All posts by csb10.top

Sri Lanka were relieved that Shoaib Akhtar was not here but admitted that they had more respect for the great Ws. Shoaib had terrorized Sri Lanka in the final earlier this year when the two teams last met in the final of the Sharjah Cup.”Shoaib had a great final but if you want me to quantify the percentage of the importance Shoaib in that team, then I think Wasim Akram is more important than him,” Sri Lankan manager Dave Whatmore said.Sanath Jayasuriya, the Sri Lankan captain, paid even more respect to the two outstanding bowlers of the game.”I wouldn’t be happy to lose Shoaib if I am a Pakistan supporter. But you still got to tackle Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, and I tell you, it is never easy,” the flamboyant opener said.Sri Lanka face Pakistan in their opener Wednesday.Jayasuriya added: “The two might have lost a yard or so (in pace), but they are still dangerous because they are deceptive. Against Shoaib, you know that it (ball) is coming fast but against them (Wasim and Waqar) you just don’t know what they will deliver.”Wasim and Waqar, the deadliest new ball pair the world has ever seen, share almost 850 one-day and 775 Test wickets between them. They could have raised the tally had Waqar not been sidelined for a couple of years in the last century.Jayasuriya, who has toyed with almost all the fast bowling in his distinguished career, said Shoaib was special to Pakistan team because he was a wicket-taking bowler. He compared the world’s fastest bowler with his spin king Muthiah Muralitharan.”The common thing in the two is their ability to pick wickets. They not only put brakes on the scoring rate, they pick bulk of the wickets and that too at crucial stages. It is that ability that has made them special in cricket history,” Jayasuriya said.Jayasuriya said Muralitharan had fully recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained during the Sharjah final in April and was optimistic that he would deliver the goods. But at the same time, he warned that the other bowlers also needed to rise to the occasion and realize their responsibilities.”Muralitharan is a class act and a key player. But you see injuries are part and parcel of a professional cricketer and therefore, he can’t always be available. So when he is not there, they other bowlers have to raise their hands, stand up and show their mettle. I know they are trying but they need to try harder and learn quickly,” he said.

Reliable runmakers Jimmy Maher and Stuart Law avoided a burst from Stuart MacGill to steer Queensland to familiar territory in thePura Cup cricket match against New South Wales here today.Maher (113) and Law (63) handed out a lesson to their junior batting partners as the Bulls took control at the Gabba before their bowlers tightened the screws lateon the second day.At stumps, NSW was 3-93 in its second innings, still needing another 111 runs to make the Bulls bat again.The visitors should have lost their appetite for dinner after watching batsman Michael Clarke (14) fall on the last ball before stumps, edging Ashley Noffke (3-41) to Maher at slip.They will need a touch of magic to avoid defeat tomorrow but they can at least rely on stand-in skipper MacGill troubling the Bulls if they are forced to bat again.MacGill took 5-78 today, keeping Queensland honest with some classy leg-spin.With national selector Trevor Hohns watching on, MacGill delivered a mature spell without finding enough support at the other end.He was unable to prevent another profitable performance from Maher and Law, who will shoulder plenty of responsibility when the Bulls host Victoria in the finalnext week.Queensland boasts five batsmen with averages better than 50 this summer but Maher and Law will be the only players from that batch available for the final.They showed their liking for the Gabba with a stand of 76 which ensured NSW would start their second innings bobbing in the deep end.The Blues began on a promising note when new opening combination Phil Jaques and Greg Mail survived against the most potent bowling attack in the competition.But the hard work came unstuck with both players on 23.Mail edged Noffke to Seccombe before Jaques punched a careless shot to replacement fielder James Hopes at wide mid-on.Clarke and Matthew Phelps (23 not out) then steadied the innings before Clarke’s unfortunate departure as the shadows lengthened across the Gabba.The Blues still have explosive batsmen Mark Higgs and Brad Haddin up their sleeves and the pair will bat on a pitch which doesn’t hold too many gremlins.Queensland decided to rest Law after his knock to ensure he would recover from a minor foot problem before the final. But the Bulls had a handy replacement in Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who spent a few hours in the field before heading to India with the nationalone-day squad tomorrow.

