All posts by csb10.top

Division One

Lancashire put the seal on a one-sided win against Surrey at Old Trafford, wrapping up proceedings in the afternoon session. Glen Chapple prised out two wickets; Tom Smith removed James Benning who had resisted to make a top-score of 36, and then Oliver Newby bowled Jimmy Ormond for 20 as Surrey subsided for 120. Lancashire were in a brief flicker of trouble at 8 for 3, but they powered to their target of 90 without further alarm.Younis Khan struck a magnificent unbeaten 202 as Yorkshire piled on the runs on the third day against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. Younis and Matthew Hoggard, who made an obdurate 61, put on 152 for the third wicket before Gerard Brophy hammered a brisk hundred from just 113 balls, with Yorkshire declaring on 439 for 4. Chasing 443 Hampshire lost Michael Brown just before the close and trail by 427 going into the final day.Graeme Hick and Ben Smith both struck two fifties each, on the third day against Warwickshire at New Road, but Worcestershire still trail by 171 with seven second-innings wickets left in hand. In their first innings Hick struck a forceful 91, receiving good support from Smith (50), but there was little resistance from the middle and lower order who collapsed to 288 all out. Capitulation was in store second time round, too, with Dale Steyn rocking their top-order with two quick wickets. But Hick and Smith again combined to stave off a collapse and remained unbeaten going into the final day.

Division Two

Charlie Shreck’s six wickets for Nottinghamshire rocked Glamorgan at Trent Bridge, dismissing them for 205 to win by an innings and 8 runs. Resuming on 14 for 2 they were reduced to a perilous 57 for 5, with Shreck removing all five. Ben Wright (66*) and David Hemp briefly delayed the inevitable but Shreck returned to pick up his sixth, before Paul Franks and Graeme Swann chipped in to sink Glamorgan midway into the afternoon session.A disciplined display from Northamptonshire’s bowlers left Essex limping on 180 for 8 on the third day at Northampton. Johan van der Wath (94) and David Wigley (53) took their stand to 110 but, shortly after lunch, Steven Crook removed Alastair Cook for 37 to start Essex’s slide, but it was Jason Brown who did the damage with four late wickets, causing a slump in which Essex lost 6 for 56 before bad light stopped play. Essex lead by just 98 going into the final day.Cameron White’s 138 and good support from Somerset’s lower middle-order staved off a slide on the third day against Derbyshire at Taunton, though they went to stumps on 497 for 9, still trailing by a mammoth 304. White’s hundred came off 158 balls with 13 fours and a six, and there were fifties for Craig Kieswetter, Wes Durston and Peter Trego. Unless the pitch begins to break up tomorrow, this match is heading towards a draw.Tom New fell two short of a fine maiden hundred as Leicestershire conceded a first-innings deficit of 131 on the third day against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Marcus North took 3 for 53, and Steve Kirby 3 for 75, to dismiss Leicestershire for 376. Though the visitors hit back with two quick wickets, Gloucestershire extended their lead to 277 going into the final day.

Gulam Bodi is expected to respond to CSA charges of “contriving to fix, or otherwise improperly influence aspects of the 2015 Ram Slam T20 Challenge Series” by mid-week. There is no indication of whether Bodi will plead innocent or guilty, but his lawyer played down the hype around the matter.”We have got the charge sheet and we are preparing a response. We will have it done by Wednesday or Thursday this week,” Ayoob Kaka, Bodi’s lawyer, told ESPNcricinfo on Monday morning. “Everything is fine except that I keep getting phone calls from the media.”In a release issued by CSA last Thursday, the South African board said Bodi was cooperating with anti-corruption officials even though when he was initially suspended in mid-December, he also faced a charge of refusing to co-operate with the investigation.A legal case is also being prepared against several other players and an insider revealed that some of them “accepted money to fix”, while others failed to report corrupt activity.

