All posts by csb10.top

It never rains but it pours. South Africa’s injury crisis has worsened with the news that Charl Langeveldt will miss their opening VB Series match, against Australia at Brisbane, with a groin strain. He has been hampered by the injury since the end of the Test series but, it had been hoped he would have been able to shake it off ahead of the one-day matches.Langeveldt’s unavailability means South Africa’s pace bowling resources are being stretched to breaking point. Andre Nel has been ruled out of the tournament with a stress fracture of his foot, while Makhaya Ntini is currently back in South Africa receiving treatment for a knee injury. There has been talk of Ntini rejoining the tour however, the selectors are loathed to risk one of their premier strike bowlers with the return Test series against Australia starting in March.This spate of injuries leaves the attack in the hands of Shaun Pollock, with back up from the inexperienced duo of Monde Zondeki and Garnett Kruger, plus Andrew Hall’s brisk medium pace. One boost for South Africa is that Justin Kemp is expected to be able to play, but only as a batsman – putting further pressure on the remaining bowlers.Meanwhile, the Australians are weighing up their options following the 116-run thrashing of Sri Lanka in the opening match in Melbourne. Brett Dorey has a chance of making his international debut, on the ground where he claimed a career-best 7 for 87, for Western Australia against Queensland, in the Pura Cup. However, following the near faultless performance at the Telstra Dome he may find it difficult to force his way in.Australia (probable) Adam Gilchrist (wk), Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (capt), Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, James Hopes, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath. Supersub Brett DoreySouth Africa (probable) Graeme Smith (capt), Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher (wk), Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Garnett Kruger, Monde Zondeki. Supersub Johan Botha

ScorecardFile photo – CM Gautam’s fighting fifty was not enough as Karnataka’s 34-match unbeaten streak came to an end•PTI

Pacer Nikit Dhumal picked up five wickets in the second innings, to add to three in the first, to halt Karnataka’s 37-match unbeaten streak in first-class cricket and knock them out of the Ranji Trophy. Anupam Sanklecha, who took four wickets, including the last two, ably complemented Dhumal, as Karnataka were dismissed for 239, chasing 293 in Pune.Robin Uthappa began positively on the last day, hitting his 46th first-class fifty. However, he could not convert it into a big score and was pinned lbw by Sanklecha. The majority of the middle order fumbled, leaving much to do for CM Gautam and the lower order. He rallied with Vinay Kumar and S Aravind but eventually ran out of partners. Gautam remained unbeaten on 65 off 104 balls, including seven fours, as Karnataka came up short by 53 runs. Mahasrashtra, who were already out of contention for the quarter-finals, finished the season with a consolation win.
ScorecardAfter having struck 110 with the bat, Ravi Jangid bowled Vidarbha to the knockouts with career-best figures of 7-59, which took his wickets tally in the match to 11. Jangid had toiled away for 41 overs and was assisted by spinner Akshay Wakhare who bowled 31.1 overs for two wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal, coming in at No.10 delayed the final rites with 0 off 77 balls.Haryana, though, had begun well before falling away. Having been asked to follow on, Haryana had a solid platform thanks to Nitin Saini (42) and Mohit Hooda (38). Rohit Sharma scored his maiden first-class century even as he lacked substantial support from the middle and lower order. He was the ninth batsman, dismissed by Jangid, for 107 off 241 balls, as Haryana were bowled out for 232, nine less than their first-innings effort.
ScorecardAssam just about held on for a draw against Bengal in Guwahati, a result which ensured that both teams booked their berth for the Ranji knockouts. Assam, following on, needed at least 301 to make Bengal bat again, but as was the case in their first innings, the majority of their top and middle order failed to make good on their starts. Pallavkumar Das top-scored with 55, but offspinner Aamir Gani’s five-wicket haul meant Assam lost wickets at regular intervals. Luckily for the hosts, though, a wet outfield before the start, and bad light towards the end of the day meant only 48 overs of play were possible, with Assam hanging on at 143 for 8.

