Ocal Ham Beque

Borovets is one of the older ski resorts in Bulgaria and is situated on the edge of the Sofia Province on the northern side of the Rila mountain range. It is just 10km from the town of Samakov and 73km from the capital.

Borovets dates back to 1896 and was originally a hunting resort for the former kings of Bulgaria. Slowly overtime is developed into a ski resort and numerous budget and more luxury hotels sprung up. As it is only an hour from the capital it is an easy commute for people living in Sofia and for those flying into the international airport in the capital.

In 1981 and 1984 Bovorets was host to the World Cup Alpine Skiing races and it also boasts one of the best Biathlon tracks in the world.

Much has been made in recent years about the Super Borovets project that was meant to join the town of Samakov to the main ski resort by a gondola, create more ski runs and connect outlying chalet and apartment developments with the skiing. Ir was one of the largest and most expensive and ambitious in Bulgaria’s history. The idea was to divid the resort into 3 distinct areas. There will be a brand new development around the town of Samakov, ten kilometres away. This will concentrate more on budget accommodation and provide a further 5000 hotel rooms for the ski area. Level 2 will be the existing ski resort after much regeneration and will be the main in-resort accommodation area. Level 3 is for luxury accommodation only with just 2,500 hotel rooms.

However, the project was slated to start in 2004 and be complete by 2009 but has faced many set backs, including concerns from eco groups about the impact on the local environment and wildlife and of course the economic downturn as affected the plans. Now the plan is to construct another 19 new ski pistes and 12 new ski lifts, including a lift connecting Samakov with the main area, so the area will be around 90km of skiing.

As it is Borovets has around 58 km of groomed pistes at around 1350 metres to 2560 metres and most end at the centre of Borovets giving more or less ski in and out accommodation. There are currently various drag lifts, chair lifts and a couple of gondolas. A number of new modern lifts have been implemented to take people to the peak and get more people up the mountain quicker. All in all Bovorets can currently take 8150 people up the mountain an hour. Night skiing is also offered.

The ski area is currently split into two areas, a smaller area with runs terminating at the main resort and then the second area is much larger and accessed by a gondola. The resort is considered good for beginners and intermediates. Advanced skiers will find it a little limiting.

There was cross country skiing but the 35 km run was deemed not good enough and so it is currently being upgraded.

Borovets is very easy to reach. The nearest airport is Sofia where there are regular EasyJet and Wizz Air flights as well as Bulgarian Air and British Airways. A number of large tour operates sell holidays there including Crystal, First Choice and Balkan holidays.

Source by Rachel Gawith

There is one cricket player who played for India at the wrong time. He is Abbas Ali Baig, a more than competent cricket player who burst on the scene in England when playing for Oxford. He caught the eye of the Indian team management during the 1959 tour of England. That was one hell of a disastrous tour and India had lost the first 3 tests by wide margins. India best batsman Polly Umrigar had cut a sorry figure against the pace of Truman and Statham. The next best batsman Vijay Manjreker was injured and Indian cricket was looking down the barrel of a gun.

Abbas Ali Baig was inducted into the team and he put some resolve in the Indian team with a fighting 112 on debut. He negotiated the pace of Truman and Statham with ease and played superbly all round the wicket. Baig was an instant hero and in the later tour of Australia of India in 1959-60 he batted very well. He helped India draw the Bombay test with 2 fighting innings of 53 and 58. India felt that a new star was on the horizon. But the Pakistan tour of 1961-62 put holes in Baig’s career. At that time losing to Pakistan was like losing Kashmir and the public on both sides of the border were highly strung and emotional. Baig was included in the team, but he disappointed with scores of 1, 13, 19 and 1 in the 3 tests that he played. After the first test a Baig himself was under great pressure and he went to the wicket wondering what to do.

The knives were out and it was openly said that Baig had helped his Muslim friends from Pakistan. He began to receive a lot of hate mail. It was also rumored that Baig gave himself out deliberately so that Pakistan could win. All this was a white lie with no foundation, but in the surcharged atmosphere the selectors bowing to public pressure dropped Baig. This was a sad decision and the career of a promising cricket player was ended due to Indo- Pak cricket rivalry.

Baig came back to play a few test six years later but his prime time was over and he faded from the scene. In hindsight only if Baig had been given a fair chance India would have had an additional stroke player with Pataudi. Unfortunately Baig paid the price of being a Muslim.

Source by Madan G Singh

Cricket is a modern day sport played between two teams. Each team has eleven players. The game is played on an oval or round shaped ground which has a rectangular 22 yard long pitch at the center. One team bats to score as many runs as possible. The other team stops the run flow by dismissing the batsmen. A run is scored when a batsman hits the ball with his bat, runs to opposite end of pitch and touches the crease there without being dismissed.

There are three formats of the game:

a) Test Cricket

b) One Day Cricket

c) Twenty-Twenty

Test Cricket

The oldest form of cricket is Test Cricket. The game of cricket actually evolved with Test Cricket. Records show that first ever test match was played between Australia and England in the year 1876-77. The game of cricket has come a long way since then. The rules have changed a lot. A test match is played over a period of five days with each team batting and bowling twice. Maximum over that can be bowled in a day is 90 while there is no limit on the number of over a single bowler can bowl. Over 2000 test matches have been played till date.

