Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Australian Cricket Board decided at on Friday to organize a
training camp that will focus on preparing the players for the
three-Test series.

Players will arrive from around the world, allowing many only two
weeks in India for the lucrative rewards in the Indian Players League.

Michael Brown, in charge of organising the camp, expects to finalise the timing and length of the camp early this week.

Coach Tim Nielsen wants a maximum of six days to prepare his squad before it leaves for the Caribbean.

Nielsen is not concerned about the country’s contract holders,
including Andrew Symonds, Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee, taking part in
the Twenty20 competition as long as they return in good shape.

The six-week IPL event begins on April 18, and the team is expected to depart for the Caribbean on May 8.

If the plan goes ahead, the IPL-aligned players will be able to earn
about a third of their prices from the recent auction in India.

Symonds was bought for $1.5m, while Brett Lee ($980,000), Ricky
Ponting ($436,000), Matthew Hayden ($408,000) and Michael Hussey
($380,000) were also picked up.

Nielsen said he was looking at a five or six-day camp to fine-tune for the West Indies.

The Australians will play three Tests, a Twenty20 encounter and then three one-day internationals in the Caribbean.

The team’s first match is scheduled for May 16 before the opening test in Jamaica.

TASMANIA and South Australia have made approaches to Queensland and
Australian all-rounder James Hopes. Queensland coach Terry Oliver
confirmed the poaching threat, although it is understood Hopes will
commit to the embattled Bulls for next season.

“James Hopes has been approached, but we are very confident of James staying with us,” Oliver said.

The Bulls and South Australia are also pursuing Western Australian opening batsman Chris Rogers.

Rogers’ father John, who played Sheffield Shield for NSW, revealed
his son’s frustration at being unable to play one-day cricket for the
Warriors.

“Chris is a bit annoyed with them. They keep overlooking him for the
one-day team (and playing) guys who haven’t been consistently
performing,” he said.

“They don’t seem to be helping Chris’ international chances. They
certainly aren’t being helped when he can’t make the one-day team.” adds Herald Sun.

IPL Franchisees will have to think twice in future before bidding sky high prices for International Players.

Bengal pacer Ranadeb Bose on Friday signed for the Kolkata Knight
Riders. Ranadeb thus completed the quota of four local players for the
Shah Rukh Khan-owned IPL team. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wriddhhiman Saha and
Sourashish Lahiri had earlier joined the Sourav Ganguly-led and John
Buchanan-coached team.

There si a possibility that England International Grounds Lord’s and The Oval might host exhibition games with teams from IPL - Indian Premier League - as reported in ‘The Times’.

Authorities did not directly confirm but they have received offers for hosting games. Although the venues for the initial league tournament have already been allocated
in India, there seems an increasing likelihood that other international
venues will be also be used, as a way to promote the tournament around
the world as much as provide world-class facilities. As it stands,
however, the London venues will only host exhibition matches.

Meanwhile Cricinfo reports that the Domestic Structure Review Group, chaired by Glamorgan
chairman Paul Russell, will go before the ECB on April 9 and is due to
suggest a radical response to the IPL. The committee proposes two new
Twenty20 competitions, the first of which will run in early summer
along similar lines to the old Benson & Hedges Cup which ran for 30
years since 1972. It will feature Minor Counties, the universities and Ireland and Scotland.

The second tournament, according to today’s Daily Telegraph,
will be called the English Premier League, taking place at the height
of summer and consisting of 21 teams in three groups of seven - with
county sides supplemented by international players from India,
Australia and South Africa. The idea falls in line with the suggestions
made by ECB’s chairman, Giles Clarke, that England should mirror some
of the IPL’s makeup: namely, that Twenty20 sides field three overseas
players and four players under the age of 23.

“We wanted to see something radical come out of this committee,” an insider told the Daily Telegraph, “but instead it is as if they have put all the same balls into the hat, shaken them around a bit and taken them out again.

“The idea of restoring the old Benson &
Hedges Cup under a different name is just crazy. What this needed is
some vision, a different pair of eyes. The DSRG should have gone out
and sought the input of the players, the press, television. What about
city teams, for instance, rather than counties? If we don’t take this
thing by the scruff of the neck, we will find that the game has been
pinched off us by other operators.”

Exhibiton or otherwise games at Oval and Lords is a sure plus point for IPL.

Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga a key Mumbai Indian Player for IPL is doubtful for the League which starts off on 18th April.

Malinga has been troubled by a niggling knee problem which has kept him out of Sri Lanka’s ongoing tour of West Indies.

The 24-year-old was signed by Mumbai Indians at the IPL players’
auction in February but has now revealed he may not be fit in time for
the start of the tournament.

“I’ve had this injury in Australia and played with it,” Malinga
explained to Sporting Life. “However as it got worse I couldn’t tour the West Indies too.

“I would have loved to be with the team and enjoy its success. I am still under treatment and working hard.

“It is tough at this stage to be sure about IPL, but I am very hopeful I can make it.”

Mumbai Indians open their IPL campaign against Bangalore Royal Challengers on April 20 - less than a month from now.

Filmy South reports - Vijay and
Nayantara, the official brand ambassadors of Chennai Super Kings team,
will feature in a promotional album. The cricketers in the team will
also appear in the video album meant for promoting the event.