Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has admitted he is feeling drained by a summer in which his name has seldom been far away from debate about the composition of the national team

Daniel Brettig19-Jan-2012Australia’s wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has admitted he is feeling drained by a summer in which his name has seldom been far away from debate over the composition of the national team.Haddin has endured a personally horrid series against India, struggling for runs while also missing chances, and his summer lurched into tragicomic territory on Wednesday with a second-ball duck and a dropped catch for the Sydney Sixers in the Twenty20 Big Bash League. It followed another zero with the bat in the third Test in Perth.He said he had felt down on his usual energy and pep when preparing to captain the Sixers, an indication of the effort expended over the Test summer with one match still remaining against India, at the Adelaide Oval from Tuesday.”I felt mentally and physically drained,” Haddin told Sky Sports Radio. “It didn’t feel right during the warm-up. How I felt, I just thought, ‘Oh no, this doesn’t look good’. I thought in Perth things were going well. I spent a lot of time catching leading into Perth, probably hit too many balls. You’ve just got to find that right balance.”Despite considerable public and media pressure on Haddin, he has retained the faith of the national selectors, who have not only kept him in the team but named him vice-captain to Michael Clarke in place of the injured Shane Watson, and also chosen him to captain the Prime Minister’s XI against the Sri Lankan tourists on February 3. As a gutsy, aggressive former captain of New South Wales, Haddin’s contribution to the dressing room is considered significant.Another significant factor in Haddin’s selection across the summer is the serious finger trouble afflicting his heir apparent Tim Paine, who played four Test matches in 2010 when the senior man was injured. Paine is recovering after another round of surgery on a badly fractured index finger, and his return to the game remains clouded.Matthew Wade, the Victorian gloveman, has performed strongly this summer and has won a place as Australia’s Twenty20 keeper, but it appears the injured Paine is still the preferred candidate to replace Haddin at Test level. Haddin has brushed off the effect of speculation about his place, saying he always felt he was in a fight for his spot irrespective of how he was performing.”What people underestimate is the pressures you’re under whether you’re doing well or not,” he said. “It’s a big effort to get yourself up for a four-Test series and I think [evidence of the drain of that effort] was the case last night.”The fast bowler Peter Siddle is an Australia team-mate of Haddin and a Victorian compatriot of Wade, and said he was still very much behind the Test incumbent.”I’ve played all my Test cricket with Brad and he’s been amazing contributor,” Siddle said. “He’s had some tough times at the moment but he’s a great player. He’s obviously got a good first-class record which shows he can perform at the big times.”I’m definitely backing him … I think Adelaide will be a good wicket for him to bat on and hopefully we can get a few more nicks through to him to give him some support.”As for Wade, Siddle described the 24-year-old as a most impressive character and cricketer.”Being a Victorian he’s kept behind the stumps a lot of times for me. He’s a great player and he’s shown in the last couple of years how much he’s matured,” Siddle said. “He’s a great leader for the team and his performances with the bat and the gloves have been outstanding.”When Brad’s time is up, whether that’s in a couple of weeks or hopefully I’ll get to play a few more years with him, Matthew is definitely a talented player.”

BCCI and Sahara are scheduled to meet this weekend to discuss the issues that led to Sahara withdrawing its sponsorship of the Indian team and ownership of the Pune Warriors IPL franchise

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Feb-2012BCCI and Sahara India Parivar are scheduled to meet this weekend, probably on February 12, to discuss the issues that led to Sahara withdrawing its sponsorship of the Indian team and ownership of the Pune Warriors IPL franchise.Officials privy to the dialogue between the parties told ESPNcricinfo that the venue and time would be finalised on February 11. Chennai is the likely choice because of the BCCI working committee meeting there on February 13; Mumbai is the alternative.”Yes, the discussions are on. We don’t have a date [as] people are busy,” a BCCI official said. Asked if Sahara would be happy to reverse their decision, the official said: “Don’t worry about it, these issues will get sorted … They will be back, no one is going anywhere”The IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, who is also one of the BCCI vice-presidents, has been in frequent contact with Subrata Roy, Sahara’s chairman. On February 4, Roy had said he was forced to end the relationship with the BCCI because of a “chain of displeasure” between the sponsors and the board. However, the BCCI president N Srinivasan expressed a desire to resolve the dispute, and Roy reciprocated saying he would be open to talks.It is understood that on Thursday, the Sahara management asked the coaching staff to shortlist names of players the Warriors would like to buy from the other franchises during the ongoing trading window, which closes on March 4.”The coaches have been asked to see what the options left to get the team balance correct are,” a Sahara official told ESPNcricinfo.According to a Sahara source, they are happy with the strength of the present Warriors squad, but they missed out on bolstering the middle-order void caused by Yuvraj Singh’s unavailability due to illness.If the IPL had allowed Sahara’s request to add Yuvraj’s cost ($1.8 million) to the auction purse ($2 million), the source said they could have gone all out for the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Vinay Kumar and may be even a wicketkeeper. The Australian wicketkeeper Tim Paine is injured and will not be available for the fifth season. Robin Uthappa, a part time keeper, is expected to keep wicket this season but Pune are on a lookout for a domestic glovesman.”Now we will have to re-think our strategy, considering we did not participate in the auction,” a Sahara source said.

