All posts by csb10.top

Zimbabwe Select are set to recall former national captain Terrence Duffin for the second match against India A which gets underway at Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo on Monday (July 30).Duffin missed the first game, which India A won by nine wickets, because he was suffering from a cold but he is likely to replace Tinotenda Mawoyo who has failed to rekindle the same form that he produced during the Logan Cup. Duffin took part in a net session on Sunday.Duffin should open the batting with Hamilton Masakadza, with Vusi Sibanda and Tatenda Taibu, who hit a hundred on his comeback, in a strong middle order. Taibu’s successful return only adds to the likelihood that the short-term international career of wicketkeeper-batsman Brendan Taylor, named in the squad but still believed to be in Europe, is over.Zimbabwe’s bowling was less impressive and while the pace bowlers are likely to be retained, there is doubt if the selectors will play two spinners. If they opt not to, then legspinner Graeme Cremer will be the one to miss out as Prosper Utseya made useful runs.The Zimbabwe squad arrived in Bulawayo by road from Harare on Saturday evening and had a net session without Kevin Curran, the coach. He had decided to travel in his sponsored car, a move which did not go down well with some of the his technical team.India A flew into Bulawayo on Sunday morning and had a practice session at Queen’s in the afternoon.

The Ashes series has been a tale of two coaches with John Buchanan improving his record and Duncan Fletcher losing ground by the game. Both men may have been involved in their last Tests at the SCG, but Buchanan leaves with the greater reputation after being a key backroom member of Australia’s 5-0 victory and a 12th win in a row.Buchanan’s stock is currently so high that Mark Taylor, a Cricket Australia director, said he will be a main figure in the search for the country’s next coach. The World Cup in the West Indies is Buchanan’s final task in his current role, but Taylor, who is on a committee to choose the replacement, has added to his duties.”Quite a bit will depend on [Buchanan’s] thoughts,” Taylor said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Depending on who we go for, it might be possible for them to travel to the World Cup with John, if they are not already coaching an international team. If that is possible, that would be our preference.”We have had some informal chats already as a committee. I’m not at liberty to say much more than that, but certainly the one-day series will give us an opportunity to get together in the next couple of weeks to discuss matters further.”Tom Moody, the Sri Lanka coach, and Tim Nielsen, who is in charge of Australia’s Centre of Excellence, are the front-runners while Greg Chappell and Dav Whatmore have also been spoken of as contenders. Whoever gets the job faces a huge task to match Buchanan’s record of 70 wins from 91 matches.Ricky Ponting praised Buchanan after his side sealed the Ashes whitewash and waved goodbye to a huge chunk of the side. Apart from Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer, Australia have also lost Buchanan and Damien Martyn from the Test scene during the series. Martyn, who went into hiding in Adelaide, was a surprise guest in the Australian dressing room after play and Shane Watson, the injured allrounder, also joined in the celebrations.Buchanan made three points before the team walked out on the final morning in Sydney – Ponting could only remember two of them – and he will continue to make more until the World Cup. “He’s been very overlooked,” Ponting said. “We’ve been a talented side but talented guys don’t win you everything.”He’s been responsible for getting the best out of me, out of Langer, out of Hayden, out of Steve Waugh to a certain degree, maybe even a bit out of Warney. And McGrath. All our coaching staff right through the last 12-13 months have been terrific.”

