[Reader-list] Services (cricket team) expelled after refusing to play in Srinagar

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Well done BCCI. Bravo! 
 
Shame on you "Services" cricket team.
 
The J&K cricket team had (incidentally) trounced the Services cricket team on 21st Oct '09, winning their match by 9 wickets. That was in the Syed Mushtaq Ali 20/20 competition.
 
Kshmendra
 
 
Ranji Trophy 2009-10
 
"Services expelled after refusing to play in Srinagar"
 
Cricinfo staff
November 3, 2009
 
The BCCI has barred the Services team from taking any further part in the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy season after it refused to play its opening Ranji Trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar. The team, which is controlled by India's defence ministry, opted out of the Plate division game and did not travel to the city. Further action against Services will be decided upon by the BCCI's working committee. 
 
"We are not going to Srinagar for the opening match. We have been told to prepare for the next game," JP Pandey, assistant coach of the Services, told the Indian Express. 
 
J&K captain Vinayak Mane said he was aware only on the morning of the match that the opposition was not going to turn up. "I don't know why Services isn't travelling to Srinagar. If security was the problem, they should have raised the issue since BCCI released the schedule long ago," he said. "It's big for cricket in the valley. The pitch in Srinagar is newly laid and there was excitement here. This match would have been a big boost for cricket here." 
 
Farooq Abdullah, the president of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), said he had heard that Services had been advised not to travel to Srinagar. "When everyone else is here, including guest players and umpires, how is it that they can't come?" he told the Times Now television channel. "It completely negates what the prime minister, home minister and defence minister say. I am going to take this up very seriously with the government of India and I am going to tell the prime minister and defence minister that this will not do." 
 
N Srinivasan, the secretary of the BCCI, confirmed that Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), which manages all sports teams of the Indian defence forces, has been disqualified from the tournament for this season, pending further action. "Action will be taken according to our rules," he said. "The SSCB has been disqualified from participating in the 2009-10 edition of the Ranji Trophy, in accordance with the rules of the BCCI pertaining to domestic tournaments. A decision on any further action against the SSCB will be taken by the BCCI's Working Committee." 
 
The Ranji Plate Division match was scheduled at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium, which last hosted a one-day international against West Indies in 1986. The last first-class game in Srinagar was in 2004 against Orissa. The next fixture scheduled here is against Haryana on November 10.
 
http://www.cricinfo.com/india/content/story/432759.html