Sri Lanka arrived in Adelaide less than a week ago promising aggression and focus as they bid for their first Test win on Australian soil. On the day they landed, their captain MahelaJayawardene made it clear that to compete against Australia in any form they must be on the ball for at least four days of the five.In the first warm-up match against the Chairman’s XI in Adelaide, they could not even concentrate for four sessions as their fielding fell apart over the last two of the three days. Five catches were dropped, with Jayawardene culpable in two instances – missing sitters at second and leg slip. He admitted that it was a “bad habit” the players must shake off, but was keen to downplay the fielding and happy to put it behind them.”It was just a lack of concentration,” Jayawardene said after the game ended in a draw. “We’ve had a long chat about it yesterday and today as well. The guys concentrate a lot on the batting and the bowling but it’s just on the field it seems to not have the same kind of concentration which is a bad habit obviously. We just need to make sure we don’t get into these kind of things, especially when playing Australia.”He was candid, too, about his batting performance which involved a first-innings duck and a fair fifty, with both innings ending in the softest of dismissals, popping up on the off side. “The first innings was a shambles the way I got out. I just wanted to spend some time out there in the middle. The way I was hitting the ball, that was pretty good, but towards the end I was just trying to do a few too many things.”And he took away some positives – “The way Sanath [Jayasuriya] played and the way we handled the conditions. A bit of a tough start, losing a bowler [Chanaka Welegedera] early wasn’t the best thing because we didn’t want to tax a lot of guys as well, we just wanted to get them into a rhythm.”The biggest plus was Muttiah Muralitharan who took four wickets. Jayawardene confirmed Murali was “100 per cent” and would be rested for the warm-up. Malinga Bandara will come in to replace him for the tour match in Queensland. “He bowled pretty well, I was very happy withthat – all in all it was a good outing for us.”That may be, but Kumar Sangakkara was injured in the process – tearing his left hamstring while batting. Chanaka Welegedera also tore his right quadricep muscle and will have a replacement – Sujeewa de Silva – flown in for him, hopefully in time for the next tour match whichbegins on Friday.

Daren Ganga is unlikely ever to bring a house down with his batting in themanner of a Chris Gayle or Brian Lara. But there is a lot to be said foran opener in his mould, especially on a day, and a pitch, like this.For over five hours, Ganga stood resolute, surviving trial by new ballswing, by reverse swing, by leg-spin and by unpredictable bounce. Thoughmost of the nine boundaries in his 214-ball stay were executed with apleasant correctness, unlike his 82 in the last Test, you are unlikely torecall any of them. Yet with his unbeaten 77 rest a substantial portion ofWest Indian hopes in this match.”I was trying to consolidate the side’s position,” Ganga told reporters atthe end of the day. “The plan was to make as many partnerships as possibleand with Shivnarine Chanderpaul we got one going for a while. We tried todo it with Runako Morton and Dwayne Bravo as well but they both got out.The plan is to get as close to 304 as possible now.”Neither was it an easy effort and nor was it particularly pretty on theeye. That has much to do, said Ganga, with the pitch though he was at leastcandid enough to admit that, occasionally, such pitches are a pleasantsurprise. “There is inconsistency in terms of bounce and it is toughgoing. It is important to be patient on this pitch. It isn’t a sportingtrack because it’s very slow and you can’t play shots too easily on this,”he said.But he added, “This is a true test of character though, a real test ofskill as a batsman. I am enjoying the challenge and as all great batsmenhave done in the past, you have to prove yourself on all types ofsurfaces. As a batsman, you have to be tested in all conditions. In termsof concentration and technique it was one of my better knocks.”It has been one of his better tours too and following a fifty in Multan,the signs that West Indies have found a long-term partner for Gayleare promising. “Yeah, so far this year has been good for me. Against Indiaand in New Zealand earlier this year, I was pretty consistent. I have setmyself goals and am trying to achieve them. We knew it would be difficulton this tour, we knew we would be challenged but we have shown characterso far.”If nothing else though, this Test will be a special one for him, for itbrought him his first international wicket. And it wasn’t a small oneeither. “Yeah getting Inzamam’s wicket yesterday was special. It was agreat joy to get such a big scalp. I haven’t done much bowling but it’sopened my eyes and I want to bowl more and become one of the options formy captain in the future.”Scalping big names is something Umar Gul is getting used to already.Having notched up Lara in Lahore to a list that already includesSachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman to name three, he was at itagain here. A marvelous post-lunch spell of reverse swing brought threebig names in two overs – Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Lara and thelast two castled by peaches. Lara, bowled by one cutting away from him,was part of a plan.”We plan against all batsmen and teams. We knew Lara shuffles early on andis a candidate for leg-before so my aim was to try for that,” Gul said.Despite three wickets and looking the most likely paceman to take more,Gul said the pitch wasn’t helpful for fast bowlers. “It isn’t that greatfor fast bowlers. You can keep the spinners on at one end and rotatebowlers at the other which Inzamam did well. It is a difficult pitch forfast bowlers but you have to be able to bowl on all kinds.”But if you’re not confused enough about the nature of the pitch already,Gul added, as an afterthought, that “it’s not a sporting wicket becauseeven I batted well on it.”

