All posts by csb10.top

It’s been three years since England won a one-day series at home but the current batch, eager to put a seal on the trophy tomorrow, appear to be headed in just the right direction. It was against India that England last triumphed in a home one-day rubber, back in September 2004, but this unit seems genuinely capable of a one-day renaissance. It’s early days yet but the signs shouldn’t go unnoticed.Paul Collingwood is leading a young side that’s winning. Every member of this squad is likely to last till the next World Cup, something that doesn’t hold true with other international sides. Collingwood is the only member of the side who is above 30, yet he’s arguably the fittest of the lot.The youngest two members carried them to victory at Old Trafford. A few months back they couldn’t win a game, now they seem to possess all the riches. As if winning the series wasn’t good enough, England want to win the rest of the games. They’re talking of playing their best cricket from now on and have mentioned the word “ruthless” too often for comfort. Collingwood is talking of “miles to go”. Such greed.”To win three games so far is a good achievement but we’ve done nothing yet,” said Collingwood. “We’ve got one more game to win but we want to win the last three. I’ve said from the start as long as we are moving forward as a team I’m happy. But you always want to win. It would mean a lot for the confidence of the team, going forward into the Twenty20 [World Championship] and on to Sri Lanka.”Both teams are sweating over injury concerns to fast bowlers – Andrew Flintoff and Zaheer Khan are doubtful starters – who could be crucial in conditions which are likely to favour them. The weather is mostly chilly, with a stiff breeze blowing across the ground, and given the 10.15 am start, the early overcast conditions could play a part in the compositions of the side and the decision at the toss. If Dravid wins this one too, like he is done in his previous seven, there could be some serious investigation. He’s losing games but defying probability.India must be feeling like a football side that’s two goals down with a man sent off. Zaheer is unlikely to play, while his replacement, Munaf Patel, hasn’t hit full fitness. The law of averages suggests Ajit Agarkar will have a bad game – he’s had a good game just two days ago, remember – and RP Singh is on the wane. Dravid spoke about having their backs to the wall. It’s actually more like guns to their foreheads.A picture in the Headingley Long Room captures three of Yorkshire’s greatest batsman. There’s Herbert Sutcliffe, smiling eagerly from a wheelchair, flanked by Len Hutton and Geoffrey Boycott, kneeling on either side. They traverse three generations. Sutcliffe was born in 1894, Hutton in 1916 and Boycott in 1940. Between them they total 57 Test hundreds and 19,640 Test runs. Their feats at the first-class level were simply colossal.There’s another batsman, who also turned out for Yorkshire, whose feats surpass those of the trio. Sachin Tendulkar, who was Yorkshire’s first overseas pro back in 1992, returns to his English home. Four fifties in the last seven games point to his current form but it’s here and now, with India needing to win, that he’d want to stamp his authority.His opening partner, Sourav Ganguly was unwell and missed the practice session but is expected to walk out for his 300th one-dayer tomorrow. The two, the most prolific pair in one-day history, have 50 fifty-plus stands between them and a solid start, especially in demanding conditions, will be essential to get India away.Once they drew level at Bristol, India spoke about a five-match series. Now they can look forward to a three-match contest and if they end up losing the next two there’s always a one-off slug-out waiting for them at Lord’s.England (likely) 1 Matt Prior (wk), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood (capt), 6 Owais Shah, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Chris Tremlett, 10 Monty Panesar, 11 James Anderson.India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Rahul Dravid (capt), 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 Ramesh Powar, 10 RP Singh, 11 Munaf Patel.