Matt Finnigan of Ladbrokes previews the First npower Test Match between England & Pakistan at Lord’s.Nasser Hussain’s buoyant England team entertain Pakistan in the First Test at Lord’s this coming Thursday. Confidence in the camp is sky high as England look to build on four successive series victories. The mighty Aussies are to follow these two Tests and England will be looking for a good start to their summer campaign.Ladbrokes make England the 6/4 favourites for the First Test, with Pakistan and the draw both quoted at 7/4. David Graveney has hinted that England may start the Test with seven batsmen and with Dominic Cork already amongst the runs this summer, they have batting right down the order.Take the 6/4 on offer with Ladbrokes for an England victory and the perfect start to the summerThe England first innings top batsman is not so clear-cut especially as the batting line up looks so strong. Nasser Hussain may drop himself down the order, which could see Michael Vaughan moved up to number three. Ian Ward was the most prolific run-scorer on the A tour and is likely to included in at number seven on his Test debut.My advice is to back Michael Vaughan to be first innings top England batsman at 6/1 with LadbrokesPakistan’s first innings top batsman looks slightly easier to predict, Saeed Anwar’s name is on everybody’s lips with an impressive double ton at Canterbury on Sunday, and the Pakistan opener is priced at 3-1 to be top first innings run scorer for Pakistan. The charismatic Inzamam, who has been made vice captain and scored over 1000 Test runs in 2000, can never be ignored.My advice is back Inzamam-Ul-Haq to be 1st innings top Pakistan batsman at 7/2 with Ladbrokes

Defending champions Rajshahi Division will hog half the attention when they take on Dhaka Division in Mirpur in one of four opening-day matches in the National Cricket League on Saturday. The other half of the attention will be on several Bangladesh players who are expected to play the first two rounds of matches after the Bangladesh Cricket Board made their NCL appearances obligatory ahead of the West Indies series.The most notable appearance would be that of Tamim Iqbal, captain of Chittagong Division that takes on Dhaka Metropolis at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium on the opening day. Tamim hasn’t played in the domestic first-class competition for the past five years. In fact, Chittagong haven’t availed his services since he made his Test debut, the last time being in November 2007. Tamim is not the only one however.Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan have also been largely unavailable for the NCL over the past five years, all having played less than ten games each. Among these, only Razzak played last season while Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain and Shafiul Islam didn’t play a single NCL game in 2011-12.Injuries in the case of Mortaza over the last few years and Rubel last season notwithstanding, scheduling difficulty has been the most used justification to explain the no-shows. Most of these players are touring or involved in an international series at home when the first-class tournament is on, but it has been seen on several occasions that the players themselves have been unwilling to play the less glamorous competition.Shakib, who hasn’t been named in the initial Khulna Division squad, will complete his Kolkata Knight Riders campaign in the Champions League Twenty20 on October 21 so he could be expected to make his first appearance for Khulna since December 2008 in the second round of matches from November 2. He played eleven games for Worcestershire in the 2010 season, but hasn’t played domestic first-class cricket anywhere since then.The lack of international-level cricketers in the NCL has upset the image of first-class cricket, and to an extent done disservice to the country’s Test fortunes. A long-term solution is hardly on the horizon though later this season the franchise-based first-class tournament could see a lot of these players. Tamim, however, is likely to be playing Twenty20 and two first-class matches in New Zealand at the time.Despite sharing the focus with the appearance of the Bangladesh cricketers, Rajshahi would be expected to make a winning start as they are the best prepared team having been in training for more than six months. Dhaka Division on the other hand are the least prepared, having held a short campaign for only two weeks leading up to the tournament.Sylhet and Chittagong have also followed Rajshahi’s route of preparation this season but Dhaka Metropolis, Rangpur Division, Barisal Division and Khulna Division have maintained tradition like the Dhaka Division side.In the other two first-round games beginning on October 20, last season’s runners-up Khulna Division play at home against Barisal Division while Sylhet Division play away to Rangpur Division.

