George Headley

Alan knott

Two greats of the game, George Headley and Alan Knott, were formally inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during the second ODI between England and Australia at Lord’s, London on Sunday.

The Hall of Fame, run in association with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), recognises some of the truly great players from cricket’s long and illustrious history.

Commemorative caps were presented to Headley’s son Ron, who himself played two Tests and one ODI for the West Indies , and Knott by the International Cricket Council president David Morgan, ICC director and England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke, Marylebone Cricket Club chairman Charles Fry, Marylebone Cricket Club president Derek Underwood, former MCC president Mike Brearley and former ECB chairman Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth.

Headley was the first great black batsman to emerge from the West Indies. In his 24-year Test career from 1930 to 1954, he scored 2,190 runs in 22 Tests at an average of 60.83 which is the third highest average by any player with a completed career behind fellow Hall of Famers Don Bradman and Graeme Pollock.

He scored five half-centuries and 10 centuries (eight against England and two against Australia), including a century in each innings (106 and 107) against England at Lord’s in 1939 which made him the first batsman to achieve the feat at that ground. His rate of scoring centuries one century for every four innings is bettered only by Bradman.

In his debut series against England in 1930, the right-hander who was born in Panama in 1909 and had come to Jamaica to learn English aged 10, scored 704 runs in eight innings of four Tests, including scores of 21, 176, 8, 39, 114, 112, 10 and 223.

Headley’s career-best 270 was also against England at Sabina Park in March 1935.

After playing 16 Tests between 1930 and 1935, Headley played the last six Tests in 19 years. In 1948, Headley became the first black player to captain the West Indies while his final appearance for the West Indies made him the oldest West Indian Test cricketer at 44 years and 236 days.

Headley was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1934.

Besides his son Ron, George’s grandson Dean played 15 Tests and 30 ODIs for England in the last decade. It was the first of only two instances of a grandfather, father and son playing Test cricket, the other being Jahangir Khan, Majid Khan and Bazid Khan.

Knott, the 63-year-old former England wicket-keeper, made his Test debut against Pakistan in August 1967 and played his 95th and last Test against Australia in September 1981. During this period, Knott scored 4,389 runs at an average of a little over 32 and dismissed 269 batsmen. In one of his most memorable innings, Knott’s scored 73 not out in four hours to help Colin Cowdrey save the series against the West Indies at Georgetown in 1967-68.

Knott represented Kent (1964-1985), MCC (1965-1977) and Tasmania (1969-70) in domestic cricket and scored 18,105 runs at an average of a little under 30 and dismissed 1,344 batsmen in 511 first-class matches.

Knott also played in the 1975 World Cup as he represented England in 20 ODIs in which he scored 200 runs and dismissed 16 batsmen.

Knott was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970.

After receiving his cap from MCC President Derek Underwood, Knott said: “It is a tremendous honour to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, which features so many of my heroes and friends, past and present.

ther ICC Cricket Hall of Famers to have received their caps so far in 2009 are legendary New Zealand all-rounder Richard Hadlee, former Australian greats Rod Marsh, Ian Chappell, Allan Border , Neil Harvey and Richie Benaud, former West Indies players or their family members or representatives batting greats Clive Lloyd , Vivian Richards and Rohan Kanhai, champion all-rounder Garfield Sobers, the three Ws Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott and Frank Worrell, opener Gordon Greenidge, fast bowlers Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall and Andy Roberts, and star off-spinner Lance Gibbs also ex-South Africa batsmen Barry Richards and Graeme Pollock, former Pakistan stalwarts Javed Miandad and Hanif Mohammad and England’s Alec Bedser, Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Peter May, David Gower, Derek Underwood, Graham Gooch, Harold Larwood, Denis Compton, Frank Woolley, Sydney Barnes, Sir Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Wilfred Rhodes, Fred Trueman Sir Leonard Hutton, Sir Jack Hobbs, Jim Laker and Brian Statham.

ICC champions trophy, 2009

The sixth edition of ICC Champions Trophy will be held in Johannesburg and Centurion of South Africa from September 22nd, 2009 to October 5th, 2009. Top 8 countries of ODI ranking Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England, West Indies and New Zealand will participate the Champions Trophy’ 09  into two groups, Group A and Group B. The two groups are made from where top two battles in Semi-finals and finally the best ones come in the final. 15 matches will be played in only 14 days at two venues including The Wanderers and Centurion Park. Last time in Champions trophy there were 21 matches played.

