Trescothick Reveals Mental Torment

Cricinfo staff

September 2, 2007

Marcus Trescothick has spoken for the first time about the depressive illness which has blighted his career and which threatens to curtail it prematurely.

In a frank and open interview with his former Somerset team-mate, Iain Fletcher, in today's Scotland on Sunday, Trescothick insists he does not have a mental illness but concedes he will be "seeing the medical people for years".

"No one knew what was going on," he said. "I didn't understand it. People were telling me things and I was like: 'No, there is nothing wrong, I just get a bit worried now and then.' I couldn't express it to people, so I was too scared to say anything about it.

"It's always been reported as a stress-related illness," he continued. "I'm not mentally ill, that's for sure. It all came from the build-up of playing and training, practising and being away from home. It's a combination of different things and the constant grind of being away all the time. I've never necessarily enjoyed going away, I've never really played my best and then combined with a new family it just came to a point where it was like: 'F***!'"

Speaking of his departure from England's tour of Australia, Trescothick revealed he was in a state of confusion, and "not sure how to cope with this at the moment", even when at the crease. But he also said that although the illness appeared to outsiders to have come from nowhere, he has probably suffered from it for years.

"People didn't even know at the end of last summer. Even in the England team, a couple of the lads came along and said: 'Right, what's going on?' I remember in South Africa and Australia (2002-03) waking up in cold sweats thinking about my batting."

Trescothick declared himself unavailable for the winter tours, including the inaugural Twenty20 Championship next week - despite being named in the initial 30-man squad in July.

"I haven't got anything to prove," he said. "I watch it on TV now and think: 'Just give me that chance again,' but I'm not going to do it until in my mind I am 100% and I have to be certain."

Read the full interview at the Scotland on Sunday

© Cricinfo

Indian Cricket League (ICL) participants face life ban, says BCCI

MUMBAI, Aug 3: Players joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL) will be banned for life, Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Indian board, has said. “Our stand is very clear. Players who take part in the ICL will never be eligible to play for the country again. It is up to the players to decide what they want to do,” Shah told the PTI.

Asked whether the ban would apply to players yet to represent the country, Shah said: “Definitely. It is applicable to all players,” adding that domestic cricket would also be out of bounds for such players.

When asked to comment on the unofficial ICL, which is being bankrolled by Zee Telefilms, India’s largest listed media company, and carrying a prize of US$1 million, Pawar said the competition would mainly feature players coming out of retirement.

“Everyone wants to see official cricket, not the oldies. I see no reason for young players going there. Only those who play official cricket can represent India.”

Shah further said that the BCCI would take a decision on Kapil Dev’s chairmanship of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) at its general body meeting on Aug 21.

Kapil had joined the ICL’s executive board as its chairman and has been at odds with the BCCI ever since. He had called recent remarks made by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, about the ICL, ‘shameful’.

“If the board thinks that only the national XI can attract crowds, then it should stop conducting any domestic tournament,” Kapil said.

He added that the BCCI should not be threatening players because they cannot perform on the field under fear.

“The BCCI is scared of the ICL. That is the only reason it is not willing to talk to us,” he expressed.—Agencies

Boards meet to tackle Kolpak concerns

The ECB has held a meeting with its South African counterparts to discuss a solution to the growing problem of the number of Kolpak players in county cricket.

The get-together follows hot on the heels of last week's memo to all county chairmen advising that the ECB was clamping down on registrations and insisting they ensure that any Kolpak players had the correct work permits.

A report in The Daily Telegraph claims that the two boards discussed two possible ways to tackle the problem.

One was to make it harder for players to represent another national team after they had represented their country at a certain age-group, probably Under-19s. The other was a tightening of permit regulations, so that players would necessarily have played a certain number of first-class matches - possibly as many as 50 - before being allowed to play first-class cricket in England.

Whichever route the boards want to go down, they will need to persuade the ICC of the merits of any action. The ICC executive board needs seven votes out of the ten members to pass the motion.

Although a fortnight ago Haroon Lorgat, South Africa's head of selectors, publicly endorsed South African players using the Kolpak loophole to play in England, it is believed that the board are worried at the player drain as much as the ECB are concerned at the number of players currently in county cricket.

The straw that broke the camel's back was Warwickshire's signing of Vaughn van Jaarsveld, who turned his back on South Africa after not being picked for the national side as quickly as he wanted. That brought home to the South African board the danger of home-grown talent being allowed to drain away.

Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, told Cricinfo that the only real solution was to penalise the counties financially for picking Kolpak players. "The only real factor in this day and age is money," he said. "Cash is king."

As for van Jaarsveld, the future is uncertain. He signed for Warwickshire three weeks ago professing that his aim was "to play for England". It now seems he might struggle to play for his county. He is still waiting to be granted a work permit, and that has already been turned down as he has not played in England in the previous two seasons. Warwickshire are looking at exploiting another loophole which might allow him to play 20 hours of county cricket per week.

It may well be that just as the name Kolpak became synonymous for changing the face of county cricket, that of van Jaarsveld might have been the watershed.

Source: © Cricinfo

Emburey is second man on BCCI list

Former England captain John Emburey is the second candidate for India's coaching job, the Indian board has confirmed.

