All posts by csb10.top

Pakistan’s continuing troubles with their opening combination have forced the selectors to call up Khalid Latif and release Mohammad Hafeez from the 15-man squad to face South Africa in the third ODI in Faisalabad on Tuesday.Pakistan have tried two opening combinations in two games so far and Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez and Kamran Akmal have provided starts of 18 and 1. Hafeez was dropped for the second ODI and the highest score by an opener remains Nazir’s 16 in the first ODI.The 21-year old Latif has been on the fringes of selection to the senior squad for some time now. He first came to national attention when he led the Pakistan U-19 team to victory in the 2004 World Cup in Bangladesh.He was unlucky to miss out on selection for the ICC World Twenty20 despite impressing during the various training camps held before the tournament. But solid performances in the recent home series against Australia A have finally paid off.Latif ended the three-match ODI series in September as the leading scorer on either side. His tally of 228 runs included one fifty and a spectacular unbeaten 142 in Lahore as Pakistan successfully chased 332 against an attack that included Jason Gillespie, James Hopes and Dan Cullen.”We are struggling with an opening pair at the moment,” Salahuddin Ahmed, the chief selector, told Cricinfo. “We are already playing Kamran as an opener to make place for an extra bowler.”Latif is a very good, upcoming youngster and was in brilliant form against Australia A recently. He fully deserves his place in the squad. Hafeez has been released and he will go back to regain his form in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.”It is understood that Latif will not play in Faisalabad but may get an opportunity later in the series. Still, Pakistan are likely to go in with their third different opening pair in as many matches; Nazir’s continuing run of poor scores means Yasir Hameed will most likely open the innings with Akmal.And in light of an impressive bowling performance in the second ODI, Pakistan will not risk Mohammad Asif for the third game. Asif sat out the first two matches with an elbow injury that flared up during the second Test in Lahore.

ScorecardDoug Bollinger was the matchwinner for New South Wales with his second five-wicket haul destroying Western Australia and keeping the home side well placed heading into the final exchanges. Phillip Hughes’ unbeaten fifty helped the Blues knock off the 75 required for the nine-wicket victory, ending Tasmania’s hopes of defending their title.Aaron Heal fell early – he was Bollinger’s first wicket of the day when caught by Beau Casson – but Marcus North (37) and Luke Pomersbach (81) held them up with a 70-run stand. Dominic Thornely finally broke through, holding a return catch to send North back, but Pomersbach lingered on. Finally Nathan Bracken bowled him and Bracken’s only wicket for the innings was an important one.Pomersbach’s efforts at least forced the Blues into bat again after it had seemed likely they wouldn’t have to when the Warriors resumed in the morning at 4 for 45. Before and after Pomersbach’s dismissal, Bollinger found Steve Magoffin’s edge and then Ben Edmondson’s pad to close them out and set up a straightforward chase. Hughes duly made 54 from 67 balls with six fours and a six while Greg Mail was unseated by Magoffin.Bollinger’s purple patch is so violet (or, as the batsmen may see it, violent) that his 10 for 126 is not even his best match analysis of the season – it came with 12 for 131 against Tasmania on the same ground. His 44 first-class victims bring him level with Ashley Noffke for the leading Australian wicket-taker, although Bollinger’s have come from six games rather than eight. Notwithstanding Mark Cameron’s one-match five-wicket showing, Bollinger has the best first-class average of any Australian at 14.02 and the national selectors must be keeping a close eye on him.

Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, was taken to hospital for an MRI scan after suffering back pain during the first day of the final Test against India in Bangalore. The scan revealed no injury but he has been experiencing muscle spasms and will not take further part in play on the first day. He will be assessed on Sunday morning.Shoaib bowled four overs in his first spell before going off the field at the end of the seventh over, during which he showed discomfort while bowling. He came back on after Gautam Gambhir was dismissed in the eighth over but once again left the field after bowling the ninth. He bowled eight overs in the first session and managed two more after the break before once again leaving the field at the end of the 32nd over.Akhtar, 32, took six wickets in Delhi and two in Kolkata, where he played with a chest infection. In this match, he can only bowl after spending as much time on the field as he did off it due to the injury.

