32 AsianVoiceNews AsianVoiceNewsweekly www.asian-voice.com 15 - 21 February 2020 M onty’s Spin Monty Panesar Mixed fortunes for top teams England will start their T20 campaign against South Africa this week. I expect England to field a full-strength squad and win the series. England did experiment at the start of the ODI series and I got the impression that there is a gap between the young players coming into the squad and the senior players. England at full strength is the best T20 team in the world. If England don’t have their key players then they are a weaker team com- pared to other nations. India's strength lies in the fact that they can replace their senior players with youngsters. The result in New Zealand isn’t pleasing for the Indian cricket fans. The seamer friendly conditions in New Zealand are challenging for Indian seam bowlers. Jusprit Bumrah isn’t effective on seaming conditions. Perhaps becoming the number 1 bowler in the world hasn’t helped him to deal with pressure. I think it is a mental issue more than skill with Jusprit Bumrah. As a senior player, perhaps, he feels pressured to deliver better performances consistently. Only he will know how he feels and why he hasn’t been effective in New Zealand. This is the same for England. When Ben Stokes isn’t playing at his best the England team is not as menacing. It appears to me that when key players from India and England are rested or are not performing, both teams are not as strong. For any of these teams to win T20 world cup they will need their key players to perform. The New Zealand team also seemed to have good options. But all teams are good in their own conditions. Based on that premise Australia should win the T20 World Cup. I always felt that when England play with their spin duo of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali they look like a balanced bowling attack. Eoin Morgan has options in the middle overs to change the pace of the game and allow the spinners to change the momentum. In the last game South Africa were in great position until Quinton de Knock got out and it was a spinner who got him. So, spinners are valuable to Eoin Morgan's team. If England are going to win the T20 World Cup in Australia they will need both Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali bowling at their best. Jos Butler and Ben stokes are absolutely key for England to succeed in 2020. India hasn't had the best ODI outing in New Zealand. They seem a better T20 team where the youngsters seem to feel comfortable to play fearlessly. They will be one of the favourites teams to win because they are able to introduce good young players coming into the squad. For me England is another team to watch in the World Cup 2020. So, cricket fans all over the world will be watching with interest England's forthcoming T20 series against South Africa. I expect easy series win for England. You can follow Monty Panesar @MontyChannel Cherry Talk Ghulam Alahi is the new Vice President of West Ham United Women’s Club Accountancy and auditing firm Vision Consulting’s Managing Director Ghulam Alahi recently became the new Vice President of West Ham United Women’s Club. “West Ham holds a special place in Ghulam’s heart, and he shares in our vision of developing not only a competitive West Ham team, but also women’s football as a whole,” Jack Sullivan Managing Director of West Ham United Women’s Club said. "I believe that women's football is going to experience incredible growth. I was very impressed with Jack as he is entrepreneurial, and he likes to see results. Jack is going to be seeing me a lot going forward, and this will allow us both to bounce ideas off each other and achieve something special,” said Ghulam Alahi. Being raised in East London and establishing Vision Consulting there are what contributed to his decision in becoming a Vice President and partnering with West Ham United Women’s Club. Statistics from the annual survey 2018/2019 by the Inclusive Board Ltd shows 55% of BAME individuals would partake in sports if there was better accessibility to information and opportunities. Ghulam’s involvement has many benefits as he will able to encourage individuals from a BAME background to participate, provide equal opportunities, better representation and bring about inclusion. Ghulam aims to encourage young people particularly from an Asian background to consider a profession in football. Vision Consulting is a boutique firm of chartered accountants and registered auditors. The firm has previously helped women in disability sports with the charity Path to Success to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Supporting others has been a key aspect at Vision Consulting. Manipur's Bala Devi to play professional football in Scotland Ngangom Bala Devi from Manipur’s Bishnupur district will be playing professional football in Scotland. She has signed an 18-month deal with Scottish giants Rangers FC that makes her the first women footballer in India to have a professional contract with an overseas club. This historic move was facilitated by Bengaluru FC, who have a partnership with Rangers, and could be categorised as a marketing exercise. But few would debate against the performances Bala Devi has been putting over the last few years. Bala Devi, born to a football-playing father, took to the field along with her elder brother. Soon, more girls joined in and her hometown Irengbam got its first-ever football team for women. Bala Devi seems to have made a habit of breaking into uncharted territory since that age. She has scored 52 goals in 58 appearances for the national team and netted 38 times in her first two seasons of the Indian Women’s League. Even during her week-long trial for the Rangers in Glasgow last November, she was finding the net. “I scored twice in one of the games we played among the players at Rangers during my trial,” Bala Devi said. The 29-year-old was quietly confident of being offered a contract by the Scottish club and the faith in her performance she had put in during her week in Glasgow was noticeable. “I had given my best, so I wasn’t nervous. The coach there told me that he was pleased with the technical and tactical side of my training and I only needed to work a bit more on my fitness. Overall it was a good week of training for me,” Bala said. The experience gave Bala confidence that Indian players could cut it at that level, but also offered a dose of reality that plenty of work needs to be done by the players. “The players are better than us physically and technically, but we are not far behind. The aspect where we need to work most is the tactical side of things. Indian players must develop that understanding to play in Europe. However, I felt that it is not beyond our capabilities and we can do it,” she said. Having played for the Indian national team for 14 years, Rangers seems like a natural progression for her. It remains to be seen if she can continue her scoring touch in a much bigger league. Bala Devi A five-minute Sachin special Never was an innings break so anticipated in a game of cricket. It lasted for five-odd minutes but for Sachin Tendulkar devotees, even that is good enough time if their ‘God’ is out there on the 22 yards in a country where he is revered no less than his own. And those five minutes of just putting bat to ball towards raising funds for the Bushfire charity cause will be archived with as much care as his hundred international hundreds. With a dodgy shoulder, Tendulkar didn’t take part in the charity game but played an over from Australia’s superstar woman cricketer Ellyse Perry during the break. Perry had challenged Tendulkar to face her for an over in a video message on social media which the Indian legend had accepted. Used to seeing him either in spotless whites or the light blue (once navy blue) India colours, the fans at the Junction Oval ground in Melbourne must have been chuffed watching him come out in Australian yellow. The helmet was yellow, the pads weren’t ultra-light and the bat sported a logo different to the ones Tendulkar endorsed over his professional career, but who cared for those five minutes. The first delivery by Perry was tucked off his hips and the fielder at short fine-leg let it go, much to her embarrassment, and the crowd was happy. He repeated the shot towards deep square leg and got a couple. “It’s an incredible feeling to bowl to Tendulkar and watch Brian Lara bat,” said Australia’s double international Perry, who would play a key role in the tri-series final against India. Perry has also represented Australia in football.