All posts by csb10.top

JOHANNESBURG (October 13) – A masterful century from Sven Koenig guided the Highveld Strikers to a six-run victory over Border in their Standard Bank Cup limited overs match at the Wanderers on Friday evening.With regular opener Andrew Hall doing duty for South Africa in the ICC Knockout tournament in Kenya, Koenig stepped into the breach and engineered a dramatic victory over the same side they beat in last season’s final of the Supersport Series at this same ground.Batting with remarkable confidence so early in the domestic season, Koenig hit six fours on his way to 109 runs off only 118 balls as his side climbed to a total of 229.Border skipper Pieter Strydom led from the front with his superb 89 not out, and along with Steven Pope’s 63 helped steer the side to a credible 223 for the loss of seven wickets as their alloted 45 overs caught up with them following a pedestrian start by the visitors.Strikers captain Clive Eksteen won the toss and elected to bat first.Koenig, who walked off with the man of the match award, stood out head and shoulders above a Strikers top order that struggled to stay the pace with him.Adam Bacher departed for a mere 10 runs, and Zander de Bruyn also offered little in the way of resistance with his six runs.Daryll Cullinan also failed to deliver the kind of performance he was looking for to remind the national selectors that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the limited overs game. Cullinan seemed to be well on his way to doing just that as he raced to 39 off 36 balls, including six fours and two sixes. But the bowling of Steven Pope put a premature end to his performance.Ottis Gibson added a useful 30 runs, along with his figures of 3-44, before the collapse of the Strikers’ tail. The home side went on to lose five wickets for only 24 runs.Drakes was the predictable leader of the visitors’ bowling attack, taking two wickets, of which Koening was one, for 31 runs in his nine-over spell.

There was good news and bad news for Glamorgan at Taunton today.On the positive side, Robert Croft heard that he had been selected in England`s squad for theThird Test against Australia starting at Trent Bridge on Thursday.Moreover, the off-spinner is very likley to be in the starting eleven, thereby winning his21st Test cap, and taking a step closer to becoming the first Glamorgan bowler to take50 wickets in Test cricket for England.When announcing the squad, David Graveney, the Chairman of Selectors, said “We wanted toshow continuity of selection by including Robert Croft. He performed very well on the wintertour of Sri Lanka, and we brought him back into the squad at Edgbaston. Maybe withhindsight, we should have played him there.””Nottingham is a pretty flat wicket and Croft can beat the bat on both sides. He is likelyto have to spend a lot of time bowling overs, but the fact that the pitch will not spin somuch is not something that we are unduly concerned with. He will enable us to use our quickerbowlers in short spells.”But there was gloomy news as well for the Welsh county as captain Steve James broke a bone inhis left hand during the defeat against Somerset. The injury happened as James was hit on hisgloves by a rising short delivery from England paceman Andy Caddick.James bravely tried to continue batting, but was unable to grip the bat properly, andafter receiving treatment on the field, he went to a local hospital for an x-ray whichrevealed that his hand was fractured.The Glamorgan skipper will see a specialist on Monday, and faces a spell on the sidelines.Also out of action for a while is Alex Wharf who has had further ankle problems duringlast week`s 2nd XI match against Middlesex at Usk.Glamorgan will travel to Colwyn Bay to play Lancashire without these three players.

Match facts

September 13, 2015
Start time 10.30am (0930GMT)1:54

‘Having to fake experience’ – Maxwell

Big Picture

If there were fears the English international season would limp to a conclusion – first of all in the wake of Ashes victory and then with Australia taking a 2-0 lead in this series – they have been emphatically put to bed by England’s back-to-back victories, which mean there is a winner-takes-all match at Old Trafford.The weather has played ball and the pitches have been terrific for one-day cricket: pace to encourage the likes of Pat Cummins, but which also allows attacking batsmen to prosper, enough turn to not make the spinners redundant coupled with fast outfields that have provided value for shot. Three-hundred has proved the benchmark, but England’s chase at Headingley to level the series showed that it can be overhauled.For both the teams, it is the beginning of a rebuilding process in one-day cricket. It will be interesting to see how closely the sides at the 2017 Champions Trophy – to be played in England – compare to what is currently taking the field.But the here and now is about winning on Sunday. If England pull off the comeback job to take the series, it will give Eoin Morgan a complete set of limited-overs success this season. For Australia, it is their last chance to take something from a tour which began with such high expectations, but that will largely be remembered for batting collapses and retirements.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
England WWLLW
Australia LLWWW