On his recent performances
After being out with injury during the Australia tour I had a point to prove to show that I can be a good allrounder. So I have been working hard on my fitness and every aspect of my game with Tom (Moody), who has helped me a lot. I’m happy with the way I have been approaching my cricket and on the field, I have just been playing my natural game. I have been keeping things simple and things are going well at the moment.On how his game has developed
Tom has helped me with my technique and also mentally as well. We have recently changed some of my bowling methods, opening up my action slightly and making sure my front arm was pulling down straight. I feel there has been a big improvement since making those changes. I just have to make sure that I am always asking the batsman questions as to whether to play or not.On his batting
Batting-wise, I have just been trying to adapt to the situation. When I went in on Monday I was just thinking about getting through what was a tough period. They were bowling a good line and length. We knew it would ease-up after lunch and just wanted to survive the first session. Dilshan played brilliantly for his 69 and I gave him company. I’m just disappointed to not get a half-century.On the progress of the match
After Pakistan started the innings well, we just tried to focus on the basics and that worked for us as we took three quick wickets. Inzamam and Farhat batted well. This morning I was just concentrating on bowling in the right areas rather than looking for seam or swing. That paid off and from the other end, we also kept it tight. Murali took wickets and Malinga (Lasith) chipped in. Then Upul (Tharanga), Sanga (Sangakkara) and Mahela (Jayawardene) batted brilliantly – it was a good day for us.On the present match situation
We are in the box seat at the moment with a lead of 250-odd with eight wickets in hand. But you never know in cricket and we just want to get a score where we feel we are safe and can win the match. I think around 350 to 400 would be a good target on this pitch.On the condition of the pitch
The pitch has eased a lot compared to the first day and now it is playing very well. The spinners are getting some bite and jump. It’s a good track but when we go out in the second innings to bowl, we’ll be looking to be positive and trying to make sure we are hitting the good areas as much as possible.

Scott Styris will finish his county season a week early after New Zealand became worried that a series of niggling injuries could harm his preparation for the Twenty20 World Championship. Styris has had problems with his lower back, knee and calf during his seven-week stint at Durham and will play his final game for the county against Hampshire this weekend.Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand team manager, said their priority was to ensure Styris was fit for the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa in September as well as the international season that follows. “In spite of having had a month off before taking up the contract, Scott has had a number of injury issues while with Durham,” Crocker said.”We have decided that he needs to return to New Zealand so we can begin working on his fitness and rehabilitation, ahead of our busy international season. While he is still able to play in a limited capacity, we feel that seeing out his contract to 31 July could potentially limit his chances of being fit for the ICC World Twenty20.”Styris also hurt his back last year while playing at Middlesex and he aggravated the problem at the Champions Trophy. That led to him missing the home series against Sri Lanka and the start of the CB Series, although when he returned he was in fine form and was New Zealand’s leading run-scorer at the World Cup.However, New Zealand gave him a clean bill of health leading into the 2007 county season and before Styris joined Durham Crocker said he had no concerns over the allrounder’s fitness. In his four first-class games so far this season he has struggled for form, scoring 191 runs at 23.87. Styris will have just over a month to prepare for the World Championship before New Zealand depart in the first week of September.

Wellington v Central Districts Day 4
In a repeat of the result of last year’s final, Central Districts beat Wellington outright.Chasing a modest 227 on a wicket that offered the seamers encouragement throughout, Central stuttered briefly but always looked favourites to get there.Opener Geoff Barnett laid the foundation with a gritty 78. Nobody else in the top order passed 20 until Ewen Thompson, batting at number eight, scored 40 from 43 balls, including two sixes. The importance of his knock can not be downplayed. Thompson came to the crease at the dismissal of Barnett with Central teetering slightly at 167 for 6. However, his boldness and Bevan Griggs’ resilience (19 not out from 48 balls), guided Central to maximum points. Griggs finished with a useful match double after scoring 58 in the first innings. He also took five catches behind the stumps in Wellington’s second innings.James Franklin and Test hopeful Mark Gillespie took three wickets each, though Gillespie was expensive in the context of this match.Auckland v Otago Day 3
Auckland’s burst of four wickets late on the second evening looks more and more like an anomaly as the runs pile up at this batter-friendly venue.Neil Broom and Gareth Hopkins took their fifth-wicket partnership through to 219 before Broom fell to Chris Martin for 112.Wicketkeeper Hopkins continued on his merry way, securing a century after 199 balls and a few nervous moments on 99. He was ably supported by Lancastrian Kyle Hogg who must have walked out to bat with some trepidation after failing to score on a similar batsman’s paradise during the first round match against Canterbury.As it is there must be a few red faces among Otago’s top order after such a pitiful collapse.When rain stopped play late in the day, Hogg was on 53 and Hopkins 139 – but then Otage declared, which could prove an imaginative decision.Canterbury v Northern Districts Day 3
Northern have only Daniel Vettori’s allround abilities to thank for this match continuing into the fourth day.Vettori propped up a disappointing Northern effort with 86 – he was last man out – as the visitors collapsed against Shane Bond.Bond, playing his first match for the province this season, took 5 for 37 off 19.3 well-directed overs to decimate a Northern side that began the innings just two runs adrift of Canterbury.They soon found themselves marooned at 81 for 6, Hamish Marshall giving more headaches to the New Zealand selectors with his 19-ball innings of 1.Vettori was supported by Peter McGlashan who eked out a painstaking 13 from 65 deliveries before falling to Craig McMillan.

