In praise of the Cricket World Cup's nine-to-five heroes

STICKING UP FOR THE LITTLE GUY

When the winning runs had been hit Peter Borren fell to his knees, disconsolate. He looked like a man who had lost something much more precious than a game of cricket. Ravi Bopara allowed himself a quick grin, then simply tucked his bat under his arm and trotted briskly from the pitch, pausing only to exchange a perfunctory fist-thump with Paul Collingwood. As embarrassed as they would have been had they lost, England's players felt that win far less than the Dutch did their defeat. It was only a group match after all, the first of many. For England it was just another game. For the Netherlands it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as the respective reactions of Borren and Bopara showed.

In 2015 the ICC will sling the Associate nations out of the World Cup, or at least, that is their plan. The competition will be pared down to 10 teams. While the horrendously one-sided turkey shoots like the shocker between New Zealand and Kenya last Sunday will not be missed, the World Cup will still lose more than it gains from that cut-back. It is the length of this competition that needs to be trimmed, not the breadth.

While the best of the Associate players are able to earn a living through the playing the game, a lot of them are still amateurs, men who have to take time off from their nine-to-five lives to play in this World Cup. Watching these guys play is half the fun of the thing.

Take Seren Waters, who, as I type this, is walking out to open the batting for Kenya against Shoaib Akhtar. Waters is a decent player, on the books at Surrey, but he is also just a 20-year-old university student, trying to keep up with a degree course in human geography at Durham in between his innings. He missed so many lectures while he has been training with Kenya this winter that he got in all sorts of trouble with his tutors, who insisted that he took a week off to return to his studies.

Or Ashish Bagai, the captain of Canada. Until his national board gave him a full-time contract in 2009, Bagai was working 14-hour days as an investment banker for UBS in the city of London. Mudassar Bukhari, who opened the bowling for the Netherlands against England, manages a branch of Burger King in The Hague. Bernard Loots, who finished that innings off, is an accountant for a mining firm.

Fans can empathise with people like these. They are ordinary people doing extraordinary things, not well-paid professionals going through the motions of another day's work, a throw-back to the amateur age. That was the difference between the emotions shown by Borren and Bopara.

The Associates provide all the cult heroes. I don't know about you, but the only time the earth really moved for me in the 2007 tournament was when Dwayne 'Sluggo' Leverock took that slip catch to dismiss Robin Uthappa. Partly that was because the reverberations from his fall rumbled right across the Atlantic to my front room in London, but it was also because he was a 20-stone club cricketer who lived above a curry house doing something truly spectacular on a world stage. His catch gave hope to the very worst of us. And for all the crowing about the longevity of the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, what about the indestructible Steve Tikolo? He was persuaded to come out of retirement at the age of 40 to play in this, his fifth World Cup. Tikolo looked "too old for this shit" way back in 2007. His is the most creaky-kneed comeback since Danny Glover did Lethal Weapon 4.

And unlike a lot of the cricketers who have actually brought out autobiographies, a lot of the Associate players actually have life stories worth reading about. Look at Rizwan Cheema, who thumped 93 from 70 balls in Canada's warm-up against England. He played a bit of cricket as a teenager in Pakistan, but then gave the game up when he moved to the USA because his family, who were Shia Muslims, were being persecuted. For six years he did not pick up a bat at all, but was busy earning a living as a taxi driver in Toronto. Then he went to watch a club practice in a public park and asked if he could have a go. He duly started slogging the ball all over. Six years and a string of blistering innings later, he found himself on the shortlist for the 2011 IPL auction. He didn't get picked up, but if he plays many more knocks like that one against England in the next few weeks then he surely will do next year.

My favourite character in this competition may just be the leg-spinner Balaji Rao, Cheema's Canadian team-mate. He unleashed such a vicious torrent of invective on England's close fielders when they appealed against him for an LBW during that same warm-up match that umpire Asad Rauf had to step in and tell him to cool off. That despite the fact he was batting at No11. One of the England team told Lawrence Booth that Rao "had a strange look in his eye". If the England players were wondering why he wasn't showing them more respect, they should have looked up his history. He made his first class debut back when Stuart Broad was still watching Blue Peter in 1994, turning out for Tamil Nadu when he was just 16.

Rao had an outstanding record for India U-19s, playing for them for three full seasons. In his time he has dismissed a miniature who's who of international cricketers: Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Mark Ramprakash, Mark Boucher, Ashwell Prince, Kumar Sangakkara, Steve Waugh, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag. He has dismissed better batsmen than many he will face in the next few weeks. Somehow, his career never quite worked out at the top level, largely because he was so, well, large. He had what you could politely call 'commitment issues', put on a lot of weight and drifted out of first class cricket, playing his last match in 2001. He moved to Canada in the middle of the last decade. And if he is still a bit tubby, he also has a mean googly.

If you're a cricket fan, how can you not love a story like that? The World Cup will be a duller competition if it can't find room for men like Cheema, Rao, Waters and Tikolo.

