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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.

Japanese wicketkeeper-batsman Tatsuro Chino may be small in stature but he is making a big splash in East Asia Pacific cricket circles.The talented Chino has been selected in the EAP squad for the 2007 Australian Country Cricket Championships, and through the support of Cricket Victoria’s partnership with the Japan Cricket Association, is spending an Australian summer playing with Balwyn CC in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association.In addition to his playing activities Chino also stepped out on Tuesday 28 November to help Cricket Australia launch a new school resource titled ‘CricKids Playing in Harmony’.Tackling social and community issues such as bullying, racism, prejudice, leadership and fair play, as well as curriculum subjects such as English, Art and Information Technology using cricket as a basis, the resource aims to reach 70,000 students and teachers over the next 12 months.The resource launch, held at Melbourne’s Federation Square, saw hundreds of students take part in cricket activities with Chino providing encouragement and advice throughout the day.Chino is also spending time coaching junior players at Balwyn CC while in Melbourne, and is scheduled to travel to Fiji in late January to assist the Japan team in the EAP Under 15 Cricket 8s. A conversation with Chino will leave you in no doubt about as to where this impressive young man is heading … as far and wide as his cricket journey will take him!

Jarret Park might have been packed for the Indians’ warm-up game against a Jamaica XI but it’s pretty obvious that cricket’s popularity has taken quite a battering in these parts. The declining standards of the West Indian side appear to have triggered a sense of disillusionment, and it’s not too uncommon to find young boys veering towards other sports. One man, though, can change all that and, on the eve of the first game, he faced the press with an air of assurance.Brian Lara made it clear that the 5-0 verdict against Zimbabwe could hardly be used as an index to measure West Indies’ competitiveness. The real battle was just about to begin. “We’ve definitely improved over the last two or three weeks – ever since I took over as captain – but we can’t use Zimbabwe as an indicator. I’m 90% happy with our current form but we need to work on a few areas. Our allrounders did well with the ball and on the field, but they need to do more with the bat.”The mere fact that they won, though, and that too comprehensively, could be a vital factor. “Winning can be contagious,” he continued, “and it’s important to keep our momentum going.” Also, a number of new players capitalised on the rotation policy and grabbed their chances. “All good teams around the world have been resting players and we rotated some during the last series. Players like Carlton Baugh, who was picked for the last two games, took his chance and ended up replacing the earlier keeper [Ramdin].”But would he experiment against India? “You wouldn’t want to experiment too much while playing against a tough team. We have a pretty settled batting line-up and also have the option to change batting positions around.”Rahul Dravid pretty much made it clear that India would continue to be flexible. “It’s benefited us in the past, helped us to not rely on particular individuals.”Both captains agreed that India’s new crop of fast bowlers could make the difference. “We haven’t seen too much of them but are using videos of the England and Pakistan series to analyse their performance,” said Lara. “They appear to have a varied attack.” Dravid proffered another angle: “Most of them haven’t come to West Indies earlier and it’s good in a way because they won’t be carrying the scars of defeat. The history of experiencing toughtours won’t haunt them.”