Australian Academy 240 for 3 (Bailey 136) beat Zimbabwe Board XI 236 for 9 (Sibanda 92, Chibhabha 59, Sullivan 5-46) by seven wicketsThe Australian Academy completed their tour of Zimbabwe with another resounding win in the third one-dayer at Harare Sports Club, defeating a Zimbabwe Board XI by seven wickets with almost 25 overs to spare.Zimbabwe batted soundly and their innings was built on a 98-ball 92 from Vusi Sibanda while Chamu Chibhabha chipped in with a breezy 59. Right arm fast bowler Grant Sullivan led the attack with 5 for 46 in 10 overs. However, with the Australians’ batting in such devastating form, this was never likely to be enough.Even allowing for that, George Bailey’s onslaught was remarkable – he bludgeoned 136 off 65 balls to make a mockery of the target of 237. In all, he hammered ten sixes and 14 fours out of 160 runs made while he was at the wicket. The first two batsmen fell cheaply – making 1 and 8 – but the score was nevertheless 88 when the second wicket fell. Ed Rainsford bore the brunt of Bailey’s hitting, taking 1 for 67 off nine overs.Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson put on a more sedate and unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 80 in ten overs to steer the Academy to victory with almost half their allocation of overs in hand.The Academy won all six matches in Kenya and Zimbabwe, and were never pushed in any of them. It underlined the gulf between the two countries and what amounted to a young Australia side.

John Buchanan, whose coaching contract expires in October, is confident of a renewal that will keep him in charge until after the World Cup. Buchanan, 52, told The Age discussions with Cricket Australia for a two-year deal were advanced and there were enough challenges to keep the world champions fresh after the Ashes tour.The Australians have been in camp this week tentatively planning for the England Tests and one-day tournaments, but they have also focussed beyond the trip, which starts tomorrow. “We’ve specifically avoided concentrating too much on this series because it’s a long tour,” Buchanan told the paper. “There will be time when we get there to really put our minds and training to what we’re going to do in England.”Buchanan said the side could still improve and use its skills more consistently, especially with its catching. “We can introduce some more tactics along the way that we’ve at least talked about and it’s now a case of how we implement those,” he said. “If myself or a player or the team believes that there aren’t new challenges and there aren’t things we can improve significantly in our games, then it’s time to move on.”The World Cup is already on Buchanan’s mind and he said he was hopeful of securing a place at the event following his discussions with Cricket Australia. “They’ve been good negotiations so far and I’m hopeful we’ll reach a conclusion on that as soon as we can,” he said. “With that in mind I’ve produced a blueprint for the World Cup 2007.”

