All posts by csb10.top

Pakistan and Sri Lanka will play a three-match ODI series in Abu Dhabi next month, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).According to Nasim Ashraf, chairman PCB, no dates have been finalised yet but the series is expected to be played in the second week of May.”We have to work out some modalities with the Abu Dhabi Cricket Association and it will be done in due course of time before the series is organised next month,” he told reporters in Lahore.While Pakistan has already been eliminated from the on-going World Cup, Sri Lanka are well-placed to reach the semi-finals of the prestigious event. Pakistan are also without a captain and a coach after the resignation of Inzamam-ul-Haq and the death of Bob Woolmer.The ad hoc committee, that held its session yesterday, is expected to name the replacements on May 7.

Ashley Giles has warned Monty Panesar that Graeme Swann will be breathing down his neck for England’s spinner’s spot. Giles, who is now Warwickshire’s director of cricket after retiring earlier this year because of ongoing hip problems, believes Swann can push Panesar all the way.”Monty has done well,” Giles told the . “But if someone like Swanny bowls well, and gets some runs also, then there’s that niggling thing about ‘what else does Monty offer us?'”That’s not me saying that, that’s just how it is. Whereas last winter it was ‘why is Ashley playing? – Monty should be playing’. It might not be long before we get ‘Monty is playing, why isn’t Swanny playing? He offers us a bit more’. That’s just the natural scheme of things.””Monty is now the man in possession, but now he has the threat of Swann to deal with,” Giles said. “That’s the way it works, you fall off the end of the production line.”Swann is expected to make his debut in the Test series in Sri Lanka, having already impressed in his one-day recall this year. He offers good batting and fielding, which could further enhance his claims.Panesar, who has 20 Tests under his belt, himself only admitted last week that he didn’t see himself as England’s No. 1 spinner, although he gave firm reasons why: “The only reason I say that is because I am still young and need to learn. That number one tag is quite a strong statement.”Nevertheless, he would still be the favourite ahead of Swann should England opt for one spinner. They could, however, opt for two as they did during their 2-1 Test series triumph when they visited Sri Lanka in 2001.England play two three-day warm-up games in Colombo before the first Test starts in Kandy on December 1.

Minute-by-minute scrutiny of Sachin Tendulkar’s injury continues as he batted for 25 minutes at the Mumbai Cricket Association ground, watched by Ian Fraser, the bio-mechanist and Gregory King, the Indian team’s trainer. Both Fraser and King were happy with his performance at practice. His fitness will be assessed on May 20 and Andrew Leipus, the team’s former therapist will assist him in his recovery.Tendulkar first batted for five minutes and then after a break batted for 20 more, with the ball thrown at him. This was his second time wielding the bat since the operation, opting for some light batting practice yesterday, with John Gloster, the team’s physiotherapist looking on.Tendulkar pulled out of the seven-match one-day series at home against England in March-April 2006 and had surgery on his shoulder on March 29 after he complained of pain while throwing the ball, though not while batting or bowling.He will not play the one-day series against West Indies beginning May 18 in Jamaica. The decision regarding his availability for the Test squad will be taken once Gloster, Dr. Andrew Wallace, his surgeon and Tendulkar himself are confident of his recovery, Niranjan Shah, the board’s secretary, explained. The Test team will be announced on May 24.In 2004, Sachin suffered a tennis elbow which kept him out of the Champion’s Trophy in England and the first two Tests at home against Australia in October the same year.

Ryan Steede, the medium-pacer and Kwame Tucker, the wicketkeeper, are the two notable omissions of Bermuda’s squad for the World Cricket League to be held in Kenya later this month.Both players have been retained in Bermuda’s reserves, although there are still concerns as to whether Tucker is fit enough to serve as the main reserve wicketkeeper. Jekon Edness, the 23-year-old wicketkeeper, has also named in the reseves should Tucker not prove fit enough.Bermuda are currently training for the tournament in Trinidad and depart for Kenya on January 24. Saleem Mukuddem, Stefan Kelly and Stephen Outerbridge – each of whom missed their side’s week-long preparation in Trinidad through injury – are all included.Full squad
Irvine Romaine (capt), Dean Minors (wk), Clay Smith, Stephen Outerbridge, OJ Pitcher, David Hemp, Janeiro Tucker, Lionel Cann, Malachi Jones, Delyone Borden, Saleem Mukuddem, Kevin Hurdle, Dwayne Leverock, Stefan Kelly, Arthur Pitcher Jnr.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

