All posts by csb10.top

When England coach Duncan Fletcher spoke to the press at the end of the first day’s play in the Brisbane Test, he blamed missed opportunities for the fact that his side found themselves on the wrong end of a commanding Australian batting display.Three of the chances to which he referred involved Matthew Hayden who finished the day undefeated on 186. However, he was nearly caught when he had 40, but Simon Jones at long leg found his momentum taking him over the boundary as he held the catch.The opener had moved on to 102 when Matthew Hoggard made an aweful mess of getting in position under a skyer at mid-off and hardly laid a hand on the ball as it thumped into the turf. Next it was Michael Vaughan’s turn when Hayden had reached 132. Normally one of the safest fielders in the side, Vaughan grassed a straightforward chance off Craig White.Referring to those missed chances, Fletcher said: “Every opportunity that is given to you, you have to grab and we didn’t do that today.”He also defended Nasser Hussain’s decision to field first on winning the toss. “We thought it looked a little bit green and there was some softness and we thought we could help our bowlers but it didn’t really move off the wicket,” Fletcher said.”We thought the pitch would get better to bat on and we have to make sure when we get out there we bat the best we can.”Fletcher also commented on the sickening injury that befell Jones in the field. “The team were pretty upset about it. I don’t think they realised how serious it was, but there was some concern especially because he was just beginning to offer us something.”We believed he was the kind of bowler that Nasser has been calling for that can do something different to the rest of the attack.Kirk Russell, the England physiotherapist, said that there is no reason that the Glamorgan fast bowler should not make a complete recovery from his cruciate ligament injury after an operation.”Surgery is fantastic these days and so is rehabilitation. I know what he’s like and he’ll work very hard. He will get the treatment back in England and I’m sure he’ll be back as good as new.”Initially I was more worried about his left knee when I first saw it because he took a big divot out of the ground with that. When you see it so quickly and you’re there so quickly you think that maybe it’s a fracture because I’ve never seen this type of injury in cricket before – it’s a freak accident.”It was Ricky Ponting, who made 123, who drove the ball that Jones was chasing when he suffered the injury. He had been impressed by what he had seen of Jones before the accident.”It’s very disappointing for him and the England team what’s happened to him today. He showed a bit, he’s obviously got some good pace and Perth would have suited him down to the ground as well.”He showed early this morning by claiming a wicket in his first spell and it’s very bad luck for him.”

The Central Districts Under-19 team to play in the national Under-19 tournament at Lincoln from December 11-23 is:Ross Taylor (captain, Manawatu), Scott Baldwin (Manawatu), Geoff Barnett (Marlborough), Daniel Bolstad (Taranaki), Craig Clare (Manawatu), Greg Hay (Nelson), Greg Hegglun (Marlborough), Daniel MacDonald (Marlborough), Jesse Ryder (Hawke’s Bay), Richard Sherlock (Nelson), Luke Toynbee (Manawatu), Ben Whittington (Taranaki).The coach is former England international Graham Barlow who is the development officer with Marlborough Cricket. Taylor, Ryder and Sherlock were members of last year’s New Zealand Under-19 team at the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

