ICC World Twenty20, 2009

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[Sadaf Gondal]

No pressure on SL
Kumar Sangakkara said his team would make a "very strong impact" on the World Twenty20 with less pressure on it to perform in this format. The tournament, which begins next week in England, marks Sangakkara's maiden tour as captain since taking over from Mahela Jayawardene, and the team's return to cricket following the Lahore attack in March.
"I don't think there is as much pressure on us in the T20 format as an international side as when we play Test cricket and one-day cricket. It is still a format that we are exploring but I think with the side we have, we have a great opportunity to make a very strong impact," Sangakkara said before his team's departure for London on Thursday.
Sri Lanka are with Australia and West Indies in Group C, which Sangakkara described as the group of death but also pointed to the opportunities it presented. "You've got to win at least one game. But at the end of the day you have to beat the best sides in the world to qualify in a tournament. We've just got to take our chances," he said.
In the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, Sri Lanka came through unbeaten in their group and qualified for the Super Eight before being eliminated.
Sangakkara said he believed the side had the right balance for the tournament and was confident his sometimes inconsistent batting line-up would play its part in their success. "I am definitely confident of the batting we have. You take [Tillakaratne] Dilshan, Sanath [Jayasuriya], Mahela [Jayawardene], [Jehan] Mubarak, Chamara [Silva] and myself - we've got great batting talent to represent the country in a World Cup.
"A hundred and twenty balls is a long time. Even though Twenty20 cricket seems short it is not really that short when you are batting. If you plan your innings right and hopefully execute it on that day any score over 150 would be a very competitive one."
Sri Lanka's bowling line-up, he said, was one of the best in the tournament.
"There is [Nuwan] Kulasekera, who is no. 1 in the world, Murali, Ajantha [Mendis], Thilan Thushara and Lasith Malinga who has come back so strongly. It's a great mix but at the end of the day it doesn't matter what you have, you've got to walk the walk basically to really get on the field and perform well," he said.
Sri Lanka have included Angelo Mathews and Farveez Maharoof in the squad, and Sangakkara feels one of them could fill the vacant allrounder spot. "Angelo is a batting allrounder and Maharoof, a bowling allrounder. One of them has got the ability to put their hands up and become that allrounder that all sides are looking for and one we haven't had for a long time."
Indika de Saram comes into the side after a long time on the back of some very good domestic performances and Sangakkara described Isuru Udana as an exciting prospect with his change-up. "He was the best performing bowler in the domestic tournament from what I have seen", he said.
Sri Lanka begin their campaign on June 8 against Australia at Trent Bridge and take on West Indies two days later at the same venue in Group C.

[Sadaf Gondal]

World T20 won't repeat mistakes of World Cup
Steve Elworthy, the ICC's tournament director, believes that the allure of international competition will enable the forthcoming World Twenty20 to rise above the fears of overkill that are currently circulating in English cricket, but warned that the ECB will have missed a trick if they fail to use the three-week event to attract a new audience to the game.

Speaking to Cricinfo on the eve of the tournament, Elworthy admitted that the game's administrators had learnt their lessons from the disastrous Caribbean World Cup in 2007, and were also mindful of overloading the calendar with too many marquee events. But regardless of the hype and glamour of the recently completed Indian Premier League, he insisted that tickets for the World Twenty20 were proving extremely popular in what he described as a "unique summer" for the ECB.

"The key point with any product is the exclusivity," said Elworthy. "You want people walking away at the end of a match wanting more, you want them to say: 'I can't wait for next season because I can't wait for the next Twenty20 competition'.

"[It's true that] there've been a couple of very big competitions in a fairly short space of time, but it'll settle down. It is a massive summer of cricket for the ECB, but it's a unique summer. It doesn't happen very often to get the Ashes and a world event in the same year and hosted by the same board."

Elworthy was appointed to his role by the ECB back in January, having successfully overseen the inaugural World Twenty20 in September 2007 in his native South Africa. That tournament was won in a thrilling final by India, who chose to return to the country to stage last month's IPL, when the competition was forced overseas by the unstable political climate in the subcontinent.

