All posts by csb10.top

Dear Mr Braithwaite,I refer to your letter of invitation dated March 19, 2005, and would like to express my gratitude for your kind invitation which permits me the opportunity, again, to join the West Indies team.As you are aware, I have devoted my whole life to all aspects of West Indies cricket. It is in these circumstances that I am bound to say that I have found extreme difficulty in formulating an appropriate response to your invitation.On the one hand, if I were to accept the invitation, then I would feel that I have abandoned part of the core of players who have represented the West Indies with me over recent years and all of whom are teammates.On the other hand, if I were to decline, then I feel I would be repudiating my deep feelings for the West Indian supporters and the furtherance of the game.What I would like to see is the best team selected to compete in the forthcoming series.I would also like to see an amicable resolution to the outstanding issues in an atmosphere of mutual compromise and respect, which would all redound to uplifting the morale and pride of the West Indian people who are so passionate about the sport.I do not wish to be put in a position where I consider that my response to your invitation would be indicative of a selection of one option and the rejection of another.In circumstances where neither my loyalty to the players nor my loyalty to West Indies cricket can be denied, I confirm that I am ready, willing and able to continue participating in West Indies cricket, provided that, even at this late stage, the best team will be selected with an assurance from all of the parties that the outstanding issues would be brought to the table and discussed.I wish to state unequivocally that it is my intention to ensure the survival of West Indies cricket. That is my primary consideration.Sincerely,Brian Charles Lara

Scorecard
The left-arm spin duo of Suhrawadi Shuvo and Mehrab Hossain jnr captured seven wickets between them to lead the Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy to an innings and 68-run win over the South Africa Cricket Academy in their four-day match at the Shamshul Huda Stadium in Jessore.The South Africans were left to bat out a little less than two sessions on the final day after Bangladeshis declared their first-innings on 507, but they folded up an hour after tea. Nazmul Hossain trapped Sammy-Joe Avontuur, after which Shuvo claimed three wickets in succession as the South Africans fell to 39 for 5. Wicketkeeper Bradley Barnes scored a 59-ball 54 and added 61 runs for the sixth wicket with Richard das Neves (21) but once das Neves was bowled by Mehrab, the Bangladeshis quickly wrapped things up.Earlier, Naeem Islam, who began the final day on 96, extended his innings to 136 while Mushfiqur Rahim struck an unbeaten 53 off 63 balls to take Bangladesh past 500. Dolar Mahmud, batting at No. 9, ensured some late-order fireworks by blasting three sixes in his 26.Bangladesh were in total command on the third day, as they rode on Imrul Kayash’s 151, which featured 25 fours and a six, to amass 319 runs for the loss of four wickets in 92 overs.Prior to that, the South Africans put up 311 in their first innings after the entire first day’s play was washed out. Reeza Hendricks did the bulk of the scoring with 131 off 188 balls and was partnered by Shadley van Schalkwyk (54) in an 84-run fifth-wicket stand. Nazmul, the right-arm seamer, stood out with figures of 4 for 63.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Marcus Trescothick celebrated his 100th one-day international appearance with an effortless 76-ball century, and Andrew Strauss marked his return to the top of the order with a composed 82, as England cantered to a ten-wicket victory inside 25 overs in the first match of the NatWest Series. The result was England’s second ten-wicket victory in one-day international history, and Trescothick has been involved in both – the first, against West Indies in 2000, came in his debut series.By the end of the game, England were in such control that the pair were more concerned with engineering a three-figure score for Trescothick than winning in haste. He and Strauss exchanged singles in the final over to bring up his hundred, then Strauss followed up with a eased drive for four to complete the formalities.Towards the end, Trescothick had been in showboater mode, and pulled off two cheeky ramped fours over the wicketkeeper’s head to further dent Khaled Mahmud’s figures, whose first over had gone for 21. Trescothick’s hundred was his ninth in one-day matches for England, and took him clear of Graham Gooch as England’s leading centurymaker.It was a consummate performance from England, and for Trescothick it took his summer’s tally against Bangladesh to a monstrous 445 runs in three innings. The team’s only wobble came with the ball when, having reduced Bangladesh to 76 for 6, Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Rafique came out all guns blazing, to exactly double the total in a spirited seventh-wicket stand. The tenth-wicket pair of Mashrafe Mortaza and Nazmul Hossain then added 31 in similar fashion to set England a respectable target of 190, but in the event they were never remotely stretched.The day began as it finished, with England in total control. Last week, Jon Lewis vowed not to have his hair cut until the dream start to his England career had come to an end. By the time he had picked up the first three Bangladeshi wickets to fall, it seemed he would soon be sporting a mullet to rival Jason Gillespie’s. Steve Harmison then weighed in with a trio of his own, and another mismatch appeared to be taking shape.Rafique and Aftab had other ideas and after the second break for rain, they began to tee off. Each has demonstrated this ability before in their careers – Rafique with a thrilling century against West Indies last year, and Aftab with his 82 not out at Durham in this month’s second Test – and they were at their improvisatory best as England’s eagerness to wrap up a quick finish backfired on them. The usually economical Andrew Flintoff proved particularly expensive, as his nine wicketless overs went for 46, and it required a tight run-out call to end Aftab’s knock, as he finished on 51 from 58 balls with four fours and two sixes.Darren Gough eventually ended the stand, as Rafique connected well with a slower ball but picked out Harmison on the fine leg boundary, and Harmison returned to take his fourth wicket, when Mahmud shovelled his first delivery to leg gully. But Bangladesh were unbowed, and Mashrafe and Nazmul carried on the carefree attitude to ensure that England, with a crunch match approaching on Sunday, couldn’t start thinking too far ahead of themselves just then.But if Bangladesh’s best efforts restored their pride with the bat, Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss were more than capable of bettering them. The first stumbling-block of the NatWest Series had been negotiated with barely a stubbed toe, and England now travel to Bristol for the showdown against Australia with their spirits as high as can possibly be.

