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Graham Napier’s superb bowling and Jaik Mickleburgh’s unbeaten century enabled Essex to enjoy the better of their second day against Leicestershire.

18-Jul-2013
ScorecardJaik Mickleburgh continued his mid-season resurgence•Getty ImagesGraham Napier’s superb bowling and Jaik Mickleburgh’s unbeaten century enabled Essex to enjoy the better of their second day against Leicestershire.The hosts finished on 216 for 4 at Chelmsford, in reply to an all out total of 365 by Division Two’s bottom side. The morning session saw Napier, with his brisk pace, produce a sensational spell after the visitors had moved beyond 350 with only four wickets down.Napier got rid of the overnight pair of Ned Eckersley and Matt Boyce after they had put together a century partnership, and he went on to rip through the tail, claiming five wickets in the space of 15 deliveries at a personal cost of just three runs.With offspinner Greg Smith chipping in with the wicket of Ollie Freckingham, the visitors lost their last six wickets for as many runs after they had resumed on 328 for 4 and moved to 359 before they were blown apart.Napier embarked upon his destructive trail by having Boyce caught behind for 54 to end a stand of 147. He then ended the fine innings of Eckersley by deceiving him with a slower delivery – but not before the right-hander had moved to a career-best 147.That effort contained 17 fours and two sixes and embraced 277 deliveries, andNapier followed-up those successes by having Josh Cobb caught, and bowling both Anthony Ireland and Alex Wyatt.It gave him figures of 5 for 77 from 20.3 overs and followed his 7 for90 when the counties met at Grace Road in their previous Championship match.Napier’s performance came on a day when fellow paceman David Masters missed the action after being caught up in a traffic jam following a pile-up on the M25. The former Leicestershire bowler did not arrive until after lunch – by which time the Essex reply was well under way.Mickleburgh and Hamish Rutherford put the Essex innings on a firm foundation with a stand of 61, before the New Zealander was guilty of a careless stroke against Ireland to be caught by Wyatt at deep backward square leg.Smith quickly followed when he edged to Joe Burns in the slips to provide offspinner Sykes, who was making his debut, with the first Championship wicket of his career.Owais Shah perished when he pushed forward against Wyatt to be caught behind just before the 100 was raised and Ryan ten Doeschate lazily drove Freckingham to mid-off.Amid the setbacks, Mickleburgh grew in confidence and punctuated the field with several well-timed strokes as he set sail for his first century of the summer.He eventually got there by cover driving Shiv Thakor to the boundary, his 13th, and by the close he had added another three boundaries to move to 121.Keeping him company was Ben Foakes, who will resume tomorrow on 25 and has so far helped the opener add 65 for the fifth wicket.

Hyderabad Sunrisers have now won five in five after routing Delhi Daredevils with 37 balls remaining

