Tendulkar fabric-ated in Leicestershire
Sachin Tendulkar may have missed out on his 100th international century at The Oval this week, but it’ll doubtless cheer him up to to learn that he has been immortalised in fabric in a shopping centre in Leicester.
A giant mosaic of Tendulkar, measuring 9m x 6m in size, was laid out on the floor at Highcross Leicester shopping centre by the reowned local artist Laura Hadland, who last year made a portrait of her mother that was made entirely of ... toast.
Gurvinder Rupra, marketing manager at Highcross, said: “Immortalising Sachin Tendulkar out of fabrics seemed the perfect way to capture the spirit of Leicester as it gears up to welcome him and his teammates to the city.”
The artwork - which was created on the lower mall outside Debenhams - used more than 100 yards of fabric and saris, and took 9.5 hours to create. It will be in place to welcome the arrival of the Indian cricket team for their warm-up Twenty20 match at Grace Road on August 29.
Olympians demand joint Bharat Ratna for Dhyanchand with Sachin
NEW DELHI: Former Olympians Leslie Claudius and Gurbax Singh feel the legendary Dhyanchand did not get his due in India and demanded a joint Bharat Ratna for the Hockey wizard, along with champion cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, on his 106th birth anniversary.
"It is true that Dhyanchand did not get his dues in the country but that's how Hockey administration is in India. It is regretful," Leslie Claudius, who is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956) said.
He was also the member of silver medal winning Indian team at Rome Olympic in 1960. He was in the national team when Dhyanchand was coach in 1959.
"Dadda (Dhyanchand) deserved a lot more then the Padma award. People are demanding Bharat Ratna for Sachin. I am not against it but if Sachin gets before Dhyanchand, it will be a tragedy," said Gurbax singh, who is also Olympic gold medalist (Tokyo 1964). He also won Bronze four years later.
"Joint Bharat Ratna can be conferred on Dhyanchand and Sachin. There is no doubt that Dhyanchand is all time best player India had ever produced. For Hockey Dhyanchand is what Pele is for Soccer and Bradman is for Cricket. They are synonyms of game they played," he said.
A legendary centre forward Dhyanchand won three Olympic gold medals (1928 Amsterdam, 1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin) and was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 1956.
Gurbux made his debut in national camp in Patiala in 1959 when Dhyanchand was the chief coach and he regrets that there are no videos available of Dhyanchand era so that young generation can see how the magician of Hockey used to play.
"I remember Dhyanchand, Balbir Singh senior, KD Singh Babu and Kishan Lal were the selectors in 1959. That was for the first time I witnessed the magic of Dadda. No player could get control over ball from him even in that age. I regret that we don't have videos of his playing days," recalled Gurbux.
"Generations do get inspired from icon players. Modern day Hockey players have only heard about Dhyanchand's dribbling and technique. After our generation, which has seen him playing, who will tell them about him," he rues.
Gurbux was the captain and Dhyanchand was the chief coach when India won Leons tournament in France in 1963.
"I got a chance to know him closely during that period. He was a legend but did not have any starry airs. He liked fishing a lot and used to cook fish for us. I remember when we went to Berlin with him he told us that we had defeated Germans here in Olympic 1936 and I don't want to go back as a looser now. You have to win it for me," he said.
"He was a disciplinarian as a coach and never compromised on fitness. There was no place in his team for any injured player while today we see unfit players are there in Cricket and Hockey teams," he said.
Caludius said that though Dhyanchand was very senior to him but he shared friendly vibes with him.
"He was my best friend. We used to meet at almost every tournament. I had played a friendly match with him in 1953. He was my coach in 1959 and I have great memories of him. He used to call me Gorrayya (sparrow) because I was very thin," said the veteran.
"Dhyanchand should have got the highest civil award years back. Our system is to be blamed for this. I got Padamshri in 1971, 11 years after Rome Olympic which was my last," he said.