Gordon Drummond, the Scotland captain, says his side’s attitude can help them return to the world stage.

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2012Gordon Drummond, the Scotland captain, says his side’s attitude can help them return to the world stage. Scotland haven’t featured in an ICC event since the 2009 World Twenty20 in England and are eager to get their ambitions back on track.Scotland have revamped their squad since 2009 and now have a much younger crop for the World T20 qualifiers, which start on March 13 in the UAE. This new team have the desire to get back into a major competition.”Since 2009 we have had a big change in playing personnel,” Drummond said. “The coaching staff has worked hard to create an honest, positive and hard-working ethos among the squad, to build on the ability and talent that was already there. The current squad are now more experienced and have been involved in tournaments and big games over the last few years, which will give us confidence going in to the tournament.”We are a team that has a never-say-die attitude and always believe we can win from anywhere. We have a good balance of power hitters, touch players, quality spinners, accurate seamers and a dynamic fielding unit and we feel this is what is needed to be successful.”Scotland got together for a six-week training camp in Edinburgh and travelled to the Middle East for an Intercontinental Cup match against the UAE before travelling to Colombo for another preparation camp. “We’ve had a mixture of skills, training, fitness sessions and matches against state teams, Canada and Sri Lanka A. The preparations have been good, particularly in Colombo where the conditions and opponents have been challenging; this will give the squad confidence going into a tough schedule in the qualifiers.”Drummond’s side are up against Ireland, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Oman, Italy and USA in group B and he believes it will be a very close-fought race for qualification for the knockout phase. “All the teams in the group are dangerous and in the shorter format of the game are capable of beating each other,” he said. “Luckily for us we have had previous experience of playing against every opposition in our group.”Qualification will give the squad an opportunity to play in an event against the best teams at a global event and it would mean the players can put their skills to the test against the best players in the world.”Scotland begin their campaign against Kenya in Dubai.Edited by Alex Winter

Kings XI Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist has credited his bowlers for exploiting the grassy conditions in Mohali to help his side beat Pune Warriors by seven wickets

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-2012Kings XI Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist has credited his bowlers for exploiting the grassy conditions in Mohali on Thursday and helping his side beat Pune Warriors by seven wickets to register their first win in of the IPL season. Punjab’s Kings XI’S bowlers justified Gilchrist’s decision to bowl first for the third straight match, with Dimitri Mascarenhas picking up his second five-for in Twenty20 cricket and Harmeet Singh striking twice to restrict Warriors to 115.”I knew that it was a bit risky to bowl first, given that we had bowled first in our previous two games and we had not got any momentum going,” Gilchrist said. “Our bowlers bowled beautifully today. The wicket had a green cover. There was a big storm last night, a lot of moisture around.”Gilchrist said that the bowlers, especially Mascarenhas challenged the batsmen at all times by putting the ball in the right spot. Chasing 115, Punjab always looked in control with Shaun Marsh, who missed their last match due to injury, top-scoring with 64. “It’s wonderful to see Shaun, he’s such a beautiful player to watch,” said Gilchrist. “I read an article which said he’s the most successful batsman in IPL history. He’s just a great player and it’s nice to see him back.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL game between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab in Mumbai

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria21-Apr-2012

Match facts

Sunday, April 22, Mumbai
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Azhar Mahmood can be dangerous with both bat and ball•AFP

Big Picture

Mumbai Indians have had a five-day break since their capitulation to Delhi Daredevils in front of their home crowd. Their much vaunted batting line-up collapsed for 92, their second lowest total in IPL and without Harbhajan Singh’s 33, the story could have been even worse. Since then, they have had good and bad news. Good news: Sachin Tendulkar will make a comeback after missing the previous four games. That should bring some confidence back in an otherwise inconsistent batting line-up.But then there is the bad news. Lasith Malinga, who didn’t play that game against Daredevils, is back in Sri Lanka with a troublesome back. In his absence, Mumbai Indians’ bowling could lose its sting. Clint McKay, even with his regular changes of pace, doesn’t pose the same threat, while RP Singh could be erratic. Harbhajan Singh is in a similar position to what Sourav Ganguly, his only victim in the tournament so far, had been – struggling to make an impact with his bowling. Ganguly acquitted himself with an all-round performance in Delhi. How will Harbhajan react?Kings XI Punjab have problems of their own. Their team is overly dependent on their imports. They would hope to conjure some surprise in a match where the stakes are heavily in Mumbai Indians’ favour. Azhar Mahmood has been a welcome addition and Parvinder Awana worked up decent pace against Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, Adam Gilchrist’s availability remains uncertain.