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran04-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Delhi Daredevils’ campaign is dead and buried•BCCIA couple of years ago, the Hyderabad Cricket Association had performed several at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal seeking divine intervention to change the fortunes of the home side which seemed to invariably lose at the venue. Whether it was India, the local Ranji side or the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, the Hyderabad crowd turned up only to see their side defeated.Whether it is due to the or not, the home side’s fortunes have certainly changed at the Uppal stadium. India won two Tests there this season, and the new franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad have now won five in five after routing Delhi Daredevils with 37 balls remaining.The bedrock of Sunrisers’ surprisingly successful season so far has been the bowling. Dale Steyn has bowled with frightening pace, Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma have used their googlies to flummox the batsmen, Thisara Perera has had plenty of success with both bat and ball and Ishant Sharma, usually so profligate in the limited-overs format, has been effective with the new ball. All of that came together perfectly as they hounded out Daredevils for 80, the lowest total of the season.Daredevils’ campaign had been on life support over the past week, with a couple of victories just about keeping them alive in the competition. Their chances are now dead and buried after their faltering batting failed once again. There were only four fours and one six in the entire innings, less than what AB de Villiers managed in a single over against Ashok Dinda earlier this week.Their openers survived a couple of pacy, probing overs from Steyn at the start before Asad Rauf gave a rough lbw decision to Mahela Jayawardene. Virender Sehwag followed soon after as he missed an indipper from Darren Sammy and lost his offstump. That left only David Warner among the big names, and though he was put down on 6, he couldn’t make it to double-digits as he misread a Mishra googly and was stumped by yards.The Sunrisers quicks had a plan on a track that was slow and had some variable bounce – they didn’t bowl anything full, giving nothing that could be driven easily. The surface also offered turn for the spinners, which both Mishra and Karan exploited.Daredevils had lengthened their batting with the inclusion of two overseas allrounders, Johan Botha and Jeevan Mendis, but it was to little avail. Mendis holed out to long-on, Botha top-edged to the keeper, and Irfan Pathan dragged on a Steyn delivery to the stumps. Daredevils went from 70 for 5 to 80 all out.Sunrisers major weakness is their frail batting, and the pitch was not a batting beauty but the target was too small for Daredevils’ bowlers to stand a real chance of defending it. Shikhar Dhawan made it seem like a flat track early on with some sumptuous shots, and though there were a few hiccups, Sunrisers maintained their 100% home record without too much trouble.

Mitchell Starc will fly home from India to have surgery on his ankle and will miss the fourth and final Test in Delhi

Brydon Coverdale19-Mar-2013Mitchell Starc will fly home from India to have surgery on his ankle and will miss the fourth and final Test in Delhi.Starc has been affected by bone spurs in his right ankle for some time and the problem was a key factor in him being rested for the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka, and while he was able to continue through the rest of the Australian summer and the Indian tour, the Australians are hoping an early operation will ensure he is fully fit for the Ashes.Starc was one of Australia’s strongest performers in the loss in Mohali, where he scored 99 and 35, and collected two wickets during a spell of impressive swing bowling with the second new ball in India’s second innings. However, with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy now in India’s hands, the Australian team management decided that Starc’s injury was best dealt with immediately to give him the best chance of being available for the tour of England.”Mitch has been experiencing ankle pain related to bone spurs during the India Test series and whilst manageable, this represents an appropriate time for Mitch to have the surgery with a view to having him fully fit for the Ashes in late June,” the team doctor Peter Brukner said. “Mitch will have surgery later this week and we’ll assess his recovery as he returns to bowling.”Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur said Starc could have continued playing but that could have been more of a risk than booking him in for the operation now.”I think the dilemma with Mitchell Starc, as it has been throughout the whole summer, is he has these bone spurs,” Arthur said. “They are going to snap at some stage – we just had to look for what we thought was the best possible window to get them done, or not get them done and just take the risk.”We looked at it now and just thought ‘this is a proper gap for us to be able to get it done, clean it out’ so that he can come back with no gamble and no I guess injury cloud at all. It gives us a good window now to get it done properly. In terms of risk this was the best time. He’ll be ready we’re hoping by the Champions Trophy, if not he’ll be 100% ready to go for the Ashes. We just thought it was the best time.”Starc’s absence for the Delhi Test could bring Mitchell Johnson into contention to play his first Test of the tour. Johnson and James Pattinson will again be available for selection after being left out due to their failure to complete a team task in Mohali and while Pattinson is a certainty to play, the make-up of the rest of the attack is less clear. The pitch in Delhi is expected to offer significant turn.

