All posts by csb10.top

Chris Harris appears almost certain to sign with the Indian Cricket League after officially rejecting a new contract with Canterbury. Harris, who has spent the off-season playing one-day league cricket in England, told Canterbury of his decision on Monday.”It is a massive blow for us,” Dave Nosworthy, the Canterbury coach said in the . Harris, 37, had played for Canterbury for 18 years and was not only the team’s captain but also one of its most consistent performers last season.Richard Reid, the chief executive of Canterbury Cricket, said Harris had not discussed whether he would sign with the ICL. “We are sad to lose Chris,” Reid said. “He has been an outstanding player and leader for Canterbury and has had a distinguished career. Chris has not indicated whether he will be taking up other cricket playing opportunities.”New Zealand Cricket’s announcement last week that it would not release any contracted players to play in the Indian league – including those with provincial deals – could have forced Harris’ hand. Nathan Astle also declined a Canterbury contract for next season and has been linked with the Indian group.

Simon Katich believes Phil Jaques should partner Matthew Hayden in next month’s first Test, but the opener insists it is too early for him to be a certain selection. Jaques scored a second-innings 167 in the Pura Cup match against Western Australia this week to out-point his rival Chris Rogers, who made 9 and 17.Katich, the New South Wales captain, expects his “run machine” to be at the Gabba when Australia play Sri Lanka from November 8. “We’re going to find it hard to replace him if he gets picked, but obviously 160-odd thoroughly deserves selection,” Katich told AAP. “But not only that, what he’s done in the last four or five seasons. He’s been a run machine, both here and in England, so he thoroughly deserves his chance if he gets it.”Jaques, who has played two Tests, was more cautious about his prospects and said a promotion was “too early to call”. “It’s out of my hands,” he said. “I put a score on the board in the first couple of games, which I was asked to do, and we’ll just see what happens.”He will have another opportunity to impress when New South Wales host Queensland in the Pura Cup from October 26. Injuries will make Jaques’ task slightly easier as Andy Bichel, Shane Watson and Michael Kasprowicz will be absent. “Each of those players is making progress,” Ray Phillips, the Queensland selection chairman, said. “We expect them to come under consideration for the tour match against Sri Lanka.”The internationals Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Mitchell Johnson and James Hopes will bolster the Bulls after returning from the one-day series in India. They will replace Aaron Nye, Greg Moller, Chris Swan and Ben Cutting, who played in the first-innings win over Tasmania.Bichel missed the first round of Queensland fixtures with a shoulder problem and realises the injury could be career-threatening if it does not respond to treatment. “There is no doubt that is the worst-case scenario,” Bichel said in the . “But I am confident I can get back.”He said it could be two weeks before he is bowling again, putting him in danger of missing Queensland’s tour game against Sri Lanka starting on November 2. “It is a bit of a setback,” he said. “At this stage it is not as good as we would like it.”Martin Love has been chosen in Queensland’s 2nd XI squad to travel to Perth as part of his comeback from knee surgery while Watson (hamstring) and Kasprowicz (calf) are expected to be eased through the club system. The Bulls kept the same FR Cup side that lost the opening match to Tasmania for the contest with New South Wales at the SCG on Wednesday. The Blues also did not make any changes to their squad.Queensland FR Cup squad Jimmy Maher (capt), Ryan Broad, Aaron Nye, Clinton Perren, Craig Philipson, Michael Buchanan, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley (wk), Ashley Noffke, Nathan Reardon, Scott Brant, Grant Sullivan.New South Wales FR Cup squad Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Simon Katich (capt), Peter Forrest, Dominic Thornely, Stephen O’Keefe, Daniel Smith (wk), Grant Lambert, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Nicholson, Doug Bollinger, Mark Cameron.Queensland Pura Cup squad Matthew Hayden, Ryan Broad, Clinton Perren, Jimmy Maher (capt), Andrew Symonds, James Hopes, Chris Hartley (wk), Chris Simpson, Ashley Noffke, Mitchell Johnson, Daniel Doran, Grant Sullivan.

