All posts by csb10.top

Ajay Jadeja, who pulled out of the American Pro League after the Board of Control for Cricket in India told players to distance themselves from the event, has returned to India.Jadeja cited the confusion over whether the ICC and the BCCI had sanctioned the American cricket league as his reason for returning home so soon. "Some reports said the ICC does not recognise the event," he explained. "Nobody was sure what to do so we came back."Jadeja, 33, also hinted that he has some lingering hopes for an international comeback, though he was realistic about his chances. "A comeback is always hard," he said. "It’s easy to get in when you are fresh. But a new season is around the corner and I will train myself for it. I have enjoyed cricket since childhood, I still enjoy the game and would continue to play. Who knows, I might get a chance.”Jadeja played 196 one-dayers and 15 Tests for India before his international career came to an end in December 2000, when he was handed a five-year ban following damaging findings in India’s Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into match-fixing. Jadeja contested the ban, and after three years of exclusion played for his club, Delhi, in the last Indian domestic season.

Mohammad Sami has suffered a groin strain that is likely to keep him out of Pakistan’s second Test against Sri Lanka, beginning on October 28. The injury prevented him from taking the field on the fourth day of play in the ongoing first Test.”Sami has badly strained his inner groin muscle and he needs at least seven to eight days to fully recover,” said Haroon Rashid, Pakistan’s team manager. “Any decision on calling up a replacement for Sami would be taken after the first Test finishes.”

ScorecardPakistan chose efficiency over style on Saturday as they booked their place in the semi-finals with a straightforward win over Zimbabwe.Pakistan’s bowlers, so impressive in Friday’s defeat of New Zealand, impressed again to dismiss Zimbabwe for just 181, before knocking off the total in 48 overs. Anwer Ali Khan, whose 5 for 34 wrecked New Zealand, took 3 for 25 while his opening partner Jamshaid Ahmed captured 2 for 42 and Riaz Khail picked up 4 for 29.Zimbabwe’s innings fell into several distinct phases. First there was an early struggle as they limped to 31 for 3 in the face of an onslaught from Anwer Ali Khan and Jamshaid Ahmed. Then Donald ‘Kuda’ Samunderu (46) and Keegan Meth (33) pulled things around with a fourth wicket stand of 65 before another cluster of wickets fell and Zimbabwe slipped to 136 for 8.That collapse forced Sean Williams’ side to draft in their Supersub, Friday Kasteni, in place of opening bowler Ian Nicolson. Kasteni’s contribution in getting his side to a reasonably useful score was vital. Batting at number nine, he made 22 crucial runs and, together with Ronald Benade (18) the pair added 39, the second highest stand of the innings. Samunderu, Meth and Kasteni were the only players to reach 20 for Zimbabwe but 23 extras, including 14 wides, boosted their total which, inevitably, was no match for Pakistan.Ibrahim Mohammed (39) and Rameez Raja (39) both made solid top-order contributions to set Pakistan on their way before Riaz Kail (26 not out) and captain Safaraz Ahmed (22 not out) finished the match off with an unbroken partnership of 36.”I did not think there was much between the teams but I was definitely impressed by Pakistan’s fast bowling,” Zimbabwe’s captain, Sean Williams, said. “We kept them out there chasing the target for 48 overs but we just did not get enough runs and our top order has failed in every game.”Although Pakistan took their time in their run-chase, they were wary of a replicating the collapse they suffered against Bangladesh earlier in the tournament.”We did not want to make the same mistake we did against Bangladesh (when Pakistan collapsed) so we were happy to take as long as we had to in order to score the runs,” said Pakistan coach Mansoor Rana.Mansoor, whose team now face a rampant Australia in the semi-finals, was relaxed about his team’s fortunes. “As long as we are fully prepared then it does not matter who we play because they are all good teams and it is simply what happens on the day,” he said. “One good innings or one good spell of bowling can win a match.”

