Pakistan returned home to a rousing welcome after winning the ODI series against archrivals India and drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1

Umar Farooq07-Jan-2013Pakistan returned home to a rousing welcome after winning the ODI series against archrivals India and drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1. Large throngs of people waited outside the Lahore International Airport to greet the team on their success in the historic tour.Pakistan, after dominant performances throughout the series, came close to taking the ODI series 3-0 in Delhi. But India fought back and avoided what would have been their first whitewash since 1983-84. Pakistan, however, flourished throughout the series and were, distinctly, the better side.”The significant part of the series was the young lot stood up to take the team’s veins,” Misbah said. “Throughout the series, the young and new players contributed in the victories.”I will give credit to the whole team but there were few youngsters like [Mohammad] Irfan, Junaid [Khan] and Nasir Jamshed – who have really impressed. They have proved themselves against world’s best batting line-up and have outclassed them. They have a bright future and if they continue to perform like this, they will go way forward.”Nasir Jamshed, 23, led the batting with consecutive centuries in Chennai and Kolkata and ended up as the leading run-getter in the series with 241 runs. His Man-of-the-Series-winning performance helped him climb 45 places in the ODI rankings to a career-best 31st.”It was the great tour for me not because I have scored runs but the centuries I scored helped my team to win the matches,” Jamshed said. “Riding on my current form I would like to continue the runs feast in the upcoming South Africa tour.”Mohammad Hafeez, the T20 captain, too had a magnificent series. He became the number one allrounder in ODIs following success with both bat and ball in the series.”It was series we have been waiting desperately,” Hafeez said. “The team played with full focus and proved how good we are. It’s the victory of the whole nation and the highlight of the series were the trio – Irfan, Junaid and Nasir.”As the team, along with the PCB chairman, Zaka Ashraf, emerged at the arrival gates, the chants of Pakistan Zindabad (Long live Pakistan) and the beats of traditional drums resonated in the chilly winter evening. In a brief ceremony at the gates, Ashraf garlanded both the captains – Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafez – and said that it was a special win beating India in India.”It’s a unique honor for us that we defeated India in their own country,” Ashraf said. “Our team is very disciplined and organised, the way our captains have performed, I think they deserve congratulations from everyone in the country. The way they have fought in India, they deserve appreciation.”

Oli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2013
ScorecardOli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town.Stone was not the original captain for the trip but replaced the injured Shiv Thakor last week. He did not bring himself into the attack until six other bowlers had been used, after suffering a dislocated finger in the warm-up match, but soon made an impact with two wickets in two balls removing South Africa’s top-scorer, Murray Coetzee (50), and Vassilli Orros as the home side slipped to 120 for 5.He claimed two further wickets to complete an efficient display by England who had earlier extended their first innings to 313. Ed Barnard, who scored a century on the opening day, was only able to add seven to his overnight score before being bowled sweeping.South Africa made a solid start in reply before Harry Finch, a 17-year-old from Sussex, had Andries Gous and Shaylin Pillay caught behind in quick succession. A partnership of 60 between Coetzee and Diego Rosier, the captain, followed to leave the game evenly balance but Miles Hammond had Rosier lbw to start the collapse.

Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has stepped in to move Sri Lanka’s contract crisis towards a resolution

