CricketViewer.com

Former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar has taken over as ICC president from England’s David Morgan following the body’s annual conference in Singapore. Pawar will lead the ICC for two years after having served as Morgan’s deputy for a similar period, and his appointment comes after the controversial rejection of former Australian prime minister John Howard’s bid for the vice-president’s job

Pawar is the second Indian to hold the ICC’s top job, after Jagmohan Dalmiya’s stint in the late nineties. He praised the leadership of outgoing president Morgan, terming it an ‘impressive innings’. “David Morgan has set the principles by which the ICC operates and now it is our responsibility to build on his legacy,” Pawar said.

The ICC have awarded the next two World Twenty20 tournaments in 2012 and 2014 to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, while England will host the Champions Trophy in 2013. The 2015 World Cup will be held by Australia and New Zealand and the 2013 Women’s World Cup will be played in India. The decisions were announced after a meeting of the ICC board in Singapore.

The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) and Governance Review Committee (GRC) working groups met jointly to discuss the ICC events programme post 2015, the frequency and format for global events and qualification for those events, and the introduction of Test and ODI leagues to provide context to the traditional formats of the game.

Steve O’Keefe’s dramatic rise from New South Wales fringe player has continued with him replacing Nathan Hauritz in Australia’s Test squad for the two games against Pakistan. O’Keefe, a left-arm spinner, impressed with nine wickets in Australia A’s two matches with Sri Lanka A over the past two weeks to gain an unexpected promotion.

Nathan Hauritz was sent home with a foot injury suffered in the opening ODI against England, leaving the legspinner Steven Smith to eye a Test debut in the opening match at Lord’s from July 13. O’Keefe, 25, is also from New South Wales and he stood out in the opening “A” fixture this month by taking 7 for 35 and scoring 61 and 47.

Pakistan’s controversial team selection for the tour of England is set to be scrutinized by a sports committee of the parliament’s upper house that has summoned officials and selectors over the “injustice in selection”.

The head of the Senate’s committee on sports, Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, said Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would have to explain its actions. “We have come to know that there are injustices in the team selection and to probe that we have summoned officials and selectors in a meeting in Islamabad on July 9,” Qureshi told AFP.

There will be no clean-sweep for England. It was too late to save the series but Australia’s batsmen, led by Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, finally delivered a total their bowlers could defend at The Oval. Ryan Harris did just that, with five wickets and a Man-of-the-Match award, that handed England a 78-run defeat and offset any disappointment for Clarke, who earlier had been stranded on 99 in setting up Australia’s 290 for 5.

South Africa inflicted a dispiriting series loss on West Indies at a venue that was once the home team’s fortress and finished the bilateral tour unbeaten. Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s hopes of compiling a competitive lead on the fourth morning were quashed by a menacing spell from Morne Morkel, who cut through the West Indies tail to ensure a quick end to their resistance.

Chanderpaul had stood firm amid West Indies’ capitulation on the third day, and taken his team into the lead with support from Shane Shillingford, who was dismissed shortly before stumps. The men who followed, though, were unable to put up a fight.

The 2010 Champions League Twenty20 will see two groups of five teams each competing in a round-robin format, with the top two sides from each group going through to the semi finals.

The set-up is a departure from the 2009 edition, which had four groups of three teams, with the two teams from each group advancing to another league stage which determined the semi-finalists. Despite the change, the tournament features the same number of matches – 23 – as last year. The matches have been evenly distributed across four venues, with each stadium hosting at least five games.

Rahul Dravid is confident India can handle the threat posed by “mystery spinner” Ajantha Mendis on the tour of Sri Lanka next month. Mendis tormented India’s batsmen in 2008, taking 26 wickets in what was his debut series, as the home side emerged 2-1 winners over three Tests.

Dravid said India had figured out Mendis over the last two years and should be able to play him well. “He is still a good bowler,” he told reporters. “He was completely new to us when we toured Sri Lanka last time. He got the measure our team last time, there is no doubt about it. He played a major role in the series. But hopefully, we have learnt our lesson.

Cricket Australia officials are still lobbying to gain enough support to install John Howard as the ICC’s vice-president in Singapore over the next two days. The appointment of Howard, the former Australia prime minister, is supposed to be a formality but it has become increasingly uncertain following complaints raised by Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Howard’s vice-presidency will be a key issue at the ICC’s executive board meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, which occurs before the elevation of India’s Sharad Pawar to the top job. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, and the chairman Jack Clarke are in Singapore for various talks this week and are attempting to secure the seven votes required for Howard to get the deputy’s role. “There are still discussions taking place,” a Cricket Australia spokesman said on Monday.

Mashrafe Mortaza, the Bangladesh allrounder, has been named captain of the squad for the ODI tour of the United Kingdom in place of Shakib Al Hasan, who will be the squad’s vice-captain.

The surprise move was announced in a BCB press release on the eve of the team’s departure from Dhaka, two days after the squad for the tour had been released, and comes as a significant snub to Shakib, who led the team with determination during an arduous Test series against England last month.