Parvez Rasool, the Jammu and Kashmir allrounder, has been included in the 14-member India A squad to play the warm-up one-day match against England on January 6 in Delhi

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2013Parvez Rasool, the Jammu and Kashmir allrounder, has been included in the 14-member India A squad to play the warm-up one-day match against England on January 6 in Delhi.Another notable inclusion in the squad is fast bowler Sreesanth, who returned to competitive cricket last month after nearly a year out with injury. The side will be led by Tamil Nadu opener Abhinav Mukund, and does not have any players from the teams that qualified for the Ranji quarter-finals, which start this weekend.Rasool has been rewarded for a strong showing with both bat and ball in J&K’s otherwise disappointing run in this year’s Ranji Trophy. He finished on top of both batting and bowling charts for the team with 594 runs, including two centuries, and 33 wickets.He thanked former left-arm spinner Bishan Bedi, who is J&K’s coach, for playing a big role in his development. “Bedi sir has a huge role in my success,” Rasool told . “Initially, I was a batsman who could bowl part-time off-breaks but it was at his [Bedi] insistence that I began to concentrate more on developing my bowling skills.”Bedi made us realise that we are here to compete and not just to participate. Earlier, J&K players used to play for the heck of it but now we believe in ourselves. We believe that we have the talent to be among the best.”Rasool has become the first cricketer from the Jammu and Kashmir team to be selected in an Indian team to play an international side and the fourth – behind Abid Nabi, Surendra Singh and Abdul Qayoom – to be picked in a national-level squad.Qayoom was the first J&K cricketer to play the Wills Trophy (the Irani Trophy of the ODIs) for the Wills XI in December 1990 and also played in the Deodhar Trophy in 1996-97. Surendra represented North Zone in the 2000-01 Duleep Trophy and played for India B in the 2001-02 NKP Salve Challenger Trophy.Rasool was detained for questioning three years ago in Bangalore in connection with a suspected presence of explosives at the Chinnaswamy stadium ahead of a Champions League match. He was given a clean chit a few days later.Other Ranji performers who were called up include Ishwar Pandey, the Madhya Pradesh seamer, who is the top-wicket taker in the tournament this season. Haryana seamer Mohit Sharma, who is fourth on the wicket-takers list, has also been included.India A squad: Abhinav Mukund (capt), M Vijay, Robin Bist, Kedar Jadhav, Ashok Menaria, Rohit Motwani (wk), Jalaj Saxena, Akshay Darekar, Ishwar Pandey, Sreesanth, Rishi Dhawan, Paras Dogra, Mohit Sharma, Parvez Rasool

South Africa’s management has explained the players will wear black armbands in memory of people who were an important part of cricket in the country “especially post-unity”

Firdose Moonda03-Feb-2013South Africa’s management has explained the players will wear black armbands in memory of people who were an important part of cricket in the country “especially post-unity”, according to team manager Mohammed Moosajee.The team did not wear black armbands for former players Neil Adcock and Peter van der Merwe, who died last month, and no on-field tribute was paid because of sensitivities surrounding South Africa’s racially-divided past although there was a moments silence at CSA’s AGM.*”The player policy is that they will consider wearing black armbands if someone who is close to the
 team and management from a family perspective, or someone who has been involved in CSA, especially post-unity, dies,” Moosajee said. “If you open it up further than that, you’ve got to remember the sensitivities on both sides. With sensitivities on both sides, whom do you say yes to?”Before South Africa’s readmission in 1991, only white players represented the country because of the Apartheid policies in place. Adock played between 1953 and 1962, while van der Merwe’s career was between 1963 and 1967. Players of colour formed their own board and held domestic matches but none were eligible for the national team.As a result, Cricket South Africa has tried to restrict commemorations to those involved only after readmission. For that reason, the players’ shirt numbers begin from 1991. The decision to not award Test numbers to players before unity and the absence of armbands has aggrieved some former players.”It’s time to forgive and forget,” Barry Richards said. “We can’t keep up this pretence that there was no cricket before 1992. I was three years old when the National Party came in to power in 1948, but I’ve paid the penalty. They keep talking about disadvantaged people – no-one’s more disadvantaged than Graeme [Pollock] and I. We couldn’t have Test cricket and we’re not recognised now.”It was a sad part of our history, but let’s acknowledge that the guys who were good in that era were good, and when they die we respect them. It would be nice if the team did that. Neil Adcock in his prime would have got into a World XI and you have to acknowledge that. There is a certain respect that should be shown older guys. It just goes on and on and it’s time to bury it all. It smacks of pettiness.”Graeme Pollock agreed. “The lack of black armbands for Adcock and van der Merwe is in line with the thinking that anything that happened pre-1992 doesn’t get any credit or wasn’t part of the system,” Pollock said. “Everybody who has played for South Africa has made a contribution and those 
two gentlemen certainly made a contribution.”Adcock took 104 wickets at an average of 21.10 in his 26 Tests while van der Merwe captained South Africa to their second Test series win in England, in 1965.* 11.55GMT, February 4: This story was amended to add that a minutes silence was observed at the board’s AGM.

