Basseterre, St. Kitts - The Nevis senior Cricket squad is set to create history, come Monday 20th September. It would not be fair to say that it would not be on the field of play because that is exactly where the action will be—but this time around, the team members will not be playing cricket.
President of the Nevis Cricket Association, Ronald Powell, spoke with the players at the ET Willet Park yesterday and confirmed that the players for the first time ever, will be represented in the Independence ceremonial parade, along with the other armed and unarmed forces such as the Police, the Cadets, the Pathfinders, Brigade, Scouts etc.
Powell told the players that it was all part of image building and patriotism. ‘There are times that as cricketers we have been seen in a less than a positive light. Here is a chance to give back to the community and demonstrate that as cricketers you are involved in things that are positive and uplifting”, Powell told the cricketers.
Up until late yesterday the dress code was still being finalized. The cricketers were making up their minds whether or not they will be marching in their maroons or in pure white.
MARCHING is indeed the active word. The cricketers are not only going to participate in the ceremony, they intend to match the more established bodies, step for step. In this regard, Powell further indicated that they will be showing up for the two official practice sessions scheduled for the participants of the parade—one today Tuesday and the other set for Friday 17th September.
Powell also confirmed that there is a high possibility that some of the under 19, under 15 and under 13 cricketers may be a part of the marching line up as well.
Whatever, the eventual outcome, it would appear that this year’s Independence ceremonial parade will be extra special.
Meanwhile, President Powell also confirmed that it is the intention of his Association to release the Nevis squad that will be participating in the 2010 Leeward Islands cricket tournament, later this week. “We will inform the players first and then the team will be released to the media”, he stated. He also informed that a 14 member female cricket squad has been selected to represent Nevis on a weekend tour to St.Maarten before year end. That team will be ratified shortly and released, then the players will be called to practice under Coach Wendell Wallace. The ladies who are interested in mastering the hard ball version of the game will also receive specialized practice.
WIPA slams Sarwan's contract exclusion
Cricinfo staff
The West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) has "condemned" Ramnaresh Sarwan's exclusion from the WICB's list of contracted players, and has questioned the board's reasoning behind the decision. The WICB said it had cut Sarwan because of concerns about his attitude to fitness. According to a WIPA release, Sarwan's recent injuries had occurred while playing for West Indies and that he had shown initiative in trying to recover quickly, following all directions issued by the board.
According to WIPA, Sarwan had been informed by the WICB chief executive, Ernest Hilaire, of the board's concerns about his attitude to fitness following a report on West Indies' tour of Australia in November 2009. Neither the players' association nor Sarwan, however, had seen the report.
According to the WIPA, in a letter dated January 11, the board said it was not highlighting specific incidents illustrating its concerns about Sarwan but only wanted to sensitize him to the problem.
In its reply to the WICB, the players' association had asked for specific instances when Sarwan did not meet the standards demanded, and wanted the batsman to be given an opportunity to state his case. No reply had so far been received by the WIPA.
The players' association also highlighted that Sarwan's recent injuries had occurred while on West Indies duty - a back problem during the tour of Australia, and a hamstring injury in the home series against South Africa earlier this year. It also outlined the measures Sarwan had taken on his own initiative and expense - undergoing treatment in Florida and Canada - to recover from the injuries. The WIPA also said that there had been no complaints from the team management about Sarwan's attitude or his commitment to training in the past and during the series against Australia and South Africa.
Sarwan, however, had said that he was expecting the setback but that the disappointment would not affect his focus in leading Guyana's ongoing Champions League Twenty20 campaign in South Africa.
Dhoni, Kumble, Hazare in India's all-time XI
Cricinfo staff
MS Dhoni has made it to ESPNcricinfo's India all-time XI, beating record-holding wicketkeepers Syed Kirmani and Kiran More, by virtue of his superior batting. Dhoni was picked by seven members of the 11-person jury, which was unanimous in voting Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Vinoo Mankad into the XI.
The No. 5 spot divided the jury the most, and Vijay Hazare, who played only eight innings in that position (one of them in the Adelaide Test of 1948, where he made two centuries), was preferred over the likes of Gundappa Viswanath, MAK Pataudi, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohinder Amarnath and VVS Laxman.
The opening positions are taken by Virender Sehwag (10 votes) and Gavaskar, a blend of attack and defence, while the presence of Rahul Dravid (nine votes) and Tendulkar at Nos. 3 and 4 makes India's the only batting line-up among the eight leading countries, for which ESPNcricinfo has picked all-time XIs, to have over 42,000 Test runs between the top four.
