Kolkata Knight Riders ... champs in IPL5

The Knights have arrived, in their shining armour, all set to begin their journey to being crowned champions of IPL 5. While every KKR fan eagerly awaits the team to walk out onto the battlefield, the Knights have been spending long hours on the greens of Eden, getting battle-ready. The team, under the watchful eye of Trevor Bayliss, has shaped into a force driven by commitment and passion. The three wise men Dr. Rudi Webster, Andrew Leipus and Adrian Le Roux are doing everything to ensure that the Knights are in peak form, mentally and physically, to take on the grueling challenge of IPL5.

Over the last 2 weeks, the Knights have been following a rigorous training regimen, including practice games. While Doeschate, Morgan and Shukla have exhibited belligerent batting form, Gambhir spent hours together in a huddle with the coaching team, discussing strategy and player performance. The captain took a day off to attend the IPL 5 opening extravaganza in Chennai, and is now back with the team, all set to lead from the front. All international players have arrived, with the exception of Brad Haddin and James Pattinson, the latter currently with the Australian team touring the West Indies, is expected to join the team later. The Knights are in full strength for their opening match against the Delhi Daredevils, and will play their first 6 matches in a span of 14 days.

Key Players

The mystery spinner Sunil Narine, was the most impressive player (with 24 wickets)as he produced many outstanding spells including a 5/19 (against Kings XI Punjab) which helped KKR reach the final of the prestigious T20 league.

Jacques Kallis' all-round performance was the key to team's success as he scored 409 runs and 15 wickets off 17 outings with impressive 2/7 in one of the matches.

Shakib Al Hasan was also impressive as he picked 12 wickets off just 8 matches with 3/17 being the best.

Gautam Gambhir was the top scorer for KKR with 590 runs off 17 matches at an average of 36.87 with a highest score of 93. He was one player the team could rely on as he performed throughout except the finals.

Brendon McCullum was the third highest run scorer for KKR with 289 runs off 12 matches with a highest score of 56.

Manvinder Bisla, though he doesn't feature among the top three, his contribution in the final was huge as the team chased a challenging target of 191 only because of his 48-ball 89. He has added 213 runs off 7 matches this season with a highest score of 89 in the final.

Kolkata Knight Riders, worthy of the title, have put in a lot of hard work in order to reach here. The team truly deserves the title as Gambhir often puts it, A successful team makes him a successful captain. Kudos to the team for achieving this feat.

Dazzling Kohli ton keeps India alive

Turnarounds don't come any better. Fortunes don't change more dramatically. And emotions don't bear a starker contrast. At the halfway stage, Sri Lanka would have felt they had one foot in the final, having left the India bowlers deflated after a dominating performance with the bat. And they would have been right to think that way, the Indian batting having shown little promise in the series and the team on the brink of elimination.But Virat Kohli put on an imperious display of strokemaking, his malleable wrists powering an Indian fightback conspicuous by its absence on what had been, until now, two forgettable overseas trips. Kohli's innings made a mockery of an imposing score, kept India's finals hopes alive and left Sri Lanka having to beat Australia for a third time in the tournament to knock India out. 

Given India's poor outings with the bat in their recent games, one would have expected them to struggle to chase a target of 321 in 50 overs. They achieved it in 36.4 - needing to chase it in 40 to stay alive in the series - and did so with Kohli finishing things off in a blaze of glory. Kohli was in the zone; he dismissed anything that came his way with clinical precision, found the boundary at will whether the field was in or pushed back, ran swiftly between the wickets to catch the fielders off guard and middled the ball with scarcely believable consistency. While Kohli was the protagonist in India's successful chase, the other characters played their due part. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to do more but gave India the explosive start they desperately needed to stage a counterattack; Gautam Gambhir continued to be fluent, just four boundaries in a knock of 63 off 64 balls showing the toil behind the runs; and Suresh Raina, under pressure to perform, kept Kohli valuable company in a matchwinning stand. 

If India were insipid with their bowling, Sri Lanka were far worse, as wides flowed, gift balls were doled out with regularity and the fielding buckled under the pressure of an unexpected fightback. Both innings were replete with fumbles, misfields, wayward throws - one of them, had it been on target, could have run Kohli out - making batting even more profitable on the easiest track in the series thus far. The brisk start to the chase and the subsequent consolidation by Gambhir and Kohli meant India were in with a fighting chance with two Powerplays still remaining, and both proved highly lucrative.