Middlesex have beaten off significant competition from strong rivals to complete the signing of James Harris from Glamorgan

George Dobell24-Sep-2012Middlesex have beaten off significant competition from strong rivals to complete the signing of James Harris on a three-year contract from Glamorgan.Harris, a 22-year-old seamer of considerable potential and a more than useful lower-order batsman, had been the target of several other Test-hosting clubs in Division One of the Championship. Nottinghamshire described him as their No. 1 target, while Yorkshire were also keen to persuade him to join them. Glamorgan also say they made Harris a “substantial contract offer to retain his services”.His arrival underlines Middlesex’s ambition. They finished third in the top division in 2012 and, with a largely young and close-knit squad, must be considered title contenders for the next few seasons.”I’m thrilled to be joining Middlesex and being part of such a young, talented squad,” Harris said. “I’m really looking forward to playing my part in bringing team success and trophies back to Lord’s. The major factor in my decision to choose Middlesex was the coaching set-up and in particular the chance to learn as much as I can from people such as Angus Fraser, Richard Scott and Richard Johnson”Injury limited Harris to only four Championship games in 2012, but he claimed six wickets in an innings when he represented England Lions against Australia A at Edgbaston in August and won a place in the England Performance Programme Squad that will travel to India in November.His loss is a grave disappointment to Glamorgan. Harris developed through the club’s youth system and became the youngest man to represent the club’s second XI in 2005, when he was aged just 14 years and 353 days, going on to make his first-class debut aged just 16 in 2007. He remains the youngest man to claim a seven-wicket haul in the Championship, at 17, and became the quickest player to reach 100 and 200 first-class wickets for Glamorgan.Harris feels, however, that his best chance of fulfilling his ambition required him to move. Glamorgan finished sixth in Division Two of the Championship in 2012 while history would suggest that players at the club struggle to win recognition from England selectors.Middlesex’s director of cricket, Angus Fraser, said: “Everyone at Middlesex is absolutely thrilled that James has chosen to join the club. There were many other counties trying to secure his services and the fact he has chosen Middlesex highlights the progress we are making as a club.”James will add skill and quality to our attack. His record to date is excellent and he will only get better. I am sure the pitches at Lord’s will suit his bowling more than those in Cardiff. He can bat too, which is extremely useful. We are all looking forward to working with James and we hope his presence will help Middlesex push even harder for domestic trophies over the coming years.”

Hampshire survived a terrific late assault by David Miller, Yorkshire’s South African overseas player, to clinch the Friends Life t20 title by 10 runs

