All posts by csb10.top

Graeme Smith, the Rajasthan Royals’ opener, is likely to miss their next match against the Mumbai Indians on Monday after pulling a hamstring during the Chennai game, said captain Shane Warne.”We have good depth and we can make it up for Smith’s loss and send [Kamran] Akmal up the order,” Warne said. “We will continue with our experimentation and try out a few new things.”Smith scored 91 and added 127 with Swapnil Asnodkar as Rajasthan totalled 214 and beat the Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs. Warne was happy that despite resting four key players, Rajasthan had managed to win. “Youngsters showed good coordination. Smith, Asnodkar set the tone for our innings and Akmal, who was like dynamite, made good use of a perfect batting condition. Sohail Tanvir was exceptionally good as he bowled well through out and took two vital wickets in the end overs.”But till a third of Chennai’s innings, it had looked like they would chase Rajasthan’s formidable total. “At one stage we thought Chennai will win with an over to spare. Parthiv Patel’s wicket turned the tide in our favour.” Warne said, adding that Rajasthan’s strategy against Mahendra Singh Dhoni was to keep a fielder at backward point and bowl short and wide. “Just before he got out, we brought the mid-off up and he lofted a slower delivery to be out.”Rajasthan have qualified for the semi-finals along with Kings XI Punjab but Chennai will now have to beat the Deccan Chargers on Tuesday to make it to the final four. Dhoni said they had to keep the Delhi-Mumbai result in mind as well. “The match would have gone our way but we missed it in the last one over when we had our chance,” Dhoni said of today’s defeat.”We batted and fielded well but our bowling was not up to the mark excepting in the last four or five overs. Generally, I am happy with my bowling attack. At least we have a settled attack now and they have to improve a lot. I am seeing signs of their improvement.”

Somerset fast bowler Steffan Jones who missed part of the 2002 season through injury has just resumed his training in preparation for next season.Earlier this week the twenty eight year old paceman, who got married earlier in the autumn told me: "I’ve had a good break and now I have just started training ready for the new season. I am a bit later this year and have timed my programme to get me to my peak at the right time for the start of the 2003 season."He continued: "For the next few weeks I shall be working on my fitness levels, but after Christmas I’ll start to focus on my skills. I shall be working on my bowling with Kevin Shine and we are hoping to improve my momentum at the crease, and I will also be looking to develop my batting."After setting himself the target of taking more wickets and making his mark on the England one day scene, the 2002 season turned out to be rather disappointing for the Welshman.He injured himself during the first match of the season at Millfield School from which he never fully recovered, although he did play for Wales against England at Cardiff.Steffan Jones is already looking forward to next season, but is under no illusion that 2003 is going to be tough for him.During a break from his weight training he told me: "I need to work hard this winter. With Nixon Mc Lean having already joined us, and more new signings likely there is going to be a lot of competition to get into the side and I want to make sure that I am in the start line up for next season."

An extraordinary final day saw West Indies A tie with Somerset at Taunton. Set 454 to win, Graham Rose was snapped up by Chris Gayle from the penultimate ball of an amazing match.Audacious cricket all day gave Somerset their victory chance. Peter Trego’s maiden first-class century was a wonderful affair. He was supported by Piran Holloway’s 88 and debutant Wesley Durston’s terrific 55. Rose then slashed 32 from 28 balls, only to fall at the last hurdle.Needing eight from the last over, Rose appeared to have sealed the match. Hehad added 22 with the gutsy Matthew Bulbeck before Sulieman Benn grabbed thefinal catch.Trego had hit 140 to set up an incredible chase. Promoted in the order, hebatted with freedom from the start, hitting 19 fours and two sixes in a brilliant knock. Adding 123 for the third wicket with Holloway, the youngster played the junior role before expanding even further later in his innings.Still, Trego went and victory for the tourists’ should have been assured.Durston had other ideas, reaching 50 from 40 balls in blistering style. He added 67 for the ninth wicket from Rose before he was clean bowled by Reon King. It was an innings which belied his 21 years and points to a bright future.The fact that Somerset had been allowed within arm’s length of such a hugetotal says much for their batting, but suggests that the West Indian fielding and bowling was not top class. King was the pick of the bowlers with three for 90, with Gayle and Darren Powell collecting two scalps each.After Matthew Wood and Neil Edwards had fallen early to excellent catches inthe gully and behind the stumps respectively, the West Indians looked likeprogressing to a regulation win. Holloway was dropped twice however, but didnot let his luck faze him.After a cracking knock with 13 fours and a six, Holloway played onto Powell.Keith Parsons edged to first slip just before tea and with Arul Suppiah andKeith Dutch going in quick succession, the game looked lost.After Carl Gazzard and Trego had made their way back to the pavilion, spectators could have been forgiven for heading to the exit. Unflustered batting from Durston and Rose, showed the confidence of both youth and experience and bought about a memorable finish.

