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Starc searches for consistency

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Mitchell Starc’s debut day for Australia began with a pep-talk from Richie Benaud. It ended with two wickets and an enhanced reputation.Only six years a fast bowler after previously playing as a wicketkeeper, 21-year-old Starc’s natural gifts of speed, swing and bounce were all in evidence in the first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba. With a little more time and training, some critical consistency may yet be added as well.While he enjoyed a fair slice of good fortune in collecting the wickets of Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder with wide deliveries, it was the ones that did not collect wickets that were more striking. His second swung sharply enough to almost cut McCullum in two, and another glanced off the helmet as the opener was too slow to duck. Asked if he bowled better deliveries than those that reaped his wickets, Starc grinned.”Definitely, I think the wickets I got were a bit of luck with them, I was a little bit inconsistent but pretty happy with how I went in the end,” Starc said. “I feel like my bowling’s been pretty good the last few weeks, it’s coming out pretty well, and I’ve just got to work on that consistency to get that ball swinging, and to see it do a bit today was fantastic.”Benaud presented Starc with his baggy green cap, as a fellow New South Welshman but also a fellow passenger on the plane back from Brisbane a year ago, after Starc had taken 4 for 27 against Sri Lanka in an ODI.”It was a special moment for me [receiving the cap] and I won’t forget that moment for the rest of my life,” Starc said. “He just said a few things, the last few years he’s been watching me, and I actually sat on a plane home with him after the ODI I played here last year. That wasn’t a big conversation, but little things were said there at the end.”James Pattinson took the new ball, but he and Starc both needed help staying calm at times, and Starc credited both the pre-match planning to not be fazed by early McCullum boundaries, and the soothing words of Peter Siddle, the most experienced member of the attack.Australia’s planning was again driven by the bowling coach Craig McDermott’s desire for a fuller length, and it is he, alongside Troy Cooley at the Centre of Excellence, who has shaped Starc’s bowling with Australia. In New South Wales, Starc was first prompted to try pace bowling by Neil D’Costa, also the mentor of Michael Clarke and Phillip Hughes, while the former one-Test bowler Matthew Nicholson has also coached him.”Brendon McCullum’s a pretty dangerous player, and he can score pretty quickly,” Starc said. “But we felt if we could get the ball up there in a good spot and get our fielders in play, we talked about if they’re going to drive us through the covers we’re happy to take a few runs and create those chances. It was good to see the back of Brendon pretty early.”[Siddle] was great today, he spoke to Patto and I a lot when we were bowling and trying to keep us in the present and keep the plans focused, so he was great today and bowled well as well.”

Christian century gives South Australia strong total

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ScorecardA century from Daniel Christian helped Queensland reach 349 in their first innings. Conditions looked tough for batting early on Saturday, with the sky overcast and South Australia in a tricky position at 4 for 75. Christian and Michael Klinger stitched together a 166-run partnership taking South Australia to 4 for 191 by lunch. Klinger was dismissed for 93 after lunch, playing a rash stroke, but Christian continued. Queensland managed to rein in the run-rate but Christian went on to get his century.At 6 for 323, South Australia were set for a big total but a late collapse kept them down to 349. Fast bowler Matt Gale, who had rocked the top order on the first day, came back to take two wickets of tailenders, and finished with 5 for 81.Queensland started solidly in their response, reaching 0 for 44 by stumps. South Australia could have a wicket but Christian dropped a difficult diving catch at second slip off Jake Haberfield’s bowling.

