All posts by csb10.top

Shoaib Malik’s ongoing battle with a troublesome ankle means he is still not a certain starter for Pakistan’s first ODI against Zimbabwe in Karachi.Malik, Pakistan’s captain, injured his ankle during a post-match football session after the Delhi Test against India in November. He subsequently sat out the remaining two Tests of the tour and though undergoing rehabilitation since then, he has still not fully recovered. He is currently taking part in a three-day training camp in Lahore as Pakistan prepare for the five-ODI series and he told reporters after the first day that he was feeling better.”My ankle is improving. I have started running and the ankle will get better over the next few days,” he said. “But if I am not 100% fit by the time the first ODI comes round, I will tell the board management.”Observers at the Pakistan camp suggest that the first ODI, on January 21, might be too soon for him. If that is the case then Pakistan will be looking for a temporary captain. Younis Khan, vice-captain in India, stood in when Malik first injured himself, but has in the past been reluctant to take on the role. Other possible options include Mohammad Yousuf and even Misbah-ul-Haq.Pakistan will be without a number of first-choice players during the series, the selectors keen instead to test new faces, particularly in the bowling department. Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar are out of the series due to injury – though the latter did make himself available. Mohammad Asif has yet to recover fully from surgery on a long-standing elbow problem.

As Steve Harmison lurches into his latest crisis following an insipid performance in Hamilton, Allan Donald, the man who last summer was charged with trying to coax him into action, has revealed Harmison came to him and admitted he was ‘scared’.Donald was England’s bowling coach during the 2007 season but turned down the full-time position so that he could spend more time with his family and has joined Warwickshire as their bowling coach. The moment when Harmison opened up came at Old Trafford during the third Test against West Indies after he’d struggled to hit the cut strip.”He needed confidence,” Donald told the . “He needed to feel appreciated. I’ve never seen a cricketer as low as he was. He came off the field in the Test at Old Trafford and told me he was scared. It was so sad.”From his low point in the first innings at Old Trafford, Harmison did manage to regain some composure with an improved performance on the final day and in the fourth Test on his home ground at Chester-le-Street. However, just as he was finding some confidence another injury came along and he missed the rest of the summer. He has continued to suffered fitness issues, especially with his back, during the winter tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand.Harmison’s fate is now in the hands of Ottis Gibson after Donald opted against a full-time role. “To be honest with you, I wouldn’t have taken the England job even if this role at Warwickshire hadn’t come up,” Donald said. “Working with the England team was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel I made a positive impact. And, I have to say, the ECB were brilliant. They are a highly professional organisation and, in many ways, everything about the job was great.”But I’ve been on the road for years. At some stage you have to put the family first. I want to see my children grow up.”

The Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI lost three wickets for five runs late on the second day to leave Bangladesh with a slim hope of reviving their fortunes after another poor batting performance. At stumps the Chief Minister’s XI were were 32 for 3, with an overall lead of 82. Unless the Bangladesh bowlers cause more havoc early on the third day, their batsmen will be left with a daunting fourth-innings target.Manjural Islam, the left-arm seam bowler, caused the early problems for the Chief Minister’s XI when he had Nick Berry out for a duck in the first over of the second innings. Then, in his third, he took the key wicket of Michael Clarke for 1. In between Islam’s two wickets, Ian Redpath was bowled by the medium-fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza for a duck in Mortaza’s first over.Ashley Williams and Kenneth Vowles stopped the rot and were unbeaten on 13 and 16 respectively at the close. The slow portable pitch made runscoring extremely difficult, so the first-innings lead of 50 conceded by Bangladesh could well prove to be a crucial factor.Bangladesh struggled throughout their innings to make any impact against a side which is not even a first-class combination. They were bowled out for 139 – hardly the ideal preparation in the last match before their first Test on Australian soil.Hannan Sarker was the sole figure of defiance. He batted 128 minutes for his 34 – the top score of the innings – but in doing so he highlighted the battle with concentration that the Bangladesh players have had ever since making their appearance on the Test stage. Nurtured on one-day cricket, they have still to acquire the temperament to play consistently long innings.At lunch Bangladesh were 56 for 3, but they had slumped to 120 for 8 by tea. Alok Kapali scored 21 and the last pair offered some token resistance, but it was too little against an attack which played to the conditions perfectly. Eight bowlers were used by Northern Territory, and while he picked up only one wicket for seven runs, Brian McAdam, the former North Melbourne AFL player, bowled 10 overs for that.Bradley Hatton took 2 for 20 off his 12 overs of medium-pace, while the Australian one-day offspinner Nathan Hauritz took 2 for 32 from 21 overs.Day 1 Bulletin

It is rather ironic that England’s most destructive batsman is also their thriftiest bowler. Andrew Flintoff conceded less than three runs per over during the 2003 World Cup, and last night he was at it again in the first match of the NatWest Challenge against Pakistan. A freak shoulder injury had threatened his participation in this series, but by the time he had galumphed through his ten overs, England were all but back in a match they had little right to win.As our graphic shows, Flintoff’s success can be attributed to his immaculate line. More than three-quarters of his deliveries (46 out of 60) were pitched in the corridor just outside off stump, and only a solitary yorker-length ball veered anywhere near the leg side. He only conceded 23 runs, and although he failed to take a wicket, the pressure he exerted caused explosions at the other end.During the NatWest Series of 2002, Flintoff found success with a back-of-a-length attack on India’s batsmen, but this time the short stuff was in less abundance. Exactly half of his deliveries were on a good length, and while he banged 18 in short, another 11 were pitched well up in the blockhole. It wasn’t a wicket for the quick bowlers – Flintoff sent down just one genuine bouncer all day, and it was promptly smacked for four.

