Jaffna public library, Public library in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

The International Cricket Council (ICC) remains hopeful of making it to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Marylebone Cricket Club's World Cricket Committee chairman Mike Gatting confirmed on Monday.Gatting also went on to say that ICC chief executive Manu Sawhney assured the MCC's Cricket Committee about the strong progress that has been made to give the game a global platform."We were talking with Manu Sawhney the ICC chief exec, and he was very hopeful we can get cricket into the 2028 Olympics. That's what they're working towards at the moment and that would be a huge bonus for cricket worldwide, it would be fantastic," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Gatting as saying.Gatting also ensured that scheduling a two-week window period for the Olympics is not that difficult for the ICC as the event comes along once in four years."It's two weeks, that's a good thing about it, it's not a month, so it's one of those events where scheduling for two weeks should be fine once every four years once you do the first one. You're going to have - one hopes - a four-year period, once you know you've been accepted into the Olympics, that gives you a chance to actually shape your two weeks, so it's not as if it is butted into the schedule," Gatting said.On August 9, India's Union Sports Secretary Radhey Shyam Julya revealed that the BCCI has agreed to come under the National Anti Doping Agency (NADA). Gatting welcomed this move, saying the sport will now be a whole."I think the next 18 months will be very interesting as to how we do that. One of the problems has been negated, where the BCCI is now working with NADA, the drugs agency, which it wasn't previously a part of," Gatting said.That will help a long way towards the sport being whole, which is what we need it to apply for the Olympics, both men and women to play and all countries to comply," he added.Earlier this year, the ICC had announced that women's cricket has been nominated for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. If the sport gets formally included, then it will be the first time that the sport will be included in the event since 1998 in Kuala Lampur.Gatting said that the ICC would be releasing a statement in the coming days regarding the confirmation of inclusion of women's cricket in the 2022 Commonwealth Games."I believe there's going to be a statement out in the next two days or even tomorrow just to confirm the women are going to be playing in the Commonwealth Games at Edgbaston. We're hoping they're going to get the nod on that, which will be fantastic," Gatting said.The MCC Committee also discussed the security situation in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Regarding the situation in Sri Lanka, committee member Kumar Sangakkara expected the England tour to go on as scheduled in Sri Lanka."All countries do their independent assessments about security and the level of threat and I feel those questions have been answered very satisfactorily up to now. I don't see that changing for the England tour but we will see discussions going ahead. I played cricket at heightened times of trouble in Sri Lanka and we've had those arrangements in place for teams to tour the country," Sangakkara said.Talking about Pakistan, Gatting said that some security concerns still remain in the country, adding that the concerns will need to be eradicated first to make everyone happy."We had a brief presentation from PCB managing director Wasim Khan. As MCC, I think we can see there are some safety issues that are still there, but I suspect if those can be overcome everybody is happy, then I don't see why there's any reason we can't orgse an MCC tour there, and other teams would have to make their own assessment of how safe it is to play there. One hopes it won't be long before they can convince people it is a lot safer than it was and as soon as that's the case, MCC will look at sending a touring party over," Gatting said.( With inputs from ANI )

Jaffna Public LibraryFOLLOW

Jaffna public library, Latest News

New Zealand on Friday scored 195 runs for the loss of seven wickets on day three of the first Test match against Sri Lanka, taking a lead of 177 runs. ...

New Zealand stacked up a 177-run lead on Day 3 of their first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. Sri Lanka were all out for 267 in the first session, thus leading by 18 runs and the Kiwis could cross that only at the cost of their opener Jeet Raval. ...

Former Pakistan batting coach Grant Flower believes the lack of freedom and the security aspect is the "most frustrating" thing about living in the country. The former Zimbabwe batsman had been with the Pakistan team since 2014 before the Pakistan Cr ...

Former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has been appointed as "camp commandant" for the forthcoming 17-day conditioning camp for Pakistan cricketers. ...

Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel (5/76) rattled the Sri Lankan batting line-up even as Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis chipped in with useful half-centuries to help the hosts reach 227/7 at the close of play on Day 2 of the first Test against New Zealand ...

The ninth $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature will be awarded at the finale of the four-day Nepal Literature Festival in Pokhra on December 16, in keeping with the tradition of announcing the winner at a different South Asian country every y ...

Term of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), which is probing the Easter Sunday attacks that killed more than 250 people across Sri Lanka, will be extended by another month, its chairman and Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri said on Tuesday. ...

The International Cricket Council (ICC) remains hopeful of making it to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Marylebone Cricket Club's World Cricket Committee chairman Mike Gatting confirmed on Monday. ...