scandal could hit aid appeals for Pak flood victims

Published>Tue, Aug 31 10 06:38 PM

Washington, Aug 31 (ANI): A British Member of Parliament, Khalid Mahmood, has warned that the cricket spot fixing scandal could affect aid for the victims of floods that have ravaged Pakistan, and added that it is "absolutely the worst thing that could have happened now".

The Daily express quoted Mahmood, who represents Perry Barr in Birmingham, as saying, "It's very damaging to Pakistan, especially to the relief effort. It's very negative and absolutely the worst thing that could have happened now."

"The people will have many more troubles heading their way because of the flooding, through disease and famine, so they are in desperate need of help. But such a disgraceful, negative story will cancel out an awful lot of good work that has been done," he added.

He further claimed that a number of Pakistani-Americans are hugely disappointed to the extent that they don't want to have any association with the cricket team any more.

However, the Disasters Emergency Committee, co-ordinator of the charity work, has said that the scandal would not hamper their relief work in the flood-affected areas in Pakistan.

Mazhar Majeed, a 35-year-old agent, was caught on videotape accepting 150,000 pounds in a sting operation conducted by The News of the World (NOTW) tabloid.

Cricket agent Mazhar Majeed, who was arrested on Saturday, and his brother Azhar Majeed are recognised figures on the international and domestic cricket circuit, and claim to act as agents for seven players, including captain Salman Butt and the bowlers accused of deliberately bowling no-balls, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif. (ANI)

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Tainted players stopped from practicing, to be interrogated

Tue, Aug 31 10 06:08 PM

London/Islamabad, Aug 31 (PTI) In a dramatic new twist to the ''spot-fixing'' scandal that has rocked world cricket, Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and two other tainted players, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif, were today stopped from practicing at Taunton. The three players, at the center of the scandal, have been asked to return to London for another round of questioning by the Scotland Yard. According to sources, the decision to delink the three players from the team was taken by the team management after a marathon meeting which took stock of the developments arising out of the sting operation of the British tabloid ''News of the World''. The sources said that there was considerable pressure from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to take action on the tainted players to restore the credibility of the upcoming T20 and ODI series. It is not known when the Scotland Yard sleuths will interrogate the players. Pakistan''s coach Waqar Younis, batting coach Ijaz Ahmed, assistant manager Safaqat Rana and manager Yawar Saeed were still in a close-door meeting. .

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ODI series against Pak should go on: Broad

Published>Tue, Aug 31 10 06:00 PM

England dressing room is still in a "state of shock" after the spot-fixing allegations surfaced against Pakistani cricketers but young fast bowler Stuart Broad says the upcoming one-day series should go ahead as scheduled.

He also said that it was for the authorities to decide whether the suspected Pakistani cricketers should be suspended from the remaining tour.

"The one-day series should go on, as far as I'm concerned. We shouldn't call it off on the back of an investigation that is ongoing. We want to play and what about the supporters who have paid for tickets?," Broad wrote in Daily Mail.

"It is up to others to decide whether any of the Pakistan players involved in those allegations should miss those games, but we will be giving our utmost against whoever we face. And we trust the opposition will be, too."

Broad, who hit his maiden Test century in the Lord's Test, believes that Pakistani side fought hard throughout and that he did not notice anything untoward in the series, which his side won 3-1.

"We are all still stunned in the England cricket team. The dressing room is in a state of shock at the allegations that now surround our Test series victory over Pakistan. I can honestly say that I never dreamt there was anything untoward about our victories," he wrote.

"I can't accept that this series victory has been tarnished in any way. Whatever the true story is, I have absolutely no doubts that Pakistan were giving everything to try to win that match (Lord's). It was proper competition, as it has been throughout the series."

"Believe me, the (Pakistani) bowling was of a very high standard against us at Lord's. Ask our batsmen, who were out cheaply as we slipped to 47 for five, whether or not that was full-blooded Test cricket out there and they will tell you that it was extremely tough going," Broad wrote.

20-year-old cricketer though favoured strict punishment for those who are found guilty of any wrongdoing.

"You must always trust what you are watching and the moment you feel you are not sure that someone is giving their best is the moment when sport loses its reason for being.

"That's why I fully agree with our captain, Andrew Strauss, who believes that anyone found guilty of match-fixing, spot-fixing or anything that stops a game of cricket taking its natural course should face the heaviest punishments," he wrote.

The Anti-corruption and security unit of the ICC is investigating all the 82 international games that Pakistan has played in the last two-and-half years.

The claims of an alleged match-fixer Mazhar Majeed that several Pakistani cricketers are involved in spot and match fixing led to the investigations by both the ICC and Scotland Yard.

Broad hit a magnificent 169 in England's second innings at Lord's Test and that no scandal can take away his achievement from him.

"This was the biggest achievement in my Test career so far, even bigger than my bowling spell at The Oval when we won the Ashes last year, and nothing can take that away from me."

Broad, who is son of ICC match referee Chris, also insisted that he was never approached by anyone for any wrongful conduct.

"This is the right time to emphasise that I have never been approached by anyone asking me to manipulate any aspect of any cricket match and I am absolutely certain that none of my team-mates have either. Still, as the son of an ICC match referee, I can't imagine any match-fixer would be daft enough to approach me anyway! ," he wrote.

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