Kohli made both his own, first targetting Nuwan Kulasekara in the 31st over, which began with India needing 91 in 10 overs for a bonus point. He carted three consecutive fours as attempted yorkers failed to meet their desired lengths and served as tempting length balls. Two were whipped - in trademark Kohli fashion, a momentary turn of the wrists imparting tremendous force to the ball - and the other sliced over point in an act of improvisation. The Sri Lanka fast bowlers misfired badly but even when they got it right, like an accurate yorker from Malinga, Kohli was able to shuffle across and expertly work it past the short fine fielder. He took 24 from Malinga in the 35th over, flicking him for six, sending one through the covers for four and then picking up three more fours past short fine, and finished the game with two thunderous drives through the off side. A pump of the fists was followed by a roar of elation and relief as MS Dhoni calmly trudged on to the field to join in the celebrations. 

A win this dominating seemed a distant possibility when Kohli joined Gambhir at the fall of Tendulkar's wicket. Tendulkar had walked across too far to be caught plumb by Malinga, ending an innings in which Tendulkar seemed devoid of pressure and completely uninhibited in his approach. Sehwag and Tendulkar batted with freedom, the former smashing Malinga into the grassbanks behind deep midwicket in a fiery opening stand of 54, and Tendulkar going over the top on the off side, and displaying an adeptness in picking Malinga's variations. But at 2 for 86 in the 10th over, with India's two most experienced batsmen back in the pavilion and the required-rate still very high, Kohli and Gambhir faced a daunting task.

That both took little time to get going was crucial in maintaining the tempo that had been set. Gambhir steered Kulasekara for four off his third delivery before punching one past midwicket, and Kohli warmed up with one of several whips off Malinga off his second ball. The pair didn't get bogged down despite a 35-ball boundary drought, running swiftly between the wickets, converting ones into twos by putting the outfielders under pressure and making the fielders inside the circle appear redundant by stealing quick ones. Kohli broke that drought with a drive off Thisara Perara past extra cover and later clobbered Angelo Mathews over the wide long-off boundary. At the halfway stage in the chase, the pair had notched up half-centuries, laying a solid foundation for the onslaught to follow with ten Powerplay overs still remaining. After Gambhir fell to an accurate throw while trying to steal a second, Raina infused the innings with greater urgency, providing a quicker partner at the other end to Kohli and indulging in some power play of his own to help hasten the finish. The Kohli show overshadowed an assured and commanding performance by Sri Lanka with the bat, and centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, who capitalised on a palpably below-par show from India's bowlers. 

Dilshan shrugged off his initial unease against the swinging ball to gradually open up and march towards his 11th ODI century and Sangakkara played an innings as attractive as several of his abruptly terminated cameos this tournament, only longer in duration this time, full of confidence and more pleasing on the eye. The determination and focus of trying to bat India out of the game was unwavering in their innings, and the smiles on their faces and the India players' drooping shoulders suggested a one-sided game. But body-language is not always a reliable indicator, for it had taken an about turn in three hours' time.

photos- Ice hockey plane accident players

  

Alexander Kalyanin skates during the game against the QMJHL All-Stars at the 2006 ADT Canada-Russia Challenge at Arena Dave Keon on November 20, 2006 in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Kalyanin is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl.

 

A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Vasyunov, who was selected in 2010 in the second round by the New Jersey Devils, is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl. 

 

Gennady Churilov of Team Russia skates against Team Sweden during their World Junior Hockey Championships game at Prospera Place on December 26, 2005 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Churilov is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl.

 

Ivan Tkachenko, second draft pick (98th overall) selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets, poses for a portrait during the NHL Entry Draft on June 23, 2002 A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Tkachenko is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl.

 

A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Karel Rachunek is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl

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Russia's Marat Kalimulin (C) celebrates with team mates Vadim Golubtsov (L) and Viktor Tikhonov after scoring against Finland during the 2008 IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Liberec December 26, 2007. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Kalimulin is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl. 

 

Nikita Klyukin of Team Russia skates during the game against Team Slovakia in the Bronze Medal Game of the IIHF World Junior Championships at Scotiabank Place on January 05, 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Klyukin is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl.

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Fomer Vancouver Canucks forward Pavol Demitra (left) died in a plane crash in Russia while playing for the Kontinental Hockey League's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011.  

