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A Cool Coincidence

Two summers ago my family and i traveled through London, England for a few days. I was at that time finding my love for cricket and begged my father to take me on a trip to Lords Cricket grounds. Lords is one of the most famous cricket grounds in the world. It dates back to 1805! and i was lucky enough to be there during a very controversial time. I’m starting to wonder how such a calm quite game is becoming like Paris Hilton’s life!

The controversy was was that the Pakistanis had been accused of tampering with the ball during Pakistan’s tour of England. Guess what i was there during the middle of it, a reporters dream. The England team claimed the Pakistan captain Inzamam-il-Haq had tampered with the ball by putting his nail into the ball making a certain change in the surface of the ball. Giving an advantage to the bowling team being Pakistan. The 2 field referees declared it illegal and announced 5 runs to England and also asking for a new ball. The Pakistan protested the decision by not coming out after tea time and once they finally agreed to exit they entered the field to see nothing but grass, no England team or Referees. The game was deemed un-continuable by the Cricket commissioner and referees. This was the first match a captain has conceded in cricket history!

So back to the story.Near the end of the Lords tour we were walking by the practice field and who else was their, The Pakistan Cricket team. They were preparing for their next match at Lords. As we are standing, looking at the team practice Inzamam-il-Haq walks by and is signing autographs i was lucky enough to get one.

The photo below is of the autograph, ticket, ball and picture of Inzamam-il-Haq

The First Word

After the news of the Pakistan elections Australia and Pakistan were ready to discuss an agreement. The tour has been re scheduled to a month later now taking place from March 29 and April 27 which is 18 days less then the previously scheduled one(48 days down to 30). It will include three Tests, five one-day internationals and a possible Twenty20 match. This is still not the final word but it is most likely the situation. Australia will still be sending security advisor’s to review the safety stand points of the venues and area. If at least the tour could be moved to Sri Lanka or India. If you do not already know the PPP(Pakistan Peoples Party) won the election. The PPP was Benazir Bhutto’s party who is now lead by her widowed husband who incredibly is the new leader of Pakistan. This is great news for Pakistan and the rest of the world.

Crickets Future On Display

As the Australian team has some down time, the future Australians are battling against the other worlds U-19’s. The two power houses Australia and West Indies are off to a good start in the warm up rounds and look to be battling each other in the finals. The defending Champions Pakistan were disappointed by loosing a warm up match to England but its a bit to early to make predictions. I will keep you updated throughout the week.

Technology Assists But Does Not Prevail

I apologize for the delay on this news but i have had some trouble with my posting ability’s with my Blog. Last week the trial for Harbhajan Singh occurred . There were four Australian team members attending the trial at the Adelaide court room. Simons, Hayden, Ponting and Clarke all went on stand against Harbhajan Singh about his racial remarks. The one piece of evidence that gave Australia the edge was the audio provided by the built in microphone and camera in the stumps. A video of the news report including the trial is linked here courtesy of 9 News Network. The video below is of the the audio picked but the stump cam.

The Indian team stayed until the judgment was made. At the end of the 5 hour closed trial the Adelaide judge charged Harbhajan Singh with a 3,000 Aussie dollar fine and charged him NOT guilty with racial vilification but obscene language. That brings the law case to a draw but after this whole month of tension between Australia and India, this case will never rest on the field.