All posts by h716a5.icu

It took one month and five attempts last season for Middlesex to win a Championship match but after 20 wickets fell in 92.1 overs at Lord’s they will have victory sealed against Essex in just over two days

Sahil Dutta at Lord's16-Apr-2011
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With the hard work done on the second day Middlesex enjoyed the first sighting of sunshine at Lord’s this Championship summer, needing just over 40 minutes to seal victory over Essex.20 Essex wickets fell the previous day to leave Middlesex needing just 54 for victory and despite a second failure in the game for captain Neil Dexter they reached their target inside 11 overs. With everyone chasing a Saturday off in the sunshine Scott Newman hurried the victory with seven boundaries in his unbeaten 38.The day before Newman had been goading Ravi Bopara on Twitter after Bopara had taken to the internet to vent his frustration about the Tiflex ball – which is used in Division Two and has a reputation for prodigious swing – and state of the pitch. Newman response was clear: “Dry your eyes, big lad. No feet movement and loose shots is a recipe for nicking off.”James Foster, the Essex captain, was not quite as resolute as Newman but dismissed any complaints about the ball for his side’s second defeat in as many games.”It’s the same for both sides,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s early season, the ball is going to swing a bit because of the conditions, it’s going to nibble a bit because of the pitches. It’s early April, it’s always happened. I’m not sure if it’s the ball, that’s just what it’s been like for the last x amount of years I’ve been involved in cricket. We haven’t performed well enough, it’s as simple as that.”One man who certainly wasn’t complaining about the ball was Steven Finn. He is looking to push his case for an England recall after losing out during the Ashes and though he only took five in the match the quality of his bowling, and his scalps – Bopara in both innings and Alastair Cook second time round – put down an ideal marker to start his season.”I’ve had my ups and downs over the last year but I’m developing all the time, he said. “There are still areas of inconsistency I need to work on and get better at though.”I feel like I’ve become a better bowler over the last year, I’m learning to swing the ball more and getting it to move away from the right-handers but consistency is the most important thing. It doesn’t matter if your bowling with an apple or a cricket ball, you still have to put the ball in the right area and let the rest happen. We went out there looking to enjoy ourselves and if we keep doing that results will come.”Middlesex will hope England don’t come calling because with Finn at the helm they could be a formidable attack in Division Two.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala

The Preview by Sriram Veera14-May-2011Match factsFriday, May 15, Dharamsala
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Can Adam Gilchrist thrill us again?•AFPBig PictureAfter Indore, it’s time for Dharamsala, which owns the most picturesque cricket ground in India, to make its IPL entry. Kings XI Punjab need to win all their remaining games to stay in the hunt for a place in the final four. Their captain, Adam Gilchrist, is familiar with this feeling. During his tenure as captain of Deccan Chargers, he had to lead his side out of the depths and take them to the semi-finals. He has to do it again. Back then, he was leading from front with the bat but he hasn’t been able to reproduce that kind of form this year. As he himself put it, in a lighter vein, reacting to being hit on the helmet by a bouncer from Lasith Malinga, “He has come of age; I have just aged.”You can’t rule him out yet but the onus shifts on to the other batsmen in the side to do the job – that might even allow Gilchrist to relax and re-discover some batting joy. There are couple of good signs for Punjab. Dinesh Karthik, who didn’t have a great time with the bat in the first half of the tournament, has found his mojo and Shaun Marsh continues to be consistent.Delhi struggled with Virender Sehwag and were absolutely listless without him. They are left with that eternal cliché in sport of ‘playing for pride’. Only time will tell whether they have any fuel left in them.Form guide (most recent first)Punjab: WWLLL (sixth in points table)
Delhi: LLWLW (ninth in points table)Team talkUnder pressure, David Hussey hit an unbeaten 21 to lend the finishing touches to Punjab’s win over Kochi Tuskers. Will that knock give him some breathing space, or will Punjab consider David Miller or Ryan McLaren?Roelof van der Merwe could replace Colin Ingram in the Delhi XI.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.In the spotlightVenugopal Rao has always proved to be a valuable contributor with the bat. The crowd might not scream his name, the media might not shower their arc lights on him, the bowlers might not have sleepless nights thinking about him and yet, he has nearly always played the bit-part role really well.It’s amazing how consistent Shaun Marsh has been in Twenty20. He has ten fifties and one hundred from 26 games in the IPL. The technique is simple: he stays still on the leg-stump line, nearly always remains adjacent to the line and plays late. It has worked like a charm.Prime numbers Shaun Marsh has the highest average (51.31) in IPL history. Michael Hussey (49.83) comes second. With 11 fifties, he ranks third in the list of batsmen with most fifties Adam Gilchrist comes third in the list of players with most matches as captain. He has played 51 matches as a leader; Dhoni is at the top with 55 gamesThe chatter”It depends on the situation; I try and see the field – if I can get away with it, then I try all those silly shots.”