Shaun Pollock has said any team could fancy their chances at the ICC World Twenty20, because of the quick-paced nature of the game.”It’s too fast,” Pollock told the . “It’s a bit of a sprint. If one-day cricket is an 800-metre race, then Twenty20 is 100 metres.”If you get off to a bad start you can lose the game regardless of who you are playing.”The South African team have been called ‘chokers’ in the past, due to their inability to succeed in the World Cup for the 50-over format. However, Pollock indicated that the possibility was less in Twenty20. “I don’t think there’s really time to choke, everything happens so quickly,” Pollock said. After a infamous rain-rule denied them a final berth at the 1992 World Cup, South Africa have stumbled ever since in the World Cup, having twice missed out against Australia – a thrilling tie in 1999 and a lop-sided contest earlier this year in the West Indies.Pollock was also the captain of the team that had a disastrous tournament at home in the 2003 World Cup, which they exited in the first stage. Many critics felt the commitments to organisers and sponsors distracted the players then, something Pollock said has been avoided this time around. “We are very focused on making sure all our commitments are out of the way.”South Africa wrapped all their media and sponsorship obligations in Johannesburg before they left for a training centre in Potchefstroom, where they are undergoing preparations for five days in the lead-up to the tournament. Australia, winners of the 2003 World Cup, also trained in the same centre ahead of their victorious campaign.”We can go off to Potch and prepare for the tournament for five days leading up, where we just focus wholly and solely on cricket,” Pollock said before the team left. “Hopefully that bears fruit in the time to come. Being the host nation, there are always more commitments, so to get them out of the way and be able to concentrate on cricket is what we’ve learnt from last time.”Pollock also said that he would like to move up the batting order as he felt that four overs of bowling would not be enough for him to feel involved in the game. “It would be nice to be put up the order and be able to express yourself,” he said. “That’s the one bonus. If you were only a bowler in this form of the game it would be pretty depressing.”He also expressed his views on the omission of Jacques Kallis from the team. “It’s obviously a big call by the selectors,” Pollock said. “He has voiced some disappointment and you can understand that. “Kallis has been South Africa’s batting mainstay over the years and was the team’s top run-getter at the World Cup earlier this year. “Usually he’s the first or second name put down on a piece of paper when you’re selecting the side, so he would have been very surprised by the fact he wasn’t included,” Pollock said. “Being a home event, he would have loved to play in front of his own home crowd, so that would have added to the disappointment. The big plus from the way he has reacted is that it answers the question about what the guys think of a Twenty20 tournament.”Pollock said Kallis’ displeasure at not being selected was an indication of the team’s eagerness to perform well at the tournament. “If Jacques, after all the cricket he has played and all he has achieved, is disappointed about not being part of it, then you realise it is going to be a special event. We’re going to be really trying hard to try to win it.”

