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JAMMU | THURSDAY | JULY 8, 2021 JB SPORTS JAMMU BULLETIN 9 History of controversial selections: Easwaran New Zealand to stage nation-wide again pits alpha male captain against selectors Mace tour to celebrate WTC victory NEW DELHI, JUL 7: national selector. “At first, we thought the The breakdown in communication Banerjee recollected how he was lit- time-out in managed isolation between national selectors, led by erally told that he was going to and the length of time since chairman Chetan Sharma, and the England (1977-78) in 1979 along with the win would dampen enthu- team management comprising skipper Surinder Khanna, but it was Tamil siasm for a public celebration, Virat Kohli over Bengal opener Nadu’s Bharat Reddy (career average but we have been persuaded Abhimanyu Easwaran’s contentious of under 18), who eventually got the to think again,” he said. selection, is not the first such instance. nod. Coincidentally, then India skip- The nationwide tour will And it is certainly not going to be per S Venkataraghavan also hailed involve selected players and the last in Indian cricket which is from Tamil Nadu. support staff assembling at replete with incidents when alpha “We knew Kiri (Syed Kirmani) each of the cities on the route, male captains have locked horns with would be dropped. A day before the starting with a small group the wise men of “authoritarian reputa- team selection, few players came up including Tim Southee at his tion”. and said, ‘Sambaran we know you are home town of Whangarei. It’s not a bad time to revisit a few in the squad, we need a treat. “It’s a great way to give selection conundrums that had gained “I must have spent around 400 AUCKLAND, JUL 7: Wellington, Christchurch, back to the fans that’ve sup- legendary status over the years. bucks (quite a sum in those days) to The victorious Black Caps Dunedin and Invercargill ported us – not only the last In the late 1960s till early 70s, take a few boys out for dinner and squad will carry its ICC throughout the week so that couple of years through the Bengal had a wicketkeeper of Parsi supposed to keep. They were playing a his sharp sense of humour, to joke: “I next day, the list had Reddy’s name. I World Test Championship members of the public have Test Championship but for a origin named Rusi Jeejebhoy, a hand- Duleep Trophy game at the Brabourne only knew about Batliboi think he scored 30 odd runs in 4 Tests Mace on a week-long, nation- an opportunity to be pho- long time,” Southee said. some man born and brought up in Stadium sometime in 1970. (Engineering company), now I am (38),” one could gauge the hurt in wide tour of the country, tographed with the unique “For some of these smaller Kolkata. He played 46 first-class “The chairman of selection commit- hearing about Jeejeebhoy!” Banerjee’s voice as he spoke. starting July 26, New Zealand trophy and collect autographs places that don’t get a lot of games and ended with a “horrifying” tee, late Vijay Merchant (an icon of Jeejeebhoy kept wickets and was Banerjee claims that while South Cricket (NZC) said on and a team poster. international cricket or see a batting average of 10.46. Parsee community) just before the toss selected for his first and last tour of Zone selector M L Jaisimha and Wednesday. “It’s quickly become appar- lot of cricketers, it’s a great Even if one considers that batting summoned Ramesh bhai, a nice gen- West Indies and when he retired, his North’s Vijay Mehra was in his sup- Kane Williamson and com- ent that Kiwis want an oppor- chance to go back to those wasn’t a primary skill for keepers port, Dattu Phadkar, the East Zone tleman. highest score was a mere 39 in 46 pany won the inaugural WTC tunity to be part of, and to smaller town…I know grow- back then, Farokh Engineer was in a selector, kept quiet and “He instructed Ramesh bhai to play games. New skipper Ait Wadekar final, beating India by eight share in this historic achieve- ing up in a small town, any- different league. Daljeet as a batsman and pick Rusi as couldn’t have argued with a living leg- Venkataraghavan apparently got his wickets in Southampton in a ment,” NZC chief executive time there’s something spe- There was a slot for the third wick- a keeper. If someone of Mr Merchant’s end like Merchant. choice of keeper. thrilling contest last month. David White said. cial like that, it’s always a etkeeper for the historic 1971 tour of stature would request, what could Sambaran Banerjee, the only Bengal In 1986, Manoj Prabhakar was in The tour is set to start in “We’ve been inundated great occasion. West Indies and there was a Duleep