In the spotlight

Jason Roy has looked a million dollars in this series. He was the only one of the top six not to pass fifty against New Zealand, but has made two stylish half-centuries and not fallen for less than 31 in the four matches. He was named, alongside Morgan, as the key England batsman by Pat Cummins. The ease with which Roy drives through cover and clips off his legs – the latter with more than a hint of Kevin Pietersen – means it looks like a waste when a soft dismissal crops up. England clearly like what they see, but a match-defining contribution would cap his summer.With Mitchell Starc having earned a rest at Headingley, it means Steven Smith will be the only Australian to play every international of the tour and there is precious little time before his next task, in Bangladesh. He has made runs in all three formats and will leave these shores knowing it is on his shoulders to help shape the future of the team. Does he have one major innings left in him for this trip?

Teams news

England’s one decision is whether to recall Steven Finn, who was rested for the fourth match, in place of Mark Wood who, while bowling quickly, has struggled to take wickets (four in six ODIs now) and has a high economy rate. Although David Willey proved expensive at the death, his new-ball burst of three wickets was valuable.England (possible) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Jason Roy, 3 James Taylor, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 David Willey, 11 Steven FinnAustralia must decide whether to push out Starc for one more match on this tour, while they will most likely have to find room for Ashton Agar – probably at the expense of Marcus Stoinis. James Pattinson and John Hastings were both expensive at Headingley and one probably has to make way. Hastings offers more batting, while Pattinson has more of a future ahead of him.Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Joe Burns, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 George Bailey, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Ashton Agar, 9 John Hastings, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Pat Cummins

Pitch and conditions

A day game this time, so some different considerations to the previous match on the ground which was under lights. It is also being played on a new surface. England exploited some early swing in Leeds with a 10.30am start, but the spinners will again expect some help. The forecast has improved with a dry day in the offing.

Stats and trivia

• If England win the deciding match, it will be their first bilateral one-day series win against Australia during an Ashes tour – as opposed to a tri-series or standalone series as in 2010 and 2012 – since 1997.
• Eoin Morgan needs one run to become just the second England batsman to score 600 runs in a home summer – Andrew Strauss made 745 in 210.
• If Pat Cummins takes two wickets he will equal the most scalps taken by an Australia bowler in a five-match one-day series. Clint McKay took 14 against Pakistan in 2009-10.

Quotes

“If momentum does exist then it is with us. We managed to steal a bit of it while we were in Manchester. I think confidence is a contributor to that. Going into Sunday the guys are full of confidence and we are really looking forward to it.”
“We really wanted to come here and finish off the series and give us some breathing space for Manchester.. We played it like a final, but the good thing is Sunday will be a final and we’ve played a lot of them and been quite successful.”

