All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard
Pura Cup points tableLismore’s Matthew Phelps made a century in front of his home crowd but he could not prevent Victoria from claiming first-innings points on the third day of a high-scoring match. Cameron White stormed through the lower-order with 4 for 73 as New South Wales, who are hosting the game in the north of the state, lost 5 for 35 and were dismissed for 437.Phil Jaques failed to add to his overnight 109 before being trapped by Mick Lewis for 109, but Phelps, who was born in Lismore, took over the heavy-scoring role with 19 fours in his 133, which was scored in front of his mother Beverley and father Warren. However, the Blues started to stall in their chase of Victoria’s 5 for 519 declared when Phelps departed and their hopes of extending their lead at the top of the table were extinguished by White.Daniel Smith, the wicketkeeper who replaced Brad Haddin after he was called up for the Australia one-day team, was White’s first victim and he was followed by Aaron O’Brien, who collected a steady 61, Matthew Nicholson, the stand-in captain, and Grant Lambert. Victoria, who are two points behind New South Wales, finished the day with a 92-run advantage when bad light intervened with eight overs to bowl.

Leicestershire have been granted planning permission to install floodlights at Grace Road, a development that has been viewed as vital to the club’s survival.Floodlit evening T20 matches have become increasingly important to driving gate revenue in the domestic game and Wasim Khan, Leicestershire’s chief executive, said the decision would help the club “retain and grow our audiences”. Khan had previously addressed residents’ concerns about light pollution by warning that, without floodlights, “we might not be here in five years’ time”.The path has now been cleared, with Leicester City Council unanimously approving the proposals. Leicestershire will begin work immediately and hope to have the floodlights in place in time for their opening NatWest Blast game in May.”It is fantastic news for Leicestershire County Cricket Club that planning permission was granted at the meeting,” Khan said. “Floodlights are an important aspect of supporting our sustainability strategy and we look forward to improving the match-day experience for our supporters.”We saw an average 48% increase in attendances at Grace Road for NatWest T20 Blast matches in 2015. The installation of floodlights will help us to both retain and grow our audiences. We can start our NatWest T20 Blast games later in the evening which will give more people the opportunity to attend after work.”Leicestershire are currently one of four counties without permanent floodlights. Gloucestershire have been granted planning permission, while Somerset are expected to draw up plans as part of their ground redevelopment, which would leave Worcestershire as the only county unable to play evening games.

The Indian squads for the tours of Ireland and England will be selected on June 12 in Delhi. The selected players will have to attend a camp in Bangalore from June 13 to June 16.”The selection committee will meet in Delhi at 5.30 pm on June 12 after the meeting of the working committee to choose the team for England and Ireland tour,” Niranjan Shah, BCCI secretary, told PTI. “The selected players would be asked to assemble in Bangalore by the afternoon of June 13 for the cricket camp which will run till June 16.”The camp will follow a fitness-specific camp for batsmen which will be held at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore from June 9-12.India are scheduled to play a three-ODI series against South Africa in Ireland in July before heading to England for three Tests and seven one-day internationals.

Sunil Narine, the West Indies offspinner, has been reported for bowling with a suspect action during the third ODI against Sri Lanka in Pallekele.Narine finished with figures of 0 for 24 in the Pallekele ODI, which Sri Lanka won by 19 runs based on the Duckworth-Lewis method. The match officials’ report, handed to the West Indies team management after the game, cited concerns about the legality of Narine’s deliveries.Narine will need to undergo testing on his action within 14 days, and will be permitted to continue bowling until the results of his testing are known.This is the first time Narine has been reported in an international game, though he has undergone scrutiny of his action during the IPL and the Champions League T20. He was reported twice in two matches during the 2014 edition of the CLT20, forcing him to miss Kolkata Knight Riders’ final against Chennai Super Kings.Though he was free to bowl in international cricket, West Indies withdrew Narine from their tour of India to allow him “the opportunity to have his action assessed and plan his return to cricket”. West Indies left him out of all their subsequent international assignments until they picked him for the 2015 World Cup. Though he had remodeled his action in the interim, Narine pulled out of the tournament, saying the return would be “a little too much too soon”.Narine endured further trouble with his action during the 2015 IPL – he was first cleared to bowl in the tournament, reported and sent for a re-test, banned from bowling his offbreaks, and then cleared again, with a “final warning”.The Sri Lanka tour was Narine’s first international tournament since August 2014. He picked up four wickets at an average of 18.00 in the three ODIs, while conceding 3.34 runs per over.

