Thousands of police and paramilitaries have been deployed and helicopters will be buzzing over Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, which has been turned into a fortress for Friday’s Twenty20 cricket game against lowly Zimbabwe.
Authorities have mounted an unprecedented operation to guard insurgency-hit Pakistan’s first home international in six years.
The fixture is Pakistan’s first on home soil since 2009, when militants launched a gun attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore, killing eight police and civilians and leaving seven players wounded.
Roads around the stadium will be closed and shops and restaurants have been shuttered for the duration of the series, consisting of two Twenty20s and three ODIs, all in Lahore.
Jammers are in use to cut out radio signals, hampering wifi at the stadium, and fans will have to go through metal detectors at three security checkpoints, raising the prospect of hours of queuing.
Zimbabwe have been under tight wraps since their arrival early on Tuesday, when they were whisked from the airport to their hotel watched by thousands of security personnel.
They are far from the usual arrangements for a cricket match, and Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said it was a new experience for him and his team.
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi hoped the first ball on Friday will refocus attention on cricket as he attempts to lift his team after a poor World Cup and series in Bangladesh.
Despite the tight security and the late confirmation of the series, following a massacre in an attack on a bus in Karachi, organisers say the 27,000-capacity venue is a sell-out for Friday’s game.
According to an Australian newspaper, the South African cricket team was forced to include an injured Coloured (mixed-race) player in their line-up for the Cricket World Cup in order to adhere to the government’s racial quotas for sports. This may have cost the country, one of the world’s foremost cricketing and rugby nations, the championship as it lost in the semi-final against New Zealand which is less highly rated.
Vernon Philander
The injured Vernon Philander (see picture) was selected and star bowler Kyle Abbott ousted on account of belonging to the white race. For the semi-final played last Tuesday, the South African minister of sport, Fikile Mbalula, ordered that “at least four players of colour” had to be included in the team.
According to reports, captain AB de Villiers was highly upset about the political and racial interference in the selection process. A source close to him said:
“AB didn‘t want to play in the semi because of this; it is a clear case of interference by the board — they ordered Philander‘s selection.”
“It was a purely political decision. The players are fuming about it but they won‘t say so.”
De Villiers declined to comment publicly.
Tony Irish, chief executive of the SA Cricketers‘ Association, merely said:
“I will be talking to the players [today] when they get back [from Australasia].”
The ANC sports minister is unrepentant, however. He has threatened national sports bodies with deregistration if they do not axe more white players from both rugby and cricket.
“We will …withdraw national colours; we will ensure that we deregister those that are intransigent,” Mbalula threatened.
A groin injury to star batsman Hashim Amla has added to South Africa’s woes as they attempt to prevent their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka from falling apart.
The Proteas are already 2-0 down in the five-match one-day series after being thrashed by 180 runs in Saturday’s opener, before falling by 17 runs in a rain-ruined game on Tuesday.
South Africa have now lost 11 consecutive one-day matches on Sri Lankan soil since 1993, but AB de Villiers’ tourists must win Friday’s third match in Pallekele to stay afloat in the series.
Amla, who missed the first match due to a stiff neck, fell awkwardly while fielding near the boundary line on Tuesday and was rushed to hospital, where scans showed a strain to the left groin muscle. Team manager Mohammed Moosajee said Amla was being put through intensive treatment to ensure he is fit to play in the rest of the series.
“Hashim jarred his left knee into the ground while fielding, after which he reported discomfort in the pelvic and groin region,” Moosajee said.
“Injuries of this nature usually take three to seven days to recover. But he will receive intensive treatment and rehab in the coming days to give him the best possible chance of being ready for the rest of the series.”
Amla’s injury will further weaken the tourists, who are without three frontline players — fast bowler Dale Steyn, all-rounder Jacques Kallis and former captain Graeme Smith — for the tour.
The third and fourth matches will be held in Pallekele on Friday and Sunday, before the action returns to Colombo for the final game at the Premadasa stadium next Wednesday.
The one-day series will be followed by three Twenty20 internationals. – Sapa/AFP
Indian police filed charges on Monday over a match-fixing scandal involving the late South African captain Hansie Cronje, 13 years after the revelations sent shockwaves thr
Hansie Cronjé
ough the cricketing world.
