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« February 2008 |
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March 22, 2008
Underground Lord's
Posted on 03/22/2008 in MCC
The tunnels beneath Lord's, two of which used to carry tube trains, could be converted into indoor nets or used as walkways to cope with pedestrian congestion which is expected to increase dramatically in the next ten years.
David Batts, the MCC deputy chief executive, said: "It would be great to turn them into something useful.One of the main planks of our masterplan for Lord's is to create a cricket academy. We need new indoor nets and there is no reason why they shouldn't be underground like the ones at the Oval.
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"There are alternatives: the tunnels could become a storage facility, a car park, or a health club. We are receiving proposals from architects and we will come up with a shortlist over the next couple of weeks."
The tunnels used to house trains on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines. A third tunnel still functions, carrying trains from Marylebone to Birmingham.
Read the full story in today's Daily Telegraph.
March 21, 2008
Glamorgan report healthy profit
Posted on 03/21/2008 in Glamorgan
Glamorgan have entered the black for the first time in nine years, reporting a profit of £14,688.
"We're delighted that after such a difficult summer, with the stadium under construction and the appalling weather affecting the Twenty20 matches, we've managed to return an operating profit of £268,500," Mike Fatkin, the club's chief executive, said. "Having recently announced major sponsorship agreements with SWALEC, The Really Welsh Company, Paramount Office Interiors and others, we're seeing an increase in sponsorship income from £90,000 back in 2005, to a projected £1.1million in 2008. We have recruited several players from other counties and I know the players and our supporters are looking forward to the 2008 season with a real sense of anticipation."
Westwood named Warwickshire vice-captain
Posted on 03/21/2008 in Warwickshire
Ian Westwood has been appointed vice-captain of Warwickshire for 2008.
..Obviously, I was delighted and felt very proud to be offered such an opportunity," he said. The club is very important to me and I am honoured to be able to play a role going forward in this exciting time for us. I will offer my support to Darren [Maddy] along with the rest of the lads and am looking forward to a successful season..
March 18, 2008
Watford lad lands Academy contract
Posted on 03/18/2008 in Middlesex
The Ealing Gazette reports that Watford Grammar School for Boys pupil Will Jones has landed a 12-month contract with Middlesex Cricket Academy. The 16-year-old right-arm pace bowler, who plays his club cricket for West Herts, was offered the contract by the club's Academy director Graham West.
March 14, 2008
Hampshire captaincy undecided
Posted on 03/14/2008 in Hampshire
Just five weeks from the start of the English county season, Hampshire are at odds to pick the man to lead them in 2008. Dimitri Mascarenhas, the club's star allrounder, will be plying his trade for Jaipur in the lucrative Indian Premier League, under regular captain Shane Warne, and Nic Pothas, the wicketkeeper, jeopardised his chances by signing for the unofficial Indian Cricket League, much to the displeasure of cricket manager Paul Terry.
"We deem the job to be an important one and an honour as it should be," Terry told BBC Radio Solent. "I can't say that I have a decision in mind at the moment."
"So much has happened in the last couple of weeks. These are things that I will have a chat about with the chairman (Rod Bransgrove) next week," added Terry, who flies into the UK this weekend from his home in Perth.
Hampshire have been one of the counties hit hard by both the IPL and the ICL. Shane Bond's contract is in serious doubt since he signed for the ICL. Shane Watson, the Australian all-rounder, will play the middle third of the campaign before Warne takes on the captaincy for the final two months of the summer.
March 11, 2008
Durham head to South Africa
Posted on 03/11/2008 in Durham
Durham will embark on their pre-season tour to South Africa on Friday March 28, returning to the Riverside on Wednesday April 9.
The team, along with head coach Geoff Cook, will spend ten days at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria where they will train and play four one day games. Two matches will be played against Johannesburg University and the other two games will see Durham face Highveld Lions, where Liam Plunkett and Stephen Harmison both spent some
time in the winter months.
Upon their return to the UK the team will face Yorkshire in two one-day matches at Headingley on Thursday April 10 and Friday 11. "Our pre season preparation is massively important and will definitely stand us in good stead for the start of the season,. Cook said. ..Expectations will undoubtedly be high so it's a great opportunity for the squad to get together to discuss our aims and objectives for 2008."
March 9, 2008
Rebel without a pause
Posted on 03/09/2008 in Middlesex
Two decades after touring apartheid South Africa, John Emburey, English cricket's foremost rebel is at it again, coaching in the unofficial Indian Cricket League and dreaming of a global inter-city event. In a fascinating interview in The Observer, he talks candidly about those 1980s rebel tours.
After the first one, in 1982, he said: 'I'd have thought twice about going if I'd known the ban would last three years - that stunned all of us. Assuming I would have been chosen for England's tours, and played my share of Tests at home, I have lost financially.'
And he also looks at whether the ICL will have a London franchise.
There are 13 League football teams in London, so one cricket team should be possible,' he says. Not only possible, but very lucrative. Which sponsors would not want to be associated with the first team to carry the London brand into a competition played out in the globe's largest market?
Positive response for Headingley plans
Posted on 03/09/2008 in Yorkshire
An artist's impression of the new £20m Headingley pavilion has been given positive response after it went on display.
It will be a crystalline structure with a green undulating roof and will double as an iconic headquarters for Yorkshire cricket and also as a teaching facility for Leeds Met University, who are funding the majority of the project.
"We tried to address concerns surrounding things like transport, parking and sustainability and what the overall proposal will do for Headingley as a suburb," Stewart Regan, Yorkshire's chief executive, told the Yorkshire Post. "One or two people expressed concerns, but the general reaction was very encouraging."