Emburey joins former South African coach Graham Ford in the running for the coach's position and has been called to Chennai for discussions on June 9. The Indian board has spoken to Emburey and is expected to send him an e-mail, with more details, sometime today.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India has invited Graham Ford and John Emburey to come to Chennai and make a presentation to the Special Committee on June 9, 2007," the board's media release said. "After this a final decision on the next coach of Indian team will be made."

Emburey's name was recommended by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was reported as saying. Gavaskar was one of the seven-member panel that met in Bangalore on June 4 for discussing possible candidates for the coaching job.

The board had earlier announced on Monday that it had narrowed down the search to Ford and "a foreigner whose availability could not be ascertained". Emburey played 64 Tests for England between 1978 and 1995, ending with a modest 147 wickets at 38.4. He was, however, considered a model pro on the county circuit with 1608 wickets in a career that spanned 24 years.

However, he hasn't tasted much success as a coach. He was player-coach and then coach at Northamptonshire between 1996 and 1998 before being sacked with a year of his contract remaining. In 2001 he signed to coach Berkshire, a minor county, with the intention of emigrating to Australia at the end of the summer, but on the eve of the season he was appointed as Middlesex's third coach in as many seasons, taking over from old team-mate Mike Gatting.

In six years he struggled with a side in transition, bringing in some distinctly average players as well, and at the end of 2006 the county were relegated from the top flight in both the Championship and National League. In 2007 Middlesex brought in Richard Pybus to coach with Emburey moving to the more hands-off role as director of cricket.

Article Source: © Cricinfo

Indian Cricket Board satisfied with Whatmore meeting

The Indian board (BCCI) finally admitted that they discussed with Dav Whatmore his interest in coaching the Indian team. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said he was "satisfied" with his "brief meeting" with Whatmore in Bangladesh and would report his feedback to the seven-member committee appointed to find a new coach for the team.

"I met with him yesterday. I will report the details to the committee," Shah, who returned from Bangladesh Sunday morning, told PTI. "I am satisfied with the meeting. It was a brief meeting, it lasted for five-ten minutes. Whatmore expressed his desire to coach India."

However, a senior board official told Cricinfo that too much shouldn't be read into the meeting. "The board hasn't shortlisted anybody. Whatmore met with Shah to express his interest but the decision on the next Indian coach will be taken only a week or two before the India team leaves for Ireland on June 20."

Shah, along with Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty and vice-president Rajeev Shukla were in Bangladesh on Saturday on an invitation from the Bangladesh board.

Both Shah and Pawar denied during their press briefing that the purpose of their visit was to have a discussion with Whatmore, who has emerged as a major contender for the post vacated by Greg Chappell. Asked about the turn of events, Shah said, "Whatmore wanted to meet me. I couldn't say no."

Shah had earlier said that the seven-member committee, which includes former captains Ravi Shastri, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Sunil Gavaskar, would meet in Bangalore on June 4 and the new coach would be named four to five days later.

© Cricinfo

The Bob Woolmer murder

Police dismiss speculation about second autopsy

Cricinfo staff

March 28, 2007

Jamaica's deputy police commissioner Mark Shields on Wednesday denied media reports that a second autopsy would be performed on the body of Bob Woolmer. "I can assure you there is no post mortem, there is no planned second post mortem," Shields was quoted by AFP.

He added that any post mortem would only be announced in consultation with the Kingston coroner's office. "If there was any question of a second post mortem it would be something that I would discuss with him and announce," Shields said.

Several newspapers carried claims that the first autopsy was not thorough, and some have gone as far as suggesting that there were enough inconsistencies to indicate that Woolmer might not have been murdered at all, but could have died after falling heavily against a bathroom sink.

The forensic pathologist, Ere Seshiah, initally claimed that the results of the first autopsy had been "inconclusive", and Shields conceded that this might become an issue in the event of a trial. "The jury may want a second post-mortem and if we arrest someone this week and charge them, the defence counsel will want a second."

Shields also said the quality of footage taken from the CCTV cameras in the hotel was better than expected. "There were some people in the footage that I'd met in the week after the murder of Bob Woolmer that I could clearly and easily identify," Shields said.

His priority was to locate and interview as many witnesses as possible. "We are working from the inside out - it is those that we know were close to Bob Woolmer, were associates of Bob Woolmer, people who were on the same floor or close to him from the time he returned to the hotel until the time he was murdered."

He also said that it was highly likely that people had left traces of DNA at the crime scene. "The reason we're taking DNA samples from everybody is to exclude them," he said.

© Cricinfo

Indian board to discuss Twenty20 rules

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Technical Committee, headed by Sunil Gavaskar, will meet in Chennai on January 20 to discuss the ICC rules and regulations on the domestic Twenty20 tournament in April.

"The Technical Committee meeting in Chennai will discuss the rules and regulations for Twenty20 format of the game that we have received from the ICC," said Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer. "We are planning to host the domestic Twenty20 event among all units in the first week of April."

The inaugural Twenty20 World Championship will be played in South Africa this September and the domestic tournament is being billed as a forerunner to the global event. The BCCI has not conducted any such tournament in the domestic circuit so far. India played their first Twenty20 International on their recent tour of South Africa and won it too.

Shetty added that the committee will also review the Ranji Trophy points system and the recommendation of MP Pandove, the BCCI joint secretary, to play all the Super League group matches, semi-finals and final at neutral venues from next season. At present the matches are held on rotation on a home and away basis.