England players face missing an entire summer if they choose to play for the Indian Cricket League, after the England Cricket Board tightened up regulation to prevent county players from signing up the unauthorised Indian Cricket League.The board said that while any action would not be retrospective, any players who turn out in the ICL would be refused registration for a year. “A cricketer who has played in an unauthorised event in the 12 months leading up to 1 April in any given year will not qualify for registration,” a spokesman said. Although the ECB did not mention the ICL by name, referring to “events which are not authorised by the ICC and its members” the implication is clear.”Counties and the Professional Cricketers’ Association have sought clarity concerning this complex situation,” said the ECB chief executive, David Collier. “The [legal] advice received has informed the steps that the board has taken and the board stands ready to discuss the detail and impact of these steps with counties and individual players potentially affected.”The position with overseas players remains as before. The ECB maintains that such cricketers need a No Objection Certificate from the board of the country they are qualified to play Test cricket for, as per ICC instructions. “Without an NOC a cricketer is not entitled to registration,” the spokesman said. “The ECB will not exercise its discretion in favour of a cricketer who has contracted with an unauthorised event, save in the most exceptional circumstances.”That means that players such as Mushtaq Ahmed (Sussex), Jason Gillespie (Glamorgan) and Shane Bond (Hampshire), who have all signed with the ICL, will be prevented from taking up their positions with their counties. Although the ECB statement implied that no action would be taken against such players “who are already registered with the ECB, and who have already contracted with an unauthorised event,” without the NOC from their respective boards, they will be unable to proceed.But what seems apparent is that Kolpak players fall through the net. They do not need registration as with England players, but nor do they need NOCs from their home boards. “Kolpaks still have to abide by the regulations as set out by ECB, same as any other cricketer,” said an ECB spokesman. What that appears to mean is that it is relying on the counties to fall into line with the overall policy.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

New Zealand clinched the series with an emphatic ten-wicket victory over West Indies in the second Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Bagging wickets at regular intervals, New Zealand’s bowlers turned in another impressive performance to dismiss the opposition for 215 on a truncated fourth day. Hamish Marshall and Jamie How then knocked off the 36 required runs to take their side to a fifth straight Test victory, a national record.Play began an hour late due to overnight and early morning rain, but matters looked much the same as the previous days, when New Zealand bowled with fire and to a plan and West Indies got stuck in a mess. Aggression got the better of Dwayne Bravo, who mistimed a hook shot off the nagging Chris Martin straight to Nathan Astle at square leg and New Zealand had made further inroads early into a session.Denesh Ramdin almost followed suit, sweeping Daniel Vettori and getting a top-edge that landed just wide of Astle running back from the same position. But after a stern word from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, he too buckled down and the duo went into snail mode. Hardly playing an aggressive shot, Chanderpaul and Ramdin inched their way to the final over before lunch, adding just 38 runs in an hour and a half as New Zealand maintained an attacking line. Singles were scant, doubles virtually non-existent and boundaries only taken when Chanderpaul decided to chance his arm – on three occasions. When it seemed like Ramdin had overcome his jitters – his second aggressive shot had been a confident flick off the legs for four – and would resume his defiant stand with his captain, he made the most basic of errors. Failing to get behind the line of a flighted Vettori delivery on leg stump, he could only look on as the ball spun across him and clipped the top of off stump.Two strikes to begin and close the first session, and New Zealand returned from lunch to make another. Chanderpaul, who had batted dourly to prolong certain defeat, fell shortly after the break when he played away from his body and gave Stephen Fleming his sixth catch at first slip off Kyle Mills. Mills then turned up the heat to nip out the tail as West Indies bettered their first-innings total, but just. Rawl Lewis stuck around for a belligerent 40 but could not do enough on his own to give New Zealand a good target to chase.For New Zealand, the stand-out factor in this innings – where every bowler picked up a wicket – as well as the match, was the professionalism of the bowlers in the absence of Shane Bond, the best in the country by far. Martin was spot on from where he left off yesterday and set the tone for proceedings in the day. Quick and accurate, he tied the batsmen down with his impressive line and got the breakthrough with Bravo’s wicket first thing in the morning and then added Ian Bradshaw later in the afternoon.