Group C
ScorecardSouth Africa scraped their way into the Super League by the narrowest of margins with a one-wicket win against England at Chittagong. England, though, still made it through as winners of Group C.South Africa had to win the match to qualify and they looked in control after bowling England out for 189. But they made hard work of the run chase, and it needed a nervy 20-run last wicket stand between Keagan Africa and Waylain September to secure the victory.Six different South African bowlers picked up wickets as Steven Davies, Man of the Match against Nepal, was the only batsman to reach 50. He was bowled for 63 after adding 83 with Ravi Bopara. England then lost their last six wickets for only 31 runs.The South Africa reply was anchored by opener Vaughn van Jaarsveld, who scored 76 to pave the way for Africa and Craig Alexander to edge the side to victory.Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, was relieved with the outcome. “The bowling and fielding departments are performing to expectations but our batting remains weak,” said Domingo. “The team’s performance will have to improve during the next phase of the tournament.”The result meant that South Africa and England will play in the Super League while Nepal – who beat South Africa two days ago – and Uganda go into the Plate Championship.

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has announced that it is setting up a cricket academy in Chennai to nurture local talent. Tamil Nadu has reached the finals of the Ranji Trophy in the last two years, but the association is clearly not resting on its laurels, and has also decided to lay turf wickets in every district of the state.According to UNI, an Indian news agency, these initiatives were announced by N Srinivasan, the TNCA’s president, at the 74th annual day function of the association. Srinivasan, announcing the developments, said that “we will continue to strive for the development of the game”.Tamil Nadu cricket has seen a resurgence of sorts recently. Besides the two appearences in the Ranji finals, they have also had cricketers breaking through to the national team, most notably L Balaji, who made a positive impression on India’s victorious tour of Pakistan. Hemang Badani has also made a comeback to India’s one-day squad, and Dinesh Karthik, the young wicketkeeper-batsman, is being spoken of highly as a future prospect.

Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan have issued a statement giving their position about not touring with the West Indies during the 2005 tour of Sri Lanka.The release issued yesterday by Attorney at Law Sanjeev J. Datadin states:”Christopher Henry Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan wish it to be known that despite not participating in the current West Indies Cricket Team Tour to Sri Lanka 2005 they are firmly committed to West Indies Cricket and the loyal West Indian cricket fans. They wish it be known that regrettably they found themselves in a painful and difficult situation regarding their participation in the current West Indies Tour of Sri Lanka.”Their absence was a consequence of circumstances which were unresolved despite the apparent resolution of the major stumbling block in the dispute after intervention on their behalf. They were faced with two difficult options; firstly to refuse to play for the West Indies and appear to be selfishly abandoning West Indies Cricket and the many loyal fans who have supported them faithfully over the years, and to whom they owe a debt of gratitude for their loyalty; and secondly, one in which if they choose to participate in the tour they would appear to be abandoning their team mates and colleagues who have sought their support with whom they have fought many a battle and achieved success for the West Indies on the field of play.”They wish to record their disappointment in the way the dispute was handled and the enormous pressure placed upon them by both sides of the dispute.They chose not to tour and to stand in solidarity with their colleagues. In no way was their decision an endorsement of the position of either side of the dispute.” The statement further adds that the decision not to tour was a difficult one and that if offered the opportunity again to play for the West Indies they are likely to consider their position independently.The duo is said to be looking forward to representing the West Indies team and being full contributors to West Indies cricket in the future by doing their part in restoring West Indies cricket to its former glory.”Both players wish to express their disappointment with the handling of the entire matter and encourage the stakeholders of the dispute to embark upon a process of resolution in utmost good faith and a spirit of compromise. They fear that the current approach to the resolution of the dispute is only likely to deepen the divide between the stakeholders and is unlikely to bring resolution to a dispute which is so painful to them and to every West Indian.Further, they wish it to be known that they accept and recognise the right of each individual cricketer to determine for himself whether to tour or not and wish the current representatives of the West Indies cricket team well on the remainder of their tour of Sri Lanka and wish to in no way be associated with any criticism of those players whether public or in private.”

When Steve Waugh said Australia would come hard at India, he wasn’t kidding. A team scoring 400 for 5 in a single day was not something the Adelaide Oval had experienced before. Australia went on a run-riot and overtook the 387 they scored against West Indies on the second day of the fourth Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy in 1968-69.A closer look at the scoring pattern lets slip an interesting ploy.

