All posts by n8rngtd.top

Shakib Al Hasan, currently ranked as the world’s best allrounder in Test and ODI cricket, is poised to make a return to the county game

George Dobell and Mohammad Isam04-May-2012Shakib Al Hasan, currently ranked as the world’s best allrounder in Test and ODI cricket, is poised to make a return to the county game.Shakib, 24, a former Bangladesh captain, has enjoyed previous stints in county cricket with Worcestershire, but will not be returning to New Road. Essex are one of the leading candidates for his signature. “He is one of the names we are considering,” Paul Grayson, the Essex head coach said, “but nothing is finalised.”Shakib had originally planned to take a break after the IPL, where he is playing for Kolkata Knight Riders, but writing in , the Bangladesh newspaper, he said his renewed appetite for the game had convinced him to return for another stint of county duty.”Before I came to IPL, I had thought that I won’t be playing country cricket,” Shakib wrote. “I have played a lot of cricket in the last year, so I needed a bit of rest. But that rest which I had craved seems to be going away from me once again. I have a call-up from county cricket. I hope it will be finalised in two to four days, but not for Worcestershire, if I play this year it will be for a new team.”The reason I had to retract from my initial decision of not playing county is to let myself play matches. After the Asia Cup, we got a long break so I feel rather than taking rest, it is better to play some cricket. Still I’m looking for a gap in the schedule so that I can take a 15-20 days uninterrupted break from the game. Even this sort of a break has become very important for me.”

Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, has confirmed Kapil Dev, India’s World Cup winning captain in 1983, is not eligible for the BCCI’s one-time benefit to former cricketers

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2012Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, has confirmed that Kapil Dev is not eligible for the BCCI’s one-time benefit to former cricketers because he had not accepted the amnesty offered by the board in April 2009 for players and officials involved in the now defunct ICL. Shukla said that while the BCCI was “not against” Kapil, this “technical issue” was behind his exclusion from the one-time benefit.Kapil, India’s World Cup winning captain in 1983, would have been entitled to a fee of Rs. 1.5 crores (US$280,000 approx).The BCCI, for its part, is yet to publish a full list of cricketers receiving the benefit, drawn out of the profits from the IPL playoffs.”As far as Kapil Dev is concerned, the BCCI is not against him,” Shukla told . “We have not got anything against Kapil but there is a technical issue. He has not accepted the amnesty proposal (by the BCCI). Technically, he is out of this benefit ambit.”Kapil, in an article in the , had said not all cricketers are answerable to the board, adding “you can’t deny that player his due, which he is being given for the services rendered during his playing days.” Shukla, however, said that if Kapil accepted the amnesty, he would be considered for the benefit. “It’s a hypothetical question. If he gives it, the BCCI working committee will definitely consider it.”Among the other cricketers not receiving the benefit are Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Gundappa Viswanath and Syed Kirmani, as they’d already been allotted benefit matches in the past. “Those who have been already alloted benefit matches, they cannot be part of this scheme. They cannot be given the same advantage again,” Shukla said.”The reason behind giving the one-time benefit to players was that not many players were able to hold their benefit matches. Firstly, it’s a cumbersome job to organise a match nowadays. No team is free to be available for the benefit matches.”It was a very important decision as far as the BCCI is concerned. Roughly Rs 90-100 crore is being distributed to players and their families. Players were happy because they never thought that something like that would happen to them.”The board, Shukla said, has been criticised unfairly. “No sports organisation in the world has done it before. We are also giving pensions to our players. We feel upset when we come to know that unnecessary controversy has been created despite doing so much for the former players. In place of appreciating this gesture, they have been criticising us.”People are not looking at the positive aspect and are only seeing the negative aspect. They are after the BCCI. Instead of helping the BCCI, you want to kill the organisation.”