Ray Jennings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore coach, has said home teams in the IPL should be able to prepare pitches to their liking but that there should be limits on far they can go

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2011Ray Jennings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore coach, has said home teams in the IPL should be able to prepare pitches to their liking but there should be limits on far they can go.”If I have Dale Steyn, I can’t prepare a pitch with long grass [ because] then, I am going over the top,” Jennings told reporters in Bangalore on Saturday. “If you prepare wickets that are so slow, you are again going over the top. There should be boundaries. There should be limits between the maximum and minimum.”Jennings’ comments come in the wake of the US$50,000 fine the BCCI imposed on Shane Warne for his public spat with Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) secretary Sanjay Dixit over changing of pitches in Jaipur.According to Jennings, weaker teams are more likely to want to play on “unrealistic wickets”, because that gives them a better chance of beating a good side. “If you prepare a wicket that is unpredictable then there is a chance of the weaker side winning,” Jennings said. “The [Rajasthan] Royals have a better win ratio at home because the pitch there is slower than anywhere else. Warne is actually quiet smart and he packs the team with spinners and all of them are very different. It is important to use home advantage but the question is, to what extent?”Bangalore are already through to the playoffs and while Jennings approved of the new knockout system, he said playing three games in four days was unfair and that teams will have to be careful to conserve their energy in order to cope. “You [have] got to save energy with the way you travel and ensure there is no disturbance from the public in the hotel. It is important to protect their energy and protect their frustration level; the frustration level in a lost tour is very high. People get tired quickly because of the fatigue level and extra pressure off the field.”When asked for his opinion on the local Karnataka talent in the team, Jennings chose to respond with a criticism of the structure of Indian domestic cricket that does not put players under pressure on a regular basis. “A lot of cricket is played on flat wickets and there is not much pressure. You have got to make sporting wickets. In a four-day game, if you don’t get a hundred, then it is considered that you batted badly. You don’t do enough fielding under pressure and so when the pressure is there, you don’t take the catch.”There is talent in India but make that talent play under huge amount of pressure and then you will see the results.”

Shahid Afridi has withdrawn his petition filed in the Sindh High Court against the PCB, signalling another step towards the resolution of the ongoing dispute

