All posts by csb10.top

As in life, change is the essence of cricket. The game must move withthe times and this is true not only of international cricket but alsoof the domestic game. The Ranji Trophy and the Duleep Trophy, the twomost prestigious national tournaments have undergone many changes inthe 67 years and 40 years respectively since their inception.The premier inter-state national competition was initially played on aknock out basis. In 1957-58 it was changed to a league cum knock outpattern. In 1970-71, while the format remained much the same, twoteams instead of one qualified for the knock out in a bid to make thefinal rounds more interesting. For the past few years, three teamshave been allowed to qualify from each of the five zones and thematches have been played either on knock out or super league formatbefore the final.The Duleep Trophy inter-zonal championship has undergone less change.Played on knock out format for more than 30 years, it was held on aleague pattern for three years in the 90s. Thereafter it was back tothe knock out format till this season when it was held again on aleague basis.Now if a proposal by the West Zone associations is given seriousthought by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, there could bemore changes in the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy format. Theassociations for example have suggested that the Duleep Trophy shouldagain be played on a knock out basis since the league format, it isfelt is long drawn in a season that is already chock-full with variousmatches, domestic and international.For the Ranji Trophy, a more revolutionary change has been suggested,based on promotion and relegation. The plan, as envisaged, is that the15 teams which qualified for the knock out should be placed in twogroups while the 12 who did not qualify should be placed in two othergroups. After league matches between the competing teams in the fourgroups, the sides which finish last in the first two groups will berelegated while the sides which finish top of the other two groupswill earn promotion. The top four teams in each of the first twogroups will then play a knock out (quarterfinal) round to decide thewinner of the trophy.It is believed that this move has been thought of as some of thematches at the zonal level are hopelessly lop sided. There are teamsin some of the zones that have not shown the desired improvement whilesome past giants have fallen on lean days. According to the formatsuggested by the West Zone associations, matches in which there ishardly any competition will be reduced considerably and the generalstandard will be higher and the games more keenly fought, even at thezonal level.Suggestions have also been made for changes in the format for variousjunior tournaments. In the under-14 tournament for example there is aplea that the matches be reduced to two days duration as the existingthree day format is taxing on the youngsters. The suggestions will beforwarded to the BCCI who are expected to refer them to the technicalcommittee which is likely to meet in New Delhi next week.

During the past four years Andrew Hall has been shot in the hand at point-blank range by a mugger and, just two months ago, been driven around in his own car with a gun pointed at his head by two hijackers. After this, even facing Brett Lee (recorded at 157.4km/h on Friday) probably doesn’t seem that daunting.Hall made 70 out of South Africa’s 239 all out on the first day of the second Castle Lager/MTN Test match at Newlands before Australia replied with 46 no wicket off just eight overs before the close. It is fair to say that Australia once again had the better of the day, but Hall, one of three South Africans making his debut, at last produced some of the fighting spirit the side has lacked over the course of the summer.Before the match, a fair bit was made of the possibility that the three new South Africans might not be carrying the scars produced by four successive beatings at the hands of the Australians. In Hall’s case the speculation proved to be spot on. Even Adam Gilchrist acknowledged that Hall had played with a confidence and assurance lacking in much of the cricket South Africa have played this summer.The first two-thirds of the day followed a predictable course after Mark Boucher had won a rare toss for South Africa. He opted to bat and the three Australian seamers picked up a wicket apiece in their opening spells with Shane Warne, in his 100th Test match, snatching a fourth when he bowled Neil McKenzie as lunch beckoned.McKenzie and Jacques Kallis had taken South Africa from 25 for three to 70 for four, and the loss of McKenzie for 20 came at a critical time for the batting side.Glenn McGrath underlined this point in the fourth over after the interval when he produced a well-nigh unplayable delivery that square Kallis up, kicked off just back of length and took the outside edge to give Adam Gilchrist the first of four catches in the innings.From 73 for five South Africa were quickly 92 for six as McGrath accounted for Ashwell Prince, beautifully caught by Gilchrist one-handed at full stretch to his left. After Boucher made 29, Gilchrist repeated the trick, this time going full stretch to his right. South Africa seemed all but finished at 147 for seven, but Paul Adams joined Hall for what was to prove the best stand of the innings.Gilchrist acknowledged afterwards that Australia had possibly attacked the eighth-wicket pair too vigorously in a bid to wrap up the tail, but Hall, hitting powerfully off his legs, and Adams, who has patented his own unique style, kept the bowling at bay. It was hugely entertaining stuff, mainly, perhaps, because South Africa were at last taking the fight back to Australia, and between them Hall and Adams added 69.Adams made 35, his Test best, before falling to a sharp catch by Shane Warne at slip off Jason Gillespie, and it was Gillespie who finally undid Hall after more than three hours at the crease.Warne finished off the innings to leave Australia to face eight overs before the close and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer made the most of it. Dewald Pretorius, the 24-year-old who grew up in a Bloemfontein orphanage, took the brunt of the onslaught, conceding 33 runs in his first three overs in Test cricket as Langer, in particular, went after him.There were nine fours in Australia’s 46, five of them going to Langer, who ended the day on 28, and four to Hayden who will resume on Saturday with 17 and South Africa were once again on the back foot.But for once there had been some resistance and Hall and Adams brought the Newlands crowd, subdued for much of the day, alive before and after tea.The pitch, though, flattened out noticeably as the day wore on and Australia should have the best of it on the second and, probably, the third days. By making four changes, South Africa had hoped somehow to check the momentum built up by Australia in the first four contests between the two sides this summer. They came close to it on Friday, but probably not close enough.