ScorecardNorth Zone put in a good, strong bowling performance and then followed it up with a fluent batting performance to canter to victory by seven wickets against Central Zone. The stars of the day were Joginder Sharma, who bowled with intelligence and control, and then later Gautam Gambhir, who unleashed a volley of boundaries as North Zone chased down 196 with plenty of time to spare.When Dinesh Mongia, who won the toss, chose to bowl, it didn’t appear to be the brightest decision. Although there was a bit of live grass on the surface, the pitch was still very good for batting. But he made the decision keeping the dew factor in mind, and in the end it was one that paid off.VRV Singh and Ashish Nehra got North off to the perfect start, picking off the two openers cheaply. VRV blasted out Faiz Fazal while Nehra had Monish Mishra trapped plumb in front. Mohammad Kaif, the Central Zone skipper, teamed up with Shreyas Khanolkar, and the two began the repair operation from 15 for 2.Khanolkar was steady, and took no chances against either VRV or Nehra, but Kaif, clearly not at his best, struggled to get going. With the runs not coming through big shots, and the singles stifled as well, the pressure gradually built. And when Joginder came on to bowl first change, Kaif went after him, but failed to do more than get a thin edge to an attempted pull shot.From then on, while Khanolkar sealed his end up, the wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end. Abbas Ali played on to his stumps, Piyush Chawla shouldered arms to an inswinger and was lbw, Jai P Yadav flashed one to Shikhar Dhawan in the slips – all off the bowling of Joginder. At 81 for 6 Central Zone were staring at being skittled out for a humiliatingly low score, but were saved the blushes by some spirited lower-order batting.Rohit Jhalani (20), Murali Kartik (22) and Pankaj Singh (28) all contributed, but the only meaningful score of the innings was 57 from Khanolkar, and this meant that Central Zone could muster just 195.When North Zone began the pursuit of 196, they gave Central Zone hint of a chance as two wickets fell for 53. But Central Zone could not take the risks they needed to, or set attacking enough fields, given they did not have the runs on the board. With this being the case, Dhawan and Gambhir settled into an easy groove and began picking off the bowlers.Both Gambhir and Dhawan look to play their shots, and today was no exception. There were pleasing punches back down the ground, some flashy drives through the off side and occasionally the pick-up shot over the leg side. Their partnership stretched to 140 before Dhawan was acrobatically caught by RP Singh on the fine-leg fence after he had top-edged a pull shot. By then Dhawan had scored 51 and only three runs were needed for victory. Gambhir obliged, spanking his 13th boundary, to go with one six, and was unbeaten on a 98-ball 95 as North reached the target.

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 …

Sialkot Stallions 151 (Imran Nazir 46, Fawad Alam 5-27) beat Karachi Dolphins 137 for 7 (Fawad Alam 54) by 14 runs
ScorecardThe fast emerging talented young cricketer Fawad Alam swept away most of the individual awards on a night to remember, but he still couldn’t help his team Karachi Dolphins win the Twenty20 Cup final, as they were defeated by 14 runs by defending champions Sialkot Stallions at the National Stadium.Playing without their skipper Shahid Afridi, who had proceeded to perform the Haj, the Dolphins were visibly depleted but they did well to bowl the Stallions out for 151 in their 20 overs, after having asked them to bat in the day/night encounter.But in spite of the left-handed Fawad’s heroics, the Dolphins fell short by 14 runs in the end, scoring 137 for 7 by the time their overs ran out. With his left-arm slows Fawad first took 5 for 27 in his four overs and then hit a 43-ball 54, with three fours and a six, playing on for a while after having suffered from severe cramps and batting with a runner.The Stallions retained the title they won in 2005-06 also and bagged the glittering trophy and a whopping cash award of a million rupees. The Dolphins were still richer by Rs 500,000 as the runners-up.The 21-year-old Fawad was not only declared Man of the Match but also named Man of the Series. In addition, he won both the Best Batsman and Best Bowler prizes. All awards were worth Rs 25,000 each. Mohammad Salman of Faisalabad Wolves was declared the tournament’s Best Wicketkeeper and fast bowler Mohammad Asif of Sialkot Stallions clinched the Best Fielder award.Sialkot were off to an 80 runs start in 8.4 overs but their last seven wickets fell for 35 runs in 28 balls. Imran Nazir hit 46 off 31 balls with seven fours and a six while Shoaib Malik made 31 off 23 balls with a four and two sixes.When the Dolphins batted, they just couldn’t build up the tempo as the Sialkot bowlers kept them in check. As many as 23 runs were needed in the last over but three wickets fell while Tahir Mughal bowled very intelligently.

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.”