Grand Old Duke of York
There was more than a frisson of worry in the England camp when Trent Johnston and Andrew White started to find the boundaries late in the innings. Michael Vaughan turned to Andrew Flintoff, and he settled it, spearing the ball into the blockhole to devastating effect. One-day tactics have evolved constantly down the years, but there’s still no match for the yorker at the death.One for the auld enemy
The wicket of Flintoff – chopping one on – and two sixes in a breezy cameo would have been satisfying for most allrounders, but perhaps Johnston relished it a little bit more because of his New South Wales roots. He tries to play it down now that he’s Irish captain, but some old rivalries linger.Look who’s clucking now
Johnston had unveiled the chicken-dance celebration when he dismissed Mohammad Yousuf in the famous victory against Pakistan, and there was a reprise as Flintoff became another prized victim. Chickens don’t fly though, and England plucked his feathers ruthlessly, with 47 coming from the last five overs he bowled.SuperColly
The ICC rankings may have Kevin Pietersen at the top, but Paul Collingwood’s the man in prime form. A soaring six over midwicket was one of three that he hit as 56 came from the last 31 balls that he faced.Palm Pilot
No, we’re not agents for Johnston, but he had a hand, literally, in the day’s exceptional fielding moment as well. Collingwood was on course for a century when Andrew White’s throw from mid-on came arrowing in. Stationed in front of the stumps, Johnston palmed it on with his left hand.I’m an Irishman, get me out of here
For Ed Joyce, this was a day to forget. Boyd Rankin got him shouldering arms to one that nipped back, and Ireland’s top scorer in the 2005 ICC Trophy trudged off with just one to his name. Later, with Niall O’Brien on 9, Joyce appeared half-asleep when he grassed a high chance at midwicket off Sajid Mahmood. O’Brien cashed in to the tune of 54 more runs. Joyce’s two matches against his old mates have now fetched him 11 runs. Ouch.Seen and heard
During a slow phase of play, the roaming cameras zoomed in on a little fella in an orange vest. Perhaps aware that millions of eyes were on him, he took guard and executed a textbook loft over midwicket. Not content, he took guard again and bent low for a sweep shot, holding the pose for about five seconds. The gloves were a size too big, but he certainly looked the part.

Lancashire began the final day of this match needing 399 to win, but more conceivably knowing that they had survived one hundred and forty overs to achieve a draw against Somerset recently. The pitch was good, the sun was out and the loss of nearly a day to rain had ensured that the wicket had not dried out as much as it might at this point in the game. Lancashire were also able to call on a batting line-up which with Fairbrother and Flintoff on form and Crawley having scored centuries in two of the last three matches, they also have the services of a Ganguly top Indian batsman who set last year’s world cup alight and the Australian Joe Scuderi and the rugged Warren Hegg who scored ninety five in this fixture last summer.Unfortunately that was the end of the good news for the visitors, they were up against a bowling attack that averages under seventy five overs to get a side out this summer and against which they had capitulated, chiefly to the pace of Alex Tudor, for just 120 yesterday. Tudor made the early breakthroughs disposing of makeshift opener Chapple early and then last week’s centurion Flintoff with the power of his pace alone (although he was ably assisted by the almost black hole like catching of Ben Hollioake on both occasions) while Bicknell remained unlucky, but almost impossible to score from at the other end. Cricket may not have a ladies day, but the last day at Kennington remains firmly enshrined as spinners day, and Saqlain came into the game early on. Lancashire in the usually spin resistant persons of Fairbrother and Ganguly resisted well initially after the loss of Crawley to yet another catch to Adam Hollioake at his customary loopy mid off position. They stayed together until shortly before lunch when Salisbury’s box of tricks supplied a ball to slice through Ganguly’s defences bowling one of the worlds best players of spin to leave Lancashire four down at the lunch interval.Lloyd departed to yet another Hollioake catch (Adam this time) to give Saqlain yet another victim before Scuderi emerged to begin a prolonged pause in the home teams progress. Each played well, as they had in the first innings, but each fell making the fatal mistake of believing that Salisbury is still the same fragile bowler he was when he first came to the Oval and tried to get at him. A few loose balls were dispatched to the boundary by each of them through the huge gaps in the attacking field, but Fairbrother swept hard to send up trivially simple looped catch – this time, novelly, to Ali Brown before Heggs momentary visit to the crease gave Sali his second victim of the over to put him ahead of Saqlain head count for the first time in the innings. Chris Schofield was winkled out by Saqi a few overs later to leave Scuderi with the support of just the two non-batsmen Keedy and Smethurst. The Australian managed a couple of clubbed fours as a swan song before he too surrendered to the inexorable march of the spinners and supplied a catch at the wicket to Batty. This left little to the contest apart from the question of who would take the final wicket, Smethurst who kept Lancs in the game initially with his excellent first innings bowling, cracked first and sent a high looping edge to the capable waiting hands of Martin Bicknell at mid off, Bickers raised his hands theatrically in triumph, Salisbury had netted another five bag to take Surrey’s total to 13 fivefers in the season to date.Lancashire will return to Old Trafford for three of their remaining four games in the hope that they will be ready to turn the tables on the champions who so comprehensively massacred them here, on a pitch their coach described as an excellent track, in the last game of the season. Whatever happened here they are still a good side (as they proved in the natwest trophy), but they will be eagerly looking forward to getting Martin back fit, and they and Yorkshire will do all they can to take the championship down to the wire.Surrey march on towards a second consecutive title with just the considerable hurdles of their two away matches against Lancs and Yorkshire seemingly in their way, in their seven consecutive wins they have beaten both roses counties by over two hundred and humbled fourth and fifth placed Somerset and Leicestershire by even greater margins. All five of their bowlers are now looking near unplayable on good pitches and their batsmen are at last delivering regular runs. If they are to be unseated their great rivals will almost certainly have to combine their efforts inflicting unfavourable results at both Scarborough over the August bank holiday and Old Trafford in the final game of the year, both have yet to travel to Leicestershire’s stronghold where it is notoriously difficult to worst the midlands on their own excellent pitches.

