Spin to dominate ICC World Twenty20 in home of raw pace

In the Caribbean islands which spawned a conveyor belt of intimidating pacemen in the 1970s and 1980s, spin is poised to dominate the ICC World Twenty20.

Gone are the days when lightning fast tracks were the norm in the West Indies and the slower bowlers are expected to prosper in the third edition of the 17-day run-fest which starts in Guyana on Friday.

India, who won the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 title in 2007, and Pakistan, the 2009 champions, have the best spinners in the tournament and could dominate, according to former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram.

"The pitches in the West Indies are more suited to spin now and Pakistan and India have plenty of options to bank upon," Akram said. Pakistan has included two specialist spinners, Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman, in their squad while India has Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla. Both teams also have several spin bowling all-rounders.

Former captain Ramiz Raja said while they were no favourites in the fastest format of cricket Pakistan and India had to be feared because of their records. "When it comes down to Twenty20 cricket then certainly Pakistani and Indian players have adapted better compared to the Australians, English or South African players," Raja said.

He said teams will plenty of spin options would have the edge in the World Cup. "Those days are gone when you had fast paced and hard tracks in the Caribbean. Nowadays spinners do well there," Raja added.

Former captain and Pakistan's most capped player, Inzamam-ul-Haq said that Pakistani players had an advantage since they had not appeared in the Indian Preier League matches before the World Cup.

"Our players are fresh and short of international cricket so they will be craving to do well in a mega event," Inzamam said. "Spinners will definitely play an influential role, it just shows that slow bowlers can be effective in any format of cricket," he added.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid said the combination of a strong spin attack and the inspirational leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni could fire the Indians to another title.

"The conditions should suit India with the kind of spinners we have and I think he (Dhoni) will be very confident with the team we are taking to the West Indies," he said.

"From the Indian side, Suresh Raina is someone I'm very keen to watch at the world level. He should be someone who will be absolutely sensational to watch." The ICC World Twenty20 kicks off on Friday with two matches in Guyana with the final in Barbados on May 16.

World cup T20 2010 Schedule

Get ready to witness the clash of the worlds top teams in West Indies this year where Pakistan will fight to defend the crown of T20 and the rest of teams will fight for the crown of cricket's new face "The Million Dollar Game of T20". This Years ICC World Cup T20 is hosted by West Indies starting from 30apr. It will be the third World Twenty20 cricket series. The ICC World Twenty20 2010 will be contested by 12 teams which have been 'seeded' and divided into four groups are A, B, C and D.

Don't forget to check out the teams and all the other related information of the teams below.

Group A - Pakistan (A1), Bangladesh (A2) and Australia
Group B - Sri Lanka (B1), New Zealand (B2) and Zimbabwe
Group C - South Africa (C1), India (C2) and Afghanistan
Group D - West Indies (D1), England (D2) and Ireland

The live telecast of all the matches will be on the Star Cricket and ESPN in India. Do not afraid of losing the match if you are not home. You can watch the matches online on http://www.watchanytv.com

Match Schedules:

Twenty20 World Cup 2010 Group Stages

Friday, April 30th 2010 New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 13:00 local | 17:00 GMT | 18:00 BST Providence Stadium, Guyana West Indies vs Ireland 17:00 local | 21:00 GMT | 22:00 BST Providence Stadium, Guyana Saturday, May 1st 2010 Afghanistan vs India 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia Bangladesh vs Pakistan 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia Sunday, May 2nd 2010 India vs South Africa 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia Australia vs Pakistan 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia Monday, May 3rd 2010 Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Providence Stadium, Guyana West Indies vs England 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Providence Stadium, Guyana Tuesday, May 4th 2010 New Zealand vs Zimbabwe 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Providence Stadium, Guyana England vs Ireland 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Providence Stadium, Guyana Wednesday, May 5th 2010 Australia vs Bangladesh 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados Afghanistan vs South Africa 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados

Twenty20 World Cup 2010 Super Eights

Thursday, May 6th 2010 A1 vs D2 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados C1 vs B2 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados Friday, May 7th 2010 A2 vs C2 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados B1 vs D1 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados Saturday, May 8th 2010 C1 vs D2 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados A1 vs B2 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados Sunday, May 9th 2010 C2 vs D1 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados B1 vs A2 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados Monday, May 10th 2010 B2 vs D2 09:30 local | 13:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia A1 vs C1 13:30 local | 17:30 GMT | 18:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia Tuesday, May 11th 2010 B1 vs C2 13:00 local | 17:00 GMT | 18:00 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia D1 vs A2 17:00 local | 21:00 GMT | 22:00 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia

Twenty20 World Cup 2010 Semi Finals

Semi Final 1 - Thursday, May 13th 2010 tba vs tba 11:30 local | 15:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia Semi Final 2 - Friday, May 14th 2010 tba vs tba 11:30 local | 15:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Beaysejour Stadium, St Lucia

Twenty20 World Cup 2010 Final

Sunday, May 16th 2010 tba vs tba 11:30 local | 15:30 GMT | 14:30 BST Kensington Oval, Barbados

Praful Patel On IPL and Shashi Tharoor

I didn't give Tharoor any IPL insider info: Praful

NCP leader and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has denied sharing any inside information on the Indian Premier League (IPL) Kochi bidding.

Sources close to the Patel claim that IPL team valuations emailed to Shashi Tharoor by Praful's secretary last month were not classified, and this information was also available to other bidders.

This comes after a report in the Economic Times (ET) that says the documents in the email sent by Praful's personal secretary Champa Bharadwaj to Tharoor on March 19, just two days before the bids for the two new IPL teams opened, contained projections of new franchise valuations of the IPL.

Economic Times (ET) report says the mail was sent just two hours after the same document was sent by the IPL CEO to Praful's daughter and IPL hospitality manager Poorna Patel. The Economic Times report has also quoted Poorna as saying that she was only acting under IPL CEO Sundar Raman's instructions: "Sundar had given me certain instructions and I was merely following that. Other than that I have no idea."

But Raman denies this, the ET report says, quoting him as saying that he had sent it to Poorna Patel as a key member of the IPL team, but did not know why she forwarded it to the minister's office.

Two days after this document was forwarded to Shashi Tharoor, the Kochi consortium supported by him sprang a surprise by making the second-highest bid.

The newspaper quotes Praful Patel as saying that his secretary was only forwarding the information requested by Shashi Tharoor.

"Shashi and I have been friends and he did ask me whether I could help him with some information in the capacity of a friend, since he was putting together a team from Kochi. I spoke to Lalit and told him that Shashi wanted some information. Beyond that, I don't know what information has been passed. If I was a bidder, why would I help out a competitor with information?" he told the newspaper.

Cricket Grounds

The pitch of cricket is 20 m (22 yards) between the wickets and is 3.0 m(10 feet) wide.Basically it is flat surface with very short grass that tends to be worn away as the game progresses. The "condition" of the pitch has a significant bearing on the match.


The Wicket:
Wicket consists of three wooden stumps placed on a straight line and surmounted by two wooden cylinderical pieces called bails; the total height of the wicket including bails is 720 mm (28.5 inches) and the combined width of the three stumps is 230 mm(9 inches). Aerial view of the MCG displaying the stadium, ground and pitch

The Crease:
Four lines, known as creases, are painted onto the pitch around the wicket areas to define the batsman's "safe territory" and to determine the limit of the bowler's approach. These are called the batting crease, the bowling crease and two "return" creases. A wicket consists of three stumps that are hammered into the ground, and topped with two bails.

The stumps are placed in line on the bowling creases and so these must be 20 m (22 yards) apart. A bowling crease is 2.64 m (8 feet 8 inches) long with the middle stump placed dead centre. The Batting crease has the same length, is parallel to the bowling crease and is 4 feet (1.2 m) in front of the wicket. The return creases are perpendicular to the other two; they are adjoined to the ends of the popping crease and are drawn through the ends of the bowling crease to a length of at least 2.4m (8 feet ).