England are one win away from their first one-day series success in the sub-continent for 20 years and another notable inclusion in Paul Collingwood’s young captaincy CV. From a limited-overs shambles only a few months ago, the team is developing into a competitive unit.There have been hiccups along the way – notably the World Twenty20 and their opening-match defeat in this series – but those reversals make the subsequent performances even more impressive although their work in Sri Lanka is far from complete.”At the moment it feels good to have won the first two games, but if we lose the next two games I’ll be absolutely devastated because I know how much hard work and effort we’ve put into it,” said Collingwood. “It would be massive, but the good thing is that the lads are still going really hard at it.”Collingwood, who will play through his shoulder “niggle” which required a precautionary scan, is delighted with the way his team have adapted to the conditions. “It’s a different challenge to back home because you don’t have to do as much as it’s the same English style of playing, but when you come over here you have to learn and adapt quickly.”That first game was a real eye-opener for us and it’s brilliant that everyone went away and said ‘we’ve got well beaten, what can we do about it?’ After the first game, when we were beaten fair and square, to adapt so quickly after that and learn the length to bowl and the changes of pace needed was a good effort.”England’s victories have come despite the top order not firing in any of the matches. Alastair Cook’s 46, made in the defeat, is the highest score from the top four and changes haven’t been ruled out. Luke Wright would be an option, although he went through a slump in the Twenty20, but the side has looked well balanced with Graeme Swann filling an allrounder’s role at No. 8.In terms of interest back home, the tour of Sri Lanka isn’t registering very high alongside the Rugby World Cup and European football qualifiers. But that doesn’t bother Collingwood one little bit. “I couldn’t give a monkey’s whether they’re watching or not,” he said. “For these 15 players here and the management, to win out here would be a massive thing.”England (probable) Alastair Cook, Phil Mustard (wk), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (capt), Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, James Anderson

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has been summoned as a witness by a London tribunal that will hear umpire Darrell Hair’s suit against the ICC. Hair is suing for alleged racial discrimination in the aftermath of the Oval controversy.Inzamam was the Pakistan captain in that Test, which saw his side charged with ball-tampering. The team refused to take the field in protest against that decision, following which the match was awarded to England.Hearing of the case begins on October 1 at the Central Office of London Tribunals and is expected to last two weeks.A report in the said the summons would compel Inzamam’s attendance for cross-examination. Had Inzamam been in Pakistan rather than in England – playing county cricket for Yorkshire – the tribunal would not have had the power to call him, the report said.Hair’s lawyers, Finers Stephens Innocent, wrote to Inzamam requesting his attendance, but did not receive a reply. The summons, the said, was served in the presence of Stewart Regan, the chief executive of Yorkshire CCC.Inzamam now has to decide whether to fly back to Pakistan and return to England before the hearing commences or stay in London.Hair is to be represented by Robert Griffiths QC, an MCC cricket and general committee member, and will be opposed by Michael Beloff QC.He is likely to call on fellow umpire Billy Doctrove, with whom he stood at The Oval. Also expected to appear on Hair’s behalf are John Jameson, a former assistant secretary of the MCC, and Jimmy Adams, the former West Indies captain.Hair, who remains on the ICC’s Elite panel, was restricted to officiating Associate matches in the aftermath of the Oval saga.

Sri Lanka’s captain, Mahela Jayawardene, praised the performance of his young team and said that their efforts ranked up there with the best, as the first Test at Lord’s was saved through a brilliant rearguard action.Having followed on a whopping 359 runs in arrears, Sri Lanka ground their way through 199 overs on the final two-and-a-half days before bad light brought their epic innings to an end on 537 for 9. No fewer than seven batsmen recorded fifty in the innings, and after slumping to 91 for 6 in the first innings, Jayawardene was thrilled with the fight they had shown.”It was a brilliant effort which showed a lot of character from top to bottom,” he said, after being named as Man of the Match for his twin scores of 61 and 119. “It will have given a lot of confidence to the youngsters, and that’s what they need, belief that they can do it at this level of cricket, because most of them haven’t achieved anything in their careers yet.”The effort will also have given Jayawardene a lot of belief. Since assuming a senior role in the side, he has endured criticism of his leadership skills, and still remains as the official vice-captain on this tour, in the absence of the injured Marvan Atapattu. But he was able to answer the doubters by leading from the front and watching his charges take inspiration from his resistance.”In the past when I’ve been given responsibility, people have said how difficult it is for me to concentrate on my batting at the highest level,” he said. “I think I’ve proved people wrong. It’s how I go out there and perform that matters. It’s all to do with team efforts.”Jayawardene admitted that the thought had crossed his mind to declare once they had established a lead of 140-150, but added that good sense had prevailed, given the placid nature of the wicket. Even so, had England managed to take that final wicket and set themselves up for a run-chase, his side were ready and waiting for the challenge.”If we had been put in that situation we would definitely have gone for it,” said Jayawardene. “It was really flat out there but with three or four wickets we would have had a chance. It was all about the effort we had put in, and we couldn’t have let it go like that.”Jayawardene insisted that the spate of dropped catches shouldn’t detract from his team’s achievement, but he did recognise Sri Lanka had issues to address. “We’ll need to show the same determination in our bowling,” he said, “and we might have to look at different combinations when we get to Edgbaston. We have to get England out twice to win Test matches, and we only got five wickets. Those are the areas we have to improve.”