Australia played to put India on the defensive as soon as the game began, and once the pressure was on, the batsmen could step off the gas, play a relatively safer game, and still end up with a huge total on the first day.

Ricky Ponting was unbeaten at the day’s end, with a score of 176 in 246 balls with 24 boundaries. His strike rate of 71.5% suggests a poor bowling performance, but on closer inspection, it was Ponting’s frame of mind and the pitch’s true bounce that attributed more to his final score. Ponting had an in-control percentage of 87.4, compared to the team total of 84%. His back-foot strokeplay was authoritative, and the number of runs he scored off the front foot reveals how consistent the bounce was.

When Ponting reached his hundred, he achieved the rare distinction of scoring all 16 of his boundaries on the offside. It had a lot to do with the line the Indians bowled.

For a large part of the day, India bowled a good length, and just short of a good length. The arrival of Steve Waugh, unsurprisingly, brought a change in tactics. Of the nine bouncers bowled in the day, five were directed at Waugh. Ironically, it took a half-volley – just the delivery the bowlers were trying to avoid – from Ashish Nehra to dismiss him.

Worcestershire have signed Chris Gayle for the remainder of the season as a replacement for Zander de Bruyn, the South African allrounder, who has been selected for their A team. Gayle, who has yet to play county cricket, will play his first game against Lancashire in the National League on August 24.He will be available for five National League matches and four County Championship games and joins Shoaib Akhtar, who is mid-way through his spell at New Road. Gayle’s flamboyant batting will boost a strong top-order which already includes Graeme Hick and Vikram Solanki. His flat off-spin will also be a useful weapon, especially in the closing stages of the National League season.Worcestershire are currently fifth in Division Two of the County Championship and still very much in contention for a promotion place. However, in Division One of the National League they are rooted to the foot of the table and struggling to avoid relegation.

The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) have responded forcefully to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) bypassing them in negotiations for next month’s tri-nation series in Kuala Lampur and Singapore, calling the board’s action “premature” and accusing them of trying to “divide and rule.”In a media release, the board said negotiations with WIPA had broken down on August 2 and because of the “tight timelines between now and the September tournament,” they had decided to offer match/tour contracts directly to the 14 players invited to play in the tournament.However, WIPA rejected the board’s explanations yesterday. The players’ body said they were “alarmed at the decision taken by the WICB to bypass the official and legitimate representative body of West Indies players and to negotiate individually with the players.”Claiming that the WICB had acted while negotiations were still in progress, the WIPA release said: “The basic tenets of good industrial relations have been flouted by the board. WIPA cannot help but conclude that the WICB continues to show total disregard and disrespect for the players’ organisation and the players themselves.”The release continued: “To allege that time was against the board and that it needed to conclude negotiations for the series is clearly indicative of its last-minute approach to negotiations and its internal problems that should not be inflicted on the players and the cricketing public.” WIPA said “eleventh hour pressure to coerce players to sign agreements…would be tantamount to acceding to blackmail.”The release said further: “What is particularly disquieting from WIPA’s standpoint is the apparent divide and rule approach.”WIPA said they only became aware of the deadline and ultimatum from the players who were being contacted individually.”This action by the WICB was being undertaken even in the midst of negotiations between the WICB and WIPA as it was at that time after WIPA was making its second offer that we were informed by the WICB of its decision to go directly to players. This is another clear manifestation that the WICB was not negotiating in good faith.”WIPA also said that the tri-nation series which is also to involve India and Australia, was outside of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and as such, the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding agreed to by the WICB and WIPA must be observed. These include that the WICB will provide WIPA with reasonable opportunity to consider the proposed arrangements prior to adoption.The release said also that, “from the inception of our several agreements, it was clearly established that matches outside the FTP would be essentially a revenue earner for both parties. WIPA articulated this position making it clear that it wanted to share in any profits generated from tours outside the FTP.”During the course of the negotiations WIPA reduced its initial proposal on two occasions to the WICB as part of a compromise. On the other hand the WICB has not done the same regarding its first proposal which remained its final proposal. Indeed, it adopted “a take it or leave it attitude”. WIPA consider this approach by the WICB an anathema to basic and good industrial relations practice.”The players’ body also claim that they have not been given full financial details about the series. “While WIPA received some financial details about this event on July 31, WIPA is yet to receive information that it has requested pertaining to the name of the team’s sponsor for the event, the obligations of the players and the value of the sponsorship deal.”By participation in this series,” the release said, “the Champions Trophy and the Pakistan tour will result in travel savings to the board of approximately US$300,000. It is also of interest to note as well that the players would be away on tour for well over three months.”Despite their several concerns however, WIPA said they were “fully committed to resolving this matter in the interest of West Indies cricket and the cricket loving public of the region and sincerely hope for an observance of the type of industrial relations and negotiating standards that the region would expect from WIPA and the WICB.”