Kerala beat Karnataka comfortably by ten wickets in their Ranji TrophySouth Zone clash at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi to complete only a secondvictory against their northern neighbours in 46 encounters in thecompetition. Set a princely target of five runs in the fourth innings,Kerala’s win came in slightly bizarre fashion. Vijay Bharadwaj bowled ano-ball, which went for four byes, to finish with the unusual figures of0.0-0-1-0.Earlier Karnataka, resuming at 31/4, folded up for 133. Overnight batsmen,Bharadwaj (32) and AR Mahesh (31) waged a grim battle in the first sessionbut both were out in successive overs at the stroke of lunch to leave thevisitors at 93/6. Little resistance was offered by the tail with theexception of Dodda Ganesh who hung around for an hour and a quarter toproduce 22. The curtain came down when skipper Venkatesh Prasad knocked offspinner Ramprakash into Tinu Yohannan at cover, Karnataka labouring for79.2 overs to make 133. Left arm spinner Sreekumar Nair and leg spinner MSuresh Kumar finished with three wickets apiece.Kerala’s only other victory over Karnataka – by six wickets – came at theGovernment Victoria College Ground, Palakkad on 28-31 December 1996.CricInfo’s zealous scorer, Sudhir Aly also informs us that umpire Sanjeeva Raoofficiated in both Kerala triumphs. The result queers the pitch in the zonalstandings, lifting Kerala to 18 points from four games, ahead ofKarnataka’s 16.

Central Zone’s Amay Khurasiya and Jai Prakash Yadav put a feeble East Zoneattack to the sword on the first day of their Duleep Trophy encounter atthe Green Park at Kanpur on Thursday. At stumps on the first day, Centralhad progressed swiftly to 231/3 off just 53 overs after the start had beendelayed to 13.20 hours due to heavy fog.After Central were put in to bat, they lost opener Amit Pagnis in theeighth over of the day to eighteen year old Bihar speedster Mihir Diwakar.Khurasiya and Yadav then proceeded to wade into an attack, depleted by theabsence of Debashis Mohanty, with gusto in a second wicket stand of 182 offjust 37.4 overs.Hell broke loose with the introduction of former Indian left arm spinnerUtpal Chatterjee in the 18th over of the innings which Khurasiya massacredfor 18 runs (4 . . 4 4 6). The hapless Chatterjee’s second over was evenmore expensive, going for 19 (6 1 6 6 . .), including one six by Khurasiyaand two by Yadav. The last of those sixes also brought up Yadav’s fifty(off 76 balls) and simultaneously the century of the innings.Chatterjee was immediately withdrawn from the firing line and replaced byhis fellow left arm spinner Sukhbinder Singh. At the other end, seamerJaved Zaman went off after a fairly longish spell of 11 overs for 37 andoff spinner Sanjay Raul made an appearance. Neither Sukhbinder nor Raulwere able to make any impression on the marauding duo and Khurasiya broughtup his individual fifty (off 46 balls) with a six in Sukhbinder’s secondover.Central went into the tea break at 168/1 off 32 overs. There was nostopping Khurasiya who reached his hundred off 96 balls, but with the scoreat 212, he was dismissed by the persevering Zaman for 110 (108 balls, 15fours, 4 sixes). Nine runs later, Zaman struck again, in his next over,rattling the stumps of Yadav for 95 (160 balls, 10 fours, 3 sixes. By thistime Chatterjee had been restored to the attack and the veteran made amendswith a niggardly spell to finish with figures of 10-2-51-0, his last eightovers having cost just 14. Mohd. Kaif (12) and Gagan Khoda (2) took Centralthrough to stumps without further hiccups.

Ramnaresh Sarwan says West Indies have been done no favours by a Providence Stadium pitch more typical of Sri Lankan grounds than Caribbean conditions. Sri Lanka have dominated the first Test in Guyana and Sarwan, who battled through 199 balls for his 80, said more pace and bounce would have been welcome.”The surface here is very similar to the ones they play on in Sri Lanka,” Sarwan said after the third day’s play. “When I toured Sri Lanka a few years ago it was the same sort of surface, Mahela [Jayawardene] seems to know the conditions pretty well with the sort of field placements that he has been putting forward to us.”You have to take into consideration the opposition you are playing against, whether you want a track that is faster and bouncier. So probably we want the opportunity to play on something that has more pace and bounce but that didn’t happen so we have to try and continue working hard as a team and try to work through that.”It has not been an easy task in the first three days and West Indies need their last pair, Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell, to add eight more runs on the fourth morning to avoid the follow-on. Sarwan was the only man to score a half-century as the home team finished the day at 269 for 9, and he said he never felt ‘in’ against Muttiah Muralitharan, who grabbed three wickets, while Chaminda Vaas also collected three.”Obviously they have the experience of Chaminda Vaas who has been doing this year in year out for them, especially on the flat surfaces they play on in Sri Lanka,” Sarwan said. “So basically it wasn’t a surprise to me because they know the conditions here pretty well.”You have to give credit to Sri Lanka. Their bowlers were pretty patient and the fact that they were bowling on one side of the wicket, they were having an attacking and a defensive field so it was pretty hard to get runs and also the discipline they showed.”Sarwan conceded poor shot selection contributed to West Indies’ poor showing but he was confident they were not yet out of the match. “First of all we have to save the follow-on then analyse it and put ourselves in a decent or good position,” Sarwan said.”There is still a lot of time left in the game. We have to make sure we play well as a team and continue to have a lot of partnerships going whether we’re bowling or batting.”

Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, has said the ICC will move the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan next year, only as a last resort.”All ICC events have been allotted till 2015,” Speed said in Mumbai. “The Champions Trophy was allotted to Pakistan last year and it’s still almost a year away. The ICC will transfer a scheduled event only if it’s [venue] unsafe.”The ICC had cut short one of its scheduled preliminary visits to Pakistan in connection with the tournament following the imposition of a state emergency in the country. Then on November 6, the ICC announced that the women’s World Cup qualifiers, to be played in Pakistan this month, had been postponed.But Speed said the ICC was on course to stage the Champions Trophy in Pakistan in September-October next year. “There has been some good cricket in Pakistan in the South African series. Australia and Zimbabwe are due to visit. I am very hopeful all issues will be resolved.”

Ottis Gibson was named man-of-the-match as Durham wrapped up victory over Hampshire in the Friends Provident Trophy final on Sunday leaving Shane Warne’s dreams of a domestic title shattered.Durham needed just 38 minutes to clinch a 125-run victory at an almost-empty Lord’s after the conclusion of the final had been held over from Saturday because of rain. Hampshire were already facing an uphill task when they resumed on 158 for five in reply to 312 for five and were eventually all out for 187 at the end of the 41st over.Former West Indies seamer Gibson, 38, who began the Hampshire reply with wickets off the first two balls and then dismissed dangerman Kevin Pietersen as well, was the star performer.”Unbelievable,” said Gibson who took 10 wickets in an innings against Hampshire in a county championship match earlier in the summer. “But we’ve got four games left and if I’m going to get through them I’m going to have to cut down on the celebrations a little bit.”Durham’s Paul Collingwood, England’s one-day skipper, was delighted to finally see his county clinch a first major domestic title. “We’ve had lots of ups and downs at the club – just after I joined in 1996 I think we won one game all season – but we learned a lot and it pulled us together as a team.”Warne, Hampshire’s captain had been greeted with a no-ball bouncer by old foe Collingwood, but it was Liam Plunkett who bowled the Australian for five to end the innings. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had top-scored for Durham with 78 on his 33rd birthday.”I hate losing and this is right up there,” said Warne. “But Durham just played better and I think this could inspire us to achieve some special things.”

