Praveen Kumar has joined India’s long list of injured players on the tour of England, missing the fourth Test at The Oval because of an injury to his left ankle

Nagraj Gollapudi at The Oval18-Aug-2011Praveen Kumar has joined India’s long list of injured players on the tour of England, missing the fourth Test at The Oval because of an injury to his left ankle. Praveen sustained the injury during the second innings of the third Test at Edgbaston, which India lost by an innings and 242 runs to give up the No. 1 Test ranking.Praveen’s unavailability further depleted an Indian attack already missing its spearhead – Zaheer Khan. Zaheer played no more part in India’s campaign after limping out of the first innings at Lord’s with a hamstring problem. It was later revealed that he also had an ankle injury, for which he had surgery in London on August 15.”Praveen Kumar was suffering from pain in his left ankle from an injury sustained while bowling in the second innings of the third Test between England and India at Edgbaston,” Anirudh Chaudhary, India’s team manager, said. “Treatment was administered to him and he has been responding well. However, there are still some residual symptoms in his ankle due to which he was ruled out of the fourth Test.”The intrigue over Praveen’s availability at The Oval remained until the toss, when MS Dhoni said RP Singh would play ahead of Munaf Patel in Praveen’s absence.Praveen was India’s best bowler on the tour, and the third highest wicket-taker in the series, after Stuart Broad and James Anderson, with 15 wickets. He bowled seven overs on the third morning at Edgbaston, before returning late in the afternoon to bowl what turned out to be the penultimate over of the innings, with England declaring at the fall of Alastair Cook’s wicket. Next morning Praveen injured his right thumb off the fourth ball he faced, trying to fend off a short-ball from Anderson.

Chris Gayle and WICB chief Ernest Hilaire have met in an attempt to resolve issues that are keeping the opener out of international cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2011Chris Gayle, the West Indies batsman, and WICB chief Ernest Hilaire have held a one-on-one meeting in an attempt to resolve issues that are keeping the opener out of international cricket. Though there was no major breakthrough in the hour-long discussion at the WICB head office in Antigua on Tuesday, it was still a step forward from the acrimonious meeting in June that worsened relations between the two sides.Hilaire, the board CEO, was cautious when asked about how the meeting went. “We took a decision yesterday not to discuss the matter that is currently in front of us while it is still unresolved,” Hilaire told . “What I can tell you is that we had a frank and excellent discussion.”Relations between Gayle and the board reached breaking point after he gave an interview in April to a radio station during which he was scathing about both the board and coach Ottis Gibson.The Gayle-WICB standoff was sparked off when Gibson criticised senior batsmen following the team’s quarter-final exit at the World Cup. Gayle was subsequently ignored for the home series against Pakistan, after which he travelled to India to participate in the IPL – where he was the player of the tournament – while the WICB were under the impression he was undergoing rehabilitation.The heated meeting in June with West Indies Players’ Association representatives present didn’t resolve the problem, and Gayle released an emotional public statement in July explaining his stance. The CARICOM heads of government have also given a commitment to mediate in the dispute.

Matthew Maynard, the former England assistant coach, said the chief reason for England’s rise to World No.1 in Tests is the unselfishness of their players

Firdose Moonda13-Sep-2011Matthew Maynard, the former England assistant coach, said the chief reason for England’s rise to World No.1 in Tests is the unselfishness of their players. Maynard, who captained and coached Glamorgan, worked under Duncan Fletcher in the England setup from 2004 to 2007 and grew close to many of the current England players.”The big thing is that they really and truly enjoy each other’s success,” he told ESPNcricinfo in Centurion, where he has started his new job as head coach of the Titans franchise. “It was like that to an extent when I was there but not collectively like it is now. There were one or two players then who still had that little bit of jealousy when someone else did well, but those guys are gone now.”Rather than go into detail about the players whose influence was less than favourable, Maynard preferred to reflect on the members of the team who have excelled and blossomed since his time with the squad.”Ian Bell has really stood out for me. He has proven what a quality player he is. He has got much tougher as he has matured. Batsmen at the age of about 29, as he is now, start to play their best cricket and understand how much hard work is required of them.” Bell was England’s second-highest run-scorer in the recent home series against India, with 504 runs including a double-century in the fourth Test.Maynard heaped praise on England’s bowlers, singling out Graeme Swann as a major factor in the team’s success. “James Anderson really leads that attack and Tim Bresnan is an important component as well, but the player that has really changed them is Graeme Swann. If you look at all the best international sides in history, barring West Indies when they had that great pace attack, they have had a world-class spinner, not just a good one.”The 2005 Ashes triumph was the highlight of Maynard’s tenure, and he said while that was an important turning point for them there were lessons to be learned from the slump that followed that series win. Seven of the next 13 series were lost, two drawn and just four were won.Maynard said part of the reason they failed to establish continuity after that Ashes victory was because they genuinely did not know how to. “It was the pinnacle for us and we hadn’t really looked beyond that series at what we were going to do after that. It was as if we had reached the top of the world.”The real summit was only mounted this summer when a 4-0 whitewash of India allowed England to be crowned the best in the world. It was a process that Maynard believes was possible because of the way Andy Flower has crafted the England squad, which is substantially different to the squad that Maynard worked with, under Fletcher.”After that Ashes win, we had a few injuries. We lost Marcus Trescothick, Ashley Giles and Steve Harmison. What Andy Flower has done is tried to develop cover for everybody so that if something happens to anyone, someone else can step in. Instead of having just a top XI, he has a squad of 18 or 19 players. The only position he does not have cover for is that spinner’s spot.”