Ian Ward made history today by becoming the first Englishman to make a century in the West Indian Busta Cup competition but his efforts were in vain as England A lost vital first innings bonus points to Trinidad and Tobago.His 100 at the Queen’s Park Oval will be remembered not just as an historic first, nor even as a first-class fifth, but as a seven hour and 20 minute vigil against spin that got England A to within eight runs of Trinidad’s first innings total.England A’s last wicket partnership proved to be the most nerve-wracking phase of the match with Ward, the settled experience batsman trying to keep the strike away from Jason Brown, who bats at 11 for good reason.In the hunt for points, their target was 250, but with 242 on the board, the weary Ward went to drive at Ramnarine and the ball just clipped the top of his stumps. While the Trinidadians celebrated wildly, Ward stood still looking at the dislodged bail in total disbelief.His reaction was one of massive disappointment and a realisation that first innings points are vital in this competition. It was a magnificent effort from the Surrey opener who after three A tour innings of 49, 69 and 109, is clearly the man in form.If all remaining matches are as tough as this Trinidad and Tobago encounter, England A may well find themselves renaming this competition the Busta Gut. It has not been the easiest three days in England A’s distinguished history and Ward’s century was all the more noteworthy for that.Afterwards he expressed his deep disappointment at losing his wicket at such a crucial time.”The fact I scored a century was academic in the end. It would be nice to revel in some glory but unfortunately we missed the target we set ourselves which was to win first innings points. But we have to pick our heads up – there is still a bit of cricket in this game and the pitch is deteriorating rapidly.”I sat down with Alex Tudor before we came out after tea and we both agreed it was very much on. He virtually has a Test hundred to his name so he’s no mug with the bat. We were under no illusions how hard it would be but if he played his natural aggressive game we thought we could put the pressure back on Trinidad. It nearly worked but it was just unfortunate we couldn’t carry on.”I was trying to stay there but chose the wrong route and managed to drag the ball onto my stumps which was disappointing. I had a few expletives going on in my head.””I might as well have got nought because we didn’t make the target. Personal goals are all well and good but we failed in our team objective. We always knew this would be a tough competition, playing on foreign soils and travelling around like as circus as we are. They are not excuses, they are facts and we just have to deal with them and realise how important the runs are on these low scoring wickets.”At 123 for six, those first innings points looked unlikely but both Tudor and Paul Franks made valuable contributions with Tudor making 32 and Franks chipping in with for 18, the final four wickets adding 119 runs.Trinidad and Tobago, starting their second innings with a seven run lead, added 25 in the 12 overs that remained of the third day’s play but lost opener Andy Jackson when Tudor had him caught behind for 11.More quick wickets will be needed tomorrow if England A stand any chance of winning and on a deteriorating pitch, the final day’s play is set to be tense.

Match facts

September 22, 2012
Start time 1930 local (1400 GMT)