Ricky Ponting says his players are keen to test themselves against the World Twenty20 champions in Mumbai on Saturday. “We are pretty excited actually and looking forward to the match against a team which won the World Cup a few weeks ago,” Ponting said. He also sought to underplay the hype surrounding the game, just as he hoped the tired debate over verbal volleys would die down.”There are a lot of things said in the build -up to this game,” he said. “Probably there was more talk about this game than the one-dayers. So I would expect good entertaining Twenty20 cricket and we are looking forward to it. It’s a nice way to wind up the tour – to tell you the truth – to be playing a game like this around which there has been so much build up and talk.”When asked whether it was more difficult to adjust to the shorter version from the longer version Ponting said: “I am not sure what is more difficult, going into a longer-format of the game from Twenty20 or the other way round. But we do prepare slightly differently for this form of the game.”We get time to go out there and settle down in a 50-over game. There is some time in Twenty20 also, but not much. So you might go there and start hitting everything from the first ball and make sure you are timing everything spot on right from the word go. It’s a lot more intense. Everything you do through a 50-over game, you have to do it right at the start of a Twenty20 game. That’s the way the preparation is.”Ponting also conceded that it was difficult to plan too much for a Twenty20 match. “This game is harder than any other game to plan. Because things just change so quickly, you’ve got to be changing your field placings almost every ball, mix and match your bowlers to suit the batsman. Everything is on-the-spur-of-the-moment stuff here.”There was also some doubt about Matthew Hayden playing the game, as he has a sore throat, but Ponting “pretty much guaranteed” his return. He also acknowledged Brad Hogg’s impact in the series, but said his selection in the side wasn’t guaranteed.”That’s the thing we have to decide. We had a look at the wicket, it looks good. There is no doubt the wickets turn a bit in this part of the world as we saw in the Champions Trophy. But even in that tournament we played five fast bowlers, four frontline and Shane Watson. I think we’ve got bowlers who can adapt and adjust to any conditions so we leave that decision until we finalise our side on Saturday.”

West Indies have included Guyana batsman Sewnarine Chattergoon and Trinidad and Tobago fast bowler Ravi Rampaul in their 16-man squad for the ODI series in South Africa.Rampaul and Chattergoon will replace fast bowler Pedro Collins and batsman Daren Ganga who were in the Test squad. Chattergoon’s last one-dayer was against India in May 2006 while Rampaul is becoming a regular in the one-day side.There was still no place in the squad for Ramnaresh Sarwan, who returned from an ankle injury to score a century and a half-century against Trinidad and Tobago in the first round of the Carib Beer Cup competition.Rampaul said that the conditions in South Africa would suit his bowling. “The wickets offer a lot more bounce and the atmosphere there allows for generous swing,” he told . “This would really help my bowling and I am looking forward to playing down there.”West Indies and South Africa face off in a five-match ODI series, which starts on January 20 in Centurion.Squad: Chris Gayle (capt), Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Runako Morton, Brenton Parchment, Devon Smith, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Patrick Browne, Darren Sammy, Rawl Lewis, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon

Kevin Pietersen has insisted no amount of money will tempt him to join the Indian Premier League (IPL). Despite offers coming his way to play in the multi-million dollar tournament, Pietersen says he’s focused on his England career, which is too important to him.No England player was involved in the first IPL auction as the tournament clashes with the start of the county season. However, interest was shown in a few leading stars such as Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.”I know there is interest and, yes, there have been offers, etc etc, but it’s not something I’m particularly interested in,” Pietersen told . “Money’s not really too important, it’s not as if I need money right now,” he said. “I’m really enjoying doing what I’m doing. I love playing for England, I love playing for the spectators.””England has given me a fantastic opportunity to a fantastic life at the moment. So I’m fully committed 100% to playing for England, to winning games for England, to scoring thousands more runs for England.”Earlier, Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, had indicated that future editions of the tournament might be rescheduled in order to avoid a clash with England’s domestic season.

