Postponed WI series a blow, says de Silva
Sri Lanka Cricket's chairman of selectors Aravinda de Silva says the postponed One-Day International series against West Indies was a big blow to the selection process ahead of next year's World Cup in Asia.
Persistent rain forced authorities here to call off the five-match series, just hours before the first game was scheduled to bowl off in Hambantota last Thursday.
And while the series will now be played next month, de Silva said the postponement had derailed the selectors' plans in settling on the final 15 for the February 19 to April 2 showpiece.
"Missing those five ODIs against West Indies was very crucial because we were really looking at finding an ultimate combination before picking the final 15," de Silva said
"There were things which we wanted to try in the five ODIs. It was very unfortunate we missed out on it, but nevertheless we have a basic idea of what we are looking for. There are a couple of things we would have loved to have tried out and made sure before the World Cup."
"If we are unable to get some international fixtures we'll have to take the risk and go with our gut feeling in selecting the final 15. That is why we are here to take certain decisions on the experience we've had and what we seen.
"My co-selectors and the team management are quite confident we will put out a strong squad."
Rain was a feature of the entire tour as it also ravaged the preceding three-Test series, allowing precious little play overall and forcing a 0-0 all stalemate.
Sri Lanka, one of the hosts for the World Cup along with India and Bangladesh, are one of the pre-tournament favourites.
They will campaign in Group A alongside title-holders Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya.
Bolt, Blake for Jago Twenty20 : Sport : December 15, 2010
World and Olympic 100 and 200 metres champion, Usain Bolt, will take a break from his pre-season training for a celebrity Twenty20 cricket match tomorrow at St Jago High in Spanish Town.
Several of Bolt's teammates at Racers track club, including national 400 metres record holder Jermaine Gonzales, Daniel Bailey of Antigua and Barbuda and St Jago past student the fast-rising young sprinter Yohan Blake will also be in action. The match is the brainchild of Blake and former national Under 15 and 19 cricket representative Garth Garvey who is also a past student of St Jago.
Principal of the school, Sandra Swyer-Watson, in a recent interview, said the fund-raising match will provide a tremendous boost to the schools' sports programme. "Both Garvey and Blake are using this match to contribute back to their school. They are also using the occasion to motivate students to participate in sports at the school, especially in cricket," said Swyer-Forbes. The St Jago principal also thinks this will help to bring in needed funds to the school. The money is expected to go towards the welfare of the athletes as the school is embarking on a big nutritional programme for its athletes in all sports.
Players and cricket coaches from several other schools in the Spanish Town area have been invited to take part in the match which will attract a small entrance fee.
Barbados defeats T&T to hoist Malcolm Marshall Memorial Trophy once again
BARBADOS retained the Malcolm Marshall Memorial Trophy after they defeated their host Trinidad by seven wickets in a rain affected limited overs yesterday.
It was the second and final one-day 40-over match between the Barbados and Trinidad National Under-13 teams and was once again played at the Sir Frank Worrell Development Centre in Couva, Trinidad.
Unlike the first match, the Trinidadians won the toss and they decided to take first knock.
The game was set originally for a 40 over a side game but due to a heavy downpour the game was reduced to 25 overs.
The Barbados team made four changes from the winning side which saw Shakeel Turney, Lamar Pierce, Tremaine Harris and Hasani Newton come into the side.
Once again the outfield was rather heavy due to persistent rain over the last two weeks, however when the game got started the Trinidadians always found the going very tough due to some accurate and penetrative bowling and on some occasions excellent fielding.
The T&T team were restricted to 92/9 in their 25 overs, as their middle order batsman Chris Vialva topscored with 24 and Jason Jooli contributed 11.
Barbados offspinner Hasani Newton who came on at the dying moments of the innings, took three wickets for 11 runs off three overs. However the earlier work was done by opening medium passer Dominique Drakes who finished with 2/12 from six miserly overs.
Najee Holder who was troubled with bowling too many wides finished with 1/30.
In reply, the Bajans had a bad start, losing captain Lee Gaskin for just one run but Akeel Greenidge who was promoted to open the innings, topscored with a patient 45 not out. Vice Captain Deswin Currency contributed 13 and Lamar Pierce got 14.