Osman Samiuddin15-Jun-2011The dispute between Shahid Afridi and the PCB took the first official step towards a resolution, with Afridi withdrawing his petition against the board in the Sindh High Court. He will now appear before a PCB disciplinary committee on Thursday; Afridi had filed the petition on June 7 against the same disciplinary proceedings the board had initiated against him in the wake of his ‘retirement’ and subsequent criticism of the board.But following a meeting between Afridi and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt in Islamabad, the outlines of a compromise emerged on Tuesday; Afridi would withdraw the petition, face up to a disciplinary committee that the court had initially put a stay order on, be punished, but have his No-Objection Certifcate (NOC) reinstated, allowing him to play for Hampshire.A hearing last week had adjourned the case to June 16, after the board didn’t file a detailed reply, but following the compromise deal, Afridi’s lawyers appeared in court today to officially withdraw the petition. “The petition has been withdrawn as a part of the reconciliation between both sides,” Syed Ali Zafar, Afridi’s lawyer, told ESPNcricinfo. “If the petition has borne fruit then there is no objection or obstacle in withdrawing a petition.”Afridi has now been asked to appear before the committee on June 16 at the PCB headquarters in Lahore. In a statement released several hours after the petition was withdrawn, the board said they had been informed of the withdrawal by Afridi. “Therefore, in continuation of the proceduere that had been postponed as per court orders, PCB has directed Shahid Afrdito appear in person before the Diciplinary Committee of PCB on 16 June, 2011 at 3:00 PM at PCB Headquarters, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.”The reinstatement of the NOCs will likely happen once that hearing has taken place; in his first communication to the PCB after being served a notice, Afridi had accepted violating the code of conduct but asked for his NOC to be reinstated. His central contract also remains suspended for now.”We hope that the NOC will now be granted,” Zafar said. “The disciplinary committee hearing will be a kind of formality now.”Incidentally, there has been no indication from Afridi so far about the status of his conditional retirement and neither, it is said, was it discussed in the meeting with Butt. After being stripped of the ODI captaincy, Afridi said several times that he would not play internationally under this administration, though he insisted he would continue playing domestically at home and abroad.Earlier this week, before the Afridi-Butt meeting, the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) announced Afridi as captain of the Karachi Dolphins side in the domestic T20 tournament to be played in July in Faisalabad. They also asked the PCB whether he would be allowed to play. That issue will also now be resolved, but Afridi’s Hampshire commitment will take precedence in any case over the local tournament.

Stuart Broad, the England fast bowler, has been fined 50% of his match fee for showing dissent towards an umpire’s decision during the second ODI against Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2011Stuart Broad, the England fast bowler, has been fined 50% of his match fee for showing dissent towards an umpire’s decision during the second ODI against Sri Lanka after using “unacceptable and offensive” remarks at Billy Bowden.He was found guilty of a Level 2 breach of Article 2.2.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct. Broad admitted to the offence after it had been brought to the match referee Alan Hurst’s notice by the on-field umpires, Bowden and Richard Kettleborough. There was no need for a hearing and he was promptly fined.”The charge related to an incident in the final over of the Sri Lanka innings when Broad appealed for an lbw [against Jeevan Mendis], which was turned down. As he left the field he made some unacceptable and offensive remarks to umpire Bowden about that decision,” an ICC statement said.”Accepting an umpire’s decision is an essential feature of cricket and part of the game’s unique spirit,” Hurst said. “Stuart’s behaviour was not acceptable in any form of cricket, and as a well-established member of his country’s national side and current captain of the Twenty20 international team, he must take responsibility for what he says and does.”All Level 2 breaches carry a minimum penalty of a fine equivalent to 50% of a player’s match fee up to a maximum penalty of a suspension for two ODIs or two Twenty20 internationals or one Test.This isn’t the first time Broad has been fined for a disciplinary breach. He had to forego 50% of his match fee after hurling a ball at Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Zulqarnain Haider during the Edgbaston Test last year.It also comes little more than a week after Broad admitted his captaincy of the World Twenty20 team means he’ll have to be on his guard.”I’ll certainly be watching my behaviour, but to be fair I think those occasions have become rarer and rarer in the last year,” he said. “But I’m certainly not going to lose my passion for the game, I think it’s something I thrive on.”You always have to be aware of what you are doing. I think it will be pretty hectic and I’ll have to be thinking about a lot of things. But the key is when I get the ball in my hand I don’t change much, have a presence and deliver my skills.”