Glamorgan Cricket will receive £516,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help create the Museum of Welsh Cricket at Sophia Gardens. It will be the first sports-specific museum at a sporting venue in Wales and should open next summer.The museum forms part of a major redevelopment of Glamorgan Cricket’s headquarters in Cardiff. A statement from Glamorgan said “the state-of-the-art visitor attraction will be a high-tech gadget-rich museum, full of digital and electronic resources designed to celebrate the history of cricket throughout Wales and to inspire the next generation of Welsh cricketers.”The award will also support CricEd Cymru, a cricket-based learning programme for both primary and secondary schools, which has already been piloted, and an outreach ‘Beyond Boundaries’ scheme, which aims to maximise community participation through talks, seminars, and a travelling exhibition.R. Paul Russell, the Glamorgan chairman, said: “Glamorgan Cricket is delighted to receive this substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, especially as the creation of the Museum of Welsh Cricket has been one of the key features of the new pavilion complex here at the club’s redeveloped headquarters in Cardiff.”Cricket has played a unique part in the sporting heritage of Wales, and the creation of the Museum will add the range of visitor attractions at the new Test Match stadium which Glamorgan Cricket has developed in the heart of the Welsh capital city. The Museum will provide visitors to the city with an opportunity for the first timeto study the fascinating history of cricket and the part it has played in making Wales one of the world’s great sporting nations.”In Dr. Andrew Hignell, the club is fortunate to have the leading expert on the history of cricket in Wales. Dr. Hignell has been driving force behind both the Museum of Welsh Cricket, and the Glamorgan Cricket Heritage Gallery, and we are building on his vast experience in the world of teaching by combining a wide variety of learning-activities and community projects with the museum.”

Match facts

Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Start time 1000 local (0430 GMT)

Big Picture

“We’re both young teams,” has been the phrase of the tour so far. “Both teams are rebuilding,” captains, players and team directors have said. All of this is another way of saying neither team is particularly good at present. There is a lot of chatter about potential and talent. Less about Test form and recent record.India are further down the transition track, and so appear the more polished outfit. KL Rahul is the least experienced batsman in the top order, but he already has a ton in Australia. Rohit Sharma is an unproven Test no. 3, but he has sent Sri Lanka bowlers into therapy in other formats. Between Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, there is enough quality in that top order to hurt Sri Lanka, as long as the visitors can overcome their aversion to batting well away from home.After years of seeking a partner for Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka’s opening partnership has emerged as one of the hosts’ strengths. Dimuth Karunaratne still plays the snazzy legside flicks, but has recently discovered the offside, and added a few points to his batting IQ. Kaushal Silva hangs on like a limpet, rarely punishing the opposition, but often annoying them.There are the flakier batsmen – Jehan Mubarak and Upul Tharanga are yet to prove they can be Test performers. But offsetting this uncertainty is Angelo Mathews, who after Kumar Sangakkara is becoming Sri Lanka’s sure thing.The attacks are evenly matched, even if Sri Lanka’s pace stocks are again diminished by injury. Dhammika Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep are improving bowlers, and in Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal Sri Lanka have a varied spin threat. They will hope Sri Lanka stay within reach of India for the first three days, before the Galle surface’s cantankerous mood takes hold on days four and five.It isn’t a Galle match without a late batting collapse, and as India appear intent on fielding five bowlers, Sri Lanka will hope to expose the lower middle order. Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri will feel the opposite. The extra bowler in the side will help put pressure right back on the Sri Lanka’s batsmen.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)

Sri Lanka: LWLLL
India: DDDLL

In the spotlight

A day out from the match, Kumar Sangakkara already smiles down from almost as many hoardings as the politicians contesting in the election, in under a week. Fans in Galle will hope he can give the venue he calls his “favourite ground to play in” a final Test to remember. As big scores are rare at the P Sara, the first three days of this Test present his best chance of matching Don Bradman’s double-century record. It remains to be seen if he will be back to his hungriest in this series, after a lower-intensity outing against Pakistan.Virat Kohli had an outstanding tour of Australia, but has been short of runs across formats since the World Cup. Two failures in the practice match won’t have done him much good. The early stages of this Test should present conditions he is more comfortable in, but with all the talk of leading an aggressive team, and trialing new ploys to fit the new philosophy, will the focus on his own run-making persist?

