COLOMBO: Former India captain and star spin bowler Anil Kumble has been appointed as the new chairman of the International Cricket Council’s cricket committee, which helps to draw up rules on playing issues, cricket’s governing body said in a statement Thursday.
The ICC board also appointed former England captain Andrew Strauss, who recently retired, as a player representative on the committee.
Kumble replaces former West Indies captain and international match referee Clive Lloyd as chairman and Strauss replaces Ian Bishop, former West Indies fast bowler.
A leg-spinner, Kumble took 619 wickets in Test matches and 337 wickets in one-day internationals during his playing career. On retirement he became an administrator with his state’s cricket board. “In Anil Kumble, we have a new chairman who has unquestioned experience not only as a player with India but also as an administrator with Karnataka State Cricket Association as well. I am sure that he will carry on Clive’s good work and bring, like Andrew Strauss, contemporary thinking to the committee and both understand clearly the issues facing the modern game, ” ICC President Alan Isaac said in a statement. Strauss scored 7,037 runs in 100 Test matches for England and 4,205 in 127 one-day internationals.
Briton gets jail term
A Sri Lankan court handed a one-year suspended jail term to a British man yesterday after he pleaded guilty to stealing tickets for a crucial World Twenty20 cricket match involving England.
Colombo Chief Magistrate Rashmi Singappuli said the sentence for 54-year-old Caesar Buller would be suspended for five years because he had no previous convictions. He was arrested on September 30 after sales staff raised the alarm at a ticket sales outlet in the capital Colombo.
Police said the man pocketed four books of tickets for the game between Sri Lanka and England, which saw England eliminated from the tournament.
Buller had remained in custody since he pleaded guilty on October 2 as there was no one to post the million rupee ($7,700) bail ordered by court. He was released from custody after Thursday’s judgment.
Police told the court last week that the stolen tickets had a face value of 10,920 rupees (around $85), but most of them could not have been used as they had not yet been validated.
