Brighton Watambwa, it appears, has brought his budding international career to a close. One of Zimbabwe’s fastest bowlers, he expressed dissatisfaction with the contract he was offered, and plans to emigrate to the United States later this year.Another former Zimbabwean pace bowler, Everton Matambanadzo, also took that step last year and is now involved in the business world in San Francisco.
Scorecard
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Dion Ebrahim and Brendon Taylor made patient half-centuries as Zimbabwe A inched towards the first-innings lead in their game against South Africa A at Bulawayo. Ebrahim’s unbeaten 84 off 213 balls held the innings together and Zimbabwe A finished the second day on 263 for 7, just nine adrift of the South African total.After Douglas Hondo had helped restrict the South Africans to 272, the top-order batsmen stitched together some useful partnerships. The 72-run stand between Taylor (68) and Ebrahim put them in a comfortable position, but Paul Adams picked up the wickets of Taylor and Tatenda Taibu to peg them back.Zimbabwe A lost two more wickets soon after, and were in trouble at 172 for 6, before Mluleki Nkala helped revive the innings. Nkala, who smashed five fours in his 44-ball 33, added 54 with Ebrahim and the pair helped Zimbabwe A to wrest the initiative by the end of the second day.
It’s amazing what a sporting gesture can do these days. There aren’t many, but Adam Gilchrist’s decision to walk against Sri Lanka in the World Cup semi-final has opened doors for a place in the corporate world.It was announced today that Gilchrist has joined Travelex, the foreign-exchange company, as a non-executive director. Travelex already sponsor Gilchrist and the Australian team, but they said they chose him for this position after he walked despite being given not out.Lloyd Dorfman, the company chairman, said Gilchrist showed strong ethics in a high-pressure situation: “Here you’ve got a guy who is prepared to walk himself out in the critical moment in the semi-final of a World Cup tournament, and in terms of integrity I don’t think you can do much better than that.”Gilchrist’s appointment is believed to be the first of its kind, and he was suitably shocked at the news. He said, “My reaction was, ‘What have I got to offer?’ When I walked in that game I certainly didn’t think it would lead to something like this.””I’m no expert on foreign exchange or the corporate world,” added Gilchrist. “What he has in mind is bringing in someone with a totally open mind, open eyes, fresh ideas, sitting in a boardroom asking the simple and obvious questions, the dumb questions that the experts might overlook.”Gilchrist surprised even his team-mates when he gave himself out in the match at Port Elizabeth last March. On 22 at the time, he tried to sweep Aravinda de Silva and was caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara. The Sri Lankans appealed, but umpire Rudi Koertzen turned them down, only for Gilchrist to head back to the dressing-room anyway. After the game, de Silva hailed Gilchrist as a gentleman, saying “It is very rare to see batsmen walking off. There are still some gentlemen in the game.”
After rain ended play early with Somerset tantalisingly close to getting their fifth bonus point from the match against Northants at Taunton, Coach Kevin Shine told me, “We are twenty six runs away from second place in the County Championship which is a fabulous effort and a wonderful achievement for the club.”The coach went on, “The highlight of the day was Matthew Wood’s century. He’s worked hard and shown promise through the season, and played with maturity beyond his years. His century bodes well for him and for the club. Well done for him and well done for Somerset.”
The Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) has launched an inquiry into the poor performance and alleged discipline issues during Lahore Whites’ campaign in the Haier Mobile T-20 Cup in Rawalpindi. Lahore Whites finished last in the league and had the poorest run-rate of the 12 teams despite having international players such as Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Wahab Raiz and Mohammad Irfan.The inquiry committee comprises former PCB CEO Saleem Altaf, LCCA secretary Shoaib Dar and former first-class cricketer Imran Bucha.”After watching the matches we have realised they have performed poorly,” Khawaja Nadeem, the head of LCCA, told ESPNcricinfo. “We understand there was lack of cooperation within the team and issues related to discipline, so we have formed an inquiry committee to find out why they haven’t performed to their level. We had the best team and this result is not what we expected.”I don’t see any problem with our other team [Blues], and we are only investigating Lahore Whites to bring all the facts in public,” he said. “The first meeting is on Monday and we will have a report to decide what is in our jurisdiction.”Lahore fielded two teams in domestic cricket because the city’s population is over 10 million. Whites were led by Pakistan ODI captain Azhar while Blues were captained by Adnan Akmal. Players like Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal, who were with Lahore for the last nine years, left the team to join Rawalpindi and Multan. Mohammad Hafeez left Faisalabad Wolves to join Lahore two years ago.