Gloucestershire are delighted that James Pearson has been picked to play for theEngland Under-19 squad in this winter’s tour of Australia and wishes himevery success.Stephen Pope having been very successful in the England Under-19 squad isnow regretably no longer eligible.

BRISBANE, Dec 12 AAP – Controversial Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan insists he holds no grudges with Australian cricket officials and he doesn’t expect to be called for throwing again in the country.Muralitharan has returned to the scene of his darkest cricketing moments, convinced there should no longer be a question mark over his bowling action.The 30-year-old hasn’t played in Australia since he was called for throwing in 1995-96 and 1998-99, recovering from the setback to rush into third place on the list of Test cricket’s most successful bowlers.Muralitharan, who recently underwent hernia surgery, hopes to return against Australia at the SCG on January 9 and he doesn’t expect any trouble from local umpires.”It doesn’t matter as long as everything is done right for me,” Muralitharan said in Brisbane today.”They can’t question me anymore, in my mind, because it’s gone.”It’s all past. I never thought about not coming to Australia. I always wanted to play here.”Sri Lankan officials said they had no problem with Australian umpires, even Darrell Hair, who first called Muralitharan for throwing during the Boxing Day Test in 1995.”What has happened has happened and we want to focus on the games in hand and not think about what has happened in the past,” tour manager Ajit Jayasekera said.Coach Dav Whatmore predicted Muralitharan was becoming a more potent bowler and warned he was developing a new delivery which could make him even more successful.But Muralitharan played down talk of the new ball – roughly an off-spinner’s version of the flipper – because of his recent injury problems.”I’m working on that but I haven’t played for a long time so I don’t know what will happen. You’ve got to keep on trying and maybe for the future,” he said.”I’m trying hard to bowl new balls and it might work or it might not work. It’s too early (to use in February’s World Cup) – you have to perfect it or else you go for runs.”Australian spinner Shane Warne believes Muralitharan is capable of setting records which could take decades to break, even tipping the Sri Lankan was capable of taking 1000 Test wickets.But Muralitharan, whose 437 wickets places him behind only Warne (491) and Courtney Walsh (519), has not set his personal goals above 600 victims.”It’s possible as long as you’re fit and I would like to play for another five years,” he said.”If I can play another 40 Tests and average five a match – that’s 200 wickets. I would like to play until the next World Cup.”But Whatmore said Muralitharan’s future depended on his ability to stay free of the injuries which have dogged him this year.”He’s got no regard for his body sometimes the way he throws it around the field,” Whatmore said.”He will need to be a little bit careful from the fitness side of things but his skill level is getting better and better.”Years ago you wouldn’t say that anyone would fear an off-spinner. A lot of teams do now.”

A degree of uncertainty surrounds a newspaper report that former South African captain Kepler Wessels has been appointed coach of Eastern Province.According to Monday’s Eastern Province Herald, news of Wessels’ appointment was leaked to the newspaper before an official announcement could be made by the EP Cricket Board. But in view of a court order granted to the United Cricket Board last Friday placing the EPCB under judicial management, it is not clear whether the EP board has the authority to make such an appointment.UCB chief executive Gerald Majola said on Monday that he was "surprised" by the announcement.In terms of the court order, a judicial manager has still to be appointed to look after the affairs of the crisis-torn province which has experience the resignation of several board members, including the president Ronnie Pillay, and the suspension of another in recent months.As things stand, the former board is no longer empowered to make new appointments and if the decision was taken before the UCB’s court application was granted, Majola is likely to request a copy of the minutes of the board at which Wessels was chosen for the job.Any objection to Wessels coaching EP is almost certain to be administrative. EP lost their previous coach, Adrian Birrell, towards the end of last season after Birrell was understood to have become exhausted by the in-fighting that has plagued that province and opted to take up a position in Ireland, and on the face of it, Wessels’ experience appears to give him excellent credentials as a replacement.He played both Test and one-day cricket for Australia and South Africa and although he has not held a formal coaching position before, he was at one stage thought to be a contender for the South African coaching post, a job that eventually went to Eric Simons.However, the UCB is likely to look closely at the process that led to Wessels’ appointment, if only to clearly establish its authority over Eastern Province until such stage that the union is felt to be capable of running its own affairs.The Herald also named an EP squad which, it reported, was leaked to it at the same time as Wessels’ appointment. The squad contains two new faces in Wade Wingfield from KwaZulu-Natal and Border’s Dumisa Makalima. Veteran Dave Callaghan has apparently not been offered a new contract and is set to join Boland.The full squad is: Umar Abrahams, Carl Bradfield, James Bryant, Johan Botha, Lazole Dipa, Bruce Federicks, Mornantau Hayward, Zwelibanzi Homani, Justin Kemp, Brent Kopps, Garnet Kruger, Dumisa Makalima, Lyall Meyer, Mfuneko Ngam, Robin Petersen, Michael Price, Mpumelelo Silwana and Wade Wingfield.