Tendulkar up for Cricketer of the Year again
England batsmen Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, Hashim Amla of South Africa and last year's ICC Cricketer of the Year Sachin Tendulkar of India have all been short-listed for the top honour at the LG ICC Awards 2011.
The votes have now been casted by the independent 25-person academy and these four men are the ones in the running to receive the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year at a glittering ceremony in London on 12 September 2011.
In addition, Trott and Cook are also short-listed for the ICC Test Player of the Year alongside England team-mate James Anderson and South Africa's Jacques Kallis at the eighth annual LG ICC Awards, presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).
Amla is also in contention for the ICC ODI Player of the Year award and he is short-listed in that category alongside Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, Australia's Shane Watson and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 winner Gautam Gambhir of India.
The Twenty20 International (T20I) Performance of the Year sees New Zealand's Tim Southee short-listed alongside England's Tim Bresnan, Australia's Shane Watson and South Africa's JP Duminy.
This year's LG ICC Awards includes 10 individual prizes, including the LG People's Choice Award and also features a newly designed Spirit of Cricket Award which honours a moment by an international player that has most adhered to the Spirit of Cricket. This award is nominated and voted for by the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires.
The long-lists were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former captains Zaheer Abbas of Pakistan and England's Mike Gatting and New Zealand's Danny Morrison and South Africa's Paul Adams.
The short-lists were created after the individual player awards were voted for by an academy of 25 highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world. The academy includes a host of former players, respected members of the media as well as representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.
The nominations from the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists created a long-list. This in turn was broken down into a short-list by a separate 25-person voting academy.
This year's short-list for the ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year sees last year's winner, Australia's Shelley Nitschke, on the list again, alongside West Indies' Stafanie Taylor and England duo of Lydia Greenway and Charlotte Edwards.
The David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year award was voted on by the 10 current Test captains and the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees and is partly based on the umpires' performance statistics.
The award for the umpire of the year was fittingly named the David Shepherd Trophy last year. The late David Shepherd embodied everything that is good in cricket. In the often serious world of match officiating he brought to it a sparkle, a delight and a humanity that was both engaging and uplifting. He generated respect and warmth from those he met with his humour, humility, empathy, excellent decision-making and professionalism. His umpiring was of the highest quality and the fact he stood in 92 Tests, 172 ODIs and officiated in three ICC Cricket World Cup finals is a testimony to his ability, dedication and sheer enjoyment of umpiring.
This year's nominees are 2009 and 2010 ICC Umpire of the Year Aleem Dar and five-time ICC Umpire of the Year Simon Taufel, along with Austalia's Steve Davis and Ian Gould of England. All four short-listed candidates, coincidentally, were part of the Playing Control Team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 final in Mumbai on 2 April 2011.
The ICC Emerging Player of the Year nominees short-list features two players from the West Indies - Devendra Bishoo and Darren Bravo - and two from Pakistan, Wahab Riaz and Azhar Ali.
The ICC Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year award serves to recognise and reward the efforts in all international matches of the outstanding cricketers from the teams outside the ICC Full Members.
This year's short-list sees the return of 2008 and 2010 winner, Ryan ten Doeschate of the Netherlands, who is joined by Ireland pair of Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien while Hamid Hassan of Afghanistan rounds off the shortlist for that category.
Based on the period between 11 August 2010 and 3 August 2011, the LG ICC Awards 2011 - presented in association with FICA - take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game.
That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the ICC Intercontinental Cup final, several ICC World Cricket Leagues as well as several bilateral Test and ODI series.
The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its eighth year and this year it will be held in London, England. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008) and Bengaluru (2010).