Brendan Taylor, who took Zimbabwe to a thrilling two-wicket win against Bangladesh with a last-ball six, was full of praise for his partner Tawanda Mupariwa. The pair added a record 81 for the seventh wicket, with Mupariwa scoring 33 and giving valuable support to Taylor, the only recognised batsman at the crease.”I should give him (Mupariwa) credit for a job well done because he really was gathered up from the time he came into play and showed good skills that really helped us to win”, Taylor told , a Zimbabwe daily, at the end of the match. “It really feels great to be in the winning team and this was just a sweet victory.”Mupariwa was run-out in the penultimate ball of the final over, and Taylor said that his biggest challenge was to maintain his focus despite the dismissal. “There was a big blow when Mupariwa injured his ankle as he tried to run back to the crease and with the partnership that was going on so fine, and only a ball to go”, he said. “I just kept on telling myself to be calm and I managed to control myself, especially at the last three balls where I had to take the game ball by ball.”With Zimbabwe leading the series 2-1 with two games remaining, Taylor said that this would be the ideal opportunity for his country to clinch the series.”At a stage like this we cannot afford to slacken and in the next game (on Friday) we really have to give it our all because we believe we are going to win. We are at home and we have to show that we are capable of pleasing our fans as did Bangladesh last year.”In the previous ODI series between the two sides, Bangladesh won 3-2 in front of their home crowd, coming from behind after they lost the first two games.

Still annoyed with ICC selectors for overlooking him from the Super Series World XI squad against Australia, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan captain, today said he will not travel to Australia next month for the Captains’ Conference and the second ICC Annual Awards.Inzamam told PTI, “I have not yet made up my mind if I would play in the Super Series if given a late ticket, but I have definitely decided not to travel to Australia for Captains’ Conference and ICC Annual Awards. I have conveyed my decision to the concerned authorities.”Inzamam’s decision came a day after the Pakistan Cricket Board said it would back the captain if he decides to skip the Australian tour. Inzamam’s decision has also strengthened apprehensions that he might turn down a late invitation from the ICC to represent the World XI in place of an injured Sachin Tendulkar or Herschelle Gibbs.”I don’t think it would be a wise decision to take a long flight to and from Sydney for the Captains’ Conference when the same time can be better utilised to prepare for the home series against England. That is far more important than anything at the moment.”Michael Vaughan’s side, fresh from their Ashes success against Australia, arrive in Pakistan on October 26 for a three-Test and five-ODI series. When England last toured Pakistan in 2000, they won the three-Test series 1-0 while Pakistan clinched the ODI seriesInzamam added, “Instead of undergoing flight hazards, I have decided to pencil down my suggestions, opinions and recommendations and hand them over to the PCB so that they can forward them to the ICC.”Inzamam said it was a great honour for him to be nominated for three ICC awards. “I don’t think that I will win any award for the simple reason that if I get any award, it would be embarrassing for the selectors and I don’t think the ICC would put its selectors in a situation where they are left with no hiding place. Don’t you agree that it would be a bad publicity for the ICC or its selectors if winner of any of the three awards is originally overlooked from its World XI?”Inzamam, who averages over 50 in ODIs and 94.67 in Tests this year, has been nominated for Player of the Year, Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year awards.

Brett Lee has given Australia a fresh fitness worry ahead of the third Test on Thursday, following his admission into a Birmingham hospital late on Monday afternoon after experiencing swelling and discomfort in his left knee.Australia’s physiotherapist, Errol Alcott, told reporters at the team hotel that doctorswere confident Lee would respond to treatment for the infection, but he remained in hospital overnight, and that he would not travel with the team to Manchester this afternoon. Lee is presently on an intravenous drip and Alcott described his condition as “comfortable”, adding that the injury to Lee’s left knee may have been related to a cut he sustained while fielding during last month’s first Test at Lord’s.Asked about Lee’s chances of playing in the third Test, Alcott added: “He’s 50-50but that’s what I always say.” The injury first came to light before Lee batted on Sunday when he complained of soreness. He went onto score an unbeaten 43 that almost guided Australia to a stunning victory in the second Test at Edgbaston, a match England won by two runs to level the series at 1-1.Australia, the winners of the last eight Ashes series, are already facing up to the absence of their fast-bowling spearhead, Glenn McGrath, who sustained an ankle injury in the warm-up before the start of play last Thursday. “Glenn is proceeding as well as expected,” added Alcott. “He had a scan today and that showed extensive ligament damage, but we knew that anyway.”If Lee was to be ruled out, it would be a huge blow to Ricky Ponting’s team, who do have the uncapped paceman, Shaun Tait, in their squad as cover. Prior to Lee’s injury, Australia selectors were already discussing the possibility of calling up the allrounder, Shane Watson, who is playing for Hampshire.

