All posts by csb10.top

Jack Russell, England’s wicketkeeper at the 1996 World Cup, believes that Matt Prior’s aggression, maturity and vocal presence behind the stumps make him the right man for the job as the team prepares to return to the subcontinent for another tilt at a trophy that has eluded them for nine tournaments and 36 years.Prior had not been part of England’s limited-overs setup since the tour of Bangladesh in February 2010 when he was last month named as the surprise inclusion in England’s World Cup 15, at the expense of the Surrey wicketkeeper, Steven Davies.He overcame the embarrassment of back-to-back ducks in his first two matches of the one-day series in Australia to produce a hard-hitting 67 from 58 balls in their 21-run win in the fourth game at Adelaide, and he is expected to open the batting alongside Andrew Strauss when England’s World Cup campaign gets underway in Nagpur on February 22.Russell, who spent much of his own England career vying for the wicketkeeping duties with Alec Stewart, believed that Prior’s time away from the team and his determination to reclaim the role would stand him in good stead for the tough campaign that awaits.”I think the period out of the one-day side probably helped him, and it got his appetite back,” Russell told ESPNcricinfo’s Switch Hit podcast. “It made him realise it’s not a given that he’s in this team, so he went away and worked hard, and he’s a very fine all-round cricketer now. He’s an aggressive character who takes the game to the opposition, he’s got that freedom mentally, and the belief that he can go out there and do his stuff with bat and gloves.”While Russell sympathised with Davies, who had seemed a shoo-in for the World Cup after performing competently throughout the one-day series in England last September as well as the first ODI against Australia in Melbourne, he believed that, at the age of 24, the younger man still had plenty to learn at the highest level – particularly when it comes to the cajoling in the field that is the duty of the man with the gloves.”From a wicketkeeping point of view Prior is more of a driver, a leader in the field than the lad Davies, who’s a little bit younger, and is still searching for his game if you like,” said Russell. “Davies hasn’t quite crossed those mental bridges yet, which allow him to feel he is running the show in the field. He is more quiet, whereas Matt will be in your face a bit more, and drive and push things forward, and you need guys like that when you’re playing at that level, especially in a place like India.”Russell’s own career was notable for his vocals behind the stumps, not least during his final years with Gloucestershire in the early 2000s, when he and Mark Alleyne were the heart and soul of their trophy-hoarding one-day side. “It was the last third of my career when I really worked out my game,” he said. “I’d done my apprenticeship, and Matt’s in that situation now. It’s his job now to start pushing and shoving everyone else.”Prior produced a near-faultless performance in the Tests against Australia, in which he claimed 23 catches and rounded off the series with his maiden Ashes hundred. “You are running the show in the field, so it’s hard to kick other people’s backsides if you’re not doing the job properly yourself,” said Russell. “The bottom line is you never lose sight of the fact that you’ve got to catch every ball, and if you do that you can start bawling and shouting at everyone else.”At the minute young Davies is still finding his feet at international level, but he needs to go up another gear in terms of adding a bit more aggression to his game with the bat and the gloves.”Fifteen years have now elapsed since the last World Cup in the subcontinent, and as was the case in 1996, England go into the tournament on the back of an arduous winter campaign, rounded off by a heavy and humbling one-day series defeat. Russell, however, believes the current squad will be strong enough to shrug off the indignity of their ODI setback, in the manner that he and his team-mates were unable to do when they were crushed 6-1 by South Africa all those years ago.”I think this team could well be a stronger group mentally to deal with the fact we’ve lost the one-day series,” said Russell. “Playing in Asia [compared to Australia] is like playing on another planet, so if you make a good start you can draw a line under what’s gone on before and take it as a fresh start. I’m pretty sure there’s enough mental strength in that group and the back-up staff will make sure the attitude is spot-on. I’d like to think there’s no reason why we can’t win the World Cup.”Jack Russell is compiling a book of paintings of English county grounds, due for publication by 2012