The Sri Lankan Under-19s are scheduled to play the U-19 squads from Bangladesh and India at home in July and August. They will first play Bangladesh in two U-19 Test matches before India arrive to take part in a triangular tournament after which they will also play two Tests against Sri Lanka.The Sri Lankan U-19 team, led by Sachith Pathirana, recently won a one-day tournament in Malaysia against the hosts and England.Ashley de Silva, the Sri Lanka U-19 manager, said that the focus of selection for the matches against India and Bangladesh would be on players who were eligible to play in the next U-19 World Cup which will be held in Malaysia in February 2008.

On a day when England needed to be firing on all cylinders to preventAustralia taking control of the fifth and final Test, Andrew Flintoff’scontribution with the ball was a cause of concern. Despite taking the newball, he bowled just six overs in the day in two three-over spells – one ofwhich was interrupted by lunch – to raise further fears about histroublesome left ankle.England nevertheless insisted that all was well. “His ankle is fine,” saidEngland’s leading bowler of the day, Steve Harmison, whose sentiments weresimultaneously expressed by the England press officer sat beside him. “Itwas just that myself and Jimmy were bowling well and the rain break came ata good time for us.”Even so, Flintoff’s absence from the front line of the attack was apuzzlement – especially on a day when England were lacking the services oftheir most consistent performer of the tour, Matthew Hoggard, who failed afitness test before the start of the match.”When you lose your best bowler of the series it’s up to the other bowlersto step up a little bit and hopefully that’s what we’ve tried to do,” addedHarmison. “Jimmy bowled well. Monty bowled well and I felt I got better asthe day wore on. It’s nicely poised, and it’s a good time to have a breakand recharge the batteries and come back tomorrow.”Glenn McGrath is another man who knows about bowling through the pain of asore ankle, having undergone similar surgery to remove a bone spur inOctober 2003 . “I’m not sure how Freddie’s going at the moment,” he said. “Iknow I felt great until I snapped one of the other spurs off.”But bowling’s a funny thing, and it’s amazing how much pain you can bowlwith. It’s only in between the overs that you really feel it. I’m sureFreddie will keep going, and keep hitting the deck.”It was a day of disappointments for Flintoff, after earlier falling short ofhis second century against Australia. “He was batting well and we’re alldisappointed for him,” said Harmison. “Australia bowled in good areas anddidn’t give us much to hit, and they tried to starve him of the strike asmuch as they possibly could. Perhaps we [the tail] could have got a few moreand helped Andrew get us up to 300 or nearer 350.As to Flintoff’s general morale, as a gruelling series draws to a close,Harmison said: “I don’t think he’s taken it any more personally than therest of us do. We’re all disappointed, despondent and devastated. At the endof the last Test that dressing-room was horrendous, it was not a very niceplace to be. But you have to put a brave face on and you have to show a bitof fight. I think Fred took it on the chin a bit more than anyone else ascaptain. But he’s trying his best and we’re all trying to win this Testmatch for England.”Subject to fitness, Michael Vaughan is waiting in the wings to take over forthe one-day series, but Harmison was adamant that his friend was not keen tohand over the reigns. “I think Fred will be very disappointed if he’s notcaptain for the one-dayers, if that’s what happens.”He just loves captaining England. There is no better job in AndrewFlintoff’s eyes than being captain of England, but if that happens ithappens. I’m sure he’ll fall into line – as he would if Andrew Strauss hadbeen named captain for this series.”