I told the team to be mentally strong – Mohsin

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Mohsin Khan, Pakistan’s interim coach and chief selector, has said that he told his players to be mentally strong ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Dubai. Pakistan won the match by nine wickets after squandering a strong position in the drawn first Test in Abu Dhabi.”It’s a team game and every man has to play his part instead of relying on the senior players,” Mohsin told ESPNcricinfo. “I advised them to be honest and responsible as we are here to perform our duty and are expected to deliver our best.”The important thing I had transmitted to the boys was that no matter how big a player you are, you aren’t bigger than Pakistan.”Pakistan’s batsmen showed rare consistency in Dubai and the bowlers responded well to give them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Mohsin said that he tried to get the players to trust their abilities and they delivered. “My team has all the required capability to beat any team. They only needed consistency in batting and bowling and this time they hit the mark in both departments and results are there.”Pakistan had dropped six catches in Sri Lanka’s second innings in Abu Dhabi after taking a 314-run first-innings lead, allowing Kumar Sangakkara and Prasanna Jayawardene to put on a match-saving 201-run stand. Mohsin said that Pakistan were disappointed that they had let go of a winning opportunity. “Those dropped catches actually dented all our good work. But this is all part of cricket and what is important is not to repeat those mistakes and take the next step for improvement.”Mohsin also warned his side against being satisfied with their 1-0 lead ahead of the final Test in Sharjah. “We are wary of Sri Lanka as they will come hard and try to make the most of the final Test but we are brimming with confidence and I will ensure my men guard against complacency.”Test cricket will return to Sharjah after a nine-year gap when the third match of the series starts on November 3, but Mohsin said that there would be little difference in conditions compared to the venues for the first two games. “The climate conditions are similar as before though the track has a lot to offer to batsmen and less to the bowlers.”

Dinesh Karthik fifty sets up Tamil Nadu win

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Tamil Nadu were off to a convincing start in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2011-12, chasing down 189 against Goa at the TI Cycles Ground in Chennai, with five wickets and eight balls to spare. Goa’s total was set-up by a knock of 66 off 45 balls by opener Swapnil Asnodkar. Asnodkar batted through to the 17th over with an innings that included seven fours and three sixes, while Abhishek Raut, Saurabh Bandekar and Amit Yadav played the support role with cameos that took Goa to 188 for 7. Part-time legspinner Abhinav Mukund, surprisingly, finished with the best figures for Tamil Nadu, picking up 3 for 22. In reply, the hosts were in trouble at 33 for 2 in the sixth over. Then, Dinesh Karthik smacked 60 off 35 balls and put on a 90-run stand with Arun Karthik in 50 balls to get the chase back on course. Following Dinesh’s dismissal, Suresh Kumar sealed the game with 47 off only 17 balls.The pitches at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai were sluggish during the Champions League T20, resulting in low-scoring thrillers. There was more of the same on Monday, as Karnataka defended 129 against Kerala, in a tight match at Chepauk. None of the Karnataka batsmen really got going, with only four of the ten who had an opportunity to bat managing double-digit scores. Off the four, only Bharat Chipli got past 20, hitting 36 at little over a run-a-ball. Kerala’s bowlers shared the wickets around, but Karimuttathu Rakesh was the pick with 3 for 16. Raiphi Gomez and Vasudevan Jagadeesh got the chase off to a solid start with a 75-run partnership, but a spectacular collapse followed, sparked by Kotarangada Appanna – he snagged Gomez with his left-arm spin and caught Jagadeesh off Aniruddha Joshi’s bowling. Joshi went on to claim two more wickets and Abhimanyu Mithun polished off the lower order with a five-for as Kerala folded for 126 in the 19th over.DB Ravi Teja smashed 81 off 55 balls to lead Hyderabad to a 35-run victory against Andhra in Chennai. Ravi Teja added 93 for the third wicket with Arjun Yadav, who scored 40 off 30 balls, and led Hyderabad to 160 for 4 in 20 overs. Andhra struggled in their chase and lost wickets far too frequently to build any sort of momentum. Manoj Sai top scored with 35 and there was little support from anyone else. Pragyan Ojha and Syed Quadri took two wickets apiece to help limit Andhra to 125 for 8.

Hafeez sets up another Pakistan win

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Mohammad Hafeez was Pakistan’s star performer once again•Associated Press

