With cricket’s biggest extravaganza, the ICC Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be played in Australia and New Zealand next year, a potential threat has been unearthed by the Kiwi police.

According to a report published in The New Zealand Herald, the fixers and bookies might use honey traps as a weapon during the tournament to lure them.

“We know they bring in women into the country to fraternise with players. Afterwards, they’ll ask the players to do something and if they refuse they’ll say, ‘Well, see these photographs? They will be with your wife, your neighbours, your parents,” Superintendent Sandra Manderson, police chief for the Cricket World Cup, was quoted as saying in the report.

The report also suggested about a list of match-fixers which has been compiled by the police and anti-corruption investigators in a bid to stop them at the border before the World Cup.

The World Cup will be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand and the police is trying its best to depose off possible threats.

Of late, cricket’s image has been tarnished with instances of fixing and spot-fixing. Kiwi cricketer Lou Vincent was the recent victim where he publicly accepted involvement in fixing

-Zee

Sri Lankan cricketer Thisara Perera says that he was invited by New Zealand to join their team.

Expressing his ideas to a web site he says ” they promised that they will grant me P R first and then to get me joined to their team.  But, my aim is to join the Sri Lankan team again.”

He was reluctant to talk about the activities of the Sri Lanka cricket institute and has stated that ” I will talk about it when I leave cricket.”

One of the most elegant stroke players in test history bid farewell to a glittering test career  at the SSC on Monday, August 18.

Spinner Rangana Herath scripted a perfect farewell to Mahela Jayawardene as Sri Lanka secured a 105 run win in the second test against Pakistan and also clinched victory of the series 2 -0.

Opened in 1865, the famous Langham Hotel is known as one of the most haunted hotels in the world. It was once again in news after England cricketers asked for change of rooms during their Test matches played in London.

The London-based hotel has a reputation for inducing fear among its guests with rather strange incidents.

The recent cricketer who complained about such an incident was senior England bowler Stuart Broad. He said that during his stay at the hotel, taps in his room were on and off out of nowhere.

The England pacer’s girlfriend Bealey too had a tough time staying at the hotel

Broad further stated that his England teammate Moeen Ali and his better half experienced something strange at the venue. He also said that Ben Stokes too had faced trouble during his stay at the Langham.

England bowler though said that his stay during the ongoing series against India has been relatively fine.

As reported in Daily Mail, room 333 at the hotel is believed to be the most haunted with the hotel’s own website stating:

“In 1973 a BBC radio announcer James Alexander-Gordon awoke suddenly in the night to see a fluorescent ball which slowly took on the shape of a man wearing Victorian evening wear. The announcer asked the ghost what it wanted and it began to float towards him, with its legs cut off some two feet below the ground, arms outstretched, eyes staring emptily. At this point the announcer got up and fled.”

It has been reported that there is a plan of sending a light air craft with LTTE flag to the grounds while the first test match Sri Lanka vs England is going on at Lord’s grounds.

Even before, this had been planed when there was a match, but, it didn’t reach the grounds as it had stopped at a brand of a tree.

Root’s 102 not out helped take England to 344 for five at stumps on the first day of the first Test after they’d been struggling at 74 for three when the 23-year-old Yorkshireman walked out to bat.

Root, who made a Test-best 180 against Australia at Lord’s last year, was well supported by Matt Prior (76 not out) in a so-far unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 135.

However, recalled wicketkeeper Prior was fortunate not be out for a second-ball duck before completing just his second 50 in 21 Test innings.

Moeen Ali (48), one of three debutants in a new-look England side following their 5-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia, had previously helped Root steady the ship during a fifth-wicket stand of 89.

“It’s a very slow wicket and hard to time when the ball goes softer,” Root told Sky Sports.

“It was a day when you had to scrap,” he added after batting for more than five hours.

“Nothing beats Test cricket in my eyes and the challenge of trying to score runs in the first Test of the summer after the winter we had was one I relished.”

Before this match, Australia great Shane Warne said England ought to have given a debut to Jos Buttler and left Prior out.

However, Root said he was delighted to have the Sussex gloveman alongside him.

“I love batting with Matty. He’s a great bloke to have in the side and to play how he has is testament to his character and his quality as a player.”

Things initially went well for Sri Lanka after captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and elected to field.

Although sunny blue skies above suggested ideal batting conditions, the pitch was a greener-looking one than usually associated with Lord’s at this time of year.

- Early double strike -

Mathews’s decision yielded a quick reward as England lost both their openers inside the first half hour.

Australia-born Sam Robson, one of England’s newcomers along with Ali and all-rounder Chris Jordan, fell for one on his Middlesex home ground when drawn forward into edging a full-length Nuwan Pradeep delivery that was well caught by diving wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene.

And 14 for one became 22 for two when England captain Alastair Cook (17) edged a cut off Nuwan Kulasekara into his stumps.