Michael Bevan, the former Australia batsman, has been appointed coach of Kings XI Punjab for the fourth edition of the IPL. Bevan replaces fellow Australian Tom Moody in the job and takes charge of a team whose participation in the tournament was in question until very recently, following its termination by the IPL in October. Punjab was given a lifeline in December when the Bombay High Court stayed the expulsion in December, and its participation in IPL 4 was all but confirmed on Wednesday.Bevan, 40, was the mainstay of Australia’s middle order and part of the World Cup winning teams in 1999 and 2003. Following his retirement, he also had a brief stint in the unauthorised Indian Cricket League. “The immediate focus of course is on getting the right pool of talent in the upcoming auctions in Bangalore,” Bevan was quoted as saying in a release issued by the franchise.”I have been following IPL since the first season, and now thanks to my new role as coach of Kings XI Punjab, I am part of this enthralling cricket tournament. I love this game and I am quite excited to coach a team that is driven by the same passion… my boys and I promise to deliver some great cricketing moments this season of IPL.”Punjab finished at the bottom of the league last year, losing 10 out of their 14 games. The auctions will be held in Bangalore on January 8 and 9.

Michael Clarke is Australia’s 43rd Test captain after succeeding the injured Ricky Ponting for Monday’s fifth Ashes Test in Sydney. Clarke, who has been the deputy since 2008, takes the coveted job at a time when the team is at its nadir and the 29-year-old is in a severe batting rut.Ponting’s broken left pinky not only means he may never add to his 152 Tests, but it accelerates the transition to Clarke during a summer in which his performances have indicated he is not ready for the role. He now has no choice after his appointment – and the elevation of Brad Haddin to vice-captain – was approved in a unanimous decision by Cricket Australia’s board on Thursday afternoon.”Obviously I’m honoured, it’s for this Test match and hopefully we can get Punter right as soon as possible and get him back into whichever team,” Clarke said at the SCG. “The sooner we can get him back into the one dayers, the better for us.”Clarke is in charge of a 12-man squad as it attempts to draw the series with England, who retained the Ashes with their innings victory in Melbourne on Wednesday. Usman Khawaja has been included to make his debut at No. 3 while Doug Bollinger was recalled to replace Ryan Harris, who suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle at the MCG.But the major focus is on how Clarke will deal with his switch from energetic lieutenant to the man who has to juggle his own game with all the extra commitments required to run a team. He has led Australia in 18 ODIs and another 18 Twenty20s and has usually enjoyed giving the captaincy back to Ponting.In his dream Clarke would have taken the job in peak form, but he has experienced a poor campaign against England with 148 runs at 21.14 and only one half-century. Even that came with criticism after he tweeted an apology for not walking when he was dismissed late on the penultimate day in Adelaide.”I make no bones about it, my form has not been good enough throughout this series,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of innings where I’ve felt really good but I need to get out here and make sure I get some runs on the board, and that’s my focus right now. I’ve had the chance to captain Australia in the Twenty20 form and a handful of one-dayers as well, and I don’t think it’s hurt my performance. Hopefully that’s the same this week.”Clarke is a modern cricketer and his metrosexual tendencies and A-list activities have created lingering questions over his suitability for the leadership. His on-field moves will now be analysed intently as he hopes for a way out of such a dire period for Australia.Ponting’s fractured finger deteriorated during the fourth Test that finished with him failing to win the Ashes for a record third time. If the urn was still up for grabs he would have pushed to play but gave into medical advice.”I’m devastated to tell you the truth, it was the news I was dreading,” Ponting said after landing in Sydney. “During the game I didn’t think I’d done too much more to it.” When asked if he was considering retirement he said: “I’m not thinking about it at all.”Ponting, who scored only 113 runs in the first four games, could face surgery on his finger, but is expected to be fit to guide Australia in their push to win a fourth consecutive World Cup. He had an x-ray on the final day of the Melbourne defeat and it showed the fracture had moved during the match.”What I need right at the moment is just as much time as I possibly can to let it heal and make sure that I’m 100% right for the start of the World Cup,” he said. “That’s really how the decision was made, so I’ve just got to do everything in my power over the next little bit to look after it as well as I can.”He will see a specialist again over the next day to decide on the best way forward. “Hopefully he will commence training in the later part of the Australian summer,” Alex Kountouris, the team’s physiotherapist, said. “He is expected to be fully fit for the World Cup.”Ponting’s Test future is less clear as Australia’s next five-day engagement is currently scheduled for Sri Lanka in August, although there is a talk of a series against Bangladesh after the World Cup. He is already 36 and Australia have realised during their poor Ashes performance that they have to start rebuilding through young players.Australia squad Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger, Michael Beer.