Somerset took another step nearer to recording a much-needed championship victory and some more valuable points in their fight to stave off relegation when they had the best of the third day’s play against Warwickshire at Taunton today.Resuming on 35 without loss this morning the Somerset openers Jamie Cox and Matt Wood took the score onto 96, before Cox edged a ball from Neil Carter to wicket-keeper Ian Clifford who took the catch to send the captain on his way back to the pavilion for 44.Mike Burns joined Wood, and by lunchtime the score had moved onto 186 for one. The scene looked set for a very large Somerset total, and discussions were taking place around the boundary edge as to what time a declaration might be made.But true to the game of cricket nothing can be taken for granted, and in eleven overs immediately after lunch Shane Bond produced a spell that might have changed the balance of this game.The New Zealander, who was making the last of this three county championship appearances for Warwickshire claimed the wickets of Wood for 68, to put an end to the second wicket partnership of 98, Burns for 80, Keith Parsons for no score and Peter Bowler for 12 to reduce the Cidermen to 238 for 5.The demise of Bowler brought Ian Blackwell striding to the wicket. He quickly got into his stride and together with Rob Turner the sixth-wicket pair stopped the temporary decline.Blackwell hit one memorable six early on in his stay at the wicket off Michael Powell over the Stragglers Bar that sent umpire Barry Dudleston scurrying back to the boundary edge to find a replacement ball.The left-hander brought up the fifty partnership and shortly after the Somerset 300, much to the delight of the good-sized crowd.He passed his own 50, which came off 58 balls and then brought up the hundred partnership in the same over. Off the first ball of the next over he smote another gigantic six, again off the unlucky Powell and by tea he had moved his own score on to 66 and Somerset onto 351 for 5.Shortly after the interval the sixth wicket stand was ended when Turner was out lbw to Carter for 37. Along with Blackwell, the Somerset wicket-keeper had added 119 in 23 overs.Blackwell stayed a little longer until he was bowled Neil Carter going for the big hit for 81. In all he had faced 93 balls, and hit 2 x 6’s and 5 x 4’s.Shortly afterwards Bulbeck was caught by wicket-keeper Clifford for 9 and Somerset were all out for 394, setting their visitors a target of 499 for victory, off a minimum of 115 overs.By the close of play on the third day Warwickshire had moved on to 42 for the loss of skipper Michael Powell.Tomorrow at the County Ground could prove to be a very interesting day, with both sides keen to get a result.At the end of the day Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: “The way that we have played today has put us in a strong position for 20 points. On a good wicket we have bowled aggressively at them tonight and hit them hard which is what we need to do again in the morning.”He continued: “The scoreboard pressure that we posted will help us, and that was due to some good performances with the bat. Mike Burns got the momentum going for us, Matt Wood played a good innings, Jamie Cox showed that he is coming back to form and Ian Blackwell played another good innings. It was a good all round performance from us today.”

Kent County Cricket Club today announced that David Fulton will captain the County in 2003. Fulton shared the captaincy role with Matthew Fleming during the 2002 season but will captain the Club in all forms of cricket next season.Commenting on his appointment Fulton said:”I am delighted to take on full responsibility for captaining Kent in all forms of cricket in 2003. I learned a great deal from Matthew Fleming last season and our partnership worked well. I now look forward to leading the Club in all competitions. We have an excellent squad of players and I am sure we can do well next season.”More good news today for Kent came with the announcement that Martin Saggers has been selected to play for England in the Hong Kong Sixes on 2/3 November. Saggers recently signed a new long-term contract with the Club and was the Country’s leading wicket taker in 2002. He has claimed over 200 first class wickets in the last three seasons. David Graveney will manage the team which is to be captained by Glamorgan’s Matthew Maynard. The rest of the team consists of: Glen Chapple (Lancashire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Adam Hollioake (Surrey), Ronnie Irani (Essex) and Chris Silverwood (Yorkshire).The Club also announced today that Peter Trego, the 22 year old Somerset all rounder, will be joining Kent on a two year contract. Trego, who has been with Somerset for the last three seasons played for England at under 19 level in 2000 and hit his highest first class score this summer ~ 140 for Somerset against West Indies A.Commenting on both developments, newly appointed Captain, David Fulton said:”I am thrilled that Martin has been selected for the Hong Kong trip. It’s good news for Kent that he has committed his long-term future to the Club and I am sure that it will not be long before his achievements of the last three seasons earn him full honours at International level.Peter Trego joins Kent at an exciting time. I have played against him on a few occasions and he has shown himself to be a talented and competitive cricketer. I am sure we will be able to give him the opportunity to make the most of his undoubted talent.”