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Mar-2013Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has stepped in to move Sri Lanka’s contract crisis towards a resolution, after his meeting with the locked out players on Sunday night ended with the players indicating they would sign SLC’s original contract. Jayasuriya had personally set up the meeting earlier in the day in an effort to break the deadlock, which he has now successfully done.”The players have decided to put their country first and sign the original contract.” Jayasuriya said after the meeting, which lasted over two hours. “Once they sign, they will be considered for selection for the Bangladesh series.” The players are yet to put pen to paper, but are expected to do so on Monday.Jayasuriya said that while the players had agreed to bring the standoff to a close, they expected to have further discussions with the board on the key issue of contention – that of compensation for the use of their images by the ICC and its sponsors, during ICC tournaments. Under their 2012 contracts, Sri Lanka players received 25% of the net fee paid by the ICC to home boards during ICC tournaments, but in the 2013 contract they have agreed to scrap these payments entirely.”In the meantime when the ICC events come, the players will talk to the SLC what they are going to do about the players’ guarantee money,” he said.
SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga was unwilling to call the crisis closed until contracts were signed, but was pleased with the outcome of Sunday’s meeting. “What I’ve heard from Sanath is that the players will sign, but a full resolution hasn’t been reached,” he said.If the original contracts are signed on Monday, Sri Lanka’s cricketers will not have gained anything from the standoff which lasted little over 24 hours, largely owing to SLC’s powerful bargaining position. In the weeks before the contracts were issued, SLC announced it will not recognise player managers, and has since extended that policy to players’ associations, who were not allowed to represent the players’ interests during the contract negotiations.In addition to doing away with player payments from ICC’s guarantee fee, the new contracts also allows the SLC not to pay a player’s regular salary for as long as he is with his IPL team. A convention that allowed players’ wives to travel business class on one tour a year was also scrapped, and a clause that tied payment to performance as per the ICC rankings, introduced.The contracts had been issued late last week, with March 2 being the deadline prescribed by the board. After the players refused to sign before the deadline, SLC immediately engaged the strategy laid out by its executive committee, which was to freeze the players out.”They will definitely not be considered for selection,” SLC president Upali Dharmadasa had said on Saturday. “They will not be getting any facilities that Sri Lanka Cricket has been offering them, including physios, masseurs and coaches. They can’t come for practice at our venues.”Jayasuriya’s selection panel was expected to name a squad for the first Test against Bangladesh, on Sunday, but delayed the announcement until after Jayasuriya had met with the players. If the players sign as agreed, a full strength squad is likely to be named on Monday, after the contracts have been finalised.The only direct effect of the lockout so far has been Kumar Sangakkara’s omission from the side playing a three-day tour match against Bangladesh. The match was supposed to be Sangakkara’s return to competitive cricket after fracturing his index finger during the Boxing Day Test.

Ishant Sharma has said his role as a seamer in Tests in India has been to contain the flow of runs so that the spinners can attack from the other end

Sharda Ugra21-Mar-2013The fringe men in India’s romper-stomper of a performance in the series against Australia are medium-pacers Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who, between them, have picked up only 10 of the 59 Australian wickets to fall, at an average of 40.4 and a headache-generating strike rate of 80.4. These are numbers that would give palpitations to captains and coaches in many countries, but in India the seamers understand why they have, quite literally, been shown their place.The day before the fourth and final Test in Delhi, Ishant turned up to speak to reporters and explained his role, if it required him chugging along in the sidelines and playing support to the new man Bhuvneshwar. “Your role in India is to contain the flow of runs so that the spinners can attack from the other end. You’ve got to hunt in a pack and bowl in partnerships like how you bat in partnerships. When you bowl in partnerships, you may not get wickets but the bowler at the other end gets wickets.”Ishant said he had switched new-ball duties with Bhuvneshwar, who made his Test debut in Chennai and has taken six wickets at 31.16 in the series so far. “I feel Bhuvi’s bowling is different to mine. Bhuvi is more effective with the new ball because he can swing it both ways. I don’t get much swing in Indian conditions and I have to wait for the ball to get a bit old so that it reverse-swings… only after that I can attack, but till then my role is to contain. Everyone knows their role and this is the best part of our team.”Pitches in the series so far have been bare and dry, Chennai and Hyderabad putting batsmen’s abilities to play the turning ball under strict examination. The Mohali track was undeniably the best for batting and offered more help to the seamers. Ishant said, “As you saw in the last three Test matches there was a lot of help for the spinners, so I have got very less bowling. It was only in the last match in Mohali that I got nearly 30 overs but before that I didn’t get much bowling.”For the seamers, Ishant said maintaining the balance between attack and defence and using the best bowler in the most suitable conditions was important. “If you are bowling first then the ball does not swing that much because conditions are not that favourable. So you have to wait for the ball to swing more, then you can attack but until then you have to be defensive.”The moment to attack came when the ball got a little old and reverse-swing of the kind that Ishant can put into use came into play. “You also have to wait for the ball to reverse-swing so you can have fielders in attacking positions… These factors are very important when considering when to attack and when to defend.”Ishant, who plays for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, was speaking at his home ground the Ferozshah Kotla, where he would miss playing for India, together his team-mate, Shikhar Dhawan, who scored the fastest Test century on debut in Mohali but fractured his left hand.The contrasts between India’s performances in the away Tests in England and Australia in 2011 and early 2012 and Australia’s woeful performances on their 2013 tour of India had, Ishant said, reiterated the advatages of home conditions, “When we went to Australia we struggled a lot and everybody said we can’t play away from home and now you can see that even Australia can’t play here. So the advantage of home conditions is quite big. Our home conditions suit spinners and Australia is weak against the spinners so that has been a big advantage for us.”