Shane Watson, the Australian allrounder, has said that he hopes to be fit and available for selection for the tour of South Africa beginning in February 2006.Watson had to undergo arthroscopic surgery after dislocating his shoulder in the first Test against West Indies at Brisbane and was subsequently ruled out of the remaining Tests against West Indies and the home series against South Africa in December.He also said that he wanted to play for Queensland before the tour of South Africa. “Hopefully I can get back and play a few games before that tour gets picked, that’s my goal at the moment,” Watson told ABC Sport. “It’s hard to really set a big goal because you never really know how it’s going to progress. It could come back earlier or it might take a little bit longer, so you’ve just got to keep doing absolutely everything you can and hopefully South Africa is my goal.”Watson felt that Michael Clarke would soon reclaim his place in the Test team. “He’s obviously been feeling a bit and hasn’t been his fearless self, like he was when he first came onto the scene, so he’ll definitely come back a bigger and better player. Everyone knows that and I’m sure once the dust settles with him, he’ll definitely realise that it’s a blessing in disguise.”Clarke, who was dropped from the squad for the third Test against West Indies because of a bad run of form, was replaced by Justin Langer, who has recovered from a broken rib he sustained in a domestic game. Mike Hussey and Brad Hodge have retained their places in the squad for the third Test at Adelaide after impressive performances in the second Test.

Simon Katich says he has no hard feelings towards the Australia selectors after spending nearly two and a half years out of the Test side. Katich finally earned his recall in a 15-man squad to tour the West Indies following a record-breaking domestic summer during which he made 1506 Pura Cup runs at 94.12.It might take an injury to one of the established top six for Katich to play his first Test since late 2005, however he is just pleased to be back in the mix. “The last time I was dropped I knew I deserved to be,” Katich told the . “I wasn’t playing well enough. I had a poor Ashes series and I was bitterly disappointed.”I do know my game a lot better now. I have experienced a lot in that time. Having been in and out of the team has taught me a lot of lessons. This time around I probably appreciate it a lot more. I know that the older you get, the more you realise that you just never know when the end is near.”Despite his outstanding year Katich was still surprised to receive the call, given the quality of players in the Test frame in recent years. It is fair to say he was not half as shocked as his New South Wales team-mate Beau Casson. The left-arm wrist-spinner moved from Perth to Sydney last season and struggled with a shoulder injury, collecting seven wickets at 72 before improving in 2007-08 and being chosen as the back-up for Stuart MacGill in the Caribbean.”I’m a little bit hazy,” Casson said while sitting beside Katich and Michael Clarke, Australia’s vice-captain, at an SCG press conference after the announcement. “I feel on cloud nine. I’m not sure if it’s actually real. Just sitting next to those guys was a huge thrill. I idolise those guys.”Casson said he had taken a little while to settle in at New South Wales but was now confident with where his cricket was heading. “In the first year in a team, you are a little bit timid, not showing your full personality and lacking self-belief,” Casson said.”But it’s been great with Simon [Katich], he has given me a chance and given me the confidence to be Beau Casson. My girlfriend has made it incredibly easy for me. It’s been a fantastic ride. I was down in the dumps last year with the shoulder and Sally kept me up through all the down times.”The same elation was not so evident when Ashley Noffke reacted to his inclusion in the Test squad. Although he was pleased to take another step towards a baggy green that eluded him during the 2001 Ashes tour and his 2003 trip to the Caribbean, Noffke had other things on his mind when the team was announced and he spoke to the media outside a hospital on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.”My three-year-old daughter Breanna was going in to get her tonsils out this morning so the focus was on that really and how she was going to react,” Noffke told . “I didn’t even know when it was being selected. It was a pretty traumatic thing for her to go through. Even though it is minor in the scheme of things I didn’t really enjoy today very much.”After collecting a sensational double of 51 wickets at 19.03 and 741 runs at 46.31 in the Pura Cup, Noffke is likely to be Australia’s first-choice reserve fast man in the West Indies. That means Ben Hilfenhaus, who was also picked, is unlikely to see any Test action. But after a summer that brought a disappointing 28 wickets at 43.82, the Cricket Australia-contracted swing bowler was simply pleased to be considered.”It shocked me at first, and probably still is,” Hilfenhaus said in the . “I thought I would spend the winter playing some golf and working out in the gym. It’s obviously a real buzz. It tells me the selectors have real faith in me.”