The Bowler's Action:
When bowling the ball, the bowler's back foot in his "delivery stride" must land within the two return creases while his front foot must land on or behind the popping crease. If the bowler's front foot goes over the popping crease and the back foot goes outside the delivery stride, the umpire calls "No ball".

The importance of the popping crease to the batsman is that it marks the limit of his safe territory for he can be stumped or run out. If the wicket is broken while he is "out of his ground".

Variety of Pithches:
Pitches vary in consistency, spin, and seam movement , and thus in the amount of bounce available to the bowler. Dry pitches tend to deteriorate for batting as cracks often appear, and when this happens to the spinners can play a major role. Hard pitches are usually good to bat on because of high but even bounce. Damp pitches, or pitches covered in grass (termed "green" pitches), allow good fast bowlers to extract extra bounce. Such pitches tend to offer help to fast bowlers throughout the match, but become better for batting as the game goes on.

The Bat and Ball:
The bat is usually made of White Willow (wood) and has the shape of a blade topped by a cylindrical handle. The blade must not be more than 108 mm (4.25 inches) wide and the total length of the bat must not more than 970 mm (38 inches).

The ball is a hard leather-seamed spheroid with a circumference of 230 mm (9 inches). Differenet bowls are used for the different forms of the cricket. In the test cricket Red ball is used and in the ODI's white ball is used.

Fielding Positions:
The various fielding positions of the cricket grounds are depicted int the picture below.

Where Did Cricket come from....

The cricket is said to be originated from a very old leisure activity indulged by shepherds. The shepherds used crook to hit a ball which used to be made up of wool or stone. The first evidence of the cricket was recorded in the year 1550 by the pupils of Royal Grammar School, Guildford. In the early days of the cricket it is used to thrive greatly as a gambling games. Huge amount of bets were placed on the cricket and through this people starts recognozing cricket. Gambling on the cricket takes place till the end of the 17th century.

In the 18th century cricket used to make huge amount of money through gambling and other means like monetary backing. The first match is said to be played between counties in England is recorded to be in June in the year 1709. This match was between Surrey and Kent at Dartford Brent.

The 18th century witnessed the emergence cricket players in two types. The one were known as the retained player and the others were individual player. Generally the retained players were said to be the servant of the lord and a cricketer as well. On the other hand the individual player was free to play anywhere with his skills. Basically it was something like the player could play anywhere with the amount of skill he possesses.

In the year 1787, the Club MCC was created which was also known to be Marylebone Cricket Club. The MCC has since then gone on to become one of the most prominent Club in the world of cricket. In the initial days of the cricket it was restricted to the high class people of England. From then cricket gradually went on to become the national game of England.

Coming to the end of the 18th century, it was very crucial phase for the development of the game, both within and outside the Britain. The game was spread far and wide mainly due to England’s imperialism. Wherever the Britain peopl go, the game went with them and thus spread outside England. The first official match was played between Canada and United States, was held in the year 1844. After this in 1859, a team of leading English professionals set off to North America on the first-ever overseas tour and, in 1862, the first English team toured Australia.

In the year 1909 when the Imperial Cricket Conference (as it was originally called) was founded, only England, Australia and South Africa were members. West Indies, New Zealand and India, became Test nations before the Second World War and soon afterwards Pakistan. The game grew at the international level with several "affiliate nations" getting involved and, till the end of the 20th century, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh also became the Test nations.In the present times, cricket has its own following of loyal fans. The ICC is governing council of the World Cricket, better known as the Internatinal Cricket Council.All laws relating to ODIs, Test Cricket and the new face of the cricket T20 are framed and implemented by the ICC.

Test cricket remained at the highest level of sports throughout the 20th century but it had its problems, notably in the infamous "Bodyline Series" of 1932–33 when Douglas Jardine's England used so-called "leg theory" to try and neutralise the run-scoring brilliance of Australia's Don Bradman.