Short-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order) -
Individual Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year:
Hashim Amla (SA), Alastair Cook (Eng), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Jonathan Trott (Eng)
ICC Test Player of the Year:
James Anderson (Eng), Alastair Cook (Eng), Jacques Kallis (SA), Jonathan Trott (Eng)
ICC ODI Player of the Year:
Hashim Amla (SA), Gautam Gambhir (Ind), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Shane Watson (Aus)
ICC Emerging Player of the Year:
Azhar Ali (Pak), Devendra Bishoo (WI), Darren Bravo (WI), Wahab Riaz (Pak)
ICC Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year:
Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned), Hamid Hassan (Afg), Kevin O'Brien (Ire), Paul Stirling (Ire)
ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year:
Tim Bresnan (Eng) - 3-10-3-4 v Pakistan, Cardiff, 7 September 2010; JP Duminy (SA) - 96 not out (54b, 10x4, 4x6) v Zimbabwe, Kimberley, 10 October 2010; Tim Southee (NZ) - 4-1-18-5 v Pakistan, Auckland, 26 December 2010; Shane Watson (Aus) - 59 (31b, 6x4, 3x6) v England, Adelaide, 12 January 2011
ICC Women's Cricketer of the Year:
Charlotte Edwards (Eng), Lydia Greenway (Eng), Shelley Nitschke (Aus), Stafanie Taylor (WI)
David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year:
Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Ian Gould, Simon Taufel
ICC Spirit of Cricket:
MS Dhoni (Ind) - for his recall of Ian Bell during the second Test match between England and India at Trent Bridge, July/August 2011, Jacques Kallis (SA) - for twice during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 walking after clarifying with the opposition fielder if they had caught the ball cleanly
LG People's Choice Award:
Hashim Amla (SA), MS Dhoni (Ind), Chris Gayle (WI), Kumar Sangakkara (SL), Jonathan Trott (Eng)
Cameron meets Sachin, says it is an ‘honour’
London: “It’s an honour to have met with and spoken to (Sachin) Tendulkar... I’ve been his fan.” That was David Cameron, the United Kingdom’s flamboyant Prime Minister, in a brief chat with The Telegraph, at The Oval, on Friday evening.
It was around 7.30 pm local time.
Speaking exclusively while walking briskly to his dual coloured Jaguar, after having spent more than four hours at the ground, Cameron added: “I’m actually big on cricket and have been following this series...
“England had such a great day in conditions ideal for cricket... An entire day of sunshine, plenty of runs... Very enjoyable.”
By then Cameron reached his car and the five security officials surrounding him made it clear that the questions had to end.
The Prime Minister was off in a flash, with a Range Rover, driven by a lady, leading the way.
Cameron met Sachin in the India dressing room after making a “specific request” for a one-on-one with The Master. That was at the end of Day II of the fourth and final Test.
Late on Friday, Sachin texted the following to this Reporter: “The Prime Minister had just come to say hello... He said that I was welcome in the UK anytime.”
Cameron also met the India manager, Anirudh Choudhry, and ‘reserve’ Pragyan Ojha, who happened to be standing near Sachin.
To talk of the day’s cricket... An excellent first session, followed by two forgettable ones... From India’s perspective, the script didn’t change.
Friday, therefore, turned out to be another day of misery for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his band of mentally and physically drained men.
Possibly, emotional wrecks too.
The first hour, though, had put England in a spot of bother. Alastair Cook fell in the very first over and captain Andrew Strauss scored two from 32 deliveries before getting out.
After that, it was Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen all the way. Both got ‘Daddy Hundreds’, pleasing Graham Gooch no doubt, and held India by the jugular.
That it would again become a one-way traffic became apparent in the afternoon itself, which is why former captain Andrew Flintoff, who’d come with his sons, left shortly after tea.
“A wonderful day for England, I enjoyed it,” Flintoff told this newspaper, holding each son by the hand.
By then, both Bell and Pietersen had got hundreds.
Pietersen fell shortly before the close, for a superb 175, which had one blemish only, but Bell is in sight of his maiden double hundred. His 181 not out has been chanceless.
Given India’s bowling, which lacks just about everything, another day of frustration is on the cards for those who’re still backing Dhoni and Co.
The state of affairs couldn’t be sorrier.
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