Story Asian Test Championships 2005

[sohum]

ATC is Back!
The Asian Cricket Council has announced that the Asian Test Championships, a competition which pits the 4 test-playing Asian countries, will be restarted in a few days. The competition had been started last year and two matches had been played before the tournament was called off due to sponsorship issues and complaints by cricket boards about packed cricketing calendars.

Speaking to the Associated Press on Monday, the newly elected ACC President, Dr. Sohum Misra, said, "Yes, we are definitely going to restart the test cricket ties between Asian countries. What happened last year was sad, but it is now history. The media and cricket fans around the world can now look forward to an action-packed and exciting tournament that is sure to put test cricket, especially Asian test cricket, back on the map."

According to sources, the ACC has signed a binding agreement with the sports media giant, H-Sports. H-Sports will not only handle the production and broadcast of the tournament, but will also be contributing significantly to sponsorship of the tournament. According to Dr. Misra, "We have ensured that the tournament will go ahead, this time. H-Sports have dedicated their services to this tournament." H-Sports will be broadcasting the games around the world through their partner channels, such as ESPN-Star Sports in India and Bangladesh, Ten Sports in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and Sky Sports for European viewers.

H-Sports are also considering entering the global market for sports channels later on in the tournament, to ensure that they are able to maximize their revenue from producing and broadcasting this tournament. Further news on the tournament will follow, including a schedule of the games, the points system, the squads and other news. This should definitely be one to watch out for.

The previous ATC 2004 thread can be found here though it has no relevance to this. :P

 

[m_vaughan]

Welcome back and congratulations on your selection!

 

[jazz]

i want sri lanka to do well in this tournament

 

[sohum]

Welcome back and congratulations on your selection!

Thanks. It seems my PhD on cricket psychology helped confirm the same. Gosh, I just loaded up Cricket 2004 after a 6-month break and I batted ODI hard mode (original AI). Was 12/5 after 6 overs. Shocked! I need to get back into the scheme of things, haha. My comp is also giving my config problems, so I'll need to sort all that out.

 

[sohum]

ACC Reveals Partial Tournament Details
The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) followed up its initial release with a leakage to the press on some of the details of the tournament. According to very deep sources in the ACC hierarchy, the tournament will comprise of a two-round process. The first round will see each of the teams playing against each other, while the second round will see the positioning games.

The official claims, "Each team will play each other twice--once at home and once away. How many points a team gains will be determined by their margin of defeat and the home/away condition." If these regulations are indeed in place, we should see extremely keenly contested affairs as each team goes all out to secure a huge victory. The home and away fixtures will allow the competitions to be fair, and no team will be able to gain a 'home-court' advantage.

When asked when the schedules would be released, the official said only, "Soon." Hopefully this tournament gets underway, and is not just a farce like the previous edition was.

 

[sohum]

Revamped Point System for ATC, says ACC
The ACC yesterday released information about the new and revamped points system. Although the new system takes into account the runs teams score and the rate at which they score it, it's extreme complexity may prevent it from becoming really effective. Teams will not be able to use the system properly and hence we may see some upsets in the qualification to the finals, as points are scored almost arbitrarily.

Dr. Sohum Misra announced these changes at a press conference: "After much deliberation and debate, we have decided to test out a new points system that the ICC may consider using as a model in the future. Critics are asked to stay on the backfoot initially, as this is just an experimental thing. If it doesn't work, it shall be scrapped." We ask, should such an experiment occur in such an important tournament? What should become one of the hottest tournaments in Asia, after the re-vitalisation of test cricket, is being used as a testing ground?

Anyhow, the new system makes use of two rates. Most cricket fans will already be aware of Net Run Rate (NRR)--that darn system that used to decide qualifications for multi-nation tournaments when points were tied and there was no bonus point rule. For those that don't, the Net Run Rate is basically your run rate - opponent run rate. The inclusion of this in test cricket is being considered as an extremely radical idea. The ACC's second calculation is the Net Wicket Rate (NWR). Similar to the NRR, in this calculation the rate is calculated by dividing runs scored by wickets lost.