"The IPL is a fantastic domestic product and its success is widely recognised," said Elworthy. "But this is nation versus nation, and everything we are doing goes back to that pride of pulling on your shirt and representing your country. What's the hook when you're watching the match? It's the fact that you want your country to do well."

According to Elworthy, the ICC is still heeding the lessons learnt at the 2007 World Cup, which featured 47 matches in 51 days, unrealistic ticket prices and some grindingly dull cricket between ill-matched teams. The original World Twenty20 took place just six months on from that event, and was an unqualified success thanks largely to a rock-bottom pricing policy that opened the gates to a whole new audience.

"Twenty20 is deemed a development product," said Elworthy. "It is for attracting new markets and new spectators and fans, who will hopefully go on to play cricket and participate. You've got to be able to get to the youth market, because what you're trying to achieve is dictated to you by your ticket price."

Tickets for the 2007 event ranged from the equivalent of £1.50 for the opening rounds to a top-tier cost of £11 for the final, and even allowing for a stronger UK economy and the knowledge of the event's popularity, those prices are considerably lower than the ones on offer in 2009. This time around, adult tickets will range from £20 at Trent Bridge to £90 at Lord's, even though Under-16s will be able to watch the final for as little as a tenner.

"You can't have an elite ticket price and expect it to be attended by loads of families and kids," said Elworthy. "The structure of our ticket prices there was one of the key successes [of the 2007 tournament]."
While South Africa proved to be an outstanding venue for both the World Twenty20 and the IPL, England has a less auspicious track record when it comes to global cricket events. The last major tournament to be staged in the country was the 1999 World Cup, which was memorable for a fizzer of an opening ceremony and a poor showing from the host nation, who were ejected from the competition in the opening round.

Elworthy, however, is adamant that cricket fans in England will flock to the event, even though the Ashes remain the dominant attraction of the summer. "Twenty20 in this country is extremely popular," he said. "Our first set of ticket allocations went out just under a year ago, and over 100,000 tickets were sold out in 48 hours. There are still tickets available, but we expect 95-98% capacity at the key double-headers, and we are well on target in terms of our goals of over 80% attendance across the entire tournament."
"All the venues have been supportive," he added. "Our ticketing strategy didn't want to alienate the current markets and clientele that the venues have, but we wanted to reach new audiences and get new faces to the ground. All the dug-outs and DJ boxes and dance podiums, those have become part of the Twenty20 brand, and they'll be delivered at all these venues."

[Sadaf Gondal]

Flintoff ruled out of World Twenty20
Yorkshire's legspinner Adil Rashid has been called into England's ICC World Twenty20 squad as a replacement for Andrew Flintoff, after the England management conceded that Flintoff would not be fit following his recent bout of knee surgery.

Flintoff, 31, sustained a tear to the meniscus in his right knee while playing for Chennai Super Kings in the recent Indian Premier League. Though he was named in England's squad for the Twenty20 tournament that gets underway against Holland at Lord's on June 5, the likelihood of him recovering in time was always slim.

"Andrew is making excellent progress and there is no swelling or pain now in the knee," said England's chief medical officer, Nick Peirce. "He has been putting in some extremely hard training with Lancashire and should start running and practicing this week. After discussions with his surgeon we have decided that he should continue the remainder of his rehabilitation with physio Dave Roberts, who has overseen his previous rehabilitations."