Team news

Dushmantha Chameera has been bowling in the nets, but it appears as if the selectors would prefer to preserve him for the Tests in more seam-friendly conditions in Colombo. Lahiru Thirimanne has a weak grip on his no. 4 position, and could easily be replaced by Upul Tharanga. Tharindu Kaushal will likely play ahead of Dilruwan Perera.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kaushal Silva, 2 Dimuth Karunaratne, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Upul Tharanga, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 7 Jehan Mubarak, 8 Dhammika Prasad, 9 Tharindu Kaushal, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Nuwan PradeepM Vijay is out with a hamstring injury, which means Rahul will open alongside Shikhar Dhawan. India will likely prefer the pace of Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav to the skill of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The spin attack will probably comprise R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh.India (probable): 1 KL Rahul, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Rohit Sharma, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Varun Aaron, 11 Umesh Yadav

Pitch and conditions

There have been intermittent rains in the days preceding the match, so expect a stop-start game. Despite the bad weather, however, the pitch seems to be a typical Galle track, which will dry out considerably over the course of the game.

Stats and trivia

• The match will be Angelo Mathews’ 50th Test.
• Once the hosts’ fortress, Sri Lanka have lost two of their last three matches in Galle.
• India have not won a series in Sri Lanka since 1993.
• None of India’s top six have played a Test in Sri Lanka.

Quotes

“In the last eight years of my career, Kumar Sangakkara has helped me personally. He is always willing to help the young guys and whenever you play a bad shot he comes up to us and says that we can play it in a better way. He gives confidence to the youngest and not only for the batsmen – for the bowlers as well. We learnt a lot from him and we are thankful for who he has been for the team on and off the field. He is your go-to man. You can always go to him and get an honest opinion.”
“It’s a great opportunity to create some momentum, knowing it’s a three-match series. Even if it’s an off day, you still have time to re-group and think about what went wrong. If it’s a good day you can learn from it.”

Doug Bollinger has been included in Australia’s Test squad to tour the West Indies as a replacement for Ben Hilfenhaus, who is suffering from a recurrence of a stress fracture in his lower back. Bollinger will make the trip as part of the 15-man squad as long as he can prove he has recovered from a broken foot he sustained in February.The news came while Bollinger was on his honeymoon, and barely a week after he was offered his first Cricket Australia contract. “I’m just wondering if they might bump me up to first class,” Bollinger told AAP before leaving Sydney for Honolulu. “It’s probably been the best week of my life. I’m so happy that it’s happened and I’m just so excited at the moment.”Bollinger, who was married to Tegan Sutherland on Friday, was unlucky not to be chosen in the original group for the Caribbean campaign following a breakthrough Pura Cup season. He topped the wicket tally with 45 at 15.44 despite missing the last three games with the injury.”I’ve had a bit of a bowl,” Bollinger said. “I’ve been running and I’ve been in the gym, so I feel really well at the moment.”Alex Kountouris, the Australia team’s physio, said Bollinger should be fine to make the trip. “Doug has recovered well from his fractured foot,” Kountouris said. “He has been bowling for the last couple of weeks with no complaints and, as long as he completes the final fitness test, we believe he will be fully fit to take part in the Test tour of the West Indies.”Hilfenhaus’ injury means he cannot bowl for several months, which rounds off a disappointing year after he collected 28 Pura Cup wickets at 43.82 and struggled to have the same impact as in his outstanding 2006-07. However, he did retain his Cricket Australia contract and the selectors said he would remain in the frame for future series.”Obviously this is very disappointing for Ben,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “However, given the amount of cricket facing the Australian side in all forms of the game over the next 18 months, a conservative approach to the management of his back injury is best to ensure he makes a full recovery.”Kountouris said the aim was to have Hilfenhaus fit and fresh for the start of 2008-09. “Ben had some lingering back pain towards the end of the Pura Cup season and recent scans have revealed a possible recurrence of an old stress fracture to the vertebrae,” he said.”His recovery will involve not bowling for the next few months but continuing on with a rehabilitation and strength program. We believe this will be his best preparation for the beginning of the 2008-09 season.”The squad gathers in Brisbane for a training camp in early May ahead of the three-Test series against West Indies. Five ODIs and a Twenty20 international follow before the players return to Australia in July.