Exactly four weeks after Faf du Plessis predicted South Africa would be presented with “the worst”, that is where they find themselves. With the series lost and the certainty they used to have over their best XI shattered, South Africa face the final Test with a different focus than winning: to reignite the confidence of their younger crop, who have come under criticism for the way they have handled conditions.”I’m a senior player and I’m finding it tough because the conditions dictate the way you play and your performances. It’s important for us to try and keep the younger players positive, and we’ve done that,” du Plessis said.Like his captain, Hashim Amla, du Plessis called the Indian surfaces the most difficult he has faced and cautioned against using them as a benchmark to assess performances. “These have been the toughest conditions that I have played under, it’s also been a challenge for the young guys coming in,” he said “It’s a hard task for them because they get judged by playing Test cricket in these conditions where you have found that even our experienced players have found it tough. We have to keep motivating them and to keep the spirits high.”He had particular praise for wicket-keeper Dane Vilas, who was on his first tour as the frontline gloveman after he travelled to Bangladesh as a reserve, and is already facing the chop after unconvincing performances in front and behind the stumps. “I thought that Dane kept really well on a wicket with spin and bounce and with the ball sometimes keeping low,” du Plessis said. “What we have to try and do is to focus on the positives. Coming and facing this in your first Test series abroad is a challenge.”Like Vilas, Dean Elgar, Stiaan van Zyl, and even du Plessis himself have never played Tests in India before. Although du Plessis has been in the national team for longer than the other three, he is looking at this outing as an education. “The good thing about it is you can learn from this and improve your game. Even I have learnt a lot about my game in the last few matches,” he said, adding some advice for the rest. “I’ve concentrated on my defence against spin in the first 20 balls I face.”But soon after that, du Plessis suggests getting a move on, before either the surface or one of the India spinners gets the better of the batsman. “In South Africa, Australia and New Zealand you can take your time, even if you aren’t getting bad balls but the surface here doesn’t allow that to happen. This is a huge learning curve for us and also something we can take forward.”The extent to which du Plessis applied what had he learnt was evident in the second innings in Nagpur when, along with Amla, he ground out the highest partnership of the match and threatened to stage a rearguard action that could have put India under pressure. None of South Africa’s other batsmen have shown that sort of application yet. If they are able to in Delhi, South Africa may feel that they have conquered some of the worst, even though they have been far from their best.
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Hosts South Africa have named a 30-man provisional squad for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship to be held in September. The squad will be trimmed down to 15 and sent to the ICC as per its regulations.Graeme Smith returns as captain of the team after missing the trip to Ireland due to injury while Jacques Kallis, who stood in as captain during Smith’s absence, will serve as his deputy.There has been no surprise omissions with prolific hard-hitting batsmen such as Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Johan van der Wath and Justin Kemp, who captained an Africa XI against Asia XI, being named in the squad. Gulam Bodi and Neil McKenzie are are selected on strength of domestic Pro20 matches.According to Steve Elworthy, tournament director, “the results and individual performances of the various players were taken into account by the selectors and they have put together a competitive, exciting squad that will add to the hype already created around the tournament.”All 30 provisional squad members have contributed to their teams’ results on the international and domestic fronts.”Squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Loots Bosman, Gulam Bodi, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Neil McKenzie, Albie Morkel, Mornè Morkel, Andrè Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath, Mornè van Wyk
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The chief executive of the ICC, Malcolm Speed, has spoken of his decision to make public Darrell Hair’s email, in which the umpire offered to resign under the condition of receiving $500,000.Speed, who flew to London last week to tackle the ball tampering crisis first hand, spoke of his consternation at Hair’s letter and how he was “shocked and disappointed” at receiving it.”It took a while for the full ramifications [of the email] to sink in,” Speed told Sky Sports. “We held a number of meetings, and I obtained the best legal advice available. I was told that if there were potential issues between ICC and PCB, I’m legally obliged to display them. The other advice was to tear it up, delete the emails and lie about it. I wasn’t prepared to do that.”Yesterday’s dramatic revelations at Lord’s were the latest in what has been a dark and depressing week for cricket. However, Speed insisted that in no way did he, or the ICC, ever consider lying about receiving Hair’s email, or the contents contained within.”[Lying about it] is fine until someone on TV or radio asks me the question. There might be court cases, someone might write a book, somehow the copy might come into the public and I wasn’t prepared to lie about it. We’re in an immensely difficult position.”Speed also emphatically denied the cynical view that he used the email as a “window of opportunity.””Not for one minute. What I always wanted to do is follow the process and have the hearing,” he said. “If the charges are sustained, that’s fine. If it’s overturned, that’s fine. It’s impractical to achieve the solution which Darrell wanted; somehow I’d have to find $500,000, conspire to keep it secret, mislead the public and lie. Why would we want to do that? It just wouldn’t work.”When asked about Hair and Billy Doctrove’s decision to abandon the match, when Pakistan failed to take to the field, Speed was equally adamant that umpires have full authority where on-field decisions are concerned.”The umpires are in control, that’s been the case for 300 years and I’d want that to continue. I can’t judge the on-field situation, or overturn their decision that the match was forfeited. If it’s their decision to forfeit the match, then it’s forfeited. They didn’t believe it was appropriate to overturn their decision – and I can’t force them to do it.”Despite the dramatic events of the past week, Speed was confident in the ICC’s ability to handle sensitive situations, adding that the game is “in robust health”.”We deal with [these situations] as well as we can. I prefer to look at it in another aspect…the news has been on the front pages, not the back. But the game is in robust health. We had the Ashes series last year, and for this winter’s Ashes sponsors are seeking to buy the rights and the broadcasters are buying rights. The game is in great health. We need to put it behind us and get on with the business of cricket.”Earlier today, Speed confirmed the hearing for Inzamam-ul-Haq’s alleged ball tampering would take place in the last week of September.