It hasn’t rained in Malaysia for the majority of the Under-19 World Cup but the luck has turned as we approach the business end of the tournament. There were short but sharp showers during the semi-final between India and New Zealand and it rained heavily throughout the afternoon on the eve of the second semi-final between Pakistan and South Africa.The coaches of Pakistan and South Africa, Mansoor Rana and Ray Jennings, said the rain, if it came in the evening, would favour the side batting under the lights. Although the batsmen will have to cope with sighting a muddy ball and grapple with a slower outfield, it’s the bowling side that would suffer more with a slippery ball, especially their spinners. Rana felt India would have had a tougher chase against New Zealand had it not rained, while Jennings cited England’s comfortable chase against Sri Lanka because rain interrupted play.”You need a bit of luck when the weather’s going wrong especially with the timing of the rain interruption,” Jennings told Cricinfo. “Sometimes it’s in your favour and sometimes it is not. It can play havoc on preparations and the chances of the best side coming through. There’s a definite advantage batting second if it does happen to rain”Rana said Pakistan had game plans for any eventuality but given the inexperience of the players in high-pressure situations, it will be hard to adjust quickly should the weather intervene in a big way.Head-to-head it’s hard to choose between the two sides. South Africa have qualified from the toughest group, which included India and West Indies, and they crushed Bangladesh in the quarter-final. Their strength lies in their pace attack, led by captain Wayne Parnell, which is backed up by an agile fielding outfit. Their strategy has been to create pressure in their middle overs through the tight lines bowled by their medium-pacers, with wicketkeeper Bradley Barnes standing up to the stumps.A chink could be their batting against quality spinners but Jennings brushed it off. “I think a lot of people are underestimating our batting,” Jennings said. “We have a mix of left and right-handers in our middle order. In these conditions the opposition will be using three or four spinners and our middle-order plays spin well. Against India we lost wickets to the seam bowler [Pradeep Sangwan] up front, who our guys obviously lost focus against. Beware of our middle-order players, they can play spin.”Pakistan have an assortment of spinners to attack South Africa with. Imad Wasim, the captain, bowls left-arm orthodox, while their opening batsmen Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal bowl legbreaks and offspin respectively. However, it is their pace attack that has caused the most damage in the tournament so far and the South African batsmen better be wary of Adil Raza, who struck twice in his first over in the quarter-final against Australia.The weakness for the defending champions has been their batting. Pakistan played their group matches in Johor where the wickets were damp and did not make 200 even once. Their first hit on a good batting track was against Australia and they chased 129 comfortably after a minor top-order wobble. Akmal hasn’t fired at as opener so far in the tournament – his highest score is 17 – but Rana wasn’t overly concerned.”Our openers scored a lot of runs in Sri Lanka,” he said. “My concern was the middle order and that was the reason we batted first against Zimbabwe on a difficult pitch [in Johor]. We had already qualified for the quarters and wanted to test the batsmen. Ali Asad scored runs.”The tournament has boiled down to a fitting finish. Pakistan are unbeaten in the tournament so far while South Africa have lost only to India, who have already qualified for the final. The teams are highly skilled and a tense contest awaits. All that is needed is for the rain to stay away.