Source: guardian.co.uk

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Could be Anybody’s Game

As the latest edition of the ICC World Cup opened officially on the 17th February to a spectacular ceremony in Bangladesh, expert reviews suggest that many teams could fancy their chances to 2011 World Cup glory.

Australia, winner of the last three World Cups, finds them in an unfamiliar situation, as they enter the tournament as one of the contenders for the 2011 Cup along with England, India, and Sri Lanka. There are other teams too capable of winning, South Africa, capable of proving that the chokers tag no longer apply to them, and Pakistan, who could very well rise to the big occasion despite their internal issues. So it looks anybody’s game, and for a World Cup this is something not usual as the history would suggest.

World Cup history shows that most of the past cups were dominated by stronger team that were fancied to win even before the first ball was bowled. When things never went as predicted – a tribute to this game of uncertainties – the cup went to a team that slayed the Goliath. The only real exception was the 1992 final which featured Pakistan and England, won by the former under the charismatic leadership of Imran Khan.

Most of Cup’s history could be split into two eras, the early World Cups commencing 1975 when West Windies ruled the game, and then the later era where the Australians dominated the rest. In between these two phases were glittering performances by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in different Cups . The West Indies reign from 1975 onwards was ended in 1983 World Cup Finals by an Indian team under the captaincy Kapil Dev who believed in the impossible. Australia then emulated the same type of supremacy Windies had over their opponents, and barring 1992 and 1996 World Cups, were unstoppable and won predictably. In the 1996 World Cup, Sri Lanka shocked Australia in the finals. Although this was not so much of an upset as the one India created over the Windies in 1983, the manner in which Sri Lanka executed the overall World Cup campaign proved that with the right approach and mind set, any good team could clinch the Cup. However, unlike Windies, Australia were back in business as they went on to win the following three World Cups, last being 2007.

The 2011 edition sans legendary swashbucklers in the mould of Sir Viv Richards and Adam Gilchrist who could take the opposition by the scruff of the neck, nor are there all rounders in the calibre of Sir Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Wasim Akram, capable of blowing opposition away by sheer individual brilliance, be it in batting or bowling. But the 2011 Cup may see some of the cricketing legends in the twilight of their career, legends in the making, and many talented young cricketers, make this World up their own. Two of modern day greats, the Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, and the Sri Lankan spin wizard Muralidharan, may be playing in their final World Cup. All major Cup aspirants have world class players with past World Cup experience, Dhoni, Sangakkara, Pieterson, and Kallis, to name a few.

Minnows such as Canada and Kenya are not expected to make any significant impact, although they are capable of springing a surprise win or two against major teams, on their day. Bangladesh, with the home advantage are expected to do better than a typical minnow, but not fancied to progress far in the tournament. New Zealand, currently on a low, may not be able to come with any heroics.

Cricket World Cup crafted to please South Asian audience

A sure sign that the format of the Cricket World Cup is “outmoded and uncool” is that Bryan Adams was the star of the opening ceremony on Thursday, was the sniffy comment of a British newspaper last week.

“However you look at it, there’s something a bit rum about a 21st-century sporting event that opens with a performance from Bryan Adams,” said the London Evening Standard on Friday.

The British disdain for the marketing, hoopla and fiddling with the format of the game they invented 300 years ago is perhaps understandable.

But the Cricket World Cup is the third-largest event on the global sporting calendar after the soccer World Cup and the Summer Olympics.

Many hundreds of millions of dollars are riding on this marathon event, which started with the first match played at Bangladesh’s National Stadium on Saturday and will continue until April 2, when the final is due to be played at India’s Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

To say that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has manipulated affairs to ensure a maximum audience and therefore maximum profits is to put it mildly.

If the rules had been followed, the three joint hosts — India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — should not have even been in the running.

They missed the March 1, 2006, deadline for bids for the 2011 contest. Indeed, only a joint application by Australia and New Zealand was delivered by the closing date.

But when the ICC members came to vote they plumped for the three South Asian nations plus, at that point, Pakistan. (The ICC stripped Pakistan of its host status in 2009 after a terrorist attack on a visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.)

The choice of the South Asian quartet was a commercial decision recognizing that in India, with its more than one billion population, cricket is a religion along with politics and Bollywood.

With that settled, the ICC then turned its attention to the fact that the last World Cup in the West Indies in 2007 was a commercial disaster.

That was because the Indian team with its vast audience of fans was knocked out of the contest early on, followed soon after by the other South Asian powerhouse, Pakistan.

So the ICC has now fiddled with the format to ensure that none of the big cricketing nations — India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England and the West Indies — gets dismissed in the qualifying section.

There are 14 teams, including Canada, no doubt to the bemusement of the Evening Standard, and they are divided into two groups.

In the first round the seven teams in each group play each other once and the top four in each group go on to the quarter finals.

That means that each team plays a minimum of six games and that their appearance is not, as happened to India in 2007, shorter than the flight to the venue.

As former Australian captain Allan Border put it recently, “The way the tournament is structured you’ll have to play like absolute drongos not to get through to the quarter-finals.”

