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The Dubai Cricket Stadium, being built at the Dubai Sports City, will be ready by October 2008 according to a report in the Gulf News.ICC officials, including Malcolm Speed, the CEO, and Ray Mali, the president, visited the construction sites at the stadium and the ICC Global Cricket academy. “It’s a great improvement on what I saw during my last visit in September,” Mali said. “I am sure this world class stadium and the state-of the-art academy will be completed on time.”David Morgan, who will succeed Mali in June, was equally pleased. “Even at this stage of construction, it is very clear that it will be a significant stadium which will have its own charm.””It will be truly a world class stadium,” Speed said. “The ICC will certainly encourage teams to play here as often as possible. When I saw this site the first time it was a camel farm and now we have a world-class cricket stadium come out of the ground. The ICC will certainly encourage teams to play here as often as possible.”Mali added the development would boost to cricket in the UAE. “It will surely stimulate cricket in the UAE and will make the children get interested in the game. The academy will not only help the elite players from different parts of the world but it will also help the developing players from the associate and affiliate countries.”

Bob Woolmer was remembered as a passionate man who lived and died for the sport he loved during a memorial service in his adopted South Africa. The on-going murder inquiry has prevented Woolmer’s body from being flown back from Jamaica for a private funeral service, but friends and colleagues gathered at Cape Town’s Wynberg high school to give him a public send-off.”He lived for the game and he succumbed to the game,” Allan Donald told the mourners. Donald, the former South Africa fast man, credited his close friend and mentor with much of his success. “But the one thing he could never coach me was to run between the wickets,” he said in reference to South Africa’s exit from the 1999 World Cup.Woolmer was found dead, presumed strangled, in his Jamaican hotel room on March 18, a day after Pakistan were dramatically ousted from the World Cup by Ireland. Detectives are exploring the possibility that Woolmer was murdered with the cyanide-like poison aconite, which causes internal organ failure and forces the victim’s breath to slow until it finally stops. Reports have also said Woolmer’s body has been embalmed, which could make a second post-mortem difficult.His death has sparked one of the most complex murder investigations in Jamaican history and has triggered speculation about possible links to match-fixing and illegal betting. Tim Noakes, who co-authored a book with Woolmer on the art and science of cricket, rejected suggestions the coach was about to expose any scandals, saying the publication “does not include the word match-fixing”. Fighting back tears, Noakes described Woolmer as a “cricket missionary”.Noakes said the global community of cricketers and all who loved the game now had to face the possibility that cricket “may have lost its moral compass”. He praised Woolmer, who was in charge of South Africa between 1994 and 1999, as a man who had shaken hands with the queen of England and dined with presidents, but at the same time coached children in Cape Town’s Langa township.

Donald read a statement on behalf of Woolmer’s widow Gill and sons Dale and Russell, thanking well-wishers from around the world for their condolences. “To Inzamam and the Pakistan cricket team, Bob loved you.”The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Nasim Ashraf conveyed the sadness of his government and people at Woolmer’s death, telling his family: “We in Pakistan loved Bob.” He said he had received an email from Woolmer on the day of his death, as the shock of the exit at the hands of Ireland was still reverberating. “One thing struck me,” he said, “even at that time, he never made any excuses and stood by his troops.”Ashraf announced that an indoor cricket centre in Lahore would be named after Woolmer. “He lived cricket, he loved cricket and he died for cricket,” he said.Mourners included the former South Africa players Nicky Boje, Paul Adams and Gary Kirsten. Bert Erickson, of the Avendale Cricket Club in the Western Cape, told how Woolmer had defied apartheid-era racial barriers by coaching teams of colour and setting up the first mixed-race boys’ cricket team in the province.