A brilliant century from opening batsman Akash Chopra (109 off 132 balls) took India A to a convincing five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka A in the deciding fifth one-day match played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, on Thursday. India A thereby won the five-match series 2-1, after rain had washed out the first two encounters.In the morning, Sri Lanka A elected to bat first but found the going tough against a resilient visiting side. Most of their batsmen got to double figures yet failed to convert those into even a fifty. Only Romesh Kaluwitharana (34 off 43 balls) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (47 off 79 balls) made mentionable contributions.A late flourish from Chamara Silva (29 off 24 balls) and Akalanka Ganegama (16* off 18 balls) however helped Sri Lanka A post 223/8 in 50 overs. Lakshmipathy Balaji and Irfan Pathan Jr picked up two wickets each. Earlier, Sarandeep Singh (7-0-27-1) had applied the screws in the middle overs of the Sri Lanka A innings.Chasing a modest target of 224 in 50 overs, India A were never in trouble and emerged victorious with 2.2 overs to spare. Chopra, a 24-year-old right-handed batsman from Delhi, applied himself to the task admirably, striking eight boundaries while compiling a match-winning hundred.India A lost the wicket of Gautam Gambhir (5), early in their run chase. Skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (24) and Rohan Gavaskar (16) could not capitalise on their good starts and India A were 98/3 in the 29th over.Chopra then found an ally in Jai P Yadav with whom he added 116 runs for the fourth wicket in just 16.5 overs. The partnership all but took the match away from the home team. Yadav made a whirlwind 55 off just 52 balls, striking three boundaries and a six.Even though India A lost the wickets of Yadav and Chopra with just a few runs needed to seal the win, Parthiv Patel (3*) and Sridharan Sriram (1*) ensured the emphatic victory.

One of the finest days weather wise for weeks, brought out the worst of this new format Frizzell County Championship at Grace Road, when Leicestershire and Hampshire played out a dull draw, but not before a vintage hundred by Robin Smith took him into third place on the All-Time Hampshire century list.Hampshire started the day on the defensive, with a small lead and six wickets in hand, so it took skipper Smith and prodigy John Francis the whole two hour pre lunch session to save the day, and ensure a large enough margin to stave off the possibility of defeat.Smith showing much of his vintage best, pulling and cutting with some verocity, particularly against two old adverseries in Devon Malcolm and Philip deFreitas. Francis playing his first championship match of the season, and his third overall was more circumspect, waiting for the bad ball and accumalating a career best 82. Smith was finally out for 104 smiting 18 fours in the process, and Francis who shared a 124 fifth wicket partnership with his skipper, had hit 13 fours when he fell to a slip catch off Malcolm.Set 295 in a basic minimum of 36 overs, Leicestershire surprised the sparce Grace Road crowd by opening with deFreitas and Ward, but after flattering briefly, they realised their task was futile, and settled in to watching 8 Hampshire bowlers ply their trade, with Francis picking up a career best 1 wicket for one run, to add to his batting one.Robin Smith completed his 49th first-class century for Hampshire, passing the illustrous Gordon Greenidge in the process to become the clubs third highest century maker.The list now reads:

C.P.Mead 138R.E.Marshall 60R.A.Smith 49C.G.Greenidge 48C.L.Smith 41B.A.Richards 38G.Brown 37V.P.Terry 37J.Arnold 36

If coach Graham Ford isn’t sacked before August, the first casualties of South Africa’s disastrous campaign against Australia this summer will be Rushdi Magiet’s panel of national selectors.Originally appointed to serve until after next year’s World Cup, the national selection panel will come up for re-election at the United Cricket Board’s annual meeting in August, following a decision taken by the UCB’s General Council at the weekend.In a surprisingly blunt media release issued on Tuesday, the UCB says: "The decision to appoint the national selection panel untilthe 2003 Cricket World Cup was rescinded and a new national selection panelis to be elected at the UCB AGM in August. It is possible that the size ofthe panel may be reduced."One of the members of the current panel, Mike Procter, has already indicated that he will step down at the end of the current Australian tour to take up a position as an ICC Match Referee, but the remaining five, Magiet, Graeme Pollock, Haroon Lorgat, Morris Garda and Peter Bacela will have to seek re-election if they wish to continue as selectors.This unexpected decision can only be taken as a vote of no-confidence in the panel by the General Council and it follows a summer of confusion, acrimony and, often, straightforward bungling by the selectors.The most public eruption took place before the New Year Test match in Sydney when UCB president Percy Sonn rejected the team presented to him and insisted on the replacement of Jacques Rudolph with Justin Ontong.Sonn’s intervention divided South African down racial lines, but the row could have been avoided had the selectors chosen both Rudolph and Ontong to play in what had already become a "dead" Test match.All through the season, though, routine selection announcements have been bungled by incorrect team sheets, and implausible and incoherent explanations; dropped players have learned of their fates through newspaper and radio reports and an almost complete breakdown of communication between Magiet and the South African coach Graham Ford has evolved.It is possible, of course, that some of the selectors, including Magiet, could win re-election. This, though, would beg the question of why the UCB has chosen to terminate the current panel’s tenure in the first place.In another announcement, the UCB said it regarded the Daryll Cullinan affair as now closed. Cullinan was selected for the second Test match against Australia at Newlands, but walked out on the team after failing to agree contractual terms with the UCB.According to the media release: "The General Council reiterated the position of the CEO,Gerald Majola, that the issue of Daryll Cullinan’s departure from the teamselected to play against Australia in the second Castle Lager/MTN Test matchat Newlands, is closed. The Council decided not to take the matter furtheras the UCB has no contract with Mr Cullinan."This would seem to indicate that Cullinan’s international career is over.

