All posts by h716a5.icu

The fast bowler Ravi Rampaul has been ruled out of the second Test against New Zealand due to a groin injury

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2012The fast bowler Ravi Rampaul has been ruled out of the second Test against New Zealand due to a groin injury. He has been replaced in the 13-man West Indies squad by Fidel Edwards, who has been in and out of the Test side this year.Edwards has a fine record at Sabina Park in Jamaica, where the second Test will start on Thursday; he has taken 25 Test wickets there at an average of 22.28. However, Edwards might yet be left out of the starting line-up if West Indies included Tino Best, who was part of the squad for the first Test.Rampaul picked up two wickets in each innings of the victory in Antigua, which gave West Indies a 1-0 lead in the two-game series. Kemar Roach and Sunil Narine did most of the damage with the ball in the first Test.West Indies will be searching for their first series win against New Zealand in 1996 when they take the field in Kingston.West Indies squad Chris Gayle, Kieran Powell, Adrian Barath, Assad Fudadin, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Narsingh Deonarine, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Darren Sammy (capt), Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach, Sunil Narine.

England have replaced Australia as the top ODI side in the ICC rankings after the annual update of the tables, while Australia have slipped to No. 4

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2012England have replaced Australia as the top ODI side in the ICC rankings after the annual update of the tables, while Australia have slipped to No. 4. It is the first time that England have achieved the top spot since the inception of team-ranking tables in 2002.England lead the table with 121 rating points, closely followed by South Africa, while world champions India are placed third with 120 points. Australia, who are eight points behind India, dropped to their lowest-ever ranking, after being the top ranked one-day side since September 2009. The change in the rankings has not affected the positions of teams below Australia.The ICC ranking tables are updated annually in August to reflect teams’ recent form. The updated tables only include results from matches played after August 2010, with older results from between August 2009 and July 2010 being discarded. The drop in case of Australia is significant as their successful run of 30 wins from 40 matches in 2009-10 is excluded from the updated tables.England, however, lost their top T20 ranking to South Africa to be placed a close second with only one rating-point difference between the two. The teams are followed by Sri Lanka, India and West Indies. Australia, who were sixth before the update, have dropped to ninth with 93 rating points – 2 below eighth placed Bangladesh.Like the Test championships tables, the ODI and T20 tables could also see a new leader when South Africa complete the limited-overs leg of their England tour.

West Indies’ Brian Lara and England’s Enid Bakewell were inducted into the ICC’s Hall of Fame in Colombo on Friday

Andrew Fernando in Colombo14-Sep-2012The West Indies contingent turned out in force to see Brian Lara inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame, but it was England’s Enid Bakewell, the women’s inductee, who stole the show in Colombo, with charming anecdotes from her career and a dedication to the sport that still endures 33 years after retirement. Lara became the17th West Indies player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Bakewell is the third women’s inductee, after team-mate and captain Rachel Heyhoe-Flint and Australian Belinda Clark.Bakewell was an allrounder from 1968 to 1982, who in twelve Tests scored 1078 runs at 59.88 and took 50 wickets at 16.62. She is one of only five cricketers, male or female, to have hit a century and taken ten wickets in the same Test – a feat she achieved in her final match, against West Indies at Edgbaston. Now, at 71, she still turns out for the Redoubtables club side in Surrey, for whom she opens the bowling, but only because she helps keep the run rate down, she said.Her glittering statistics have earned her a place among the greats of the women’s game, but it was not the personal achievements that she remembered most fondly. “I wasn’t interested in my own success,” she said. “As long as we got a win and we were part of a very good team, that was the most important thing.” The names sometimes eluded her, but her team-mates contributions to her own success were retold with vivid enthusiasm. “I couldn’t have done it without our brilliant wicketkeeper,” she said of Shirley Hodges, who made 13 stumpings and took three catches off Bakewell’s left-arm spin. “A girl from Yorkshire, who opened the bowling, took three splendid catches to give me a hat trick in Australia,” Bakewell said of Julia Greenwood.Lara’s induction, as ICC chief executive Dave Richardson put it, was “mere formality”. Former Australia fast bowler Craig McDermott paid tribute to Lara’s “very broad bat”, referring to the 277 in Sydney that launched Lara into batting stratosphere, while former West Indies captain Richie Richardson spoke of the promise he Lara had shown as a youth, and the manner in which he had, unlike so many others, lived up to those high expectations.The 375 and 400 not out against England and the 501 not out for Warwickshire were suitably evoked, as the most conspicuous statistical markers of Lara’s prowess. But like in the case of Blakewell, it was the performances that led to victories that Lara remembered most fondly, particularly the 213 in Kingston, to level the home series against Australia, and the 153 not out in Bridgetown that clinched the following match by one wicket. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, Lara said, gave him some of his most memorable battles, and rarely failed to draw the best out of him.The ICC will announce two more Hall of Fame inductees later this year.