All the countries finalized their squad for 2nd most attractive tournament of Cricket word.

Let’s see the squad of All the countries.

1. South Africa: Graeme Smith, Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe.

Main highlight of South African squad are Lonwabo Tsotsobe makes his return after injury and Robin Peterson replaces Morne Morkel in the squad in the other change from the squad which played against Australia earlier in the year.

2. Australia : Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

The Australian selectors have named a squad to defend the title they won in 2006 with few surprises, save for perhaps the inclusion of pace bowler Peter Siddle and Cameron White, who have not been regular members of the squad in the last two years.

Australia begin their defence with a match against the West Indies on 26th September, also playing India and Pakistan in Group A.

3. England : Andrew Strauss (captain), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Andrew Flintoff, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Adil Rashid, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.

England will be without Kevin Pietersen and fast bowler Steve Harmison also misses out through injury. Kent opener Joe Denly is the only uncapped player in England’s squads for the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

4. India : Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Abhishek Nayar, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra.

36-year-old Rahul Dravid has been handed a recall by the Indian selectors for the Champions Trophy in South Africa having not played an ODI since 2007. However, India remain without two of their major stars with Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan missing, both recovering from shoulder surgery and another man to miss out is left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, replaced by leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

5. Sri Lanka : Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilina Kandamby, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Tharanga, Dammika Prasad.

6. West Indies: Floyd Reifer (captain), Darren Sammy (vice-captain), David Bernard, Tino Best, Royston Crandon, Travis Dowlin, Andre Fletcher, Nikita Miller, Daren Powell, Kieran Powell, Dale Richards, Kemar Roach, Devon Smith, Gavin Tonge, Chadwick Walton.

The provisional squad omitted its major stars following a contract dispute and they have not been recalled, meaning the squad will be captained by Floyd Reifer, as it was during recent home series against Bangladesh. Fast bowlers Tino Best and Daren Powell, batsman Devon Smith and spinner Nikita Miller are among those players who do have One-Day International experience to draw on.

7. New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Shane Bond, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey.

Fast bowlers Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey have been named in New Zealand’s 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy. Both men are eligible to return to international cricket after they broke their contracts with the Indian Cricket League, the Twenty20 league which is deemed to be unofficial cricket by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

8. Pakistan: Younus Khan (captain), Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umer Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal.

Fast bowler Mohammad Asif has been named in Pakistan’s 15-man Champions Trophy squad despite his 12-month doping ban only running out one day before their opening fixture against the West Indies on 23rd September. Pakistan also take on Australia and India in Group A of the tournament. Asif, who tested positive for nandralone in the 2008 Indian Premier League when playing for the Delhi Daredevils, last played an ODI in April 2008 against Bangladesh.

The squad also includes four players who have severed their links with the Indian Cricket League in batsmen Imran Nazir and Mohammad Yousuf, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, and bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan while Umar Akmal retains his place in the squad after an impressive start to his international career against Sri Lanka.

After the initial flourish – and for the first time in the Digicel ODI Series – the Bangladesh middle order buckled, leaving them on 133 for 5, before Mahmudullah took charge with able assistance from wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim (31) and Naeem Islam (26).

Bangladesh, for the first time in their history, has a perfect win record on a tour. They won both the Digicel Tests and now all three of the Digicel ODIs.

The geological location keeps the two countries in different place, which is why it is 11 hours time gap comparing with Bangladeshi time. All the three ODI will be kicked-off as a dayer of 13:30 tournament and according to BST it will be held at 20:30 hours because of the government has the pulled the time one hour a head.

Fixture and time Table of Bangladesh vs West Indies One-day Internationals:

Bangladesh Tour of West Indies 2009 ( One Day International )

26 Jul 2009

West Indies vs Bangladesh

1st One Day International, Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica

Live action starts from: 13:30 GMT (19:00 IST)

28 Jul 2009

West Indies vs Bangladesh

2nd One Day International, Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica

Live action starts from: 13:30 GMT (19:00 IST)

31 Jul 2009

West Indies vs Bangladesh

3rd One Day International, Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts

Live action starts from: 13:30 GMT (19:00 IST)

The test series wins rise-up the hope of to take the one-day series win too. All the fans of Bangladesh are eagerly wait to watch another prestigious victory to their expected team.