Pakistan completed a clean sweep of Zimbabwe in all three formats of the game, with a victory in the second Twenty20 in an exciting, last-ball finish in Harare. Zimbabwe’s chase – thanks to controlled bowling from Pakistan – did not have any momentum until the final over, when Tatenda Taibu attacked.With 20 runs required off six balls, Taibu smacked the first delivery for a six over long-on to set the tone for a fighting finish. His feisty running ensured two runs off each of the next four deliveries and left him with six to get off the last ball. Sohail Khan held his nerve and bowled a low, full toss wide outside off stump. Taibu had backed away to the leg side and was not even able to play a shot. It brought an anti-climatic end to a chase that Zimbabwe allowed to get too big for them, when it should not have.Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha began with the right intent, Sibanda opening the innings with a gorgeously straight drive for four. They scored a boundary off each of the first four overs but did not rotate the strike enough, and the required run-rate rose. Chibhabha tried to break the shackles when Saeed Ajmal came on, looking to loft over long on, but was caught by a backpedalling Yasir Shah outside the circle.Ajmal’s opening wicket maiden put the brakes on Zimbabwe’s chase and they stayed on until the final over. Sibanda frustration grew and he was dismissed by a good Hafeez catch at point while attempting a big hit. Hafeez’s Midas touch with both bat and ball was evident and he bowled Cephas Zhuwao with a straight delivery. He also claimed the wickets of Hamilton Maskadza, who gifted him a catch in his follow through, and Brendan Taylor, who was caught by Misbah-ul-Haq at midwicket.With Zimbabwe’s chase unravelling, big-hitting Charles Coventry flung his bat at the first three Junaid Khan deliveries he faced. Two of them went for four and the third he bottom-edged onto his stumps. Elton Chigumbura was able to play a few forceful shots, driving down the ground and pulling with relative ease, but was bogged down by bowling that was too good for him to smash out of the ground.Pakistan’s bowlers did not panic, even when it went down to the last over. Taibu had to marshal both Prosper Utseya and himself but in the end, Sohail had the final say.Zimbabwe, however, had put on an improved display in the field, bowled better lengths and took all the catches they were offered to keep Pakistan to under 150. Taylor was innovative with his bowling changes and, after opening with a spinner, introduced Chibhabha in the third over. Chibhabha struck when Asad Shafiq tried to launch a length ball for six but was caught by Chigumbura at long-on.Two balls later, Rameez Raja was caught at short fine leg. Kyle Jarvis, who bowled better lengths than he did in the previous couple of matches, banged in a short ball and Raja, late on the pull, and gifted Ray Price a simple catch. The hosts inflicted a third early wound on Pakistan when Shoaib Malik was caught behind off Chigumbura, after slashing at wide delivery.Hafeez rode the tide and played another important innings, targeting the spinners in particular. While Hafeez was at the crease, Umar Akmal could afford to be watchful, especially against Chigumbura, who bowled a controlled spell dotted with slower balls. Price eventually got Hafeez, who lofted towards long-on but just did not have enough on it to clear the boundary.Hafeez’s departure resulted in the runs, and more importantly, the boundaries drying up and Pakistan only scored 36 runs in the last five overs. Akmal was run out returning for a second, caught well short of his crease by a Chigumbura throw, and big-hitting Tanvir was bowled by Jarvis. Jarvis was solid at the death and made good use of yorkers, a delivery he is close to perfecting.

'If we don't do anything silly, we will win' – Tamim

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Nobody can accuse Tamim Iqbal of being modest. The Bangladesh opening batsman was bullish at the end of the fourth day’s play, confident that his team would emerge comfortable winners because Zimbabwe’s bowlers pose no threat to their line-up.”He’s just ok, he’s nothing special,” Tamim said of Kyle Jarvis, who took two wickets late in the day to swing the advantage Zimbabwe’s way. “I’m just being honest and telling the truth.” He was similarly unimpressed with Brian Vitori, the left-arm seamer whose four wickets in the first innings did substantial damage to Bangladesh’s cause. “He’s ordinary.”So, if neither of Zimbabwe’s two strike bowlers pose any danger to Bangladesh, what stands in their way on their journey to victory in Harare? “Ourselves,” Tamim said. “The wicket is flat so if we don’t make mistakes or do anything silly, we should win.”Tamim believed his own innings was a demonstration of how the rest of the line-up should bat, without fear. “I was going beautifully and if I was still there we would have had more runs,” he said. “I had a plan, which was to play my shots and I was doing that. It’s just bad luck that I got out, that happens in cricket.”Despite his crash and burn innings in a tall task for Bangladesh, Tamim praised Zimbabwe’s captain Brendan Taylor for his sporting declaration, saying it created an opportunity for a good finish. “It was a clever declaration. If they had batted for one hour after tea, we would have been happy to bat for the other hour and might not have gone for the chase, so this was clever.”Tamim displays a rare confidence, that is often absent in Bangladesh players and indicated that soon, the rest of the squad may start talking the talk like he does, although he admitted that they don’t often walk the walk. “Every individual player knows their game now, so that has a come a long way. We still have a lot to learn and that will come if we play a lot more Test cricket. We can’t have a 14-month break,” he said, using the opportunity to also take a snipe at those in charge of the scheduling.The only group who escaped his criticism were his own team-mates and Tamim wasn’t disappointed with their fielding effort, despite their lack of firepower. “Maybe they could have done a little more with the new ball but Robiul [Islam] and Rubel [Hossain] played their hearts out and it was nice to see that.”

