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Chairman quits over Cork issue

By Neil Hallam
22 January 1999



THE dispute which has thrown Derbyshire into turmoil since the end of last season and threatens to cost them the services of their captain Dominic Cork and leading batsman Kim Barnett took another turn yesterday when chairman Vic Brownett resigned after a confrontational committee meeting.

``It is on record that I have supported Dominic and I accept that he has a genuine grievance,'' said Brownett after walking out midway through yesterday's meeting. ``In my efforts to keep him, I have not had the backing of the full committee and there is now a strong chance that two or three of our best players could be forced out, which is unacceptable.

``The product here is cricket and all my efforts have been aimed at creating the strongest team possible. But others on the committee appear to be working to a different agenda.''

Brownett, who became chairman in the aftermath of another crisis when Dean Jones quit as captain in 1997, has tried in vain to end a dispute which arose in September when Cork failed to have his recommendations on playing matters accepted by the cricket committee, despite an improvement in the team's form.

The four-day game between England A and Mashonaland in Harare was abandoned yesterday due to rain. The teams will attempt to play two one-day games today and tomorrow.

India yesterday excluded Navjot Sidhu and Ajay Jadeja from a 14-member squad for the Test against Pakistan beginning in Madras at the end of this month. Selectors included two new faces, all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla and opener Sandagoppan Ramesh.

India: *M Azharuddin, S R Tendulkar, S Ganguly, R S Dravid, V V S Laxman, J Srinath, -N R Mongia, H Singh, S Joshi, S Ramesh, H H Kanitkar, L R Shukla, B K V Prasad, A Kumble.


Source: The Electronic Telegraph
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