Indian Premier League (IPL) 2011

The IPL's Kochi franchise has been served a termination notice by the BCCI but has been given a 30-day deadline to respond and explain why it should not be scrapped. The decision was taken unanimously by the IPL's governing council, meeting in Nagpur on Wednesday morning. 

"The governing council received replies from two parties, the Rendezvous group and the other co-owners, and they both felt that the dispute still exists," Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, said. If they don't remedy these disputes in the 30 days, the franchise would stand cancelled on the 31st day." 

Satyajit Gaekwad, of the Rendezvous Group, however, welcomed the extension and was confident that the factions within the consortium would make peace. "They have given us enough time to tie up our 

differences and come in a unified way and rise up to the expectations of the BCCI," he told NDTV. "I'm sure we should be able to do that at the earliest. If we don't tie up within 30 days we don't deserve to be in the IPL. We had asked for a period of 10 days, the board has given us 30 days." 

It brings to a head a long-running dispute both between Kochi and the IPL, and within the franchise, over its ownership pattern. Details of that ownership pattern were first revealed by Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman, in April, triggering a series of events that eventually led to his ouster from the league.

The emergency meeting was convened by Manohar due to the lingering dispute over who would run the affairs of the franchise, bought from the Cricket Board for USD 333 million, once the joint venture was formed.

The investors in the Kochi consortium include corporate firms Anchor Earth, Parinee Developers, Rosy Blue and Film Wave - which hold 74 per cent of the equity. The remaining 26% has been given to the family of Gaikwads - Shailendra, his brother Ravi and their parents plus a few others, all part of Rendezvous Sports World - as free equity for services rendered in successfully bidding for the franchise.

The IPL has already terminated the agreements of the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab franchises, which leaves the league with seven teams as of now. 

Asked why Kochi had been given more time when Rajasthan and Punjab had been summarily ejected from the league, Manohar said those two cases were different from Kochi. "This not an intermediary breach that has been committed, as in the case of Rajasthan and Punjab, that is why they have been given 30 days to remedy this," he said. "There was transfer of ownership as far as Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab were concerned but not as far as Kochi is concerned." 

The news puts into jeopardy the IPL player auction, scheduled to be held sometime in November. This auction is likely to be similar to the first, with teams starting from scratch; however, the rules have yet to be formalised.

South Africa beat Pakistan in T20 Series 2-0

 

South Africa 125 for 4 (Smith 38, Ingram 32, Duminy 20*) beat Pakistan 120 for 9 (Theron 4-27) by six wickets

	Shahid Afridi could not last long enough to make an impact

Another day, another batting collapse from Pakistan. They were shot out for 120 and it was too little to defend even for their talented bowling attack. Their spinners posed a brief threat but South Africa shut them out to seal a 2-0 series win. Graeme Smith's 38 wasn't a fluent effort but he fought on push South Africa close before Colin Ingram and JP Duminy applied the final touches.

When a struggling Smith was stumped off Saeed Ajmal, South Africa needed 53 from 40 balls, raising the possibility of an improbable twist in the tale. Ajmal had 3.4 overs left in his spell and there were two new batsmen in the middle but Ingram killed the contest with admirable coolness. He pulled Umar Gul for four before collecting three boundaries off Shoaib Akthar in the 17th over - a smashed six over long-on and two fours dragged to square-leg - to push South Africa ahead in the chase. He fell, holing out to long-on, but Duminy stayed put till the end.

Nothing went right from the start for Pakistan. Shahzaib Hasan continued to be a walking wicket and his exit, to an ugly slog across the line, opened the floodgates. Imran Farhat, who was bowled going for an over-ambitious heave, left one wondering whether the selectors were being too harsh on Imran Nazir. Like yesterday, it was Lonwabo Tsotsobe who removed the openers. 