Robert Dietrich of Germany runs with the puck during the International Ice Hockey friendly match between Germany and Belarus at Sporthalle Am Ratsweg on February 9, 2011 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Dietrich is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl.

 

Sergey Ostapchuk #23 of the Russia All-Stars skates with the puck during the warm up period prior to facing the QMJHL All-Stars in Game 2 of the 2009 Subway Super Series at the Marcel Dionne Centre on November 18, 2009 in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead.

Ostapchuk is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl.

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Sweden's national ice hockey team goalkeeper Stefan Liv is pictured in Bern in this April 23, 2009 file photo. A passenger plane carrying Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on September 7, 2011, leaving 43 people feared dead. Liv is on the roster of the team based in Yaroslavl, according to the KHL though there was no immediate word on the identity of the victims. (REUTERS/Claudio Bresciani/Scanpix Sweden/Files) 

Alexander Vyukhin of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Vyukhin is on the team roster though there is no official list of the dead. (R

 

 

@TEXT: Daniil Sobchenko of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Sobchenko is on the team roster though there is no official list of the dead.

 

 

Jan Marek of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Marek is on the team roster though there is no official list of the dead.

 

 

Karlis Skrastins of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Skrastins is on the team roster though there is no official list of the dead.

 

 

Pavel Trakhanov of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Trakhanov is on the team roster though there is no official list of the dead.

 

 

Alexander Galimov of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Galimov survived the crash and is in critical condition with burns over 90 percent of his body, a doctor at the hospital where the survivors were sent to said.

 

 

Vitaly Anikeyenko of Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv is seen in this undated handout picture received by Reuters September 7, 2011. A passenger plane carrying the Yaroslavl-based team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from the Tunoshna provincial airport in Russia on Wednesday, killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition. Anikeyenko is on the team roster though there is no official list of the dead.

Ice hockey players plane crash passengers list

A plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team crashed Wednesday just after take-off from the Yaroslavl airport, killing at least 43 people.

The Yak-42 aircraft was carrying players for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl -- one of Russia's leading ice hockey teams to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they were to play against Dinamo Minsk in its inaugural game of the Kontinental Hockey League's 2011 season.
It was the second major air crash involving the Yak-42 aircraft in the past three months. The cause of the accident isn't yet known.
Two of the 45 passengers survived the crash of the plane, which was carrying 37 passengers and eight crew members. Thirty six bodies have been recovered so far and the search for the missing is continuing.
Yaroslavl's regional governor, Sergei Vakhrukov, named the two survivors as Russian forward Alexander Galimov and flight crew member Alexander Sizov. Both are being treated in intensive care, CNN reported.

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Lokomotive Yaroslavl ice-hockey team of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) pose for a team photo in this August 21, 2011 handout file photo by the KHL. Forty-three people were feared dead after a plane carrying the Russian hockey team crashed on Wednesday near the city of Yaroslavl, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Yaroslavl Airport manager Tunoshna Arius Novick, who led the hockey team on board the flight, spoke to Russian news channel Life News and described the final moments before the disaster.

According to the 38-year-old manager, who has 12 years of experience, the aircraft made the run too long before take-off and passed the point of separation.

According to Novick, no problems were reported by the commander and everything was in normal mode.

"Yak-42 started the run at 16:00, Moscow time, and a minute later collapsed, looking about ten meters from the ground," Novick added.

Here's the list of the passengers and crew:

Passengers:

Anikeenko Vitaly, Bakhvalov Yuri, Alexander Belyaev, Mikhail Balandin, Vasyukov Alexander, Vašíček Joseph, Vyuhin Alexander E., Robert Dietrich Genrikhovich, Pavol Demitra, Zimin Andrey, Kalimulin Marat Natfullovich, Karpovtsev Alexander G., Kalyanin Alexander I., Kiryukhin Andrey, Klyukin Nikita, Korolev, Igor B., Krivonosov Nikolai, Kunnov Evgeny, Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, Stefan Liv, Daniel Patrick, Jan Marek, Brad McCrimmon Byron, Ostapchuk Sergey I., Piskunov, Vladimir Leonidovich, Karel Rachunek, Evgeny Sidorov, Karlis Skrastins Martinovic, Snurnitsyn Pavel, Daniel E. Sobchenko, Tkachenko Ivan Leonidovich, Paul S., Yuri O. Urych, Gennady Churilov S., Maxim A. Shuvalov and Yarchuk Artem Nikolaevich.

