Sami, Saqlain sign for ICL
Pakistan cricket has received a big jolt with 10 players, including fast bowler Mohammad Sami, reportedly joining the rebel Indian Cricket League, reports PTI from Karachi.
Apart from Sami, spinners Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Imran Nazir, Hasan Raza, Naved Latif, Humayun Farhat, Riaz Afridi, and Arshad Khan are among those who have signed their contracts but an announcement will come from the ICL soon.
Former New Zealand all-rounder Andre Adams has also signed a two-year contract with ICL.
DLF Group wins IPL title rights
Real estate developer DLF Group on Wednesday won the title sponsorship of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after its successful Rs 200 crore bid, reports PTI from Mumbai.
"DLF has won after bidding at Rs 200 crores and from now for the next five years, it will be called 'The DLF Indian Premier League'," said IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi adding that the bidding started at Rs 125 crore.
Olympian Holt dies at 95
Shooter Neville Holt, who was Australia's oldest Olympian, has died at the age of 95, the country's Olympic website (www.olympics.com.au) reported on Wednesday, reports Reuters from Sydney.
Holt represented his country in the small-bore shooting event at the 1948 London Olympics and participated in the Torch Relay at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
Satish stars in Karnataka win
A scintillating 152 by Ganesh Satish and a valuable 53 by S P Manjunath enabled Karnataka score an emphatic 216-run victory over Hyderabad in the under-25 South Zone inter-state P S Ram Mohan Rao trophy cricket tournament at the MCC Ground at Margao, reports UNI from Panaji.
Karnataka, after winning the toss, elected to bat and amassed 300/8 in 50 overs with Satish (152, 142 b, 19X4, 2X6) leading the charge. In reply, Hyderabad failed to negotiate medium-pacer A Mithun (six for 27) and collapsed for a paltry 84 in 25.2 overs.
Liuzzi finishes15th in tests
Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi finished 15th out of 16 drivers on first day of the Formula One pre-season testing here, reports PTI from Jerez De La Frontera, Spain.
Italian Liuzzi recorded a best timing of one minute, 21.533 seconds after completing 103 laps of the Jerez circuit and was just quicker than Australian Alexander Wurz, who managed 1:21.950 seconds in his Honda.
Briton Lewis Hamilton emerged fastest in his McLaren-Mercedes when he completed a lap in 1:19.102, ahead of Spanish team-mate Pedro de la Rosa (1:19.287).
The test session will last for three days and Force India will have Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella as their drivers for testing on the remaining two days.
Peterson comes in for Harris
Left-arm spinner Robin Peterson will replace Paul Harris in the South African squad to tour Bangladesh, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Wednesday, reports Reuters from Durban.
A CSA statement said Harris would miss the tour because of an abscess that required surgery.
Warne rubbishes CA stand
Shane Warne has said the sponsorship restrictions stopping Cricket Australia from releasing its players for the Indian Premier League did not have any grounds.
“It’s a very exciting time for the sport and to market the brand around the world. We should all be embracing the IPL rather than trying to fight the concept,” the Aussie spin legend said.