Vettori, brilliant with his control and loop and getting the ball to turn from sweet spots, tied Chanderpaul and Ramdin down – there were lbw appeals aplenty – and was rewarded for his parsimonious spell with Ramdin’s wicket. Vettori was padded away numerous times and each batsman had his share of play and misses to Martin and James Franklin, who added two more wickets to make it seven for the match. Mills, not given a bowl in the first session, did a good job of wrapping up the tail in both innings. Astle’s role with the ball was priceless, too. He bowled admirably, maintaining a wicket-to-wicket line and finishing with figures of 13-4-17-1 with the biggest wicket of them all, Brian Charles Lara.Rain, gloom or shine, West Indies have failed to battle it out when it matters. If they squandered a fantastic start to a run chase at Auckland last week, then here at Wellington they just failed to get off the blocks. They can look back at this match and see themselves as performing below par in every aspect of the game, but perhaps none more so than their batting. Only Runako Morton and Chris Gayle passed fifty, and apart from Chanderpaul’s stoic act today, no batsman looked capable of scoring runs and defending their wicket at the same time.The batting spanned many modes over the course of two innings: Lara, Ramdin and Bravo all succeeded in hitting themselves back into the pavilion at least once, Morton and Ramdin withdrew into a shell and fell to basic errors in the second innings, while for Daren Ganga and Chanderpaul it was a case of trying to trying to balance caution and aggression but letting themselves get bogged down by their partners’ fallibilities. Lara, with scores of 5, 0, 1 and 1 in the series, has fallen to a bad stroke one time too many and his indifference at the crease is a worry for a side desperately seeking a guiding hand. Barring a couple of inspired spells from Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards – the only fast bowler to achieve real pace and a hint of swing – the bowling has been pedestrian, while the fielding was a let down throughout the match.These are two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum. If this was New Zealand’s fifth straight win, and their ninth against this opposition, it was the eighth loss on the trot for West Indies, their worst in a glorious history of cricket. “To win a third match is definitely on, yes. It’s something we’re looking at, a 3-0 sweep,” said a pleased Fleming after the match. If time lost due to rain and bad light is not taken into consideration, this was a three-day Test, and the tourists’ current form and temperament does not bode well for them as the third Test at Napier follows later this week.How they were out
West Indies
Dwayne Bravo c Astle b Martin 7 (129 for 5)
Denesh Ramdin b Vettori 7 (156 for 6)
Shivnarine Chanderpaul c Fleming b Mills 36 (163 for 7)
Ian Bradshaw c Styris b Franklin 2 (189 for 8)
Daren Powell c How b Mills 7 (210 for 9)
Rawl Lewis c Astle b Mills 40 (215 for 10)

Punjab U-14 humiliated Haryana U-14 by 323 runs in their North Zoneleague tournament at the Maharaja Aggarsain Stadium, Rohtak. Punjab,put into bat, made 198 in 77.3 overs in their first innings withopener K Goel being the top scorer with 91. For Haryana Pratik was themost successful bowler, and he scalped 4 wickets. In response Haryanawere dismissed for 81 in 47.2 overs in their first innings. Onlyskipper D Saini lasted for a long time at the crease by making anunbeaten 31.In the second innings Punjab declared at 295 for 8 in 80.1 overs withgood scores from opener A Vinayak (68), M Bhatia (82) and skipper TGupta (84). Needing 413 runs to win, Haryana in their final inningsmade 89 in 34.4 overs with only D Saini (28) and S Kumar (18) reachingdouble figures. New ball bowler Hardavinder Singh claimed threewickets for Punjab.In completing their victory, Punjab notched up 8 points.