Allen Stanford and his 20/20 board of directors have invited thewinners of the World Twenty20 in Johannesburg to play a one-off,$5million, match at Stanford’s ground in Antigua. The game ispencilled in for June 29 against a Super Star Team selected from theplayers taking part in the 2008 Stanford 20/20.”Since this is the first World Twenty20 and that is the format of ourtournament we felt it was fitting to have this team come and play ourSuper Star team next year,” said Stanford. “It will be the perfectculmination of our 2008 Stanford 20/20 programme [which takes place inJanuary and February 2008].”Because Stanford can’t invite a Full Member of ICC to play in thematch, the official invite will come from the West Indies Board. “Mr Hunte [thePresident of WICB] will actually be making the invitation on behalf ofStanford 20/20,” Stanford told Cricinfo during an event in Johannesburg. “We are going to invite the winner to come to Antigua for one night and play one game for $5m, winner takes all.”However, if India wins at the Wanderers it may not take up the offeras it has said it is unwilling to enter into a private event. Stanford has therefore made a contingency plan. “If the winner of this game chooses not come we are going to ask Australia as a back-up.”But this match has only come about as a compromise after Stanford’sinitial plan for a quadrangular event – involving Sri Lanka, India,Australia and South Africa – was scuppered by the TV deal between ICCand ESPN-Star.”What we wanted to do was invite Sri Lanka, India, Australia and SouthAfrica to come down and play on Friday, Saturday and Wednesday, and then you come out with a winner who then plays our Super Stars the following Saturday,” explained Stanford. “I called it 20/20 for 20 – $20million dollars for the winner. But because EPSN-Star are locked into this big contract with ICC it eliminated me getting fourteams.”We needed to get their permission and had a meeting scheduled here inJohannesburg with them, but they didn’t show up. Now I think it isgoing to be too big an issue to get ready for this year, because ourtournament starts in January so we optedfor this one-off game. We wanted the four-team play-off but there is alot of bureaucracy.”Stanford is in Johannesburg with nine of his board members includingJoel Garner, Michael Holding, Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes.Although the meeting with ESPN-Star fell through, they met withMalcolm Speed and ICC members in what Stanford called “constructivemeetings” although the feeling between the two is still strained.

Sanath Jayasuriya has insisted that the president of Sri Lanka played no role in his decision to end his retirement from Test cricket.Jayasuriya, the 36-year-old former Sri Lanka captain, who arrived in England on Saturday, could only watch from beyond the boundary at Lord’s while his erstwhile team-mates followed-on in the first Test after being bowled out for just 192 in reply to England’s first innings 551 for 6 declared.It is less than a month since Jayasuriya said he was quitting Test cricket in order to concentrate on one-day internationals in the build-up to next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean. But he insisted his decision to make himself available again for the five-day game was down to the newly-appointed chairman of selectors Asantha de Mel and not Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s president .”Asantha de Mel is the chairman of selectors and he was the one who contacted me,” Jayasuriya said. “He was the one who changed my mind and after discussions with various people involved in my career I thought if the team and my country need me then my services are available.”Jayasuriya added that Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, was fully supportive of his change of heart even though Moody appeared to have played little role in his decision. “I had a long discussion with Tom and explained I wanted to return and he was alright” said Jayasuriya, while Moody commented: “Sanath’s obviously had some deep thought about his decision to retire. If he’s fit and back in form, it can’t be a bad thing can it?”He’s a devastating player, he has been for Sri Lanka for many, many years. He’s obviously still a very key component to our one-day campaign and he was due here anyway in two or three weeks’ time for the one-dayers.”Him coming early, the positive is that he’s going to get used to English conditions a little bit earlier for the one-day series if not before then.”Jayasuriya is set to play in Sri Lanka’s next match, a four-day game against Sussex at Hove starting on Thursday. But he was uncertain if he would play in the second Test of the three-match series which is due to get underway at Edgbaston on May 25. “I’m here to play the next tour match and we’ll have to see how it goes from there,” Jayasuriya explained. “I haven’t played the longer version of the game for a few months now and I will need to settle in here because conditions are different.”However, with opener Jehan Mubarak making 0 and 6 at Lord’s, Jayasuriya could be back in Test action sooner than he thought, although he said he would not like to take the place of a younger player.