AB de Villiers, South Africa’s vice-captain, does not want any changes made to the team’s starting XI for the second Test against England

Firdose Moonda at New Road28-Jul-2012AB de Villiers, South Africa’s vice-captain, does not want any changes made to the team’s starting XI for the second Test against England, which starts on Thursday. Despite strong performances from some of the reserves and the lack of batting time for Alviro Petersen and JP Duminy, de Villiers believes the team that won convincingly at The Oval should remain the same for Headingley.”We won the first Test so whether or not some of us are in good or bad form we played well as a team. We would hate to unsettle that whole vibe that we had,” De Villiers said after the drawn tour match against Worcestershire. “We felt in control the whole time, the guys played exceptionally well and we went one-nil up. It’s really hard to change a winning formula, especially at Test level, when you are really comfortable with the 11 guys to go out there in the field. I would like to see the same team coming out in the next Test.”Although South Africa have a tendency to lapse after big win, and last won two consecutive Tests in a series against Bangladesh four years ago, de Villiers also thinks they don’t have to do much altering to their gameplan. “We must just go out there and play as we did in the first Test match,” he said. “It was good enough there and I can’t see why it won’t be good enough again.”Despite pushing for consistency, de Villiers has warned against complacency and said South Africa are motivated by what they have achieved so far to avoid it. “We know England are going to come out harder. We must put emphasis on the big moments of the game,” he said. “We are expecting big pressure from them early on in the second Test and it’s a matter of just fighting through it. We’ve worked hard to get the one-nil lead and we don’t want to give it away.”After the two-day match at New Road, the spotlight will be on opening batsmen Petersen, who scored 10 and 11 in two innings, bringing his tally to 42 in England. He is the only one of the South Africa line-up who has yet to register a half-century on tour, with JP Duminy doing it at Taunton and Jacques Rudolph getting there at Canterbury.Petersen’s Test form had not taken the dip his current tour suggests, however. He last scored a century two matches ago, in Wellington, and de Villiers, as one of the leaders of team, is not concerned about his lack of runs so far. “He is a class player and so are the other guys who are not in form at the moment,” he said. “It’s a game of momentum: sometimes it’s with you, sometimes it’s not.”Most of the rest of the batsmen have not had enough opportunity to see whether the momentum de Villiers speaks about is on their side, including the man himself. Having taken over the wicketkeeping gloves after Mark Boucher’s retirement, de Villiers’ batting is an area being closely watched, because of his history of back spasms.He did not bat The Oval but scored 80 against Worcestershire and kept for a brief period of time, and he said he is trying to marry the two elements of his game. “I don’t believe the keeping is going to take anything out of my batting. I really like watching the ball and being part of the game the whole time,” he said. “I can see different lines and I can pick up the bounce of the wicket quite quickly.”De Villiers dropped a catch off Imran Tahir and gave away eight byes when the legspinnner was bowling, which could be one of the “areas of concern” he said he had spent the last few days working on. He was careful not to isolate Tahir as the person he finds it most challenging to keep to and instead said he is getting better at being behind the stumps to the spinner.”I like to think I pick him. I can definitely see his googly,” he said. “At The Oval, there were big rough patches, especially to the left-handers and I found that difficult. I might be a little bit hard on myself though, because I think any keeper would have struggled there. I face him all the time in the nets and I just watch the ball as it comes out of his hand.”Although South Africa’s future wicketkeeping plans have not been spoken about De Villiers said he “wants to become a better keeper and give us the option of maybe using me long term”. Back-up gloveman Thami Tsolekile, who was nationally contracted in March, is also an option. He played at Worcestershire, where he kept wicket for most of the innings and took two catches.

The Nagenahira Nagas advance to the SLPL final on round-robin results, after intermittent heavy rain forced abandonment of the second semi-final

The Report by Andrew Fernando29-Aug-2012The Nagenahira Nagas advance to the SLPL final on round-robin results, after intermittent heavy rain forced abandonment of the second semi-final without a ball being bowled. The Kandurata Warriors, who sit one point behind the Nagas, will bemoan their luck, as the only other washout was their clash with Uva Next on Saturday, which if they had won, would have seen them through to the final on net run-rate.The pitch was being made ready for play after showers earlier in the day, but the covers were forced back on by a heavy downpour, and regular showers after that ensured they stayed on for the duration of the evening.The Nagas will play Uva Next in the final at the R Premadasa Stadium on Friday. Scattered thunderstorms are forecast for Colombo that evening.

MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said he hopes the pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad will support spinners and generate some bounce and turn

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-2012MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said he hopes the pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad will support spinners and generate some bounce and turn. However, he didn’t say whether India would play two specialist spinners, though R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha are in the squad.”When you come to the sub-continent, it’s not like I am talking about [only] India, it could be Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh also, you need to have wickets that turn and that assist spinners. That’s why they are special,” Dhoni said. “Overall But it feels the spinners will get some bounce and turn as the game progresses.”This will be India’s first Test series after the 0-4 debacle in Australia – and the first without Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, which means there will be competition for spots in the middle order. “It’s an opportunity for youngsters to take up the responsibility in the longest format and we are hoping the youngsters will grab these opportunities and do well,” Dhoni said.The Test series marks the start of a long home season for India, only briefly interrupted by the World T20 in Sri Lanka. Dhoni said he wasn’t looking too far ahead. “We have not played a Test match in the last six to seven months, so it will be important to turn up on the field and look to do small things right.”It’s important to get into the groove, give a bit more respect to the bowlers. This is one format where you can afford to that and we have to do that. Starting well means winning small sessions and if you win a majority of them, you win Test matches.”Both Dravid and Laxman were relied on heavily in the slip cordon but Dhoni believed the area was secure even in their absence, thanks to some good catchers in the current squad. “We have Virat [Kohli], [Suresh] Raina and we already have [Virender] Sehwag there, he will most likely stand in at first slip. I don’t think we will be short of fielders who field at slips.”Spinners can be a bit of an issue because it will be challenging especially when there is bounce. We may miss Rahul over there, but let’s just look ahead and give youngsters a chance and one of them may take some catches”

Three wickets for Arran Brindle and Holly Colvin helped England Women take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the T20 series with West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2012
ScorecardArran Brindle claimed the key wicket of Stefanie Taylor•Getty Images

Three wickets for Arran Brindle and Holly Colvin helped England Women take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the T20 series with West Indies. A concerted effort was needed in the field to add victory at Northampton to their two previous successes.England made 103 for 7 in their 20 overs as the top four all made starts before failing to make a major contribution. Sarah Taylor top-scored with two boundaries in her 27 from 31 balls as Shanel Daley, Anisa Mohammed and Shermaine Campbelle took two wickets each.In the field, Brindle struck in both her first two overs, including the wicket of Stefanie Taylor, making her first appearance on the tour after her exams. She was bowled for just 4 and only Merissa Aguilleira with 18 and Deandra Dottin with 24 made double figures. West Indies’ chase fell away in the latter overs and they were bowled out with four balls to spare.”We hoped to get the best out of the track batting first so we were pleased to win the toss,” Brindle said. “We looked to hit the big corners and run twos to get the runs on the board and it paid off. We knew we were always in the game, we just had to bowl well and we did that.”

Peshawar suffered their third consecutive defeat in the One-day tournament (Associations), losing by 8-wickets to Karachi Whites after posting the lowest total so far in the tournament

Mahmood Ahmad24-Oct-2012Peshawar suffered their third consecutive defeat in the One-day tournament (Associations), losing by 8-wickets to Karachi Whites after posting the lowest total so far in the tournament.Batting first after winning the toss, Peshawar were skittered out inside 40 overs, as 9 of their batsmen failed to achieve double figures. This is the worst batting performance by any team in a tournament, which hitherto had seen some very daring deeds with the bat.Ironically, their were only two ducks in this sorry looking batting line up, the first being Mian Adnan run out by Adnan Malik and the second Mohammad Asif, the last man, lbw by the same player.Adnan Malik bowled superbly for the home side, giving away just 18 runs in 7.5 overs and grabbing three wickets. However, the main damage was inflicted by Imran Javed. The pace man bowled tidily for his ten overs, taking 4 for 22.For Peshawar, skipper Sajjad Ahmed top scored with 42 off 94 balls and opener Javed Iqbal made 11 of 24. Apart from these two, no other batsman could take his personal score past double figures.Karachi opened their innings with skipper Shadab Kabir and the former Pakistan captain Moin Khan. These two added 64 in about 7 overs, before getting out on the same score. Moin Khan batted aggressively for his 47 (29 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes), whereas Shadab got 14 off 13.Zafar Jadoon and Saeed Bin Nasir took just around 6 more overs to knock of the required 101 runs. Zafar remained not out on 21 (24 balls, 4 fours) and Saeed made an unbeaten 16 (10 balls, 3 fours).After this loss and with only two more Pool matches to be played, Peshawar’s chances of reaching the semi-finals have almost faded out. Karachi Whites, on the other hand, are well on their way to the knock out stage, after winning two out of their three encounters.