Players to watch

Azhar Mahmood is a veteran of Twenty20 cricket. He has scored 2390 runs at a strike-rate of 143.97 and has 118 wickets against his name. The quality of his shot-making was on display against Royal Challengers as he slammed a 14-ball 33. A good all-round day for Mahmood could easily translate to a good day for Kings XI.Munaf Patel will have the responsibility of leading Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack. Munaf has picked up wickets, while being economical, and he would fancy his chances against Kings XI in a bid to get the purple cap back.

2011 head-to-head

Mumbai Indians played Kings XI twice in 2011. They won the home game by 23 runs after fifties from Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu but lost the away game by 76 runs as they were bowled out for 87, their lowest score in IPL.

Stats and trivia

• Sachin Tendulkar is the top boundary-hitter in IPL. He has hit 219 fours in 52 innings.
• Praveen Kumar has bowled 208.2 overs in IPL, which is only second to Irfan Pathan’s 212.3. Praveen tops the list for runs conceded with 1653.
• Mumbai Indians’ overall win-loss record is 3-5 against Kings XI
  

  Quotes

  “He’s fine to play and is playing tomorrow.”

  “He has played a lot of Twenty20 cricket all over the world. You just saw, in the very first game, the way he batted for our team and the way he bowled.”

New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson led Gloucestershire’s resistance to make sure their County Championship Division Two match at Derbyshire finished in the dullest of draws.

ESPNcricinfo staff05-May-2012
ScorecardGloucestershire ground it out on the final day to make sure their County Championship Division Two match at Derbyshire finished in the dullest of draws.Although the spectacle offered no warmth to the few souls who braved the weather, Gloucestershire did all they needed to do by seeing out the remainder of a game in which they struggled from the start.With New Zealand batsman Kane Williamson (128) and his compatriot Hamish Marshall (90) taking their third-wicket partnership to 166 in the morning, there was little chance of Derbyshire being able to press for victory on a flat wicket.Gloucestershire, who were made to follow on after trailing by 182 in the first innings, finished on 408 for 4 in their second innings.They began the day with a small lead of 37 and Derbyshire needed to make early progress if they were to wrestle back control of the contest.The second new ball, available after only eight overs of the morning session, offered them their best chance and Derbyshire thought they had made their breakthrough in the third over with it when they appealed for a catch behind the wicket with Marshall on 53 and were crestfallen when umpire David Willey was unmoved.They were made to wait until shortly before lunch for their first wicket, which came when Jon Clare beat the defensive push of Williamson and wicketkeeper Tom Poynton took the catch. Williamson, a rising New Zealand batsman, at 21, faced 272 balls and hit 16 fours.The main focus of the afternoon was whether or not Marshall would get his first century for the county in almost three years but he fell 10 runs short when Tim Groenewald had him lbw. Ian Cockbain (63 not out) and Will Gidman (33 not out) comfortably batted out the remainder of the game.Derbyshire’s wicketkeeper, Tom Poynton, was the only Derbyshire not to have a go at bowling before a Gloucestershire declaration 10 minutes before the start of the final hour signalled the end of the match.