Many of Australia’s World Cup-winning cricketers are thankful for their four-month break from the game – Shane Watson is cursing it. Watson’s summer was so dominated by injuries that until his return late in the CB Series his season was almost a write-off. He finally got fit only to spend his winter in training, waiting to prove himself in a hectic 2007-08.On a dark, drizzly June day in Melbourne, Watson appeared out of place helping to launch Cricket Australia’s ticketing program for next season. He looks like a man built for action, one who should never be kept indoors. But just like a muscular, blond He-Man figurine, when he’s tested too vigorously in real-world conditions his limbs have a habit of falling apart.He eventually overcame his persistent hamstring problems and began finding form in the Caribbean only to be sidelined again, this time with a calf injury. When he played there were glimpses of brilliance – his 32-ball 65 against New Zealand at Grenada won over many unconvinced fans – but his winter lay-off has been awkward.”The way it worked out personally it’s not really ideal because I didn’t play too much cricket this summer,” Watson said. “But in a way it’s been excellent because I’ve been able to sit down with a few guys and work out the best way to train over this winter, to work out the reasons why things have been happening and then proceed to get them right.”It seemed there were almost daily updates on his hamstring last season and it was a lot of hype for a player who still has only three Tests to his name. Although his first-class batting average of 49.22 is attractive, Watson knows the time has come to justify the selectors’ faith in him with an extended and productive run in the team. He has set his sights on 18 months of injury-free cricket.”The [training] techniques that I’m doing will just be changed moderately,” he said. “It’s more just the resting between when I’m doing weights and things, which does make a big difference. The big goal for me is to get through 18 months. What I do, being an allrounder, definitely puts my body under a fair bit more pressure, bowling and batting.”His target would mean staying on the field from Australia’s opening tournament of 2007-08, the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in September, through home series against Sri Lanka and India and a busy 2008 that will feature more than 20 Tests. Watson was in Australia’s Ashes plans last summer but his hamstring dramas allowed Andrew Symonds to grasp his chance at No. 6.Watson is therefore deadly serious about his aim to replace Justin Langer as Matthew Hayden’s opening partner, although much will hinge on where he bats with Queensland at the start of the domestic season. “There’s big opportunities there this summer,” Watson said. “Like anything you need to be performing at the right time and be fit at the right time to make the most of those opportunities.”I had a bit of a chat to Queensland at the end of last summer about the prospects of batting in the top order so they’re really keen to try and get the best out of me as well as the team. Hopefully that opportunity will come at the start of the year and I’ll be able to press my claims.”Watson has opened in Australia’s ODI line-up and has spent time at No. 3 and 4 in Pura Cup matches. He believes he is technically and mentally ready for the Australian top-order. “I batted high up in the order, No. 3, for Tasmania and did really well [making four centuries in 2003-04],” he said. “Opening and No. 3 can be – as everyone’s seen with David Boon, with Justin Langer – interchangeable.”Wherever he fits into Australia’s side, Watson is unquestionably in their long-term blueprint for success. For now, all he wants is 18 injury-free months to prove, to himself as much as anyone, that he deserves to be there. “To be able to have a good crack at it would be awesome,” he said, “for me to be able to see how good I can be at international level.”

