BB FANS

Nowt wrong with the fat bloke

I was hoping they'd give Marshall a go, for the Academy, any leggie could be useful to us Really hope Lancashire don't go for Murali as overseas player next year, and he gets a chance

Geraint Jones???

He was also headboy at Eton

Indian cricket officials have dismissed as "totally absurd" England star Andrew Flintoff's claims he was shot at during a one-day match three years ago.
"If something like this had indeed happened, why did Flintoff keep quiet about all this?" asked Delhi Cricket Association vice-president CK Khanna.

"And why is it that he is coming out with it now? No one told us during or after the tour - he can't be serious."

Flintoff makes the allegations in his new autobiography, Being Freddie.

They were serialised in The Sun and The Times newspapers, and Flintoff claimed English cricket bosses tried to play down the incident.

"Looking back now, I think I should have made more of a stand because I wasn't there to be shot at," he said.

"We explained it away as the crowd just being over-excited at the time, but I wasn't sure about that at all."

If there was any such thing at that time it would have been brought to our attention and action taken

Delhi police spokesman

The incident occured in 2002, during a match in Delhi, after Flintoff hit 52 off 39 balls. England went on to win by two runs.

"I felt something hit me and, looking down, saw pellets on the ground," he recalled.

"You expect to have plastic bottles thrown at you when you are playing on the sub-continent, but you don't expect to be shot," he said.

The tour went ahead after initial reservations from players in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on the USA.

Delhi police expressed surprise that the incident had been brought up three years later.

"If there was any such thing at that time it would have been brought to our attention and action taken," spokesman Ravi Pawar told the Reuters news agency.

"To bring this up after such a long time ... Delhi police has nothing on this matter."

I really have this awful feeling that the media are going to try their damndest to portray the Flintoffs as the next Beckhams.....Rachael has already a few jobs inline that cold send their status and earning into the stratosphere...and I kinda feel uneasy

I fear your right Piky, Rachel and Freddie, on the front of Hello this week

Oh dear.....

England's tour of Pakistan is set to go ahead despite Saturday's earthquake.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been taking advice from the British and Pakistan governments and the Pakistan Cricket Board.

"We send our condolences to the Pakistani people who have been affected by the earthquake," ECB communications director Colin Gibson told BBC Sport.

"At this stage there is no indication the tour is in any doubt or the tour schedule affected in any way."

England are due to arrive in Pakistan on 26 October.

Their first match takes place from 31 October to 2 November in Rawalpindi, the venue closest to the earthquake zone.

Rawalpindi is about 100 miles south of Muzaffarabad, the city at the epicentre of the quake in the north east of the country.

The final two one-day internationals, on 19 and 21 December, are also scheduled to take place in Rawalpindi.

But former Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Rameez Raja told the BBC: "There is no infrastructure damage of any severity where cricket is to be played so I see no reason why the tour should be in jeopardy.

"Cricket is followed by everyone in Pakistan and it will get their minds off this tragedy. Cricket can be a healer."

England will play three Tests followed by five one-day internationals on the tour, which ends on 22 December.

And PCB director Abbas Zaidi said they were now discussing ways of helping the victims of the disaster with their ECB counterparts.

"The cricket world is sad over the loss of so many lives in Pakistan. The ECB has shown its concern and we are planning to dedicate a one-day match in Lahore to raise funds for the victims," he added.


Story from :
BBC SPORT
Published: 2005/10/10 11:08:17 GMT

England's first tour match in Pakistan, due to start on 31 October in Rawalpindi, may be switched to Lahore.

The need may arise for all available accommodation in Rawalpindi to house those left homeless by the earthquake and for foreign aid workers.

Rawalpindi is close to the capital Islamabad, which has become the centre for the relief effort.

England players' agent Richard Bevan said: "The tour may assist in helping Pakistan get back to normality."

It remains extremely unlikely that the tour will be cancelled or postponed.

Bevan, chief execuitve of the Professional Cricketers Association went on: "Our security people hare monitoring and liaising with the relevant authorities in Pakistan.

"It won't be for another three or four days before we receive any firm thoughts as to whether [the earthquake] will have an effect on the tour or not.

"Personally I doubt that it will. It may have some impact on the logistics, but again we won't know what our advice is on that for a few days.

"I've spoken to the players about the tour and they are happy that the procedure and the strategy in place is the correct one."

About 35,000 people were killed by the disaster, with many more left homeless as houses, public buildings and communication links were badly affected in the north of the country.

Tremors were felt earlier on Wednesday in the southern port of Karachi - one of the cities on England's tour itinerary - as a result of a smaller earthquake, but no injuries were reported.

Michael Vaughan's men fly out on 26 October.


Story from BBC SPORT

Published: 2005/10/12 14:28:36 GMT

England left from Heathrow on Tuesday for Pakistan with captain Michael Vaughan warning the seven-week tour will present a huge challenge.
"Pakistan are a very dangerous team. It will be a really tough test," he said.

"I think only four or maybe five of the team have played in the subcontinent so it's going to be a real challenge."

Conditions on the trip, which includes three Tests and five one-day internationals will be totally different from those during the Ashes.

They're fanatical about the game of cricket in Pakistan and by us touring there hopefully we can bring a little bit of joy back to their lives

Michael Vaughan

But Vaughan remained confident of his side's ability.

"The last two years have seen some very good cricket played by the England team and I think the tour of Pakistan is really going to test all our skills," he continued.

"There will be conditions which some of our players haven't played in.

"It was great to play the cricket we did in England. We're used to the conditions over here so we knew the kind of cricket we needed to play.

"Pakistan is new to a lot of the players. There are different techniques which will be required over there and a lot of skill will be required."

England coach Duncan Fletcher emphasised that the nature of the wickets England will find would play a large part in their tactics.

"One thing that's going to be different (from England) is the wickets will probably be different," said Fletcher.

"It's going to be interesting to see the wickets because if they are going to go with spinning wickets it brings our reverse swing into play.

Just wondered what peoples thoughts on selection were for the first Test

From Dave A
Have your say on TMS

"If they don't and they go with seaming wickets I don't know if they'll seam around much, so there's a lot of things we're going to have to look at and assess when we get out there.

"Every tour you go on it's a brand new challenge and you've got to start afresh with every challenge.

"Over the past two years and tours before that we've been thrown out a challenge and, especially over the last two years, we've risen to that challenge."

Pakistan was hit by a massive earthquake just over two weeks ago, and Vaughan said he hoped England's visit would help lift spirits at a difficult time.

"They're fanatical about the game of cricket in Pakistan and by us touring there hopefully we can bring a little bit of joy back to their lives," he added.

Shame the only coverage will be on sky...unless Larry can put one of his satellite feeds up for us paupers

I know,not fair...but we can get reasonable amount from sky sports news

I have Sky Sports. PM and I will let you know the scores

we have found this tour's cliché already. In the Summer, it was "everyone's talking about cricket". Now it's "everywhere you look, the kids are playing cricket in the street"

They'd have a spot of bother in my street