Having missed all of this season's Tests and ODIs against West Indies, Flintoff will now aim to regain his fitness ahead of the Ashes opener at Cardiff on July 8. The intention is for him to begin his comeback in Lancashire's County Championship fixture against Hampshire at Liverpool on June 17.
The ECB confirmed they had approached the World Twenty20 technical committee for permission to add Rashid to the squad that was originally named on May 1.
"We had to name Andrew in the 15 because we hoped he would be fit," said England's national selector, Geoff Miller. "But in reality the timescale was always optimistic. We have now obtained permission from ICC to name Yorkshire's Adil Rashid as a replacement. There is a lot of cricket still to play this year and it is important Andrew is fully fit for it."
Rashid, who made his first appearance in a senior England squad during the winter tours of India and West Indies, has been drafted in as an extra spinner to support Graeme Swann even though he has been omitted from Yorkshire's first two Twenty20 Cup matches. He was preferred ahead of his seam-bowling team-mate Tim Bresnan, as well as the Nottinghamshire allrounder, Samit Patel, who was controversially overlooked for the original squad because of his failure to meet the team's fitness standards.

"It is an exciting opportunity for Rashid, who was in the original 30 we named in early April," said Miller. "He has impressed the England management after being a part of the Test tour to India and the subsequent Caribbean tour and deserves his chance."

For Rashid, 21, the call-up is another big step in his rapid rise to prominence in English cricket. In addition to his legspin, he is also a genuine batting prospect with two first-class hundreds to his name. Last week, he told Cricinfo that his primary goal this summer had been to get involved in England's Ashes set-up, and that his ultimate ambition is to play Test cricket.

The shortest format can be a cruel game to bowlers, Rashid conceded. "When you're coming on for two overs then coming off again, it is difficult to get the pace and rhythm right," he told Cricinfo. "But Twenty20 does teach you where to bowl, how to bowl and when to bowl, and if a batter gets after you, what to bowl.
"You've got to be looked after," said Rashid. "If you get hit for a six and a four, the captain must accept that a legspinner is also a 'risk' spinner. He goes for runs but he's there to take wickets as well. It shouldn't be a bad thing if he gets hit for a six or a four, he shouldn't be taken off in the next over."

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[Sadaf Gondal]

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[Sadaf Gondal]

Younus hopes Pakistan go one better in World Twenty20
KARACHI: Pakistan captain Younus Khan is confident his team can go one better in the World Twenty20 after finishing runners-up last time to bitter rivals India.

Two years ago, Pakistan lost a nail biting final against India by five runs in Johannesburg, a loss that Younus insists his team is eager to put behind them. "We want to win the title," said Younus. "We have the talent, but it's a tough competition where other eleven teams will do their best to finish at the top."

Pakistan is in Group B, along with hosts England and the Netherlands, in first round of the competition, which runs from June 5-21. They take on England June 7 before facing the Netherlands two days later. The second round Super Eight stages should give Pakistan an easy draw with likely rivals being New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Younus said Pakistan's preparations have been satisfactory "We beat Australia in the Twenty20 match which was a good morale booster and then had a good conditioning camp and some practice matches which tuned us well for England," said Younus, whose team has the best win ratio in all Twenty20.

Pakistan have won eight of their 11 internationals with two defeats and one tied match. Pakistan will heavily rely on paceman Umar Gul who has taken most wickets (24 in 14 matches) in this newest form of the game and with injury-prone Shoaib Akhtar pulled out of the team his responsibility has increased. Rao Iftikhar, who replaced Akhtar in the squad, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and rookie paceman Mohammad Aamir complete the fast bowling line-up. The 17-year-old Aamir is tipped to surprise with his speed and swing in English conditions. Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Shoaib Malik lead the spin department, which has the ability to stop runs and take wickets. Off-spinner Ajmal received a boost ahead of the event, when his action cleared by the International Cricket Council.

Younus hoped his own batting form improves to help lift an otherwise inconsistent line-up which also has opener Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq, Malik Afridi and in-form Kamran Akmal.