The Bajans reached their target 93/3 off 23 overs, to win by seven wickets.
Today they will once again face the hosts at the start of the three-day test to be played at the same venue.(The Advocate)
Internal police investigation under way over students protests
Aninternal police investigation is under way after one protester alleged officers pulled him from his wheelchair.
Jody McIntyre, who has cerebral palsy, is considering a formal complaint.
A video of Mr McIntyre apparently being wrenched from his wheelchair and onto the street by police has appeared on Youtube.
He told the BBC that one of the police officers came running over towards him, tipped him out of his wheelchair onto the road and then dragged him by his arms from the middle over to the side of the road.
"There is no way you can classify me as a physical threat when I am sitting in my wheelchair not doing anything," he said.
Scotland Yard said the issue had been referred to the Directorate of Professional Standards, an internal body that examines officers' conduct.
Oprah impresses Sydney during Australia visit
US chat show host Oprah Winfrey has taped two shows for her 25th - and final - series in front of thousands of screaming fans in Sydney, Australia.
The shows were taped next to the city's landmark opera house, re-named the "Oprah House" for the occasion.
She justified Australia spending about $5m to bring her there, saying the shows will be worth millions more in tourism publicity.
Oprah also took over 300 US audience members with her to tour the country.
Four shows in total were taped for what is being billed as Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure. Her eight-day tour has felt like a presidential, papal and royal visit all rolled into one, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney. The shows will be broadcast in January and are expected to reach millions of people in 145 countries. It is the first time in the programme's history that shows have been recorded outside the United States.
Oprah's production company has reportedly spent nearly $7m on the Australian trip, in addition to the money offered by the Australian authorities.
"I love Australia!" It's so great here, and to the rest of the world watching right now, you've got to come to Australia."
The praise continued: "You're so darn friendly, you must go to friendly class!" Oprah said.
Her trademark giveaways included laptops for the students of a boys' school in a low-income neighbourhood, necklaces of Australian pearls for all 6,000 audience members and a $250,000 cheque for an Australian man with cancer and his family. Oprah's high-power stars included Australian actor Russell Crowe, the family of the late "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin and rapper Jay-Z. Before the Sydney shows were taped, Oprah told journalists her visit would produce a huge amount of publicity for Australia. "I have named myself an unofficial ambassador for Australia and I have the biggest mouth on earth. It is immeasurable what four hours of a love festival about your country, broadcast in 145 countries around the world can do," she said.
But for some Australians, the adulation heaped on Oprah has revived the country's cultural cringe, a sense of national inferiority and a craving for international recognition, says BBCs correspondent, Nick Bryant.
Hostage drama ends safely
Half a dozen children and their teacher were released safely yesterday after being held hostage for four hours by a teenager, armed with two swords at a nursery in the eastern French city of Be-san-con.
Officials said the man, whom one person described as suffering from a personality disorder, had been arrested and was being questioned by police from France's elite GIGN force.
"There is no more violence, it all went calmly," Besancon Mayor Jean-Louis Fous-se-ret told iTele television. "This is a person who is in a very bad mental state," he added of the hostage-taker, who he said lived locally.
The children, aged four to six, were wrapped in green wool blankets and carried away by relatives who had waited anxiously outside as police negotiated with the hostage-taker by telephone.
Officials said the young man turned up at the Charles Fourier nursery shortly before 9 a.m. brandishing two swords and mumbling that he "wanted something."
He initially took around 20 children hostage, later releasing around 14 of them, and finally letting the last half dozen go just before 1 p.m.
His motive was still unclear, although Jean-Marc Magda, administrative head of Fous-se-ret's office, told Reuters he was known to suffer from depression and psychological problems.
Royal family security up for review
An urgent review of security for the royal family will be delivered this week following an attack on a car carrying Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May said yesterday.
May said anarchists and street gangs had infiltrated student protests that ended in rioting in central London last Thursday. Protesters battered their way into the Treasury and fought with police after parliament approved plans to increase tuition fees for university students.
