Agencies – The second warm-up game of the England on their forthcoming tour to India has been shifted from the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) ground to DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Announcing this in Mumbai at a media conference, MCA president Ravi Savant said, “We met BCCI president N Srinivasan this morning and he has agreed to our request to shift the second warm-up game of England from BKC to DY Patil stadium.”
The shifting of the match scheduled from November 3-5 was necessitated as there were a lot of security issues relating to MCA’s BKC ground, said Savant.
“There were a lot of security issues raised by the Mumbai police about holding the match at BKC. They highlighted these security concerns in a letter to us and we decided the best option was to shift the match to DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai, which also comes under our jurisdiction,” he said.
This is one area where lot of people from the suburbs and from in and around Navi Mumbai can come and see the England team in action which otherwise they won’t be able to do, he said.
The BCCI president was magnanimous enough to accede to our request, Savant added.
He said that once a match is allotted by the BCCI to an association, it is the association’s prerogative to hold it at a venue which is preferable.
“I don’t know why BKC was chosen earlier, but once the representatives of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) arrived in Mumbai to inspect the venues of the matches, I wrote to the Board that the match be shifted to DY Patil stadium,” Savant said.
The BKC ground also lacks facilities for spectators coming to watch the match as there are no toilets and eateries to cater to their needs. Also, there are no proper media facilities, Savant said.
American Steven Taylor to play in Sanath Jayasuriya’s World XI vs. Pakistan All-Stars in Karachi
Agencies:USA opening batsman Steven Taylor has been selected to be a part of a World XI team captained by former Sri Lanka star Sanath Jayasuriya against a Pakistan All-Star XI in a pair of exhibition matches this weekend in Karachi, Pakistan. The 18-year-old Florida native confirmed his participation in the event via text message on Monday prior to boarding a flight for Pakistan.
Taylor was named the 2011 Cricketer of the Year in DreamCricket.coms New Inning Foundation USA Cricket Awards. The menacing left-hander was USAs vice-captain at the 2011 ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland where he finished tied for second overall at the event with 455 runs including two centuries. He is the only American player in the 12-man World XI squad for the matches which will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi on October 20 and 21.
At the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in the UAE, Taylor was USAs second most productive batsman with 179 runs at the tournament. His best score was 40 in USAs upset win over ODI-nation Scotland. In August, he captained the ICC Americas U-19 team in Barbados at the West Indies Cricket Board Regional U-19 Tournament, making a top score of 75 against Barbados U-19. At ICC World Cricket League Division Four last month in Malaysia, he finished second overall at the tournament with 216 runs at an average of 36.00 including two half-centuries for USA at a strike rate of 104.85.
In addition to Taylor, former West Indies Test bowlers Adam Sanford and Jermaine Lawson, who played for the New York and Atlantic Regions respectively in USACA National Tournaments in 2010, are also in the World XI as is former West Indies international Ricardo Powell, former South African internationals Justin Kemp, Loots Bosman, Nantie Hayward and Andre Nel and current Afghanistan players Shapoor Zadran and Mohammad Shahzad.
The Pakistan All-Star XI will be captained by Shahid Afridi and includes seven other players from Pakistans 2012 ICC World Twenty20 squad: Nasir Jamshed, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Imran Nazir, Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Sami. Also in the Pakistan All-Star XI squad is Younis Khan, who has played 79 Tests and was the title-winning captain for Pakistan at the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England.
The matches are being staged in an attempt to help revive international tours to Pakistan. No Test playing nation has toured the country since the Sri Lanka team bus was the target of a terrorist attack on the way to the Gaddafi Stadium for day three of a Test match in Lahore on March 3, 2009.
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