A five-wicket haul by Abdur Razzak helped Bangladesh gain anunassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match one-day series, as they beat Zimbabweby 26 runs in the third match at Bogra. Zimbabwe gave themselves a shot atgaining their maiden victory of the series after a committed display in the field,restricting the opposition to 220. However, the batsmen, barring SeanWilliams, failed to respond to the task as they were bowled out for 194.Razzak, continued his purple patch in this series with superb figures of 5 for 33, his best figures in ODIs.As has been the trend in this series, Bangladesh rode on the performance of their spinners and an impressive opening burst by their fast bowlers, who gave little away.Brendan Taylor was the first to go, beaten for pace by Shahadat Hossain. Stuart Matsikenyeri wasn’t afraid to free his arms, and that approach fetched him a few powerful boundaries through the off side off the seamers. But Zimbabwe’s struggles against spin continued as Razzak – brought in as early as the 10th over -struck with two wickets in his first over. Matsikenyeri failed tocapitalise on his start and was bowled trying to swing across the line, while twoballs later Chamu Chibhabha was sent packing, trapped in front. HamiltonMasakadza went soon after, slashing hard at an outswinger, and at 48 for4, Zimbabwe were in dire trouble.They nearly lost a fifth when Shahriar Nafees dropped a sitter atthird man, giving Williams a reprieve on 2, and his 75-run stand withElton Chigumbura gave Zimbabwe hope. Both though, were forced to graft itout, with spinners operating from both ends. The pair managed just threeboundaries in a space of ten overs as the asking rate mounted. Razzak,Saqibul Hasan and Mohammad Rafique managed to combat the dew and stick toa restrictive line, not allowing any width as the trio conceded just 116runs in 30 overs. Mashrafe Mortaza, brought back for a second spell,rocked Zimbabwe further as Chigumbura gloved one down the leg side for 31,with his side still 98 adrift of the target. Williams and Keith Dabengwadid, however, revive Zimbabwe’s fortunes with a fluent 58-run stand, but it was too little too late. Razzak returned for his second spell and claimed two wickets to seal Zimbabwe’s fate.

It was a pitch which tested the batsmen from both teams – Bangladesh’s batsmen struggled too after getting off to a flier. Put in to bat, Bangladeshlooked set to post a tall score as the openers, Nafees and MehrabHossain, exploited the wayward offerings by the Zimbabwe fast bowlers, who struggled to control the early swing. Nafees’s dismissal, caught brilliantly by GaryBrent at leg gully, brought Aftab Ahmed to the crease and he wasted notime in stating his intent, charging down the pitch against Ed Rainsford,picking up a streaky boundary down to third man, followed by a morecontrolled loft over midwicket. Unfortunately for Bangladesh, it ended upbeing one of his typical cameo knocks, as he top-edged a sweep to shortfine leg for 16, immediately after Prosper Utseya brought himself on.Zimbabwe then clawed back as several batsmen were guilty of hurrying into theirstrokes on a sluggish pitch.Bangladesh were comfortably placed at 100 for 2 at the end of the 20th over, but the next ten yielded only 25, owing to miserly spells by Utseya and Williams, the left-arm spinner. The reintroduction of Christopher Mpofu,the medium pacer who had a nightmare opening spell, yielded immediateresults as he accounted for Hossain and Habibul Bashar in quick succession- both dismissals characterised by the ball stopping on the batsmen.Mpofu later cleaned up the tail to pick up a four-wicket haul.With runs hard to come by, Ashraful finally broke the shackles with acouple of boundaries and showed more urgency with his running. Dabengwa, the third specialist spinner – who was held back by Utseya tillthe 42nd over – struck soon, with three quick wickets, accounting forKhaled Mashud, Rafique and Ashraful. The body language of the Zimbabweansreflected in their sprightly performance in the field, as they pouched some sharpcatches. Mashrafe Mortaza’s late-innings fireworks proved crucial as itlifted Bangladesh to 220, giving their bowlers a competitive total todefend.

