All posts by csb10.top

Chris Martin is ready to go head to head with Dale Steyn in what he has dubbed “the battle of the swing bowlers,” in the upcoming Test series between New Zealand and South Africa. Martin warned batsmen on both sides that they will be caught in the crosshairs of a furious fight between the quicks operating in favourable conditions.With an unusually wet, windy and cold summer it seems the weather gods have done half the job and Martin said New Zealand’s attack should be able to do the other half. Two of the three Tests being played at what Martin calls “swinging conditions,” in Dunedin and Wellington, places where he expects New Zealand’s attack to thrive. “The success of all our bowlers will probably improve in swinging conditions,” he said.Even though South Africa have the world’s top-ranked Test bowler in their arsenal, Martin believes that New Zealand have the strength to match that and the other elements of the hosts’ varied attack. “If you’ve got a left-armer [Trent Boult] and you’ve got a couple of guys who swing the ball away and myself who brings it back in, I think the balance is there to test techniques,” he said. “When you put Daniel [Vettori] into the mix as well it covers a lot of the bases South Africa also cover.”It could all add up to a toxic combination for batsmen, who will have to brush up on their cautiousness more than their cover drives, according to Martin. “It should be a challenging series for batsmen if we get the wickets right,” he said. “If there’s any moisture in the air, the pitch will always have something in it.”New Zealand have expressed interest in creating increasingly seamer-friendlhy pitches as they look to turn their four-pronged attack into a permanent feature. Almost everyone in the South African camp, from bowling coach Allan Donald to Steyn to limited-overs captain AB de Villiers, have welcomed the move, saying it would work in their favour as well.South Africa are fresh off preparing green mambas of their own over the summer as they beat Sri Lanka. Although their batsmen also find the going tough on spicy surfaces, it’s a battle they’ve fought many a time and have shown no fear of being asked to fight it again. Martin said New Zealand are aware of, and in some ways in awe of, that ability.”They [South Africa] have probably been one of the better sides over the past five years. Their consistency is something we have to aspire to as a Test-playing nation,” Martin said. He is not wrong. South Africa are the best travellers in world cricket over that period and have shown few signs of fragility abroad.Martin is one of very few who has seen their weaknesses first hand. His 44 South African scalps at an average of 24.59 are the most wickets he has taken against any country. They have also come at a significantly better rate than his overall average of 33.33. At home, his record against South Africa is even more impressive. In two Tests in 2004, Martin claimed 18 wickets at an average of 16.66 against them, including 11 in the Auckland Test.He hopes the recollections of those returns will act as motivation for the coming series. “It’s about looking back on how I’ve played against them in the past. That will bring some good memories and some good, positive vibes,” he said. “The series is more about revisiting those memories.”Edited by Siddarth Ravindran

Mushfiqur Rahim, the Duronto Rajshahi captain, has been fined for ‘bringing the game into disrepute’ during his team’s Bangladesh Premier League match against Barisal Burners on Saturday. Following a code of conduct hearing by match referee Mike Procter, Mushfiqur was fined 25,000 Taka.The umpires had reported Mushfiqur to Procter for his actions during his side’s time in the field. Proctor concluded that by challenging the decision of the umpires and clearly showing dissent, Mushfiqur had brought the game into disrepute.”Rahim accepted that he was guilty of the code of conduct breach,” Procter said. “We took into account his general good conduct history but also felt that as captain of the side he must take responsibility for what happened on the field and a fine was imposed.”Rajshahi were defeated by Barisal, by 22 runs, slumping to their second consecutive defeat in two days.