Drongo, for those unfamiliar with “Strine” slang, was the name of a race horse that was a total loser.

No doubt the ICC will consider its mission accomplished if India is one of the teams in the final match in Mumbai on April 2.

India hasn’t won the World Cup since 1983 and this will probably be the last tournament for the team’s star Sachin Tendulkar, the greatest batsman of all time.

But the ICC has also come in for a lot of criticism for insisting that the one-day games be of 50 overs of six balls each.

This is not as demanding as the classic five-day test match, but it is still a gruelling eight hours from early afternoon until after dark.

The ICC is getting a lot of free advice to shift to the Australia-invented fast and furious “Twenty20” format of each team batting for 20 overs, which has become the hub of the world’s multibillion-dollar cricket industry.

Bangladesh PM declares Cricket World Cup open

Dhaka, Feb 17 The 2011 Cricket World Cup was declared open by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday amid thunderous  applause at a colourful ceremony at the Bangabandhu National Stadium here.

Hasina hoped the World Cup will stengthen the ties between the cricketing countries.

"I congratulate the cricket loving public for their great enthusiasm and cooperation to make this event a grand success," she said.

Paying tributes to her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of Bangladesh, Hasina recalled how he steered the famous language movement.

She also extended her thanks to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for selecting Bangladesh as one of the hosts.

She then declared the tournament open and  placed her palm on a scanner setting off series of breathtaking fire works.

ICC president Sharad Pawar called it a "historic" day and said this is one of the World Cup championship which will always be remembered.

Earlier, the spectacular opening ceremony began with the Bangladesh national anthem "Amar Shonar Bangla", composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore of India.

After the national anthem and the welcome song, the mascot "Stumpy" entered the stadium on a cycle-rickshaw, followed by the  captains of 14 competing nations on decorated cycle-rickshaws, the most popular mode of transport in Bangladesh.

The grand opening ceremony was conducted by India's premier event management company Wizcraft Entertainment, which also organised the opening and closing shows of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The two-hour, 15 minute-long ceremony will see around 3,500 performers putting up a colourful depiction of Indian, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi culture, complete with song sequences by well-known artists like Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, Indian singer Sonu Nigam and Bangladesh-based Runa Laila.
© IANS

US has no specific threat info on cricket World Cup

The Most Powerful Petrol Hatch in its Class.Blink it & You'll Miss it Cars.tatamotors.com/Vista90

Washington, Feb 18 (IANS) The United States has warned its citizens that while it has no specific threat information about the ICC Cricket World Cup in the Indian subcontinent, such large, high-profile events can be targets for terrorist attacks.

The warning came in a travel alert issued Thursday on safety and security issues related to the Cricket World Cup scheduled to be held in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka between Feb 19 and April 2.

Americans should note the continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against US citizens and interests throughout the world, the State Department travel alert said.

Local authorities in the country where individual matches are held are responsible for security arrangements for the ICC Cricket World Cup, it said.

Cricket World Cup 2011 Preview - The Outsiders

Let one begin by saying that the tag of minnows doesn’t really begin to do justice to Bangladesh. Forget all their struggles, for what is worth remembering most are their victories over India and South Africa in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

While the men in blue were sent packing, the Proteas were only saved because of the Super Eight format which allowed them to recover from the setback. Nevertheless it was an imposing performance and one which won’t allow any team to rest easy when they face up to the co-hosts in their own backyard this time around.

Of course, they are in the same group as India and South Africa, and those two sides will only be too wary of the risk inherent. And if they need any reminders, cricketers participating in this tournament only need to recall the fate of New Zealand earlier on in the season. The 4-0 scoreline alone didn’t raise eyebrows, for it was almost always thought that somehow the Kiwis will bounce back and take the ODI series. It was the manner in which they capitulated which marked not only the downfall of their cricket but alternatively also foretold the rise of the Bangladeshis. In any competition here on, they stand on level pegging with teams that have it in them to pull more than a surprise.

  Yet what separates them still is their inability to challenge for the ultimate prize. They may be considered unlucky in the sense that had they been drawn in Group A, they would have surely seen themselves making it to the knock-outs at the cost of New Zealand again. Because being in the group they are, teams will be extra careful when facing them. India, South Africa and England are rank professional sides, different from when they last played in a World Cup four years ago and any slip ups will be the least considered possibility. West Indies continue to be mercurial but that alone puts them ahead of Bangladesh. It is not to say though that they should already be packing, no. A precise concoction of carefully laid-out pitches and some fine spin bowling can yet unfold into unanticipated events.

It can be said here that Bangladesh are a cut above the rest of the lowly sides and that is not down to their Test status alone. But there is another team that has done enough in the last four years to be given some respect, if not the same amount, and that is Ireland. Upsetting Pakistan in the West Indies, and also beating Bangladesh in the Super Eights, was their ticket to the international stage and they haven’t let any of their fans down, never letting the consistency in their play fall.