Police filed the charges in a New Delhi court against bookmakers and Cronje himself, who died in a plane crash in 2002, over allegations of fixing dating back to South Africa’s tour of India in 2000.
The charges are the first by Indian police over the scandal, which revealed the shady world of Indian bookmakers in cricket.
“There are six accused in this case, three of them are on bail while two are abroad,” Inspector Keshav Kumar told the court.
“The sixth is Hansie Cronje, who is dead,” said Kumar, the investigating officer in the case.
Cronje, once the darling of South African cricket, was banned from the sport for life after admitting taking bribes from bookies in exchange for providing match information and influencing games during the 2000 tour.
Cronje admitted to a South African commission investigating the scandal to taking thousands of dollars in bribes from bookies to underperform, although he denied match-fixing itself.
Delhi police have alleged that Cronje persuaded some of his teammates, including Herschelle Gibbs, to agree to underperform in a one-day match in 2000, including by making fewer runs than he might otherwise have tallied.
Gibbs and bowler Henry Williams were both banned from playing for six-months and fined by South African authorities over their admissions in the scandal.
The scandal broke when New Delhi police, working on an unrelated extortion case, tapped a telephone conversation between Cronje and one of the bookies, Sanjeev Chawla.
Chawla is believed to be living in the UK and Indian police hope to seek his extradition now that the charge sheet has been placed before the court.
“We will now request the court to grant approval to seek extradition of Chawla from the UK to India,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), Ravindra Yadav, told AFP.
“The UK government does not allow extradition without the charge cheet. We are almost sure Chawla is in England,” he said.
Yadav said the case was one of “criminal conspiracy” and has only now been filed in court after police finally received in January this year voice samples from tapped phone conversations.
“This is criminal conspiracy. People went to the ground to watch the games thinking they would be played in the true spirit. They did not know the outcome was fixed. That’s why we have filed the charges,” he said.
Police named the accused as bookmakers and gamblers Rajesh Kalra, Krishan Kumar and Sunil Dara — who are all on bail — and Chawla and Manmohan Khattar who are overseas.
Cronje died in June 2002 when a light plane in which he was travelling crashed in bad weather in South Africa.
Monday’s action came after Delhi police chief Neeraj Kumar told local media that he planned to file charges in the Cronje case and a separate Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal, before the end of the month.
Kumar told the Hindustan Times newspaper on Saturday that he was working on tying up “some loose ends” before his retirement at the end of July, including in both cases.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) was rocked by allegations of spot-fixing in May this year, with some 29 people arrested including three Indian players. The cricketers, who have denied wrongdoing, are accused of deliberately bowling badly in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars from bookies.
Betting on sports is illegal in India except at horse races, but major betting syndicates have been in operation for many years. – AFP
There were no jitters for the big teams in the first round of the World Twenty20 as all eight of them cruised into the Super Eights starting from Thursday.
Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh failed to spring a surprise before bowing out in the group stage.
With the Super Eights split into two groups, Group 2 looks marginally more challenging, with South Africa, Australia and former champions India and Pakistan in the chase for semifinal berths.
Host Sri Lanka takes on New Zealand on Thursday in Group 1, which includes defending champion England and West Indies, who meet in a double-header at Pallekele International Stadium.
All four Group 2 teams won their first-round matches while West Indies is the only team to progress without a victory, doing so on superior run-rate after its matches against Australia (loss) and Ireland (abandoned) were affected by rain.
The three subcontinent teams – India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – will be relying heavily on their spinners.
Sri Lanka finger spinner Ajantha Mendis broke his own world record with staggering figures of 6-8 against Zimbabwe.
Offspinner Harbhajan Singh returned after a year out with an impressive four-wicket haul against England as India shot out the defending champ for only 80 after posting 170-4.
Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal also took four wickets against New Zealand and denied the Black Caps a victory with two wickets in the last over.
The Asian teams’ pacemen struggled to curtail the flow of runs, but there was no such headache for South Africa, New Zealand and England.
South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel bowled with lot of verve and Sri Lanka lost its rain-curtailed seven-overs-a-side match against the Proteas by 32 runs.
New Zealand’s Kyle Mills and Tim Southee knocked over Bangladesh’s top order with six wickets between them after Brendon McCullum smashed a best-ever T20 innings of 123 off 72 balls.