Glamorgan’s bid to keep in touch with the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C was dashed by the rain at Cardiff

17-Jul-2011
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Glamorgan’s bid to keep in touch with the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C was dashed by the rain at Cardiff. Put into bat by their opponents the Unicorns, Glamorgan had reached 45 for 2 from 11.1 overs when a third rain interruption proved terminal with the umpires – Mark Benson and Neil Mallender – abandoning the match shortly before 5.30pm. Glamorgan and the Unicorns take a point each from the contest.The home side had an early scare when Gareth Rees was trapped lbw to the second ball of the match from Neil Saker. Glamorgan were in further trouble when Jim Allenby played a rash shot which saw him caught behind off Glen Querl for 16. Two short rain breaks reduced the game to 38 overs per side and then 37. But just as captain Alviro Petersen and Stewart Walters seemed to be launching a recovery the rain arrived for a third time.

Sussex secured a semi-finals place in the Clydesdale Bank 40 despite losing their final Group A game to Middlesex at Lord’s

The Report by Liam Brickhill at Lord's29-Aug-2011
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Ed Joyce was one of four half-centurions at Lord’s•Getty ImagesAs the day’s cricket unfolded below, a police helicopter hovering to the Southwest of St John’s Wood was an almost constant presence on a grey, autumnal day at Lord’s. The chopper was, of course, helping the authorities keep an eye on the Notting Hill Carnival – perhaps the second biggest street festival in the world behind Rio’s – but as Middlesex cantered to a seven-wicket win over Sussex in a match with practically nothing at stake for them on a gloomy day, it very much re-enforced the feeling that the real action was elsewhere.Middlesex quickened their chase to a sprint towards the end, Paul Stirling thrashing an unbeaten 46 in double-quick time after openers Sam Robson and Dawid Malan had set an almost impregnable platform, but the victory in front of a smattering of home supporters was very much consolatory. Indeed, the only really vocal support all day came from Sussex’s travelling contingent.Sussex have, of course, already qualified for the semi-finals of the competition but missed the opportunity for a home tie with a defeat to Kent last week, while Middlesex crashed out of the completion on net run-rate despite joining Sussex at the top of Group A.With little pressure and not much more than pride to play for, both sets of openers profited against the hard, new ball on a placid pitch. Ed Joyce and Chris Nash racked up a fluent 90 in partnership before they were parted but Robson and Malan went even farther, rattling along past 150 at a-run-a-ball as neither seam nor spin found much joy.Amjad Khan, the quickest bowler of the day on either side, did at least manage to keep things tight and cause the odd moment of alarm but Chris Liddle was dealt with easily and Wayne Parnell’s solitary wicket came at the cost of 58 runs in seven overs. Monty Panesar, the lead spinner out of the four slow bowlers played by Sussex, could neither contain nor break through.Malan, one of only two Middlesex batsmen to pass 500 runs in this competition (the other being Stirling), was the main aggressor and first to reach fifty, from just 48 deliveries. Robson joined him not long after, from 53 balls, and Malan looked set for his second List A hundred of the season when, having cracked 10 crisp fours and a six, he flashed at Parnell to be caught behind for 84 in the 26th over.One over later, Robson heaved across the line at Michael Yardy and was bowled for 64, and it appeared Sussex might have an opening. They were unable to sustain any pressure, however, and a typically boisterous Stirling took the attack to the bowlers to finish the match with almost three overs to spare.Nash had begun Sussex’s day in similar fashion, taking four fours off Anthony Ireland’s second over – the third of the game – and depositing Robbie Williams into the second tier behind straight midwicket before five overs had been bowled. At the ten-over mark Sussex had rushed to 69 for 0, Joyce very much playing second fiddle to Nash, who reached a 38-ball half-century with a drive to deep cover.He departed soon after, playing across the line to be bowled by Jamie Dalrymple, but Joyce nudged Sussex towards 150 with a fifty of his own. After he had been suckered by Malan’s increasingly useful part-time legspin, each member of the middle order managed to keep the momentum up, Yardy and Joe Gatting putting on 54 for the fifth wicket before Gatting departed to the penultimate ball of the innings.Middlesex now turn their sights towards their Division Two promotion hopes, while Sussex will be thinking ahead to a semi-final away from home.