Blaming police tactics was "ridiculous and unfair" when protesters had unleashed a barrage of stones, paint, golf balls and flares and attacked officers with metal barriers, May said.
One of the defining images of the protests was that of Charles and wife Camilla open-mouthed in horror when protesters attacked their Rolls-Royce en route to a London theatre, cracking a window and spattering the limousine with paint.
Although the couple was unhurt, the attack raised questions about royal security, which will be in the spotlight next year when Charles' son Prince William marries in Westminster Abbey.
A review of how the royal family is protected will be completed by Friday, May told lawmakers.
West Indies cricket needs a catalyst, says Richards
The Master Blaster, Sir Vivian Richards, who was in the West Indies team when it won the first two World Cup tournaments in 1975 and 1979, said that the Caribbean squad needs a catalyst that could inspire them like Ar-ju-na did with the Sri Lanka team in 1996 World Cup.
Sir Viv said that although the West Indies team has players like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, and Kieron Pollard, they need a talis-man if they are to spring a surprise in the February 11 to April 2 World Cup, which will be played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Caribbean squad is ranked No.8 in the ICC world rating and the Antiguan national hero said it needs more than prayers for it to be in contention for the World Cup. He stressed it needs to be "organized".
The Caribbean team has been dogged by numerous problems since its glory days with Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Jeff Dujon, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, and others, including controversy between the administration and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), captaincy, and discipline.
Britain urged to restore constitutional government in Turks and Caicos
Another call has been made for the restoration of the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution.
Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Sir Edwin Carrington, on Friday called on the United Kingdom, through its newly accredited Plen-i-po-ten-ti-ary Representative, Paul Brummell, to restore constitutional government in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Speaking at the Georgetown, Guyana Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Carrington said that the Community saw the UKs imposition of indefinite direct rule in its associate member country as being totally at odds with the development of good governance, including improved fiscal and administrative management, in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
CARICOM contends that those objectives of Her Majestys Government cannot be met by the continued effective dis-enfranchisement of the Turks and Caicos Islanders or by the denial of their in-alien-able right to shape their own future, he said.
For this reason, Mr. Carrington said that CARICOM looked forward to the restoration by the UKs new administration of the islanders full franchise.
The Secretary-General noted that CARICOM and the UK had benefited over the years, from frank and open dialogue and had co-operated constructively in defense of common values such as good governance, democracy; respect for the rule of law and for the basic, in-alienable rights of all peoples.
We must strive to remain guardians of these all too fragile and important tenets of modern civilization. It is in all of our interests, Mr. Carrington said.
The CARICOM secretary-general said that the 7th meeting of the CARICOM-UK Forum due to be held in 2011 in Grenada, the first meeting between CARICOM foreign ministers and the new foreign secretary of the UK, William Hague, should be a most fruitful opportunity for the strengthening of UK-Caribbean relations.
Cuba opens new cholera treatment centre in Haiti
With the opening of a new centre for cholera treatment in Carrefour, Haiti, the number of such facilities set up by Cuban doctors in an effort to stop the spreading of the disease now totals nine.
The Cuban Medical Brigade is working on the localization and setting up of another 11 treatment centres in addition to 38 that are already providing assistance to people sick with cholera in Haiti, reported Granma newspaper.
According to the newspapers report, Cuban doctors have treated more than 34,000 cases and the fatality rate remains at 0.75 percent.
In record time, the Cuban doctors finished assembling of tents making up the centre in Carrefour, with 100 beds total. The community has more than 400,000 inhabitants and it is located by the side of a hill 20 kilometres from Port-au-Prince. The centre includes seven areas for the general treatment of patients, with 32 Cuban doctors. Besides being home to one of the largest marginal populations of the country, Carrefour has critical hygiene and environmental conditions and its infrastructure, particularly housing, was badly damaged by the earthquake that shook the country in January this year.
Haiti's Public Health Ministry has reported more than 97,500 cases of cholera and 2,193 deaths from the disease.
On Sunday, the third Cuban medical brigade of 56 members arrived at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince. The group is part of the Cuban Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized on Emergencies and Serious Epidemics.