This in turn has seen their ranking maintained in the ICC ODI lists at eleven, though they still had to qualify. They did so without minimum fuss, winning the qualifiers in 2009 and will now be looking forward to playing their first ever ODI under lights.

The warm-up match against New Zealand saw them give hefty chase of a huge target and it is believed by many that they stand capable enough of causing more hiccups than anticipated. Along with Bangladesh, there are now two teams in Group B that can do so, making it the ‘group of death’. That this tag hasn’t gone to Zimbabwe surely must pinch them a bit, for they have been on a path to recovery ever since political infighting took more than a toll on their cricket. It was being said that 2011 will be the year when we would see them return to the Test fold.

A high ranking of nine was testimonial to that progress, if only some, and that Sri Lanka and India were keen on playing ODIs there again was all part of it. Yet when it comes to the star attraction, the World Cup, it really pains to say that Ireland have a better chance of causing an upset than they do. If anything, it only shows that their performances here in the sub-continent will go a long way in deciding whether they do get that Test status back.

Never mind Zimbabwe though, there is still a minnow in Group A very much capable of shaking some boots. Canada retain an excellent batting line-up, one that grows in confidence in these conditions and the way they ran England close in the warm-up only signifies that. It can also be said that after a long tour down under, Andrew Strauss and his men weren’t really bothered too much about this inconsequential match. But that is not Canada’s problem is it? They were 28 for five at one stage and yet lost only by seventeen runs chasing 244. That tells you more about their spirit than ability.

And talking of spirit, one might as well talk about Kenya. They don’t really play too much international cricket, just some at the associate levels. Yet they have a better success rate than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in ICC tournaments. Most of it is down to their 2003 World Cup performance where they reached the semi-finals. But don’t let that make you forget what they did to the West Indies in 1996 here in the sub-continent.

In that sense, there is nothing much to say about Netherlands and they will be rolled over by another batsman like Herschelle Gibbs this time around, looking to hit six sixes in an over. But if cricket – and World Cup – history has taught us anything, it is that anyone can win on their day.

2011 Cricket World Cup Opening Ceremony in Bangladesh

Cricket is a great sport and the Cricket World Cup is the highlight of every cricket lover’s year. This time the event, which is held every four years, will be even more memorable for cricket lovers living in Bangladesh.

On February 18, 2009, Haroon Lorgat, the Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council, announced that the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup will be held in Bangladesh. The event will take place almost exactly two years from now on February 19, 2011, and proceedings will coincide with the opening game which will also take place in Bangladesh on the same day. That is exciting news for both cricket lovers in Bangladesh and the people of the country in general as the move will no doubt generate a lot of tourism and cast a spotlight on the country, hopefully helping to further improve its image and economy.

Haroon Lorgat also said that the number of matches to be played at the fifteen different selected venues had been discussed. It is obvious that the event should be used to bolster local tourism efforts and every endeavor must be made to ensure that it is a massive success. If you would like to combine sport with leisure, you’ll be happy to know that the World Cup will be making its way to either Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Narayanganj Osmani Stadium in Fatullah or the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Dhaka. The final decision as to which stadium will be used for the event is yet to be made.

No doubt, this means that Bandladesh will experience a lot of tourist-related development as city officials try to ensure that it is completely ready to receive this prestigious event and the many tourists that travel with it. Though it is still some time before the 2011 Cricket World Cup takes place, fans would definitely do well to book well in advance to avoid disappointment. Visitors from other countries would also do well to take advantage of their trip and explore the country between matches so that they can learn a little bit more about the rich beauty that is to be found in Bangladesh.

India Tries to Calm Fears Over Cricket World Cup

NEW DELHI — As India gears up to hold the ICC Cricket World Cup, there is no reason to fear a repeat of the problems that plagued the country’s last major sporting event, cricket officials have promised.

The World Cup, a 49-match tournament that bills itself as the world’s third-largest sports event behind the Olympic Games and soccer’s World Cup, will be played in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and opens this weekend. Already, serious problems with one venue in India, Eden Fields in the city of Kolkata, forced a highly anticipated match to be moved to the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

But officials say the situation is not at all comparable to the Commonwealth Games in October, when athletes’ quarters were dubbed unfit by visiting teams just days before the games started; venues were completed at the last minute and international audiences, for the most part, stayed away.

“The level of preparedness is hugely different,” said Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of the International Cricket Council, the Dubai-based group that runs the tournament.

The Commonwealth Games often relied on untested venues and featured many sports that were not particularly popular in India. But cricket is a favorite in the country, and the tournament is using existing stadiums that are regularly in use, Lorgat said. As of this week, “they are all ready,” he said.

The World Cup’s opening match on Saturday is being held in Bangladesh, the first time that country has had the honor of hosting the opener. Matches then rotate through India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh before the final at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on April 2.

The first match in India is scheduled for Sunday in Chennai, and nearly three dozen matches will be played at stadiums throughout the country. India has several home-grown cricket tournaments, including the Indian Premier League, which draws high-profile sponsors and generates the equivalent of millions of dollars in revenue, so the venues are home to well-attended matches.

