The World Cup 2010 being held in South Africa, from the 11th June untill the 11th July. The best football once every four years. Don't miss the great action!
Former South Africa captain Clive Rice says cricket needs an urgent “wake up call” as match-fixing allegations threaten the long-term future of the game.
In an interview with SNTV in Johannesburg, Rice said cricket's shattered image could now chase sponsors away “because they don't want to be associated with it.”
Rice revealed he had been approached to fix matches when he was a selector for the South African national team. He said he gave all the information he had to the International Cricket Council.
Rice was speaking in the wake of the scandal involving the Pakistan cricket team, three of whom have been questioned by police and suspended by the ICC after they were alleged by a British newspaper to have received money in return for bowling deliberate no-balls in the Lord's test against England -
If the Pakistan betting scandal hasn't put you off following the rest of their tour in England, you can watch the first one-day international live online on Sky Sports.
Sky will be streaming the England-Pakistan match from 10am tomorrow morning (Friday 10 September).
Sky Sports customers signed up to a Broadband Unlimited or Multiroom package will be able to watch the live coverage without paying anything extra. If you're not a Sky Sports customer, you'll need to subscribe to the Sky Player.
Pakistan have been pretty woeful so far this summer, and were no match for England in the two Twenty20 matches in Cardiff, so it's hard to see them winning this five-day series - especially with Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif all suspended over spot-fixing allegations.
Just click the link below to watch Sky's coverage from Durham's Riverside Ground in Chester-le-street. England Vs Pakistan 1st Test Match(day 1) 29 July 2010 video
The connection between a miffed French newspaper editor, Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Champions League Twenty20 is unlikely to be readily apparent to all But it exists nonetheless. The story starts with Gabriel Hanot, who was capped a dozen times by France as a footballer before an aviation accident forced him to limp down the less glamorous avenue of journalism.
For a time after World War II, he lived a complicated life as both a reporter and coach of the French national team. The double trouble caught up with him in 1949, when his team was thrashed by Spain. What else could Hanot do but write an editorial, unsigned, calling for his own resignation? A day later, he duly resigned.
In fact, the saga of the debt cricket owes to football began a year earlier with the Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones, the forerunner of the Copa Libertadores. As editor of Le Equip, Hanot published enthusiastic reports from South America that waxed wonderful about the notion of a tournament that dared to pit the finest clubs from different countries against each other.
Then, in 1953, Wolves took the breathtaking step of installing floodlights at Molineux. They followed that by playing several friendlies against quality opposition. A South African XI, Argentina's Racing Club, Spartak Moscow, and Honved of Hungary all came, saw and were conquered. More significantly, they were seen to be conquered on the BBC in some of the first matches to be broadcast live on television.
In the most enduring traditions of the British press, Wolves were promptly proclaimed "Champions of the World". Across the Channel in Paris, that assertion stung Hanot's Gallic pride like a recklessly tossed gauntlet. "Before we declare that Wolverhampton Wanderers are invincible, let them go to Moscow and Budapest," he thumped out on his typewriter. "And there are other internationally renowned clubs: AC Milan and Real Madrid to name but two. A club world championship, or at least a European one -- larger, more meaningful and more prestigious than the Mitropa Cup (an earlier international event for clubs) and more original than a competition for national teams -- should be launched."
Hanot's flaming arrow found its target, and in 1955-56 the first European Cup kicked off. What we have come to know as the UEFA Champions League final now shares with the NFL's Superbowl the distinction of being the world's most watched annual sporting event, keeping more than 100 million viewers on their couches.
Most of which is probably old news to the wheelers and dealers who crafted the Champions League T20 for their remuneration and our edification. Now that cricket has engineered a mutant format of itself sexy enough to give football a run for its money in the global goggling stakes, it follows that a game that was once the preserve of amateur grandees should make it count where it counts: in the profit column.
The total prize money for the second edition of the Champions League T20 is US$6m. The winners will take home $2.5m and the runners-up $1.3m. Semi-finalists will earn $500 000 each, and teams who get no further than the group stages will bank $200 000.
But before we think that puts cricket and those who earn their crust in its service in the pound seats, consider the staggering fact that Inter Milan were paid $11.48m for beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the 2010 UEFA Champions League final. That translates into $5.74m per goal, or $127, 556 per minute. Even teams who were trying to qualify for the competition proper had their coffers boosted to the tune of $2.68m each.
That's right, sportslovers: this year's UEFA Champions League wannabes each earned $168,000 more than the purse that will go to the team that triumphs at the Champions League T20.
And just when we thought cricket was playing ball with the big boys. In truth, the big boys won't need pointing out to anyone who saw the madding crowd of more than 33,000 that flooded the street outside the Wanderers in Johannesburg in June to watch Portugal play Mozambique in nothing more significant than a World Cup warm-up match.