New Zealand has the advantage of knowing the conditions well at Pallekele as it played both of its first-round matches there.
Kiwis skipper Ross Taylor hoped his batsmen will also show as much aggression against the Sri Lanka spinners as they did against Bangladesh.
“The main message is to be aggressive and not let them settle,” Taylor said. “The two games that we’ve had against Pakistan and Bangladesh, there was one short boundary and one big boundary … if there is a short boundary then we need to attack that.”
A host team has yet to win the World Twenty20, but Sri Lanka hopes to end that jinx thanks to Mendis, Lasith Malinga, captain Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara.
Mendis missed the rain-shortened game against South Africa due to a side strain during his record-breaking performance against Zimbabwe. Coach Graham Ford said it would be a setback if Mendis could not recover for Thursday’s match.
“With the way he bowled and the x-factor he brings, it would be a big blow,” Ford said. “In T20 cricket you want guys who can win matches on their own and he’s one of those guys.”
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Led by Luke Wright’s brilliant 99, England’s top order flourished against the mediocre bowling attack of Afghanistan before it hit rock bottom against Indian spinners at Colombo.
There will be no letup for them in the Super Eights, where they will face the likes of Mendis and West Indies’ offspinner Sunil Narine.
“I think it’s important for the batsmen to get back into the nets and feel hitting the ball again. It’s all a state of mind, getting yourself back into a positive frame,” England captain Stuart Broad said.
West Indies’ batting reputation precedes it, so much of its hopes rest on Narine helping to restrict opponents.
“Sunil is our trump card, he has done well for us in this format and hopefully he could have a big impact on the English batting lineup,” captain Darren Sammy said. “We definitely look to bowl spin against them, but we have quality seam bowlers up front in Fidel (Edwards) and (Ravi) Rampaul.”
Pakistan has problems with its pacemen, but its top order batsmen all have showed decent form, with Imran Nazir smashing 72 against Bangladesh and Nasir Jamshed scoring 56 against New Zealand. Captain Mohammad Hafeez also played useful knocks of 43 and 45.
Pakistan struggles when chasing a target. Although it successfully chased down 176 on Tuesday against Bangladesh for the loss of only two wickets, the competition is much stronger from here on.
“In the pace bowling department there’s probably a bit of an issue with the implementation of the basics,” Hafeez said. “Mohammad Akram (the bowling coach) is working hard at this, but sometimes things just don’t work out.” – Sapa/AP
You could cut the racial tension with a thigh-pad.
by Adriaan du Toit
This post is a response to acclaimed political analyst and academic Steven Friedman’s Facebook post on the topic of Protea skipper AB de Villiers’ racist inclinations in post-match interviews.You can read it (and the frightening discussion that ensued) here.
If, by the time you read this, Mr Friedman has recovered from whatever emotional affliction triggered his outburst and subsequently deleted the status from his wall, here it is in full:
“For those of us who follow cricket – have you noticed that our limited overs captain AB de Villiers has a speech defect?: he can’t say the names of black players who do well. Today he got excited about Kallis and du Plessis, who scored 4 and 34, but somehow could not mention Amla who scored 92, Duminy who scored 43 or Tsotsobe who took 3 wickets. He does this after every game. Maybe our black players, if they want to be acknowledged, should play for New Zealand, whose captain is weird enough to judge his players by how well they do rather than their skin colour?”
Dear Steven Friedman
When I first read about your comment on iafrica.com, I was tempted to limit my response to a quiet shake of the head and, if time allowed, a grumble loud enough for the chap who sits in the cubicle opposite me to make eye contact with me disapprovingly. You see, despite my intense dislike for intellectuals who seek out controversy for the sake of publicly validating the relevance of their expertise, I’ve learnt to tolerate their eccentricities for the sake of my blood pressure. Unfortunately, the temptation to let this go was outweighed by how much I love the Proteas and how proud I am of what they have achieved on and off the field.
My motivation to address your statements was given a further boost when I visited your Facebook wall and read the comments that your students made on the post. I’m astonished at the influence your opinion has on them. They were so eager to comply, I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed by your potential as an arch-villain or depressed by your students’ lack of independent thought. I decided not to dwell on the matter since neither scenario shines a particularly flattering light on you.
AB going in for the kill. Just be careful of his tainted blood, skipper.