Grant Bradburn has returned to the Northern Districts fold, but not as a player. Bradburn has been appointed as the Community Cricket co-ordinator for the Waikato Valley region.Bradburn has been one of the great stalwarts of Northern Districts cricket with a playing career spanning 17 years. In all he appeared in 115 first-class and 121 one-day matches for Northern Districts, both of them records. He is the third highest runscorer, and the second highest wicket taker, and has the most catches by a non-wicketkeeper. He played seven tests and 11 one-day internationals for New Zealand.Bradburn will be working in the newly-constituted Waikato Valley region. A boundary review has seen the trial amalgamation of the Thames Valley and Midlands senior District Associations for the 2003-2004 season (with the exception of the Taupo sub association which has returned to the Bay of Plenty).His responsibilities will involve working closely with the senior District Association and the Midlands and Thames Valley Junior Cricket Board’s to promote the game at all levels (primary school, secondary school and clubs) and to elevate the profile of cricket in the greater Waikato region. He will also be responsible for the national development programme in the region.He will be attached to Sport Waikato, as well as Northern Districts, as a member of the Sportsforce team. Dave Richardson, previously Sportsforce cricket development manager for the whole Waikato region will now focus on Hamilton and becomes Hamilton Cricket development manager. Bradburn will continue his ownership of Grant Bradburn Sports which operates as a shop at Westpac Park. Grant will be based at the Northern Districts office at Westpac Park.

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.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken a serious line on the behaviour of the team management for their in-house squabbling, as well as Shoaib Akhtar for his remarks about the board in a recent interview. The PCB did not impose any sanctions on the guilty party, which consisted of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, Aamir Sohail, and Shoaib, but warned them to play by the rules or “pack your bags and go home”.Ever since Inzamam, the captain, and Miandad, the coach, revealed that they hadn’t been consulted about the choices made by Aamir Sohail for the squad for the forthcoming New Zealand series, there has been an uproar. Inzamam and Miandad were reported to be livid about their snub from Sohail, who publicly criticised the performance of the coach on TV commentary.However, in an attempt to bring the feud to an end, Lt Tauqir Zia, the PCB chairman, today said in a statement: “I am utterly disappointed with a series of statements issued by the team officials and the chief selector. I am sad that such big names of cricket representing a responsible organization have indulged in mud-slinging.”He continued: “I have met all the four officials and have conveyed my disappointment to them. I have warned them that the PCB will not tolerate any further statements from them against each other. They have also been informed that the PCB will be forced to ask them to pack their bags and go home if any further statements are attributed to them. They have been advised to sort out their problems in the PCB offices rather than going to the press and making a mockery of their status and stature.”A PCB spokesman added that as far as they’re concerned, the case is closed and they will not make any further statements on this issue.Meanwhile, Shoaib was reprimanded for criticising the ICC and the PCB in an interview in a local Urdu newspaper. On that matter, the same spokesman said: “He has been told in no uncertain terms to refrain from statements that are against the ICC and PCB policies.” The board did, however, did later receive an apology from Shoaib.Other matters discussed in the two-day meeting included a review of the Bangladesh and South African series and the management of the forthcoming one-day international series against New Zealand – which is now under threat due to security reasons. They also discussed the tour of New Zealand, the junior teams to go to India and Bangladesh, the hosting of the Asia Cup, India’s tour to Pakistan, and the domestic competitions.Ramiz Raja, the chief executive, said a proposed itinerary had been sent to the Indian board consisting of three Tests and seven ODIs, with the venues yet to be decided. It was also revealed that Pakistan would bid to host next year’s Asia Cup, even though Bangladesh have currently got the rights to hold the competition.Ramiz said: “We will bid for the tournament to be organized in April and May. We have decided to bid for the tournament after New Delhi allowed BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to resume cricket activities with and in Pakistan.It was also decided that the probables for next year’s Under-19 World Cup and the Pakistan A team’s tour to India in December will be announced on Monday.