Paras Mhambrey came charging up towards the room where the analyst was recording the ball-by-ball of the Bengal innings. The Bengal coach looked understandably disturbed as Manoj Tiwary, one of his well-set batsmen, had been given out at a crucial juncture of the Ranji Trophy final in dubious circumstances. Tiwary, too, with his pads still on, accompanied Mhambrey. Both of them saw the video a few times and shook their heads. Tiwary even uttered “Aise toh satyanash karega kisi ka career.” (In this fashion careers will get spoilt).The Bengal camp’s ire was directed against umpire AV Jayaprakash who had ruled Tiwary lbw, to a delivery from Praveen Kumar that was sliding down the leg. At that stage Tiwary was fighting hard along with Laxmi Ratan Shukla to help Bengal move towards UP’s 387. Earlier, Rohan Gavaskar, too, had been trapped in front of the stumps off another Kumar delivery that was angled in from wide off the crease from round the wicket and was easily sliding down the leg side. The umpire at fault had been once again Jayaprakash.But with 39 runs still to get to the vital first-innings lead, Deep Dasgupta, Bengal’s captain, did well to hide his emotions at the end of the day when he said, “It is an important game and a couple of decisions went against us. It could prove crucial in the end. I don’t want to talk more about the decisions.” Instead he tried to focus on the positives. Dasgupta drew parallels to Bengal’s current position with another first-innings thriller that they contested against Madhya Pradesh at the Eden Gardens last year in their last league match. Chasing MP’s 392, Bengal were tottering at 106 for 5 when Sourav Ganguly (121), Debang Gandhi (77) and Shukla (81) had saved them from the ignominy. There again Ranadeb Bose, who was unbeaten on Tuesday evening with his 38-ball three, had made three valuable runs from 61 balls. “Both [Shukla and Bose] of them have had lot of partnerships and they are the best judge of the situation”, said a confident Dasgupta looking forward to the penultimate day of the final.He also took the opportunity to put some pressure on the young Piyush Chawla, who had taken four Bengal wickets by acknowledging the youngster’s good work, while at the same time, adding “It is not that he has completely fooled us to get his wickets, so we are not bothered about him.”A red-faced Chawla, not because of the opposition captain’s remarks, but after toiling hard in the day where he bowled 21 overs across three spells for his three wickets, meanwhile only said, “It is just a matter of two good balls, so no one has the advantage or disadvantage.”

Jacob Oram has injured a bone in his back and will be unable to play for the immediate future, New Zealand Cricket revealed on Wednesday. Oram, the Central Districts allrounder, had a scan on Tuesday which showed he had damaged the bone, but he will need to undergo further tests to determine the exact nature of the injury. There are fears that he has a stress fracture and, if so, this would rule him out of facing Australia when they visit in February and March. He could also miss the two Tests against Sri Lanka in April.”The extent of the injury is yet to be determined,” said a statement from NZC, “but will become clearer in a few days after he has a CT scan.”Oram, 26, is an influential member of New Zealand’s team: he has 35 Test wickets to his name, and averages more than 40 with the bat.His team-mate, the left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori, could undergo tests on injured back if the pain does not subside. Vettori missed Wednesday’s final charity match against the World XI at Hamilton after leaving the field in pain during the second match.