Kevon Cooper bowled a nerveless last over to give Rajasthan Royals a winning start to the season with a slim five-run victory over Delhi Daredevils

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner looked ominous, but a brilliant run-out from Brad Hodge helped even the odds, before Kevon Cooper pulled off the heist•BCCI

An electric late rally in the field, completed by a stoic over of pinpoint yorkers from Kevon Cooper, saw Rajasthan Royals begin their IPL campaign with a thrilling five-run win over Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils were hurtling towards their target after 17 overs, with only 22 runs to get, and a flourishing David Warner at the crease. But Cooper ignited his side with a five-run over in the 18th that ended with a wicket, before a direct hit from acting captain Brad Hodge at cover dismissed Warner in the penultimate over, to give his side hope of a still-unlikely victory.Nine runs were required off Cooper’s final over, but the bowler delivered six yorkers, two of which dismissed panicking Daredevils batsmen, and provided the IPL’s first week with its second nail-biting result. Johan Botha was out lbw, attempting a reverse paddle with seven required from four, before Andre Russell also fell trying to hit the ball fine with six needed from two, only this time Cooper cleaned him up. New man Naman Ojha had to hit a six off the last ball for Daredevils to salvage victory, but could not connect with a wide yorker, sparking ecstatic celebrations from Royals.Daredevils’ death-over meltdown almost mirrored Royals’ returns from the same period of their innings, after the visitors had managed just six runs from their last two overs, and lost four wickets. Royals had arrived in the 18th over at 159 for 3, and were eyeing a 180-plus total that seemed par on a good batting surface. They however lost four batsmen in six balls, including Rahul Dravid, whose immaculately paced 65 off 51 held the team’s innings together.Dravid had arrived at Kusal Perera’s demise in the third over, and aside from a controlled edge to the third man fence first ball, was largely content to collect singles to begin with, despite the fielding restrictions. When the bowlers erred, as Andre Russell did when he served up a wide delivery in the sixth over, Dravid’s placement and timing ensured the desired boundary was achieved.He was dropped twice in the 12th over, when he began to introduce more aggression to his innings, but he was undeterred, and having made only 22 from his first 26 deliveries, he quickly achieved a more laudable strike rate through the middle overs.For Daredevils, Warner was also relatively reticent to begin with, allowing opening partner Unmukt Chand to provide the early innings impetus, and striking at no better than a run a ball until the tenth over of the innings. When he eventually exploded in earnest, with two fours off Rahul Shukla in the 13th over, Daredevils appeared to be executing a measured chase.Warner was dropped early in his innings, and had one more reprieve just after hitting fifty, as he continued to maul some indifferent Royals bowling through the middle overs. Just before Daredevils hit their wall, Warner launched Siddharth Trivedi in the 17th over for 13. After Warner’s demise however, none of the Daredevils batsmen seemed capable of finding the boundary, and Royals achieved revenge for the mighty close defeat they had suffered last year, in the same fixture.

