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August 14, 2002
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ICC Champions Trophy
Cricket chiefs have insisted that all countries in the Champions Trophy must adhere to rules on endorsements.

England, Australia and India have delayed signing a contract because of a possible conflict with personal sponsors.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed sent a statement to national cricket boards saying it would not tolerate any infringement of the deal with sponsors.

He said the ICC was aware of possible "ambush" marketing plans by companies not officially signed up as partners.

"Every major sporting event provides protection to their partners and anyone else involved in elite sport would recognise that this is an essential component of being able to stage these events," Speed said.

On Monday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said it had to delay naming its squad because contracts had not been signed.

Leading Indian stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly endorse a vast number of products which could contravene the terms of the ICC contracts.

"I am not announcing the team as our players have still not signed the ICC contract, which is required to be signed by all those selected for the event," Niranjan Shah secretary of the BCCI said.


Runako Morton and Mahendra Nagamootoo are back in the West Indies squad for next month's ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.

Captain Carl Hooper and left-hander Brian Lara will spearhead the batting, while fast bowler Mervyn Dillon leads the Caribbean attack for the 12-team tournament on 12-29 Sept.

The West Indies team is pitted against South Africa and Kenya in one of the four qualifying groups.

Morton and Nagamootoo return to the squad after missing the most recent one-day series, at home against India and New Zealand in May and June.

Right-hand batsman Morton, 24, made his only two previous appearances in the series against Pakistan in Sharjah in February.

Leg-spinning all-rounder Nagamootoo played two Test matches against India and New Zealand either side of being injured in a car crash.

The West Indies team:
Hooper (captain), Lara, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Wavell Hinds, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Dillon, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins, Cameron Cuffy, Morton and Nagamootoo.

India's tour of England

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly stood by his bowlers but said he would look for other options as well after his side had batted valiantly to draw the second Test against England at Trent Bridge.

"I don't want to believe they are not capable of picking up 20 wickets but the way it is going, at some stage, we would have to think about our options," Ganguly said.

Indian bowlers conceded 617 runs to England at a rate of over four runs an over and it created a situation where the batsmen needed to play at the top of their form to draw the game.

"Fortunately we stuck up pretty well and did what a team should do in a professional sport if your bowlers fail. It is the job of your batsmen to make up and vice versa."

Ganguly was disappointed with the indisciplined bowling but said as a captain he needed to support his men.


England all-rounder Craig White has been ruled out of the third Test against India with a side strain.

The Yorkshire player scored an unbeaten 94 in the drawn second Test, but picked up an abdominal muscle tear while bowling.

He is expected to be sidelined for between two to four weeks.

But there was better news for Hampshire's John Crawley.

A scan on his left knee revealed there was not a cartilage tear as was first feared.

He will continue to receive treatment and is expected to be fit for the Test at Headingley starting on 22 August.

Key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff had a scan on his troublesome groin on Tuesday and the England medical team are awaiting the results.

Morocco cup
Barry Richards, possibly the best batsman ever to come out of South Africa, on Tuesday could not find enough words to praise the performance of Allan Donald in South Africa's victory over Pakistan in the opening match for the Morocco Cup.

"I think Donald was one of the key figures in the victory over Pakistan. I have not seen him bowl so well and looking so fit for a long time," Richards, a TV commentator at the event, said.

South Africa on Monday beat Pakistan by 54 runs. Herschelle Gibbs was like a cool breeze in the Moroccan furnace and scored a brilliant 114 runs.

However, in praising the team, Richards reserved his highest praise for Donald. "I think that if he stays fit there would be no reason for him to go through to the World Cup."

World Cup
South Africa will dig moats around the 12 grounds to be used for next year's World Cup to prevent spectators invading the pitch, the country's cricket board executive director Ali Bacher has announced.

On Saturday, a spectator at the rugby union Tri-Nations clash between South Africa and New Zealand in Durban got onto the ground where he attacked Irish referee David McHugh.

The official sustained a dislocated shoulder in the incident.

"The decision to build the moats was taken nine months ago, so it is not a reaction to the weekend's incident," Bacher told.

"At the 1999 World Cup in England and the Netherlands, there were a number of pitch invasions. We simply can't have that.

"Not only is there a chance of injury to players or officials, as we saw on Saturday at the rugby, but an invasion also discredits the country."

The moats, which will cost some $US70,000 ($130,000), will be about 1.5 metres wide and filled with mesh netting designed to trap anyone trying to get on to the field, the Star reported.

Closed-circuit television cameras will also be installed at all the grounds, at a cost of some $US400,000 to monitor spectator activity.


Cricket's glittering prize, the World Cup, is under threat from a contract dispute involving players from most leading cricket nations, including Australia.