Leicestershire captain Matthew Hoggard’s celebrations were muted despite his side, ultimately, prevailing over Lancashire in a Super Over Eliminator to book their place in the Friends Life t20 Final

Liam Brickhill at Edgbaston27-Aug-2011Leicestershire captain Matthew Hoggard’s celebrations were muted despite his side, ultimately, prevailing over Lancashire in a Super Over Eliminator to book their place in the Friends Life t20 Final and also make the cut for the Champions League qualifier. Hoggard expressed his disappointment at the inclement weather and the widespread confusion caused by the repeated stoppages.”It was a little bit disappointing that the weather played a big part in the game,” said Hoggard. “It was going to be a good game by the looks of things, and to come off needing a six to tie off the last ball was a little bit of what dreams are made of. And getting into the super over and the six off the first ball your heart goes into your mouth and you think ‘oh dear here we go’.””I knew that it was going to be a tie because I ran up to [Wayne White] and I said ‘look they can still tie’ and he waved me away saying ‘yeah whatever’. Then it went for six and then I thought ‘what are we doing now?'””The amount of time it took to sort out the confusion, the 10 minutes sorting it out and getting your pads on, and bowling the two overs, we could’ve finished the game. But you can only do what you’re told to. That’s what we did and thankfully we managed to scrape a victory.”Lancashire were understandably glum after their defeat, captain Glen Chapple summing the match with: “It rained.” He was quick to point out, however, that while Lancashire had invested themselves in 17 Twenty20 matches to get this far, they also have the small matter of the County Championship title to chase.”This’ll have no impact on the rest of the season,” insisted Chapple. “Absolutely not. We’ll be disappointed for the rest of the day, but in terms of lifting ourselves for the four-day cricket, that will not be a problem because we’ve got three games to go with a great chance of coming out on top in that.””They’ll hurt now as you would, they’ve just lost a game and obviously they were desperate to win it,” agreed Lancashire coach Peter Moores. “By the time we get to Wednesday next week we’ll be fine, we’ll be ready to go.”Leicestershire, on the other hand, have had a season to forget in Division Two and the potential riches of the Champions League will provide a welcome distraction and allow them to re-group around their Twenty20 successes.”It’s going to be a fantastic experience for the players and the club,” said Hoggard. “It’s going to be a bit hectic at the end of the season, because it’s very close to the end of the season.”I’m going to have to postpone my Portugal golf trip, which is a little bit disappointing because I was looking forward to that,” he joked. “But there you go, that’s how the cookie crumbles. I’m not looking that far ahead. I’ve got a final to play in a couple of hours and I’ll sit down with Phil at the end of the final and we’ll have a drink and we’ll discuss it another time because we’ve got India on Monday then we go straight down to lords to play a four day game. So there’s no rest for the wicked.”