Shakib Al Hasan has been fined 75% of his match fee after pleading guilty to showing serious dissent at the umpire’s decision

ESPNcricinfo staff06-May-2013Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh allrounder, has been fined 75% of his match fee after pleading guilty to showing serious dissent at the umpire’s decision in the second ODI against Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe team was also fined, for maintaining a slow over rate.Shakib had been adjudged lbw for 34 though the ball seemed heading down the leg side, and there was a hint of an inside-edge as well. Shakib reacted by violently slamming the bat on his pads, accidentally brushing the Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor’s pad as he ran in to celebrate the wicket. Shakib immediately apologised to Taylor. He later agreed that he had shown dissent at the umpire’s decision.The match referee Chris Broad deemed it to be a Level 2 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct. “This type of a reaction from a senior player and a former captain is unacceptable,” Broad said. “When the umpire’s finger goes up, the batsman must leave the crease without showing his emotions regardless of what he thinks of the decision.”The other fine levied in the match was for Zimbabwe’s slow over rate, deemed to have been one over short in their allotted time. Taylor, the captain, was fined 20% of his match fee, and the rest of the side was penalised 10%.The one-day series is tied 1-1, and will be decided by the final match on May 8.

Amrit Mathur, Delhi Daredevils’ consultant and former India team manager, said that it was impractical for franchises to form a formal body to educate and monitor players in the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2013Amrit Mathur, Delhi Daredevils’ consultant and former India team manager, said that it was impractical for franchises to form a formal body to educate and monitor players in the IPL. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Mathur said that the concept of a formal body to control activities like spot-fixing would not be feasible as the franchises had control over players only during the tournament. Moreover, he said that incidents like these could not be completely eradicated but, with appropriate systems, could be controlled and reduced.”There’s no provision at the moment for a formal body. At the same time, there is a practical body in the sense that the teams have the players contracted with them for only 45 days,” Mathur said. “Beyond those 45 days, there is no relationship between the franchise and player. So if it’s the 46th day, and a team has to go to its captain, it’s on request mode. If we’re with a player only for 45 days, there’s nothing we can do beyond that. The players are busy, they have no relationship with you, so what kind of programmes or education or anything can you do? It doesn’t work.”Mathur also said there was very little administrators could do in the spot-fixing situation, but advised that systems governing cricket could always be strengthened. “I don’t think the IPL or the BCCI could have done anything more once it was revealed such a thing happened. The IPL or the BCCI doesn’t have the tools or the ability to monitor or police this beyond a point. So, they have to go by what the investigations throw up in terms of evidence or offence of the individual is concerned.”The systems can be strengthened, there could be better monitoring and provisions to ensure such things don’t happen. It’s not that the IPL is not aware of the importance of keeping the league and tournament corruption-free of informing and warning the players of an act of this nature. Before the season, the anti-corruption unit meets each team separately, it’s a pretty serious exercise.”Mathur also stated that there was now a greater understanding of the problem of match-fixing because such incidents had occurred in India, on the county circuit in England and in Test cricket. “I think there is an understanding across the boards, across the countries, across the ICC, across the member nations that this is a serious issue. It will throw up wrong things from time to time and you have to be vigilant, you have to educate, you have to monitor. And at the same time, after all this, if somebody is caught doing it, there has to be some punishment.”Mathur stressed on the importance of a law in India that could enforce stricter punishments for spot-fixing and other related crimes.”That punishment, in England came through the court of law, not through the ECB. Similarly there has to be some procedure through which it comes to court of law in India,” Mathur said. “Apparently, earlier, there was some uncertainty about which provisions of the law does such an act attract. Ultimately, we were informed yesterday that it is under conspiracy and cheating, which do not attract very serious punishments.  So maybe down the line there could be a special legislation which enforces stricter punishments for spot-fixing or any crime of this nature.”In response to a question on how franchises perceived the threat of spot-fixing, Mathur admitted that while vigilance wasn’t as stringent in the first year, franchises began understanding that controversies like these would affect their business.”I think in year one it was just a mad scramble to get things rolling,” Mathur said. “But very soon the understanding reached everybody that: a) it is sport, you can’t have sport sallied by something like this and b) it’s a commercial venture, you invest huge amounts of money into the team, into the franchise and you’re building a business. And the last thing a business wants is a controversy of this kind. It holds the foundation of a business of any kind, let alone a cricket team or a sporting tournament. So even before the ICC’s anti-corruption unit became a part of the IPL, I know many teams were telling their players the need to be clean, the need to be fair, the need to not do anything that would tarnish the brand.”