On the way to the SCG nets for their first training session ahead of the New Year’s Test, Australia’s batsmen walked past the motorised stretcher that had taken Phillip Hughes from the middle of the ground a little more than a month ago. There as a precaution, it also provided a reminder of how cricket has changed this summer, and how difficult it will be for the hosts to clear their minds and play on at the scene of Hughes’ death.Shane Watson has wrestled with these sights, reminders and unwanted visions as much as anyone. His concentration and technique have wavered often as he tries to push on as a batting allrounder and senior member of the team now led by Steven Smith. In Adelaide he spoke frankly of those difficulties, and a series of harried innings did little to dissuade observers from concluding that Watson’s struggles went beyond his usual inconsistencies with the bat.But a score of some merit on Boxing Day offered evidence of progress, while a hamstring injury to Mitchell Marsh bought time for Watson to consolidate without the glare of too much speculation about his place. Now he is back at the SCG, seeking to prove his value to the team once more but also to ward off the images of November 25, an experience he shared with Brad Haddin, David Warner and Nathan Lyon.”It’s the first time I’ve been back here since just before Phil’s funeral. It was always a time that I wasn’t really looking forward to, coming back to the ground,” Watson said. “But in the end, enough time has sort of passed to be able to find my own personal way to be able to deal with what happened to Phil. I’m sure once I get out into the middle and playing those visions will be coming back.”Melbourne was the first time after getting through especially the short ball that I started to feel comfortable or more comfortable again. For the first couple of Test matches it was always in the back of my mind obviously because of what I saw and trying to go through it and process what happened that day out here. Melbourne was the first time I really started to feel the confidence grew back in myself and my game to know that my instincts are going to be hopefully good enough to play the short ball well.”Watson took some succour from the way that Haddin dealt with the barrage of bouncers he faced in Melbourne, first aiming to survive Boxing Day in the company of Smith then hitting out boldly on the following morning when India maintained their unsubtle angled of short-pitched attack.Shane Watson says he has started to find a way to deal with the death of Phillip Hughes•Getty Images

“I think just in general how Brad took on what the Indians served up to him in Melbourne was incredible,” Watson said. “He’s a tough man – he’s not going to take a backward step, he’s always going to find a way to take on the game. And Brad was out on the ground as well so we’re all dealing with it in our own way after what we saw. So to be able to see Brad play the way he did and take it on was awesome.”Watson’s hesitation against the short ball has added to the kind of introspection he has commonly carried to the middle of the ground. In the journal , the Sydney Thunder coach Paddy Upton summed him up thusly: “Shane Watson is a sensitive man with a high regard for his team-mates and an ability to be self-critical.” At times this self-criticism has been more hindrance than help.”Growing up all I wanted to do was be the best cricketer I possibly could be,” Watson said. “There are positives and negatives in that. The positives are that it always drives me to want to continue to get better. But on the flip side it means I can put too much pressure on myself when I go out there. I’m always trying to find that perfect balance where I’ve got freedom in my mind when I go out to bat but I’m also very well prepared and I feel comfortable and confident going into the game as well.”I’ve been through a few different ways of how to deal with it. I’m very lucky to have a great support network around me to be able to talk through certain times when I feel like I am putting too much pressure on myself to perform. Darren Lehmann for example has always been incredibly good to be able to talk to about my game.”This summer has then been a trial of those qualities. Watson is fitter, stronger and fresher than at any other time in recent memory. But his confidence and instinct were rocked by the loss of Hughes, and his capacity to use that freshness limited by the resultant emotional toll. It is a long summer, though, and Watson hopes now to make the SCG Test a starting point for greater returns.”I feel I’m under pressure when I’m not scoring runs at any stage,” he said. “If I’m not performing of course I’m under pressure. The thing I think about the most is to just being able to contribute to the team, not whether I’m playing or not. It’s more so just being able to contribute to the team and feel like I’m not a passenger in the team. I do really want to be there to be able to contribute with bat and ball, that’s what I think about the most.”The motorised stretcher was still there when Watson was among the last to leave the nets. It had not been needed.