ScorecardDheeraj Jadhav, tipped by many to be a potential India opener, sparkled on the second day’s play against Tamil Nadu at Nasik with a battling hundred, but the tourists held their own to grab nine wickets before stumps with Maharashtra just 32 runs ahead. Tamil Nadu did well to trigger a manic middle-order collapse following Jadhav’s dismissal, but Sairaj Bahutule stroked his way to a vital 77. Maharashtra’s day began well thanks to a fiery three-wicket burst from Munaf Patel, the opening bowler, as Tamil Nadu, 254 for 7 overnight, were bowled out for 275. Sreedharan Sharath, Tamil Nadu’s veteran, was the highest scorer with 75.Murali Kartik, the left-arm spinner currently on domestic duty, did his chances for a national recall no harm with a five-wicket haul to dismiss Mumbai for 367 on the second day’s play at the Wankhede Stadium, but Railways faced an uphill task after losing the vital wicket of Sanjay Bangar, their captain, before stumps. Ramesh Powar, Mumbai’s allrounder, proved a thorn in Railways side with a 221-ball 74 after Amol Muzumdar fell in the morning session with his 20th first-class hundred. Greg Chappell, India’s coach, had stated yesterday that there was little point in keeping Kartik in the squad for the second Test against Sri Lanka when he was not in the final XI, and his decision to give the spinner a chance to ply his trade in the Ranji Trophy was spot-on.A solid 79-run opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Aakash Chopra made way for a critical period of collapse at the hands of Siddarth Trivedi and Hitesh Majmudar, Gujarat’s pace duo, as the hosts slipped to 186 for 5 on day two at the Feroze Shah Kotla. Trivedi, Gujarat’s opening bowler, continued from where he heroically left off on the first day with the wickets of Dhawan and Mayank Tehlan, whose previous stay at the wicket yielded a debut hundred, as Delhi proceeded to lose its way. In the morning session, Amit Bhandari, Delhi’s captain, added a sixth wicket to his tally to dismiss Gujarat for 143 and break a fine 60-run last wicket stand after Asraf Makda’s explosive innings spared them a major blemish. Despite the late hiccups, it was a marked improvement from Delhi’s batsmen after their first-innings 69, and set them up for what should be an engrossing third day’s play.
ScorecardFive strikes against Haryana before stumps at Hyderabad and a solid wag from the tail in the first two sessions of play made it Hyderabad’s day at Uppal. The star of the day was Narinderpal Singh, as he became the first medium-pacer from South Zone to claim 300 wickets in the Ranji Trophy when he trapped Bagheshwar Bist lbw in the third over. Earlier, Joginder Sharma’s third five-wicket haul of the season – he now sits atop the wickets tally with 24 – had earlier helped dismiss Hyderabad for 328, but given that they were 250 for 5 overnight, that total was significantly larger than the tourists would have liked. Haryana, still 222 runs behind Hyderabad, will need to put in a good day at the shop tomorrow, and much of that rests on the shoulders of Joginder and Mahesh Rawat, whose last innings was an unbeaten 90, in good time, against Baroda.An unbeaten 98-run stand between Bharat Chipli – who raced to a maiden first-class fifty – and Barrington Rowland led Karnataka’s reply after Rohan Gavaskar’s 96 took Bengal to 331 on the second day’s play at Mysore. Shib Paul, Bengal’s opening bowler, dismissed Robin Uthappa for just 5 in the fourth over of Karnataka’s reply, but Chipli and Rowland displayed terrific application towards their task by forging an aggressive partnership. In just his third innings for Karnataka, the 22-year old Chipli has already launched two sixes. Bengal’s first-innings total could have been substantially larger if not for the fine efforts of Udit Patel, the offspinner, who picked up four wickets to run through the tail.
ScorecardUttar Pradesh’s lower order stepped up to the plate to propel their side to 433 against Punjab on the second day of the Elite Group B match at Lucknow before Ashish Zaidi, the veteran fast bowler, capped a good day for the home side by dismissing both Punjab openers in a telling spell before stumps. Piyush Chawla, P Kumar and Avinash Yadav all produced career-best scores as 185 runs were added by the last four players. Hardevinder Sandhu, the opening bowler, was the most successful for Punjab with 3 for 101.
ScorecardMSK Prasad, Andhra’s wicketkeeper-batsman, finally struck form while patiently batting himself to a half-century at stumps on day two at Palam as the tourists finished on 112 for 2, 184 runs behind. Earlier, Jasvir Singh fell eight runs short of a hundred but Sarabjit Singh, Services’ wicketkeeping captain, pushed on to a gritty fifty as they added a further 83 to their overnight 203 for 4. This was the first score of note this season for Prasad, a former India wicketkeeper, and Andhra will look to him and Venugopal Rao, the captain, to further their fortunes as play resumes tomorrow.

