The Hindu : Sport : No guest players in Kerala’s Ranji team

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Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
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Sport

No guest players in Kerala’s Ranji team

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: After hanging on to them desperately for five years, Kerala has decided not to have professional cricketers from other States in its Ranji Trophy team this season.

“We want to encourage our own players, so we have decided not to have players from outside,” said the Kerala Cricket Association President T.R. Balakrishnan on Friday.

“We have been mainly using openers from outside but now we have good openers in our State. Our boys have done well in the recent Buchi Babu and KSCA tournaments.” Tamil Nadu’s S. Ramesh and S. Suresh were Kerala’s outstation professional players last season.

The decision was taken at the KCA’s general body meeting, which concluded here on Thursday.

Mr. Balakrishnan was recently appointed as the interim president of the KCA after the resignation of S.K. Nair. And on Thursday, the general body ratified his nomination for the post and Igni Mathew for the vice-president’s slot.

Stadium in Kochi

The KCA has also decided to build its own cricket stadium in Kochi if it doesn’t get the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on a long lease from its guardian, the GCDA.

“The BCCI has said that in future matches would be allotted only to State associations which own stadiums or which have grounds on a long lease, so we are looking for a 30-acre plot in Kochi,” said Mr. Balakrishnan.

“If the Government offers land on a long lease, we can build our stadium and if that doesn’t work out, we are looking at buying our land.

“We have also decided to appoint a CEO for the KCA as per the BCCI’s recent directive to all its State units. We have approved it and will select the person after the October 2 one-day international (against Australia in Kochi),” he said.

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