ScorecardAfghanistan’s rise through the cricket world continued as they secured the Intercontinental Cup in their first year of participation with a commanding seven-wicket victory against Scotland in Dubai. Mohammad Shahzad guided the pursuit of 124 with an unbeaten 56 after Scotland had been skittled for 82.Scotland were facing an uphill battle at the start of the third day when they resumed on 64 for 6 and the lower order couldn’t turn around their fortunes. The innings lasted just a further eight overs with Mirwais Ashraf claiming three quick wickets and Hamid Hassan completing a match-haul of eight when he removed Richie Berrington.Karim Sadiq fell early in the chase, but Scotland needed more than one breakthrough to give Afghanistan a scare. Shahzad and Shabir Noori (35) added a brisk 55 to ease any tension in the dressing room. When Noori was caught behind, Narwoz Mangal hit four boundaries to take Afghanistan to the brink of victory.Hassan was named Man of the Match and his coach, Rashid Latif, offered him high praise with comparisons to Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. “I kept wicket a lot with Wasim and Waqar who are both mentally and physically very strong and they used to bowl spells of 18 and 20 overs on the trot and to see Hamid come in and bowl 22 odd overs on the trot I think is amazing,” he said. “I didn’t think anybody could bowl 22 overs in a row, but Hamid did and it was simply great stuff.”Hassan, though, was more modest. ” I don’t know where I get the stamina to bowl 22 overs, I think I was just so desperate to make sure we won the final that I lost count of how many overs I had bowled,” he said.”It wasn’t easy bowling as I’ve got a bit of a heel injury but all that mattered was that we won the final today. Credit should go to Scotland, they played well and particularly [Neil] McCallum who scored the century for Scotland on the first day.”

Group B

Maharashtra‘s new-ball pair of Samad Fallah and Shrikant Mundhe bowled their side to an unlikely 10-wicket win over Vidarbha in Nasik. Vidarbha, who had taken a narrow first-innings lead on the third day, would have hoped to earn three points when they began the final day on 13 for 2. However, Fallah and Mundhe had other ideas as they ran through Vidarbha in the matter of 23 overs to skittle them for 61. Extras contributed the most runs, 20, to the total, and only three batsmen reached double figures. Harshad Khadiwale hammered nine fours and a six in his unbeaten 55 off 37 deliveries as Maharashtra cantered to the target of 77 with all wickets intact.An unbeaten eighth-wicket stand that lasted for almost 50 overs saved Jammu & Kashmir from what seemed an almost-certain defeat against Kerala in Malappuram. J&K, trailing by 220 runs, needed to bat out the day to avoid an outright loss, which seemed likely when they slumped to 152 for 7. However, medium-pacer Abid Nabi, the J&K captain, and offspinner Sameer Khajuria resisted for three-and-a-half hours to ensure the game ended in a draw. Nabi faced 167 deliveries while Khajuria played out 140 balls. Asif Jeelani had earlier shown the way, taking 196 deliveries for his 46.Another rearguard effort from the lower order helped Services stave off defeat against Andhra in Anantapur. Chasing 296 for victory after Andhra had sportingly declared on 277 for 4, Services were reeling at 111 for 8 at one stage. Medium-pacer P Vijaykumar had led a strong performance from Andhra’s bowlers with his 3 for 36. But wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh resisted with a resolute unbeaten 42, and the tail stuck around with him long enough to earn their side a draw. Sarabjit and seamer Suraj Yadav played out 46 deliveries before the match ended. A Pradeep had earlier completed his century as Andhra added 102 runs in quick time to enable a declaration. B Sumanth remained unbeaten on 150.

Group A

Ishank Jaggi slammed a career-best double century as Jharkhand drew their game against Hyderabad in Ranchi. Trailing by 292 runs after the first innings, Jharkhand were in some trouble at 134 for 4 on the final day. Captain Saurabh Tiwary had been dismissed on his overnight score of 32 before 21-year old Jaggi and wicketkeeper Shiv Gautam rescued Jharkhand with an unbeaten 253-run partnership. Jaggi hit 30 fours and received good support from Gautam who remained unbeaten on a patient 82. Hyderabad used eight bowlers to try and make the breakthroughs but had to be content with first-innings points.Ajay Ratra, the former India wicketkeeper, hit a personal-best unbeaten 204 as Goa batted out the final day to draw their game against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Coming in at a precarious 28 for 2, Ratra played aggressively, hitting 30 fours and a six, and adding an unbeaten 310 runs for the fourth wicket with Rahul Keni. Keni, who has played for India Under-19, struck 20 fours in his unbeaten 115, his maiden first-class hundred. The game was called off soon after Ratra reached his double hundred. Deepak Chahar, the seamer who had made a memorable debut against Hyderabad, went wicketless.

