THE past couple of weeks have been a leveller for all Victorians. The tragic events that have taken place in bushfire-ravaged towns bring cricket into perspective and make you realise that no matter what happens in the game, we should all count ourselves extremely lucky. We are provided with the opportunity to do what we love as a profession and we have a tremendous support base that allows us to continue doing so.

Two of my Australian and Victorian teammates, Cameron White and Peter Siddle, have been personally touched with friends and family affected by the fires and it has been a tough time for them to concentrate on the game. After visiting Whittlesea last week with the Australian team, I think all of us were finding it difficult to focus, given what these people have been through.

We hope a small thing like the visit helped to make things slightly better for some of these people and assure them the Australian cricket team will be giving everything on the field to bring them a little enjoyment.

While representing your country is obviously the ultimate honour, returning home to play for your state in a Ford Ranger Cup final is a pretty good substitute. After missing the past three games of the interstate one-day competition, it’s great to be a part of the Bushrangers side as we take on Queensland and, hopefully, win the first of two trophies.

Winning today means everything for our side. It has been a long time since Victoria last tasted success in this competition and we have been on the losing side the past two seasons. I believe we have the side that can do the job against the Bulls. While our batting has been solid, bowling has been our great strength all year; Dirk Nannes and Clint McKay have been outstanding while Shane Harwood has had one of his best one-day seasons.

While we will be missing Andrew McDonald, Siddle and Bryce McGain, all of whom are part of the Australian squad in South Africa, and Nannes to injury, White and I are back from international duties and will be bringing our experiences to the Victorian side.

We played some poor cricket at the start of the Chappell-Hadlee series but through hard work and a belief that we could perform at a much higher level than what was evident early on in the series, we were able to bounce back.

It was hugely disappointing that we couldn’t finish the series-deciding match against the Kiwis, but with the rain pouring down, the only possible result was achieved on the night. Wet weather is such an advantage to a batting side; bowlers lose their ability to swing the ball and control is all but lost. My straight breaks are not bowled at break-neck speed, but even I lose a bit of confidence approaching the crease in conditions like those.

The hard-fought win in the Twenty20 match in Sydney last Sunday was a great way to finish off the Australian summer and, on a personal note, I was happy with my contribution. But, the best part of the night from a Victorian point of view was the selection of Rob Quiney in the Australian squad. He has had a fantastic season for Victoria in the one-day and Twenty20 competitions and is a terrific person to have around your team, with a great sense of humour and a laidback personality.

The next few weeks are an exciting time for Victorian cricket with the one-day final today and the Sheffield Shield decider not far away. Hopefully we can bring home the two trophies and give our state some hard-earned success.

Originally posted by David Hussey.

“We are going to have talks with Cricket Australia this month to discuss possible neutral venues for the one-day series but our first priority remains that it should be held in Pakistan,” PCB Chief Operating Officer Saleem Altaf said on Tuesday.

He said even if Pakistan is forced to play Australia at neutral venues it would not affect its chances of hosting the Champions Trophy.

“We have got the Champions Trophy on basis of rotation system from the ICC. And we are keen to hold it. Even though it has already been postponed once last year due to security reasons,” Altaf said.

He rejected suggestions that the cancellation of the Test tour by the Indian team to Pakistan had also affected the chances of the Champions Trophy being staged in Karachi.

“I don’t think so. Remember the ICC had said it would consider the Indian team’s tour as a benchmark for assessing security arrangements for the Champions Trophy,” he said.

“The fact is if India has not come we have got Sri Lanka over and they are coming next month for a Test tour. So the ICC can easily assess security arrangements from the Sri Lankans’ tour,” he said.

Altaf didn’t rule out the possibility of splitting the one-day series against Australia to one or two matches in Pakistan and remaining at neutral venues.

“But we definitely want to host the Champions Trophy in September and this would be discussed at the ICC meeting later this month in Perth,” he added.
Originally posted at The Press Trust of India.

Trophies are treasured prizes — whether bestowed on professional athletes who have just helped their team win a national championship or presented to a youth soccer player who showed up for every game and played his heart out. Corporate executives and third-grade spelling bee winners alike gratefully receive these awards and proudly display them in their offices or bedrooms at home.

“People like to be recognized for their accomplishments, what they’ve done in the workplace or on the playing field and other avenues,” says Jay Stelmach, the maker of monuments and owner of Colonial Trophy in Lakeville.

The family owned and operated business first opened in Taunton in 1955 and has been at its current location next to Mucky’s Liquors on Route 44 since 1968.

Stelmach offers a huge selection of trophies, plaques, medals and other commemorative items for a vast variety of sports and activities. Trophies for every major sport are available and if it’s not, Stelmach takes special orders.