Graeme Swann’s first match as England captain could not, statistically, have gone any better, as England rampaged to their first ten-wicket victory in the Twenty20 format

Andrew Miller at The Oval23-Sep-2011Graeme Swann’s first match as England captain could not, statistically, have gone any better, as England rampaged to their first ten-wicket victory in the Twenty20 format. Likewise, his one big decision on the night also paid handsome statistical dividends, as Ravi Bopara’s medium-pacers were entrusted with a full quota of four overs, and responded with an England record analysis of 4 for 10.”If you give someone a chance to bowl at the death who never normally does it, and he gets 4 for 10 in 3.4 overs, I’ll take all the plaudits, thank you very much,” joked Swann, who claimed his decision had been swayed by the hold that Bopara had over his batting in practice. “It takes a world-class death bowler to get me out three times in every net. I’m just glad I got the chance to be captain to show everyone how good he is.”Joking aside, England’s performance on the night was ruthless. At 42 for 0 after 24 balls, West Indies briefly looked capable of putting up a fight, but once Samit Patel had made the first breakthrough at the end of the Powerplay, they went on to lose all ten of their wickets at a rate of almost one an over. It was a state of affairs that left Bopara feeling “embarrassed” to have swiped a record that will be hard for his more regular bowling colleagues to overhaul, but in terms of his career progression, his evening’s work was another important step in his allround development.From the moment he chipped into the Oval Test victory with a largely forgotten 44 not out against India, Bopara has enjoyed the most productive month of his career since his three hundreds in a row against West Indies in the spring of 2009. His ODI series against India included a gutsy 96 at Lord’s and 37 not out from 22 balls in partnership with Jonny Bairstow at Cardiff, and now this performance – while of spurious merit against a team as outclassed as West Indies proved to be – could yet be significant when it comes to the World Twenty20 on the slow, low decks of Sri Lanka next September.”I think medium pacers in Twenty20 cricket, in the middle overs, are very important,” said Bopara. “Like spinners you have to put pace on the ball, try to hit the ball, and on big fields like this they can be very handy. I fancy myself bowling in the subcontinent, where it can be quite low and difficult to get away at times, so hopefully I’ll get a chance, especially if Graeme is captain.”Bopara, however, knows that a lot can happen between now and then, which is a lesson he has learnt since that last run of international form two years ago. “You can never bank on being around, you have to keep performing,” he said. “I just want to take one step at a time and not get too far ahead of myself, because that happened when I got those three hundreds in a row. I got a bit ahead of myself, saying that in the next five games, I wanted to make it eight in a row. And when you get above your station that’s when you fall quite hard.”But I definitely feel more of an England player now, especially over the last month. A lot of it is in my own mind, because it’s easy when things are going well, to have a good mindset. It’s when things ain’t going so well, that’s when it’s very tough. But that 40 in the Test freed me up and I played with quite a free spirit in the one-dayers. I said to myself, back yourself and hit the ball which I’ve tried to do for Essex for a number of years. I’m glad it’s come off, and long may it continue.”Swann harbours similar sentiments about his Twenty20 captaincy. With Stuart Broad unlikely to feature again this year, and Eoin Morgan having undergone shoulder surgery, there’s a very real prospect of his role being extended into the one-off fixture at Eden Gardens on October 29. “I’d like to think so, if we get to that point and those guys aren’t involved,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll do a good job on Sunday and my name will still be in the hat, because I enjoyed every moment of today.”Swann particularly enjoyed the vocal support of a packed 17,000 crowd, who defied the chilly conditions and the odd circumstances of the series to get fully behind their team – to an extent that England are not used to receiving this summer. “It’s the first crowd we’ve played in front of in England for the last two months who’ve really been on our side,” he said. “The difference between the noise when we took wickets and hit boundaries, and the fever pitch for the Indian batsmen [in the ODIs] was great to behold. A lot of that has to do with how well we’ve played this summer, and hopefully we’ll continue to do that.”Darren Sammy, West Indies’ defeated captain, took the result on the chin, and recognised that – even with a glut of inexperienced players on their side – England are a formidable unit at present. “They are No. 1 and they play like No 1,” he said. “All the guys, even on debuts, come in fairly experienced from county cricket. It shows in their game, they’re quite confident and that’s a page we can take from their book.”We had a great start but the moment we let them go we didn’t bounce back,” Sammy added. “We can point out areas we went wrong and encourage them, but we were playing the No. 1 team. at the moment. Whatever they do and whoever comes in just tends to fit in the team right away. We have our goals and we want to win cricket matches, but this was about seeing who could compete at this level.”