Unlike the polite curiosity that greeted most of the Commonwealth Games in India, cricket in general, and the World Cup in particular, inspire frenzied devotion here. In big cities, any bare patch of earth, even the interior of a traffic roundabout on a busy road, is considered fair game for an impromptu cricket match.

“When God bats, my world stops,” read one opinion piece about the World Cup on Sunday in the Times of India. (In this case, God is the Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar.)

Assocham, an Indian trade association, estimates that one in five Indian office employees will take time off work to watch the matches, and warned that office productivity would fall “significantly” during the tournament. The group recommends that managers show matches in the office to cut down on absenteeism.

Eden Gardens, a nearly 150-year-old pitch in Kolkata sometimes referred to as the Coliseum of Cricket, was to be home to the Feb. 27 match between England and India, a fierce rivalry with a weighty local history. (Calcutta, as the city was previously known, was the original capital of India under British rule). On Jan. 31, the I.C.C. told Indian officials the match would have to be played elsewhere because the stadium was not ready.

Indian officials said the delays were beyond their control and resulted in part from the construction workers doing repairs to the stadium. “With private contractor work, you can’t really predict how long it will take,” Rajeev Shukla, vice president of the Board of Cricket Control in India, India’s national cricket authority, said in an interview Monday. There were also “some changes in the original plans” that may have delayed the construction, he said.

Officials at the I.C.C. said they were left with no choice after deadlines were extended twice and still not met. “Completion to us meant everything, and there was quite a bit of construction that was incomplete,” said Lorgat. “All the bucket seats were not installed, and the roof was not complete,” he said.

DISH Network to Offer the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in HD

DISH Network is delivering an all-access pass to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, ensuring that cricket fans across the country won't miss a second of the action. Plus for the first time, DISH Network will offer coverage of the tournament in high definition.

The ICC Cricket World Cup, held every four years, will be co-hosted in the sub-continent by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, and features a 14-nation pool competing for the title. The event opens with Bangladesh playing India on Feb. 19 and will conclude with the championship match in Mumbai on April 2.

DISH Network will offer the tournament in HD on Pay-Per-View for its satellite customers as well as distribute the Cricket World Cup in SD through its recently launched IPTV service, DISH World, which allows customers to access DISH Network programming without the need for a satellite dish. Matches are available on a live and delay basis, plus, customers have access to highlights of the day's matches, broadcast immediately following the full replay of the match. Customers may also record the matches with DISH Network's award-winning DVR technology.

In addition, DISH Network customers with a broadband-connected, Sling-enabled receiver have the ability to watch every match on compatible 3G and WiFi-enabled phones, laptops or tablets, including the iPhone and iPod touch, iPad, Android smartphones and tablets, Windows and Mac Computers, and select BlackBerry devices.

"DISH Network leads the industry with 72 South Asian channels, and we are proud to again bring the Cricket World Cup to our viewers – this year in high definition – and that our broadband-connected, Sling-enabled customers have the ability to watch it live on a variety of mobile devices," said Chris Kuelling, vice president of International Programming for DISH Network. "In addition, customers without a satellite dish can enjoy the Cricket World Cup through our DISH World IPTV service."

Now until Feb. 19, customers can order the ICC Cricket World Cup for an early bird price of $129. After Feb. 19, the event will be available for $149. 

Cricket World Cup Matches

The ICC world cup is a biggest international event. The bases of these WC matches are men's One Day International (ODI) cricket matches.

The 2011 cricket world cup matches to be played between February and March 2011. The opening match is going to be take place on 19the February at Dhaka between India and Bangladesh. The final will be take place in Mumbai on 2nd April 2011.
The number of matches and teams are increased than earliest cricket world cup match to till date.

2011 Cricket World Cup matches

The 2011 cricket world cup cricket will be the tenth edition of the tournament would be held. The 10th ICC Cricket World Cup will be take place in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, over 43 days, with 14 countries fight against each other for the World Cup title. Opening the tournament on 19 February, hosts India and Bangladesh meet in Dhaka, Bangladesh - the first of a total of 49 cricket matches to be played in the ICC Cricket World Cup.

The ICC cricket world cup 2011 will contain of 49 matches and will be a 43-day big show. India will host total 29 matches at 8 venues, and Sri Lanka is organizing 12 matches in 3 venues and Bangladesh will host 8 matches. The final of the world cup tournament will be take place in Mumbai and 14 teams will fight for the prestigious world cup trophy.

IPL bigger bet than ICC Cricket World Cup?

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) appears to be bigger bet than the World Cup for the Indian cricket board (BCCI) if insurance figures are taken as indicators. The BCCI has sought an event cancellation cover of nearly Rs 750 crore for the fourth edition of the IPL - almost Rs 200 crore more than what it has been trying to seek for the World Cup matches to be played in India.