[Sadaf Gondal]

England have the necessary experience - Flower
Having earned themselves some valuable momentum in an otherwise low-key Test and ODI series against West Indies, England launch the ICC World Twenty20 next Friday when they take on Netherlands in the opening fixture at Lord's. For their coach, Andy Flower, the tournament represents an opportunity to correct a poor record in the shortest format of the game.
"We haven't played good Twenty20 cricket [in the past] but that doesn't mean we can't do well in this competition," Flower said in an interview with Big Hitter magazine. "We have guys with more Twenty20 experience now and we have the talent and variety of player necessary."
Aside from a trio of victories over New Zealand last year, England have not beaten a major nation over 20 overs since they squared their two-match series against West Indies at The Oval in June 2007. At the inaugural World Twenty20 three months later, their solitary victory came against Zimbabwe, before defeats to South Africa, New Zealand and India ended their participation.
In total, England have won six and lost nine of their 15 Twenty20 internationals since defeating Australia by 100 runs in their maiden fixture in 2005. Only two players - Kevin Pietersen and the captain, Paul Collingwood - have been ever-present in the side, although their international commitments have meant they have often been unavailable to play in the domestic Twenty20 Cup.
Flower, however, believes this year's squad can draw on a range of experiences at international, domestic and IPL level, and aim for an improved performance. "One of the reasons why we haven't nailed Twenty20 is because some of our internationals are not very experienced at it," he said. "We've done a lot of thinking and analysis from what we've seen at the IPL - some of our players have been out there - so we've got some good information that should help us."
Though he himself did not play Twenty20 cricket at international level, Flower was a regular in Es+++'s set-up until his retirement in 2007, and has plenty of theories as to how to succeed in the shortened format. "[You] must be able to adapt, have strong hitters and top-class batsmen up front," he said. "Ravi Bopara has shown what a class player can do at the top of the order, which you need against the new ball - not just lower order sloggers thrown in.
"It is important to have a blend in your batting and I believe we have that in our side," he added. "Adaptability and flexibility is required because games can change so quickly. Down the order you need people who can hit boundaries and we have players like [Dimitri] Mascarenhas, [Owais] Shah, [Luke] Wright and [Graham] Napier to fulfil that role.

"With the bowling a captain needs options in his attack - more so than in ODIs; people who can be brought on for one over to do a job. Everything is accelerated in Twenty20 cricket so one over is more like three or four. In terms of the variety in the bowling attack, you need a couple of quicks, a couple of medium pacers where the 'keeper stands up and spin options."
With two centuries in the Tests against West Indies, Flower's former Es+++ colleague Bopara is very much England's man of the moment, and his role at the top of the batting order will be vital to the team's bid for momentum.
"An opener and his partner need to dovetail and be able to play a variety of games," said Flower. "When it's your day, and you are hitting the ball well, then you go on the attack, and other times it's not [your day]. We have seen evidence of Ravi taking charge and other times when he has played second fiddle. It is important that he is capable of doing that but he also has enough class and timing to attack the new ball as well."
"You do need to have people capable of hitting over the boundary but you don't need to be a huge hitter [to do well]," he added. "If you aren't [a huge hitter] then you have to be skilful in other areas. James Foster, for instance, is in the side for his scoring ability lower down the order in manoeuvring the ball into different areas.
"You don't have to beat the ball out of the park to be effective. Eoin Morgan is the same - a good player of spin who plays slightly differently. As a coach you need to be able to adapt to the players at your disposal. All the players are good players in their own right so I will try to help them in any area I can. Most of the time my approach is to try to enhance the strengths they already have."
Though Flower admitted that the loss of Andrew Flintoff to a knee injury would be a blow to the team's prospects, he resisted any temptation to offer a recall to Nottinghamshire's spinning allrounder, Samit Patel, who was omitted from the original squad on the grounds of his poor fitness, and instead opted for Yorkshire's legspinner, Adil Rashid.
"The situation with Samit is simple," said Flower. "He was de-selected because he hadn't made any improvement in his fitness. We believe fitness is very important in the progress of the team and as long as people are improving they don't have to be perfect physical specimens. No improvement was made by Samit over a two-month period so that's why we made him unavailable for selection for the World Twenty20."