Big Picture

Australia and West Indies entered this tournament with vastly different expectations placed upon them. Although the Australians were quietly confident, plenty of people saw their form, ranking and not-so-settled side as an indication they would struggle. West Indies came in as one of the tournament favourites, the first time in a long while that they have been considered such a strong chance. Australia have already overcome Ireland and should West Indies do so as well, both these sides will progress to the next stage. But West Indies don’t want to be placing themselves under any unnecessary pressure when they take on Ireland so victory in this, their first match, is important. Not that Australia will be a pushover – the teams drew 1-1 when they met for two T20s in the Caribbean earlier this year.Everywhere you look in the West Indies line-up there are men seemingly made for T20. Chris Gayle at the top of the order. Kieron Pollard in the middle. Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Andre Russell. The best player in the IPL this year, the offspinner Sunil Narine. And the highly under-rated legspinner Samuel Badree, who has the best economy rate of any bowler in T20 history (with a minimum qualification of 300 balls). Badree goes for 4.59 an over, on average. If every bowler in a team managed that, the opposition wouldn’t even rack up a hundred. But for all of their star power, West Indies haven’t really turned their potential into results. In the past year, they have won four T20s and lost four. Overall, they are the only ICC Full Member besides Bangladesh to have lost more T20s than they have won. Much greater consistency is what they will require to go all the way in this tournament.For Australia, the opening victory against Ireland has provided a handy bit of breathing space and they know that victory against West Indies will put them through to the Super Eights. There have been minor health worries for the veteran spinner Brad Hogg and the fast bowler Mitchell Starc over the past couple of days, but both are still in contention to take their places against West Indies.

Form guide (completed matches, most recent first)

Australia WWLLW
West Indies WWLWL

Watch out for

On the ICC’s rankings for T20 international allrounders, it is Shane Watson and then daylight. Against Ireland on Wednesday he showed why, with 3 for 26 and 51 from 30 deliveries, ensuring there were no nasty surprises for the Australians in their opening game. Notably, he also made important contributions in both T20s against West Indies earlier this year in the Caribbean, and his 69 in the first match was the highest score in the two-game series.Australia are aware of their potential weakness against high-class spinners with hard-to-read variations – Saeed Ajmal showed that in the UAE recently – and Sunil Narine fits that category. He baffled the Australians during the ODIs in the West Indies earlier this year, although they managed to survive against him in the T20s that followed. Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur believes attacking Narine might be the best approach. “He’s always going to be a factor, like Ajmal for Pakistan and [Ajantha] Mendis for Sri Lanka,” Arthur said. “I think if we can put him under just a little bit of pressure, that’s something we haven’t been able to do with the spinners, we’ve always been a couple of wickets down, so we haven’t been able to attack Ajmal, or Narine in the West Indies where it turned massively.”

Team news

Australia had a couple of minor concerns in the lead-up to the match, with the veteran spinner Brad Hogg having missed training on Thursday due to a headache and flu-like symptoms, while Mitchell Starc also sat out due to gastro. Xavier Doherty has rejoined the squad having made a quick dash home to be at the birth of his child, while Clint McKay and Ben Hilfenhaus are the backup fast men in the squad. However, the captain George Bailey on Thursday played down the possibility of Starc and Hogg missing the match.”They’re all right,” Bailey said. “Training is quiet without Hoggy, [but] he’s pretty good and from all reports Starcy was certainly on the mend. We’ll make a call.”Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Cameron White, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Brad Hogg/Xavier Doherty.The West Indies selectors have plenty of options and their final decision will depend on how they believe the side should be balanced. Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle appear likely to open and there is the possibility of a dual spin attack with Narine and Badree likely to enjoy working on the pitches in Sri Lanka.West Indies (squad) Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (capt), Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Samuel Badree, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Fidel Edwards.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the Premadasa was hard on the opening day of matches there on Wednesday, and there were runs available for the batsmen. It is expected to remain reasonably hard for the early stages of the tournament.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies could find themselves a little rusty if they are forced to chase in this match, for they have batted first in their past eight T20 internationals. The last time they chased was against India in Trinidad last year, the only time in the past two years West Indies have batted second
• Chris Gayle’s strike rate of 153.47 in the World T20 is the highest amongst players who have batted at least ten World T20 innings

Quotes

“It’s good to come into the tournament and have people show us the kind of respect and admiration to rate us among the top teams.”
“They are one of the best fielding sides around in the world and that counts for a lot in T20.”

