All posts by csb10.top

Dilip Vengsarkar, India’s chairman of selectors, has sounded out a warning to the senior players following the team’s second consecutive defeat to Australia in the seven-match series.Vengsarkar made it clear that the seniors needed to raise their game, especially in the wake of the World Twenty20 triumph engineered by a young side. “There are many players like S Badrinath and Suresh Raina who are performing with the India A side,” Vengsarkar told , a Mumbai-based tabloid. “These guys are waiting for their chance and you cannot ignore them. It’s a professional set-up and nobody can take their place for granted.”India made one change for the fourth and fifth one-dayers, bringing in left-arm spinner Murali Kartik for offspinner Ramesh Powar. Powar bowled only 11 overs in the first two ODIs, failing to pick up any wickets and conceded 7.27 runs an over.Vengsarkar justified the move. “If you get picked as a frontline bowler, then you have to bowl 10 overs. Plus, if your fielding is found wanting and you do not contribute with the bat, the team is obviously at a disadvantage. Ramesh has to get fitter and field better. He also has to improve his bowling.”Vengsarkar also justified Kartik’s selection over promising Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. “Ojha is very young, just 21. It is not fair to unleash him against a side like Australia. We need to groom youngsters. Kartik is experienced and offers us better variation than two offspinners.””We are not a great fielding side anyway,” he said when asked for an assessment of the series so far. “Australia saved about 25 runs on the field. If we had fielded that way, the match would have been much closer.”

Division One

The abject weather forecast for the south is all that can prevent Nottinghamshire thrashing Kent at Canterbury after they were left to make 22 in their second innings. A sixth-wicket stand of 138 between Azhar Mahmood and Martin van Jaarsveld (79) was all that spared Kent from an innings loss after they slipped to 85 for 5, and although Mahmood completed a battling 116 the damage had already been done by Nottinghamshire’s seamers.Only 11 overs were possible at The Rose Bowl, with Hampshire losing Michael Lumb during 40 minutes bitterly cold play against Sussex. Lumb added five to his overnight 77 before he was trapped in front by Robin Martin-Jenkins when trying to whip one through midwicket, ending a stand of 80 with Greg Lamb. The drizzle finally halted mid-afternoon but at 5pm play was abandoned for the day and Hampshire will resume on Saturday – weather permitting – on 319 for 7.For a full report from The Oval, where Surrey continued to boss proceedings against Lancashire before bad light came along, click here.

Division Two

The Warwickshire era under Ashley Giles isn’t starting too well as they had to watch centuries from Vikram Solanki (140) and Graeme Hick (101) ease Worcestershire to a lead of 481 at Edgbaston. Warwickshire then collapsed to 26 for 3 by the close with Gareth Batty taking two wickets in a four-over spell. Their day had started poorly was they were unable to shift the nightwatchman Kabir Ali who added 100 with Solanki, whose first hundred since June came off 162 balls. Hick, showing no signs of an elbow injury, then followed with a 135-ball ton to put the match out of Warwickshire’s reach. Worcestershire were still without Simon Jones but it is expected his sore neck will have eased enough for him to bowl on the final day.Northamptonshire are facing a huge defeat after being reduced to 42 for 4 in their second innings by Essex at Chelmsford, where bad light brought an early end. David Masters knocked the top off the order with a fine new-ball burst that brought three wickets while Ravi Bopara chipped out the other. Bopara had carried his innings on to 150 as Essex built a lead of 223, aided by some distinctly average fielding, with Jason Gallian eventually removed for 171. Mark Pettini, the captain, made a brisk 80 before calling an end to the innings and was able to watch his attack make rapid inroads.Gloucestershire are well placed to open their season with a victory despite a battling performance from Derbyshire at Bristol. They require another 145 to win after Jon Lewis, Marcus North and Anthony Ireland shared nine wickets to bowl out Derbyshire for 362, a considerable improvement on their first-innings 124. Derbyshire’s hopes of setting a tougher target were dealt an early blow when Rikki Clarke top edged a hook off Ireland to deep square leg for 27, but David Pipe made a fighting 62 with nine boundaries. Graham Wagg (25) and Tom Lungley (24) chipped in, but they needed another century to match Chris Rogers’ effort yesterday. Stephen Adshead took his tally of catches to nine, putting him second in Gloucestershire’s list behind Andy Wilson. Needing 172 to win, Gloucestershire were 27 for 1 when drizzle ended play early.Middlesex were left staring down the barrel as they slid to 112 for 5 in their second innings against Leicestershire at a bitterly cold and windy Grace Road, a lead of only 19. Andrew Strauss failed for the second time and it took a dogged, unbeaten 49 from Owais Shah to give the innings any rigidity, and with David Nash he ground out the last hour. HD Ackerman’s tenth hundred for Leicestershire had guided them to 405, a lead of 93, after Tom New had managed to add only five to his overnight 104. Steven Finn, with 4 for 80, was the pick of the Middlesex bowlers.

Michael Barton, who captained Surrey shortly after the Second World War and went on to be their president, has died at the age of 91.Barton’s career can be divided into distinct halves, bisected neatly by the war. Between 1935 and 1937 he appeared 28 times for Oxford University, winning Blues in 1936 and 1937. When he left university his first-class career appeared over – he joined Dunlop and played his cricket for Norfolk.But in the post-war years Surrey were struggling for a captain and Errol Holmes, who led them in 1947, approached Barton and asked him to share the role with him. “It was extraordinary really,” Barton reflected. “I was only playing occasional club cricket and I’d never captained a side in my life.”A skeptical dressing room was won over by his quiet charm and three hundreds in his first four matches, and Surrey ended one victory short of winning the title. Barton took over in sole charge in 1949, and in 1950 they won their first Championship since 1914. Stuart Surridge took over the captaincy in 1952 as Surrey began their extraordinary run of titles while Barton slipped quietly back into the shadows. He played one final time for Surrey, against his old university in 1954, scoring an unbeaten 58 from No. 9.Of his captaincy Wisden wrote: “Barton had considerable batting ability but was a dreamy captain. He was as unobstrusive as Gower. He fielded in the slips, and the picture lingers of him meandering down the pitch after each over and of his rule of thumb bowling changes. Starting in the field at 11.30 he used to take off his No. 2 opening bowler, usually Parker or Surridge, at 11.55 and his No. 1, Alec Bedser, at 12.15.”Barton was made Surrey president in 1983 and remained a loyal supporter of the club up until his death.

Michael Clarke has joined the growing list of players willing to battle through the pain barrier at the World Cup. He was forced to miss the Chappell-Hadlee series with a hip problem and admits he still hasn’t fully tested the injury.”I’ve had a couple of batting sessions and I haven’t been getting anywhere near as much pain, I should say,” Clarke told . “So I’m feeling good. Fingers crossed. But I haven’t done too much running, so I’ll have to do a bit of running over the next couple of days and see how it pulls up. But I’m pretty confident it’s going to be fine.”Clarke is slated to bat at the vital No. 4 position and his importance to the line-up grows with the concerns surrounding Matthew Hayden (toe) and Andrew Symonds (bicep). His form varied during the Commonwealth Bank series, but he has fond memories of the Caribbean.Clarke made 170 runs at 85 during the one-day series in the West Indies in 2003 and knows there is no bigger arena than the World Cup. “It’s the No.1 stage for one-day cricket,” he said. “That gives every individual an opportunity to step up on such a big stage.”Hopefully I’ll get the chance to stay batting at No. 4 and there’ll be plenty of opportunity, I would imagine, to get out there and score some runs. So I’ll be working my backside off over the next couple of weeks to make sure I’m ready to go for the first game.”Clarke’s left-arm spin will also prove useful to the Australians, who struggled to find a reliable fifth and sixth bowler in New Zealand. He will expect to take some of Andrew Symonds’ overs while the allrounder is recovering from his arm injury.In 101 ODIs Clarke has taken 30 wickets at 36 with an impressive best of 5 for 35 against Sri Lanka at Dambulla. Australia’s first warm-up match is against Zimbabwe on March 6 before they face England on March 9 in the lead-up to their opening group match, against Scotland, on March 14.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHe may have eased off on plans to wear a black armband to protest the ‘death of Associate cricket’, but John Mooney followed through with an impressive spell of seam bowling to launch Ireland’s 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier campaign in a seven-wicket win over Namibia at Stormont, Belfast. The allrounder’s man-of-the-match winning spell of 3-23 restricted Namibia to 124 for 8 before Ireland, riding on captain William Porterfield’s unbeaten half-century, knocked off the runs with 16 balls to spare.After Namibia’s Stephen Baard pulled a six and four off the opening over bowled by Tyrone Kane, Mooney replaced Kane for the third and peeled off an impressive four-over spell to quell Namibia’s top order. Baard fell slashing to Niall O’Brien at third man off Mooney’s third ball before Gerrie Snyman edged an attempted drive to Gary Wilson in the fifth over. Mooney capped off his burst with a brilliant yorker to remove Raymond van Schoor as Namibia slipped from 20 for 0 to 45 for 3.The spin tandem of George Dockrell and Paul Stirling kept the clamps on Namibia’s middle order from the 10th through the 16th overs. After Stirling started off with a maiden in the 10th, Dockrell struck in the first ball of the 11th when JP Kotze’s tame cut floated to Alex Cusack at backward point where he dived forward for the catch.Dockrell started the the 13th over with a wicket after Sarel Burger skipped down the track but failed to clear Kevin O’Brien at long off. Craig Williams then lofted Stirling to Andrew Balbirnie at sweeper cover in the 14th to make it 73 for 6.Namibia’s biggest partnership of the day – 32 for the seventh wicket between JJ Smit and Nicolas Scholtz – came to an end when Smit edged an attempted cut behind to Wilson off Cusack. Scholtz failed to fend off a short ball two balls later to give Wilson his third catch of the day.Ireland’s chase got off to a sloppy start with Stirling spooning his second ball to short extra cover off Jason Davidson where Baard claimed a low diving catch. Three balls later, Porterfield nearly ran himself out on nought when he set off from the non-striker’s end for a single behind point. He was sent back by Niall O’Brien but the throw to the bowler’s end bounced over the stumps.Porterfield and Niall O’Brien survived another pair of chances, on 5 and 18 respectively, before settling down to notch up a 71-run stand. Niall eventually holed out to long off against Burger on the first ball of the 11th for 45 before his brother Kevin was dismissed in identical fashion in the next over off Bernard Scholtz’s left-arm spin for 3.Porterfield and Balbirnie shared an unbroken stand of 48 runs to ensure Ireland had no further alarms. Porterfield hit his sixth four through extra cover to bring up his half-century off 43 balls, and level the scores. He ended the match the very next ball with another four .

Ross Taylor and James Franklin have been cleared to play in New Zealand’s second match of the CB Series against England at Hobart tomorrow after recovering from their respective ailments. Taylor suffered from cramps during his innings of 84 against Australia, requiring a runner midway through his innings, while Franklin bowled four overs before leaving the field due to migraine.Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, had earlier expressed concern over the Taylor’s health, given that Taylor had a similar experience after scoring his maiden ODI hundred against Sri Lanka at Napier last month. He had to be taken to hospital, where he was put on an intravenous drip. Fleming said something needed to be done to prevent the problem from recurring and Taylor accordingly took blood tests.After the 105-run loss to Australia, Fleming said his team had to sort out their batting woes quickly. Taylor and Peter Fulton made a push for the target of 291 with a fourth-wicket stand of 81, but New Zealand lost their last seven wickets for 23.”There is some residue from that Sri Lankan series, there’s got to be because we batted poorly,” Fleming told NZPA. “At least we got a base there where we could have pushed on but it wasn’t to be. We’ll get into this tournament in the sense that the wickets are better, the conditions are more batter-friendly, and work our way in.”Both New Zealand and England go into Tuesday’s game searching for their first win, and Fleming said they could expect some tough competition from England. England were whitewashed 5-0 in the Ashes and are still seeking their first win on a tour that started in November.”I’m sure England will be looking forward to our match very positively just to see some new faces and put things into play that they haven’t been able to do against Australia,” Fleming said. “They’ll want to prove to everyone else that they’ve been up against a good side, so if they can beat us it’ll go some way to easing a bit of the pain.”

Sceptical players felt the buzz of Adelaide’s biggest Test crowd since the Bodyline series but will reserve judgment on the pink ball and the day-night format until the end of a match that has already shown what is possible for cricket’s future.The gathering of 47,441 swelled notably as day bled into night, with the provision of $20 “twilight” tickets a major plus for spectators arriving after work. Both Peter Siddle and Trent Boult noted the momentous feeling of the day, but equally maintained the view that this is not Test cricket as they have known it, largely due to the behaviour of the pink ball.There was a marked contest in good conditions for batting across the day. The ball barely moved in the air in the afternoon but bent around corners in the hands of Boult and Tim Southee in the final session under lights. Boult said the game had panned out more or less as expected, with the ball closer in characteristic to the white variety than the red. He also said that with New Zealand already planning their own pink-ball Test for next summer, he wanted to see more of this match before finalising his judgment.”We need to see a bit more of it, to be honest,” Boult said. “It was a great buzz out there, everyone could see that and it’s amazing to be playing Test cricket in front of 50,000-odd people. We’ve got to see how this one goes and pans out, but it definitely is exciting for Test match cricket.”I’ve had a couple of hit-outs with it during the day and at night, and the findings are it does tend to change a lot under lights and in the last session, it definitely swung around a little bit with the new ball and there was still a shade of it with it 22 overs old now. It is a different game under lights and we’ve got to come back tomorrow and hope to put a bit more pressure on them.”For Siddle, the fact he took his 200th Test wicket with a pink ball rather than a red ball seemed insignificant next to the fact he had done it in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd. “That was the exciting thing for the boys, the atmosphere was amazing,” he said. “I think from early on until the end of play there, the crowd was upbeat, especially when we were on a roll and getting a few wickets [and] especially walking down after the 200 down to the crowd on the boundary and the cheer.”It was exciting for everyone. The Adelaide Test match has always been one of my favourites and to play it with a crowd like that definitely surprised a few boys, I think. We haven’t spoken too much about it yet, in time through this Test match there may be a bit more spoken about it, maybe tomorrow morning and all that. But it was a great day, wasn’t it? I think everyone here that came and witnessed what went on will be very impressed just with the whole experience.”It [the pink ball] was slightly different to the red ball, you didn’t get much swing early on but there was a bit of seam movement throughout the day, so a lot of comparisons with how it is with the white ball, but cricket in general, it was supported well here, and I’m sure it would have been on TV and all over the world. I think for cricket it’s definitely been a great day.”

Yuvraj Singh has been fined 20% of his match fee for “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision” during the final ODI between India and Pakistan in Jaipur.Yuvraj was given out by umpire Suresh Shastri during India’s chase, after he miscued a pull off Umar Gul to the keeper. However, instead of walking, an upset Yuvraj stood his ground, and indicated the ball had hit his shoulder and not his bat or glove. Replays suggested that the ball had hit his shoulder.Though Yuvraj had been charged with “showing serious dissent at an umpire’s decision”, Roshan Mahanama, the ICC match referee, downgraded the charge to “showing dissent” after taking in to account the fact that Yuvraj, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, had apologised for any offence he may have caused and that it was his first appearance at a Code of Conduct hearing in eight years at the international level.”I took into account several factors in downgrading the charge, including the player’s previous excellent conduct, his apology at the hearing, the fact it was a spontaneous act out of character with his normal behaviour and that he did not appear to use foul or offensive language,” Mahanama said.”However, the fact remains that when the umpire raises his finger a player must leave the crease immediately and without question no matter what he may think of the decision.”That is one of cricket’s most fundamental principles and Yuvraj’s failure to adhere to that principle, especially given the message his action sends out to the millions of people watching at the ground and on television, merited some form of action.”

The trial of former Zimbabwean Test batsman Mark Vermeulen, who is charged with arson attacks against Zimbabwe Cricket property in November, has been postponed to July. This is the fifth time that the case has been postponed since he first appeared in court in December.Prosecutor Tawanda Zvekare told a Harare magistrate that the case could not be heard as the state was still deliberating over medical reports relating to Vermeulen’s mental health.”The accused is to be remanded until July 11,” Zvekare said, adding that “the medical affidavit which we were waiting for has been compiled, and we are (still) making final deliberations”. Vermeulen remains free on bail although his passport has been confiscated. He faces two counts of arson and will face 25 years in prison with hard labour if convicted.He is accused of first trying to burn the ZC boardroom at the Harare Sports Club ground in October 2006 – the fire was quickly put out – and then burning down the pavilion at the Academy the following day. That fire destroyed the main building and it remains gutted.As part of his defence, Vermeulen has been examined by a psychiatrist. Another medical report from Australia describing the effects of a serious skull fracture he sustained in January 2004 in a one-day match against India has also been submitted.