Andrew Hilditch, the selector accompanying the Australian team in KualaLumpur, lavished praise on Mitchell Johnson after his stunning four-wicketburst against India, but insisted there were no second thoughts overthe decision to send him home midway through thetournament. With two league matches left, Australia are set to relyon more experienced hands, with the likes of Matthew Hayden, AndrewSymonds and Brett Lee coming back into the XI.”We made a decision at the start of the tournament to bring a larger groupthan normal,” said Hilditch. “We brought 18 players. We’ve got long- andshort-term goals for Australian cricket, and we took the opportunity tohave a look at some very exciting young players. The tour group is toolarge and we told them in advance that they’d be playing only the firsttwo games.”We’re thrilled with how they’ve gone. Obviously, Mitchell Johnson’sperformance last night was fantastic, a big moment for Australian cricketand for him. But now we get on with the rest of the tour. We’ve got Haydos[Hayden] coming back, which is exciting for us and for him.Michael Hussey will captain tomorrow, and Symonds and Lee come back intothe team.”When it was suggested that the move might halt Johnson’s momentum,Hilditch disagreed. “There’s a much bigger picture. He was told what hehad to do, and he’s taken his chance. That’s all you can do in cricket.This tournament is pretty unique in that we’ve not had any internationalcricket for about five months. We planned pretty carefully to get the bestout of it for the players and Australian cricket. It’s probably a one-off,but there were a lot of players we wanted to see exposed to internationalcricket.”After the Ashes last year, there was an opinion that the Australian teamwas past its best, and too dependent on an ageing core. The decision toblood youngsters was a conscious one, done to ensure that there would beno downswing similar to that caused by the exits of Greg Chappell, DennisLillee and Rodney Marsh in 1983-84.”The Australian side’s been a great side for a long period of time,” saidHilditch. “Some of the players that are going to leave Australian cricketare legends. Part of the process is to get these younger players aroundthe senior players and learning from them.”The biggest concern following the Ashes defeat had centred on the paceattack, and how it would cope in Glenn McGrath’s absence. The emergence ofJohnson, and the return from injury of Shaun Tait now gives the selectorsenviable options ahead of the Ashes. “I think we’ve made a fair bit ofprogress,” said Hilditch. “We’ve got a lot of good fast bowlers still notin the squad. Jason Gillespie’s there, one of the greatest bowlersAustralia’s produced with over 250 Test wickets. He’s going to push hardfor the Ashes. Tait’s an exciting prospect, and Mitchell’s seizing hisopportunities. His progress over the last six months has been quiteamazing. And we have Stuart Clark, who played really well in SouthAfrica.”He said that Tait had been close to selection for this tour, but “he’sstill got a bit of a shoulder issue that stops him throwing fulldistance”. And while appreciative of the variety that Johnson gave theattack, Hilditch wasn’t of the view that being a left-arm bowler gave himany special status. “I think the Australian cricket team’s at its bestwhen it’s got its best players on the paddock, whether they’re left orright-handed,” he said. “Left-handers obviously have certain advantages,if they can swing it. But if a right-hander swings the ball, he’s gotadvantages too.”He paid tribute to the system that nurtures talent – “We’ve got a verygood identification programme, a very good academy, and we’ve been followingMitchell’s progress for five years really” – and he reckoned that sterlingperformances from young players didn’t necessarily upset the selectionaims. “If a young player takes an opportunity, it doesn’t complicatethings, it’s just good,” he said. On Saturday’s evidence – Shane Watsonsmashed 79 from 74 balls, before Johnson stole the show – it was hard toargue with such an assessment.

Mithali Raj, who led India to their fourth successive Asia Cup title, has said the squad, which includes four Under-21 players, was picked keeping in mind the World Cup in Australia next year.”I am happy to say that we have a good pool of players with whom we will work over the next nine months not only to give them the required experience but also to find the combination which will help us in Australia,” Raj said. “We wanted to provide the right platform for the youngsters to show their talent and Sri Lanka was the best place because of the similarities in the Asian subcontinent conditions which made it relatively easy for the new players to show their skills.”Among the new players who did well in the tournament are offspinner Pujare Seema, left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana and batsman Priyanka Roy. While Seema led the wicket-taking list with 14 from five matches, Sultana picked up six, and Roy scored 116 runs in six games. But keeping in mind the hard and fast tracks of Australia, India also gave chances to medium-pacers Snehal Pradhan and Devika Palshikar.Their next assignment is a tour of England in August-September and according to Raj, India had to be careful with their preparations as each tour is played in different conditions.”Our next assignment is in England and the conditions in England are different as compared to Sri Lanka or Australia. But the basics remain unchanged and the bottom line is that we have to train and work hard in every single match we play in the lead-up to the World Cup. We have a talented pool of players and over the next nine months I would like to see improvement in fielding and match planning.”Raj reached 3000 ODI runs during the tournament and became the first Indian woman to reach the landmark. “I didn’t give it a thought while I was batting in the final as my focus was on collecting as many runs as possible in the final overs until I got a message from the dressing room that I was close to the 3000-mark. To be in the top five leading run-getters’ list is a big honour and I hope to score many more runs for India.”