Glamorgan have secured £1.3m in new funds from a group of private investors, as well as agreed the restructuring of several loans, to give a healthier look to their finances ahead of the 2012 season

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2012Glamorgan have secured £1.3m in new funds from a group of private investors, as well as agreed the restructuring of several loans, to give a healthier look to their finances ahead of the 2012 season. The county also announced that former ECB chairman and ICC president David Morgan has been nominated as Glamorgan’s president-elect.Allied Irish Bank, Cardiff Council and former chairman Paul Russell are the creditors who agreed to the restructuring, which includes an extension of the deadline for repayments. Last year, Glamorgan lost the right to host an England Test against West Indies, due to a delay in making payments to the ECB for the rain-drenched first Test against Sri Lanka in May.”We are delighted to be able to make this landmark announcement, which secures our future and demonstrates the confidence our investors have in the club’s business and prospects, following our success in securing 17 days of international cricket over the next five years including the 2015 Ashes,” chairman Barry O’Brien said. “We can now look forward to the 2012 season in a positive manner, which will also see the club stage an England v South Africa one-day international and the Friends Life t20 finals day in August.”Chief executive Alan Hamer said: “As with many other counties Glamorgan cricket has faced financial challenges for a number of years so this news is particularly welcome.”Morgan, who served as Glamorgan’s chairman between 1993 and 1997, will be proposed as the county’s president on a four-year term at their annual general meeting. “David is acknowledged worldwide as one of cricket’s great administrators and his welcome return to Glamorgan will be of enormous value to the club,” O’Brien said.

Ben Cutting’s highest first-class score rescued Queensland from a potential debacle on the first day against Tasmania in Hobart, where he finished the day unbeaten on 72

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2012
ScorecardBen Cutting showed his skills with the bat•Getty ImagesBen Cutting’s highest first-class score rescued Queensland from a potential debacle on the first day against Tasmania in Hobart, where he finished the day unbeaten on 72. Jackson Bird took five wickets to reduce the Bulls to 8 for 89 shortly after Cutting came to the crease but by stumps they had reached 9 for 195, with Alister McDermott also not out on 10.Cutting and Steve Magoffin (17) had put together a 54-run partnership for the ninth wicket as Cutting went after the Tasmania bowlers, having decided that attack was the only way to survive on a difficult pitch. He scored his 72 off 74 balls, including four sixes, and he went past his previous highest score of 58 with consecutive sixes off Jason Krejza.Queensland had been in early trouble having been sent in when Wade Townsend was caught behind in the first over of the match and his opening partner Ryan Broad was lbw to Bird with the total on 13. Joe Burns dug in with 43 either side of a rain delay, but the only other specialist batsmen to reach double figures were Andrew Robinson with 19 and Chris Lynn with 16.Bird ran through the middle order and finished with 5 for 56, his third five-wicket haul in an outstanding debut season in which he has collected 28 victims at 16.85. His work was all the more important because the Tigers had lost James Faulkner to a back injury before the start of play, while the Queensland captain James Hopes was also ruled out due to a knee problem.

The BCCI has said it will remain in close contact with the IPL franchises to ensure players remain fit for national duty

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Sep-2011In the light of the injury crisis India found themselves in on the tour of England, the BCCI has said it will remain in close contact with the IPL franchises to ensure players remain fit for national duty.”During our meeting with franchises we will emphasise that they pay most attention to these problems and give instruction to the team physios on injury management to avoid injuries,” the new IPL commissioner Rajiv Shukla told . “We will be paying full attention to these problems, we will keep in touch with physios, and various franchises so that any injury should be immediately addressed.”On a disastrous tour, where they were thrashed 4-0 in Tests and 3-0 in ODIs, India lost the services of Zaheer Khan on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s. After playing in the IPL, Virender Sehwag was ruled out of the first two Tests due to an injured shoulder while Gautam Gambhir, Praveen Kumar and Yuvraj Singh sustained injuries during the course of the series.Shukla defended the IPL, saying it shouldn’t be singled out for blame for injuries caused to players, but said the board will take steps to ensure there is “perfect” co-ordination with the franchises over the players’ fitness.”In my view, for injuries I don’t think only IPL should be blamed as every team is facing such problems and lot many players got injured during the England series also, so I don’t think IPL should be solely blamed for it,” he said. “But at the same time, the management of injury problems is also on our mind and some concrete steps will be taken to minimise injury problems. There will be perfect coordination between BCCI and various franchises.”

