London, May 4 (NNN): Yesteryears England cricketer-wicket keeper Godfrey Evans is dead.
He was 79, a local news agency reported yesterday.
Wicketkeeper for Kent, Evans played 91 Tests for England between 1948 and 1959 and was regarded as one of the all-time greats behind the stumps.
David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors, led the tributes to Evans.
He said: "He played with my uncle and father so I had the honour of knowing him reasonably well.
I saw him recently in the Cricketers’ Club in London and he seemed in fine spirits.
Carl Hooper admits retirement timings poor, may hit Windies Bridgetown, May 4 (NNN): former dashing West Indian all-rounder Carl Hooper has admitted his timing of retirement was poor, just on the eve of World Cup.
Thirty-two-year-old Hooper, retired last weekend after playing in the sixth one-day international against Australia.
He has been replaced in the 15-man squad by young Jamaican all-rounder Ricardo Powell.
Hooper said he still believed Brian Lara-led West Indies were quite capable of winning the world cup even though his sudden retirement could affect the team and the plans of captain.
MCC, Taleban join hands to promote cricket in war-torn Afghanistan Kabul, May 4 (NNN): One country that won’t be taking part in the Cricket World Cup in Britain this month is Afghanistan, but thanks partly to the top English club, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Afghan refugees returning from cricket-crazy Pakistan, the Afghans are taking the game in a big way.
Two of the world’s more conservative institutions, the Taleban militia and MCC yesterday joined hands in Kabul’s battered national stadium to give Afghans new-found craze further boost.
Ironically the function took place in a stadium which is often used by the Taleban for public amputations, floggings and executions of those who violate Islamic law Abdul Shakoor Mutmaen, the President of the country’s top cricket body, the AOC, British businessman Stuart Bentham, one of the show’s organisers and a small but enthusiastic crowd watched as Afghan players played an exhibition match using some of the equipment, which included expensive bats of ‘English willow made in England’.
The national side included a carpet salesman, a student of neurology, a broadcaster on national radio and the radio operator for the Medecins Sans Frontieres aid agency.
It has yet to play an international game, but earnestly wants to.
The occasion was the donation of cricket bats, stumps and other equipment by the MCC to the Afghan Olympic Commission (AOC) in a goodwill gesture engineered by Bentham, who is involved in overhauling the capital’s telephone network.
"I was in Kabul last November and I saw a game of cricket, which I love, being played on a piece of waste ground by lads using home made equipment and a tennis ball taped up with white tape," recalled Bentham.
"So I got in touch with the MCC on return to London and they got in contact with the ICC (International Cricket Conference) and we put together enough equipment for two adult and two junior sides," he said.
The patch of waste land on which Bentham saw two sides playing is owned by the Iraqi embassy, which closed in the 1990s."I’ve been very impressed by the level of cricket here.
They have one or two really handy players, specially the quick bowlers, and I’d probably need some of this equipment if I was facing them," said Bentham, gesturing towards pads and protective groin boxes.
Cricket in Afghanistan is an embryonic sport which probably owes its inception to the fact that it is the national game in Pakistan and was introduced by Afghan refugees based in Pakistan during the 10-year occupation of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.
"When Afghanistan were going from bad to worse during the war (three years ago) we got together and with our own money tried to develop the game to prove that Afghanistan have good cricketers," said Allah Ada, captain of the national side.
"It’s a more popular game than you think.Perhaps 20 per cent of Afghans (men) play the game," he said.
Mohammad Ehsan Mutmaen, Secretary-General of the AOC, said in a brief acceptance speech that he hoped the donation "would pave the way for our cricket team so that we can take part in Olympic cricket in the year 2000 (in Sydney)." There are now several teams in Kabul and other teams elsewhere in the country.
Tournaments are played with great enthusiasm.