The silver lining for Zimbabwe after Thursday’s thumping, and it’s a very slim lining indeed, is the batting form of Elton Chigumbura. The allrounder, who was unbeaten on 50 as Zimbabwe disintegrated, is their leading run-scorer in the series with 142 runs at an average – boosted by two not-outs – of 71.Indeed, Chigumbura seems to have a thing for Indian bowlers: in six one-day innings against India, he’s been dismissed just twice in compiling 182 runs and has scored at close to a run a ball against them.”[India] always seem to come at a good time, when I’m playing well,” he said. “This is the second time I’ve played against them, and mostly that has been on wickets that are good to bat on.”It was expected that Zimbabwe would have an easier time of things at Queens Sports Club, where the pitch usually favours batting, but that proved – spectacularly – not to be the case. Chigumbura pointed to a lack of application by his side’s batsmen rather than any misreading of the pitch.”It was a good wicket to bat on. We all know when we play at Queens, it’s always a batter’s wicket and if you apply yourself then you can make runs. [A lack of application] been the problem for the last three games. Losing early wickets, it’s hard to come back, especially if you then keep losing wickets. Some of the batters are now coming in at different times that they are not used to. If we can have no early wickets, then the rest of the batters will end up batting in their natural position.”The guys are working hard, but I think it’s just a matter of being smart when we start our innings, especially our first ten overs when we’re losing two to three early wickets. Besides working hard, I think the guys just need to maybe take a little bit of time at the wicket. It all comes together when you stay out there.”A repeated mantra for Zimbabwe during this series has been that they’ve put in a lot of preparation, and now is the time to put it into action. Their failure hasn’t been for a lack of trying, but Chigumbura was at a loss as to how to explain the root cause of their inadequacies. With this series gone, it seems all that is left is to look forward to the next one, and hope it will be better.”We are all trying to improve in every game, but it’s unfortunate on this tour we haven’t done so. But if you look at our past history, playing at home we have done well. It’s just one of those tours, where things are not coming together on the batting side. We just need to finish well, and hopefully when Pakistan come our batting will gel.”

Mickey Arthur has been sacked as Australia’s head coach less than three weeks before the start of the Investec Ashes and is expected to be replaced by Darren Lehmann. Cricket Australia is yet to officially announce the decision but the chief executive James Sutherland and general manager of team performance Pat Howard are due to hold a press conference in Bristol on Monday morning (UK time) to confirm the move.It has also been reported that the captain Michael Clarke will relinquish his role as a selector as part of the change in structure that will be announced by Sutherland and Howard. Whether Lehmann would remain a selector is unclear.Lehmann, who is in England having just finished a tour as the mentor of Australia A, has won rave reviews for the somewhat old-school approach he has taken with Queensland since he was appointed in 2011 and is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in Australian cricket.But whatever the case, the axing of Arthur so close to the first Ashes Test, which begins on July 10, has left the Australian camp in a state of disarray. The squad was due to meet in Taunton on Monday ahead of their first tour game against Somerset, with some of the players having been part of the Australia A squad, some having been playing in the Champions Trophy and others having been warming up in county cricket.The team will need to quickly become accustomed to the absence of Arthur, who was named head coach in November 2011. He replaced Tim Nielsen and the move came in the wake of the Argus Report into Australia’s team performance, which was commissioned after Australia’s thrashing at the hands of England in the home Ashes in 2010-11.During Arthur’s time in charge, Australia won 10 of their 19 Tests but the past few months had been especially challenging both on field and off it. The calamitous 4-0 defeat in India was overshadowed by the so-called homework sackings halfway through the trip, in which Arthur, captain Michael Clarke and team manager Gavin Dovey stood four players down for a Test for failing to complete an off-field task.The Champions Trophy campaign, in which Australia failed to win a match, was also dominated by events away from the game, when David Warner punched England batsman Joe Root in a pub. Warner was suspended until the first Ashes Test but the incident raised questions about why a group of Australia players were out until the early hours of the morning following a loss.