David Hopps in Cardiff25-Aug-2012
Scoreboard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Miller almost took Yorkshire over the line in a thrilling display of hitting•Getty ImagesFor the last half-hour of this Friends Life t20 final, Hampshire had only one aim: dismiss David Miller. They never managed it, well not officially anyway, but somehow they survived his cudgelling assault to win the trophy for the second time in three years. Quite how South Africa can overlook a batsman of such ferocious power for World Twenty20 will be hard for anybody who witnessed his assault to understand.Ten years had passed since Yorkshire’s last trophy, a difficult ten years in which the rebuilding of Headingley had left them mired in debt. They are going to the Champions League Twenty20 next month, and their priority remains promotion from Division Two of the Championship, but the one-day trophy will have to wait.Yorkshire, though, found a new hero: a muscular 23-year-old import from Pietermaritzburg. Miller finished as the tournament’s leading six-hitter, another five disappearing into the night sky against Hampshire. But with 14 needed off Chris Wood’s final over, the big hits dried up. He finished on his haunches, 72 not out from 46 balls, the only batsman in the last two matches on a slow, grabby surface whose power hitting was not inhibited.Hampshire were convinced they dismissed him on 7 when he flicked Liam Dawson’s left-arm spin into the leg side and Neil McKenzie plunged forward at short midwicket. The umpire, Rob Bailey, referred it to the third umpire, Nick Cook, who after many TV replays predictably found no conclusive evidence to rule that he was out. Miller looked fortunate; as he began to plop balls into the River Taff, Hampshire looked resentful.McKenzie made no attempt to disguise his feelings. “I definitely did take it,” he said. “I pride myself on being one of the more honest guys around but the umpires decided to take it upstairs.”If Wood’s nerve held, so did Danny Briggs’, a graceful slow left-armer with the wit to adapt to Twenty20, whose confidence that he can acquit himself well for England in World T20 will be boosted by this experience. He also shrewdly calmed Miller with 21 needed off the last two. “He was hitting so well straight and the straight hits are quite short here so I bowled it a bit shorter to make him go square,” he said.Yorkshire’s transformation in the FLt20 this season, overseen by a new Australian coach, Jason Gillespie, had taken them to their first finals day, but a target of 151 was a demanding task on a pitch which suited Hampshire’s blend of spin bowlers and cutters so much that their chairman, Rod Bransgrove, might have transported it up from the south coast. Marcus Trescothick, Somerset’s beaten captain in their semi-final against Hampshire, had identified 140 as around par and he was a good judge.Dimitri Mascarenhas needed a fitness test on a shoulder injury after Hampshire’s semi-final victory against Somerset after another before the final, but his four overs up front still did its customary damage. Andrew Gale unleashed a few square drives before dragging on a leg-side heave and Joe Root’s uncomfortable day ended when the stumps were hit again. Mascarenhas was denied a third wicket of Phil Jaques when Vince failed to hold a running catch from long on.It was Jonny Bairstow and Miller who provided Yorkshire’s surge from 36 for 3 in the semi-final. When Jaques fell to Dawson, another inside edge on a slow surface, they needed to do it again. This time Miller had to do it alone; Briggs found a semblance of turn and Bairstow dabbed a catch to the wicketkeeper.Yorkshire needed 98 from the last 9 overs, at which point Miller launched his assault. Ervine disappeared for three sixes in an over, Briggs and Wood were punished in turn. But Gary Ballance, another Yorkshire hitter found wanting, fell at third man and Tim Bresnan skied the first ball of the last over into the off side. Miller’s one-man show fell short.Hampshire secured a winning score in conventional fashion, Jimmy Adams and James Vince doing the groundwork. They looked underpowered, but Yorkshire were not quite as sharp as in their semi-final defeat of Sussex.Vince required some fortune to survive Azeem Rafiq’s first over, twice failing to make contact with attacking shots and almost offering Bairstow stumping chances. He made 43 from 37 balls, his grandest statement – when he hauled Richard Pyrah over long on off one knee – ending to a checked drive off the next ball.Vince ‘s first boundary did not come until the 15 over, a stylish extra cover drive off Bresnan, and brought up 100 at the same time. Another solid, if unspectacular, innings, 36 from 33, ended when he was bowled by Moin Ashraf, who failed to hit his yorkers quite as unerringly in the semi-final, but who got one through Vince’s defences all the same.Gale entrusted the last over to the blockhole bowling of the tyro, Ashraf, rather than the back-of-a-length know-how of Bresnan, his England bowler, who had conceded only 18 from three overs. It went for 14, not an unmitigated disaster, but it was a decision that was hard to understand.