New Zealand’s opening two-day practice match against a Sri Lanka BoardPresident’s XI petered out into a predictable draw as the visitors battedthroughout the second day.The Kiwi’s, replying to the President’s XI 258 yesterday, scored 396 in107.5 overs before the match was abandoned immediately after the fall of thefinal wicket.Opener Matthew Richardson, who added 88 for the first wicket with Matt Horne(48), top scored with a patient 106 from 117 balls, an innings that included18 boundaries.There were also half-centuries from skipper Stephen Fleming, a brisk 69 from91 balls with 13 fours, and allrounder Scot Styris, who was last man out for64 from 81 balls having hit seven fours and two sixes.Seamer Dinusha Fernando was the pick of the nine bowlers used by skipperRomesh Kaluwitharana, claiming three wickets in the afternoon to finish withthree for 66 from 20 overs.New Zealand will play another two-day warm-up match at the same venuestarting Monday before the first Test on April 25.
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When Bob Woolmer met Javed Miandad for dinner soon after arriving in Pakistan, the man he replaced probably brought him up to date on the problems that afflict the Pakistan cricket team. Given Woolmer’s reputedly meticulous nature, he was probably au fait with them anyway. But, in his third game in charge – and his first real one – it will have come as a relief of sorts for Woolmer, that he witnessed the true scale of the unpredictability that he has been hired to resolve at first hand, and that it happened sooner rather than later during his tenure.The comprehensive defeat Sri Lanka handed to them, on paper, is disheartening. But it may come as small, even perverse, consolation that Pakistan’s complicity in instigating their downfall equalled that of an increasingly ruthless Sri Lankan side. Woolmer will know, for example, Pakistan’s batting – the architects of today’s demise – over the last nine months or so has had more good days than bad, and that days like today are slowly – very slowly – becoming the exception rather than the rule. Against India in March, in fact, there were enough good days for it to divert criticism on to the bowling. But one of Woolmer’s first tasks will be to ensure that the occasions where Pakistan implodes as they did today, and thus become more difficult to beat, are kept to the barest minimum.He still won’t be happy that a batsman with Youhana’s experience and class can embarrass himself the way he did today. And he will now know why – to this day almost five years after his debut – Imran Nazir’s capacity to succeed at international level is still questionable. He will also admit, maybe, that the Shoaib Malik experiment might not work and that it affects, adversely, the combustible nature of the lower order. And he will justifiably squirm at the schoolboy nature of the running between the wickets, if it wasn’t an insult to schoolboys around the world.But he is level-headed enough to know that not every day in the office will be a bad one. He will know that in Yasir Hameed, and to a lesser extent, the likes of Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar and Asim Kamal, he has something tangible to work with. He will also take note of the uncustomary spirit and resistance with which Pakistan bowled and hope that this, unlike the batting, is not a one-off. They have in the past crumbled when defending small totals – Lords in 1999 and 2001 against Australia come to mind immediately – but to take this game beyond thirty overs, and to pick up three wickets will have lessened the pain a touch. But importantly he will have spent another day familiarising himself with Team Pakistan.But if Pakistan’s problems are familiar, then the same cannot be said of Sri Lanka’s form. Sometimes a loss can be good for the soul, and Sri Lanka’s fighting defeat in Australia appears to have re-ignited in them a previously absent clinical competence. Their batting, at home at least, has never been their main concern. It is their bowling that, Murali and Vaas apart, has often looked toothless. But with Nuwan Zoysa and Upal Chandana continuing to build on the spirit they showed in Australia, the bowling has assumed a more incisive guise.Both bowlers have been notoriously inconsistent and Zoysa, in particular, has been prone to injury. How well Sri Lanka do here and in the future depends in large part on these two prolonging their good run. And if it is backed up by the type of electric fielding they displayed today, their victories over the two traditional subcontinent powerhouses might assume a more significant hue than many would admit to.Ultimately, perhaps, to infer too much from either team’s performances is inconsequential. The Asia Cup has been strangely bereft of atmosphere, significance and, worryingly, of consequence. Perhaps, the format is too bloated, and there are too many non-competitive matches. Perhaps it is because tougher one-day challenges lie in wait later in the year for most teams. Perhaps it is because that for some of the participants, winning the Asia Cup, although a pleasant bonus, isn’t the only goal. For some, like India, it is about a little tinkering to find the right balance. For Woolmer and Pakistan, it is more about discovering each other, about accommodating and adjusting to foreign ideas and culture. For Sri Lanka, it is perhaps to build on their combative display against the Australians. In which case, both the hosts and Pakistan will have gone one step further today to reaching their objectives.