Tom Maynard, who left Glamorgan in December, will continue his career with Surrey after signing a three-year contract with them

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2011Tom Maynard, who walked away from Glamorgan – citing the treatment of his father, Matthew, as the reason – in December, will continue his career with Surrey after signing a three-year contract with them.Maynard has made clear his anger at events at the county last year, and though new captain and South Africa batsman Alviro Petersen contacted him and the two held “a positive discussion” about his future, he has moved ahead with his decision to pursue a new employer.Maynard had feared that Glamorgan would attempt to fight his decision to leave in the courts – he signed a three-year contract with them in September last year before the county’s troubles came to a head – and in December told the : “I have to follow due process in all these events and do things by the book. I have to make sure I am clear with Glamorgan before I can move on and weigh up options from other counties but time is against me with only two months to go until pre-season.”It now appears his “continual” requests to be released and allowed to talk to other counties have been heeded, and his presence at Surrey will undoubtedly strengthen a youthful batting line-up – particularly in limited-overs cricket. Aside from the costs associated to his three year deal, Maynard’s signing comes at no extra expense to Surrey.”Once we received permission from Glamorgan to speak to Tom, it became clear that Surrey was his preferred destination,” said Surrey’s Professional Cricket Manager, Chris Adams. “He has been attracted here by a number of factors including the wicket at the Kia Oval and the fantastic history of the Club but most of all he had a sense of wanting to be at Surrey through what will be a very exciting time here.”We were painfully on the receiving end of what he is capable of last season and although this was not a signing we had planned for, it was an opportunity that was too good not to take and I am delighted that Tom is adding further depth to what is looking like a very strong squad.””I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Surrey County Cricket Club at such an exciting time and am looking forward to playing with some highly regarded young talent as well as soaking up as much as I can from the richly experienced and successful coaching staff,” added Maynard.”Tom is one of the best One Day cricketers going around and exactly the sort of player we have been hoping to attract to the Club,” said Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown. “It’s hugely exciting to have him at the Kia Oval and I know he will make an impact both on the field and in the dressing room.”

A round up of the fourth day of matches of the European Championship Division One Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2011Group AGuernsey secured their spot in the semi-finals with a comfortable, six-wicket win over Gibraltar in St Peter Port. Guernsey’s bowlers kept Gibraltar in check and restricted them to a total of 116. Only three of the Gibraltar batsmen got into double figures. Guernsey’s reply started precariously and they were 10 for 3 in the early stages. An unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 78 (off 53 balls) between Jeremy Frith, who scored 44 (off 43 balls), and Ross Kneller, who contributed an aggressive 40 (off 29 balls), helped Guernsey reach their target with 15 balls remaining.Austria strolled to their third win of the tournament, after beating Croatia by 51 runs in Port Soif. Amar Naeem’s 100 (off 63 balls) which included 13 fours and three sixes, took Austria to an imposing 176 for 3. Croatia’s opening pair of Christopher Pavac and Craig Sinovich shared in a stand of 84 but enjoyed no support from the rest of the batting line-up. Sri Lankan born offspinner Lakmal Kasturiarachchige took 5 for 22 as Croatia were bowled out for 125. Naeem effected five stumpings to cap off a brilliant all-round performance.Italy qualified for the final four with a massive 98-run win over Norway in what was effectively a quarter-final in Castel. Damian Crowley and Peter Petricola’s third-wicket partnership of 107 was the backbone of the Italy innings. With none of their batsmen scoring at a strike rate of less than 100.00, Italy put on an impressive 185 for 2. Norway were never in the chase and went from being 8 for 3 to 87 all out. Andy Northcote took 2 for 8 and Gayashan Munsinghe 2 for 6.Group BDenmark cruised into the semi-finals after beating Germany by 92 runs in St Martin. Opener Freddie Klokker scored a quickfire 91 (off 62 balls) while Shehzad Ahmed chipped in with 30 (off 23 balls) and Michael Pedersen was unbeaten on 38 (off 33 balls). Denmark finished on 166 for 1. Bashir Shah ripped through the Germany batting line-up with 4 for 8 and Pedersen took 3 for 9 and Germany crashed to 74 all out. Milano Fernando’s 28 (off 21 balls) added some respectability to an otherwise dismal scorecard.Belgium inflicted a fifth consecutive defeat on Israel, who they beat by five wickets in St Brelade. Israel lost both their openers for ducks but 17 (off 21 balls) from Josh Evans and 26 (off 23 balls) from Eshkol Solomon put them back on track. Danny Hotz contributed 40 (off 45 balls) but Israel were bowled out for 106 in 19.3 overs. Evans made sure the Belgians wobbled in reply and his 3 for 14 threatened an upset. But, at 57 for 5, Simon Newport and Nadeem Khan put on a half-century stand for the sixth wicket and took Belgium home with two overs to spare.Jersey end off the semi-final line-up after an eight wicket win over France in St Clement. France began aggressively with openers Ramesh Sitathambaranthan and A Rehman Qureshit putting on 37 in 5 overs. Jersey’s medium pacers worked well to squeeze France for runs and they could only amass 98 for 7. The chase was a stroll for Jersey who reached the target with more than five overs to spare. Edward Farley’s 57 (off 42 balls) guided them to victory.