The painstaking efforts of Pakistan’s top order put their side in control against a helpless Sri Lanka attack which was taken apart remorselessly on an unresponsive surface

The Report by Abhishek Purohit19-Oct-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTaufeeq Umar was in no hurry in making his century, as Pakistan took complete control in Abu Dhabi•Associated Press

The painstaking efforts of Pakistan’s top order put their side in control against a helpless Sri Lankan attack which was remorselessly taken apart on an unresponsive surface, first by the positivity of Mohammad Hafeez and then by the self-denial and accumulation of Taufeeq Umar and Azhar Ali.After Hafeez had batted with purpose in a productive morning session, Taufeeq and Azhar stonewalled at under two runs an over till tea before displaying some urgency in the final session to leave Sri Lanka deflated in the Abu Dhabi heat. Taufeeq played second fiddle to Hafeez, blocked half-volleys after lunch along with Azhar Ali and displayed refreshing freedom after tea to reach his second century in three Tests. Azhar, mostly bordering on the over-cautious, continued to display the solidity that has marked his short career with another half-century in a partnership which grew to 141 by the end of the day.Nothing worked for Sri Lanka after their batsmen had collapsed yesterday. Mahela Jayawardene – one of the safest slip fielders around – failed to hold on to the only real chance that Pakistan gave during the day. Azhar, on 7, edged Rangana Herath towards slip but Jayawardene could not grasp the ball as it died in front of him. Towards the end of play, umpire Tony Hill failed to spot a clear inside edge off Taufeeq’s bat into the wicketkeeper’s gloves when he was on 102.The tone for Pakistan’s dominance was set by Hafeez in the first over of the day bowled by Chanaka Welegedara which went for 10. Sri Lanka would have wanted more from their seamers in the morning, but an in-form Hafeez proved hard to crack on the flat pitch. The heat also restricted the length and effectiveness of the seamers’ spells; only Herath consistently troubled the batsmen with clever use of flight and variations, something not reflected in his returns of 33-9-53-1 for the day. Herath beat Hafeez with flight and turn off his third delivery and would have sneaked a carrom ball through him but for a late inside edge.Hafeez targeted the seamers and eventually broke free against Herath to loft him for a straight six before being trapped in front with an arm ball. Pakistan stalled inexplicably after Hafeez’s departure, defending everything and refusing to take charge of a second session they should have dominated. They should have taken the lead before tea but with Azhar remaining stuck on 7 for 43 deliveries at one stage as they scraped 59 runs in 30 overs in the second session.They seemed to have woken up at the stroke of tea, though, with Azhar taking Suranga Lakmal for consecutive fours. Taufeeq, on 65 off 200 deliveries, came out a changed batsman after tea. He took 35 off his next 59 balls to reach his century with two boundaries and a tuck off Lakmal in the 86th over. The landmark reached, he shut shop for the rest of the day, scoring only nine off his final 37 deliveries. Pakistan still collected 85 off 31 overs after tea, finally attempting to rub in their advantage. The second new ball came and went, almost unnoticed.At no stage during their partnership were they pretty to watch, but Taufeeq and Azhar will rightly point to the scoreboard, and to Pakistan’s position, to show that it was worth the grind.