Only one bowler from India's legendary spin quartet of the 70s makes it to the XI. Offspinner Erapalli Prasanna, with 189 wickets in 49 Tests, joins Anil Kumble (nine votes), Javagal Srinath and Kapil to form the bowling line-up. Allrounder Mankad, who took 162 wickets at 32.32 with his slow left-armers, completes the spin-dominated attack.
India's XI is the only one to feature just two fast bowlers. Australia had fast-bowling allrounder Keith Miller to back Dennis Lillee and Glenn McGrath, and South Africa had Mike Procter to help Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald.
Among the notable omissions, who did not make it to the XIs of any of the jury members, were former captain Mohammad Azharuddin; Bishan Bedi, perhaps the most highly rated of the spin quartet; and wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer.
ESPNcricinfo readers were invited to vote on the shortlists and their XI matched the jury's in all but one: Laxman was the readers' choice for No. 5 instead of Hazare.
The jury included former Test players Sanjay Manjrekar and Arun Lal, former Mumbai player and coach Vasu Paranjape, sports journalists Pradeep Magazine, Ayaz Memon, R Mohan and Suresh Menon, cricket historian Ramachandra Guha and television commentator Harsha Bhogle.
The XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Erapalli Prasanna.
FOOTBALL
Nevis 13 and under Festival set for Saturday
An exciting 13 and under Football Festival will be held in Nevis on Saturday 18th September 2010. This has been confirmed by Football Coach within the Ministry of Social Development, Leroy ‘Jun-Jun’ Sweeney.
According to Sweeney, the action will take place at the Bath Village Playing field starting at around 10 am and going up into the early evening. Some four teams are expected to participate: The Nevis 13 and under team, a team from Newtown in St.Kitts. a team from the Village in St.Kitts and a team from out of Wadadley, Antigua.
Sweeney indicated that in terms of ball skills, his team is fully peaked but stated that he will be focusing on their fitness levels during the practice sessions this week. He indicated that this was a major concern as they were on vacation break up until recently and are a bit lacking in this regard.
Meanwhile, the youthful Nevis team journeyed to St.Kitts on Saturday 11th September and engaged their counterparts from Newtown. Sweeney indicated that he was really pleased with the performance of his team as they drew their game with their more seasoned rivals 1 goal –all.
Captain TJ Browne noted that his team was leading with a score line of 1 goal to nil up to the 89th minute but a slight error in judgment allowed the Kittitians to equalize. Prodded further, young Browne stated that on the day, the outfield was wet and slippery and his teammates did not have total control as they were slipping a lot. Shakeer Claxton was voted the MVP of that game and Jevani Tyson was the goal scorer.
“I got a cross and I knocked it in—the ball hit the cross bar and then went in”: he stated matter of factly.
Sweeney is urging all Football enthusiasts on Nevis to come out and support the Nevis team in their endeavours on Saturday as one of the major results of the games, is that a St.Kitts-Nevis (Federation) 13 and under Football team will be selected based on the performances during the Football Festival.
When asked whether or not they believed that they could be a part of a Federation 13 and under team, to a man (or maybe I should say, ‘to a boy’), all of the young players enthusiastically raised a hand.
TENNIS
Rafael Nadal wins US Open to seal career Grand Slam
BBC SPORTS
Rafael Nadal joined the ranks of the all-time greats of tennis as he beat Novak Djokovic to win the US Open and complete his set of Grand Slam titles.
The Spaniard, 24, won a rain-interrupted final 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2 at Flushing Meadows in New York.
Nadal's first US Open victory takes him to nine Grand Slam titles.
And he becomes only the seventh man in history to complete the set of majors - Wimbledon, the French, Australian and US Opens.
Nadal joins Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry in having swept the board, and also becomes the first man since Laver in 1969 to win the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same year.
"That's more than I dreamt," Nadal said at the trophy presentation. "It's just amazing to be here in this final, just to arrive in this final. To have this trophy here in a few seconds, with my hands, is going to be unbelievable."
Neither the New York rain, which had seen the final postponed on Sunday and then interrupted for nearly two hours on Monday, nor Djokovic could halt the Spaniard's relentless march to the one title that still eluded him.
There was a case to be made for Djokovic going into the final, not least because he had defeated five-time champion Roger Federer in a dramatic semi-final and had a 7-3 record against Nadal on hard courts, but the world number one is a different animal in major finals.
Monday's encounter began in pulsating fashion, with the first five games taking over half an hour as both men pounded away from the baseline.