Or, if you see things as Tony Irish, the chief executive of the South African Cricketers' Association, is duty bound to see them: "The money in a particular sport is a direct result of the number of people who watch it. In India, that number is huge but in other countries it's miniscule compared to those who watch football."
The Indocentric environment in which modern cricket operates and prospers is also felt in other ways. "We did about as well as we could when the television rights for the CLT20 were sold (for $975m to ESPNStar for 10 years)," Irish said, "but a lot of that money is ploughed back into India, and there are only three Indian teams in the tournament."
But spectators at South Africa's major cricket stadiums and the comparatively "miniscule" audience in India and elsewhere tuning in for the Champions League T20 has reasons to be cheerful that they are not watching football.
For a start, they are unlikely to have to endure any scoreless matches. Also, players will not feign fatal injury at the slightest real or imagined physical contact with an opponent. Anyone who treats an umpire like footballers invariably treat their referees is likely to be smacked upside the head by a large fine, a suspension, merciless booing for the rest of the tournament, or all of the above.
And, perhaps best of all, there won't be any yobs straining their ample bellies against replica Manchester United/Arsenal/Chelsea/Liverpool/Spurs/Man City football shirts as they demand bacon butties and chips 'n egg from sushi chefs. Oh, to be in South Africa now that no English teams are here.
Ah, cricket: smaller than football, but to many - notwithstanding match-fixing, rain, the unbearable dullness of most limited-overs matches, greedy administrators, egotistic administrators, power-hungry administrators, actually, administrators, period, and, of course, opinionated reporters - far closer to being perfectly formed.
SHOOT IT AND SCORE A GRAND AND A HALF- Aviva Launches Search for Funniest Away-Day Antics Video
"These allegations of corruption hurt the game of cricket," Strauss said at Durham ahead of Friday's NatWest Series match against Pakistan.
"Every one of them that comes to light damages the game. Ultimately, they are a bit of a cancer that can spread and devalue the game."
Strauss, who did not play in England's facile Twenty20 victories over Pakistan at Cardiff, reclaims the captaincy from Paul Collingwood for the 50-over series.
But although another whitewash seems the most likely outcome, Strauss was confident that it would not be because of Pakistan's lack of effort.
"Despite the allegations that have been out there I still maintain that cricket generally is a very clean sport and two teams are playing to beat the other 100 per cent," Strauss said.
"If I can allay fears, there is no chance, in my mind, that any of these games coming up will not be played in that spirit."
The paying public at Cardiff did not seem to share that view, judging by the poor turnout, though as tickets had been on sale months beforehand, it probably was not just the corruption scandal that altered perceptions.
"I think every cricketer in the world has received a short sharp slap in the face to where this game is at the moment and where it needs to be going in the future," Strauss said.
"We need to reconnect with the game for the right reasons. Cricket has survived many controversies over the years and will continue to do so. That's why we need to move on and make sure the game is very clean from now on."
After the spot-fixing scandal broke almost two weeks ago, most of England's players let it be known through the Professional Cricketers' Association, their union, that they would be unwilling to play against anyone under suspicion.
Riaz practised with Pakistan at Chester-le-Street on Thursday and was, according to Yawar Saeed, the team's manager, still available for selection. But then Kamran Akmal, another questioned by the police in the past 10 days, played in both T20 matches.
"All we know is that the International Cricket Council have sufficient grounds to suspend three players but not more at this stage," Strauss said.
"In that sense we are happy to play on. From our point of view we are looking to move on to playing cricket again. I think that's an important thing to stress.
"While obviously not diminishing the importance of these allegations, we need to make sure we get back on the pitch and make sure the game moves forward in the right way."
With only a dozen one-day matches left before the World Cup next February, England should really be formalising their line-up.
But the omission of Craig Kieswetter, after a loss of form, and the rehabilitation of Kevin Pietersen in county cricket, have allowed others such as Steven Davies and Ravi Bopara – the latter will possibly be preferred to Luke Wright – to show their worth.
Davies is the latest in a long line to try to make a success of the hitting role at the top of the order. Making the most of the powerplays will be crucial in a World Cup played on the benign pitches in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but it is a very different matter in England, especially in September.
He may also face something he has never done before, a 7ft tall bowler. Mohammad Irfan will probably not be mistaken by tourists hoping to glimpse the Angel of the North, but he towers above most that have played the game.
In normal circumstances he would not play on Friday, having arrived in the country only on Wednesday, but these are not normal times, even for Pakistan.
The visitors could certainly do with a lift following their abject performances at Cardiff.
In theory, and providing Riaz's predicament does not diminish their morale further, the extra overs available should at least allow their batsmen to play an innings instead of the unseemly hack and hope they were guilty of in the T20.