Sri Lanka’s cricket authorities are hopeful the tsunami-hit Galle International Stadium will be ready to host a Test match against South Africa in August.”We have received a clearance from the government to rebuild the stadium,” said K. Mathivanan, a member of Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee. “We plan to finish construction by August and that will allow us to play one Test there when South Africa come.”South Africa, scheduled to tour Sri Lanka in August for two Tests, were the last team to play a Test at Galle before the tsunami struck in December 26 2004. The stadium’s main pavilion, including the dressing-rooms, and the indoor nets were severely affected.Shane Warne, the Australian leg-spinner, Steve Waugh, the former Australian captain and Ian Botham, former England all-rounder, visited the stadium after the disaster and pledged their support to rebuild it.Galle is a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka, with six victories in their 11 Tests at the venue.

Below is the transcript of the conversation the Nagpur police say took place between Marlon Samuels and Mukesh Kochar, an alleged bookie, before the India-West Indies match at Nagpur on January 21. Samuels was staying in Room 206 of the Pride Hotel in the city. The transcript is verbatim from the police recordsBookie: Connect to 206Reception: 206, sir?Bookie: YesRec: Hello, room no 206, MarlonBookie: Hello, how are you Marlon?206: not clearBookie: Just relax buddy206: Just relaxBookie: Hello my son, that’s way I am here, came for my some work and amheld up206: OKBookie: Tomorrow night I am going back206: OKBookie: So how are things with you and how is the preparation?206: Preparation is good enoughBookie: Well, wish you all the best206: ThanksBookie: You play well206: (Not clear) Talking to RobinsonBookie: Robinson…Yes206: Yes, our fielding wellBookie: Ya, good that’s a high-scoring game206: Early in the morning… Batting move around the pitch…Bookie: an in the evening lower down206: Slow down…Bookie: What you think that, who will bat…206: Well…Bookie: Who, who?206: Dwayne (not clear) He’s is making a debut tomorrow…Bookie: New batsman, bowlers…206: All-rounder…Bookie: He are a good player…206: Making debutBookie: Ya, I can understand that Chris is in form…206: (Not clear)…Bookie: And how is your batting going on?206: My batting is good…Bookie: Big… a… tall score tomorrow206: (Not clear)Room no 206: (not clear)Bookie: When do you get down to bowl206: (not clear)Bookie: Which over you will be bowling206: One downBookie: Normally after 17th or 18th over206: By tomorrow… (not clear) than I can bowl… (not clear)Bookie: He is seamer or spinner206: SeamerBookie: He is a seamer, who will start bowling tomorrow206: DwayneBookie: Dwayne206: Dwayne, tail and BradshawBookie: Tail and Bradshaw, they will open. You will be as the third bowler206: Jerome Taylor, Chris Gayle will be 4th and 5th bowlingBookie: You have got a nice allrounder team nowBookie: As a first match, I want you to play well confident and don’t hurry up, don’t give the catches, play well, consolidate your position as well as possible if even if you can want couple of balls, it doesn’t matter, don¹t get run out.. don’t get excited, have astrong position206: (not clear)Bookie: After this you guys going to Cuttack, that’s another place206: (not clear)Bookie: I am going back, we will be in touch with you206: Most welcomeBookie: Whenever you come back to Bombay? Most probably may be I will come there for one or two days206: I want to stay there for couple of daysBookie: Yeah, after (not clear)206: YeahBookie: Let me know I am flying back tomorrow206: Not yetBookie: Yeah my flight (not clear) O’clock & from their I will fly back to Bombay206: (not clear)Bookie: Thank you very much chief206: (not clear)Bookie: All the best, after this I will have to work206: (not clear)Bookie: Ok good

