Brett Lee planning to retirenent from cricket if not selected for World Cup-2011

Veteran Australian pacer Brett Lee said on Monday that he might bid adieu to international cricket if he missed the flight to the subcontinent to participate in February’s ICC World Cup 2011.

The New South Wales pace bowler, who is part of Australia’s 30-man preliminary World Cup squad, expressed his desire to make the cut in the final-15 and spearhead the bowling attack of defending champions in the mega cricketing event. He said, “I hope that I am in it, and want to lead the attack for Australia.”

The 34-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in 2010, said that he still has a lot of pace to offer in shorter formats of game and was keen to brush off Australia’s Ashes misery.

Lee, who has not made an international appearance since October 2009, has been included in the Twenty20 squad to play against England and is positive of making a comeback in the 50-over squad against the Ashes rivals.

“Hopefully I can bring some experience and different blood back in the team. I'm ready to play, and if I'm chosen, it will be great; if [not] I'll work out plan B,” said Lee while talking to an Australian sports magazine.

Lee, one of the fastest pace bowlers in the world, was overlooked by the selection panel for the One Day International series against Sri Lanka in November 2010 but he did not give up hope and continued to play state cricket.

In Australia’s domestic circuit, Lee has picked up 15 wickets at an average of 25 in Ryobi One Day Cup 2010-11 and is the second leading wicket-taker of the tournament.

Brett Lee picked up an injury ahead of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 and had to fly home without playing a match. The injury kept him away from cricket for another six months before he resumed his game in the state cricket where he delivered some match-winning performances for New South Wales.

"I've been bowling 12 overs each match in the 45-over competition, which is more overs than I could bowl in a 50-over match," said Lee while highlighting his stint with NSW.

ICC World Cup 2011 tickets go on sale amidst clashes

A large number of cricket fans clashed with the police in Bangladesh as they swarmed the banks to buy tickets for the ICC World Cup 2011.The crowd clashed with the police when the bank authorities said that each branch would only sell 500 tickets due to strict scrutiny of buyers’ identification papers.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has made 15,000 tickets available per match for the cricket crazy fans all over the country. The tickets went on sale at 80 branches of the private City Bank and the state-owned Agrani Bank on Sunday.

Only a handful of cricket fans could get hold of the tickets for the event despite many on them lining up in queues since Saturday noon in the cold weather. There were chaotic situations all over the country as the police tried to beat up the crowd in order to disperse them.

The heartbroken fans clashed with the police at Mirpur, Bangabandhu Avenue, Uttara, Dhanmondi, and capital of the country, Dhaka.

The fans included many aggrieved students who retorted to raise slogans against the BCB and International Cricket Council. They vandalised at least eight to ten vehicles in front of the Mirpur branch of the City Bank after which the police intervened.

There were no threatening injuries but a few fans and a photographer had reportedly suffered minor injuries during the protests.

Shah Alam, a police inspector, while talking to a local TV channel said, “They raised slogans and held demonstrations.” However, the inspector maintained that the police calmly dispersed the protesters.

Bangladesh is the co-host of the event along with India and Sri Lanka. The opening match will be held between India and Bangladesh on 19 February at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Bangladesh.

The fans were angered when officials announced that 15,167 tickets would be sold to the public even though the stadium has a seating capacity of over 25,000. The remaining tickets will be reserved for foreign officials and stakeholders.

There are fifty outlets of the City Bank and thirty branches of the Agrani Bank that will be selling around 100,000 tickets for 6 games to be held in Bangladesh.

However, cricket fans were wary of the fact that they might not be able to support their home team in the World Cup due to the limited number of tickets.

The BCB is yet to comment on the availability and mismanagement of the ticket sales.