Billy Doctrove, the “other” umpire at the centre of Pakistan’s forfeited Test match at The Oval, has been omitted from next week’s ICC Champions Trophy in India, along with his elite panel colleague, Darrell Hair.Hair’s absence was confirmed last week, officially for security reasons, but an ICC spokesman insisted that there was “nothing sinister” about the omission of Doctrove, even though they are the only two umpires from the ten-man panel to have been overlooked. “There were only going to be eight umpires,” the spokesman told BBC Sport. “It doesn’t mean Billy Doctrove is a bad umpire.”While Hair is one of the game’s longest serving officials, Doctrove, from Dominica, is relatively new, having stood in just nine matches since May 2000, seven of which have come in the last 18 months.Mike Procter, whose role as match referee at The Oval came under scrutiny, has been named as one of three such officials, along with Ranjan Madugalle, who was in charge of the subsequent disciplinary hearing.Umpires are selected for major tournaments based on a five-point assessment of each international match they stand in. Areas assessed include percentage of correct decisions, ability to cope with pressure, player management, communication and application of regulations.

Surrey have finally lost patience with Alex Tudor, and despite his 10-year history with the club, have released him with one year left on his contract. Tudor played in only one County Championship game for Surrey this season, as a back problem limited him to 2nd XI and club cricket for Spencer, where he played as a specialist batsman.”Alex has been struggling with his fitness for a while now,” said Paul Sheldon, the club’s chief executive, “and unfortunately he has only been able to complete one Championship game this season. Alex has been a wonderful servant to the club over the past ten seasons and we all wish him the very best in the future.”Tudor, now 26, made his England debut against Australia at the age of just 20 in Perth in 1998/99 series where he picked up the wickets of both Waugh twins. But even then, injuries had already started to plague him, and he had to withdraw from the fourth Test of the series with a hip problem.He retained his place for the first Test of the next home series, against New Zealand at Edgbaston, and although his bowling was not of the standard he’d have liked, it was his contribution with the bat that created headlines. He hit an unbeaten 99 as England beat New Zealand by seven wickets. It was the highest-ever score by an English nightwatchman, and helped win him the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year award.”Following a phone call from the chairman of cricket I was told I was being released,” said Tudor. “Surrey has been my home for the past ten years and I am sad to be leaving. It has always given me enormous pleasure and pride to be a Surrey player and I have always given 100% both on and off the field for the club.”I have recently seen a specialist who has diagnosed my injury and we are both confident that I can regain my fitness in the next six months and continue my cricket career in 2005.”His Surrey release may well be a chance for Tudor to make a new start – free from injury, he will be hoping – although with his injury record it must be doubtful whether any club will risk offering him a long-term contract.

Division One

4th dayWarwickshire squeezed over the line by two wickets against Hampshire as they chased down 121 in 25 overs and won off the last ball The Rose Bowl. Dimitri Mascarenhas almost pulled off an amazing win for Hampshire with five wickets as Warwickshire collapsed from 77 for 1 to 101 for 8. However, Neil Carter hit a four and a six as the visitors nicked it. Earlier, Hampshire resisted manfully as Heath Streak took six wickets. Chris Benham hit a career-best 95, adding 159 with Dominic Thornely, but the Warwickshire attack then got to work. Shaun Udal clubbed some late runs and, despite seeming just a consolation, they almost proved to be match-winning. As it is, Hampshire slip further adrift in the Championship race.There was just the one over of play at Headingley between Yorkshire and Kent leaving the game in a dull stalemate.3rd dayLancashire‘s Championship hopes were dealt a further blow with only two overs possible on the third day at Old Trafford. Middlesex, who batted first, have still not completed their first innings and for what it’s worth they’re on 262 for 6.