On a day of rapidly shifting events and wild rumours, which began early in the morning with the fallout of the previous day, the focus shifted from the umpiring in the Sydney Test to the three-Test ban imposed on Harbhajan Singh for racial abuse. The ball is now with the Indian board, which has come under increasing pressure from the Indian team – and highly charged public opinion at home – to take a tough stand on the issue and back Harbhajan.It is understood the players want the ban imposed on Harbhajan to be lifted before the next Test, in Perth; they feel there was insufficient evidence on which to find Harbhajan guilty. Sachin Tendulkar, the team’s senior-most player, is believed to have sent Sharad Pawar, the board president, a message saying the board should stand by Harbhajan and the team should play at Perth only if the ban is lifted.The board responded through several measures: it issued a statement saying it did not accept the ban and, later in the day, said it had filed an appeal with the ICC against it; it sought the withdrawal of Steve Bucknor from the Perth Test, where he is due to umpire. It also directed the Indian team to remain in Sydney instead of leaving for Canberra on Monday morning as scheduled.Though rumours of the team pulling out of the tour remained just that, with Cricket Australia saying it was satisfied that the matches would go ahead, Pawar struck a warning note. “We are giving serious thought to whether we should continue,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “We feel that we must take action, enough is enough. We would like to keep an extremely good relationship with the Australian board. Our relationship is extremely cordial and we would like to continue that, but this [Harbhajan’s ban] is totally unacceptable.”It is believed the BCCI, which has called an emergency Working Committee meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, will wait on that decision till it hears from the ICC.The day’s action began in Sydney, where the team was preparing to leave the Radisson Hotel for Canberra – where they are due to play a tour game from Thursday – by coach at 10.30am. However, instructions were issued to the contrary and the baggage was taken off the coach. Around 4.15pm, the media manager, MV Sridhar, confirmed the team had been instructed by the board to stay in Sydney till the formalities for Harbhajan’s appeal were completed. The players spent the day mostly in their rooms.An hour later Sridhar said the team had received the official document regarding Harbhajan’s ban, one where he was accused of a ‘monkey’ taunt against Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds. The team was intent on reading the detailed written order from the match referee, Mike Procter, to find out what the exact racism charges were.Around the same time the board, in New Delhi, released a statement expressing its intent to fight the allegations against Harbhajan. “The unfair allegation of racism against our player is wholly unacceptable,” the statement read. “The game of cricket is paramount but so too is the honour of India’s cricket team and every Indian. The BCCI is committed to protecting the country’s fair name. India’s national commitment is against racism. Our national struggle is based on values which negate racism.”The board also requested the ICC to replace Steve Bucknor from third Test in Perth following poor umpiring decisions in Sydney. That is still up in the air, though. An ICC spokesman invoked the playing conditions both teams signed up to before the series, saying: “Neither team has a right to object to an umpire’s appointment.” To remove Bucknor, the issue would have to be discussed and voted on by the ICC’s executive board, with a majority of members voting in favour of removing him.Soon after, Ricky Ponting added to the debate in an interview with Channel Nine, when he declined to reveal what was said between Harbhajan and Symonds on the field but offered a blunt assessment when asked if the situation “smacks of racism”. “I think that’s been proven,” Ponting said.Ponting also said he was surprised by the speculation that India’s tour might be cancelled and that they had not sent their players to Canberra as planned. “They’re entitled to do whatever they think is appropriate at the time but for me that would be a little bit extreme, I must admit,” he said.

Selection of the day
All tour the question has been asked: why isn’t Shahadat Hossain playing? Bangladesh’s attack, Mashrafe Mortaza apart, has had all the venom of bubblegum thus far so the inclusion, finally, of Shahadat brought some bite. He went for runs and was particularly thoughtless with the shortball, but what is a fast bowler with brains? Pakistan still scored over 300 but without his overs at the start and at the death, it could’ve been much more.Are you Pakistani?
No matter how many times Pakistan rebuilds its side, as a fielding unit, they are rarely ever above mediocre. No different is Shoaib Malik’s side, though Fawad Alam stands out like a nun in a brothel. Similar in build to fellow Karachiite Asif Mujtaba, Alam is as nifty in the field, effectingtwo fine run-outs, one from out deep and one from the covers. He can bat, he can bowl and he sure as hell can field.Reverse curse
No one seems to have learnt from Mike Gatting’s reverse horror at the ’87 World Cup final. Aftab Ahmed reverse-swept almost everything he saw today and then some. He paid for it indirectly once, when Tamim Iqbal was run out going for a third run off an Aftab reverse-sweep. No matter, thought Aftab, I’ll try again. Three overs later he did and top-edged to the ‘keeper, effectively ending Bangladesh’s chase.Welcome to the club
Sohail Khan has, hopefully, many years ahead of him and many things still to learn. But he joined one not-so-exclusive club in only his second international match today: bowlers who curse Kamran Akmal. Khan had worked up considerable pace in his second spell in the middle of the innings when Shakib Al Hasan edged an outswinger to Akmal’s left. Promptly the chance was spilled. Khan smiled, but will learn in good time it’s not really that funny.Men of the match
The much-maligned folks at Water and Power Development Authority, who ensured that unlike the first ODI, the floodlights stayed on through the match. The odds on that happening,it is reliably learnt, were longer than those on Bangladesh chasing 309.