“I had a guy today pick up 15 cricket trophies for his cricket club, and we’ve done trophies for a chicken show, pigeon racing, stuff like that,” he says.

While youth sports teams and adult leagues make up a large portion of his clientele, jobs for local businesses and corporations keep Stelmach busy as well.

“We do a lot of work for Ocean Spray and Johnson & Johnson,” Stelmach says, while removing a Customer Focus Award plaque made for an Ocean Spray employee from the laser engraver in his shop. The engraver, which Stelmach invested in this year, has cut down on the time it takes to etch the plates for plaques and trophies. Production improvements like that help Stelmach keep up in the face of various online competitors.

Keeping up with the latest trophy trends does, too. For instance, a new soccer trophy featuring a soccer ball that spins around in the mounting, rather than the traditional soccer player figure, has been very popular this season, Stelmach said. Plug-in or battery-operated trophies that glow and flash in pastel colors are another hot item, he said. Stelmach is also doing more work in acrylic and glass engraving, which is now in greater demand with his business clients.

Originally posted by Alice Coyle from the Taunton Daily Gazette.

Trophy News From London, England

Potential for a serious split in the cricket world and a seriously devalued ICC Champions Trophy have been averted by the postponement of the competition due to take place in Pakistan next month. West Indies, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as England, told an ICC tele-conference yesterday that they were not prepared to send teams because of concern over security.

David Morgan, the ICC president, said it may still switch the trophy tournament, now scheduled for October 2009, if countries continue to express fears over their safety. The concern is that any move will become a precedent ahead of the 2011 World Cup, which Pakistan is jointly hosting with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

English county clubs are the immediate beneficiaries. Their international players will now be available for the end of the season. Of the leading Championship trophy contenders, Durham will have Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Paul Collingwood and Stephen Harmison while Nottinghamshire can call upon Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Samit Patel and Graeme Swann.

The postponement means that the inaugural Champions League, which includes Middlesex as winners of the Twenty20 Cup, may be brought forward from its date in December, having been switched from the end of September and early October after complaints about the proximity to the Champions Trophy.

Originally Written by Richard Hobson in The London Times

Trophy News From Pakistan

The International Cricket Council said it could drop the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi as one of the three venues for September’s Champions Trophy.

Eliminating Rawalpindi, which adjoins the capital Islamabad, would leave all the trophy matches to be played in the southern port city of Karachi and the eastern cultural capital of Lahore.

“It is a strong possibility that we will reduce the Champions Trophy to two venues but the event will be played in Pakistan,” ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said during a visit to Rawalpindi Stadium.

Lorgat is leading a high-profile six-man ICC task force which is here to oversee security arrangements for the trophy amid threats of a boycott by some non-Asian teams.

The ICC last month decided to keep the biennial event in Pakistan despite security concerns raised by players from Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa.

The players associations of these countries and FICA had called for a relocation of the trophy over player safety following a series of suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Local media reports said Rawalpindi stadium, where renovation work is well behind schedule, may be dropped.

Lorgat said security could not be assessed at Rawalpindi as it did not host any matches in the recent Asia Cup.

“During the Asia Cup there were no fixtures at Rawalpindi and that didn’t provide us an opportunity to check the security arrangements, so there was no way we can formulate an opinion on Rawalpindi,” Mr Lorgat said.

“We are trying to explore whether we might use only Lahore and Karachi and take a decision soon.”

The taskforce also met security officials, including senior interior ministry officials.

The suicide bombings in Pakistan prompted Australia to postpone their planned tour of the country in March.

Originally Written by the ABC News Staff

The International Cricket Council says September’s Champions Trophy event will remain in Pakistan, after appointing a special task force to ensure security.

The ICC discussed the possibility of moving the tournament because of security fears raised by Australia, England and New Zealand.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Naseem Ashraf said: “We thank all member countries for their kind support.”

The security commission will include the British ICC president David Morgan. He will be joined by a representative from the tournament’s official broadcasters, ESPN-Star, and a member of the Federation of International Cricketers Association.

However, a bomb blast in the capital Islamabad on July 6 killed 19 people, mostly police, and there was a series of minor blasts in Karachi the following day which killed one person and wounded dozens.

Rawalpindi, which adjoins Islamabad, is one of three venues for the Champions Trophy along with Lahore and Karachi.

The Champions Trophy will be the largest international cricket event in Pakistan since it co-hosted the World Cup with India in 1996.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has always insisted the eight-nation, 18-day Champions Trophy tournament can proceed safely.

England’s first match is against Sri Lanka in Karachi, on 14 September.

Australian Cricketers Association chief executive Paul Marsh had been among those urging a change of venue.

“Based on expert reports read and heard during Sunday’s meeting there is no way the ACA can recommend touring Pakistan at this time,” Marsh said.

This article originally appeared in Yahoo News & BBC Sports