James Hopes and Ryan Harris led a strong bowling display from Queensland as they increased their chances of making the Sheffield Shield final on the first day against South Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2012
ScorecardAlister McDermott was one of Queensland’s wicket takers•Getty ImagesJames Hopes and Ryan Harris led a strong bowling display from Queensland as they increased their chances of making the Sheffield Shield final on the first day against South Australia. The Bulls knocked over the Redbacks for 162 and at stumps they were 2 for 58, needing another 105 runs to take first-innings points, with Alex Kemp on 24 and Joe Burns on 23.Queensland began the last round of matches second on the Shield table but good performances from Tasmania and Victoria in their games mean it is unlikely the Bulls will reach the decider unless they take some points against South Australia. They gave themselves a good chance of doing that after Hopes sent the Redbacks in.South Australia have not won a match in this campaign and again they were disappointing, with Tom Cooper’s 21 the highest score among the specialist batsmen. Hopes collected 3 for 28 and Ryan Harris took 3 for 29, while Steve Magoffin and Alister McDermott each picked up two wickets.The Redbacks could have found themselves in even more trouble after they crashed to 9 for 107, but a tenth-wicket partnership between Gary Putland (31 not out) and Peter George (22) at least gave the bowlers a slim chance of defending their total. George and Putland picked up a wicket each before stumps but a big job lies ahead of them if they are to deny Queensland the lead.

Shane Shillingford finished day one with four wickets and put West Indies in a strong position as the Australian batsmen struggled to handle his bounce and turn

The Report by Brydon Coverdale23-Apr-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAustralia struggled to handle Shane Shillingford’s bounce•AFPGet the sign-writer ready. If Shane Shillingford’s first day of Test cricket in his home nation was an audition to have a stand named after him at Windsor Park, it couldn’t have gone much better. Shillingford finished the day with four wickets and put West Indies in a strong position as the Australian batsmen struggled to handle his bounce and turn, and at the close of play West Indies had given themselves a chance of the victory they needed to draw the series.Of course, with four days still to play, there was plenty of time for the Australians to fight back. But 212 for 7 was far from the score the captain Michael Clarke was anticipating when he won the toss and chose to bat. David Warner made 50 and Shane Watson scored 41 but neither they nor their colleagues looked truly comfortable, initially against the swing of Ravi Rampaul and then against Shillingford’s spin.At stumps, Matthew Wade was on 22 and had fought hard to survive 72 balls, while the recalled Mitchell Starc was on 24, having struck a six late in the day. But West Indies had taken the second new ball and it was curving in the air enough to challenge the two left-handers, and the morning session on the second day promised to be a tough one for Australia’s lower order. Not that it was pace that caused the most problems on day one.Shillingford, playing in his home country of Dominica, used his height to great effect, troubling the batsmen with bounce and bite off the pitch. He ended the day with 4 for 77 but created far more chances besides those that brought wickets. Ricky Ponting and Clarke had both been especially hampered by Shillingford and he eventually had the reward of removing them both.Shortly after he passed Rahul Dravid to become the second-highest run scorer in Test cricket, Ponting departed for 23 when he gloved a ball that turned and bounced more than he expected, and Darren Sammy ran around from leg slip to take the catch square of the wicket. A few overs later, Clarke (24) was also done by the bounce and gloved the ball to short leg.Shillingford’s fourth arrived when Michael Hussey, on 10, edged another fine delivery and was brilliantly taken at slip by Sammy, whose reflexes were quick enough that he could run to his left and grab the ball with his arm outstretched. It was a just reward for Shillingford, who had been a threat all day, initially without luck.Smart stats

Ricky Ponting went past Rahul Dravid to go second on the list of leading run-getters in Tests. However, his bad form against West Indies continued. In his last nine innings, he has scored 180 runs at 22.50.

David Warner scored 50 off 136 balls at a strike rate of 36.76. It is the fifth-lowest for an Australian opener since 2000 (half-centuries only).

Australia scored 212 off the 90 overs at a run-rate of just 2.35. it is their second-lowest run-rate in an innings in this series. The overall run-rate in the three Tests (2.67) is the lowest for Australia against West Indies since 1990 (min three Tests).

Shane Shillingford’s 4 for 77 is his best bowling performance in Tests surpassing his 4 for 123 against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2010.