Scorecard5:14

CCC scrapes into Nagico Super50 semis

The two Powells, Rovman and Christopher, teamed up to put Combined Campuses and Colleges into the semi-finals of the Nagico Super50 with a one-wicket win with a ball to spare over Guyana at Port-of-Spain on Monday. A 48-run ninth-wicket stand between the pair breathed life into CCC’s chase, which had been floundering in the 43rd over at 112 for 8 in pursuit of Guyana’s 167 for 9.Rovman was dismissed for 31 after a skied slog off Christopher Barnwell came down into the hands of wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble near square leg to leave Chris needing to score 12 off the last seven balls to win with last man Ryan Austin. The equation stood at nine off three when Austin edged a four past the keeper and on the following delivery a wide was called while Austin scampered through for an extra run to get back on strike as CCC now needed three off two to win.Raymon Reifer bowled the next ball to Chris in the blockhole to induce a drive back to the bowler but Reifer couldn’t field cleanly and the ball still had enough force after the deflection to beat long on for the winning runs. Chris ended unbeaten on 27 off 29 balls. Paul Palmer top-scored in CCC’s chase with 32.Guyana had won the toss and elected to bat first but crawled along despite having wickets in hand. A 55-run fifth wicket partnership between Royston Crandon (39) and Shiv Chanderpaul (33) produced the bulk of the runs in the innings as Guyana entered the 40th over at 99 for 4. Bramble and Veerasammy Permaul boosted Guyana with 39 runs from the 47th-49th overs but the slow start cost them in the end. In addition to his batting heroics, Rovman took 3 for 20 in the first innings.
ScorecardJohnson Charles turned in the highest score of this year’s tournament with 177 off 124 balls as Windwards defeated Barbados by 55 runs at Shaw Park. Charles added 98 for the first wicket with Devon Smith (37) and another 83 for the fourth wicket with Keddy Lesporis (32) as Barbados struggled to contain the Windwards batting onslaught. Shane Shillingford and Sunil Ambris scored 45 apiece and teamed up for a 62-run sixth-wicket stand to give their side’s bowlers plenty of runs to defend.Captain Kevin Stoute got the Barbados chase off to an excellent start, scoring 82 off 71 balls before he was dismissed at the end of the 24th over to make it 146 for 3. An 87-run stand followed between Sharmarh Books (61) and Shai Hope (58) but when both men fell it opened the door for Delorn Johnson to wipe out the tail with ease. A CCC loss would have put Windwards into the semis with Guyana but by nightfall their hopes were dashed.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has rejected the retirement letters of the ‘rebel’ players who have joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), maintaining that they violated their contracts by not giving prior notice.”We are not accepting their retirement letters,” Gazi Ashraf, chairman of the BCB’s cricket operations committee, told the Dhaka-based . “They didn’t mention when would their retirements be effective from.”It was also totally unacceptable the way they talked with the media and hence they breached the code of conduct. The cricket operations committee will table their recommendations to the emergency meeting and they will ultimately take the decision. And definitely everything will be decided in line with the ICC’s decision about unauthorised competition last March.”The BCB officials met with their legal experts yesterday to make the guideline for the meeting. Ashraf said that the BCB would welcome the players back if they approached the board. “Still our door is open for them but time and tide wait for none in this world,” he said. “It’s true we will miss their international experience but we have players in the pipeline. And I request everybody to look at their recent performance.”According to Hossain, the BCB’s mistake was it followed the previous regime’s players’ contract document where there were ” a number of loopholes”. He said the BCB would update it and aim to improve the financial benefits for players in domestic competitions.The Dhaka Warriors, the ICL’s newest franchise, comprises Habibul Bashar, the former national captain, recent internationals Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh, Mosharraf Hossain, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Manjural Islam and Mohammad Sharif, reserve wicketkeeper Golam Mabud, and Mahbubul Karim, part of the Bangladesh Academy team currently touring Sri Lanka.Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, said the exodus had been expected and that it will be impossible to get the players back. “We can’t afford to lose that many players on a regular basis,” Siddons told AFP. “We’ll replace these guys with young players but my biggest concern is the ICL will come knocking again next year. The guys who were going are gone and the guys who are staying can get on with the job.”Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first Test captain and current national selector and president of the Cricketers’ Welfare Association of Bangladesh (CWAB), condemned the players’ move to the ICL. “We have little resources and few players,” he said. “We can’t think like other countries in this regard.”Aminul Islam, a former Bangladesh captain who is also a member of the CWAB, labeled the attitude of the ‘rebels’ as ‘unprofessional and childish’. “I saw no reason for them to retire,” he said. “If they gave specific grounds for resignation, then I would have no problem with it. Their steps will be harmful because it showed the wrong way for the future generations. I wouldn’t call them blackmailers, but definitely it was a childish and unprofessional decision.”One of them said that the coach [Jamie Siddons] misbehaved with him. Most of us have heard worse things but never came out in public,” said Islam. “Another said that he wasn’t assured of his spot in the team but he has been in the team for the past year. Only one’s performance can assure him a place in a national team.”