New Zealand have stayed under the radar in their ride to the semi-finals, and Ross Taylor has now set his sights on making the final

Sidharth Monga in Colombo27-Mar-2011South Africa didn’t play a bunch of dummies who had to just turn up in Dhaka and watch Graeme Smith’s men crumble from a vantage point.One of the undesirable fallouts of South Africa’s exit from the World Cup, depressing as it was to their fans, is the focus on South Africa’s choke. The talk all around the cricketing world has been how South Africa lived up to their record of not having won a single knockout game in World Cups, of their mental brittleness in big events, of what future holds for them, and the other team that won the match has been all but forgotten.New Zealand played a game too, you know. Jesse Ryder showed a glimpse of how good a batsman he is before a charged-up New Zealand side, yelling, hollering, sledging, intimidating, pulled off the best fielding performance of the World Cup. They were a team possessed. They didn’t want to go home, they wanted to settle a score with a ground that consigned them to their lowest low. They were not a bunch of dummies.Quietly they have slipped into Sri Lanka, “warmer than Dhaka, not as hot as Mumbai”, facing a far tougher task than the one they accomplished in Dhaka, that of beating a team much more naturally talented, much more varied, playing in home conditions, used to conditions warmer than Dhaka but not as hot as Mumbai.And it’s staying under the radar that they are hanging on to. “Most of the time New Zealand play we are underdogs,” Ross Taylor, who has captained New Zealand in some of the games this World Cup, said two days before their sixth semi-final in 10 World Cups. “It’s something we almost enjoy, and we expect when we play. I know a lot of teams expect to beat us, and we enjoy the underdog tag, and we expect to beat them as well.Ross Taylor: “We genuinely believe we can go one step further and make the final”•Getty Images”I don’t think too many other people gave us a chance, which probably made other teams take us a bit lighter than they normally would, which played into our hands, but you know it’s going to be a tough game on Tuesday, one that we are looking forward to.”New Zealand have played Sri Lanka before in this tournament, and the result was not too encouraging, a defeat by 112 runs at a ground these teams will be fighting for the right to play at. Taylor sees having played Sri Lanka as an advantage, as an opportunity to have made the mistakes in a game not so big. “It’s a new game,” he said. “We are taking a lot of confidence from our last game against South Africa. We have got an advantage that we have played against Sri Lanka in the pool matches, and we did a few things wrong. Hopefully we can rectify that in the match on Tuesday.”New Zealand, in a way a team not too dissimilar to England who were demolished by Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, seek to learn from the way England played. “Watching parts of the game and analysing the way England played and where they went wrong and where Sri Lanka went wrong, but we have got a lot of momentum in our camp. We were happy with the way we fielded, and hopefully we can continue with that and put Sri Lanka under pressure.”Taylor said the side was desperate to translate the record of having made six semi-finals into something more significant. “We are proud of our history of making semi-finals, but looking at this team we want to make history and go one step further and make the final,” he said. “We genuinely believe we can do that, and we want to show that on Tuesday.”