The abandonment of the Chennai match thanks to rain, after a strong South African win in the first one-dayer, and India’s emphatic response in the second, has only served to keep this series on an even keel longer, setting up the fourth ODI at Kolkata deliciously. Whoever wins here knowsthey are guaranteed not to lose the series, and that brings its own pressure on both teams not to lose.The talk in the series has been tough to read from both camps, as no clear trend has emerged, no team has seized the initiative, as was the case when India drove down Sri Lanka into submission. Graeme Smith has relentlessly talked his team up, and occasionally taken a dig at the Indians. Smith didn’t reveal much about the composition of his side for the match and said that South Africa “have 15 to choose from for the game”. Rahul Dravid has been understated as ever, and any statements from the Indian camp will come through bat, ball, or result in the Kolkata match.D is for destructiveMahendra Dhoni, the latest maurauder to hit world cricket, and probably the cleanest striker of a cricket ball – with reference to an ability to clear the ropes – after the two Andrews – Flintoff and Symonds, has a had a quiet series. Of course, that is merely a question of two matches, buthe is the sort of cricketer who can’t help but leave an impression. Smith’s suggestion that India were “hiding” Dhoni is misguided at best, and mischievous at worst. Either way, it’s only a matter of time before India chart out a bigger batting role in a game for Dhoni. That time might well come in Kolkata.The crowd factorThe Eden Gardens pitch is not up and down, and is usually just a good batting pitch on the slower side; there is no exaggerated swing to worry about; no sudden influx of dew. What is a huge factor, though, is the crowd. The most vociferous set of partisan fans normally pack India’s biggest stadium, and this time there will be an added edge. There was a serious chance that widespread protests could take place in the light of Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the ODI team, but his inclusion in the Test squad should go a long way in assuaging fans in the eastern city. Or so one hopes, for this is one crowd that could just as easily turn on the team and boo if they failed to do well.Pollock’s hungerShaun Pollock has not had the greatest time of it in the recent past, but he still remains the bowler most likely to bowl you an accurate spell, after Glenn McGrath. And in this series, on pitches that have not really helped him, he seems to be rediscovering a bit of pace and extra bounce that once made him such a potent force. He has never been part of a South African team that has won a series in India, and recently made that point. “Every player wants to achieve as much as possible in his career and that’s why I really would like a victory here,” he said. “We lost the previous series in India 3-2 after a couple of tight matches. Two matches remain in the series and hopefully I can make an impact. I would like to play a role in winning at least one, because then we can’t lose the series and we would have achieved something not donehere before.”Spin fundaWhile Dravid seems to have got a better handle on how to use the two extra Powerplays that captains are saddled with these days, you’d have to say the Supersub rule is posing a more tricky problem. In day-night matches, where gripping the ball can become extremely difficult for bowlers in the second innings, the toss has been a vital factor. And sometimes to cover for this, a spinner has lost out, with an extra batsman being retained. But with Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik on song, India have to find a way to get them both on the park.

Sussex, the champion county, will face a strong MCC side in the traditional season-opener at Lord’s starting on April 13.The MCC bowling will be spearheaded by Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard, while 19-year-old Adil Rashid, who made an immediate impression for Yorkshire last summer, is also given an outing. The batting is almost as strong, with Alastair Cook, who leads the side, and Owais Shah the two England players.MCC have announced that the gates will open at 10.00am on all four days, with play beginning at 11.00am. Ground admission prices, for members’ guests and the general public, are £12 for adults and £6 for juveniles (under 16 years of age) and over-65s.MCC squad Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Will Jefferson (Nottinghamshire), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Nick Compton (Middlesex), Zoheb Sharif (MCC Universities & Cambridge), Alex Gidman (Gloucestershire), Steve Davies (Worcestershire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Steve Harmison (Durham), Graham Onions (Durham), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire).