All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe Test series between South Africa and Pakistan men may be neck-and-neck, but on the evidence of the first two matches of this one-day series, the women’s teams are ill-matched. South Africa completed a comprehensive victory at Pretoria for the second time in a week and are on course to take the five-match series in the next match on Wednesday.This match was a carbon copy of the last – South Africa racking up over 200 and then grabbing early wickets to puncture Pakistan’s confidence, leaving them unable to recover.Shabnin Ismail’s double-wicket strike in the tenth over left Pakistan deflated and they failed to regain any momentum. Always up against it, the pressure became too much for them and although South Africa failed to dislodge all of them, their run rate was far too slow from the outset.Cri-Zelda Brits again contributed a useful score for South Africa – taking her captaincy responsibilities seriously – and made a fifty as South Africa put on 226. Daleen Terblanche and Susan Benade also chipped in with forties.Pakistan, though, will take heart from their captain’s contribution, Urooj Mumtaz taking five wickets (although her economy rate was 5.85), and from the fact that they took all ten wickets.

Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, may not be available for the Indian Premier League’s auction on Wednesday because of a legal complication. Lawyers for the Indian Cricket League (ICL) have, in a letter to the owners of the IPL’s eight franchises, said Yousuf’s legal status is currently the subject of arbitration, under which his participation in the IPL has been stayed.”Mohammad Yousuf cannot participate in the tournament organised by the IPL or any other tournament organised by any other league in direct competition with the Indian Cricket League,” ALMT, the lawyers representing the ICL, said in the letter. “Such participation would amount to breach of the order and our client reserve their right to take such other legal recourse against all parties concerned.”Yousuf initially signed up with the ICL after being dropped from Pakistan’s squad for the World Twenty20 last September. Soon after, however, he was convinced by the PCB to turn his back on the ICL, represent Pakistan and also sign up with the IPL, the rival tournament officially sanctioned by the BCCI.The matter went into arbitration where Yousuf’s lawyer, Tafuzzal Rizvi, argued he had “no contract” with the ICL as the money [paid to Yousuf] was “received back by the ICL without any objection”. However the presiding judge passed an order on December 15, 2007, restraining Yousuf from appearing in the IPL or any league rivalling the ICL, and to maintain status quo till further orders.Wednesday’s high-profile auction in Mumbai will see the eight franchises bid for 80-odd players, including several top internationals. Yousuf’s name is included in the IPL’s roster but whether it will be there on Wednesday morning is a moot point.

Match facts

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The Big Picture

Chennai and Punjab clashed for the first time in the second match of the Indian Premier League and a century from Michael Hussey ensured that the match was a no-contest. Since then Punjab have hit a formidable run of form, and are on a five-match winning streak, while Chennai took a beating after their top performers left. Punjab’s strength lies in their contingent of effective Indian bowlers – Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, VRV Singh and Piyush Chawla – which allows them to pack their top order with quality international batsmen to complement Yuvraj Singh.Chennai suffered three consecutive defeats before they were able to fine-tune their combination after the departures of Matthew Hayden, Hussey and Jacob Oram and beat the Delhi Daredevils. They restructured their batting order: dropping Parthiv Patel, who had scored 96 in seven innings, and opening with S Vidyut. They also promoted their best batsmen – Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Albie Morkel – to No. 3 and No. 5 respectively with Suresh Raina at No 4. The changes gave Chennai’s batting solidity at the top and the tinkering was vindicated as they chased down 188.

Tournament position

Chennai Super Kings P8, W5, L3, NRR -0.001
Kings XI Punjab P7, W5, L2, NRR +0.442

IPL form (last five matches)

Chennai Super Kings: WLLLW
Kings XI Punjab: WWWWW

Watch out for …

Caribbean Premier League chief executive Damien O’Donohoe has said that the league is committed to put development over profits as the key aim of the CPL’s foray into the United States for the 2016 season. The CPL announced on Wednesday that six games will be held in the USA this July and O’Donohoe says making tickets affordable to bring in new fans is a high priority.”I think the opportunity to play games is obviously a huge opportunity both for ourselves and for the ICC in terms of developing the game,” O’Donohoe said from the CPL draft in Barbados. “We’re going to be the first professional league. We’ve seen the All-Stars games go in there in November and it was great to see the turn-out even though the ticket price was very expensive.Less than 15% of the available tickets for the Cricket All-Stars matches in New York, Houston and Los Angeles originally went on sale for $50-75, while the overwhelming majority of tickets were priced at $150 or more all the way up to $325 in Los Angeles. Though the crowds were large compared to other venues around the world, the vibrant scenes were dwarfed by empty seats, especially in Los Angeles with a crowd of 20,900 showing up to the 56,000-seater Dodger Stadium.When West Indies hosted New Zealand in 2012 at the Central Broward Regional Park [CBRP] in Florida, general admission on the grass bank on the north boundary cost $20 while reserved seats under the south grandstand were priced at $30. The low prices produced an estimated crowd of 15,000 people for the opening T20I of that series. It was recognised as a sell-out crowd for the CBRP, though temporary seats could have been added to accommodate up to 5,000 more people. O’Donohoe hopes that same formula will lead to success for the CPL in the USA.”We’re going to go in a very low-end ticket price and make these games accessible to everyone because this is about developing the game, building a fan base in the US and growing the game internationally. The West Indies have hosted games there but we’re going to be the first professional T20 league. Now that’s an opportunity obviously but it’s also a risk.”Although the CPL release stated only that games would be played in the USA, the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida is the only ICC-certified ODI stadium venue in the country. Multiple sources told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday that the CBRP has been reserved for use by the CPL from July 17 to 31. Even though O’Donohoe would like to plant the seeds of CPL interest beyond Florida, having a lone ICC-certified turf pitch venue limits his options.”We haven’t confirmed exactly where we’re going to play the games just yet,” O’Donohoe said. “Obviously the lack of stadiums is always going to be a challenge. There’s only one at Lauderhill as we know but we’ve always wanted to play games in the US as part of CPL and we’ve said that from day one. So now we have the opportunity and we’ve been working very closely with Tim Anderson and Dave Richardson at the ICC in terms of just how we’re going to enter the US market but we really have one chance and we need to make sure we get it right.”With everything that we do there’s a Caribbean flavor and hopefully we can mirror what we did in the Caribbean in the US. Cricket has been on the decline a little bit here. No one makes any secret of that and I think CPL has done amazingly well to revitalize and reenergize cricket here in the Caribbean and we want to take that same approach to the US.”O’Donohoe says both the quantity and quality of player applications took a big step up for this year’s competition, an indication to him that the CPL is fast turning into a desirable destination for both players and fans. He hopes that bringing matches to the USA is another forward step in building up the profile of the league one he feels is worth mentioning in the same category as the IPL and Big Bash.”The standard of players that we’ve had apply and from 14 or 15 countries around the world, it just shows how far CPL has come,” O’Donohoe said. “I think playing the games in America is just another statement just to show how serious we are and hopefully that we’re seen now as one of the big three in terms of the T20 leagues around the world.”

Glenn McGrath believes the MCG Test is the ideal time for Australia to relax the tradition of playing a spinner and pick a pace quartet instead. Stuart MacGill’s wrist surgery has left Brad Hogg as the only frontline slow-bowling choice, but McGrath thinks Australia’s speed options provide enough variety.McGrath said with India’s prowess against turn, using four fast men on Boxing Day was a possibility. “Australia has always gone in with a spinner, but it isn’t the way it has to be,” McGrath told AAP. “You have to look at the make-up of the team, Stuey Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Brett – they’ve all done a great job.”If a fourth quick bowler was required McGrath said it would have to be Shaun Tait. Tait seems to have shaken off an elbow injury, bowling strongly in the Pura Cup, and was promoted to Australia’s limited-overs teams to face New Zealand this week.”It would be pretty awesome to see Brett, Mitchell and Shaun coming in, bowling 150kph plus,” McGrath said. “That would be something that hasn’t been seen around world cricket for a long time.”McGrath, who retired after the World Cup in April, was confident Australia could deflect the challenge of India during the four-Test series. “The way the Australian team plays, especially at home, India are going to have to do something very special,” he said.”If you look at our batting line-up, and then the bowlers, it’s a pretty awesome team still. Sourav [Ganguly] and the Australians have always had a love-hate relationship, but he’s a quality player, and Sachin [Tendulkar] is class, so I’m sure there’ll be testing times there but I back Australia the whole way.”

Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, feels his wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni shortly before stumps on day two was a turning point for Pakistan in the Feroz Shah Kotla Test. Kaneria said that moment allowed Pakistan the chance to come back in the game, and given the aim was to set India at least a 300-run target, he could have a winning role in the series opener.”Sachin Tendulkar’s run out and disturbing the Dhoni-[VVS] Laxman partnership were important” said Kaneria after an absorbing day’s play. “Dhoni’s wicket was a good breakthrough, especially when they have a long tail. Dhoni is in good form and is an aggressive player who keeps the scoreboard ticking. So claiming his wicket has helped the team a lot.”India were in serious trouble at 93 for 5 but a115-run sixth-wicket stand between Laxman and Dhoni took them extremely close to Pakistan’s total of 231. Kaneria still felt the match was could swing either team’s way.”This is a five-day match and every day is different with one team up one day and another the next day. Today it is balanced,” he said. “We have come back in the match after the breakthrough. Tomorrow morning we will do well.”Batting on day four, said Kaneria, would not be easy. “We did not have the first innings advantage but we’ll give them a target as the fourth day will be difficult to bat with the wicket deteriorating and becoming very slow and low. If we give them a target of 300 we can win the match.”There has not been much sunlight on these two days so wicket has not broken yet. It could be difficult to play spin tomorrow. We will like to come and bowl them out in the morning tomorrow. I can have a vital role in winning the match for Pakistan.”Meanwhile, injured fast bowler Umar Gul, ruled out of this Test with a back sprain, remains in doubt for the second Test. According to Salahuddin Ahmed, chief selector, Pakistan may call up Rao Iftikhar Anjum as his replacement. “I don’t think Gul will be fit for the second Test. We may bring Iftikhar Anjum back to India,” Salahuddin told PTI. “Iftikhar did very well in the ODIs against South Africa.”An unnamed source in the Pakistan team disclosed that a decision on Gul would be taken in the next few days. “We have sent the [MRI] reports to Pakistan and after consulting with the orthopedics and other medical experts a decision will be taken on whether to retain him or send him back,” the source said.

Ashes Test series in Australia are set to be rescheduled so they don’t take place just before the World Cup, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board has announced.David Collier said he was in discussion with his Cricket Australia counterpart, James Sutherland, and they would soon be putting forward proposals to their respective boards. Collier insisted England were “locked in” to their current programme until 2011 because of agreements already in place with other boards.England are due to host an Ashes series in 2013. Breaking the cycle so the next Ashes in Australia didn’t lead up to the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand could see them played in 2012. But Collier said clashing with the London Olympics in 2012 would be “suicide” and that the series would be shifted forward instead to 2014.England have never won the World Cup and there is a feeling within English cricket their chances were being hampered by a lead-in of a busy home programme followed by an Ashes tour. Australia’s hectic summer of cricket in 2006-07 did not seem to affect their World Cup efforts, however, as they went through the tournament undefeated.

Jamie Siddons has become the latest Australian to take charge of a Test team after accepting the role as coach of Bangladesh. Siddons, an assistant coach with Australia, will arrive in Dhaka on Monday to finalise his contract.Last month it was reported that Siddons was unlikely to become the team’s coach after his terms and conditions did not match those of the Bangladesh board. But today Siddons said: “I am thrilled to announce that I have accepted an offer from the BCB to coach the Bangladesh national team.”Siddons is considered one of Australia’s greatest domestic players never to win a Test cap. He made 11,587 first-class runs at 44.91, playing for Victoria and South Australia between 1984-85 and 1999-2000, and played a solitary ODI in Lahore in 1988.Siddons has been continually involved with the national team since retirement. He was appointed as a senior coach at the Centre of Excellence before the 2005 Ashes and then became an assistant coach with the Australian team.Bangladesh have been looking for a coach since Dav Whatmore decided to quit the post following India’s tour of Bangladesh in May. Shaun Williams, the assistant coach, has been in charge of side since then. Siddons’ appointment means Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh all have former Australian state or international players coaching them.

Victoria’s emerging fast bowler Peter Siddle says he will draw extra motivation from playing against a near Test-quality New South Wales team in the Pura Cup final. The Blues have included Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Stuart MacGill, Michael Clarke, Phil Jaques and Brad Haddin, but Siddle believes the less well-known Victorians have nothing to fear.”You always want to play against the best players,” Siddle said. “These names come back and they’re the blokes playing for Australia at the minute, and obviously if you do well against these type of players the selectors take notice.”Unlike New South Wales, Victoria have a reasonably settled line-up, although they have had injury concerns with their fast bowlers. Siddle has had ongoing shoulder worries – he had a reconstruction in 2006, dislocated it earlier this year and aggravated it a couple of weeks ago – but he is confident he is now fully fit.The niggles have limited him to four Pura Cup matches this season, however his results have been outstanding. He has 24 wickets this summer at 14.70 and has drawn praise from Victoria’s coach Greg Shipperd, who believes Siddle, 23, should be in the national selectors’ plans for the years ahead.”He’s bowled brilliantly in the games that he’s played for us,” Shipperd said. “He’s a really hit-the-wicket-hard, aggressive character and we have high hopes for him in the game and in the future.”The burden will not be entirely on Siddle when the final begins at the SCG on Saturday, with all of Victoria’s top bowlers available apart from Gerard Denton, who has ankle soreness. Shipperd said he had no doubt the Bushrangers could overcome the disadvantage of playing away from home.”It’s a wicket that is going to attract an outright result and so that’s what we need,” Shipperd said. “We played up there recently and the ball spun enormously day one, so we think that will assist all spinners in the game but it will also attract the opportunity to take 20 wickets and that’s what we’re looking for to win the game.”Last time Victoria played in a Pura Cup final they were destroyed by Queensland, who piled on 6 for 900 at the Gabba. That was only two seasons ago but the state’s personnel has changed significantly in that time and Shipperd is certain there will be no lingering anxiety in the current squad.”That’s in the distant memory now,” Shipperd said. “We’ve got different faces in the team, we’ve got a different bowling attack, we’ve got a side that’s got two years’ more experience under its belt.”Siddle was only a rookie back then and was not required for the decider. He has vivid memories of Victoria’s most recent Pura Cup triumph, which came at the MCG in 2003-04 when Siddle, then 19, was still making his way with his club side Dandenong.”It’s amazing, I can remember coming here four years ago when they won it at home here against Queensland, just watching those blokes then,” Siddle said. “Hearing about the celebrations and being part of the team and winning something so big, it is exciting and hopefully I can be a part of that myself.”Siddle and Shane Harwood are the two inclusions in Victoria’s 13-man squad with Darren Pattinson dropped from the side that beat Queensland on the weekend. The two main decisions for the selectors are whether to ask Rob Quiney or Lloyd Mash to open with Nick Jewell, and which of Clint McKay and Dirk Nannes will be retained in the attack.Victoria squad Nick Jewell, Rob Quiney, Lloyd Mash, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Cameron White (capt), Andrew McDonald, Adam Crosthwaite (wk), Shane Harwood, Peter Siddle, Clint McKay, Bryce McGain, Dirk Nannes.

Netherlands 107 (Burger 4-44) and 161 for 3 (ten Doeschate 47*) trail Namibia 337 by 69 runs
ScorecardSeventeen wickets fell on the second day of Namibia’s Intercontinental Cup match against Netherlands in Windhoek, as Namibia took complete control. After compiling 337, Namibia’s opening bowlers tore through Netherlands to dismiss them for 107, forcing them to follow-on. At stumps they had moved to 161 for 3, still trailing by 69 with two days to go.The day’s precedent was set in the first few overs. Namibia, resuming on 322 for 5, collapsed to 337 all out to lose their last five wickets in six overs. But their bowlers gained revenge, with Kola Burger and Louis Klazinga sharing seven wickets and helping to reduce Netherlands to 52 for 7. Their star batsman, Ryan ten Doeschate, made only 6, though Peter Borren (35 from 52) and Eric Szwarczynski (23) at least allowed Netherlands to pass 100 with some entertaining hitting. To further compound Netherlands’ fortunes, Pieter Seelaar was hit in the face by a bouncer from Gerrie Snyman and is not expected to play any further part in the match.At least Netherlands made a better fist of things in their second innings. Alexei Kervezee and Tom de Grooth both fell cheaply before Bas Zuiderent, their experienced No. 3, dropped anchor in a resilient 52. He shared in a third-wicket stand of 91 with ten Doeschate who remained unbeaten on 47. Only he can save Netherlands from a thumping defeat.