Test week at Lord’s and the place is a buzz with final preparations taking place before Thursday.Tension is high as players go through their last practice sessions and the groundsman studies the sky, nervously predicting how much sun he needs to get the surface right.We make way this week for the England boys who obviously have the run of the roost during Test match time.We’re up in Durham this week so we will be watching from afar, but for our Monday training session we moved into the ‘Away’ changing rooms as the English team had gathered early.I’m certainly not a person that dwells on past performances, but I must confess that being back in the ‘visitors’ rooms stirs up emotional memories from two years ago when New Zealand won its first Test at Lord’s.M J Horne is the last ‘visitor’ to score a Test 100 at Lord’s and his name is proudly engraved on the batters’ honours board. On the bowling honours board, D J Nash, with match figures of 11-169 back in 1994, is the last New Zealand entry. That was a huge series for Nashy and the following season he became New Zealand’s first overseas player to Middlesex. Unfortunately he was dogged by injury, the beginning of the back problems that still frustrate him.Speaking of Middlesex, we are top of the CricInfo Championship Division Two table after having a pretty good week in Bristol playing Gloucestershire.Gloucestershire are coached by John Bracewell and in the last couple of years have almost won every one-day competition around. He has done a fantastic job for the county and is a very influential figure in their progress.On the third night of the game I enjoyed an evening of the Bracewell’s hospitality and polite banter was exchanged with Gloucester looking to set us a target on the final day. They left us 293 in 82 overs, a score we reached five down with two overs remaining. We were delighted as a win obviously gives you good championship points. But it also gives you confidence, and that is vital as the season progresses.On a personal front, scoring my first hundred for the county was very special. It is one of my goals to score more centuries and I’m very determined to achieve this.I was gutted scoring 52 in the first innings but progressed through in the second which was satisfying. Scoring centuries is a skill and as with everything you must learn how to do it.The more I can get past three figures, the more I will understand the process.