Click here for the full story.
Cork not thinking retirement
Posted on 03/09/2008 in Lancashire
Dominic Cork is preparing for his 19th season of county action but his hunger remains undiminished. He was the last-man out when Lancashire fell 25 runs short of claiming the Championship last year but tells the Manchester Evening News he, and the team, will use that near-miss as motivation.
It was a great effort to get that close and I think if we can take those qualities from that last day into this season, we should again be challenging for a lot of trophies.You can look back at last season and be disappointed we haven't won anything, but also you can be proud of the efforts everybody put in and what we have to do as a side is go that one step further.
Donald couldn't resist call of the Bears
Posted on 03/09/2008 in Warwickshire
Last summer Allan Donald was the man who had the problem of trying to sort out Steve Harmison as he began his spell as England bowling coach. By all accounts he was making a good impression - hardly surprising for someone with 330 Test wickets - but when it came to taking the job full time he said 'no thanks'. After a brief spell back in the media he returned to coaching with Warwickshire, the county where he made his name as a lightening young quick. George Dobell from the Birmingham Post caught up with him and found a man very content with his decision.
"To be honest with you, I wouldn..t have taken the England job even if this role at Warwickshire hadn..t come up," Donald says. "Working with the England team was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel I made a positive impact. And, I have to say, the ECB were brilliant. They are a highly professional organisation and, in many ways, everything about the job was great.
"But I..ve been on the road for years. At some stage you have to put the family first. I want to see my children grow up.
Watson heading back to Hampshire
Posted on 03/09/2008 in Hampshire
Shane Watson, the Australian allrounder, is set to return to Hampshire for a mid-season spell in June and July. The club are still trying to cover the gaps left by Shane Warne's absence and Watson's stint will coincide with the Twenty20 Cup. He previously played for Hampshire in 2004 and 2005, helping them with the C&G Trophy in 2005.
"I'm definitely going back to Hampshire and I'm just a day away from signing," Watson told the Daily Echo on Friday.
However, it is believed that Watson is still hoping to find a place in the IPL so wouldn't be available for the first part of the season if Hampshire need to replace Shane Bond who is part of the ICL and is likely to be prevented from playing county cricket.
March 7, 2008
Cancer Tests for England cricketers
Posted on 03/07/2008 in Miscellaneous
All first-class cricketers in England will be tested for skin cancer this season. In an initiative by the Professional Cricketers Association about 400 players will have checks for the disease.
Hampshire disappointed at Pothas ICL decision
Posted on 03/07/2008 in Hampshire
Paul Terry, the Hampshire manager, has raised his concern over the future of Nic Pothas's county career after the wicketkeeper signed for the Indian Cricket League.
"I think if he was aware of that risk then, yes, I am very disappointed," he told the BBC. "I think he probably was aware of the [risks] before he left."
"We have got a wicket-keeper, Tom Burrows, who has played a bit of first-team cricket for us and has always done very well," added Terry. "So if it was to be Tom then I think he could go far."
Read the full story at the BBC.
March 6, 2008
Mushtaq 'would not have risked Sussex place for ICL deal'
Posted on 03/06/2008 in Sussex
Chris Adams has said that Mushtaq Ahmed would not have signed for the unauthorised Indian Cricket League if he thought it would cost him his Sussex place.
"Knowing Mushy I can categorically say that if he knew he was going to be banned from playing for Sussex he would not have joined the ICL,. Adams told the Argus newspaper. "This is his second home now. He has played for Sussex for longer than any other team and he would not have put his Sussex career in jeopardy..
Adams admitted that the county might have to look for a last-minute replacement for Mushtaq. "That's the worst-case scenario and we hope something can be sorted out before then . but I find it hard to understand why it has taken ECB so long to come up with this ruling with regards overseas players when the ICL has already been up and running since October."
Murray Goodwin has also been recruited for the ICL on a two-year contract but as a Kolpak registration, he will not be barred.
Caddick resumes training
Posted on 03/06/2008 in Somerset
Andy Caddick has resumed training following major surgery to address an ongoing back problem. ..I went back to the Nuffield Hospital last weekend to see my surgeon who gave me the all clear to start training again which is great news. Since then I have been swimming every day. I am feeling OK and will be going back to see the surgeon for my next check up in six week's time, just before we fly out to Abu Dhabi for the pre-season tour..
Marcus Trescothick and Ben Phillips are also back in full training.
Pothas doubts as he signs for the ICL
Posted on 03/06/2008 in Hampshire
Hampshire..s plans for 2008, already hit by the extended absence of Shane Warne and the probably unavailability of Shane Bond, have been dealt a further blow with news that Nic Pothas has signed for the unofficial Indian Cricket League.
Pothas, who qualifies for England this summer, had been touted as a replacement for Warne as captain, but he has thrown in his lot with the Delhi Giants.
Although the ECB has made clear that players who sign with the ICL will face being barred, Pothas.. status means his case is not straightforward. His qualification for England has not been finalised, and as an EU-qualified player through his Greek passport, he is neither an overseas player nor a Kolpak signing.
March 4, 2008
Somerset membership tops 5000
Posted on 03/04/2008 in Somerset
Somerset have announced that membership numbers are fast approaching 5,000. Commercial manager Guy Wolfenden said: "We have just enjoyed our busiest ever January regarding membership, during which over 2,000 signed up, which looks very good for the coming season when we will be back in the first division in both the county championship and the Pro 40 one-day competition."
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