India, England square off in women’s World Cup qualifiers
LONDON: The Indian women’s cricket team will take on England here in the opening round of the inaugural ICC Championships from Thursday, a top-four finish in which will give the side a place in the 2017 World Cup.
The Championship will also see Australia host Pakistan in a multi-year, bilateral qualifying competition to the pinnacle event in women’s cricket, the ICC Women’s World Cup England 2017.
Reigning world champion Australia will face Pakistan in a three match One-day series in Brisbane, while three-time winners England will play India for at Scarborough and Lord’s.
The concept, proposed by the ICC Women’s Committee and approved by the ICC Board in its January meeting, is aimed at creating more extensive and meaningful bilateral playing programme for women’s cricket.
Other competing countries include New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
The tournament structure will see teams play each other in one home or away series that will include three ODIS over a two and a half year period.
As such, each side is guaranteed at least 21 ODIS over the tournament period.
“Two points will be awarded for a win, while points will be shared in case of a tie or a noresult. At the conclusion of the seven rounds, the top four sides will gain automatic qualification to the ICC Women’s World Cup England 2017, while the bottom four sides will get a final chance of qualification through the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in 2017,” the ICC said.
England and India will meet in Scarborough in the first ODI on Thursday. They will then play in Scarborough on August 23 before facing each other in the third ODI at Lord’s on August 26.
Looking forward to the ICC Women’s Championship, India captain Mithali Raj, who leads the women’s ODI batting rankings, said, “The India team and management is really excited to be playing in this inaugural competition and we are extremely focused and determined to kick off the series well in Scarborough. It is a new and exciting development for women’s cricket and it is great that the ICC is supporting a stronger structure for the game leading into the ICC Women’s World Cup England 2017.” Every year, no sooner are the Arjuna awards announced, they bring an avalanche of criticism and controversies. This has badly dented the prestige associated with the award. The Arjuna prize is not just an award. It signifies the hard work put in and the laurels brought by a sportsperson to his or her country. So, in a real sense it is a sporting honour.
In the past couple of days, I have read in the newspapers that some of the deserving athletes have been left out of this year’s honours list.
Whenever a deserving sportsperson is deprived of his or her dues, it is not the athlete alone who gets discouraged.
It also sends a negative message about the system governing sports to many budding athletes, who then get discouraged from pursuing excellence in their chosen sport.
PUT EVERYTHING IN PUBLIC DOMAIN
First and foremost, the selection criteria for the sporting honour must be made transparent. From day one when applications are invited to the screening process and the announcement of the names, the entire process should be put in the public domain.
The names of the recommended athletes, the achievements on the basis of which they have been chosen along with the selection committee’s remarks should be put on the internet. That would ensure that if anyone has an objection, it can be taken up promptly with the authorities. ATHLETES SHOULD
APPLY DIRECTLY
At present, only national sports federations, Sports Authority of India, state sports departments, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna recipients etc. can forward the application.
But in many cases, the names of deserving candidates have not even been forwarded to the sports ministry. In such instances, the athletes end up losing a lifetime opportunity for no fault of theirs.
Moreover, there have been instances of federations not forwarding even deserving names just because the players do not enjoy cordial relations with it. So, in my view the sportspersons should also be allowed to apply for the award directly to the ministry. The rules should be the same for everyone. It is not that they can be relaxed for one person and made more rigid for another. We cannot give such a big sporting honour on face value or just because someone in the selection committee is more inclined to back a particular athlete or one sport over another.
NO AWARD WITHOUT NATIONAL TITLE
For the Arjuna award, minimum criteria should be set and those failing to meet that standard should strictly not be considered. How come one can get an Arjuna award and that too in an individual sport without ever having won a national title? The authorities concerned should make the criteria for Arjuna award very clear and there should also be an elaborate grading system to go with the minimum standards set. Until this happens, there will always be criticism and discontent.