According to sources, the board has floated inquires with brokers for event cancellation cover of Rs 754 crore. This will include media rights for Indian territory worth Rs 490 crore, media rights for overseas for Rs 50 crore, 194 crore towards protection of sponsorship fee and another Rs 10 crore toward any other contingency . This policy will shield BCCI against losses that arise due to cancellation of match due to terror-related incident. Even the matches that need to be called off due to adverse weather will be covered under this policy.

The board is also seeking a public liability cover worth Rs 100 crore. This covers can be invoked if there is any injury to spectators due to stampede or any other accident on match days. A total of 74 matches featuring 10 teams will be played in IPL 4. The Rs 750 crore cover is for all the matches, including the semifinals and final. All matches will have insurance cover of almost equivalent amount.

Interestingly, the coverage sought for World Cup is relatively smaller. A BCCI official said that the two tournaments cannot be compared. "It is like comparing apples with oranges. In IPL, all the 8 participating teams are competitive."
Do you like this story?

Cricket World Cup 2011 Live Score Mobile app from ESPN Cricinfo for iPhone, iPad

The ESPN Cricinfo is one of the best websites to get instant live cricket scores, commentaries from the World’s best cricket writers. It also includes ball by ball updates, instant cricket scores, exclusive videos and photos and breaking news. So from the ESPN Cricinfo, there is an official app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad users to catch up with the live scores of Cricket World cup 2011.

ESPN Cricinfo Mobile app features :

Push Notification – Instant alerts for wickets, score updates

Lean Back Mode – Switch the app to lean back mode, place your iPhone/iPod Touch on your table and follow live scores throughout a busy work day

Exclusive World Cup 2011 section to catch up with the updates.

Listen to audio and video podcasts.

Read the best articles from the ESPN Magazine.

Download ESPN Cricinfo Mobile app for Live Cricket Scores

Related : Local Cricket Score app – You can use this for local cricket matches you play.

ESPN Cricinfo Chrome extension

Embed Cricket Scores on WordPress blogs

Cricket World Cup comes at high cost to TV viewers

Dinesh Sukhija was willing to drop some cash to watch the Cricket World Cup in style. He even bought a 32-inch flat screen HD TV to honour the occasion.

But Sukhija didn’t realize at the time that it would cost nearly $200 extra just to get a signal — a standard-definition signal, at that — for the month-and-a-half-long tournament, which starts on Saturday and is being co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“They think they can just dish out whatever they want to Canadian viewers,” the disgruntled 33-year-old IT expert said of the Asia Television Network, which owns the Canadian rights to the broadcast, and sets the price.

ATN’s signal is distributed by cable providers such as Rogers, Bell, Shaw and Telus.

Willow TV, an internet-based provider from the U.S., is offering access to all of the World Cup games in HD for $129 U.S. But the site has blocked Canadian users, like Sukhija, from signing up.

“It’s take it or leave it,” Sukhija said of the ATN package.

Prakash Naidoo, vice-president and general manager of ATN, defends the cost, which is $10 more than the station charged during the 2007 World Cup.

“It’s economy of scale. Costs go up all the time,” Naidoo said. “We tried to minimize the increase.”

Naidoo refused to speculate on how many Canadians will watch the World Cup through the station’s signal, but acknowledged that the demand for the sport is growing, especially in HD.

“Going forward we are looking at HD possibilities,” he said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to put it into operation for this particular stream.”

Still, he maintains there is nothing the station can do about the cost. Both Rogers and Bell are subsidizing discounts for new subscribers, Naidoo confirmed. But regular, loyal customers are stuck with the $199 fee.

Ranjit Saini, president of Cricket Canada, says the price of watching the sport’s premier event is too high and, ultimately, self-defeating. “I protest, strongly protest, the cost of the broadcast,” he said.

“With high costs there is less accessibility — and less people watching it,” Saini said over the phone from Delhi, en route to join the Canadian team for the opening ceremonies in Bangladesh. “There’s not a lot of people out there with that kind of money.”

Saini stressed that he doesn’t know the specifics of the costs ATN had to incur to secure the live feed. And he acknowledged that the package offers a plethora of games, beyond just the Canadian team. But much of that cost could be reduced through a greater effort to secure more sponsorship, he said.

Naidoo admits ATN secured less sponsorship for the 2011 World Cup than it did for the 2007 tournament.

“They’re just robbing people of this event,” said Sukhija, who recently started a Facebook group to protest ATN’s “monopoly” of the Cricket World Cup.

Still, he’s planning to pay the $199.

“I have no option,” he said. “And they know that.”

Icc Cricket World Cup 2011 - Can India Win The Cricket World Cup - Who Will Win?

Cricket World Cup: Sad to see Ponting complain against Bangalore pitch

Australia lost a game yesterday to India which they should ever have. However, what was surprising to hear at the end of the game was for the Australian skipper to complain about the nature of the track.

It is very obvious that the pitches in India will assist spin bowling. And that is the beauty of the sport, which unlike many other sports is not played on an artificial turf where the players know what will be the kind of track they will be up against.

Unfortunately, Ponting has a vision that is so blinded by saving his own skin that any track that remotely offers spin is an under-prepared one.