Pakistan’s continuing scrapes with allegations of spot-fixing has pushed the spotlight onto their next international assignment, a full series against South Africa in Abu Dhabi and Dubai over October and November.A report in the claimed, quoting an unnamed player, that senior South African cricketers are reluctant about playing the series against Pakistan and might make themselves unavailable for selection. CSA’s chief executive Gerald Majola, however, insisted the tour would go on as scheduled.Tony Irish, the South Africa Cricketers Association chief, told the newspaper that “many players” had expressed concerns to him about the tour, though he did not go further. “The fact that there are now further incidents under investigation is not good news,” Irish said. “This all needs to be dealt with urgently in order to ensure that a heavy cloud of suspicion and doubt doesn’t hang over our series against Pakistan.”Irish avoided answering whether he was aware that some senior players were reluctant to tour, sayingonly, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”Majola was less ambiguous and told ESPNcricinfo that no player had expressed any reservations to the board about participating in the series. When asked what CSA’s stance would be if any players chose to beunavailable, Majola said: “This is an official bilateral tour governed by the ICC FTP agreement, signed by all member countries, therefore it is an ICC-sanctioned match. The ICC has not cancelled the tour and are dealing with the matter through the ACSU. We therefore have no reason to call off the tour.”The ICC had confirmed on Saturday that it was launching an investigation – based on information provided by – into the third ODI between Pakistan and England at The Oval, which the visitors won by 23 runs. The tabloid claimed it had handed over details concerning “certain scoring patterns” during the match.The ECB announced, after a board meeting, that none of its players were under the scanner and the tour would go on as “no substantive evidence” had been passed on to either the ECB or the PCB. The Pakistan board reacted late, and did so with some frustration, claiming unhappiness with the way the ICC handled the matter and that they learned of the investigation only through the media.The investigation came soon after the original spot-fixing scandal during the fourth Test at Lord’s earlier this month, uncovered by another tabloid, , for which three Pakistan players havebeen provisionally suspended by the ICC and are also the subject of a police investigation in the UK.Concern has been raised in the aftermath of both the Lord’s Test and the Oval ODI about whether the tour should continue. Members of the English team were thought to be worried about the limited-overs series and the presence of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir immediately after the Lord’s Test.

Scorecard
Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sinhalese Sports Club batsman, continued his good form with Sri Lanka A, making a half-century, but Pakistan A struck regularly to share honours on a truncated opening day in the first unofficial Test in Galle.Put into bat, Sri Lanka lost Lahiru Thirimanne early when he was trapped leg before by left-arm medium-pacer Junaid Khan. Dinesh Chandimal was soon caught behind off fast bowler Mohammad Talha – who played a Test for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 2009 – to leave Sri Lanka in trouble at 45 for 2. However, Karunaratne and captain Kaushal Silva steadied the innings with a 54-run third wicket stand. Karunaratne made 51 off 84 deliveries before he was dismissed with the score on 99.Karunatratne has been among the runs of late, scoring 244 runs at an average of 81.33 in the two unofficial Tests against South Africa A. He was also the second-highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka A in the recent A-team triangular series after Tharanga Paranavitana.Only thirty overs were possible in the day with Sri Lanka finishing on 105 for 3.

The ICC’s pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson, will be visiting India in early September to inspect six out of the eight venues in the country for the 2011 World Cup. Among the six is the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, the host for the controversial India-Sri Lanka ODI in December 2009 which was abandoned due to an unfit pitch.”Atkinson is on a week-long visit in the first week of September to inspect six out of eight World Cup match hosting centres in India,” Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer, said.Mohali and Nagpur are the venues Atkinston will not be visiting. “He would be visiting the other six centres (Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad). Anyway barring Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, the other centres are to host international matches against Australia and New Zealand and we would know their preparedness,” Shetty said. “Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi would host some first-class games before the World Cup.”Atkinson had inspected the Kotla pitch on February 14 and 15 earlier this year and was happy with the remedial work under the supervision of Venkat Sundaram, former head of the BCCI curators’ panel. The ground continued to host IPL games this summer.