Clarke's carving his own way – Rixon

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Michael Clarke’s leadership in Sri Lanka has impressed Australia’s fielding coach Steve Rixon. Clarke, Rixon said, had developed the right rapport with the team.”I’ve seen Pup [Clarke] from a young cricketer, when he was first with New South Wales, so I know his personality and he’s in a position now where he’s carving his own way,” Rixon told . “I like his enthusiasm, I like the way he’s relaxed around the players. He knows the line between being captain and being one of the boys and that’s come from a lot of years of experience, seeing the likes of Punter [Ricky Ponting] and Steve Waugh and how they ran the show.”Clarke has won five of six one-day games as captain – three against Bangladesh and two in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka – since taking over from Ponting after the 2011 World Cup. Rixon said the big challenge would come when Australia play their first Test under Clarke, against Sri Lanka in Galle, later this month.”I reckon he’ll do a very good job, because he’ll come in with fresh ideas and I think that’s healthy. There are a lot of things that don’t need fixing, but at the same time Pup’s got to make his own impression on it. He’s got to make a statement: ‘this is the way I would like to see things done, I’ve learnt from very good captains before, and this is my little slant on it’.”Rixon said last summer’s unsuccessful Ashes campaign was the wake-up call Australian cricket needed and that things were likely to improve, especially with the hard work in recent times and the structure reforms in the offing. “We were always going to come back to earth and the Ashes were probably the real kick in the belly.”I see that [reclaiming the top billing] as an exciting challenge. To get these guys up and believing in their own abilities. Get them to trust their preparation, which has been spot-on, being honest. What I’m seeing here is there’s no shortage of hard workers, there’s no shortage of planning and now we’re getting a bit more honesty coming out in everyone’s view on things. If you bottle it up, it goes nowhere. But if you go and talk about things, it’s going to be healthy.”

Gloucestershire seamers wrap up innings win

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Gloucestershire 515 beat Kent 205 and 168 by an innings and 142 runs
ScorecardGloucestershire defeated Kent by an innings and 142 runs to claim a first County Championship victory at Cheltenham in 20 attempts and 10 years. After being dismissed for 515 early in the day, Gloucestershire bowled struggling Kent out for 168 by mid-afternoon to register a fourth win of the campaign and move up to second in the Division Two table.Young left-arm seamer David Payne was the chief destroyer with 4 for 60 in 11.5 overs, while veteran Jon Lewis ripped through the middle order with a burst of three wickets in five overs and finished with 3 for 31. Kent will be bitterly disappointed to have been bowled out inside 43 overs on a good pitch and only tail-ender Simon Cook, who hit a belligerent 46 not out, and Darren Stevens, with 35, offered much resistance.Gloucestershire had started the third day’s play on 486 for 7 and Chris Taylor cover-drove the first ball from David Balcombe to move onto 196 and equal the career-best he made against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 2001. Unfortunately for the 34-year-old batsman he was unable to beat that milestone when he edged the next ball from Balcombe into the gloves of wicketkeeper Geraint Jones.Kent required just a further five overs to take the last two wickets as Richard Coughtrie skied a pull to Jones off Stevens and Lewis edged Balcombe to Martin van Jaarsveld at second slip. Balcombe, on loan from Hampshire, finished with a career-best haul of 5 for 103. Joe Denly got the Kent second innings under way with a flurry of boundaries but the visitors were then reduced to 32 for 3 with the loss of three wickets in nine balls.Payne bowled Chris Piesley and had Sam Northeast caught behind in a double wicket maiden, then Denly fell leg before to Ian Saxelby for 26. Stevens survived a difficult low chance to wicketkeeper Coughtrie off Saxelby when on one, but the momentum was still firmly with Gloucestershire and a fine spell from Lewis after lunch effectively sealed the win.He had Van Jaarsveld and Jones lbw for 12 and 20 respectively, while Stevens went for 35 via a thin edge to Coughtrie. It became 113 for 7 when Kane Williamson took a low return catch to dismiss James Tredwell in his first over, and 151 for 8 when Alex Blake was beaten by Will Gidman’s throw from the midwicket boundary and run out at the bowler’s end.Cook struck some defiant blows, including two straight sixes off Williamson, but there was no stopping Gloucestershire’s surge towards victory. Payne returned at the College Lawn End to wrap up the game by having Balcombe caught by Saxelby at mid-on and Robbie Joseph lbw in the same over.