Crew :

Solomentsev Andrey (Commander), Zhivelov Igor Konstantinovich (second pilot), Zhuravlev, Sergey (bortmehanih), Sarmatova Elena (flight attendant), Maksumova Hope Murzafarovna (flight attendant), Chavigny Elena (flight attendant) and Matyushin Vladimir Yurevich (flight engineer).

Survivors :

Sizov, Alexander B. (flight attendant) and Galimov Alexander (hockey player)

Russian plane crash kills Lokomotiv ice hockey players

The deaths of 36 players and officials in a plane crash in Russia have been described as an "irreparable loss" by the Russian Ice Hockey Federation.Those confirmed dead include former Swedish Olympic champion Stefan Liv and former New Jersey Devils player Alexander Vasyunov. The plane was carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team to Minsk, where they were to play Dinamo Minsk on Thursday. Lokomotiv came third in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) last year.The KHL is an international competition which pits teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia against each other.

According to the latest reports, there were 45 people on board - 37 passengers and eight crew. Forty-three people are reported to have died. The team's coach was Canadian Brad McCrimmon, who also died in the incident. He took over the role in May and had previously been an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings. Among the dead are Ruslan Salei, captain of the Belarus national team, Slovakia's captain Pavol Demitra, three Czech international players - 2010 world champions Josef Vasicek, who won the Stanley Cup with Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, Jan Marek and Lokomotiv's captain Karel Rachunek. German Robert Dietrich and Latvian Karlis Skrastins were also killed.

Tomas Kral, the president of the Czech Ice Hockey Association, was shocked to hear the news of the players' deaths. "Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek and Josef Vasicek contributed greatly to the best successes of our ice hockey in recent years, first of all to the golden medals at the world championships in 2005 and 2010," Kral said."They were excellent players, but also great friends and personalities. That's how we will remember them." There were also some members of the Russian national team on board - Gennadiy Churilov and Alexander Kalyanin. 

Two players from Russia's youth team, Daniil Sobchenko and Yuri Urychev, who became under-21 world champions in 2011, also died in the crash. International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said: "This is the darkest day in the history of our sport. This is not only a Russian tragedy, the Lokomotiv roster included players and coaches from 10 nations. "This is a terrible tragedy for the global ice hockey community with so many nationalities involved. "Our thoughts and prayers are with family and friends of the victims. Despite the substantial air travel of professional hockey teams, our sport has been spared from tragic traffic accidents. But only until now."

Demitra had expected this season to be his last as a professional

 

 Russian Ice Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretiak commented: "We have suffered an irreparable loss. I still cannot believe what happened. Our hockey has lost great players and coaches. It's just a terrible tragedy for the sport. "We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane."National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman also offered his condolences saying: "Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world, including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, team-mates and friends who at one time excelled in our league."

 

Russia and the other former Soviet republics have suffered some of the world's worst plane tragedies. In 1979, an airliner heading from the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan to Minsk carrying the Pakhtakor Tashkent soccer team collided in mid-air with another passenger plane, killing 178 people, including 17 members of the Pakhtakor squad. A plane crash in 1950 near the Russian city of Sverdlov, now called Yekaterinburg, claimed the lives of 13 players and officials in the air force's ice hockey squad.

ICC people choice adwards nominees - 2011

The LG People's Choice Awards allow cricket fans the unique chance to vote for a galaxy of international stars who have produced outstanding performances in the past year. For the second time in the history of the LG ICC Awards, fans had the opportunity to decide the winner. The short list, nominated by an elite panel of cricket experts headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, along with Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas, England's Mike Gatting, South Africa's Paul Adams and New Zealand's Danny Morrison, was selected using criteria set out by LG and the ICC.

This dictated that the nominees should have displayed some of the attributes regarded by LG as in line with their corporate qualities such as innovation, dynamism, strength in decision-making, performing well under pressure and executing a plan to distinction.

The players nominated were :-


Hashim Amla (South Africa), 
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India), 
Chris Gayle (West Indies), 
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) and 
Jonathan Trott (England). 



(1) Hashim Amla (South Africa)
 
 
 

(2) Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India)




(3) Chris Gayle (West Indies)
 

(4) Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 
 

(5) Jonathan Trott (England)



Voting has now closed with the winner being announced on 12 September at the LG ICC Awards in London.