From here on, points will be calculated as following:
- A "base" will be calculated using win/loss/draw records
- A "factor" will be calculated using the NRR and NWR
- The "base" and "factor" will be multiplied to calculate the final points

So, this new system puts the onus on teams to bat quickly, yet safely. The ACC obviously has hopes that it will promote cricket of extremely high-quality. Only time will tell if it will backfire on them.

 

[sohum]

India, Pakistan Release Team Information
Subcontinent rivals India and Pakistan released their teams for the soon to be commencing Asian Test Championships 2005, this morning. As teams will not be allowed to change squads during the tournament, they have picked their best players in the hope that suspensions and injuries will keep out of the way.

India
S. Ganguly *
G. Gambhir
V. Sehwag
R. Dravid
S. Tendulkar
VVS. Laxman
D. Karthik +
I. Pathan
H. Singh
Z. Khan
M. Karthik
L. Balaji
A. Nehra
Z. Khan
A. Kumble
A. Agarkar
M. Kaif
Yuvraj Singh
P. Patel +
S. Bahutule

Pakistan
Inzamam-ul-Haq *
S. Butt
Y. Hameed
Younis Khan
Y. Youhana
A. Razzaq
A. Kamal
S. Afridi
K. Akmal +
S. Malik
S. Ahmed
M. Sami
S. Akhtar
D. Kaneria
Naved-ul-Hasan
I. Anjum
T. Umar
Arshad Khan
U. Gul
I. Farhat

 

[sami007]

while the second round will see the positioning games.

clarify please?

 

[sohum]

Hehe. First/Second and Third/Fourth. Positioning, for lack of a better word at the moment.

 

[The Champ]

ya should be a cracker of a tournament looks interesting read friend

 

[Lyra]

Hehe. First/Second and Third/Fourth. Positioning, for lack of a better word at the moment.

Final and 3rd Place Playoff?

 

[sohum]

Yeah. Top 2 teams play a final and bottom 2 teams play a match to determine 3rd/4th. Not an important point.

 

[sohum]

ACC Release Schedule
After creating a spectacular initial aura about the newly announced Asian Test Championships 2005, the ACC had remained quiet for a fairly decent period. India and Pakistan did release their squads but it was only yesterday that the ACC released the details of the fixtures. It is interesting to note the fact that the ACC has not announced full details of the second-round of matches.

The first match, between India and Sri Lanka, will be played in Kolkata in the coming days. Fans have been sold 'open-tickets', called the same because the exact dates of the fixtures have not been announced. The BCCI will be releasing details, when they become available, over various sources of media. Hopefully there will be no confusion on this matter.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has still not released their squad, along with minnows Bangladesh. It has been suggested by a high-level BCCI source that the match dates will be released as soon as the Sri Lankan Cricket Board release their squad. Hopefully, they are listening.

 

[sohum]

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka Ready
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka finally released their squads, amidst much controversy that the tournament would be scrapped because of inability to comply with regulations. The Sri Lankan cricket board spokesman said that his board had released the squad as per the requirements, but there had been a delay in communication. All seems to be well with the ACC and ICC, so the tournament should progress as expected.

Sri Lanka
M. Atapattu *
S. Jayasuriya
J. Mubarak
M. Jayawardene
C. Vaas
M. Muralitharan
K. Sangakkara +
T. Dilshan
T. Samaraweera
L. Malinga
D. Fernando
K. Dharmasena
P. Nissanka
N. Zoysa
U. Chandana
N. Nawaz
T. Thushara
M. Vandort
R. Arnold
K. Lokuarachi

Bangladesh
H. Bashar *
H. Sarkar
J. Omar
A. Kapali
K. Mahmud
K. Mashud +
M. Mortaza
T. Baisya
M. Rafique
S. Nafees
A. Ahmed
M. Rahman
M. Islam Rana
E. Haque Jr.
A. Razzak
A. Hossain Monir
R. Saleh
M. Ashraful
N. Iqbal
T. Jubair

There are interesting inclusions on both teams. Sri Lanka have recalled Kumara Dharmasena, the stalwart, onto their team. They have also recalled many of the one-match wonder fast bowlers. Reasons for this have not been reasoned out. It may just have been bad organization on part of the tournament organizers or the SLC Board. Bangladesh have retained most of the squad that recently toured England.

The matches should begin any day now, folks!

 

[faraz haider]

wow looking forward to this story.