ScorecardA century from Sami Aslam and a five-wicket haul from Mohammad Nawaz helped make it two wins out of two matches for Pakistan Under-19s in the tri-nation tournament in South Africa. Despite a late collapse, Pakistan managed to get to 260. While South Africa Under-19s managed to stay in the chase till the 35th over, the required run-rate had risen to almost eight runs an over, and they succumbed to the pressure, getting bowled out for 206 in the end.Nawaz and legspinner Usman Qadir were the men who ran through the South African middle and lower oder. Half-centuries from Chad Bowes and Diego Rosier had taken the hosts to 143 for 2 in the 35th over. Qadir dismissed Rosier and three balls later Nawaz had Bowes caught behind. The new batsmen were under pressure to attack from the outset and Nawaz took advantage, helping himself to four more wickets to finish with 5 for 33. Qadir, who had taken two wickets in Pakistan’s victory over Zimbabwe Under-19s the previous day, finished with 3 for 53.Pakistan had been put in, and their openers put together a 143-run partnership. Babar Azam got his second half-century of the tournament but it was Aslam who dominated the partnership. Aslam scored 112 off 133 balls including 11 fours. When Aslam was dismissed in the 40th over, Pakistan were 216 for 3 and looking at an imposing total. However, they got just 44 runs off the last 10.4 overs while losing six wickets. Nineteen-year-old fast bowler Rabian Engelbrecht disrupted Pakistan’s progress, dismissing Aslam and Adnan Mehmood off consecutive balls before accounting for Nawaz four overs later. Left-arm spinner Lesiba Ngoepe made sure the tail did not add quick runs, and finished with 3 for 47.While the end to Pakistan’s innings was disappointing, the work of their openers had ensured they reached a defendable total, and their bowlers completed the job.

Cricket Australia believes its rotation policy will strengthen the side by giving greater opportunities to young players. Pat Howard, CA’s general manager of high performance, has outlined a plan to ensure the best players are available for major series, although he said it was important not to enter any series with a sub-standard side for the sake of resting players.”We do look at different series differently and obviously we took the Indian series very much about trying to drive performance, so if a player was touch and go, we’d probably push him for this series knowing that if we had to rest him for part of the ODI series so be it,” Howard told the Age. “For New Zealand we took more of a conservative approach, took the chance to get people right.”There are risks associated with that and we have to keep that balance. Without question we want to win every series and we’re never going to go in with a B-team against anybody, that’s for sure. But we will take the opportunity to introduce players and with the downside of losing Hobart the upside is that we got to see David Warner at his best. At times we will take educated risks during a series to maintain overall opportunity to introduce players.”Warner, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson all made their Test debuts during the recent series against New Zealand, with Pattinson and Warner both making strong contributions. However, Howard said had Australia not been willing to try the new men during the two-Test series, Pattinson might still be on the fringe.”James Pattinson is a well-regarded player now but going into that series he wouldn’t have been considered top of the tree,” Howard said. “You’ve got to take the chance to introduce these players and find out. Some people say, ‘is this the best player’? Well the selectors believe they have the potential to be, and in James Pattinson’s case that has proven very right.”For India, it was very much about trying to get the best players on the field. We knew Ryan Harris would be injected at some stage during the [India] series so we kept him and Mitchell Starc very close to the team, knowing the likelihood we would lose a player or two during the series.”Australia will be without Pattinson in the third Test against India in Perth due to his foot injury, but it has emerged that he was likely to be rested anyway, following his heavy workload over the past four Tests. Howard said there had even been consideration of resting Pattinson for the Sydney Test.”We’d monitored his workload and knew that the time was coming for James and it was either going be the second or third Test that was going to be a pretty novel time for his workload,” Howard said. “He’s 21 years of age and we’ve got about three years of data on him, and we knew that would be around about the time.”It was a really touch-and-go decision for Perth but even for Sydney. He was obviously in very good form and we thought we’d go ahead and give him the best chance. We’d been planning for James to miss that and coincide with Ryan’s availability as well.”

Match facts

Phillip Hughes will be facing up to Chris Martin once again•AFP

December 9-13, Hobart
Start time 1030 local (2330 GMT)