ICC Test Team of the Year 2011 announced

The ICC today announced its Test Team of the Year, as chosen by a specially appointed selection panel chaired by West Indian batting legend Clive Lloyd. The announcement was made at the media conference to announce the short-lists for the LG ICC Awards 2011 which are due to be held in London on 12 September 2011. Presented in association with FICA, the LG ICC Awards recognise the best international players of the past 12 months. South Africa’s Dale Steyn makes it into the side for the fourth year running.

The ICC Test Team of the Year is (in batting order):

1. Alastair Cook (Eng)
2. Hashim Amla (SA)
3. Jonathan Trott (Eng)
4. Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
5. Kumar Sangakkara (SL – wicketkeeper/captain)
6. AB de Villiers (SA)
7. Jacques Kallis (SA)
8. Stuart Broad (Eng)
9. Graeme Swann (Eng)
10. Dale Steyn (SA)
11. James Anderson (Eng)
12. Zaheer Khan (Ind) (12th man)

Four countries are represented in the 12-man line-up and South Africa’s Dale Steyn has earned a place in the ICC World Test Team of the Year for the fourth successive year. He was also a member of the ICC World Test Team of the Year 2008, 2009 and 2010.* India’s Sachin Tendulkar makes the line-up for the third year in a row – having appeared in the ICC World Test Team of the Year 2009 and 2010 while South Africans Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, along with Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara, and England duo of Graeme Swann and James Anderson all appearing for the second year in a row.

Former Sri Lanka skipper Sangakkara is named as captain of the team. The Chairman of the LG ICC Awards selection panel, Clive Lloyd, said: “The selection of this year’s Test team was a difficult one with so many worthy candidates available to fill just 12 places. The team has a formidable line-up that bats well down the order and has bowlers with the ability and form to dismiss any opposition twice on any surface. “The selection was a difficult process with so many outstanding performances available to look back on. All the top performers during the voting period were discussed at length and various combinations were considered. “While selecting the squad, the selectors didn’t rely only on statistics only but took into account all other factors like the opposition, pitch conditions, match situation etc. But when you have only 12 places to fill from a big group of world-class players, there will always be a few who will miss out.

“In the panel’s expert opinion, it has selected the best team based on performances over the past 12 months.”
Lloyd was joined on the panel by former South Africa spin bowler Paul Adams, former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas, former New Zealand bowler-turned-commentator Danny Morrison and former England batsman Mike Gatting. Statistics were available as a guide but were not necessarily the overwhelming factor in the choices made. The ICC Test Team of the Year is one of two teams selected by the ICC selection panel along with the ODI line-up which will be announced at a special function the morning of the LG ICC Awards. 

LG ICC Awards Voting Panel members - 2011

The Selection Panel

The LG ICC Awards selection panel was charged with two main tasks: providing a long-list of nominations to the 25 members of the voting academy to cast their votes in the individual player award categories and, using their experience, knowledge and appreciation of the game, select the ICC World Test and ODI teams.

Clive Lloyd (chairman)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most recognisable and respected figures in world cricket, Lloyd captained the West Indies to the first two ICC Cricket World Cups (in 1975 and 1979) and played a crucial role in the overall success of the team during the 1970s and early 1980s. As a big, hard-hitting, left-handed batsman he scored more than 7,500 runs in 110 Tests, including 19 centuries, and was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1971. When he retired from playing, he remained involved as a coach, manager and ICC match referee and is currently the chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee.

Paul Adams
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since he broke out on the international scene in 1995, Adams' action formed the subject of a lot of discussion in cricketing circles. After much debate, it was decided that his unique action to deliver what some would call left-arm chinamen could best be described as 'A Frog in a Blender'. He formed a crucial spinning element in an attack dominated by such luminaries as Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock in the 1990s. Adams finally ended his career in 2004 with 134 wickets from his 45 Tests and since then has been working as a coach in Cape Town.

Zaheer Abbas
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His appetite for making first-class hundreds earned Zaheer Abbas the sobriquet, the Asian Bradman. His elegant batsmanship marked him out as one of the best of his era, having been one of the few to a century of centuries in first-class history. His successful Test career was also backed up by his excellent time at English county side, Gloucestershire where he made plenty of runs through his long career with them. Zaheer finally called time on his 16-year career in 1985 with 5062 runs from 78 Tests. Post retirement, Zaheer has been seen in the role of Pakistan team manager, ICC match-referee and also an expert commentator.