A depleted Karachi Harbour didn’t do too badly on the opening day of their final round Pentangular Cup match against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) at the Gaddafi Stdium. Karachi were dismissed for 249 and then bagged one NBP wicket before the end of the day.The Karachi side, lying at the bottom of the points table with three straight defeats, did well to reach a score of 215 for 3 after having been put in to bat. However, the last seven wickets fell for 34 runs. National Bank’s in-form fast bowler Wasim Khan again pulled a performance right out of the top drawer with figures of 6 for 57 in 27 overs. Mohammad Sami rattled the tail, taking 3 for 73 in 24.5 overs.Mohtashim Ali, the opener, top-scored for Karachi with 77 off 144 balls with 15 fours as he and Mansoor Baig added 84 runs for the second wicket. Mansoor hit 43 off 65 balls with seven fours.Mohtashim then got involved in a 60-run partnership for the third wicket with Afsar Nawaz. Afsar made 48 off 117 balls with six fours and found an able partner in Fawad Alam during a 60-run stand for the fourth wicket.Fawad reached 40 off 86 deliveries with four fours, but following his dismissal Karachi Harbour capitulated. Then it was the turn of NBP’s opener Salman Butt to fall cheaply yet again.NBP may still not find much difficulty in defeating Karachi Harbour eventually, a result that will also enable them to clinch the Pentangular Cup title. Even a draw with first-innings lead will give NBP the trophy.National Bank, looking to go beyond Faisalabad to snatch the Pentangular Cup title, have lost three leading players – Shahid Yousuf, Mansoor Amjad and Yasir Arafat – to the Pakistan A team now playing in Abu Dhabi in the EurAsia Cricket Series. But they have acquired the services of Kamran Akmal, the national wicketkeeper, to boost their chances.Sialkot scored 278 and reduced Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to 69 for 3 on the opening day of an inconsequential fifth-round match at Multan. Neither team is in the running for the eventual title, as PIA only have nine points while Sialkot have just six.Sialkot’s 278 would not have been possible had it not been for a blitz by their wicketkeeper Haafiz Khalid. He had to retire hurt early on and when he returned Sialkot were 192 for 9 having lost three wickets on the same score.In partnership with Adeel Malik, Khalid hammered 64 runs off 73 balls with eight fours as the last-wicket stand produced an incredible 86 runs. Adeel remained unbeaten on 61 off 73 balls with five fours and four sixes.Earlier, opener Haafiz Majid Jahangir had contributed 62 off 120 balls with seven fours, and put together a 98-run second-wicket stand with Inam-ul-Haq, whose 44 came off 65 deliveries with six boundaries.The PIA pace bowling duo was excellent, Najaf Shah picking up 5 for 54 and Fazl-e-Akbar 4 for 66. Ali Gohar’s medium-fast bowling went for 81 runs in nine overs.The PIA batting got rattled when it was their turn to bat. However, Faisal Iqbal, the captain who was returning from national duty in Abu Dhabi, is yet to bat.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has issued summons to Jagmohan Dalmiya, its former president, following his failure to reply to a show cause notice. He will face a Disciplinary Committee headed by Sharad Pawar, the current BCCI president, and includes Shashank Manohar and Chirayu Amin.”Dalmiya has been asked to appear before the Disciplinary Committee on July 26 at one o’clock (afternoon) in New Delhi,” Niranjan Shah, the BCCI Secretary said.The Board had issued a show cause notice to Dalmiya, asking him to furnish details of a transfer of Rs 40 crore (approx. US$85561498) from an Indian Overseas Bank account in Bhawanipur to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), of which he is the president, between 1996 to 2005. After Dalmiya failed to reply to the notice, the Board debited the amount to CAB and also decided to withhold all subsidies to it.Earlier, the Board had alleged misappropriation of the 1996 World Cup funds by Dalmiya and filed an FIR at a Mumbai police station a few months ago. The case was subsequently transferred to the Economic Offence Wing of the Mumbai Police who interrogated Dalmiya and two other colleagues when he was at the helm of Board’s affairs.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Sri Lanka’s slick professionalism in the field, and Dilhara Fernando’s composure in the final over, earned them a nail biting win over England in Antigua. Though Sri Lanka only compiled a relatively modest 236, England’s middle-order fell away meekly before a thrilling fightback from Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara dragged down the required total to just 12 from the final over. It was two too many.Fernando was thrown the ball for the final over, but his second ball was paddled – quite brilliantly – over short fine-leg by Bopara for four. Seven needed from four balls, but Bopara’s crunching drive couldn’t pierce the covers, picking up just two – enough, though, to register his first one-day fifty. A single off the fourth ball; another off the fifth but, with three needed from the final ball, Fernando cleaned up Bopara to end a memorable match. That England even got into a winning position owed much to Nixon, whose crafty 42 at a run-a-ball took them out of the woods and into the clearing.Just an hour or so earlier, the match was England’s for the taking, however. Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen were cruising along in their commanding third-wicket stand of 90, regaining the momentum after losing Michael Vaughan and Ed Joyce cheaply. Pietersen, inevitably, took the game by the scruff, asserting his authority on Lasith Malinga with a front-footed pull and a fierce slap through the covers. Once he had lofted Chaminda Vaas for an effortless six, Pietersen was in complete control of proceedings.Bell was less certain – although, next to Pietersen, most batsmen are. But he too found his fluency, clipping two fours off one Vaas over, one behind square and the other threaded through covers, before Sanath Jayasuriya affected a cruel run out. Pietersen pushed it back to the bowler who deflected it via his fingertips onto the non-striker’s stumps. Bell appeared to ground his bat but replays showed it had lifted by a few millimetres. It was a stroke of fortune Sri Lanka needed, and they capitalised brilliantly.Pietersen brought up an uncharacteristically sedate 74-ball 50 – before the magician, Muttiah Muralitharan, was brought on. His spell began quietly before he tossed down a doosra to Pietersen who, trying to work it to leg, got a leading edge ballooning it back to Murali. It was his 28th caught-and-bowled and with Pietersen departing at 126 for 4, England’s hopes sunk. Andrew Flintoff scratched around for a couple of overs, skying Fernando’s slower ball to Malinga at mid-on. And Collingwood ended what little hope of victory England had when he was trapped in front two balls later.Enter Nixon, reverse-sweeping with furious intent, if not great success initially, nurdling singles with relative ease. An old head needed young legs though – and Nixon was joined by Bopara, whose maturity and proficiency has been a distinct, rare highlight for England so far this tournament. 67 balls later, the young-old combination had a 50-run partnership to their name. And without ever attacking the target with real intent, they chipped away to bring the required runs down to 32 from three overs.