Durham gave Geoff Cook nothing to worry about as they took over from visitors Hampshire at the top of Group B in the Yorkshire
Bank 40 League with a six-wicket victory at Chester-le-Street.

22-Jun-2013
ScorecardPhil Mustard made 92 in the chase•Getty Images

Durham gave Geoff Cook nothing to worry about as they took over from visitors Hampshire at the top of Group B in the Yorkshire
Bank 40 League with a six-wicket victory at Chester-le-Street. With coach Cook still in a critical condition following his heart attack on Thursday, his team romped to their fourth successive win in the competition with 2.4 overs to spare.Despite conceding 93 off the last 10 overs, Durham restricted the holders to
224 for 9 and lost acting captain Mark Stoneman in the first over of their
reply.A brief shower with the score on 55 for 1 in the 13th over reduced the target
to 218 in 38 overs and, by the time Phil Mustard and Scott Borthwick had put on
164 for the second wicket, victory was a formality.Mustard was dropped on 11 at slip by Sean Ervine off Pakistani left-arm paceman
Sohail Tanvir and Borthwick survived a return chance to James Vince on 12. Mustard went on to make 92 off 90 balls and Borthwick registered his maiden
one-day fifty into 80 off 82 deliveries before holing out with 17 needed.Borthwick hit sixes off both left-arm spinners, Danny Briggs and Liam Dawson,
who had combined figures of 0 for 85 in 11 overs.Tanvir took all four wickets to fall, producing excellent deliveries to clean
bowl Stoneman and Ben Stokes. But only three were needed when he nipped one back
off the pitch to breach Stokes’ defence and Paul Collingwood saw Durham home
with an unbeaten 32.Hampshire were not helped by Dimitri Mascarenhas being unable to bowl following
a back spasm, while Michael Carberry went for an X-ray after damaging a thumb.For Durham, Chris Rushworth bowled with great control to take 5 for 42 after
Hampshire were put in and the target looked like being much lower until Dawson
thrashed 69 off 46 balls.The openers put on 23 before Vince drove to mid-off and Carberry was caught at
leg gully, deliberately placed for the miscued pull. Jimmy Adams and Neil McKenzie carefully added 34 in 11 overs before the South
African tried to flip a straight ball from Collingwood to fine leg and was lbw
for 18.There was a second wicket for Collingwood when Adams holed out to Stokes at
deep midwicket after making 32 off 50 balls. That brought in Dawson at 112 for 4 in the 27th over and four overs later he
began the late onslaught by sweeping a six as Collingwood’s final over cost 12
and left him with 2 for 44.The last four overs yielded 46 with Dawson driving two successive balls from
Stokes for six. The first took him to 50 off 37 balls. Stokes’ first four overs were tight but he finished with 1 for 56 on what was
not a good day for either him or Briggs ahead of teaming up with the England
Twenty20 squad this week.