The former Cricket Australia chairman, Bob Merriman, believes a Twenty20 tournament could copy the Super 14 rugby union template to lengthen the season and satisfy more spectators. Merriman, who will retire from Cricket Australia’s and Cricket Victoria’s boards this month, told the Age the proposal would not compromise Tests or ODIs.”I don’t believe we satisfy our customers,” he said in the paper. “On the other hand, the players say we have too much. Clearly there is a conundrum.”Merriman, who has been involved in cricket for 50 years, said the introduction of Twenty20 in England showed there were ways for better presentation over a season. “At the moment we are basically late November until early February – that’s terribly small,” he said. “In my view the venues are starved and if the venues are starved so is the cricket population.”He suggested a season running from October to March. “Rugby has done it terrifically well with Super 14,” he said. “It is an outstanding thing. Could you apply that to Twenty20 cricket?”The Super 14 competition involves teams from South Africa, New Zealand and Australia playing over a four-month season. Australia’s domestic sides will contest the two-week Big Bash Twenty20 tournament in December and January while the national side has fixtures against New Zealand in Perth on December 11 and India in Melbourne on February 1.

The gloves are off in the battle for control of Zimbabwe Cricket, and it seems almost anything goes, with both sides in the dispute accusing the other of dirty tricks, and the newspapers clearly taking sides in the battle.Earlier this week, Macsood Ebrahim, the chairman of Masvingo and the head of national selection, told of how the ZC board was forcing pro-board loyalists into key positions in his province in a bid to oust him.On Wednesday, Ebrahim reported that Lazarus Zizhou, who had been suspended by the board in 2004, had arrived at Masvingo and said he was taking over as general manager under orders from Ozias Bvute, the controversial ZC managing director.Less than 24 hours later, Zizhou’s name was all over the newspapers, claiming that he had been racially abused by Ebrahim. “Macsood stormed into my office and threatened to remove me,” Zizhou told the Independent yesterday. “He called me a black c*** after I refused to produce my letter of appointment as he was demanding. I could not cooperate with him because he has no power to do so since he was booted out by the province.”While pro-board newspapers have claimed that Ebrahim has been ousted by his own province, that is disputed by many inside Masvingo.The timing of Zizhou’s allegation was suspicious, and while Ebrahim is not stranger to controversy himself, he has been at the heart of Zimbabwe’s attempts to push for racial quotas in the national side which made the claims all the more surprising.Today, Ebrahim’s supporters in Masvingo rallied behind him and issued a letter suggesting that, in front of five witnesses, Zizhou actually abused Ebrahim.How ZC deals with this remains to be seen. It is already under fire for not taking any action over allegations of racial threats made by Mashonaland chairman Cyprian Mandenge and provincial selector Bruce Makovah when they stopped a match in Harare. Last week, further serious allegations were made to the board over the conduct of Themba Mliswa, the chairman of the newly-created Mashonaland West province.There appears to be a concerted attempt to oust certain provincial chairmen following a meeting which produced a dossier asking ZC many probing questions and demanding an Extraordinary General Meeting. Aside from Ebrahim, Alan Walsh, the chairman of Manicaland, was reported dismissed after a fractious meeting, but again this is disputed by provincial officials.