Danny Morrison
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between the retirement of the great Sir Richard Hadlee and the arrival of Shane Bond, Morrison was New Zealand's best fast bowler. He was the lone strike bowler in an era dominated by gentle medium-pacers in the New Zealand line-up. He was quick and struck regularly with the ball to help New Zealand emerge as one of the sides to watch out for in the one-day international circuit in the early 1990s, especially ICC Cricket World Cup 1992. He once even held a world record for most number of ducks in Test cricket. Since his retirement in 1997, he is based in Australia, dividing time between doing commentary work across the cricketing world and his family.

Mike Gatting
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making 79 Test appearances, he hit 4409 runs, including 10 Test centuries, with a highest score of 207, and is remembered as one of the great England batman. He also made 92 ODI appearances, leading England to the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987, where it lost to Australia. He now works for the England and Wales Cricket Board.

The Voting Academy

The individual player awards presented tonight have been judged by an academy of 25 highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world. The academy includes a host of former players and respected members of the media, representatives of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees.

The academy members were asked to cast their votes on a three-two-one basis (three being the highest vote value) for the individual awards from a list of players identified by the selection panel of Clive Lloyd, Zaheer Abbas, Mike Gatting, Paul Adams and Danny Morrison. The nominations from the Women's Cricketer of the Year were decided after a committee of former players, current administrators and journalists created a long list. The award was then voted for by a separate 25-person voting academy.

The Spirit of Cricket Award was voted on by all international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. The Umpire of the Year Award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires' performance statistics.

ICC nominees - 2011 (ICC Awards)

 

As part of the ICC's celebration of the game's heroes and role models, it stages the annual LG ICC Awards ceremony to recognise the major individual and team achievements in world cricket.The ceremony features 10 individual awards that over the years have honoured some of the biggest names in men's and women's international cricket and will be voted upon by a strong panel of former players, respected members of the media and an elite umpire and match referee.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its eighth year and the 2011 Awards will take place in London on 12 September. The event will be staged in association with Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA). Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008) and Bangalore (2010).

The nominations for seven of the awards will be made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by ICC Cricket Hall of Famer, former West Indies captain and Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former South Africa bowler Paul Adams, former England captain Michael Atherton, former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas and former New Zealand bowler Danny Morrison. This panel will also select the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year.

The winners of six of those individual awards will be voted upon by a 25 strong panel of renowned former players, respected members of the media, and an elite umpire and an elite match referee.The seventh individual award is the LG People's Choice Award. This award will be chosen by cricket fans around the world who will get a chance to vote for their favourite player on-line from a short-list of five cricketers who will be selected by the ICC selection panel on the basis of some really innovative parameters, in sync with the values that embody brand LG

Meanwhile, the nominations for the Women's Cricketer of the Year Award will be decided by a separate 25-person voting academy featuring former players and other experts on the women's game. The Spirit of Cricket Award will be voted on by all the Full Member international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees while the Full Member captains and elite match referees will vote on the Umpire of the Year Award.

2011 Circket world cup winners - INDIA

The BCCI on Monday announced the 15-member Indian squad for the 2011 World Cup beginning from February 19.

The team comprises seven batsmen, one all-rounder, four pacers and three specialist spinners.

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have been retained from the present team on a tour of South Africa. Vice-captain Virender Sehwag, who had opted out of the ODI series in South Africa, has made a return for cricket's biggest event.

Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra will take care of pace-bowling while Harbhajan, R. Ashwin and Piyush Chawla form the spinners' trio.

Yusuf Pathan has been handed the all-rounder's job. Wicket-keeping has been entrusted entirely to captain M.S. Dhoni.

Those who failed to find a place in the team include spinner Pragyan Ojha, pacer S. Sreesanth and all-rounder Rohit Sharma.

The selection panel, headed by chief selector K. Srikkanth, chose the team out of a list of 30 probables. Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten, who are currently busy with the ODI series in South Africa, were also part of the consultations done through teleconferencing.

The 15-member team is:

MS Dhoni (C)
Sachin Tendulkar
Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Virat Kohli
Yusuf Pathan (all-rounder)
Zaheer Khan
Ashish Nehra
Munaf Patel
Praveen Kumar
Harbhajan Singh
R. Ashwin
Piyush Chawla

Chief selector K. Srikkanth said a well-balanced team had been picked up keeping in mind the ground and wicket conditions in the sub-continent.

"We have selected the best combination after consultations with the captain and the coach. I am confident the team will win the World Cup for us," Srikkanth said in Chennai.