Big Picture

Australia’s victory in Brisbane maintained the momentum built in Sri Lanka then carried – with the exception of a ridiculous couple of hours in Cape Town – in to South Africa. It also confirmed the many and varied deficiencies in New Zealand’s Test team, magnified as they were by the Gabba’s bounce and movement. The second Test in Hobart affords the visitors a climate and playing surface more familiar to their batsmen, but also a venue at which Australia have excelled – not once have they lost a Test in Tasmania since the first was played in 1989.Michael Clarke’s team barged through New Zealand in less than three full days’ playing time at the Gabba, but did so with a fair spread of faults the team is aware of. Australia’s catching was flawed, particularly in the first innings, and the return of the fielding coach Steve Rixon to lead drills in Hobart was welcome. Several batsmen, too, will want to improve. Clarke and Ricky Ponting made substantial scores but offered a few chances and half-chances a long the way, while Michael Hussey has not made a Test score of note in five innings since he was the undisputed Man of the Series Sri Lanka. Then of course there are Phillip Hughes’ continuing misadventures outside the off stump. Among the bowlers, James Pattinson has plenty to live up to following his barnstorming display in Brisbane, while Mitchell Starc will be seeking the consistency of length and line that would make his swinging, bouncing left-arm deliveries exceedingly dangerous.New Zealand’s struggles in Brisbane felt unbecoming for a team coached by a man as thorough and shrewd as John Wright, and more in line with the flighty batting of their captain Ross Taylor. The tourists’ lack of Test cricket in 2011 played a large part in the manner of the defeat, as a sound first two days gave way to an abject conclusion in the face of an Australian team that did not relent. Dean Brownlie, at least, showed a neat technique and an example to the rest of the batsmen, while Doug Bracewell’s whole-hearted bowling would have been far more successful without a consistently risky flirtation with the front crease line. Brendon McCullum’s aggression at the top of the order was inadequately substantial, and as a whole the batsmen left far too much for Brownlie and Daniel Vettori to do. Greater application will be needed in Hobart, including the awareness of off stump that Wright has spoken of. Chris Martin was as sturdy as ever with the ball, and will again be seeking to clip Hughes off the top of the Australian batting order.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Australia: WWLDD
New Zealand: LWDLL

In the spotlight

No-one can question Phillip Hughes’ appetite for runs, but he is so often out fencing at deliveries going across him before there is time to complete the entrée. On a Hobart surface that was still verdant green on match eve, it is guaranteed that Martin’s right-arm seam and swing will again pose the questions that Hughes was unable to answer in Brisbane. In the words of the coach Mickey Arthur, Hughes’ difficulties are of a nature that “will not go away”, and after this series Ishant Sharma will be as keen as Martin to exploit them. So Hughes must show evidence of improvement sooner rather than later, or no amount of impassioned support from his captain Clarke will save him.Ross Taylor reasoned there would be changes to his team if there is not strong improvement on an ailing performance in Brisbane. Based on the pair of shots he played to be out to Pattinson in both innings, Taylor should not be immune from scrutiny himself. A tremendous shot-making talent, his looseness was not the example to set for a young team, particularly behind a No. 3 in Kane Williamson who looked out of his depth on a surface offering bounce. In the field Taylor made some decent bowling changes but dropped a catch. The improvement of the team’s Test match fortunes is going to have to start with the captain.

Pitch and conditions

Hobart surfaces tend to alternate between very flat and very lively, and the sight of a strip of similar colour and grass coverage to the outfield suggests the second Test pitch will fall into the latter category. The pace and bounce will not be on quite the same level as Brisbane’s, while a colder climate may prevent a repeat of the sharp swing gained by Pattinson on day four at the Gabba.

Team news

Australia named an unchanged side on match eve, removing all doubt about the potential of the 12th man Daniel Christian to be brought in for Hughes.Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Phillip Hughes, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Ricky Ponting, 5 Michael Clarke (capt), 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 James Pattinson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Nathan Lyon.New Zealand appear likely to give another chance to the XI that struggled for traction in Brisbane, reasoning that the players entered the first Test in good enough touch and must better organise their mental approach to Test cricket and Australia.New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Jesse Ryder, 6 Dean Brownlie, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Reece Young (wk), 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Chris Martin.

Stats & trivia

• Australia’s unchanged team is their first since taking the same XI that won the third Ashes Test in Perth last summer into the fourth Test in Melbourne. An innings defeat and the loss of the urn eventuated.
• Ricky Ponting returns to the scene of his previous Test century, 209 against Pakistan in January 2010. He is without a hundred in 29 innings since.
• Chris Martin’s second-innings duck gave him the most in Tests between Australia and New Zealand, eight to surpass Danny Morrison’s seven.
• Though Australia have never lost a Test in Hobart, New Zealand have managed to scrape draws from two of the three Tests they have played at the ground – the other an innings defeat in 1993.

Quotes

“If the wicket doesn’t change much from what I see, and it’s still a little bit tacky and there’s [overcast] overhead conditions I’ll bowl first, but I’ve said that a few times and then got out there and batted. The two things I find hard: bowling first when I win the toss, and not picking a spinner.”
“We have a good fielding outfit and we were disappointed to let our standards slip. The guys set very high standards in the field. When things aren’t going so well it’s something we rely on to get us going. We’ve put in some hard work since Brisbane.”