[Sadaf Gondal]

England have the necessary experience - Flower
Having earned themselves some valuable momentum in an otherwise low-key Test and ODI series against West Indies, England launch the ICC World Twenty20 next Friday when they take on Netherlands in the opening fixture at Lord's. For their coach, Andy Flower, the tournament represents an opportunity to correct a poor record in the shortest format of the game.
"We haven't played good Twenty20 cricket [in the past] but that doesn't mean we can't do well in this competition," Flower said in an interview with Big Hitter magazine. "We have guys with more Twenty20 experience now and we have the talent and variety of player necessary."
Aside from a trio of victories over New Zealand last year, England have not beaten a major nation over 20 overs since they squared their two-match series against West Indies at The Oval in June 2007. At the inaugural World Twenty20 three months later, their solitary victory came against Zimbabwe, before defeats to South Africa, New Zealand and India ended their participation.
In total, England have won six and lost nine of their 15 Twenty20 internationals since defeating Australia by 100 runs in their maiden fixture in 2005. Only two players - Kevin Pietersen and the captain, Paul Collingwood - have been ever-present in the side, although their international commitments have meant they have often been unavailable to play in the domestic Twenty20 Cup.
Flower, however, believes this year's squad can draw on a range of experiences at international, domestic and IPL level, and aim for an improved performance. "One of the reasons why we haven't nailed Twenty20 is because some of our internationals are not very experienced at it," he said. "We've done a lot of thinking and analysis from what we've seen at the IPL - some of our players have been out there - so we've got some good information that should help us."
Though he himself did not play Twenty20 cricket at international level, Flower was a regular in Es+++'s set-up until his retirement in 2007, and has plenty of theories as to how to succeed in the shortened format. "[You] must be able to adapt, have strong hitters and top-class batsmen up front," he said. "Ravi Bopara has shown what a class player can do at the top of the order, which you need against the new ball - not just lower order sloggers thrown in.
"It is important to have a blend in your batting and I believe we have that in our side," he added. "Adaptability and flexibility is required because games can change so quickly. Down the order you need people who can hit boundaries and we have players like [Dimitri] Mascarenhas, [Owais] Shah, [Luke] Wright and [Graham] Napier to fulfil that role.

"With the bowling a captain needs options in his attack - more so than in ODIs; people who can be brought on for one over to do a job. Everything is accelerated in Twenty20 cricket so one over is more like three or four. In terms of the variety in the bowling attack, you need a couple of quicks, a couple of medium pacers where the 'keeper stands up and spin options."
With two centuries in the Tests against West Indies, Flower's former Es+++ colleague Bopara is very much England's man of the moment, and his role at the top of the batting order will be vital to the team's bid for momentum.
"An opener and his partner need to dovetail and be able to play a variety of games," said Flower. "When it's your day, and you are hitting the ball well, then you go on the attack, and other times it's not [your day]. We have seen evidence of Ravi taking charge and other times when he has played second fiddle. It is important that he is capable of doing that but he also has enough class and timing to attack the new ball as well."
"You do need to have people capable of hitting over the boundary but you don't need to be a huge hitter [to do well]," he added. "If you aren't [a huge hitter] then you have to be skilful in other areas. James Foster, for instance, is in the side for his scoring ability lower down the order in manoeuvring the ball into different areas.
"You don't have to beat the ball out of the park to be effective. Eoin Morgan is the same - a good player of spin who plays slightly differently. As a coach you need to be able to adapt to the players at your disposal. All the players are good players in their own right so I will try to help them in any area I can. Most of the time my approach is to try to enhance the strengths they already have."
Though Flower admitted that the loss of Andrew Flintoff to a knee injury would be a blow to the team's prospects, he resisted any temptation to offer a recall to Nottinghamshire's spinning allrounder, Samit Patel, who was omitted from the original squad on the grounds of his poor fitness, and instead opted for Yorkshire's legspinner, Adil Rashid.
"The situation with Samit is simple," said Flower. "He was de-selected because he hadn't made any improvement in his fitness. We believe fitness is very important in the progress of the team and as long as people are improving they don't have to be perfect physical specimens. No improvement was made by Samit over a two-month period so that's why we made him unavailable for selection for the World Twenty20."