The dispute could have an impact as soon as next month with the International Cricket Council's Champion's Trophy in Sri Lanka, which is scheduled to involve 12 countries.

There are claims that players from six Test nations have refused to sign an agreement that would protect Champion's Trophy and World Cup sponsors from ambush marketing, threatening a billion dollar ICC deal that ends after the 2007 World Cup.

Sachin Tendulkar is unable to sign the contract in its current form, which would prevent him from playing in any ICC events including the next two World Cups in South Africa and the West Indies.

The Indian champion's personal sponsors include Samsung and Fiat, which would be in direct competition with World Cup supporters LG and Toyota. Tendulkar is one of six Indian players recently signed up by Samsung.

The ICC's deadline was last Monday but Tim May, chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association and joint CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, yesterday dismissed the ultimatum.

"Quite frankly, the deadline for us is when the players terms in the contract are in an appropriate form," May said.

Australia's tour of Pakistan
Pakistan have turned down a proposal to host their Test series against Australia in Morocco and have found themselves backed fully by the game's world governing body.

Abdulrehman Bukhatir, chief organiser of one-day cricket in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, had offered Tangiers as a possible neutral venue for the Test series in October after Australia declined to tour Pakistan for security reasons.

But Pakistan captain Waqar Younis rejected the proposal, saying he wanted to play the series closer to home where the conditions and crowd support suited his team.

"Tangiers is a great venue for cricket, but since the Australia Tests are a home series for us, we would rather play at a place where the pitch conditions and crowd support us," Waqar said.

The Pakistani captain declined to state his preferred option, but the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and the Gulf emirate of Sharjah are being touted as possible venues.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed, for the opening match of the Morocco Cup between Pakistan and South Africa, said it is too early to consider Tangiers a Test venue.

Domestic
Bengal medium-pacer Shabbir Ali is set to miss the Buchi Babu Trophy starting in Chennai on August 20. It has been learnt that Ali has picked up a leg injury which will keep him out for a few weeks. Veteran left-arm spinner Utpal Chatterjee will replace him.

The CAB had earlier planned to exclude seniors like Utpal and Devang Gandhi for these tournaments. However, the second-round defeat in the recent Karnataka state association-organised meet must have caused a rethink.

Rohan Gavaskar and Subhamoy Das will rejoin the squad after skipping the Karnataka meet. W.V. Raman, after attending a coaching course in Australia, is also likely to join the players in Chennai. The team will be picked Tuesday.

Miscellaneous
Lancashire have signed Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh.

He will become the club's second overseas player next season, alongside Australian batsman Stuart Law.

Harbhajan, who is currently involved in a Test series against England, has signed a one-year deal with the Old Trafford club.

It will be the 22-year-old's first foray into county cricket.

Mike Watkinson, Lancashire cricket manager said: "We are delighted to have secured the services of one of the world's leading spin bowlers.

"Hopefully his talents will be the perfect foil for our crop of very promising young pace bowlers."

Lancashire fought off stiff opposition from Sussex.

Harbhajan, nicknamed the Turbanator, has taken 110 wickets in his Test career at an average of 28.78.


The International Cricket Council sent out a press release on Monday, giving their view of the events surrounding the contract row. Given below is the release.

The ICC has advised all Boards that it would not change the ambush marketing protection given to the ICC's commercial sponsors. In a letter to all Chief Executives, ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed calls on all Boards to meet their obligation to send their best teams to the ICC Champions Trophy.

In line with other major sporting events and previous cricket World Cups, the ICC is protecting its commercial partners by ensuring that their competitors are unable to associate with the event.

In 2000, based on agreements in place for the 1999 World Cup, all Boards, through the ICC, agreed to a number of sponsorship and personal endorsement restrictions in return for $550m for the commercial rights to ICC events through until 2007.

The ICC is to distribute a record $102 million of this to the Boards and the players from the Champions Trophy and the World Cup 2003.

South Africa is to receive millions of dollars to stage the tournament, while $13 million is to go directly to fund the development of the game around the world. In return the ICC is seeking to ensure that the agreements previously reached with the Boards are adhered to.


One of Australia's greatest batsmen, Allan Border, has joined the Australian Cricket Board.

The former Test star will join barrister Damien Mullins as an ACB member, taking the spot vacated by the retirement of Cam Battersby.

Border originally became a board member of Queensland Cricket following the death of former Test batsman Peter Burge in October last year.

Mullins applauded the decision to elevate 47-year-old Border to the ACB.

He said: "I'm looking forward to having the chance to work with Allan on the ACB.

"The delegate body deserve credit for recognising that the opportunity of having someone of his stature in the game who has contemporary knowledge of the players was too good to pass up."

Design: Imran Shaikh


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