West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin has been suspended for two ODIs, and fined 100% of his match fees, for breaching the Code of Conduct when he claimed a catch off Misbah-ul-Haq during the Champions Trophy game against Pakistan at The Oval.Ramdin has decided not to appeal the decision, a West Indies team spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo, which means he will miss their last two group matches against India and South Africa.*”This is regarded as a serious offence as it is the responsibility of all players to act in the spirit of the game,” ICC match referee Chris Broad said. “I hope Mr Ramdin has learnt his lesson from this incident and that we will not see such behaviour by him or any player in the future.”The incident took place in the ninth over of Pakistan’s innings, when Misbah bottom-edged a Kemar Roach delivery to Ramdin. The wicketkeeper initially appeared to have caught the ball but lost control of it as he fell forward, and it slipped out of his gloves on to the grass. Instead of bringing his mistake to the notice of the umpires or his team-mates, Ramdin returned the ball to the square-leg umpire and joined his team-mates in the celebratory huddle.Square-leg umpire Nigel Llong, however, alerted the third umpire and the replay revealed the chance had been dropped. Misbah, who was on 0, was called back and went on to hit an unbeaten 96.Misbah had said that Ramdin’s actions were not in the spirit of the game. “What can I say about that?” he said when asked about the catch. “I think he should have told them what happened, but I don’t know what he was thinking at that time. I would not be very happy if my wicketkeeper did that. If we don’t know anything, then it’s fine, but if you know clearly that it’s not a catch, you should not claim that because it’s not in the spirit of the game.”West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo, however, had defended Ramdin, saying the wicketkeeper did not act deliberately. “Unfortunately, he did not catch it,” Bravo said. “He’s a very honest player, and as I said, history shows if you check the records that we don’t have any stigma or negatives around us as a team. We have been true in our cricket careers and history has shown that we play the game in true spirit of the way it should be played. I don’t think we did something like this deliberately.”The charge – under article 2.2.11 of the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game” – was laid by the on-field umpires Steve Davis and Llong, third umpire Tony Hill and fourth umpire Richard Kettleborough. Ramdin had pleaded not guilty and attended a hearing adjudicated by Broad on Monday.*1915 GMT This article was updated to mention that Ramdin was not going to appeal the ban and fine.

Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, is looking forward to returning to Wales with his West Indies team during the Champions Trophy, for what could be a group decider against South Africa, holding fond memories of his time there for Glamorgan.Gibson played for the county from 1994 to 1996 and remembers the support he received from crowds that have “passion and love” for the sport and hopes that can be replicated on June 14.West Indies play their opening two matches at The Oval in London, against Pakistan and India, where they will like to think they can latch onto the Caribbean community which used to support the team in force during their heydays of the 1980s but the fans have been a far smaller presence in recent years with the side struggling.However, the Welsh public have had few chances to see West Indies in their backyard – they have only played a single ODI, against New Zealand, in 2004 – and Gibson has asked them for a strong display of support.”I played for Glamorgan in the early stages of my cricket career and people welcomed me into the county. It was a really good time and the people of Wales were nice and good to me,” he said. “The people there are very passionate about their team. I believe if we can get there early and get the support of the locals that would be great for us”I had many highlights from my time there; I got over 60 wickets and made 700 runs in my debut season, so that was a very good start to my county cricket career in the UK. I had a very good time and great experience.”When I was at Glamorgan, we also had amazing support when we played around the county circuit and at Cardiff Wales Stadium and I know that support has continued over the years. It’s a wonderful place for sports and you always feel the passion and love for sports over there.”However, Gibson’s first priority will be to ensure his team still have a chance of progressing to the semi-finals when they reach Cardiff. October’s Twenty20 success gave the long-suffering fans in the Caribbean a moment to savour, but Gibson knows it is vital the team build on that especially with a World Cup to follow in 2015.”This is a good opportunity for us as a one-day team to see where we are compared to the other guys. This tournament format is similar to how the World Cup is going to be – you have to get out of the group stage to advance to the second phase.”We hope the success and the experience we had in Sri Lanka will help everybody to stay calm when the pressure is on. We believe we can win these big tournaments. So, this is something that we are really looking forward to.”