Yorkshire 184 for 8 (39.5 overs: White 54, Brophy 54, Murtagh 3-34) beat Middlesex 183 for 8 (40 overs: Scott 54*, Pyrah 3-22)
ScorecardYorkshire overcame a late wobble to beat Middlesex by two wickets off the penultimate ball of their Pro40 clash at Headingley.They had seemed to be coasting as they reached 158 for 3 chasing a modest 183, with the required rate at around a run a ball. James Dalrymple’s dismissal of Gerard Brophy for 49 pulled the rug from under the innings as five wickets fell for seven runs. Tim Murtagh inflicted most of the damage with three wickets but Rich Pyrah (15 not out) kept his head to see Yorkshire across the line.Middlesex also suffered from a collapse, but theirs came at the top of the order as they slid to 61 for 5 before Ben Scott anchored a recovery with an unbeaten 54. Pyrah was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 22 off his eight overs.

Three youth sides from Zimbabwe have travelled to South Africa for their annual end-of-year tour. The three age groups – Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19s – will play four 50-over matches and two Twenty20 encounters against teams from the Northerns and Gauteng.Prior to their visit the three sides were given a send-off at Harare and presented with equipment and kit for their tour, sponsored by the wholesaler Makro.Boyd Rouse and Peter Moor, both of Saint John’s College in Harare, will captain the Under-14 and Under-16 teams respectively. Victor Chaitezvi, from Prince Edward School and Old Hararians Sports Club, captains the Under-19s.

Marvan AtapattuOn the reasons for the debacleLooking back at it, I would put it down to not capitalising on the chances that we had been given. Even here, we had them in a spot of bother in the first innings. The other thing is that we can’t take anything away from their lower-order batsmen, and the manner in which they played Muttiah Muralitharan.On why the Indian lower order had done so wellIt’s a difficult question to answer. It’s not like you can’t bat well just because you’re a lower-order batsman. But they played very well. And I think [Irfan] Pathan handled Murali best.On the difference between his spinners and the Indians, and whether the SG ball played a partI think they got more bounce than our two spinners. Talking to Harbhajan Singh, he reckoned that too. They exploited the wickets better, and were also fortunate to win both tosses.On Lasith Malinga and his short-ball barrageThat’s the only thing he knows best. He’s not a McGrath type of bowler to pitch the ball on a spot. We’ve given him license to be himself, and not someone else.Tom MoodyOn the batting collapses, and whether they were related to poor techniqueNot at all. As Marvan has said, I think it was down to lack of concentration. It’s never easy to bat against two quality spinners, and we failed to adjust.On where the series was lostWe were in very strong positions in both Tests [Delhi and Ahmedabad], but failed to drive home the advantage. We only turned up for half the game, and that’s not good enough. We need to learn from that, and compete over five days, not just for two and a half.On whether they were a bowler shortNot at all. The bowling attack was well-balanced. And Murali tends to bowl a high percentage of the overs, particularly in conditions like those over here. Putting an extra bowler out to pasture at fine leg or third man wouldn’t have made a difference. We just didn’t have the killer instinct. India had the patience and the persistence and it was a good team effort from them.On what he would take from the seriesThe experience of playing two fine spin bowlers in their conditions. We could’ve bowled better, no doubt about that. But the fielding was a considerable improvement on what we saw in the one-day series. The middle order also needs to capitalise on starts and get the team total to 400 and beyond.On the absence of JayasuriyaSanath’s a wonderful player. But he wasn’t selected, and I don’t think the outcome of the series had much to do with that. On the other hand, we might have seen the birth of another opening batsman here. Upul Tharanga played a high-quality innings, and showed very good temperament and technique against two very good spinners, and a fine new-ball bowler in Pathan. He was one of the bright spots to come out of this match.On how he rated the Indian teamObviously, India are a different side away from home. They’re a real force in home conditions, with some real momentum coming from the media and the crowds. I think they will remain very difficult to play on home soil. They played some solid cricket, and looked like they were enjoying it. Only time will tell where they go from here.On the morale within his own squadIt’s very high. We faced difficult times during the one-day series, and have been beaten 2-0 now, but there have been several positives. We just haven’t competed over the full five days. But we had India on the ropes in all the three Tests, and it’s not like we’ve been thrashed. We were caught napping on two or three days and that allowed India to come back.On who would have the edge when India played PakistanIndia have done very well of late, but Pakistan have done just as well, if not better. They’re an emerging side with a lot of talent, and if they’re all fit, I think they’ll start slight favourites.