An all-round effort from Mahmudullah helped Bangladesh A hand Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy their second defeat in the Bangladesh Cricket Board Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2011
ScorecardBangladesh allrounder Mahmudullah turned in a fine allround performance as Bangladesh A handed Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy (BCBA) their second straight defeat at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, this one by 56 runs. BCBA were bowled out for 76 against Bangladesh in their first game, and while their batsmen performed better this time around, it wasn’t enough to prevent another loss.Having chosen to field, BCBA’s bowlers made a bright start, reducing Bangladesh A to 48 for 3 in the 15th over. Mahmudullah then steadied the innings with 54 from 69 balls to ease them out of trouble. He shared in two partnerships of over 40 with Naeem Islam (17) and Shamshur Rahman (18) and after he fell on 160, the lower order carried the team past 200. Three other batsmen got into the 20s, but none could carry on, with Elias Sunny, who made 25, the second highest scorer. Alauddin Babu was the most successful bowler, taking 3 for 51, while Sohag Gazi took 2 for 29.BCBA made a positive start to their chase, despite losing Abdul Mazid early, but slumped from 52 for 1 in the 14th over to 60 for 4 in the 17th over. They were never in the game after that, losing wickets are regular intervals, and Mahmudullah knocked over the last two batsmen to finish with figures of 2 for 21 and earn the Man-of-the-Match award.

Fixing matches or elements within them will be illegal in Australia in 2012, perhaps as soon as March, as the federal and state governments push ahead with specialised legislation

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2011Fixing matches or elements within them will be illegal in Australia in 2012, perhaps as soon as March, as the federal and state governments push ahead with specialised legislation.The legislation, which is set to include penalties of up to 10 years’ jail for those found to be involved in match-fixing, was encouraged and informed by cricket administrators, via the Coalition of Major Participation and Professional Sports (COMPPS), following the game’s long and pained history of shady dealings between players and illegal bookmakers.State attorneys-general are scheduled to meet in Hobart later this month to discuss the legislation, which was agreed to by the federal and state sports ministers at a Council of Australian Governments meeting in Brisbane June. Support for the legislation on both sides of politics should hasten its speedy progress into law.There is a desire to have the legislation, which will need to pass through each state parliament, in place by the time football seasons commence for AFL and rugby league, well in advance of Cricket Austrlaia’s preference for it to be in place in time for the 2015 World Cup.In addition to the criminal legislation, proposed measures to outlaw the manipulation of matches include the introduction of formal integrity agreements between sporting bodies and betting firms, while the federal government will oversee the formation of a national sports integrity office.The office will be responsible for formulating integrity agreements and codes of conduct for a wide range of sports. Any electing not to co-operate will face the loss of government funding.Pakistan’s government is also considering the introduction of similar legislation, and the ICC’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat has said sporting bodies needed the help of legislative oversight.”A regulatory framework with appropriate laws to deal specifically with sports corruption is better than no legislation and is something that we would support,” he said in June. “As a sporting body, our code – and our mandate – covers only players, officials and other support personnel. We are not a law-enforcement agency, so if there are ways in which nations’ legislative framework can help us to maintain cricket’s integrity then naturally we would encourage and support that.”