Sri Lanka Women started their preparations for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh with a convincing win against the hosts in the first of two matches

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2011
ScorecardSri Lanka Women started their preparations for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh with a convincing win against the hosts in the first of two matches. Sri Lanka’s lower order made handy contributions to get them to 195 for 8 in 50 overs, and they then took early wickets to end the match as a contest. Bangladesh ended up crawling to 131 for 8 in their chase.Sri Lanka were put in and both their openers got starts. Sandamali Dolawatte came in and anchored the innings, scoring 41 off 102 balls. But the run-rate was slow and when Eshani Kaushalya was run out in the 38th over, Sri Lanka were 117 for 6. The lower order gave the innings the final push it needed and 56 were taken off the last eight overs. No. 9 Chamani Seneviratna hit 28 off 24 balls and No. 10 Sripali Weerakkody hit two fours in the six balls she faced. Bangladesh offspinner Khadiza Tul Kubra took 3 for 34 in her 10 overs. Bangladesh’s bowlers were generous and gave away 35 extras including 22 wides.Udeshika Prabodhani scuppered the chase with three early wickets that reduced Bangladesh to 31 for 3. Runs came in a trickle after that and spinner Suwini de Alwis bowled her 10 overs for just 15 runs. Bangladesh’s captain Salma Khatun scored 34 but Bangladesh were never in the chase and fell well short of the target.

Rohit Sharma, the India batsman, has said that Australia have a weakness against swing bowling that India will seek to exploit

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Dec-2011Rohit Sharma, the India batsman, has said that Australia have a weakness against swing bowling that India will seek to exploit during the upcoming Test series.”I heard they’re having some problems against swing bowling, so we are very much putting all our thoughts together,” Rohit said. “We will try and come hard at them where swing is concerned. We have a very good bowling unit which can put pressure on the Australians.”Rohit’s comments echoed those of Zaheer Khan, who said on Thursday that India’s bowlers will be aiming to exploit Australia’s problems against the moving ball.Australia were dismissed for less than 150 five times over the last two years, and collapsed for 47 against South Africa and 136 against New Zealand in their last two Test series. But Rohit said India were focussed on their own preparations rather than their opponent’s struggles.”We’re not really concerned about what’s going on their side. We want to focus on our preparation. It’s a good sign they are having a batting camp, so we know their weaknesses and what they’ve gone through the last couple of weeks. We have all kept that in mind going into the first Test match. We will walk out there and we need to put pressure on them rather than taking the pressure on us.”India drew their two-day game against CA Chairman’s XI, making 6 for 320 in reply to CA’s 6 for 398. Rohit scored an unbeaten 56, while Sachin Tendulkar made 92 and VVS Laxman 57 before both retired to give others a chance to bat.”It was a good preparation. We just wanted to get into the groove first. There’s another practice match as well. [There wasn’t] much for the bowlers on a flat track and the batsmen also got the runs, so I think we should be very happy with the way things have gone for batters and bowlers.”There was some concern for India when Ishant Sharma left the field after bowling only 5.3 overs on the first day, but Rohit said it was “just some discomfort” and that Ishant had seen a doctor and should be ready for the Boxing Day Test.India have never won a Test series in Australia and Rohit admitted it was something that they think about, but “we would like to take one Test match at a time and see how it goes”.The first Test is at the MCG, where Tendulkar will resume his quest for his 100th international hundred. “Me and my team-mates, all of us and all the Indians, we don’t want him to wait for too long now,” Rohit said. “It’s been a while, but I hope he gets the 100th century in the first game.”

The 11,337 people who showed up at the ANZ Stadium tonight in western Sydney were treated to the Chris Gayle Show

Alex Malcolm23-Dec-2011
ScorecardThe 11,337 people who showed up at the ANZ Stadium tonight in western Sydney were treated to the Chris Gayle Show. In a brutal display of power hitting, Gayle clubbed an unbeaten 100 off 54 balls to help Sydney Thunder chase down 156 against Adelaide Strikers. The West Indian smashed three fours and 11 sixes, breaking his own record for the number of sixes hit in an Australian domestic T20 innings.In reality the match was a tough sell. The Strikers travelled without their biggest star Kieron Pollard, out of the tournament with a hamstring injury, while the Thunder’s captain and first match centurion, David Warner, is away on national duty.The Strikers did cause some concerns though. Gayle faced just six deliveries between the 12th and 16th overs. The Strikers removed Ben Dunk for 8 when he holed out needlessly off Johan Botha with 59 needed from 45 balls. Craig Philipson then faced eight deliveries for just two runs, seven of them consecutively. Such was the demand for Gayle, that Philipson was booed by his own crowd when he could not get off the strike.Eventually, Philipson was bowled by Aaron O’Brien, the left-arm orthodox spinner, who took 3 for 26 in an impressive spell. But the 15th over was O’Brien’s last.By the conclusion of the 16th over, Strikers captain Michael Klinger had a problem. Both O’Brien and Kane Richardson were bowled out, whilst Botha and Alfonso Thomas each had only one over left. Klinger’s fifth bowler, Bryce McGain had conceded 21 in two earlier overs with Gayle smashing him into the stands three times.Klinger instead gambled with the very part-time offspin of Cameron Borgas and Gayle made him pay. He smashed three consecutive sixes, one which travelled 105m, to take the required run-rate from nine-an-over down to five, and the victory was a mere formality from there. Klinger looked helpless, probably wishing he could have placed fielders in the stands.All that was left was for Gayle to bring up his first Twenty20 hundred in Australia, and his sixth in the format worldwide.Given Gayle’s performance it was unlikely that any target the Strikers set would have been defendable, however, 155 was never going to be enough.Adelaide slumped to 4 for 52 in the ninth over and never really recovered. A brief salvage effort was mounted by Botha (41) and Borgas (24) so help steer the Strikers to a middling total. But they struggled to conquer a versatile Thunder attack. Teenager Sean Abbott was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 20 while Fidel Edwards generated good pace collecting 2 for 35.In the end though, the night was all about one man.