Tharanga suspended for three months

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Upul Tharanga, the Sri Lankan opener, has been handed a three-month suspension from all cricket and cricket-related activities by the ICC for failing a drugs test during the 2011 World Cup. The ICC accepted the offence was not deliberate and the suspension was back-dated to begin on May 9 2011, which means Tharanga will be eligible for selection from August 9.”I apologise to the fans and followers of Sri Lanka cricket for inadvertently committing an offence,” Tharanga said after the verdict was announced. “I hope my fellow sportsmen will learn from my experience and be more vigilant when taking medical treatment, so that their careers do not suffer in the way that mine has.”Tharanga had provided a urine sample as part of the ICC’s random in-competition testing programme after the World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Colombo on March 29. His sample was tested by a WADA accredited laboratory and found to contain Prednisone and Prednisolone, which are ‘Specified Substances’ under WADA’s prohibited list and are banned from being used in-competition “when administered by oral, intravenous intramuscular or rectal routes.”According to an ICC release, the anti-doping tribunal accepted Tharanga’s submission that he had ingested the substances by drinking a herbal remedy given to him to ease discomfort caused by a long-standing shoulder injury. “It also found that Tharanga had no intention to enhance his sporting performance or to mask the use of another performance enhancing substance, but that he had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility implicit upon him as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.”Tharanga pleaded guilty to the offence at an early stage in the proceedings and, as mandated under the ICC Code, the tribunal disqualified the rankings points he earned from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.””We recognise that Upul has not been found guilty of deliberately cheating, but the ICC maintains its zero-tolerance approach towards doping for the benefit of all its stakeholders,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said. “Cases like this serve as a reminder to all players that they must take great care and personal responsibility at all times for the substances that they consume.”Tharanga has the right to appeal against the tribunal’s decision and must do so within 21 days of receiving the written decision.

Hussey not averse to Big Bash rule changes

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Michael Hussey has given a cautious thumbs-up to some of the proposed new rules for next season’s Big Bash League. The eight-team tournament might include features such as a super-over in which the batting team has its runs doubled, and the possibility that spectators could keep balls hit into the crowd.Cricket Australia asked fans to voice their opinions on the ideas via an online survey last week, seven months before the tournament is expected to kick off. Hussey has just arrived back in Perth after playing a key role in the IPL final victory for Chennai Super Kings, and he said the concept of the super-over “sounds all right”.”Who calls which over it is? The captain? I’d like it if I was batting, I’d call the super over as soon as I got out there,” Hussey said. “I haven’t thought about it too much but the concept sounds all right, especially if there was a Chris Gayle at the crease. He had a couple of overs in the IPL where he went for 27 and 34 runs off overs. It could almost be game over if he had one of those overs.”Hussey said the idea of fans being able to keep balls hit into the crowd had some merit. However, he said it was important the batsman was not disadvantaged for having cleared the fence.”It depends how green the wicket is,” he said. “If it gets to the 15th over and the wicket is still green, I don’t want a new ball coming out, that’s for sure. But I think it’s a good idea, a bit like baseball, maybe a souvenir for a kid out there. They are going to need a lot of back-up balls of the same over range. I don’t think it’s the worst idea.”Another proposal would allow bowlers to send down two bouncers per over, which Hussey said was fair for what has otherwise been seen as a batsman’s game. Hussey has never played a Big Bash match for Western Australia, having been on international duties during December and January ever since the tournament began.He’s just as unlikely to feature in this summer’s tournament, with the eight city-based sides almost certain to be without Australia’s star players due to international commitments. That looms as a potential problem for the Big Bash League, which Hussey said would never be as big as the IPL.”It won’t be of the same magnitude because of the volume of money they spend on their tournament compared with what we could spend on ours,” Hussey said. “But I think in terms of the quality of cricket we can definitely compete, attract some overseas players.”I guess we are a little limited in that we can’t attract all countries because when they play domestically clashes with our summer. But we can attract some real quality international players and we know that our first class system and our core players are very, very good.”