A fine all round effort from the spinners and a century opening partnership put Lancashire in control at the end of the second day of play versus Boland Academy at Bellville.Chris Schofield bowling for the first time on tour struck twice in an over just before lunch to remove danger man Vuuren and Jephta second ball to tilt the balance of play to Lancashire. After lunch Keedy bowling for the first time since his back injury, took two wickets and Gary Yates polished off the tail with figures off three for 15, reducing Boland to 201 all out, a deficit of 136.With one session of play remaining in the day captain John Crawley promoted himself to open with Mark Chilton. The two put on 151 runs before Crawley was stumped with the last ball of the day for a brilliant 101. Mark Chilton who desperately seeking runs having not scored double figures all tour was left unbeaten on 49.

ScorecardCameron White blasted an 89-ball 86 to take Victoria home•Getty Images

Fifties from opener Rob Quiney and Cameron White helped Victoria to a six-wicket win in their Ryobi Cup match against South Australia in Sydney.Victoria began their chase of 233 slowly, as Aaron Finch was run-out for 5 in the third over, but recovered with a 78-run stand for the second wicket between Quiney and Matthew Wade.Wade hit three fours and two sixes, but departed for a 51-ball 44 in the 21st over, with Victoria needing another 147 off 29 overs. South Australia captain Johan Botha introduced Sam Miller into the mix to try and enforce their advantage, but Quiney and White stood firm and batted out the next 18 overs.Quiney, who top-scored for Victoria in their last game against Tasmania, continued his good form, scoring a patient 65 that included just three fours. He found support in White, who scored an aggressive 89-ball 86 with six fours and four sixes.Quiney was caught by Chadd Sayers off Kane Richardson in the 39th over but David Hussey, accelerated for Victoria, racing to an unbeaten 28 off just 23, and ended the match with a six.South Australia were earlier propelled by a 64-run, sixth-wicket partnership between Tim Ludeman and Miller that took them to 6 for 232 in their 50 overs. Electing to bat, openers Michael Klinger and Phillip Hughes made a good start, scoring 69 off 15.4 overs, but Scott Boland – who struck twice in the 27th over – and Dan Christian picked up two wickets each to rattle their top and middle order.South Australia were struggling at 5 for 148 before Ludeman and Miller’s late surge took them to a competitive total.

Zimbabwe will look to Younis Khan for inspiration as they set out to save the first Test against Pakistan in Harare. Set a massive 342 for victory, Zimbabwe will hope to bat out the day with the same patience and poise Younis displayed during his 10-and-a-half hour period at the crease, during which he brought up a second undefeated 200.Younis batted from the eighth over, when Pakistan were 21 for 2, until the end of the innings by which time he had put them in a commanding position. He saw off an extended period during which run-scoring was scant and shared in two century-stands and an 88-run last-wicket partnership to give Pakistan a healthy lead and show the value of an old-hand.”It was a fantastic innings,” Dav Whatmore said. “It really helped us out from the position we were in. When the captain was out, Younis really showed what he was capable of. He just continued and he showed a lot of faith in the younger players.”One of the two hundred partnerships Younis was involved in was with Adnan Akmal to make good on his intention, which he stated on Thursday evening, to help the next generation of Pakistan batsmen.Through trying periods, during which Zimbabwe’s bowlers rarely erred from a tight offstump line, Younis shepherded Adnan, who may have become frustrated were it not for the example Younis set.”He is the experience in the team and he showed it. He batted, even when his strike rate went down, it didn’t matter. Other players might have got out through fatigue but he kept going,” Whatmore said.Flower admitted Younis eventually “wore down our bowlers” and even though it likely batted Zimbabwe out of the match, it taught their batsmen how to apply themselves. “They can learn from his skills, his patience and how much he wanted it,” Flower said. “He built an innings and showed why he is still one of the best Test batsmen in the world.”So impressive was the timing of Younis’ knock – it started slowly, swelled gradually and accelerated the way he plays a late glance, at just the last moment – that Whamore called it “one of the finest innings I’ve seen.” He also said it was a testament to Younis’ commitment. “After the first innings, where he failed, he went back to the nets, he worked hard and it showed.”Whatmore now expects the same from his bowlers, who already made an inroad into Zimbabwe’s line-up late on the fourth evening and have a full day to take the remaining nine wickets. “We think we’ve got enough time. More than 90 overs should be enough and we’re hopeful spin can do the trick for us.”Pakistan are confident of taking a 1-0 lead in the series, which they are also using as preparation for what is expected to be a much sterner challenge against South Africa in the UAE next month. “This is ideal preparation. When we played South Africa in February, we had had a lot of stuff in coloured clothing but now this has worked out very well,” Whatmore said.His only outstanding wish was that Pakistan could have played at a different facility in addition to the one being used for this match. “It’s not easy being at one venue. It’s a pity we can’t have a different scenery,” he said. Their entire tour of two Twenty20s, three ODIs and two Tests has been Harare-based after ZC moved the second Test from Bulawayo to the capital as well.Although a trip to the more spinner-friendly Queens Club would have suited Pakistan just fine, Whatmore said they are not complaining. “We understand the challenges and we are keen to play as much Test cricket as we can, just like Zimbabwe, so we’ll take this for sure.”

