DHAKA: India’’s rebel cricket league has the potential to cripple the sport in Bangladesh and jeopardise its Test status if it poaches more players from the national squad, coach Jamie Siddons has said. He said losing more players to the Indian Cricket League (ICL) would likely spell the end of Test status Bangladesh gained eight years ago. “If we were to lose another six players out of our current team it probably would cripple us. I don”t see how we can be competitive if that happens again,” he said on the eve of the team’’s departure for South Africa on Saturday. “I don”t know how we stop them either, that’’s the hard part. There’’s no way to put an end to it when the ICL keeps throwing that sort of money at the players. Cricket is definitely going to suffer.” Bangladesh cricket chiefs in September banned 13 players for 10 years after they signed with the unauthorised ICL, reportedly for 200,000 dollars each over a three-year period.The Bangladeshi cricketers, led by former captain Habibul Bashar, are playing for Dhaka Warriors in the ongoing ICL. Siddons, a former assistant coach with the Australian team, said he was trying to encourage his players to wait until they had retired from international cricket before signing with the ICL.”They (ICL) are taking young players who are not even at their peak yet and offering them lots of money. The players see the dollar signs and go,” he said. Siddons said in a country like Bangladesh, where competitive domestic cricket was non-existent, losing players at international level came at a heavy price. “The countries are the ones that develop the cricketers the ICL takes, so if there’’s no money coming back from those tournaments and into the infrastructure then eventually it’’s all going to dry up,” he said. Although happy with his team’’s maiden one-day victory over New Zealand last month in Dhaka, Siddons said two of the 13 who had left would have been part of the national side and could have helped Bangladesh win more matches.
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COOLIDGE: The Stanford Superstars won themselves one million dollars each after hammering England by 10 wickets to win the Twenty20 match for 20 million dollars here Saturday. Victory for the Superstars, a team made-up of West Indian players, was all but assured after they bowled England out for a meager score of 99. Set 100 to win, the Superstars cruised to victory with more than seven overs to spare.Superstars captain Chris Gayle, a West Indies Test batsman, was 65 not out, with five sixes and five fours, and Andre Fletcher 32 not out. As well as 11 million dollars being split evenly between the playing members of the winning team, a further million will be shared between the 12th man and other non-playing squad members, with an additional million split among the victorious management staff.The remaining prize money in the 20 million dollars pot will be shared between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). This match brought the curtain down on the inaugural Stanford Super Series, the brainchild of Antigua-based American business tycoon Allen Stanford, at whose ground all the fixtures were played, before being given the go-ahead by WICB and ECB officials.
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - The death toll from suspected U.S. missile strikes on two villages in Pakistan near the Afghan border has risen to 29, Pakistani intelligence…
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Relief workers are still finding mountain villages destroyed in the earthquake in southwestern Pakistan that have yet to receive aid, the Red Cross said Saturday.
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ISLAMABAD: Former premier and opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Saturday warned that if the ongoing U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani soil were not stopped forthwith then civil war may break out in the country. He said both the government in Islamabad and the US are loosing public support due to the increasing missile strikes by latter on Pakistani soil. “The U.S. attacks on Pakistani soil have become a routine and a big challenge to the integrity and autonomy of the country,” he added and expressed concern over the killing of innocent people in such attacks. “If the ongoing U.S. attacks on Pakistani soil were not stopped forthwith and the problems of the peaceful people were not resolved then civil war may break out,” he warned. Sharif’’s comments came a day after two missile strikes by U.S. drones in Pakistan’’s lawless North and South Waziristan tribal regions killed 32 people, including Arab militants and an Al-Qaeda commander. The former prime minister said the U.S. missile strikes on Pakistani soil had raised questions about bilateral relations as they had continued even after a special session of Pakistan’’s parliament adopted a resolution opposing the attacks and despite the assertions of the U.S. administration about respecting the country’’s integrity. He urged the government to make it clear to the U.S. that any war, whether it is against terror or for any other purpose, can be won only with the support of the people. “Nowadays, the whole world is in the grip of defence, political, strategic, geographical and environmental changes. In such a situation, the growing threat of militancy and terrorism causes intolerance and economic instability, which is a big challenge for humanity,” Former premier said in a statement.
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MOSCOW: Russia’’s government decided Saturday to cut oil export duties aimed at helping the country’’s oil producers cope with declining prices, a foreign news agency reported.Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved a decision to reduce customs duty on the export of crude oil to 287 dollars (225 euros) per tonne from 372 dollars per tonne at the start of November. The cut, favoured by the finance ministry, was brought forward by one month in response to the global financial crisis. Vedomosti daily said Saturday the government considering lowering the duty to 195 dollars per tonne instead, as promoted by the economic development ministry — a difference that would have cost Moscow’’s state coffers two billion dollars per month.Putin also ordered proposals for a new formula for crude oil export tariffs, based on market prices, by the beginning of December.
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ISLAMABAD: PPP Co-chairman and President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has directed the party leaders and workers to reach out to the victims of the ea
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Oct. 31 — Suspected U.S. missiles slammed into two villages close to the Afghan border Friday, killing 27 people, including an Arab al-Qaeda operative and other foreign fighters, intelligence officials said.
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IslamabadThe first-ever park for visually impaired children was inaugurated here Saturday at Almaktoom Center having every possible measure fo
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LAHORE: The Punjab government will ply a train from Rawalpindi to Balochistan on Nov 25 to collect donations for the assistance of earthquake-hit peop
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