Instead, one feels that Ponting should look at the shots that some of his batsmen played, included his own stroke to get stumped. At best, they could be described as atrocious. Clearly, there is a need to correct some of that than blame the pitch for his undoing.

Rest assured that in India and Sri Lanka where they played their league games, the tracks will assist spin.

Dhoni wants more intensity from India in Cricket World Cup

India skipper MS Dhoni wants his side to be more combative in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Despite a stunning, 38-run-win against defending champions Australia in a warm-up game in Bengaluru on Sunday, Dhoni was far from satisfied with India's performance.

The batsmen failed to counter a fast and furious Brett Lee while comeback man Jason Krejza troubled the lower order with his guile and spin.

"Of course we did not have a very good game against Australia," Dhoni said.

"We needed a partnership but that did not happen and we could not score big."

India looked down for the count before Yusuf Pathan and R Ashwin stitched a solid partnership to help India post a total in excess of 200.

"The lower-order helped and added some 45-odd runs. But at 214 we did not have a par score on the board. We want to score more runs in the warm-up and try various bowling options.

"We need to pick up intensity as we progress into the ICC CWC."

Defending a modest total, India's spinners came to the party as Piyush Chawla (4/31) and Harbhajan Singh (3/15) ripped through the Aussie middle order. Dhoni, without doubt, was pleased with the way his bowlers stood up to the challenge.

"We have a very good side," said Dhoni. "That is what I have said always. I don't believe in comparisons. We have a mix of players who are very good.

However, the wicketkeeper batsman wanted his side to translate the talent on the field.

"But obviously what we have on paper is not important; it is what we do on the field which matters. We need to see what the conditions are and pick our best eleven accordingly."

Dhoni said pace spearhead Zaheer Khan would be rested from Wednesday's match to allow him time to recover from a groin injury.

"As I have already said it is a very mild groin strain and there is nothing to worry about. It is just that we can give him rest and that is one of the reasons why we are providing him rest. We will play him in ICC Cricket World Cup matches," he said.

India's ICC Cricket World Cup opener is against the tricky Bangladesh. Dhoni said a lot would depend on how the wicket behaves in the match.

"As for conditions, the wicket's behaviour will depend on how it has been prepared. That will be one basic difference.

We have to see whether the dew factor will be there or not," he explained.

"Last time when we toured Bangladesh in January, there was lot of dew. But now it is close to February. We have to see whether dew will be there. Accordingly we have to pick our best 11," Dhoni said.

The pitch in Bengaluru has been criticised as "under-prepared" by Australia and South Africa but Dhoni said it was natural for foreign teams feel a bit ill at ease with spinning tracks in India.

"There was no criticism about the wicket. When you play abroad there is bound to be a bit of pace and bouncy movement.

"Turn is quite natural to Indian pitches. That's the big challenge once you come to India. As far this wicket in Chennai, I had a look at it. It is quite damp right now. So I can't predict how it will behave.

"We have to see before the start of the game. We will be a bit cautious as far as using players. We won't overuse any one. Of course, most of the spinners, part-timers and batsmen look 100 per cent fit. That will definitely feature in the guys who will be playing and who will be bowling their full quota of overs," he said.

Dhoni described New Zealand as a side which relies on collective performances.

"New Zealand have always been a very contributive side and they always don't depend on any one particular batsman or one particular bowler to win the game. What they need is that everyone to contribute. They are a very talented side," he said.

Willow Tv Exclusively Brings The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 To Us Viewers In High-definition

Willow TV, the leader in live cricket broadcasts across North America, today announced its plans for the broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in the United States.  Willow has entered into agreements with DISH Network and DIRECTV, America's leading satellite television platforms, who will broadcast the World Cup in high-definition.  DISH Network and DIRECTV are the only television providers in the United States that will broadcast the event. Willow will distribute the event via Internet streaming, available across a range of devices.  Willow acquired the exclusive rights to distribute cricket's marquee competition on television, broadband and the Internet in the United States through an agreement with ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), ICC's global broadcast and production partner.

Customers can subscribe to the pay-per-view package directly from DISH Network and DIRECTV, as well as online via Willow's website,  The ICC Cricket World Cup will be available in high-definition for the first time ever in the United States. The first match is on February 19 between co-hosts India and Bangladesh, culminating with the Final in Mumbai on April 2.

Willow TV has recently announced support for its live streaming across a variety of devices, including an array of smartphones, tablets, leading gaming consoles, Internet-ready televisions and IP video players.

"The range of viewing options that we have made available for this event is unparalleled, and we look forward to delivering a phenomenal viewing experience to cricket fans throughout the U.S.," said Vijay Srinivasan, CEO of Willow TV.

Manu Sawhney, Managing Director, ESPN STAR Sports, said, "We are very pleased to see the increasing popularity of the game in the U.S. and we are committed to bringing the excitement and passion of this iconic cricket tournament to fans in the most comprehensive, engaging and entertaining manner with our signature style production & presentation."

