Organisers of the UAE's ILT20 are working with their counterparts in Australia and South Africa to minimise the impact of scheduling clashes with their competitions, Mubashshir Usmani, the general secretary of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), has said.
Usmani said the January 6 to February 12 window had been selected for the ILT20 because it presented "optimal playing conditions in the UAE". "While this window suits our purpose, we are closely working with different boards toward minimising date clashes," Usmani said.
"We are working with Cricket Australia, in fact we are in touch with all the relevant cricket boards, to minimise any major clashes," Usmani said. "We do want Australian as well as any other available players to be involved with the league."
Usmani said the franchises had been empowered to sign overseas players on their own, by a "direct acquisition" process, although he and his colleagues are around to help.
"Our team has been working alongside players, players' agents and various boards to seek and secure the necessary approvals for those identified to participate in the league's inaugural edition," he said.
Although the franchises are likely to be mostly made up of players from outside the Emirates, two local players must feature in every starting XI.
Usmani called the ILT20 "special", as it would afford players from the region, and other Associate nations, "an incomparable experience" of sharing the dressing room with top players in "one of the most attractive destinations in the world".
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Ukraine claims killing scores of Russians in Kherson fighting
The Ukrainian military has said it had killed scores of Russian soldiers and destroyed two ammunition dumps in fighting in the Kherson region, the focus of Kiev's counter-offensive in the south and a key link in Moscow's supply lines.
Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military's southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east.
Ukraine has used Western-supplied long-range missile systems to badly damage three bridges across the Dnipro in recent weeks, cutting off Kherson city and – in the assessment of British defence officials – leaving Russia's 49th Army stationed on the west bank of the river highly vulnerable.
"As a result of fire establishing control over the main transport links in occupied territory, it has been established that traffic over the rail bridge crossing the Dnipro is not possible," Ukraine's southern command said in a statement.
Ukraine calls for Russia to be recognised as 'state sponsor of terrorism'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the deaths of dozens of prisoners in a Russian-held jail showed there should be clear legal recognition that Russia was a "state sponsor of terrorism."
"Today, I received information about the attack by the occupiers on Olenivka (the prison's location), in the Donetsk region. It is a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war. More than 50 dead," he said in his daily address.
"I am appealing especially to the United States of America. A decision is needed and it is needed now."
For live updates from Friday (July 29), click here
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
Fresh clashes between protesters and security forces have erupted in Conakry despite a ban by the junta on demonstrations amid discontent with the regime's planning to transition back to democracy.
The latest clashes came after protests against Guinea's junta and its handling of plans to return to democracy brought the capital to a standstill on Thursday, with organisers claiming that one person was killed.
Protesters in the Conakry suburbs on Friday burned tyres, overturned rubbish bins and threw stones at police vehicles with officers responding with teargas, according to an AFP news agency journalist.
Thursday's protest took place ahead of comments by the chair of a regional bloc who claimed to have persuaded the junta to shorten its timeline for a return to democracy. The junta has not confirmed his comments.
The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an influential political coalition, called for the demonstrations to denounce the junta's "unilateral management" of the return to civilian rule after it seized power in 2021.
READ MORE: ECOWAS ‘convinces’ Guinea to two-year transition of power
Rough return to democracy
A junta led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, which overthrew president Alpha Conde in September last year, has pledged to hand over power to elected civilians within three years.
But regional powers have rejected this timeline, with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) suspending Guinea after the coup.
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at a briefing in Bissau on Thursday, the ECOWAS regional bloc chair Umaro Sissoco Embalo said he had recently convinced Guinea's junta to hasten the return to democracy.
"I was in Conakry with the president of the commission (of ECOWAS) to make the military junta understand the decision of the summit of heads of state that the transition cannot exceed 24 months", Embalo said.
"They had proposed 36 months, but we succeeded in convincing them," he added.
But Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, a Guinean minister and spokesperson for the transitional government, told AFP that "neither the government nor the presidency confirms this information about the duration of the transition in Guinea".
READ MORE: Guinea junta leader announces 39-month transition period
Source: AFP