Scorecard

Brad Hogg hit a fighting century and Ben Edmondson struck with two late wickets to rescue Western Australia from a horror opening against South Australia at Adelaide Oval. Winning the toss and batting, Western Australia were in deep trouble at 6 for 92 after Shaun Tait took four wickets in the first session.Hogg replied with 109 from 118 balls, including 14 fours and two sixes, as he dominated the lower-order partnerships and saved his side. He was 83 when Edmondson, the No. 11, walked out and collected 26 of the 30-run partnership to reach his fourth first-class century.Edmondson then made life difficult for South Australia, taking the wickets of Tom Plant and Mark Cosgrove with his first two balls as the Redbacks slumped to 3 for 4. Greg Blewett and Callum Ferguson ensured there was no further damage until stumps.

Somerset tightened their grip on the county championship match against Glamorgan at Taunton and by the end of the second day’s play they had a first innings lead of 194 with four wickets remaining.Resuming on 161 for 1 captain Mike Burns, who was 33 not out overnight, set out his stall early on and took 10 runs off an over from Alex Wharf to bring up his own half century and his sides 200.He quickly passed his partner Peter Bowler, who had resumed on 51 not out, and on the stroke of noon played an imperious cover drive and seemed to be heading towards a well deserved century.However with the total on 249 he was somewhat surprisingly bowled leg stump by Adrian Dale for 82, after putting on 128 for the second wicket with Bowler. During his innings Burns faced 119 balls and scored 13 x 4’s.Jamie Cox announced his arrival at the crease with a trademark cover drive, and appeared to be in cracking form displaying an array of attacking shots.Meanwhile, Bowler had been going along steadily and was batting like a man destined to reach his century. However Dale had other ideas and just a few minutes before lunch with the total on 290, Bowler gave a straightforward catch to Wharf at mid on. The veteran opener had been at the wicket over 4 ¾ hours to compile his 92 and faced 227 balls and hit ten boundaries.Shortly after lunch Bryant and Cox brought up the 300 but within half an hour of returning from the interval the players left the field because of rain.The rain caused the loss of eleven overs and kept the players off the field for forty minutes, but shortly after they returned Cox was disappointingly trapped LBW by Wharf after scoring an impressive 29 runs.Cox’s dismissal signalled the arrival of Ian Blackwell who was making his first championship appearance of the season at Taunton. The situation was ideal for the all rounder who was quickly into his stride and took runs almost at will from Robert Croft, who he hit for 16 runs from one over.Along with Bryant the left hander brought up the fifty partnership from six overs, and looked to be going well until with his score on 42 he played a ball from David Harrison onto his stumps. `Blackie’ had faced just 27 balls and scored seven four’s.Bryant became Dales third victim when he was out LBW to bring Aaron Laraman to the wicket and by teatime Rob Turner (12 not out) and Laraman (0 not out) had taken the Cidermen onto 394 for 6, before the rain started to fall again to prevent any further play.After play was abandoned for the day just before six o’clock, Somerset coach Kevin Shine said: "It has been very frustrating that we have been denied 43 overs play today, and we will have to try and gauge how many more overs of play might be possible before we decide what we are going to do. We have got two days of play left and we will be pushing hard to get a victory."He continued: "The skipper batted well today and it’s nice to see Mike back in the runs again and Peter Bowler got a good 90 odd. The wicket looks like it could have quickened up a little which suits us with Nixon McLean, Richard Johnson and Simon Francis all in good form, so tomorrow we will be hoping that we can get a days play and push hard for a victory."Paceman Johnson is suffering from a slight groin strain, and whilst he will bowl for Somerset in the Glamorgan second innings he will not be fit enough to be available for selection for the first Test match against Zimbabwe that gets underway next Thursday