ESPNcricinfo previews the fifth ODI between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Johannesburg

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit21-Jan-2012

Match facts

January 22, Johannesburg
Start time 1000 (0800 GMT)There have been plenty of calls for Tillakaratne Dilshan to be sacked•Getty Images

The Big Picture

It is hard to believe that less than ten months ago, Sri Lanka were World Cup finalists. After the heartbreak of April 2, 2011, they have lost series to England, Australia, Pakistan and now South Africa. Tillakaratne Dilshan’s helpless, yet inwardly hurting, visage has been a common sight in all those defeats. Sunday’s game could be Dilshan’s last as Sri Lanka captain. There have been calls back home to sack him as leader. Some even want him to be dropped from the side. They want change.What is being forgotten is that it is not only Dilshan who has failed. Sri Lanka’s senior batsmen have consistently failed. Their fast bowlers have picked up more injuries than wickets. The hunt for a match-winning spinner continues. To hold Dilshan responsible for all these failures is to ask the world of what was only a stop-gap appointment.It hasn’t helped that leadership does not come to Dilshan as naturally as attacking batting does. The only way he knew was to lead by example, and on that count, he has definitely failed. Even more revealing than a disappointing batting average of 19.95 has been his bowling return of three wickets at 129.33. Dilshan the bowler was Sri Lanka’s partnership breaker. Dilshan the captain has turned Dilshan the bowler into a default Plan B. When the wickets are not coming, he brings himself on. When the runs are flowing, he brings himself on. It shows cluelessness, it shows desperation, and it hasn’t worked.Dilshan finally put it together in the fourth ODI with an innings that seemed to have shaken off the shackles binding him. Sri Lanka took the cue from their captain and an uninhibited Thisara Perera blazed them to their first win of the series. If this indeed turns out to be Dilshan’s final game as captain, he would want his side to play like he has throughout his career. Without apprehension.Sri Lanka’s struggles have made AB de Villiers’ first series as captain much easier than he would have thought. There were signs of panic, though, when Perera started to hit out. Suddenly, the fielding came down several notches, catches were spilled and de Villiers lost control over proceedings. He admitted after the game to have erred tactically. There will be time for him to learn on the job. A win in South Africa’s final game of the home summer season would not be a bad start on the learning curve.

Form guide

South Africa LWWWL
Sri Lanka WLLLL

Watch out for …

The under-pressure Graeme Smith made only his second half-century in 17 innings in Kimberley. At the very least, his 68 has silenced the critics till Sunday. Another failure will renew the calls for him to be dropped from the limited-overs side. South Africa’s Test captain can do without such added pressure ahead of the tours of New Zealand and England. He needs one more meaty performance tomorrow.For a proud performer who has looked in supreme touch in the previous two matches, Kumar Sangakkara’s 77 runs for the series don’t do him justice. He was run-out after a mix-up in Bloemfontein while what should have been a six was turned into a catch by Alviro Petersen in Kimberley. Will he have better luck in Johannesburg?

Team news

Robin Peterson has taken only four wickets in four games and hasn’t been able to squeeze the flow of runs as well. South Africa have run out of reasons to deny Johan Botha, a better batsman than Peterson, a place in the XI. Albie Morkel was “rested” for the fourth ODI after having bowled ten overs in three games. Both Albie and Botha could play tomorrow. That will mean Vernon Philander and Peterson sit out.South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Colin Ingram, 4 AB de Villiers (capt & wk), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Albie Morkel, 8 Johan Botha, 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe.Sri Lanka would not want to tinker with the XI that won in Kimberley. That means the offspinner Sachithra Senanayake could get another game ahead of Dhammika Prasad.Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Sachithra Senanayake/Dhammika Prasad

Pitch and conditions

The Wanderers will have a pitch with more bounce than any of the four venues where the ODIs have been played. Sri Lanka don’t enjoy bounce; South Africa do.Johannesburg has had quite a bit of rain of late and there is a chance of thunderstorms tomorrow.