He brushed aside concerns over fitness of the players, saying: "Every team has injury concerns. Why worry about it?"

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ICC Cricket World Cup - 1st match, Group B -- Bangladesh v India

Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag punch gloves as they stride to the middle. Shafiul Islam will bowl the first ball of the World Cup. Sehwag will take strike. 

India innings (50 overs maximum)  (4 wickets; 50 overs) 370

Bangladesh innings (9 wickets; 50 overs) 283 Match Fullscore details

 

Match details Toss Bangladesh, who chose to field Points India 2, Bangladesh 0 Player of the match V Sehwag (India) Umpires SJ Davis (Australia) and HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) TV umpire BR Doctrove (West Indies) Match referee RS Madugalle (Sri Lanka) Reserve umpire Asad Rauf (Pakistan)

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 - schedule

Cricket Schedule of ICC World Cup 2011. Fixtures of ICC World Cup 2011 has been announced. The first schedule match of ICC World Cup 2011 between India vs Bangladesh begins Feb 19, 2011 onwards. Keep viewing CriSchedule for latest updates on Cricket Schedule and Fixtures of upcoming ICC World Cup 2011.

Good times are here for India. The country will get to host the tenth world cup of its most loved sport in 2011 along with co-hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. It will be the first time co-hosting for Bangladesh in a cricket world cup. Fourteen national teams are scheduled to compete for the coveted cup between February and early April 2011. According to the announced fixtures of ICC World Cup 2011, the first match will be played among co-hosts India and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Match	Date	Teams	Venue
1	19 Feb	India vs Bangladesh	Dhaka
2	20 Feb	New Zealand vs Kenya	Chennai
3	20 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Canada	Hambantota
4	21 Feb	Australia vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
5	22 Feb	England vs Netherlands	Nagpur
6	23 Feb	Pakistan vs Kenya	Hambantota
7	24 Feb	South Africa vs West Indies	New Delhi
8	25 Feb	Australia vs New Zealand	Nagpur
9	25 Feb	Bangladesh vs Ireland	Dhaka
10	26 Feb	Sri Lanka vs Pakistan	Colombo
11	27 Feb	India vs England	Kolkata*
12	28 Feb	West Indies vs Netherlands	New Delhi
13	28 Feb	Zimbabwe vs Canada	Nagpur
14	1 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Kenya	Colombo
15	2 Mar	England vs Ireland	Bangalore
16	3 Mar	South Africa vs Netherlands	Mohali
17	3 Mar	Pakistan vs Canada	Colombo
18	4 Mar	New Zealand vs Zimbabwe	Ahmedabad
19	4 Mar	Bangladesh vs West Indies	Dhaka
20	5 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Australia	Colombo
21	6 Mar	India vs Ireland	Bangalore
22	6 Mar	England vs South Africa	Chennai
23	7 Mar	Kenya vs Canada	New Delhi
24	8 Mar	Pakistan vs New Zealand	Pallekelle
25	9 Mar	India vs Netherlands	New Delhi
26	10 Mar	Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
27	11 Mar	West Indies vs Ireland	Mohali
28	11 Mar	Bangladesh vs England	Chittagong
29	12 Mar	India vs South Africa	Nagpur
30	13 Mar	New Zealand vs Canada	Mumbai
31	13 Mar	Australia vs Kenya	Bangalore
32	14 Mar	Pakistan vs Zimbabwe	Pallekelle
33	14 Mar	Bangladesh vs Netherlands	Chittagong
34	15 Mar	South Africa vs Ireland	Kolkata
35	16 Mar	Australia vs Canada	Bangalore
36	17 Mar	England vs West Indies	Chennai
37	18 Mar	Sri Lanka vs New Zealand	Mumbai
38	18 Mar	Ireland vs Netherlands	Kolkata
39	19 Mar	Australia vs Pakistan	Colombo
40	19 Mar	Bangladesh vs South Africa	Dhaka
41	20 Mar	Zimbabwe vs Kenya	Kolkata
42	20 Mar	India vs West Indies	Chennai
43	23 Mar	First Quarterfinal	Dhaka
44	24 Mar	Second Quarterfinal	Colombo
45	25 Mar	Third Quarterfinal	Dhaka
46	26 Mar	Fourth Quarterfinal	Ahmedabad
47	29 Mar	First Semifinal	Colombo
48	30 Mar	Second Semifinal	Mohali
49	02 Apr	FINAL	Mumbai