Why was the CLT20 culled and what is the most significant impact?
The CLT20 was cancelled because of the lack of viability from a broadcaster’s perspective. An IPL insider revealed that the tournament was worth almost a billion dollars over ten years but the broadcasters failed to recover even a tenth of that.The biggest impact following the cancellation of the CLT20 will be felt by non-Indian domestic teams, who have lost out on a three-way income stream. Non-Indian teams in the tournament received participation fees of US$500,000 per team, prize money and US$150,000 per player who chose to turn out for his IPL team instead of his domestic team, in the event that both qualified.”The CLT20 was a cash cow for international teams,” the source told ESPNcricinfo. “For a team like T&T, when a Samuel Badree or Dwayne Bravo is playing for other teams, the money they receive from them would change things immediately. The CLT20 was a game-changer for other teams around the world given the sheer amount of money.”

Impact on respective boards

BCCI
Of the three stakeholders – the BCCI, CA and CSA – the Indian board and its teams are the best off. The BCCI will receive US$190 million – more than half the $330 million settlement between the three boards and the broadcaster Star India – and the IPL teams will no longer have to spend thousands of dollars for retaining overseas players for the CLT20. “For Indian franchises, most of the amount would be spent towards retaining the services of a Pollard or de Villiers,” the source said.Cricket Australia
CA is the next biggest beneficiary. It will receive US$80 million following the closure of CLT20 and has a television rights deal to cushion it against other loss. Cricket Australia made somewhere in the region of US$25 million in each edition of the Champions League, and in the early seasons of the Big Bash League, it was this money that allowed the BBL project head Mike McKenna to say “domestic Twenty20 operations” were running at a profit.The broadcast networks, Channel Nine and Channel Ten, alleviated CA’s reliance on this revenue in 2013. The deal with Channel Ten for the BBL alone is worth $20 million per season, while Nine’s investment of $500 million over five years also strengthened the board’s position and the funds that could be doled out to the states and their BBL teams.Cricket South Africa
The South African board will receive US$60 million from the settlement but its franchises, who operate as separate companies to the national body, are concerned about their own affairs. CSA will split the participation fees of the two teams who took part in the tournament between all six of their franchises, who received R350,000 (US$28.778) a year.Several franchise CEOs described the funds coming in from CLT20 as “essential”, because the income-earning opportunities for South African franchises are limited. “The participation money from the CLT20 is worth more than we get in prize money for winning a domestic tournament,” Nabeal Dien, CEO of Cobras, said. For turning up in the CLT20, teams receive the equivalent of R2.4 million (US$200,000). In comparison, South Africa’s first-class competition carries a total prize money of R2 million (US 166,666).West Indies Cricket Board
The West Indies Cricket Board loses between $300,000 and 400,000 as a whole from the tournament being cancelled. A major portion, over 65% of the money they would earn from the CLT20 was channelled towards development in the territories with the remainder retained by the board.The WICB was also concerned about the impact on domestic teams. “It’s what funds the region will be devoid of, not the board. Everything does not just go in the WICB coffers as that money has to be shared,” Michael Muirhead, CEO of WICB said. “You can’t just say what money the board will be missing out on.” He estimated that the funds that “the region” would no longer be privy to could be around “a couple hundreds of thousands of US Dollars.”Sri Lanka Cricket
For Sri Lanka, where the board owns all the franchises, the effect will be felt at national level. The SLC received the US$500,000 participation fee plus the amounts from players retained by IPL franchises. Around 5% of this money went into operational costs, another 5% to the players and the remaining 90% into SLC coffers.