I have little interest in debating the presence of racism in the upper spheres of cricket administration. Perhaps there is and perhaps there isn’t. This is the luxury enjoyed by senior members of these elevated circles; the majority of their activities and motivations are seldom the topic of much more than speculation. If evidence emerges, I will look at it and add my two cents, but I have no inclination to go looking for it. This is the luxury of occupying the lowest of the metaphorical spheres I keep referring to. I care about my beloved team, how they perform on the field and little else. I urge you not to interpret this ambivalence as acceptance of institutional racism. I’m as opposed to it as the next man. But I can see the next man – he’s pretty close to me – and it looks as if he’s got a lot on his mind. In fact, it looks to me as if all he’d like to do is to sit back for a while and bask in the comforting glow of the series victory over these mouthy Kiwis.
Sadly for my imaginary neighbour and I, our reverie has been interrupted by your outburst. Our happy memory of Brendon McCullum staring dejectedly into the middle distance as the reality of his team’s mediocrity dawns on him will now forever be polluted by your sophomoric and unjustified rant.
“How dare he describe my scholarly output thusly?!?” I imagine you asking incredulously through a plume of pipe smoke. (You may also be wearing a cravat.) Well, firstly, the logic and tone of your argument is not dissimilar to that of an adolescent in the throes of a neurotic dismemberment of their ailing romantic relationships. “Then he said he’s going to Dale’s party but I heard that Denise asked him to go to the Wimpy and he said that even though Tori and her sisters were gonna be there he would go because Stacee would probably be there with Toni’s friend from Durban.” Appropriating this tone for the sake of style is fine if you’re an editorial columnist making some kind of flippant social comment. Much less so if you’re a respected academic accusing a beloved public figure of racism.
Secondly, I’m surprised you’re not more sensitive to how the lack of research can impede an argument, especially one as intentionally provocative as yours. But I’m willing to put that oversight down to the same condition that caused the outburst in the first place. So, on the realistic assumption that you intend to stick to your guns and continue arguing your point, I’m going to make it easy for you and remove all the obstacles between you and the information you need to do so. What follows is a transcript of almost every post-match interview with AB de Villiers since his promotion to captaincy. Try not to choke on your shoe as you read it.
THE SRI LANKA SERIES
1st ODI AB: “Dream start for me as captain. Some individuals stood up there – Morne Morkel and Amla. I thought there was something in the pitch for the bowlers and we used it. Guys running in and bowling at 140+ was good.”
Here he uses the white player’s name and surname while referring to the player of Indian descent by his surname only. It could mean he wants Hashim violently evicted from his home, or it could mean he didn’t want the viewers to confuse Morne with Albie. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is more likely.
2nd ODI AB: “The toss didn’t play a big part today. We played good cricket throughout and I am very proud. We picked up wickets at crucial times, and Hash the Rock played really well. There would have been more pressure if they had got those 20-25 runs. Hash’s wife is yet to give birth, but he will be there for it [and will mostly miss the next game].”
I’ll admit it’s not ideal that he compared the Indian player to a “rock”. Rocks are pretty much the most useless things on earth. Unless you’re using them as a foundation for something, in which case they’re pretty damn awesome. I think – bear with me for a second – de Villiers may be speaking metaphorically here; comparing the attributes of a rock to the innings Amla played. This, I know from years of listening to cricket players recite the same clichés match after match, is a compliment of the highest order.
Also I think it’s worth pointing out that any racist worth his salt would probably have expected a black player to do as he’s goddamn told and not take liberties like being present for the birth of his firstborn in the middle of an international series. It’s possible that this indiscretion slipped past AB and the racist coaching regime. But it’s also possible that they’re incredibly happy for Amla and want to make a big deal out of the fact that he’s about to become a dad.
3rd ODI
Cricinfo reports no post-match comments from de Villiers. Possibly because he was out campaigning for the early release of the Waterkloof Four.
4th ODI Very good game, we batted quite well up fornt [sic], could have scored more in the last 10. They batted really well, chased down 300. I’ll take responsibility for losing my wicket at a bad time, we could have got perhaps 330 if I stayed till the end. There are other areas for the team to work on. I wasn’t too happy with our fielding, it wasn’t the best outfield to field on either. Perera played extremely well, he made my job very difficult.”