ScorecardDarren Stevens caused Somerset unexpected problems with his medium pace•Getty Images

Darren Stevens put the skids under Somerset after Kent had won the toss on the opening day of the County Championship match at Taunton. The hosts looked to have seen off the new ball and moved into a comfortable position when reaching 101 for 1 on a green pitch, but then lost six wickets for 17 runs either side of lunch.Medium-pacer Stevens had figures of 4 for 21 from 10.4 overs when rain set in early in the afternoon with Somerset struggling on 122 for 7. The pitch always looked likely to assist the seamers, but Marcus Trescothick and Arul Suppiah still put together an opening stand of 64 before they were parted in the 14th over.Trescothick was lbw for 27 pushing forward to Stevens, who was in his first over. The Somerset skipper had hit five fours in a typically positive innings. Jos Buttler joined Suppiah and the pair had taken the score to 101 in the 23rd over when Suppiah’s dismissal sparked a dramatic slump. The opener drove without getting to the pitch of the ball and was caught at point by Joe Denly off Simon Cook for 34.Two more wickets fell without addition to the total. Buttler was caught at second slip off Stevens for 20 and, two balls later, James Hildreth edged the same bowler to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones. Craig Kieswetter’s disappointing form with the bat continued when he lifted a catch to cover and departed for six to give Stevens his fourth wicket.It was 116 for 6 when Peter Trego was picked up at second slip by Martin van Jaarsveld off Amad Khan, who then had Ben Phillips caught behind for a duck with only two added to the score. Somerset had lost six wickets in 10 overs and it was something of a relief for the home dressing room when rain fell heavily with the scored on 122 for 7. It was the second time the players had been forced off and this time it was more than a shower.Zander de Bruyn, who had watched much of the carnage from the other end, was unbeaten on 7 and vice-captain Alfonso Thomas on 4. The second rain break came at 2.25pm and at 5pm umpires Michael Gough and Neil Bainton decided no further play would be possible.

Scorecard
Yorkshire have lost their opening two Friends Provident t20 matches after going down by 21 runs against Worcestershire at New Road. Facing a victory target of 209 as they sought to bounce back from their disappointing 65-run defeat at home to Derbyshire, the visitors were restricted to 187 for 7.Worcestershire, in front of a crowd of around 4,500, launched their campaign by making 208 for 7, James Cameron top scoring with an unbeaten 51 off 31 balls. After winning the toss, they got off to a speedy start by smacking 18 off the game’s opening over, bowled by spinner Azeem Rafiq.Skipper Vikram Solanki was quickly in full flow until he holed out to Anthony McGrath at mid-on off Steven Patterson for 30, made off 13 balls with two sixes and three fours. His opening partner Phil Jaques also fell for 30, bowled while going for a big hit during Rich Pyrah’s first over.McGrath then held a one-handed catch on the boundary to dismiss Alexei Kervezee off Adil Rashid while Moeen Ali had his middle stump knocked back by Rafiq, and at the halfway stage in their innings Worcestershire were 101 for 4.Rashid also accounted for Daryl Mitchell and Australian rising star Steve Smith, who made 34 on his debut, to finish with figures of 3 for 30. Ben Scott fell to Patterson in the final over, leaving Cameron unbeaten with three sixes and four fours.Yorkshire, without Herschelle Gibbs who was suffering from a stiff neck, lost Andrew Gale in the third over when he departed to an excellent running catch by Jack Shantry off Gareth Andrew. Adam Lyth was removed for a duck by Imran Arif before Andrew struck again thanks to a great diving catch by wicketkeeper Scott which saw off Jaques Rudolph.Smith collected his first wicket for Worcestershire by ousting Gerard Brophy and after ten overs Yorkshire were finding the going tough on 75 for 4. Their difficulties increased when Mitchell dismissed Jonathan Bairstow, although McGrath and Rashid did their best to boost the visitors’ fortunes.They put on 65 in 6.2 overs before the partnership was broken by Shantry, who removed Rashid for 34. McGrath followed in the next over to signal the beginning of the end for Yorkshire.