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Waltherus Marijne Named Chief Coach Of Hockey Men's Side

Agencies
September 8, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 8: Women's national hockey coach Waltherus Marijne was, on Friday, named chief coach of the Indian men's team -- a stunning decision given that the Dutchman has no prior experience of handling a senior men's side. Marijne replaced Roelant Oltmans, who was sacked after a few ordinary performances in the past few months. Besides, World Cup-winning junior team coach Harendra Singh was appointed High Performance Specialist coach of the senior women's team.

While Marijne will take charge on September 20 after returning from an ongoing tour of Europe with the women's team, Harendra will be on the job tomorrow itself.

The decisions were announced by newly-appointed Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on his official twitter page.

"Current Chief Coach of Indian Senior Women Hockey Team, Mr. Waltherus Marijne,will take over as Chief Coach of Indian Senior Men Hockey Team," Rathore tweeted.

"Pleased to announce appt of Sh Harendra Singh, Dronacharya Award winner, as High Performance Specialist Coach fr Indian Snr Women Hockey Team," the Minister added.

According to a top Hockey India official, both Marijne and Harendra have been given a tenure till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The sports ministry issued a release stating that the decisions were taken yesterday after a joint meeting between the Sports Authority of India and Hockey India.

"The Joint Committee Meeting of SAI and HI held at SAI, here on 7th September 2017 appointed Shri Harendra Singh, Dronacharya Awardee, Hockey Coach as High Performance Specialist Coach for Indian Senior Women Hockey Team.

"This decision has been taken jointly by SAI and Hockey India on the basis of recent and past performance of Shri Harendra Singh, wherein under his coaching the junior men team won the Junior Men World Cup in 2016 at Lucknow.

"He was also the Chief Coach of the Senior Men Hockey team from 2008 to 2009 and National coach from 2009 to 2010. He is a Level III certified Coach," the release read.

The ministry stated that Marijne has accepted the new role.

"It has also been decided in the meeting that, the present Chief Coach of India senior women Hockey Team, Mr. Waltherus Norbertus Maria Marijne will take over as Chief Coach of Indian Senior Men Hockey Team on his return from the on-going Europe tour. Mr Marijne has accepted the offer of Chief Coach of the senior Indian Men Hockey Team," it added.

The decision came as a bolt from the blue as HI had advertised seeking Oltmans' successor on its website just three days ago. HI had set September 15 as the deadline to apply for the post.

However, the a top official said HI withdrew the advertisement yesterday.

"The advertisement has been withdrawn as both HI and the Sports Authority of India felt Marijne is the best candidate for the job having spent more than six months in the country," the official said.

It has been learnt that Marijne was initially reluctant to take up the role. The 43-year-old Dutchman, who was appointed as the Indian women's coach in February earlier this year, has never worked with a national men's team before.

But he agreed after HI and SAI convinced him.

The position for men's coach had fallen vacant after Oltmans was sacked last Saturday following a string of poor performances in the recent past.

Oltmans came to India fours years ago as a High Performance Director before assuming the role of coach in 2015 following Paul van Ass' removal.

Today's decision stunned the hockey fraternity, which felt it is a step in the backward direction.

Marijne has no experience of working with a senior men's side and with three important tournaments -- the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games and the men's World Cup -- at home lined up in 16 months time, this decision has every chance of backfiring.

Marijne, who has played for The Netherlands, guided the Dutch Under-21 women's side to a World Cup title and the Dutch senior women's side to a gold at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in 2015.

Between 2011-2014, Marijne was the national head coach for The Netherlands Under-21 men, apart from a short stint with Liaoning Men China.

The decision to appoint Marijne will also upset both the men's and women's teams' set-up as the Dutchman took over the women's side only in February this year.

Some feel Harendra, who was interested in the men's team role, could have been the best choice as he has a good relationship with all the players.

Having guided India to the junior World Cup title last year in Lucknow, Harendra has worked extensively with the juniors who are sure to be the core of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics plans.

Marijne's first assignment with the senior men's team will be next month's Asia Cup in Dhaka.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

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News Network
May 1,2020

Melbourne, May 1: Reclaiming the top spot in Test cricket has brought smiles back on their faces but Australia coach Justin Langer says beating India in their own den remains the ultimate test and their numero uno status will be put to test when they clash with the Virat Kohli-led team.

After a tumultuous transition phase post the ball-tampering scandal, Australia on Friday displaced India as number one side in Test format but Langer is aware that it does not take long for the situation to change.

"We recognise how fluid these rankings are, but at this time it was certainly nice to put a smile on our faces," Langer told Cricket Australia website. "We've got lots of work to do to get to be the team that we want to be, but hopefully over the last couple of years not only have we performed well on the field, but also off the field," Langer added.

The former left-handed opener underlined what he felt will be the ultimate test of character.

"Certainly a goal for us has been the World Test Championship ... but ultimately, we have to beat India in India and we've got to beat them when they come back (to Australia).

"You can only judge yourself as being the best if you beat the best and we've got some really tough opposition to come," Langer put his priorities in place. The team he insists needs to get better as now others will come gunning for them.

"Getting to No.1 is a great thing, but when you're No.1, you're always the hunted," Langer said. "We've been the hunters for a while, now we're the hunted and we need to get better and better."

Langer also hoped that white ball team under Aaron Finch will win the World Cup. "I know how hard it is to win World Cups ... everything has to go right. One day, I'd love to see Aaron Finch with all his mates lift that T20 World Cup above his head."

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Agencies
March 10,2020

Mumbai, Mar 10: The addition of two new members, including the chairman, in the national selection committee, has not changed the panel's stance on M S Dhoni, who will "have to perform" in the upcoming IPL to be considered for T20 World Cup selection, a top BCCI official told PTI.

The Sunil Joshi-led selection panel met for the first time in Ahmedabad on Sunday to pick a rather "straightforward" squad for the three ODIs against South Africa beginning in Dharamsala on March 12.

Fit-again Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan made their way back into the side.

Joshi's predecessor MSK Prasad had made it clear that the team has moved on from Dhoni and he has to first play to be considered for selection.

Dhoni, who has not played since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in July, will be making his highly-awaited comeback in the IPL beginning March 29.

"It was a pretty straightforward selection meeting and since Dhoni was obviously not in the reckoning this time (for South Africa series), there was no formal talk about his future," a BCCI source told PTI.

"He will be back in the reckoning only if he has a good IPL. And why only him, there are so many senior and young players who will play in the IPL. If they do well, they are ought to be considered too. So, you could see some surprise inclusions," he said.

The T20 World Cup will be played in Australia in October-November and the games India play after the IPL leading up to the mega event will also be a factor in the final squad selection.

"But the performance in the IPL could be the clincher," the source added.

Head coach Ravi Shastri too has hinted that Dhoni could be back after a good IPL but his future remains a subject of intense speculation as he has not played a game in more than seven months.

With his heir apparent Rishabh Pant not setting the world on fire and K L Rahul being groomed into a full-time wicketkeeper-batsman, Dhoni's comeback cannot be ruled out.

His countless fans will finally get to see him in action when he leads Chennai Super Kings against defending champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL opener at Wankhede Stadium on March 29.

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