Willow TV is the leading broadcaster of cricket in North America. .  WillowTV is headquartered at Sunnyvale, CA, with offices in Bangalore, India.

Source: Willow TV

Twitter ban on players during Cricket World Cup matches

In a bid to ensure a corruption-free World Cup following the spot-fixing scandal, the International Cricket Council [ Images ] has banned players and team officials from tweeting during matches.


The decision, an initiative of ICC's [ Images ] Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, was intended to restrain players and officials from any possible approach by people with links to illegal betting during World Cup matches.

The move from the ICC came in response to Australian team manager Steve Bernard's tweets which attracted more than 1,100 followers to his @stevebernard37 account in the past six months, including during Ashes and the subsequent ODI series, according to a report in Sydney Morning Herald.

- World Cup coverage

The long-time manager was told soon after arriving in Bangalore with the team last week that he, as well as any other player or team official at the World Cup, had been banned from tweeting during matches.

"When it comes to issues of corruption we prefer to err on the side of caution. We don't want to spoil anyone's fun but there is a chance that sensitive information could be passed on during matches in this way, even inadvertently, and we just feel that team managers' phones should be kept for operational purposes only.

"This recommendation is not confined to the Australia [ Images ] team manager but all teams in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and is certainly not a reaction to anything the Australia team manager has said or done in the past. It's merely a precaution and is not something we are overly worried about at this stage," ICC spokesman James Fitzgerald was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Players and officials will still, however, be permitted to tweet when matches are not occurring.

Cricket Australia chief spokesman Peter Young believed that the in-game ban had been imposed by the ICC due to the heightened sensitivity about corruption in cricket.

"(Bernard) is very judicious about what he does and doesn't say but while he's getting it right there needs to be one rule for all," Young said.

"It is, as I understand, a perception issue. They don't want players or team management able to be communicating to the outside world because of the concern the information might be misused by the illegal betting industry."

Bernard and Australia coach Tim Nielsen began tweeting last August based on a request from CA, which wanted fans to get a better insight into the team.

ICC World Cup 2011: Ireland Vs. Zimbabwe – Warm Up Match – Update

Boyd Rankin and Trent Johnston bowled a superb opening spell for Ireland, taking three wickets in order to rattle Zimbabwe, in the warm-up match at Vidarbha Cricket Stadium, Nagpur.

Zimbabwe, who won the toss, elected to bat first on a flat deck. There decision backfired, as they stuttered to a grim 31-run total for the loss of three wickets in 14 overs.

However, Tatenda Taibu is still batting on 17 runs, while Craig Ervine has just arrived at the crease, scoring 3 runs. In the process, the pair has added 19 runs between them.

In the first hour the pitch had a bit of juice in it for the bowlers, and Irish seamers took complete advantage of an early morning start. The seam bowlers moved the new-ball around in order to trouble the batsmen and earn some valuable top-order wickets.

Rankin was too hot to handle, as he managed to extract extra bounce from a slow track. The tall fast bowler hit the deck hard and bowled on a short length. He used his height to good effect, as he consistently beat the bat of the openers, Charles Coventry, and, Brendon Taylor.

Nevertheless, Trent Johnston has been the pick of the bowlers of his team, registering brilliant figures of 2 for 9 in 5 incisive overs. Johnston consistently pitched his balls in the corridor of uncertainty. The right-arm bowler moved the in the air and seamed it off the track.

The rest of the bowlers kept things tight at one end. John Mooney gave only four 4 runs in his three overs.

Earlier, Zimbabwe got off to a poor start, as they lost their first wicket in the second over. Taylor was the first batsmen to leave the pitch, adding a run to his team’s total.  He was undone by a beautiful out-swinger from Johnston.

Meanwhile, Coventry also struggled to middle the ball and he only managed to score 5 runs off 16 deliveries. His downfall was brought about by Rankin with a length delivery. The delivery stood tall on the batsmen, and he poked at it, edging it through to the wicket keeper, where Gary Wilson took a clean catch.

Johnston was far from over, as he provided his team with another breakthrough, getting rid of Sean Williams with an away-going delivery, leaving the opposition wobbling at 12 for 3 in eight overs.

The ongoing partnership between Taibu and Ervine is of a crucial importance to Zimbabwe, as it will have an impact on their final score-line.

Indiatimes 58888 combines with RCOM for World Cup 2011

The rights, bagged from Reliance Communication Limited, include mobile content services including all the needed services like SMS , voice & video alerts, live audio commentary, mobile content downloads and 2G and 3G.

Mahesh Prasad the president of Reliance communication said that, Indiatimes had an absolute and broad network services on 58888 and had the largest collection of infotainment content, it was therefore a strong natural choice for them distribution partnership. He added that they believe that with media strength alongside, Times would bring great value to the mobile subscribers.

Commenting on Reliance Mobile’s association with ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Mr. Anil Pande, Head VAS, Reliance Communications said that, as ICC's 'Global Partner' till 2015 they were honored to be associated with the game that was gaining popularity across the World.