Again there was no middle-order revival. Mohammad Hafeez averages just 20.01 from 53 ODIs and 16.53 from 17 Twenty20s. Today was yet another day where he played a couple of pretty shots before combusting. He was caught at the crease, pondering whether to cut or steer, and lost his stumps before he could make up his mind. Umar Akmal ran himself out following a mix-up with Misbah-ul-Haq, and Shahid Afridi scooped Rusty Theron to deep point. Abdul Razzaq improved on his performance from yesterday - he swung a couple of sixes - but tapped a full toss from Theron straight to mid-off.

It was left to Misbah to push Pakistan over 100. It was another one of his meandering knocks that seemed to go nowhere until the last couple of overs when he showed some intent. Like yesterday, he initially struggled to find his timing but fought on to hold one end up. He went for the big shots in the end - there was a neat six over wide long-on, hit on a bent knee, and a shuffled swat to the backward square-leg boundary - but it was too little and too late. 

It was difficult to rate South Africa's bowling in this context. Did Pakistan's shoddy batting display make the bowling look better than it was? It would be unfair, though, to not credit them for their discipline. Tsotsobe punctuated his natural left-armer's angle with the ones that straightened to collect early wickets, Johan Botha, as ever, strangled the run-flow in the middle overs with his variations, and Theron enhanced his reputation as a death-over specialist with three wickets in the last over. Pakistan's bowlers again attempted the improbable but it was a bridge too far to cross.

Innings Dot balls 4s 6s Powerplay 16-20 overs NB/Wides Pakistan 59 8 3 35/3 36/3 0/4 South Africa 58 11 3 38/0 45/1 (16-18.4) 0/6

Deadline step towards expelling Kochi

The 30-day deadline given to the Kochi IPL consortium to settle its ownership dispute is not a reprieve for the troubled team, but rather a legal step taken by the IPL governing council towards terminating the franchise. 

A BCCI insider privy to the meeting held in Nagpur on Wednesday told ESPNcricinfo that the Board is not confident the ownership issue will be resolved amicably between the two factions because of the two different replies sent by them to the board's October 12 show-cause notice. The franchise was asked to form a registered company in order for the board to communicate with one entity, and not different groups in the five-partner consortium. The consortium has not, the Board believes, come close to arriving at a settlement, with the official calling it, "an irretrievable situation." He said, "The dispute is not so easy to solve". 

According to him, the BCCI were forced to issue a notice under the provisions of the original contract signed with the Kochi franchise when it was formed in March. "It is mandatory process where the board is required to give them the notice of 30 days because theirs is a breach that can be repaired, and it is not irrevocable. In case they are able to resolve their issue, they will have to show it to us and prove it is resolved. Otherwise at the end of the notice, it stands terminated," he said. 

Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, chaired the meeting today and informed the IPL panel about receiving more than one reply from the two groups in the Kochi franchise. One reply arrived from the lawyer of Rendezvous India Pvt. Ltd, led by the Gaikwad family, and the other from the group of investors led by Mehul Shah of the Anchor Group. 

"Both were asking different things: Rendezvous stated that the sweat equity (originally granted to them for promoting and investing in the company leading to the bid) is paid equity," the official revealed. "The rival group was of the view that even it if it was paid equity, they did not want to accept the money."

Gaikwad's lawyer had stated in the reply that his client was willing to buy out the sweat equity of 25% given for life in the original bid document and convert it into paid equity. The rival faction remained adamant, wanting Rendezvous to exit, with the situation leading to a deadlock. In that time both factions tried to find a way out. The Shah group told Gaikwad that they would pay 10% of the sweat equity in cash in exchange of their rivals quitting Kochi. Gaikwad's original counter proposal stated that he was ready to buy out 15% of the sweat equity, but he subsequently raised the offer, saying he was ready to buy out the entire 25% free equity. 

After that offer was rejected, Rendezvous went back to the negotiation table with a reduced equity buyout offer from 25% to 20%. Shah and the other investors initially agreed to the 20% offer 24 hours before the BCCI deadline, but under terms and conditions unacceptable to Rendezvous. The next day both the groups submitted individual replies through their lawyers. 