There are nine test playing nations which are full members of International Cricket Council – The International Cricket Governing body. These members are Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

One Day International

Limited over cricket was introduced in England in the year 1963. Internationally, the first limited over game was played in the year 1971. One game is played in one day. A bowler can bowl a maximum of 10 over’s in a game. In 1975, a new tournament known as World cup came into existence. All International Cricket Council members gathered at one place for a series of matches against each other. The winners of tournament were termed as World Champions.

World cup is played after every four years. ICC has conducted 10 world cups till date. Australia became champions four times, West Indies and India twice while Pakistan and Sri Lanka once. The last world cup was held in the year 2011 and was won by India.

Twenty-Twenty

The latest evolution in the game of cricket is twenty-twenty. Here, each team plays 20 overs and a bowler can bowl a maximum of four overs. First international Twenty-twenty game was played in the year 2005 between Australia and New Zealand. First twenty-twenty world cup was held in 2007. The tournament is played every two years and twenty-twenty world champions are crowned. 20 international teams have played the game till date.

Even after 100 years of its existence, the popularity of game is still increasing. More and more people are taking up this sport. It is only second to Football in terms of followers around the globe and is set to post a challenge for the top slot very soon.

Source by Uphaar Dhunna

Cricket is played on a racetrack oval type field. In the center is a long, flat area 22 yards long (from an imperial measure called ‘a chain’) known as the pitch. The width of the pitch is 6 foot 8 inches. At either end of the pitch are ‘stumps’- three wooden posts in a row, centered perpendicular to the pitch. They reach 27 inches high, and are topped by two pieces of wood eight inches long, that bridge the spaces between the stumps (bails). Together, this set-up is called a wicket. The posts will be of sufficient thickness that a cricket ball cannot pass between them. Four feet in front of the wickets are lines (called creases) that the batter (striker) and pitcher (bowler) are governed by.

The bat is no longer than 38″, and no wider than 4 1/4″ (unlike baseball bats, cricket bats are flat and oblong, like a board that has had grip whittled into one end). The ball is leather covered cork 9″ in circumference and weighs 5 ounces. The only player with a glove is the catcher (wicket keeper), and the striker has very heavy shin padding. This is because, unlike baseball, the bowler is actually trying to hit the stumps; and the striker is, (of course), trying to keep this from happening. The striker must stand behind the crease at his end of the pitch, and the bowler must keep his back foot behind the crease at the other.

The bowler takes a running start from behind the pitch and hurls the ball (over-arm bowling style) toward the wicket; the striker whacks it and runs like mad to the other crease. At the same time a second player (non-striker), who is at the other wicket, also runs for the end the striker was at. They must run across the crease for their run to count. They can opt to run back and forth as many times as they want, each completed dash being a run, but if the ball hits the wicket before they pass the crease, they are out. Additional runs (called boundaries) can be gotten by what the ball does after it is hit. If the ball hits the ground, then crosses the boundary marking the edge of the field, the striker scores an additional four runs. If the ball goes out without ever hitting the ground, he gets six runs.

A ‘lost ball’ will receive a minimum of six runs. If the striker and non-striker have run more than six before the ball is called lost, they get the higher number. There is one run each given for: a ‘no ball’, when the bowler crosses the crease with his rear foot, or bowls incorrectly; a ‘wide’, when the ball travels outside the line of the pitch before reaching the striker; a ‘leg bye’ when the ball hits the striker but does not contact the bat, and he runs; or a ‘bye’ when the ball doesn’t hit anything and the striker runs successfully. [Note: if the striker runs- especially in the case of a wide ball, and gets more than 1 run, he is given the higher number.] On to ‘outs’: first is a strike-out (over), consisting of 6 strikes in a row.

After an over, the players reverse wickets. Other outs include the bowler hitting the wicket, either directly (bowling out) or as a deflection by the striker; the striker hitting the wicket (hit wicket); a fielder catching the ball on the fly (catch out); ‘run out’, the wicket is hit by the ball before the runner reaches the crease; ‘stumped’, if the striker steps in front of the crease to hit the ball, misses, and the wicketkeeper gets the ball and hits the stumps before the striker gets back inside the crease line; the next striker must be on the pitch within 2 minutes of the previous out or he is ‘timed out’; and ‘leg before wicket’ (or LBW) which is basically a striker intentionally blocking the ball from the wicket by using his body. This is a judgement call and causes quite a few arguments. Either runner interfering with catching the ball; or the striker hitting the ball twice; or if the runners cross paths will also be deemed outs.

The striker can also ‘retire’, he has played so long he wishes to quit for the game. (This sounds odd until you realize the same player keeps playing until he is out.) Each of these differences in runs and outs is kept as an individual statistic (much like HRs, hits and RBIs in baseball) An inning is over when 10 players on the team have gotten out. Then the other side gets their turn. At the end of the game, which can be determined by number of innings, overs, or runs (whatever was decided before the start of the game), whoever has the highest score wins.

Source by Joseph Stevenson