ScorecardA fighting but fluent 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Rizwan Ahmed and Test discard Asim Kamal carried Patron’s XI to safety after a mid-innings wobble and ensured the tour match against the South Africans ended in a draw at tea on the final day.Kamal and Rizwan came together after Patron’s XI lost their overnight batsmen to the pace of Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel. Kamal shrugged aside his omission yet again from the Test squad, mixing some delightful drives with a couple of slog sweeps. His timing, particularly square of the wicket, was exceptional but his scoring was curbed by a heavy outfield.He batted with ease, driving the seamers and cutting the spinners, Paul Harris and Graeme Smith, and fell against the run of play. Chasing a wide delivery from Smith, Kamal top-edged a cut to backward point where Hashim Amla took a low catch. He lingered at the crease, his disappointment at another missed opportunity evident.Rizwan, with a first-class average of over 36, punctuated his defensive game with a few classy cover-drives in his 56. He was especially severe on Harris, pulling him to the midwicket boundary and on one occasion smashing him out of the ground.Two wickets in three balls – including that of Rizwan – from Harris caused a brief panic but Sarfraz Ahmed (29*) counterattacked with two boundaries in the following over to ease the pressure.Harris was the pick of the South African attack with Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn going wicketless. Morkel picked up a foot injury earlier in the day and bowled two overs, putting his participation in the first Test in serious doubt.Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, was satisfied with his team’sperformance and said the team was in good shape for the Test. “Ourpreparation was outstanding, we got what we wanted – bowlers having twospells each and batsmen spending time in the middle.”He reserved special praise for Harris who finished with figures of 3 for75. “Harris started off slowly yesterday but improved as the matchprogressed. He varied his pace well and will add a new dimension to theattack that we have not had for the last couple of years.”

Former Pakistan allrounder Israr Ali died in his hometown of Okara on February 1 at the age of 88. He was Pakistan’s oldest living Test cricketer and had played four Tests for the country between 1952 and 1959. He died of a pneumonia attack.Ali played 40 first-class games, taking 114 wickets at 22.63 and scoring 1130 runs at 20.54. He had begun his career playing for Punjab in 1946-47 before Pakistan and India were partitioned, and then toured India as part of the Pakistan Test side in 1952-53. He played only two Tests on that tour, and was then was recalled to the side for two Tests against Australia in 1959-60. While interacting with ESPNcricinfo in 2012, Ali recalled how he had dismissed Australia opener Les Favell in all four innings without the assistance of fielders.He had said that one of his biggest regrets was a fallout with Pakistan captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar, which Ali believes shortened his international career.After his playing career, Ali stayed involved in cricket administration and was president of the Multan region from 1981 to 1982, and a member of Pakistan’s selection committee in 1983 and 1984, before he decided to move away from the game. “I parted from cricket after 1987, maybe because I was losing the passion, and decided to stay back in Okara,” Ali had said when he was 85 years old.Israr had been living a humble life in Okara, nearly 85 miles away from Lahore. The agricultural town has fertile land with fields of potato, tomato, sugarcane, wheat, rice and corn and in sports it is a significant nursery for hockey. Ali had been living a quiet life up until the time of his death.

Asim Kamal narrowly missed out on a ninth first-class century as Habib Bank Limited were bowled out for 315 by the combined side of North West Frontier Province-Baluchistan on the first day of their Pentagular Cup match at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex in Karachi.Kamal was bowled at 95 by Nasir Jalil who ended the day with 3 for 89 from almost 20 overs. Along with Humayun Farhat who made 56, Kamal added 76 runs for the sixth wicket. Aftab Alam (33) and Sajid Shah (44*) also chipped in with useful scores.Shah contributed with the ball as well giving Habib Bank the advantage when he trapped opener Fawad Khan leg before with his right-arm fast-medium bowling as NWFP-Baluchistan closed at 14 for 1.Through half-centuries by Atif Ali (63) and Rizwan Ahmed (83*) Sind plodded to 281 for 7 against Khan Research Laboratories at the National Stadium in Karachi.Mohammad Irshad, KRL’s right-arm fast-medium bowler, gave his side an early breakthrough when he dismissed Sind opener Agha Sabir with the score at one. But then Wajihuddin and Ali steadied the ship with a 79-run partnership. Irshad got 2 for 38 while Saeed Ajmal, an offbreak bowler, took 3 for 29. Rizwan was batting alongside Tanvir Ahmed who had made 36 when stumps were drawn.