20-Jun-2012Lancashire 180 for 2 (Moore 54) beat Leicestershire 179 for 4 (Boyce 63*, Razzaq 61, Chapple 2-10) by 8 wickets
ScorecardLancashire batted nervelessly to clinch a comprehensive eight-wicket victory in a topsy-turvy Friends Life t20 clash at Old Trafford which left the reigning champions, Leicestershire, still seeking their first win.Inspired by captain Glen Chapple and opening batsman Stephen Moore, Lancashire chased down 180 to win with one over to spare to secure their second North Division win in three matches, recording their highest successful Twenty20 chase at Old Trafford in the process.Lancashire looked on course for victory as early as the sixth over when they reduced Leicestershire to 29 for 3 thanks to two wickets for the metronomic Chapple, who finished with immaculate figures of 2 for 10 from 4 overs, the most economical figures by a Lancashire bowler in Twenty20 history.But Leicestershire, now without a win in their first four matches, made a stunning recovery to post 179 for 4 thanks to some power hitting from Abdul Razzaq, Matt Boyce and Wayne White.Razzaq and Boyce shared 92 in 68 balls for the fourth wicket before Boyce and White crashed an unbroken 58 off just 21 balls for the fifth. Opener Razzaq finished with 61 off 51 balls and Boyce 63 not out off 38.However, it was still not enough as Lancashire completed the double over their visitors after Friday’s win at Grace Road.Moore top-scored with 54 off 32 balls to record his sixth score of 50 or more in eight matches in either 20 or 40-over cricket this summer. He was helped out by Tom Smith’s 42 before, with the game in the balance at 113 for 2 in the 13th over, Steven Croft and Karl Brown steered their side home in an unbroken stand of 67 in less than 7 overs on an excellent batting surface. Croft finished 41 not out off 29 balls and Brown, who hit the winning runs, finished with 39 off 23.Chapple, playing only his fifth 20-over match since the end of the 2010 season, took the new ball and had Greg Smith caught on the third-man fence by Gary Keedy and trapped Ramnaresh Sarwan lbw.

Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, praised an “incredible” innings from Hashim Amla and the exemplary performance of his bowlers

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2012Graeme Smith, South Africa’s captain, praised an “incredible” innings from Hashim Amla and the exemplary performance of his bowlers after a difficult first day, in condemning England to a huge defeat in the first Test.Smith, playing in his 100th Test, led his team to a victory that puts them 1-0 in the three-match series and takes South Africa a step closer to the No. 1 Test ranking. The tourists had been lacking something on day one, when England racked up 267 for 3, but roared back to dominate the rest of the match.”It’s an extremely proud moment for all of us,” Smith said. “To achieve a victory in what is the first Test of what is a big series, and play as well as we have … in the context of the first innings to come back and win the game is an incredible achievement.”I don’t think we were that terrible on day one, we lacked maybe a little bit of X-factor. We found that on day two, when maybe the conditions suited us. We found the intensity that maybe we lacked, we got a couple of plans right and all credit to our bowlers, they set the tone in this Test match and managed to finish it off on a really good batting wicket.”We felt coming into this Test that we were ready, we just needed to get ourselves into the contest. We managed to do that on day two, each player contributed, it was fantastic the way the guys played. I must give credit to Hash, it was an incredible achievement for him. A performance like that really means a lot to all of us and we’re extremely proud of him.”South Africa must win the series to regain the No. 1 spot they last occupied in 2009. The second Test begins at Headingley on August 2, with Smith hoping to confirm a first series defeat at home for England since South Africa’s last visit four years ago.”We’ve got a batting unit that’s been around for a period of time now, been successful in conditions around the world,” he said. “We know we’re going to Headingley and the conditions are going to be different. The team is very motivated to prepare as well for that Test match and understand it will be different at Headingley and we’ll need to play a slightly different game.”We believe we’ve got the players who can adapt and mentally we’ve got a lot of experience of what we need to do to be successful there.”

Jonny Bairstow has credited his experience playing with England Lions as one of the contributory factors in his impressive innings of 95 at Lord’s

George Dobell at Lord's18-Aug-2012Jonny Bairstow has credited his experience playing with England Lions as one of the contributory factors in his impressive innings of 95 in the Lord’s Test against South Africa.Bairstow was dropped from the England Test side after the series against West Indies when Kemar Roach, in particular, appeared to highlight some deficiencies against the short ball. Recalled for this Test, due to the unavailability of Ravi Bopara and the dropping of Kevin Pietersen, Bairstow responded with an innings of courage and skill that rescued England from a precarious 54 for 4 and revived their hopes of securing the victory that would see them retain the No. 1 Test ranking.Bairstow scored 139 for England Lions against Australia A last week, dealing confidently with an impressive pace attack that included Mitchell Johnson. As a result, Bairstow came into the Test believing he had the technique and temperament to deal with the barrage of short balls that he knew would come his way.Lions games are not universally popular in English cricket, due to the scheduling of some games towards the end of the domestic season, causing counties that may be striving for promotion or to avoid relegation to be weakened. But Bairstow’s words support the England team management’s insistence that such matches play an important role in the development of international players.”I was confident in the way I was playing coming off the back of the Lions game,” Bairstow said. “Mitchell Johnson and Jackson Bird are world-class bowlers. It was really good to go out and test yourself against bowlers like that, and the two spinners as well were obviously a test on a turning Old Trafford pitch.”I did perhaps go through a bit of a dry spell after the series against West Indies. When you get exploited in some sort of way, you go away and look at things. You can’t just change via the click of a finger. It goes through practice, through stages. You’re going to fail sometimes.”But at the same time, there were no drastic changes that I made. You work on your strengths, and look at little things you can improve on. I went away and worked with Martyn Moxon and Graham Thorpe over the last couple of weeks and made some little improvements.”Jonny Bairstow fell five runs short of his maiden Test hundred•PA Photos

