Cricket may not be the No. 1 sport in Holland and Amstelveen is better known for organizing hockey matches but the India-Pakistan match of the Videocon Cup was sold out over a week ago, within hours of the opening of ticket sales.
The reason is the large expatriate Indian and Pakistani population all over Europe.
The venue, the VRA cricket ground is very small to host a tournament of this nature. Temporary stands have been put up and still the total capacity of the ground is just over 10,000. The ground has beautiful setting as it is surrounded by trees all over and greenery. With a short boundary, sixers are likely to pour like the torrential rains that have made practice virtually impossible for the teams. Big hitters like Matthew Hayden, Shahid Afridi and Virender Sehwag will take advantage of this and big scores are very much on the cards during the competition.
Woolmer Plans to
Use Walkie-Talkie
• Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer plans to use a walkie talkie through the 12th man to communicate with is players.
Woolmer is known for his innovative ideas and with the increasing use of technology in cricket, he has come up with this one.
“It is important that there is two-way communication between the coach and the players. I intend to use the walkie talkie through the 12th man from this tournament onward,” Woolmer said. It is not known whether he has got clearance for the use of the walkie talkie from the International Cricket Council or one of its match referees.
Meanwhile, the Pakistanis were deprived of much-needed practice when their kit did not arrive when the team landed at the Schipol airport.
They came from Pakistan via Dubai and London and the baggage of seven members of the team failed to arrive.