The ICC has taken the first significant step towards resolving the contentious issue of unauthorised cricket – including the status of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) – by setting up a high-powered committee to study its legal aspects. It has also discussed the issue of global agreements to prevent cricketers from appearing in such games, Cricinfo has learnt.The committee, which was formalised during the ICC’s annual meeting in Dubai last week, includes Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, Norman Arendse, the Cricket South Africa president, Shashank Manohar, the BCCI’s president-elect, Lalit Modi, a vice-president of the BCCI [and the IPL’s chairman and commissioner] and David Becker, the ICC’s senior counsel – business and commercial.The committee was set up after officials were made aware the ICL may explore the possibility of coming under the governing body’s umbrella as “a kind of authorised unofficial cricket” under a specific rule that deals with exhibition matches and other games of a similar nature. It is understood that preliminary discussions took place in Bangalore during a meeting of key ICC board members on April 18, before the inaugural IPL game.When asked about the committee and its objectives, an ICC spokesperson said, “The purpose of the group is to ensure that whatever conclusion is reached is in the best interests of the game.”The issue of the ICL and its status came into focus on the sidelines of the ICC annual meeting last week when officials from India, England, Australia and South Africa met for a discussion on the proposed Twenty20 Champions League.While India, Australia and South Africa are clear that players associated with the ICL cannot take part in the league, England will have to take a tough call on the issue as around 25 ICL players are currently playing for 15 English counties. Officially, the ECB does not support any involvement with unofficial cricket but, in this situation, has to operate within the stringent trade laws in England.The ICC, meanwhile, has also sent a letter to the ICL seeking details of its correspondence with the BCCI on the issue of their status in the game. An ICL official told Cricinfo the letter was received last week and added the league is yet to send its response. Himanshu Mody, the ICL’s business head, confirmed the development to Cricinfo but declined to comment on it. When asked about the letter, the ICC spokesperson said, “Dialogue and correspondence on the subject is ongoing.”According to ICL officials, they had first written to the BCCI in April 2007 informing them about their plans to hold a city-based Twenty20 league. “But they reacted harshly to the issue,” an official said.The BCCI is very clear it would not budge on the ICL. “We had received two or three letters from the ICL, but we made our position very clear early that they cannot be recognised,” a BCCI official said. The BCCI has barred all official contact with players associated with ICL and expects all other members of the ICC to align with them on the issue.The ICL has already organised three Twenty20 tournaments and a 50-over competition but its status was placed on the international cricket stage this April by Malcolm Speed, the former ICC CEO, who said the governing body had received a letter from the league seeking clarity on their existence. Speed, who was since told to go on “paid leave” by the ICC before his successor Haroon Lorgat took charge last week, had also said that the issue was being handled by the ICC’s lawyers.Later, Dave Richardson, who took over from Speed on an interim basis, said the ICC would go by the BCCI’s policy towards ICL. “The ICL is a domestic event that takes place in India so our rules prescribe that any decision as to whether an event be regarded as official or not must be made by the country that event is played in,” Richardson had said.