Bairstow admitted his runs in this Test had been the hardest he had ever scored and praised Ian Bell’s calming influence in a fifth-wicket partnership of 124 that stabilised the England innings after a poor start.”They’re a world class attack,” he said. “Playing out there in a Test against the No. 3 side in the world is never going to be easy. The likes of Steyn, Morkel, Philander, Kallis and Tahir are formidable bowlers. There isn’t a single bowler in that attack that isn’t world-class.”Obviously it was a tough period when I came in, so I was happy to ride that. Ian Bell played fantastically well as well during that period and that partnership. When you walk to the crease and you’re under the pump a little bit, it’s something I quite enjoy. But Belly’s experience and expertise was a very calming influence.”Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, was even moved to praise Bairstow’s innings as “the best 95″ he had seen and, despite falling just short of a maiden Test century, Bairstow insisted that the pleasure at his important contribution far outweighed the regret at narrowly missing out on the personal landmark.”I was pleased with the way that I played,” Bairstow said. “I was delighted to get 95. But yes, I am a little bit disappointed not to get to the 100. It’s only five runs, but it would have been nice.”

The Bangladesh Premier League will collapse if its franchises cannot survive, the league’s governing council chairman Gazi Ashraf Hossain has warned

Mohammad Isam16-Aug-2012The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will collapse if its franchises cannot survive, the league’s governing council chairman Gazi Ashraf Hossain has warned. He also admitted that mistakes were made during the inaugural season and that the league may have been born out of emotional impulses, but promised to correct the errors in the next season.The BPL remains in the headlines six months after it began – for all the wrong reasons. The most talked-about of its troubles has been the unpaid players’ wages, with the franchises missing three deadlines between May and July despite reminders in private by the BCB and publicly by national captain Mushfiqur Rahim during the tournament and by FICA afterwards. The cricket board has now stepped in as guarantor and begun paying players over the past few months, as well as handling tax issues that have been raised regularly by the National Board of Revenue.Ashraf accepts the criticism, terming it a “costly mistake” by the league to rely so heavily for sponsorship on companies that are first-time participants in an event of this scale. The main problems seem to have been a lack of knowledge in selecting players and in drawing up a budget.”There was no time for second thought but the finality of the situation dawned on us when they [the franchises] started to brand their jerseys, and it occurred to us that there could be a problem,” Ashraf told ESPNcricinfo. “It was the first time and people learn from their mistakes, but it was a costly mistake.”We are now considering issues which we should have thought of before the tournament. I won’t deny that we made mistakes, and I think emotions ruled over our actual ability to stage the tournament. In the second edition, we’ll try to create a win-win situation for players and teams. If teams aren’t sustained, the tournament will collapse and along with it will go the cricket standards and players’ futures.”Despite being the guarantor, the BCB doesn’t have a formal contract with the franchises, which partly explains the board’s delay in paying players after the tournament. The first season was based firmly on the verbal assurances, but Ashraf says that is changing.”The agreements are ready, and as far as I know, many of the franchises are ready to sign it. They are our functioning partners so, taking the BCB’s role as guarantor in paying players into account, we will come into an agreement with those who have completed all financial formalities,” he said.The larger problem is the additional burden of the Dhaka Premier League, a very popular domestic one-day tournament in which 50-odd foreigners turn up for the different Dhaka clubs each season. “I have doubts over the ability to pull such a large amount of money for two tournaments in the same season from one market, given that the DPL is also an attractive competition for players,” Ashraf said.Part of BPL’s problem was the haste with which the tournament was put together. The window in the international calendar in February was incentive enough to go with it, but that meant there were major hitches. Game On Sports, the event management company that bought the rights to run the show for $44.3 million, had little time, human resources and experience to deal with the logistics. They depended heavily on the governing council which, according to Ashraf, wasn’t very well prepared to handle such an event.”It took some time to [settle] ourselves. We took a month or two to form committees, so time was short afterwards,” he said. “But one of the main reasons that drove us [to go ahead with the tournament] was the window we got. We wanted to take advantage of it as a lot of international players were available. We also had the 2012 World Twenty20 in mind for our players.”This time round, though, a window – February 2013 – in the Bangladesh domestic calendar has already been allocated to the the BPL, giving the tournament’s governing council more time to take control.