Ramesh Powar, the former India offspinner, has shifted from his home team of Mumbai to Rajasthan, signing a two-year contract

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Aug-2013Ramesh Powar, the former India offspinner, has shifted from his home team of Mumbai to Rajasthan, signing a two-year contract. Powar played five of the 11 matches in Mumbai’s run to the Ranji title last season, but had little success himself, only managing six wickets at 82.16.Powar said that current Rajasthan captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar had convinced him to make the switch to a team that has won the Ranji Trophy twice in the last three seasons.”The presence of Hrishi would add to [my] confidence,” Powar told . “He understands the game well and is composed and focused. He has become a better cricketer after his stint with Rajasthan. I hope I too will benefit from my decision of playing for Rajasthan.”The stocky Powar said he had worked hard on his fitness so that he could deliver for Rajasthan. “It was a challenge for me to lose weight. I have worked hard because I feel playing for Rajasthan ushers in a new innings for me. I want to contribute in all departments and that is why I wanted to be in best shape.”Having made his first-class debut back in the 1999-2000 season, Powar has plenty of experience. “I want to give back to the game. I would be happy if I am able to nurture a few youngsters in Rajasthan during my two-year stint. I always love to impart tips to upcoming spinners.” Among the spinners Powar will get to work with in Rajasthan are offspinner Madhur Khatri and left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh.It has been nearly six years since Powar last represented India, but even at 35, he dreams of returning to the national team. “I still hope to play for the country. A couple of good performances can turn the things your way. You never know. More over there is dearth of quality spinners in country.”

David Warner’s reinvention as a middle-order batsman received a tremendous boost as the left-hander amassed 193 runs against South Africa A in Pretoria

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2013
ScorecardDavid Warner was in prime form, striking 29 fours and a six in an innings of 193•Getty Images

David Warner’s reinvention as a middle-order batsman received a tremendous boost as the left-hander amassed 193 against South Africa A in Pretoria. The visitors finished one run short of 400 on the opening day as Glenn Maxwell celebrated his maiden first-class century as well.Warner was suspended from the Australian side after an altercation with England batsman Joe Root during the Champions Trophy and could not participate in the warm-up matches for the Ashes. Subsequently he was not picked to play the first Test and with coach Darren Lehmann confirming Chris Rogers and Shane Watson as Australia’s openers, Warner’s future in the side demanded that he adjust to the role of a middle-order batsman. He was sent to Africa with the A side to prepare him for the role; a role he was keen to perform, expressing a wish to fill the shoes of Michael Hussey.Having failed in his only outing in Zimbabwe, Warner stepped into a delicate situation with Australia A two down, both wickets going to Kyle Abbott, by the 13th over. A 73-run partnership for the third wicket between Warner and captain Aaron Finch, who scored a half-century, revived Australia A. Marchant de Lange accounted for Finch, but Warner, having already surged to a run-a-ball, fifty spearheaded a 76-run stand with Moises Henriques to put Australia A in the driver’s seat.Henriques’ fall brought Maxwell to the crease and misery to South Africa A as the duo piled on 204 runs off 229 balls with Maxwell reaching his century with his 13th four. Warner’s wicket, bowled by de Lange, signalled the end of day one, but not before Warner had lasted 226 balls, and hit 30 boundaries, including one six.Maxwell was very pleased with his innings. “It’s always nice to get the century out of the way on the first day,” he said. “I’m very happy with my performance; this is probably the best I’ve batted in a long time. It was good to bat with Dave Warner. He was taking a lot of the pressure off me by scoring pretty quickly.”Justin Ontong, the South Africa A captain, was disappointed with his side’s performance. “It was quite a hard day for us. The wicket was good to bat on but we should have bowled a little better in the first hour,” he said. “We bowled on both sides of the wicket which made it very difficult for me to set fields. And if you bowl [like that] to good batsmen like Warner, they’ll punish you.”We need to pick up five more wickets. We are going to have a good chat now and come back strongly tomorrow. Still it will be hard work for our batters but they need to apply themselves and show patience and get themselves in a position like David Warner got.”