"We were not up to the mark in the last two T20s," Waqar Younis, Pakistan's coach, said. "It has been tough for the last 10 days and what's been happening at home with the floods.
"But we are a tough nation when it comes to this sort of situation. We have to make sure that we stay focused on the game and deliver the goods in these five ODIs."
Waqar also confirmed that the team were trying to cope by not discussing the allegations. "If you keep talking about these things your focus goes off track.
"This is a new series, a new ball game. If we can win this series things will sort of mellow down a little bit and it's important that we should play good cricket because of what is happening in Pakistan."
Former Liverpool and Lyon boss Gerard Houllier has been appointed the new manager of Aston Villa.
The 63-year-old left the post of technical director at the French Football Federation to return to English football after six years away.
He takes over from caretaker Kevin MacDonald, who had been in charge since Martin O'Neill left on 9 August.
Chief executive Paul Faulkner said: "He [Houllier] understands the ethos of our club and shares our core values."
No announcement has yet been made on the future of MacDonald who stepped up from his position of reserve-team coach when O'Neill left before the start of the season.
Phil Thompson, Houllier's number two at Anfield, had been linked with the assistant manager's role at Villa Park but has decided to continue working as a television pundit.
The length of Houllier's contract has also not yet been revealed.
He will be formally presented to the media on Friday, with his first game in charge away to Stoke on Monday, 13 September.
"Two of the key qualities which we identified as being of crucial importance in our search for the new manager were experience of managing in the Premier League and a strategy for building on the existing strengths in our current squad," stated Faulkner.
"Gerard Houllier comfortably satisfies these criteria."
Houllier admitted it had been a "very difficult decision" to leave his post in France but he was "very happy and proud to join this great and historic club.
"I could not turn down the opportunity to manage a club whose approach, both on and off the pitch, I have long admired," he said.
"Aston Villa is one of England's biggest clubs and has an amazing set of fans.
"This is a tremendous challenge and one I am very much looking forward to taking on."
Houllier has an impressive record in club management, having led Liverpool to the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup Treble in 2001.
After leaving Anfield, he managed Lyon between 2005 and 2007, winning two league titles.
His other former clubs include Paris St Germain and Lens, and he also coached France between 1992 and 1993, when he failed to secure qualification for the 1994 World Cup finals.
England coach Andy Flower believes this week's disappointing NatWest International Twenty20 crowds may be partly the result of faulty scheduling.
England twice easily beat Pakistan in Cardiff, in front of 11,000 people on Sunday but then a record low of under 6,000 on Tuesday at the 15,000 capacity SWALEC Stadium.
Flower concedes that the 'spot-fixing' controversy which has forced Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer out of the Pakistan limited-overs team may have been a factor in some supporters voting with their feet by staying away.
But he senses too that the England and Wales Cricket Board may think twice before they again schedule two back-to-back September Twenty20s at one venue.
"It was a strange atmosphere. That must be the smallest crowd I've ever been involved in with an England team in this country," he said.
"To have two Twenty20 games at the same venue at this stage of the season might have been an error. It's something the ECB might want to look at." The corruption crisis which has rocked cricket over the past week, and the poor crowd, combined to provide a damp squib in Wales - even though Paul Collingwood's world champions returned in triumph to home soil in their first Twenty20 fixtures since they beat all-comers in the Caribbean in May. Their second success against Pakistan also put them on a world record-equalling run of seven consecutive victories.
Yet the dearth of spectators took significant gloss off the achievement.
"It's a real pity," added Flower.
"Perhaps the weather didn't help on Tuesday, but no one wants our national side to play in front of such a small crowd.
"The fact that we dominated so completely meant that it wasn't a great contest for the people who did come either.
"None of us want to see small crowds, but we don't know what the attendances will be like at the one-dayers yet.
"I hope the English cricketing public will come and support their team.
"We all hope people turn up in great numbers for the last five matches.
"The bottom line for spectators is that they want to be entertained - and whatever problems Pakistan have, they will play attacking cricket, as we will too."
The good news yesterday for the ECB was that tomorrow's first of five NatWest Series one-day internationals against Pakistan is close to a sell-out already at the Emirates Durham ICG.
An ECB spokesman said: "The sales for the next matches at Durham and Headingley are strong - they are expecting close to capacity."
That will be especially heartening for staff in Leeds, where crowds for the mid-summer neutral Test between Pakistan and Australia were very disappointing - and the possibility of job cuts was subsequently discussed. Meanwhile, it seems Flower's suggestions about scheduling policy may be taken on board by his employers.
"We always review how international matches perform, and I am sure we will look at how our games have performed right across the season - rather than focusing on one individual match," added the ECB spokesman.