According to the BCCI source, the conflict is serious. "There are four people [investors] who had been brought together by one person [Gaikwad]. When the investors signed the original document they did not know what they were signing into". The main deal-breaker in the dispute is that Gaikwad wants to retain his control over the cricket which, the BCCI official said, "the investors are completely against. They want him to leave the consortium and hence the deadlock." 

The official fears Kochi might eventually run out of steam. "This cannot be solved. While they are saying they are solving the controversy, they are actually doing the opposite."

Should the Kochi franchise be terminated, it will become the third of the ten teams which were expected to participate in IPL4 to be expelled from the league, following the scrapping of the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab earlier this month. 

It is here, however that the BCCI are trying to cover their legal tracks by issuing them a 30 day termination notice. The case with the Royals and Kings XI was handled very differently with both teams being asked to explain their ownership patterns in May. Kings XI for example sent in their reply in May and received neither response or show cause from the BCCI until their franchise was terminated in October without any notice. Already the Royals have gone to court and King's XI are expected to follow suit. 

Should Kochi meet with the same fate, the BCCI would have done so in strict adherence with the terms of their contract with the new franchise.

India v Australia Series Final Match Abandoned For Wet Outfield, India Won Three ODI Series 1-0

India won the three-ODI series 1-0 as the final match was abandoned without a ball being bowled in Margao. Heavy rain on the eve of the game clogged the ground and, though the weather was clear on match day, the outfield was not suitable for play.

The first ODI in Kochi was also washed out in similar circumstances. It was an unfortunate result for the locals who had turned up at the stadium. The series was effectively reduced to a solitary game in Visakhapatnam and both teams took a couple of positives.

For India, Virat Kohli scored a century to move ahead of Rohit Sharma in the selection pecking order and R Ashwin impressed with the ball. India, though, struggled in the end overs with Australia looting 84 from the final five overs. For Australia, Michael Clarke made a century after a disappointing performance in the Test series, in which he managed just 35 runs in four innings. Mitchell Starc, the 20-year old left-arm seamer, made a promising debut and the other debutant John Hastings too had a decent outing.

Ireland Captain Trent Johnston Player of the Year

Trent Johnston passed the 200 wickets and 2000 runs landmarks for Ireland this season

Current Ireland captain  Johnston collected the International Player of the Year accolade at the third annual Cricket Writers of Ireland awards on Thursday night.

Johnston beat off competition from Kevin O'Brien, John Mooney and Andrew White at the ceremony at the Civil Service Sports Club in Belfast.

Johnston smashed the Irish record for number of wickets in a season, taking 58 at 20.17. During the season he passed the 200 wickets and 2000 runs landmarks for Ireland, and to date has captained Ireland 60 times. He currently stands joint third in the all-time capped list having played 138 times since his debut in 2004.

18-year-old George Dockrell was the unanimous winner in the Young Player of the Year category. The left arm spinner enjoyed a magnificent season, taking 49 wickets at 22.88 including playing a starring role in the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies. Dockrell's excellent season saw him sign a county contract with Somerset.

The Club Player of the Year was the most hotly contested of all the categories, with six different players receiving significant support. In the end, Railway Union all-rounder Kenny Carroll emerged victorious pipping Ryan Haire, Kyle McCallan, Sadat Gull, and the Gillespie brothers.

Carroll scored almost 900 runs in all competitions including three hundreds, and also claimed 30 wickets and nine catches, putting him in the top five in each category in the Leinster Union.

He played a pivotal role as Railway won the Leinster Senior Cup and reached the final of the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup, and his prolific form saw him earn a call-up to the Ireland A squad.
Stephen Warke and Ivan Anderson were inducted into the RSA Hall of Fame, joining last year's recipients Alec O'Riordan and Dougie Goodwin.

In a 15 year career as a stylish opening batsman Stephen Warke played 114 times for Ireland, overcoming early setbacks to become Ireland's highest run-scorer with 4,275 runs at an average above 30.

Ivan Anderson won 86 caps in his 19-year career with Ireland. The all-rounder scored 3777 runs at 32.56, including seven centuries. In addition he claimed 48 wickets at 26.60, with a best bowling analysis of 5 for 21.