Nixon then unfurled the shot of the day, a remarkable reverse-swept six off Muralitharan to raise hopes of unlikely victory. In the end, Sri Lanka’s discipline in the middle overs proved the decisive factor.England were no less impressive in the field earlier in the day, capping a one-day match in which, for once, the bowlers shone. The big fear was whether the nightmares of last summer – when Sri Lanka drubbed them 5-0, saving particular scorn for Sajid Mahmood – would haunt them. It didn’t. James Anderson and Mahmood, the two opening bowlers in an unchanged lineup, were tight, controlled and impressively accurate in their opening spells.With Jayasuriya falling cheaply, Sri Lanka’s middle-order was opened up but Mahela Jayawardene’s solid fifty from 61 balls provided much-needed fluency to an innings lacking momentum. How crucial it was in the end, too. His class with the bat and growing maturity as a leader – not to mention calmness under pressure – is a very reassuring sign for Sri Lanka’s future and particularly for this tournament.Sri Lanka take the two points, and were deserved victors, but England can take pride and encouragement from a far improved performance. They still lost, though, and their next game against Australia now takes on an even greater significance.

Prior to South Africa’s morale-boosting win at Brisbane on Sunday, Bob Simpson, the former Australia coach, launched an attack on Graeme Smith, accusing him of having a wandering mind.”Smith has shown he wants to be aggressive, but I would like this to be more with his bat and less with his mouth,” Simpson said in his column in Indian magazine .”His bid to boost the confidence of his team with ill-advised words is not working and will not work. All of his time should be spent getting the most out of his players and himself. At present his mind is wandering too much … to be out four times in a row to tactics devised to get him in such a manner is not acceptable and shows to me a mind that is not relaxed and concentrating on every ball.”Although Smith fell for 12 on Sunday, he did lead his team to an excellent victory despite the best efforts of Australia’s fieldsmen. Andrew Symonds completed a slick run-out, and Michael Hussey sprinted about 15 metres to take an outstanding diving catch that nearly turned the game Australia’s way. The South African fielding has also annoyed Simpson, who described it as “just terrible”.”Their ground fielding has lacked security and concentration and enthusiasm,” he said. “This is a comparatively young team and I am amazed at the number of simple errors that are being made and the lack of pride being expressed.”History, and I am sure the modern computer, would show that first slip takes the most catches followed by the second and the third slips. Yet, because other countries are using spread slips, though without much or perhaps any success, Smith is being influenced by it without understanding the law of averages. I don’t know who is helping the South Africans with their fielding, but whoever is doing so should examine why so many catches are being spilt.”