Sharad Pawar, the Indian board (BCCI) president, insisted that the BCCI is against “money-making” ventures and will only support series that promote Test cricket. Refusing to back down from his stance against the Indian Cricket League (ICL), Pawar again scoffed at the recently floated Twenty20 series proposed for October.”Test cricket is the real thing. It is the top level of the game and brings out the best in the players. We would be only happy if anyone does something for the sake of Test cricket. We will encourage it,” Pawar told PTI. “But Twenty-20 is for glamour. It can only bring in money.”On August 6, Digvijay Singh, general secretary of the Congress, the biggest party in the ruling federal coalition in which Pawar is a cabinet minister, wrote a letter to the latter requesting the BCCI to give up its “confrontationist” attitude against the ICL. “Instead of taking a confrontationist stand, you should act as a facilitator for the ICL to succeed,” Singh wrote. “I am sure the objective of the BCCI is not to make the millions but to popularise the game of cricket. I am sure you will prevail upon the hardliners in the Board and make them understand the sentiments of millions of cricket lovers in India.” Pawar chose not to comment on this.The BCCI secretary, Niranjan Shah, recenty said that players who take part in the ICL will never be eligible to play for India and would also be banned from domestic cricket in the country. Pawar maintained, however, that the BCCI would not interfere if retired players chose to associate themselves with the game: “I had said in Bangalore a few days ago that those who have retired from the cricket and pursue the game in whichever form and we won’t come in the way.”

Sunil Dhaniram, the stand-in Canada captain, is upbeat about his side’s chances of beating UAE in the Intercontinental Cup this Friday, although he is without three important players.Dhaniram replaces regular captain Ashish Bagai, who has work commitments, while opening bowler Umar Bhatti and experienced all-rounder Jon Davison are also missing. Their replacements for the match in Toronto are Steve Welsh, Aftab Shamshudeen and Hemnarine Chattergoon.”We are missing a couple of guys but I think we have the players who can win,” said Dhaniram, the 38-year-old slow left-arm bowler and middle-order batsman. “I have every faith in the replacements coming in and I know we are going to give it our best shot.”I have played a few times against the UAE and they are always tough to play against. I think their batting is really their strength with Saqib Ali and Khurram Khan especially. But we will be trying to restrict them and then we will go in and get the heads down and try to get a win.”It is imperative for Canada to get their campaign back on track after losing by 45 runs to Netherlands last week. In a seesawing game, Netherlands’ all-rounder Peter Borren took responsibility in the second innings, scoring his maiden first-class century and setting up victory for his side. Borren was then the destroyer on Tuesday, with 96 off 70 balls as he helped Netherlands to an 117-run win in their ODI against Canada at Toronto CSCC.For Canada, the four-day version of the game takes priority from Friday and the quick bowling of Henry Osinde could be key. His performance was a highlight of the ICC Intercontinental Cup match against the Netherlands as he took seven wickets in the match and showed that even though he was batting at number 11, he can still contribute meaningfully in that department too, scoring 60 in the first innings and six not out in the second.Good form was also shown by Shahzad Khan, Dhaniram and Qaiser Ali with the bat and Bhatti (until he injured his hand) and Kevin Sandher with the ball. So all is certainly not lost for the north Americans.Meanwhile, the UAE began this tour with a visit to a wet and rainy Ayr to take on Scotland. However, only 46 overs of that match were played with Arshad Ali’s team recovering from 18-3 to 174-4 before the rain returned to call a permanent halt to proceedings.Coming from the heat of the Emirates’ summer, Arshad would have been nervous playing in what were typically Scottish conditions so he would have been happy with how his side recovered on day one.If he was, perhaps, secretly relieved to get away from Ayr with a draw, Arshad will feel he has the ammunition to threaten Canada with an outright win and victory will almost certainly put his side on top of the table at this early stage.Apart from the captain himself, the team boasts some consistent performers such as Saqib, the experienced Khurram and wicketkeeper-batsman Gayan Silva. There is also plenty of know-how in the bowling line-up with Ahmed Nadeem, Mohammad Tauqir and Javed Ismael having been on the scene for some time now.With rain having followed the UAE across the Atlantic Ocean, there may be some interruptions over the four days of the match but both teams need a victory so expect the players to make the most of conditions when they do get out on to the field.Canada in particular will be anxious not to lose two matches in a row at home. Given there is a new format for this tournament in place it is not yet clear how many defeats a team can afford to suffer and still hope to qualify for the final but two successive losses would be a serious blow to Canada’s chances of making another final, as it did in 2004 and 2006.