Following the riots and anger from supporters at Guwahati, the England batsman Andrew Strauss has sympathised with the fans’ frustration after the match was called off.Although it appeared from the stands that the outfield had dried sufficiently – aided by a helicopter to blow-dry the rain away – the bowlers’ run-ups were sodden and the pitch was unsuitable to play on. With the sun shining, the fans couldn’t understand why the umpires – Rudi Koertzen and AV Jayaprakash – didn’t allow the match to start, and an outbreak of anger ensued. Strauss, though sympathetic to their concerns, did not condone the violence.”No-one likes to see things get out of hand like that,” he told . “It was obvious even as we left there were portions of the crowd who were pretty frustrated that there wasn’t any cricket being played.”You can understand [the frustration] because they had been there for a long time and it wasn’t raining,” he added. From the outside it looked like the conditions were right for cricket.”It’s a real shame for the spectators but obviously the players have got to take their own safety into account,” he said. “The bowlers’ run ups were very wet with the potential for bowlers to do themselves damage. It only takes one slip and you can damage yourself pretty badly.”It just wasn’t fit enough to play a one-day international which was a shame. It robbed everyone of a good game of cricket.”The sixth one-dayer gets underway at Jamshedpur on April 12.

Australia’s players have finally agreed a new pay deal after months of negotiation to avoid a potential repeat of the recent sponsorship crisis that afflicted West Indies. The Cricket Australia board had wanted to hand out fixed contracts, but this was rejected by the Australian Cricketers’ Association. The new four-year contract, which will come into effect from July, continues an existing arrangement where the state and international players share 25% of revenue generated by Cricket Australia.In coming to an agreement before the June 30 deadline, the Australians have managed to avoid the tangle that West Indies cricket found itself in last month. Brian Lara and six other players missed the start of their home series against South Africa because of a contract dispute. Similarly, if the Australians had not agreed a deal, they would have been free to sign packages with rivals of the board’s sponsors.”The two parties were poles apart at the start,” said a spokesman for the players’ union, “and they’ve come to an agreement in quite a short time, so it’s good.” Bob Merriman, the chairman of the Australian board, said the deal was fair to both parties. “It pays Australian elite cricket players well,” he said. “It encourages young, up-and-coming athletes to choose cricket as their professional sporting career option. It also offers Australian cricket improved ability to more aggressively drive participation in the game at a community level.”The Australian board also announced that interviews would take place with prospective replacements for Allan Border as national selector, and candidates would be considered at the next meeting in June. Border will continue as a director of both Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia. Another current selector, David Boon, has been reappointed for the next two years.

Until the end of the Indian tour of Pakistan, we will be running a daily Paper Round of what newspapers in India and Pakistan, and from around the world, are saying about this series. This is what the media had to say today:

Kapil Dev has announced that the upcoming tour will be a matter of life and death for the players, The Times of India reports. “It may be a goodwill series for some, but for the boys, it’s life and death,” Kapil said. “It’s about their careers. The players need to win for the team as well as for themselves.”He had a few words of advice to counter the pressure. “The boys must learn to enjoy the game and savour the opportunity. They have to just concentrate and work hard for the results to show up.” Kapil spoke about his role during the tree-day camp. Saying “there is no chance of making big changes in three days,” he added, “I just wanted to get them more confident before the series. Of course, there were some technical aspects as well, but I wouldn’t like to talk about them now.”* * *Shoaib Akhtar played down his impending duel with Sachin Tendulkar, saying cricket was not about individuals. “Cricket is a team game. The Indians now have more than one Tendulkar, and we have to get five Tendulkars out to win matches, but we are up to it.”Shoaib spoke to PTI about the additional responsibility of leading Pakistan’s attack, and the country’s expectations of the team. His personal goals, however, hadn’t changed from the start of his career. “I want to be the best against the best. That has been my endeavour since I started my career. So I am gearing up.”* * *Ten Sports and India’s cable operators have been involved in a confrontation that could affect viewers when the first Indo-Pak one-dayer is underway on March 13, PTI reports. The channel had been blacked out because of a dispute over a 400-500% rise in subscription payments. “Not only Ten Sports, most pay channel broadcasters have asked for four-five times the present subscription payments and they want this agreement for the next one year,” a cable operator said. “We cannot sustain such payments.” However, Ten Sports was confident that the matter would be settled soon.* * *Irfan Pathan is waiting eagerly for the day he opens the bowling with Zaheer Khan, according to a report by Press Trust of India (PTI). “I am enjoying the prospect of bowling alongside Zaheer Khan. He is a great help and always gives me tips. We vibe pretty well … it will be fun bowling with him.” While training on the last day of the three-day camp in Kolkata, Pathan said he was working on getting his basics right, which was essential for the tour to Pakistan. “Sharing the new ball has thrust greater responsibility on me. I am aware of the demands that come along with it. I am working on the basics and trying to perfect the line and length to get the little things in order … It is these things which will help in Pakistan.”* * *Romesh Powar came in for praise from John Wright, The Indian Express reported. On the verge of representing India for the first time, Powar’s all-round ability and hard work was commended by Wright. “Apart from being an offspinner, he is a good fielder and can also bat. It’s an advantage to have a player like him in the team,” Wright said. “He has a lot of energy and let’s see how he shapes up for the tour.”* * *The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken steps to ensure spectators are given every chance to watch matches without untoward incidents taking place.According to The Indian Express, the PCB has put up huge TV screens at various points in Lahore to lessen the pressure on Gaddafi stadium. Bar-coded tickets were issued to avoid forgery, the custom of giving away complimentary tickets was done away with, and tickets were issued for the warm-up game in Lahore on March 11.* * *Yuvraj Singh’s father, Yograj, wants his son to marry “someone of the calibre of Steffi Graf.” Why? Genetic preparation’s the answer, according to The Indian Express. “I have read some books on genetic preparations and I want to ensure that Yuvraj, whenever he decides to marry, ties the knot with a strong, athletic woman irrespective of where she comes from.” Yograj also had the country in mind when he said, “Look how he’s [Andre Agassi] planned his generations. He is already talking about careers for his children. It’s an approach everyone should have, only then India can boast about being a sporting powerhouse.”