by 9 wickets – D/L method
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

An efficient bowling effort was followed up by a couple of confident half-centuries as India rolled along to a thumping nine-wicket win in the rain-affected one-off one-dayer against Ireland at Belfast. It was a comprehensive way to start a three-month-long tour and a victory that would provide them a boost ahead of the three-match series against South Africa, starting in three days’ time.Ireland’s innings never really got going – the top-order fell to swing, the middle to wrist-spin – and it took a fighting half-century from Niall O’Brien to prop them up to 193. Showers interrupted play exactly at the halfway point, costing more than two-and-a-half hours and leading to the target being revised to 171 off 39 overs, but an effervescent 163-run stand between Gautam Gambhir and Sourav Ganguly sped India to victory.Gambhir and Ganguly were the expected opening combination but Tendulkar walked out early, for the first time in a one-dayer since early December last year. The move didn’t pay off, though, with Tendulkar lasting just three deliveries: not accounting for swing, he attempted to flick a full ball from off to leg, leaving the gate wide open. Roger Whelan, on his one-day debut, couldn’t have imagined a better start.It meant Gambhir, coming off a century on India’s recent tour to Bangladesh, was in as early as the second over, slapping and flashing to anything wide of the stumps. He’s always liked width, backing himself with those jabs, but there were other strokes too: a delectable straight-drive off medium-pacer Trent Johnston and a crackling pull when Kevin O’Brien dropped it short.At the other end, there was more left-handed class on show. Ganguly struggled with his timing and placement early on but soon unfurled the gorgeous strokes, lacing silken drives on the up and giving the cover fielders no chance. The events of the 11th over, from Kevin O’Brien, encapsulated his innings: second ball, full and outside off, driven to cover; third ball, full and outside off, driven to cover; fourth ball, outside off, driven between mid-off and cover for four; fifth ball, full and outside off, driven to cover; sixth ball, full and outside off, advances down the track and drills it emphatically past mid-off for four. Uncertainty followed by certitude followed by dominance. He rarely blinked thereafter and stamped his authority with a straight six off Whelan towards the end.

The base was laid by the bowlers earlier in the day, in conditions that were ideal for fielding first. Sreesanth and Rudra Pratap Singh, bowlers with contrasting styles but similar curving deliveries, posed the early questions. Ironically, it was a straight delivery that produced the early breakthrough: Kenneth Carroll driving away from his body only for Dinesh Karthik to leap to his right and pull off a delightful catch.A scratchy yet consolidating partnership followed until Dominick Joyce drove loosely away from his body, getting a thicker edge that flew to Ganguly’s right at third slip. Ganguly surprised himself, and the sparse gathering that had turned up, with an athletic take, one that resulted in his 100th catch in one-dayers. William Porterfield managed an adhesive 46-ball 16, an innings which went well with the sleepy settings provided for this game and equally one that ensured that Ireland didn’t lose their way completely.Things got worse with the introduction of the 18-year-old legspinner, Piyush Chawla. Not the conventional sort of legspinner but one who relies on a flatter trajectory and a majority of googlies, Chawla had the Irish middle order in knots. A delightfully flighted topspinner undid Gary Wilson, who played around a full ball and was castled, before a googly lured Kevin O’Brien into a slog sweep, one that struck the top edge and got only as far as RP Singh at deep midwicket. Andrew White was flummoxed by a conventional legbreak that bounced a little extra and struck the outside edge.The situation was dire at 83 for 5 but Niall O’Brien produced a fighting knock, his fourth half-century in one-dayers. He wasn’t frustrated by the dot balls – a massive 224 of them in fact – and hung in there when wickets fell at the other end. Johnston’s was the more entertaining knock, cracking two sixes and a four towards the end, and boosted the total to close to 200 and set up some sort of a contest. Tendulkar’s early dismissal caused a few flutters but Ireland had little to cheer from then on.