But from then on things got tougher for the tourists as the pitch flattened out.

“We bowled pretty well on this wicket,” said Sri Lanka bowling coach Chaminda Vaas.

“I thought in the first few hours we bowled in some good areas,” the former left-arm seamer added.

“I didn’t expect more (than five wickets) because something happened in the wicket in the first few hours.”

England had struggled to 98 for three at lunch, also losing Gary Ballance.

But Bell was unbeaten on 41 and looked in excellent touch in his 99th Test.

After lunch, Bell drove left-arm spinner Rangana Herath for six to go to a 69-ball 50.

But he was out soon afterwards when lbw to Eranga although Sri Lanka first had to review Australian umpire Paul Reiffel’s original not out decision .

Ali began cautiously but the left-hander and Root were both 43 not out at tea.

Root subsequently completed his fifty but Ali fell when he drove loosely at Herath and was caught by Mahela Jayawardene at slip.

Prior, dropped during the Ashes, had still to score on Thursday when struck on the back leg by Herath.

Sri Lanka appealed for lbw but Reiffel ruled in Prior’s favour and, despite a review, the ‘umpire’s call’ stood after replays indicated the ball had pitched fractionally outside off stump.

Meanwhile Root cut and cover-drove Eranga for two well-struck boundaries.

Prior, who marked his Test debut with a hundred at Lord’s against the West Indies in 2007, reached 50 when he cover-drove Pradeep, bowling with the new ball, for his seventh four.

Root, obliged to be more vigilant, drove Kulasekara down the ground for just his eighth boundary to go to 96 before reaching his third hundred in 16 Tests with three off Herath.

-NDTV

Uncertainty looms over the planned tours by Ireland and Sri Lankan cricket teams to Pakistan this year following the terrorist attacks at the Karachi airport here.

“We were going to sign an agreement with the Ireland cricket body on the sidelines of the ICC executive board meeting in Melbourne this month. They had agreed to come and play three one-day internationals in Lahore in September,” a senior official of the board told PTI.

“We had also got positive vibes from Sri Lankan cricket authorities about the invitation we sent them last month to come and play a short one-day series anytime this year.”

“But now, after this attack, it would be fair to say these projects appear very dim,” the official added.

He said the idea to invite Ireland came about as the board was keen to have some sort of international cricket in Pakistan.

“The English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman Giles Clarke had played a part in helping us in this project and convincing Ireland it was safe to play in Pakistan and we would provide them top security,” he said.

“But now it appears everything has gone down the drain,” he said.

No Test team has played in Pakistan since March 2009, when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in which six Pakistani policemen and a van driver were killed and some of the visiting players also wounded leading to abandonment of the tour.

PCB chairman Najam Sethi had in recent press interactions hinted at giving some good news to Pakistani cricket fans and supporters and insisted the board was making serious efforts to get international cricket back to Pakistan.

Another official said the Sri Lankans had also reacted positively to the invitation sent to them.

“Now we have to start afresh and this incident also means that now when we go to the ICC meeting to sign bilateral agreements with different boards for the next five to eight years it will be hard convincing them to keep the option of playing in Pakistan open,” the official said.

He said Pakistan had negotiated well with some boards who had agreed to play bilateral series as part of the new FTP calender.

PTI

The Indian cricket team dropped a rung to third but Virat Kohli continued to top the batting chart in the latest ICC one-day rankings announced on Wednesday. India lost their second position to Sri Lanka, while Australia maintained their place at the top of the heap.

Sri Lanka’s 3-2 series win over England helped them gain one ratings point to move up to 112, the same ratings points as India. However, when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Angelo Mathews’ side edged out India.

In the individual rankings, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni remained steady at sixth followed by Shikhar Dhawan at eight spot (a loss of one position). Rohit Sharma entered the top-20 at the the 20th position. Among the bowlers, offspinner Ravindra Jadeja slipped a position to fifth to be only Indian in the top-10.

Elsewhere in the list, offspinners James Tredwell of England and Sachitra Senanayake of Sri Lanka entered the top 20 for the first time at the end of the five-match ODI series between the two sides that finished at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka claimed the five-match series 3-2 after they sealed the fifth and final ODI with a six-wicket win on Tuesday. Tredwell jumped 18 places to a career-best 12th with 627 ratings points, while Senanayake vaulted 20 places to 13th, with 623 ratings points. Both Tredwell and Senanayake claimed nine wickets in the series. However, Senanayake had a better average of 15.11, while Tredwell’s haul came at an average of 18.44.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan moved up two places to seventh in the rankings for ODI batsmen, in the only positive movement inside the top 10. Dilshan was the highest run-getter in the series, with 222 runs at an average of 44.40.

South Africa batsman AB de Villiers occupies the second place and Australia’s George Bailey holds the third position.

Times of India