Match ticket prices have been announced for the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa between Feb 8-March 23 next year.Details of the pricing of two types of ticket packages – which may be purchased by the public from 15 July 2002 – have been released for the 12 venues in South Africa, two in Zimbabwe and one in Nairobi.Dr Ali Bacher, executive director for the tournament, said that the different economic realities in different geographic areas in South Africa played a part in how the prices were set for each venue."We believe that the prices are very reasonable for the South African market," said Dr Bacher. "A great deal of thought went into this whole process. Some people might have thought it justified to go high on these prices because this is a World Cup, after all, but we took cognizance of the SA market and its economic realities."There are two types of package – the Stadium Package for all games at a particular venue and the Follow The Team Package for all six games played by a particular team during the preliminary or Pool round.The Follow The Team Package for all six of South Africa’s Pool games ranges between R830 and R965.Given the current rand-dollar-sterling exchange rates, the prices represent extremely good value for those supporters coming from overseas – and particularly the United Kingdom – to attend the 54-match tournament. To follow England and watch all six of their Pool games, the total cost is R755 which at the current exchange rate is about 45 pounds."With the devaluing of the Rand it was suggested that we peg the overseas prices, at say, an exchange rate of R7.50 to the dollar because at the current rate of around R12 to the dollar the UK cricket supporter can buy a Wanderers package – in pounds – at a ridiculously low price."We gave it consideration but decided the principle would be wrong to have different pricing policies for the SA market and the overseas market."Dr Bacher emphasized that the very affordable prices for overseas visitors should encourage large numbers to attend the tournament to the overall benefit of SA’s tourist industry and the country’s economy.Dr Bacher said the total seating capacity next year would be 920 000 and he was confident of an aggregate attendance of at least 800 000. He reiterated that 50 000 tickets would be taken out of the system and given on a carefully allocated basis to bona fide cricketers in disadvantaged areas.Dr Bacher confirmed that booking would open on July 15 and not July 1, 2002, as previously announced. The reason for the change was the final of the FIFA World Cup on June 30 which will command the sporting public’s interest around that time.On July 15, bookings will open on the Internet, Call Centre and at Match Venues.World Cup information is available on the Internet on www.cricketworldcup.com: Rodney HartmanCommunications Director2003 ICC Cricket World CupTel: +27 11 446-3604; Fax: +27 11 446-3622; Mobile: 083-389-0904