There have been only six half-centuries scored in this series for Australia. It is the joint-lowest number of fifty-plus scores for Australia in a three-Test series since 1990.

Kemar Roach chipped in later in the day with a well-directed bouncer that caught the glove of Ryan Harris on the way through to the wicketkeeper, before Wade and Starc came together. Their partnership had grown to 43 by stumps and the close perhaps came at the right time for the hosts, who can start afresh on Tuesday.They had started about as well as they could have hoped on Monday. Rampaul, included for his first match of the series after Fidel Edwards was ruled out due to injury, curved his second ball in beautifully and surprised Ed Cowan, who offered no shot and was lbw. The only aspect of the dismissal that did not represent a misjudgement by Cowan was his decision not to ask for a review.Rampaul was impressive with the new ball, swinging it and troubling the batsmen, and he didn’t concede a run until his 17th delivery. He should have had a second wicket when Warner, on 5, edged to third slip but the captain Sammy spilled a simple chance and to add to the frustration for West Indies, Sammy introduced himself in the next over and was duly driven for four by Warner.Warner and Watson steadied Australia and both men were able to survive, despite looking scratchy early. On the rare occasions that the bowlers overpitched or dropped short, they drove or pulled well, but never did they appear truly settled. Their 83-run stand came to a close when Watson, on 41 from 120 balls, top-edged an attempted pull off Sammy and was caught at deep square leg.Soon afterwards, Warner, on 50, cut uppishly and was caught at cover point, delivering Shillingford his first wicket, and the Roseau crowd their first moment of home-town pride for the day. There were plenty more to come.

Misbah-ul-Haq has appealed to England to forget the spot-fixing scandal that has blighted his country’s cricketing reputation

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2012Misbah-ul-Haq, successor as Pakistan captain to the disgraced Salman Butt, has appealed to England to forget the spot-fixing scandal that has blighted his country’s cricketing reputation and expressed confidence that there is no chance of a repeat.Pakistan and England meet for the first time in 17 months since a plot by Butt and the two Pakistan fast bowlers, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, to bowl deliberate no-balls for financial gain were uncovered in a sting operation by the now defunct tabloid, the .The players were banned by the ICC and three months ago received lengthy jail sentences at Southwark Crown, leaving Pakistan and England to approach a three-Test series in the UAE fearing lingering resentment.Misbah, flanked by Pakistan’s team manager Naveed Akram Cheema at an arrival media conference at the ICC offices in Dubai, asked England to give Pakistan a fair chance to recover their reputation.”I think both teams know we just have to forget the past,” he said. “Our area of concern is to play good cricket, fair cricket – and that’s what we can do. In a year and a half, our performances show that – the way we are behaving on the field, the way we are conducting ourselves.”Credit goes to the team and all the players after a difficult time – everybody just stuck to the task, gathered their thoughts and just wanted to prove to the world that we were good players and a good team. Our target is just to play cricket in the true spirit. We want good relations, and to play really good and hard cricket.”Cheema was also adamant that Pakistan have put their house in order. “The Pakistan Cricket Board has introduced a code of conduct – an anti-corruption code – and all these guys have been told. We are following this code in letter and spirit. I think with those rules and regulations in place, the chances [of spot fixing] happening again are not there. I’m absolutely confident about that.”Some England observers have looked askance at Pakistan’s selection of Wahab Riaz, who was omitted while legal proceedings took place against his former team-mates, but who has now been recalled.”As far as Wahab was concerned, I think all those who were involved in the unfortunate incident have been imprisoned,” Cheema said. “Nothing special has been pointed out against [Wahab] – neither from the ICC nor elsewhere – and until something is found these are mere speculations. As far as the PCB is concerned and Wahab is concerned, there are no allegations which we have received.”Coincidentally, Misbah and Cheema were speaking within minutes of an MCC World Cricket Committee media release in Cape Town, calling on the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit to impose life bans on any captain, vice-captain or coach found guilty of corruption.