ScorecardJimmy Adams amassed a brilliant 194 off 507 balls but relegation-threatened Hampshire failed to prevent an County Championship defeat in a thriller against Lancashire at Liverpool. The 29-year-old left hander batted for 10 hours and 35 minutes, recording the longest innings of the summer and making the hosts sweat on a win which looked a near certainty at the start of the final day.Adams shared a last-wicket partnership of 88 inside 43 overs with Danny Briggs (15 not out off 97 balls) to help post a second innings total of 405 and set the hosts 168 to win in 33 overs after tea. Adams’ innings was the longest both minutes and ball-wise this season, beating Mark Ramprakash’s 564-minute 223 off 395 balls for Surrey against Middlesex in May.Left-arm swing bowler James Tomlinson then took three quick wickets to reduce Lancashire to 17 for three in the sixth over of their chase. But a 79-ball 51 from Shivnarine Chanderpaul took his side to the brink before Mark Chilton hit the winning runs off Dominic Cork with one ball and three wickets to spare.Tom Smith recorded figures of 6 for 94 from 41 overs to clinch career-best match figures of nine wickets for 134 runs in 53 overs. The medium-pacer bowled Michael Bates for 31, Cork and tail-ender Chris Wood during the morning session.Hampshire resumed the day on 275 for 5 with a lead of only 37. Adams and Bates shared 60 for the sixth wicket before Smith’s triple strike left the score at 298 for 8 in the 115th over.Tomlinson then offered a simple return catch off a leading edge to Sajid Mahmood before Adams farmed the strike from Briggs. Their stand started 40 minutes before lunch and lasted two hours and 40 minutes until Adams, who hit 20 boundaries, edged Kyle Hogg behind to wicketkeeper Gareth Cross in the 166th over of the innings.Tomlinson (3 for 27) then bowled Paul Horton off an inside edge, trapped Karl Brown lbw first ball and had Smith caught behind by Bates as Lancashire chased. Steven Croft edged Cork behind to leave the score at 44 for four in the 15th before Cross joined Chanderpaul to move things along.The hosts needed 102 to win off 15 overs with six wickets left. Cross was then caught at mid-on by Cork off Wood (three for 32) for 26 off 18 balls to reduce the score to 84 for five in the 21st over.But Mahmood, in the form of his life with the bat, joined Chanderpaul to put their side within reach. When he carved Wood to Adams at deep point for 24 Lancashire were 130 for six in the 27th over, needing another 38 with six overs left.Wood then had Chanderpaul caught behind off the first ball of his next over. Chilton finished 18 not out and Hogg 17.

A dazzling century by Shahid Afridi laid the foundation of a healthyKarachi Whites score on a fluctuating opening day of the Quaid-i-AzamTrophy Grade-I final against Lahore Blues at the National Stadium inKarachi on Saturday.Afridi, stroking the ball in his inimitable style, hammered asparkling 102 off 107 deliveries with 10 fours and one six in justover three hours.Then a mini middle-order collapse saw Karachi Whites crashing to 190for six shortly after tea, before an unfinished crucial 96-run standbetween Aamir Hanif (43) and Mohammad Masroor (57) lifted the score to286 by stumps.It was an excellent comeback by Karachi Whites on a pitch that issomewhat inconsistent in bounce.Lahore Blues skipper Shahid Anwar, as expected, elected to put inKarachi Whites once he had called correctly at the toss. But theadvantage of bowling first was wasted as Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzaqsprayed the new ball all over the place.Just two wickets fell in the first hour. The left-handed Shadab Kabirwas caught behind off Razzaq for a duck in the fourth over.Then Zeeshan Pervez (19), who was shaping well, hit three crispboundaries including two off Akram. However, he was undone by a shortAkram delivery that rose awkwardly to hit the outside edge of the batand balooned into the slips.Afridi, meanwhile, continued to score freely and it was chieflybecause of him that Karachi Whites took lunch at 118 for two.Skipper Asif Mujtaba provided Afridi the kind of support that wasneeded. The pair together put the highest partnership of the day – 137for third wicket.Such was Afridi’s dominance that at one stage Akram was forced to bowlwith a solitary slip. Displaying a wide repertoire of strokes, Afriditreated the bowling with scant respect. He lofted medium-pacer WaqasAhmed off the front foot over mid-wicket fence for an effortless six.Afridi then became one of Abdur Razzaq’s three victims in 27deliveries when a rush of blood brought his downfall. Hasan Razalasted only four deliveries before he mistimed a pull and edged aneasy catch to wicket-keeper Humayun FarhatMujtaba, who batted for 186 minutes for a 149-ball 39, was caught byShahid Anwar at second slip when the ball rebounded off first slipAkram’s body.Moin Khan, the Pakistan captain, had a brief stay in the middle. Hemade seven before he nibbled at Akram and provided Humayun his fourthvictim of the innings.Aamir Hanif looked shaky at the start of his innings but graduallysettled down to make a vital contribution. Masroor, a diminutiveright-hander, in contrast struck some delightful pulls and hooks.It was a brave effort from Masroor for he was hit on the box by asharp inswinger from Akram. Recovering his composure after a sevenminute hold up in play, Masroor reached a fine 50 off 62 balls withhis eighth boundary.