There is nothing as liberating in this beautiful game of ours as slaying the beast that is the four-pronged pace attack.This current England side have done better than that. They have tamed an even rarer beast, the five-pronged pace attack.But what of Saqlain Mushtaq? Where is the best off spin bowler in the world? This decision not to play him will harm Pakistan.It’s great to have fast, faster, faster even, fastest, and surely is fastest playing, in your team, but variation is a key element and this pace quintet lost momentum because it became the norm.Preparation for Pakistan perhaps personified performance publicly. Only two warm-up games before the first Test raises the issue of better preparation. Whose decision was this?Often at this venue, Lord’s, England have been a victim of their own institution. Opposition teams rise above themselves to give England a miserable record at the home of cricket.But this game’s outstanding play has been produced by England. Continuing their great winter form has seen a continued buzz that resonates through all involved with cricket in Blighty.Success in Test cricket is historically laid down by two departments – opening bowlers and opening batsmen.England now have both.In these departments they have a well-rounded Yorkshireman, an ex-Kiwi (damn!), a dry Lancastrian and a champion sausage eater.With this series only being two Tests (again you’ve got to ask who’s decision was that?) England still have to wrap up the series but they will know Pakistan will bounce back as they get more familiar with English conditions.Talking of adaption, my own captain Stephen Fleming has zoned in his signals on the elite of county cricket.After an indifferent start his blade is beginning to plunder attacks and two tons in succession have seen Flem stamp his mark on the county scene.As conditions dry out I am predicting a big season for the Kiwi skipper and I know all New Zealanders will wish him the best.With the Ashes just around the corner, the epitomy of cricketing heritage, it sees England poised with their best chance since Maggie Thatcher’s days.Up against an Aussie side that contains a few elder statesmen on the brink of retirement, this resurgent Lion of England brigade will be involved in what will no doubt be an exciting, enthralling encounter.Above these two teams though the paying public will be surrounded by the immortal message that I know will ring true – cricket will be the winner.

The 2002 Busta International Shield finals will now be contested from4 – 7 April, 2002 instead of the previously announced 22 – 25 March,2002. Yesterday the WICB confirmed that the finals of the region’spremier First Class 4-day competition has been postponed by two weeks.Although no official reason was given for the postponement of thefinals, CricInfo has been reliably informed that the finals – whichwill be televised by TWI Television – has been moved to accommodateease of travel for the television crew.This weekend will see the staging of the two semi finals. Guyana willplay host to the Leeward Islands at Albion in Berbice, while Busta Cupwinners Jamaica, will play host to Trinidad & Tobago at Sabina Park.Dethroned Busta Cup Champions Barbados, although finishing the leagueround of matches on similar points as Trinidad & Tobago, and even moreoutright wins, have been excluded from the semi final round. TheRules of the Competition clearly states “If there is an equality ofpoints (for any position), each team’s position will be decided by, inorder of priority: 1. Result of their head-to-head meeting.”In 2001, Guyana took the WICB to court over their interpretation ofthe Rules of the Competition after Guyana, and Barbados ended theleague round of matches on the same amount of points – 57.Meanwhile, the West Indies selectors are meeting in Barbados today toselect a training squad. The WICB will now utilize the two week breakbetween the Busta International Shield semi finals and the final tohold a one-week training camp in Trinidad.The training camp will be conducted from March 21 to 28 as West Indiesprepare to host India in a five Tests and five limited-oversinternationals series between April and June.Although the itinerary for the West Indies versus New Zealand has notbeen confirmed, Hall revealed that the series will include two Testsand five One Day Internationals.