No credit to any Protea player, despite Tsotsobe taking three wickets. Maybe because he believes Lonwabo should be carrying a pass-book. Maybe because he was incredibly disappointed at not winning the match and didn’t feel like giving anyone other than the opposition a compliment.
5th ODI AB: “Things have been going my way, delighted with my form at the moment. I thought the boys did really well. Biff did extremely well, I told the press that he was going to come through, and I’m very happy for my man. There’s a lot to work on for us, but an [sic] happy with the way the boys fought till the end. Every ground supported us really well this series.”
No mention of Parnell, who took 2 wickets. Maybe because he thinks Wayne should be mowing someone’s lawn instead of playing cricket. Or maybe because Graeme Smith’s temporary return to form and Sri Lanka’s terrific run-chase outshone every other aspect of the match.
THE NEW ZEALAND SERIES
1st T20 AB: “Not a great start, I take responsibility for that. We were expecting them to open up with a spinner, not surprised at all. Overs 4 to 9 cost us, we didn’t cash in at all, but we fought back and in the end we got quite close. We played well in patches, but we want to get it all together in the next game.” Again no mention of any Protea player. This seems to be a pattern when we lose a match. Quite reasonable if you ask me.
2nd T20 AB: “There’s a few things we can learn, but overall I was very happy with keeping them to 170 with the short boundaries. Botha has very good plans and he keeps the batsmen under pressure. I was trying to tell Richard to get off strike once we were at 10 an over but he just kept sending them flying. He’s been fed a bit of biltong back home, but he has done this before so it’s not a one-off. We go to Auckland with momentum now, very happy.”
Here he doesn’t congratulate any of the black players. Perhaps because he carries a picture of Verwoerd in his wallet. Or perhaps because none of them did anything more spectacular than return figures of 4/22 or score the fastest century in the history of international cricket. Note also how he refers to the off-spinner by his surname only. Do you think this is because he lacks respect for Johan Botha? Or can you acknowledge that perhaps the use of a surname instead of a nickname is completely without meaning.
3rd T20 AB: “Amazing team effort, really proud of the men, we hung on at the end there. Really tough batting first and assessing what was a good total, we lost momentum in the middle overs, unfortunately we had a slow start with ball in hand but I told the guys to hang in there. I truly believe Marchant has got it, he has big match temperament, I think the whole team has that and we managed to get a few wickets to turn things around. We do feel very good about the win, but we want to play a certain standard of cricket and we still need to do that more consistently.”
You may have a point here. He refers only to a white player and uses his first name. A sign that he’s surreptitiously maintaining a stock of home-made weaponry in preparation for the Great South African Race War? No. He was probably just overwhelmed by an astonishing comeback topped off by this young player’s incredible final over.
1st ODI AB: “We did really well in the field to restrict them. They had a couple of partnerships, but we kept getting wickets, and that is where we won the game. It was a slowish kind of wicket, and it is important to build pressure on these kind of wickets. JP felt a bit of pressure early on, he did not hit it as well as he would have liked, but he played an important knock. Faf did extremely well. I thought I constructed my innings well which was difficult on this pitch and in these conditions.”
What’s this?!? He’s giving credit to a non-white player AND using his first name?!? DF Malan is spinning in his grave so fast he’s probably drilled a hole halfway to the other side already!
2nd ODI AB: “We played consistently well today, Morne bowled exceptionally for us and set the trend. Morne just [sic] wickets at the right time for us. Always nice when someone starts well up the order like Amla this time, he made it easy for the middle order. Faff is a world-class talent, I’m looking forward to watching him grow into a world-class player. We’d like to do it 3-0.”
I can think of no justification for the lack of credit to Tsotsobe. It must mean he and his prejudiced cadre are developing a strategy they like to call The Final Final Solution. Or perhaps it means what any sober person who is not looking to court controversy thinks that it means; absolutely nothing.
There’s little more I can or want to say on this topic besides wondering what you could possibly do to fix the damage you’ve done with your statement. You’ve slandered the reputation of a man whose dedication and talent is something that should be a constant source of pride to all South Africans. You’ve created further division between races. You’ve misled eager (albeit alarmingly pliable) young minds. And, worst of all, you’ve trivialised racism.
I sincerely hope that you’re mature enough to withdraw your statement and apologise to AB de Villiers in a public forum.
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