Stats and trivia

• South Africa have lost their previous two completed one-dayers at The Wanderers, the latter by one run to India a year ago
• With 191 runs at an average of 63.66, Dinesh Chandimal has been Sri Lanka’s best batsman of the series

Quotes

“We want to finish strongly. 2-3 will be a fantastic result considering how we started this series.”
“We spoke about ruthlessness before this game [Kimberley] but we weren’t that ruthless. We wanted a whitewash but we didn’t do that. We want to make it 4-1 now.”

The battle for top spot between the two forces, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Army, continued with the former taking the lead on the third weekend of matches in the Premier League Tier B

Sa'adi Thawfeeq10-Feb-2012The battle for top spot between the two forces, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Army, continued with the former taking the lead on the third weekend of matches in the Premier League Tier B.Navy thrashed Police SC by an innings, the key features of the match being the legspin bowling of Dulanjana Mendis (he bagged nine wickets in the match) and a maiden first-class hundred from Chanaka Ruwansiri that enabled Navy to recover from a shaky 99 for 4 to 309.Army were held to a draw by Panadura, who took a first innings lead of 142.
Burgher RC moved to third place with their first win of the season. They beat Saracens by seven wickets with left-arm spinner Malan Madusanka picking up nine wickets in the match.Gayan Manesha, the former Maliyadeva College left-hand batsman, narrowly missed scoring a century in each innings of a match, making 115 (his maiden first-class century) and 94 in Kurunegala Youth CC‘s drawn encounter against Sri Lanka Air Force at the Welegedara Stadium.

The relationship between the PCB and the BCB is likely to suffer if Bangladesh do not go ahead with the proposed tour to Pakistan in April because of security concerns, ESPNcricinfo has learnt

Umar Farooq19-Mar-2012The relationship between the PCB and the BCB is likely to suffer if Bangladesh do not go ahead with the proposed tour to Pakistan in April because of security concerns, ESPNcricinfo has learnt. An implicit deal had been reached by the two boards, according to which the PCB backed BCB president Mustafa Kamal as the nominee for the ICC vice-presidency and Bangladesh would tour Pakistan in 2012.”Ultimately, its Bangladesh’s loss if they don’t send their team,” Zaka Ashraf told ESPNcricinfo. “We are helping them and want to have a positive relationship not only with Bangladesh, but all the nations. We want to strengthen our relationship. We have been sending our players to feature in their leagues and we expect them to respect our positive approach, after all everything is on reciprocal basis.”The ICC executive board is set to consider Kamal’s nomination as its next vice-president, and president in 2014 after Alan Isaac’s term. And though there have been constant doubts over whether Bangladesh will tour Pakistan, the PCB is optimistic that the drought of international cricket in the country since the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan team in March 2009 will come to an end.ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCB, despite being satisfied by the proposed security arrangements for the tour to Pakistan, is seeking some support from other countries, but none has been forthcoming. A nine-member delegation, headed by Kamal, had been sent on a two-day visit to Pakistan to observe a demonstration of the security plan for the series, and Kamal had said he was positive about the tour going ahead.The ICC, however, introduced a special dispensation to be made in exceptional circumstances in order to ensure bilateral series take place even if the ruling body determined it unsafe to appoint its officials for such series. It would allow such series to be manned by “non-neutral match officials.”Kamal then put the future of the tour in doubt by saying, “We won’t go if everything doesn’t happen within the standard practice, which is the allocation of match-referees, umpires and all things by the ICC.”While the PCB did not respond to Kamal’s comments, a board official said the BCB was being leaned on by another country. “We are informed of a third-country pressure on BCB,” a PCB official told ESPNcricinfo. “We understand most of the member boards aren’t keen to support our move, but we are very much clear of what would be required to give Bangladesh the confidence to come to Pakistan. And we did exactly what we have to do – we have engaged the government at the superior level to satisfy Bangladesh with the security arrangements.”Since the attacks, Pakistan have played their home bilateral series at offshore venues such as New Zealand, England and the UAE but the PCB saw no commercial advantage in hosting Bangladesh at such venues. The PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, who will be in Dhaka for the end of the Asia Cup, will make a final attempt to allay any doubts Bangladesh might have. The PCB also ruled out the possibility of talks with the BCCI. “There’s no use of asking India any further,” Ashraf said. “Their board doesn’t want to play us and that’s clearly understood.”Edited by George Binoy