Eastern Province and Easterns tied this match at St George’s Park to leave the home side still unsure of their semi-final fate.The two points Easterns earned are likely to have meant nothing, as they needed to win both their last two games to stand a chance of reaching the final four. What awaits EP is less clear, and as the men in red have played all 10 their league matches they will be avid watchers of developments in the competition’s last league round on Wednesday.As for the match in question, six runouts in all cast a pall of chaos as Easterns replied to EP’s total of 224 for eight with 224 for nine.EP blew their chances of posting an imposing total with the senseless runouts of James Bryant, Murray Creed and Dave Callaghan – moments of madness that threatened to undo the good work of Wayne Murray and Callaghan, who both reached half-centuries.The home side comfortably overcame the loss of captain Carl Bradfield in the second over, largely due to an aggressive performance by Murray. The burly pinch-hitter slammed 57 off 51 balls with seven fours and two sixes, and shared in a second-wicket stand of 78 with Bryant.Murray departed two overs after Bryant when he was well-held by a diving Pierre de Bruyn at backward point in the 18th over to give 17-year-old debutant fast bowler Brendan Reddy his maiden wicket. Despite Murray’s dismissal, EP’s momentum was seamlessly maintained by way of a partnership of 90 for the fourth wicket between Callaghan and Mark Benfield, who scored 41.It took the total to 178 before Benfield was dismissed in the 35th over when he advanced up the pitch to a turning delivery from part-time off-spinner Aldo van den Berg and was smartly stumped down the legside by Dylan Jennings.Creed, Callaghan, who grafted well for his 51, and Shafiek Abrahams, yorked by Reddy, followed in the space of the next six overs, and suddenly all was not rosy in EP’s garden.In fact, but for the impressive composure of number seven Robin Peterson, who marshalled the lower order superbly to score an unbeaten 27 off 26 balls, EP would have had to make do with a substantially smaller total.Easterns’ reply was solidly launched by Mike Rindel and Andre Seymore, who put on 60 for the first wicket before Seymore was caught behind off Creed for 31 in the 13th over. In his next over, Creed dismissed Deon Jordaan for two, which was followed seven balls later by the key wicket of Rindel, who was bowled by Abrahams for 27 with a straight delivery that failed to get up.The heart of Easterns’ batting had thus been ripped out for 10 runs in the space of 16 deliveries to reduce them to 70 for three in the 16th over. It was a triple whammy from which the visitors never should have recovered, but they did on the back of an industrious partnership of 85 between Derek Crookes and Van den Berg.The stand was ended in the 37th over with Callaghan’s superb throw from long-off which ran out Van den Berg for 33. Two overs later man-of-the-match Crookes, who scored 42 before hitting thefirst of his three fours on his way to 56, fell to a spectacular catch as Benfield sprinted in from deep backward square leg to take the ball just above the turf.The bowler was Robin Peterson, and the left-arm spinner seemed to nail Easterns’ coffin shut by dismissing Dylan Jennings and Gareth Flusk in his next two overs to make it 200 for seven in the 43rd.However, De Bruyn, who scored 23, kept the visitors in the game with plucky batting. But just when the tale seemed to be twsiting again, the runout demon returned with a vengeance.First Reddy fell to wicketkeeper Murray followed by, on the last ball with the match and a semi-final berth still in the balance, Andre Nel was run out by Bradfield running around from mid-on to mid-wicket as the batsmen attempted a desperate second run.

“Every game is a must-win for South Africa. Obviously if we lose here and go2-0 down we put added pressure on ourselves, but we’re not thinking aboutthat right now.”South African captain Shaun Pollock may have been stating the obvious,but despite a relaxed net session on Tuesday morning, there is a steelydetermination to level the series when South Africa meet the West Indies inthe second of seven one-day internationals at the Antigua Recreation Ground.The South African selectors have one injury headache before Wednesday’sgame after Neil McKenzie’s hamstring trouble forced him off the field duringthe last-ball defeat at Sabina Park. He is expected to require a few moredays to recover fully, and even though he batted in the nets his place inAntigua at least looks likely to go to the patient Boeta Dippenaar.Dippenaar has spent much of the tour as a spectator, playing only in thewarm-up games and doubling as a stand-in wicket-keeper for Mark Boucher. Hehas done little wrong since a good season at home, where he scored hismaiden Test hundred, but was the unlucky man when Herschelle Gibbs returnedfrom his ban at the beginning of the year.”I haven’t heard anything yet,” Dippenaar said when asked about hispossible inclusion for the Antigua game, “but I’m preparing myself. I justwant to be ready when the chance comes. I’m looking forward to it.”It’s been very frustrating not playing as much as I would like. Whenthere are games to be played you’ve got something which drives you andmotivates you. At times it’s a bit difficult to keep going when it doesn’tlook as though you’re going to get a game.”But you never know, tomorrow might be a chance.”I’m feeling good, and have been hitting the ball well in the nets. Butit’s like with bowlers sometimes – you need to spend a bit of time out inthe middle to get some real confidence going. One game can change it all.”Dippenaar’s wicket-keeping role is not something for which he consideredhimself an obvious candidate.”It’s been different – and very hard work! I’ve discovered muscles inmy body that I never knew I had. Previously I’d only done about half a gamewhen I was 15, so it’s been a new experience for me.”South Africa (probable): Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis,Jonty Rhodes, Boeta Dippenaar, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock,Justin Ontong, Roger Telemachus, Allan Donald.