have Ramesh bhai done,” an old-timer captain to win Ranji Trophy post inde- the Indian team and before the Leeds Whangarei on July 26 and with requests to do something “Hopefully, we can give Trophy match where East was led by who was part of that match told pendence, is an amazing raconteur. Test match, skipper Kapil Dev felt that will cover Auckland, so that New Zealanders can back and hopefully give kids stylish Bihar batsman Ramesh Saxena Jeejeebhoy’s inclusion forced a for- With an elephant’s memory, he can he wasn’t measuring up in the nets Tauranga, Hamilton, New join in with the team and a bit of future hope of future and Daljit Singh (famous for being mer India and Mumbai great (his son just rattle off incidents both from his (years later it happened with Karun Plymouth, Palmerston North, share the moment. cricketers,” he added. BCCI chief curator in later years) was was also a Test cricketer), known for playing days and during his times as a Nair in 2018). Virat Kohli retains 5th spot, KL Rahul Angelo Mathews opts out of India Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana nominated climbs to 6th in ICC T20I rankings series as players sign tour contracts for ‘ICC player of the month’ award wickets in two matches, COLOMBO, JUL 7: DUBAI,JUL 7: including a haul of four for 18 Senior batsman Angelo Mathews on Wednesday pulled out of India’s teen batting sensa- in the first ODI, has advanced the upcoming limited-overs series against India citing personal tion Shafali Verma and all- four slots in the list led by reasons as Sri Lanka Cricket announced that 29 of the 30 play- rounder Sneh Rana were on New Zealand’s Trent Boult ers short-listed for the assignment have signed their contracts. Wednesday nominated for for with Bangladesh’s Mehidy The 34-year-old Mathews was not a part of the squad that ICC women’s ‘Player of the Hasan Miraz in second place. toured England recently and last played the Test series against Month’ award for June fol- Woakes’ previous best was Bangladesh in April. The India series comprising three ODIs lowing their standout per- fourth position attained in and as many T20s begins here on July 13. “Sri Lanka Cricket formances in the ongoing wishes to announce that 29 players, out of the 30 members September last year. He is series against England. nominated by the Cricket Selectors to be considered for the also up one place to third Besides the Indian duo, White-Ball Series against India, have signed the Tour among all-rounders after Contract,” said the SLC in a statement. “Angelo Mathews, who England’s left-arm spinner overtaking team-mate, Ben was included in the respective 30-member squad, requested Sri Sophie Ecclestone has also Stokes. Lanka Cricket to relieve him from National Duties, owing to been nominated for the hon- Other England fast bowlers personal reasons, until further notice.” Sources, however, that our in the women’s category. DUBAI, JUL 7: 10 among bowlers and all- David Willey and Tom Mathews, the seniormost among the current crop of players, The nominees among the Indian skipper Virat Kohli rounders in the latest T20I Curran, too, have gained in and Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne were excluded from the men are New Zealand bats- retained his fifth position rankings. the latest men’s weekly rank- contracts that were offered on Wednesday morning. An unhap- man Devon Conway and while wicketkeeper-batsman In the ODI rankings, Kohli ings update. py Mathews has reportedly written to the SLC administration pacer Kyle Jamieson along KL Rahul gained one spot to and vice-captain Rohit Willey has moved up 13 stating that he is considering retirement. He is expected to with South Africa wicket- be in sixth place in the latest Sharma remained in the top places to 37th position after a make a formal announcement of his intentions in a few days. keeper Quinton de Kock. rate of 85.50. All-rounder 206 for an average of 25.75. ICC T20I rankings. five, occupying the second ‘Player of the Series’ effort of What the SLC did on Wednesday was to offer contracts on the The 17-year-old Shafali, Rana also had a memorable The 22-year-old snared With 762 points, Kohli is and third spots respectively, nine wickets that included a basis of each tour, a source said. “There will be no annual con- who had already impressed Test debut at Bristol with her four wickets in each innings everyone in the shortest for- behind England’s David behind Azam. haul of four for 64 in the sec- tracts as the immediate need was to sign players for the series unbeaten 80 off 154 deliver- of the Test match.

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