Division Two

4th day
Leicestershire pulled off a last-gasp victory against Worcestershire, inching home with eight balls to spare after both teams decided to fashion out a match at Grace Road. Worcestershire forfeited their second innings to leave Leicestershire a sporting chase of 356 off 88 overs after they had made 101 for 2 declared in their first innings.Worcestershire’s high point of the day came when they had Leicestershire 88 for 3. But John Sadler and Darren Maddy each made scores in the eighties to reverse the momentum firmly in Leicestershire’s favour, putting on 160 for the fourth wicket. From then on it became a race against time – could Worcestershire’s bowlers hold on for the draw? They couldn’t, and Stuart Broad hit the winning runs off Ray Price with a crunching four.3rd dayIt was a day for overseas players as Derbyshire managed to dodge the rain against Leicestershire and build a useful lead of 131 at Derby. Michael di Venuto hit 104 and half-centuries from Greg Smith and Ant Botha built the advantage. di Venuto’s ton, his third of the season, came off 162 balls and he added 124 for third wicket with fellow Australian, Travis Birt. Smith and Botha, both South Africans, then put on 131 for the fifth wicket to push Derbyshire well ahead. This is just Smith’s second Championship match of the summer and his 86 is a career-best.

Match facts

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

More than a battle for northern pride, this encounter will have a big bearing on who finishes where in the tussle for semi-final spots. After this game, both sides will have two home games to play, and victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla will smooth the path to the Promised Land. Sportsmen these days dislike talk of revenge, but Delhi are still smarting about the nine-wicket hammering in Mohali, and a spot of retribution will be most welcome as they look to recapture the form of the first fortnight, when they won four of their first five.Kings XI Punjab’s fortunes have waxed as Delhi’s have waned, and six wins from their last seven makes them the form side of the competition along with the Rajasthan Royals. The emergence of Shaun Marsh and the improvement shown by a chastened Sreesanth has enabled them to shrug off the disappointment of losing Brett Lee and Simon Katich to Australia’s tour of the Caribbean.Delhi’s recent losses have largely been the result of top-order collapses, and it hasn’t helped that only three batsmen, the first three in the batting order, have more than a 100 runs in the competition. The format isn’t ideal for middle-order batsmen, but the likes of Manoj Tiwary, AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik will need to do much more when they get the opportunity.

Tournament position

Delhi Daredevils: P10, W5, L5, NRR +0.331
King’s XI Punjab: P9, W6, L3, NRR +0.458

Form (last five matches, most recent first)

Delhi Daredevils: WLLLL
King’s XI Punjab: WLWWW

Watch out for …

Ireland’s physiotherapist, Iain Knox, has quit, citing the team’s increased playing schedule as the reason behind his decision. Knox also acted as the squad’s strength and conditioning coach, among various other roles, and he said being part of last year’s breakthrough World Cup campaign was the highlight of his three years with the team.”I was blessed to have the World Cup experience,” Knox told . “We were all full time, 100% professional in the four months leading up to and during the World Cup.”It allowed me to experiment with different training techniques and the players did everything that was asked of them. The 15 players gave energy, enthusiasm and determination and to a man they deserved the success they achieved. It’s been a part of my life I’ll never forget.”Since then Knox has juggled private practice with his Ireland position and the difficulty of keeping up both roles has led to his departure to take up a job with his family’s car-parts business. Ireland, currently playing in the Friends Provident Trophy, have trips to Scotland, Netherlands, Kenya and Namibia scheduled this year.