A round-up of the sixth round of the President’s Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2012Star-studded Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited thrashed United Bank Limited by an innings and 216 runs in Rawalpindi. Mohammad Hafeez hit 193, just three shy of his career best, Misbah-ul-Haq made 109 and Ali Waqas 95 as SNGPL racked up 455 for 5 declared. Misbah has now made successive hundreds, after his 110 in his side’s previous game. Hafeez’s best in this tournament so far was 95 against Khan Research Laboratories in October. Before hitting 32 fours in his 193 off 301 deliveries, Hafeez had also picked up 4 for 13 as United Bank crumbled to 165 after being inserted by Misbah. Only opener Abid ali (82) resisted for United Bank, who plummeted further in the second innings. Asad Ali grabbed a career-best 7 for 42 to blow them away for just 74, with five batsmen registering ducks, and eight failing to get into double digits.Wahab Riaz took a first-class best 7 for 29 as National Bank of Pakistan thumped State Bank of Pakistan by an innings and 31 runs inside three days in Lahore. Coming on as first change and after Imran Khan had made the first breakthrough, Riaz scythed through the State Bank line-up to dismiss them for 136 in reply to National Bank’s 304. Fawad Alam enforced the follow-on and this time, the wickets were shared among four bowlers. While Riaz and Hammad Azam picked up three each, Imran and Uzair-ul-Haq took two apiece as State Bank managed 137. Byes contributed 18 and 23 to State Bank’s totals in both innings. National Bank’s 304 had earlier been set up by fifties from Sami Aslam (89) and Qaiser Abbas (66).A combined second-innings bowling performance by Pakistan International Airlines helped them defeat Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited by six wickets in Islamabad. After conceding a 60-run first-innings lead, and after No. 4 Haris Sohail had scored his third century in three matches, PIA fast bowlers Aizaz Cheema and Anwar Ali claimed seven wickets between them to bowl ZTBL out for 131 in the second innings. While chasing 192 to win, however, PIA were in trouble at 77 for 4, but the middle order thereafter played responsibly to reach the target for the loss of six wickets.PIA had a poor first innings when Mohammad Khalil – who ended the game with nine victims – and Sohail Tanvir took eight wickets together to help dismiss them for 152. The ZTBL lead, however, had been brought about by Sohail’s century. Sohail, who scored 120, was the only batsman who provided some resistance to the PIA bowling, as the next best score was 33, with seven single-digit scores.Azam Hussain, Kamran Younis and Tanvir Ahmed bowled Port Qasim Authority to an improbable 17-run win against Water and Power Development Authority in Faisalabad. Set only 118 to win, WAPDA were never in the chase as the PQA trio struck regularly. Only four batsmen managed to make double-digit scores as WAPDA were dismissed for 100. PQA themselves had an average outing in the second innings, with No. 7 Mohammad Salman’s 36 being the highest score. Zulfiqar Babar picked up 5 for 40 as PQA made 173. Both sides fared better in the first innings, with WAPDA eventually taking a lead of 56 after posting 271 on the back of fifties from Sohaib Maqsood and Ali Azmat. PQA, who chose to bat, had been restricted to 215 after Junaid Khan’s 5 for 68.Fast bowler Abdul Ameer, 20, took his best figures of 7 for 66 as Habib Bank came from behind to beat Khan Research Laboratories by 65 runs in Rawalpindi. Habib Bank had conceded a first-innings lead of 92 but Imran Farhat cracked an aggressive century to set up a second-innings total of 399. Farhat was helped by contributions from Ahmed Shehzad (75), captain Younis Khan (58) and Asad Shafiq (80*). Faced with a target of 308, KRL lost wickets regularly, save for a second-wicket stand of 119 between Shoaib Ahmed (60) and Bazid Khan (54) and a ninth-wicket partnership of 91 between Nauman Ali (51) and Mohammad Irfan. Ameer dismissed all but three of the Habib Bank batsmen, who fell to Ehsan Adil. There had been no fifties on both sides in the first innings but KRL had a handy lead after making 253, despite Adil’s 6 for 58.

Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI and Sri Lankans played out a draw at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Just 31 overs were bowled today and the visitors finished on 396 for 6

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2012
Scorecard
Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI and Sri Lankans played out a draw at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Just 31 overs were bowled today and the visitors finished on 396 for 6. They added 120 runs on the day, with Prasanna Jayawardene and Dinesh Chandimal scoring half-centuries. The pair added 110 for the fifth wicket in 27 overs. Both fell before the close. Sri Lanka’s batsmen, though, had begun their tour on a positive note, with three half-centuries and a century in response to CA Chairman’s XI’s 439. The game ended by mutual agreement between the captains.

An unheralded bowling attack on a wicket that is made for accuracy and length had Delhi all out for 193 late into the second day in a match they need to win. At stumps, Maharashtra were 3 for no loss

Sharda Ugra in Delhi16-Dec-2012
ScorecardDelhi needed two wins to give themselves a chance at squeezing into the Ranji knockouts. But at the Roshanara Club, they were far from a dominant position to force the win against Maharashtra. An unheralded bowling attack on a wicket that is made for accuracy and length had Delhi all out for 193 late into the second day. At stumps, Maharashtra were 3 for no loss.In theory, Delhi can still win the match, as two innings have been completed and two days of play remain. Maharashtra’s first innings lasted just over 55 overs, and Delhi’s more lauded batting survived all of 77. It was proof enough of Maharashtra’s control that the run-scoring was neither fluent nor easy.This is a match played in fast forward, and so far, it appears Maharashtra’s first innings may not mean much. They have the advantage, though, on two grounds.First, they know that should bad weather wipe out chunks of the remaining two days, they have done enough to be the team ahead. Overnight rain and a morning shower delayed play by two hours this morning, and at stumps only 54 overs could be bowled in the day.Secondly, at all costs, Delhi will have to win this match with the bat, chasing any half-reasonable target on a wicket that is made for bowlers with discipline and accuracy.One of them would be left-arm pace bowler Samad Fallah, who picked up 5-67 in the 29 overs he bowled in three long spells of eleven, ten and eight overs running through the Delhi innings. It is his tenth five-wicket haul in his 40th first-class match, and not the first time he has bowled at the Roshanara. He picked up five wickets in his first match here two years ago and so knew how to bowl on this wicket.When play resumed, Manhas and Rawal played for most part of an hour, before Manhas tried to force the issue, playing across the line to the parsimonious Fallah. He was the first wicket to fall in the day, but it was the departure of the other Delhi stalwart Rajat Bhatia that signalled the end of Delhi’s frontline batsmen. Fallah came around the wicket to Bhatia and nibbled at his glove as he went forward defending, and wicketkeeper Motwani took the catch. He said his team thought of him as the bowler of the big wickets, and remembered getting Suresh Raina out for a duck against UP. “I relish the challenge of bowling to the best batsmen in a team. The others that are not that good, they play and miss.”The latter half of the Delhi innings was wrapped up by Nikit Dhumal, a debutant for Maharashtra in this game. It was a performance that Fallah appreciated. “Nikit made his debut in the under-25s for Maharashtra this season. And when we saw him here, it wasn’t like he was making his debut at this level. He brought us back into this game.”Dhumal picked up the wickets of Delhi top scorer, Vaibhav Rawal, blocking off the midwicket, which produced a stylishly lofted flick that landed in the hands of Anupam Sankelcha at deep-backward square leg. He then removed Sumit Narwal and Pradeep Sangwan, bowlers who were capable of exuberant innings that could have shrunk the score. It would be possible to defend any sizeable target that Maharashtra can set Delhi. The reason said Fallah, with a smile, was “because they’re desperate.”