James Taylor, the Nottinghamshire batsman, has been given the perfect platform to stake his case for selection in the third Investec Test after he was included in the Sussex side to play a three-day match against Australia.England may have to call on a middle-order batsman for Old Trafford if Kevin Pietersen does not recover from a calf strain that ruled him out of the final two days of the Lord’s Test. The third Test begins on August 1.Taylor’s county, Nottinghamshire, have no County Championship fixtures before the third Test so an agreement was reached between the England management and Nottinghamshire to allow Taylor to play for Sussex in the tour match starting on Friday.”This will provide James with a valuable opportunity to play in a longer format of the game while we consider our options ahead of the third Test next week,” England team director Andy Flower said. “Kevin Pietersen is continuing his recovery from a calf strain and a decision about his availability for the Test will be made nearer the time.”Pietersen is likely to recover from his injury but the decision to provide an opportunity for Taylor to face Australia indicates he is England’s preferred option should they need a replacement. It also indicates they are not certain Pietersen will be available.Taylor, a diminutive right-hander who began his career at Leicestershire, was handed a Test debut against South Africa at Headingley last season and made 34 in the first innings, sharing a partnership of 147 with Pietersen that got England back into the match. But after 10 and 4 in the third Test at Lord’s he was left out of the tour party for India.His work over the winter, when he toured Australia with England Lions, did not produce immediate dividends on tour, but it has produced results this season with 824 runs in the County Championship at 58.85 including 204 not out against Sussex. He has also made 456 runs in seven Yorkshire Bank 40 matches.His guest appearance for Sussex rules Taylor out of Nottinghamshire’s final two Friends Life t20 group matches against Yorkshire on Friday and Lancashire on Sunday. Notts currently sit top of the North group but are yet to secure a quarter-final berth.”I’m hopeful that KP will be fit to play and, as it stands, I’m preparing to play in the three-day game for Sussex and nothing more,” he said.”I’m disappointed to have to miss two big Notts matches but the Sussex fixture will give me an opportunity to get some red ball practice and then I’ll wait and see.”I’m not back in the Test side yet but I’m pleased to be a step closer to it and I’ve always dealt with situations like this by concentrating on the game in hand and refusing to look too far ahead.”Taylor has scored 196 runs in the competition but his director of cricket, Mick Newell is fully supportive of his England ambitions. “We want to provide James the best possible opportunity to be prepared to play in the third Test should he be required,” Newell said. “While clearly he is an important player for us and will be missed on Friday and Sunday we have a proud record of producing players for England.”We remain in close contact with James and the ECB regarding the situation and hope that he can make a contribution and be selected.”England have previously inserted players into different teams for match practise. Earlier this summer Nick Compton was allowed to play for Worcestershire against Australia, although it didn’t help his quest for selection for the first Test against Australia, and in 2011 Andrew Strauss played for Somerset against India to try and regain form.