Defending champions Karnataka began their Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign with defeat, as Railways hung on for a one-wicket win off the last ball in Bangalore. Chasing 229, Railways were struggling at 70 for 4 once their opener Asad Pathan was dismissed for 50. However, Mahesh Rawat and Karn Sharma chipped in with fifties of their own, and Railways were seemingly on track at 190 for 5. Karnataka, though, wrestled their way back into the game, as bursts from Vinay Kumar and Aniruddha Joshi saw Railways lose four wickets for 32 runs, with the equation now reading seven required off nine balls, with one wicket in hand. Railways’ final pair of Akshat Pandey and Krishnakant Upadhyay held their nerve though, with Pandey striking two fours during a run-a-ball 19 to complete the win.Karnataka would have hoped to post a total in excess of 228 for 9 when their openers Mayank Agarwal and Lokesh Rahul added 60 inside 13 overs. However, Pandey (3 for 45) and Ashish Yadav (3 for 25) struck blows at regular intervals to throw the hosts off course, and only an unbeaten 48-ball 50 from the captain Vinay dragged Karnataka above the 200-run mark.Half-centuries from Ishank Jaggi and Kaushal Singh set Jharkhand up for a nine-run win over Jammu and Kashmir in Alur. Jaggi’s 54 at the top of the order, and Kaushal’s 64-ball 53 at No. 7 helped Jharkhand post a total of 210 after they were sent in to bat. Sixties from Shubham Khajuria and Parvez Rasool took J&K to a strong 144 for 2 in the 36th over, but they slipped thereafter, losing both in the space of seven balls to finish on 201 for 7.Jharkhand’s win came despite lukewarm displays from their two biggest stars. Batting at No. 5, MS Dhoni was out for 9 off 24 balls, while Varun Aaron, bowling first-change, went wicketless, conceding 52 in his 10 overs. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem was their most successful bowler, with figures of 3 for 28.Three-wicket hauls from Jayant Yadav and Amit Mishra fired Haryana to a nine-run win against Kerala in Alur. Kerala were struggling at 106 for 9 in their chase of 242, but recovered through a 92-run partnership between Sachin Baby and Padmanabhan Prasanth. Prasanth was dismissed for 27, but with three wickets in hand, and Baby still at the crease, Kerala had every chance of gunning down their required 44 runs off six overs. Kerala were unable to gather the required acceleration though, and three wickets in the final over, bowled by Mohit Sharma, meant Haryana hung on for victory.Earlier, Haryana’s 241 for 7 was built on the back of fifties from Nitin Saini and Mohit Hooda, and the pair’s 95-run partnership. Besides just sharing six wickets between them, Jayant and Mishra also contributed with the bat, scoring 40 and 27 respectively.

Though he took three catches on the second day of the first Test against South Africa in Karachi, it was the one that got away from Kamran Akmal yesterday which could yet cost Pakistan.Jacques Kallis was on 36 when he attempted to cut Danish Kaneria. He succeeded only in edging it; Akmal succeeded only in fluffing it. He rectified it but, 55 overs and 119 Kallis runs later, the true cost of the drop may ultimately prove much higher.This isn’t a one-off, of course. Akmal’s form behind the stumps since his remarkable first year in the team as a regular has deteriorated so spectacularly that one journalist quipped that Kallis had found the unluckiest way to be dismissed in cricket: ‘caught Akmal’.He has been persisted with through 27 consecutive Tests, and if the first 15 Tests were outstanding, the last 12 have been exceedingly poor. His batting has fallen away (only three fifties in that period) and he has read spinners, particularly Danish Kaneria, as adroitly as Englishmen used to pick Abdul Qadir.Opinion on what has happened is not particularly diverse. Rashid Latif and Wasim Bari have long felt there are technical problems and that he should be rested. Imtiaz Ahmed, Pakistan’s first Test wicketkeeper, agrees, though he points out Akmal’s poor footwork particularly to the spinners.”His [Akmal’s] initial movement is wrong: he should be moving his right foot to the right to an off-stump line, and not back as he does at the moment,” he told Cricinfo. “The technical shortcomings aren’t anything that can’t be overcome but he has to work at it. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take him through recordings of his early career when he did well.”The only question is how long Pakistan can persist with a man who has become, some snigger, the poor man’s Parthiv Patel. The selection committee has already started asking it. “He is a little off-colour at the moment,” Salahuddin Ahmed, Pakistan’s chief selector, admitted, “and we have been looking at other options as we should.”Those options include Sarfraz Ahmed, who was captain and wicketkeeper of the Pakistan U-19 team that won the World Cup in 2006. He has since been impressing on the domestic circuit and played against the South Africans in the tour match for the Patron’s XI.”Sarfraz was impressive in the warm-up and he also played a couple of crucial, fighting innings against Australia A, so he’s in form,” Salahuddin said. Also in the fray are Rawalpindi’s Zulqarnain Haider and Faisalabad’s Mohammad Salman, who comes with recommendations by Rashid Latif.Immediate change is still unlikely – though not ruled out – mostly because of the security Akmal’s batting brings, especially on slower, subcontinent pitches. He opened Pakistan’s innings in place of Salman Butt and contributed a quickfire 42 to a much-needed solid start. “He is still agood batsman and that certainly helps his cause,” Salahuddin said. “It is a dilemma certainly and one we have to take a decision on.” Sooner, you think, rather than later.