Shoaib Akhtar has had to put his plans to join Surrey on hold after arriving in the UK without the proper visa. He has been forced to head back to Pakistan, but is still hopefully of joining the county once the paperwork is completed.Although the Pakistan Cricket Board had given Akhtar a No Objection Certificate, clearing the way for him to play in Surrey’s last three County Championship matches, the visa problems mean that the plan has been put on hold.Shoaib holds a long-term visitor visa for the UK, but requires a working visa to be able to play county cricket. “I am disappointed, but there are rules to follow,” Akhtar told AFP. “I will now complete the documents here and fly back to London possibly on Saturday. I am desperate to play for Surrey.”Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon told The Mirror: “We did everything we could to get him here, but it hasn’t worked out. We thought he’d make an impact as he wanted to get his career up and running again.””We have cleared Shoaib to play county cricket,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, told the on Wednesday. “The bowler has been out of competitive cricket for quite sometime and needs to regain his match fitness. We believe a short county stint might help him in doing that.”The Pakistan board has been wary of allowing its fast bowlers to play county cricket because of the toll it takes on them. “We’ve been stopping our fast bowlers from playing for counties because in the past such stints have affected their form and fitness,” Naghmi said.”But Shoaib’s case is different. He hasn’t played much cricket in recent times and can actually benefit from a county stint.” The PCB had prevented Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif from taking up county contracts last year though it later compensated both financially for the loss of earnings.Shoaib has previously had county stints with Durham, Somerset and Worcestershire. He has played only one first-class match this year and was banned by the PCB for five years in April. The ban was subsequently suspended and Shoaib was picked for the Champions Trophy but he still has to pay a fine of Rs 7 million (approx US$92,000) to the board.”The past eight months were disappointing, but now I am focused on my return,” he said. “I want to bowl at least 15-20 overs in an innings and gain rhythm because we are hosting India late in the year.”

England’s Sarah Tayor, the youngest player in the history of women’s cricket to score 1,000 one-day runs, has said she learnt much from team-mate Claire Taylor, ranked the No. 1 batsman in the new ICC rankings for women’s one-day cricket.”Personally the one thing I really learnt from her is to bat in gears. She is one of these players that writes messages on her arms to get her through an innings and she always used to write ‘gears’ on her arm,” said Sarah, 19. “At first I was a bit naïve to and I went out and played how I wanted and hoped it would pay off.”Learning from Claire and Charlotte Edwards, people who I always wanted to play with when I was younger as they are your idols, I understood what gears was, so you start in off in first gear and work your way through. She has been a tremendous help and always give me a few words of advice.”Sarah admitted making the No. 4 spot in the new ICC rankings, launched in Mumbai on Thursday, was a surprise. “It was only from an interview in a match this summer where somebody asked about the ICC rankings and somebody said that I would be involved in it that I had an idea that I would be anywhere close,” she said. “I had no idea I was going to be in the top five – I thought I would be somewhere near the bottom.”I was really shocked when I turned on the computer this morning. I will be checking it more often now. The competition is there now and if you know somebody is higher you want to try and beat them.”Sarah also hoped to reach the top spot at some point. “I just hope to continue the way I am playing and more records will be broken,” she said.England will train in Bangalore in November in preparation for the ICC Women’s World Cup in March. “If we can prove to people how hard we work and what a team we are, to say we are World Cup winners in Australia – that would be fantastic as well,” said Sarah.

Stanford Twenty20, bankrolled by Allen Stanford, the Antigua-based billionaire, has resumed developmental funding for regional cricket boards in the West Indies. Funding had stopped earlier this year, after Stanford wasn’t impressed with the accountability of the respective boards.After meeting with the chief executives of the regional boards, it was decided that the sum of $15000 would be paid per month for development purposes. Forbes Persaud, the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) chief executive, said he was happy that funding had resumed and stressed the TTCB intended to make full use of what was on offer.”We at the TTCB are very happy for whatever funding we receive to assist with our running of the cricket. To run cricket is very expensive and we are very grateful for the help from Stanford,” Persaud told . “We have a number of development programmes that we think are essential to our cricketers and which have been working for us and we intend to use this contribution to assist in that way.”Stanford Twenty20 also indicated that the US$15,000 sum needed to be used up each month, as there would be no rolling over to the next month.This has brought some concerns from the boards, as some indicated that in certain months of the year their development programmes would carry them over the prescribed mark while in other months, the cost would be less.