Pacer Marchant de Lange has been withdrawn from the South Africa A team after scans revealed that he had suffered a rib injury during the second unofficial Test against Australia A last week*. South Africa A are currently participating a tri-series against India A and Australia A.The injury surfaced during South Africa A’s second innings in the unofficial Test, forcing de Lange to leave the field after he had bowled just one over. In a press release issued by Cricket South Africa, Dr Shuaib Manjra, chairman of the CSA’s medical committee, said: “We hope to have Marchant playing again within a few weeks.” The board also clarified that the withdrawal was a precautionary measure taken in light of the stress fracture of the back that de Lange suffered a few months ago.De Lange, who touches 150 kph, had impressed on debut against Sri Lanka in 2011 with figures of 7 for 81 in one innings, but has since been plagued by injury problems.He had only just returned to the fold after being sidelined for 14 months, when he pulled out of South Africa’s tour of England last June. His rehabilitation, originally planned for December, was pushed back to February as he had to change his bowling action to prevent a recurrence of injury.This latest setback is likely to hamper De Lange’s chances of staging a comeback to the national side, as South Africa have already beefed up their bowling stocks with the likes of Kyle Abbott and Chris Morris in their preparation for the 2015 World Cup.*11.10GMT, August 6, 2013: This news story has been updated after details of Marchant de Lange’s injury were made available

Jharkhand cricketer Santosh Lal, known as the man who taught MS Dhoni how to play the helicopter shot, has died aged 29 of pancreatitis. He was a middle-order batsman and a medium-pacer who played eight first-class matches.Lal was a childhood friend of MS Dhoni and played alongside the Indian captain for Bihar and Jharkhand in a seven-year career that ended in 2010. He had been moved to Delhi for treatment earlier this week, after first being admitted to a Ranchi hospital last week due to stomach pain. Lal is survived by his parents, wife and a three-year-old daughter.

David Saker has hailed James Anderson as “the most skilful bowler in the world” following his performance in the first Test of the series against New Zealand at Lord’s.Anderson claimed the 13th five-wicket haul of his Test career in the first innings to become just the fourth England bowler to take 300 Test wickets. Now Saker, England’s bowling coach, believes that Anderson has every chance of becoming the first to reach 400.While Saker accepted that Anderson lacks the pace of South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, he believes Anderson’s desire for continual self-improvement has helped him develop into one of the top seam-and-swing bowlers in world cricket, with a rare ability to swing the ball both ways from a well-disguised action.”To me, he is the most skilful fast bowler in the world,” Saker said. “I know Dale Steyn is an outstanding bowler, but when you watch the way Jimmy goes about things, he has more skills in his locker. Steyn might be a little quicker but watch Anderson deliver those skills and it’s just mind-blowing. When he gets it right, there’s no more skilful bowler in the world.”Jimmy keeps getting better. I don’t know whether his figures say that, but he’s the one player I’ve coached that is never satisfied with what he’s got. For him it would be easy to be satisfied because he has so many skills, but he keeps working on things in training. I’ve never met a guy as good as him who keeps wanting to get better.”I remember watching him as a supporter of the Australian team. He could swing the ball but you could always get a four off him. Now it’s really hard to get runs off him. He’s very rarely cut. He has excellent control and he always tests the batsman. He’s a class bowler.”He has a body that can play for a lot longer, too. We hope he can go beyond 400 wickets and become England’s greatest wicket-taker. He has a really nice action, he’s a seasoned campaigner and he knows how to manage his body. We hope he can stay on the park for another five or six years.”Saker was almost equally effusive about Stuart Broad. It was Broad who produced the match-clinching performance in the final innings against New Zealand, taking his Test-best figures of 7 for 44 and, though Saker admitted Broad lacked the consistency to be categorised as a great bowler, he suggested such a scenario was possible in the future.”When he gets everything right, there aren’t many better in the world,” Saker said. “We’ll be talking about that spell for a long time. It’s as good a spell as you’ll ever see anywhere. He has days where he just tears teams apart and he did it again there.”The one thing that stands out from the greats to the very good is the greats are consistent. Stuart still has things to learn about bowling. But in my book he’s still getting better every time and he’s learning a lot from having some down times. He’s come back bigger and better from some down times in India. Those things happen. There are a lot of bowlers who have gone through times which are a bit tough.”James Anderson’s dismissal of Dean Brownlie was a high-class display of inswing and outswing•Getty Images

Saker has made extravagant claims over the strength of England’s bowling before. Almost exactly a year ago, he suggested the England attack was “as good as” the Australian attack of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, et al. but, on this occasion, he admitted there was room for improvement from the England unit. Steven Finn, who is struggling for rhythm, is a particular concern for Saker at present.”He probably isn’t bowling as well as he could, but he’s getting wickets,” Saker said. “He’s got that knack of getting wickets. He’s got the pace. We’re just working on a few little things but I’m sure he’ll be all right and confident by Leeds.”In the first 13 or 14 overs in the first innings we were good, but then we went away from what we knew was going to work. We bowled too short and we got cut quite often. It was the one easy scoring shot to play in the game. There’s no trick in cricket: if you bowl a ball that’s going to hit the stumps, it puts the batter under pressure. We did that really well on the third morning and in the second innings.”Saker expressed admiration for the New Zealand team, too, but suggested that their impressive performance in the series between the countries in New Zealand may have contributed to England producing a much-improved showing at Lord’s. Having bowled them out for just 68 in the second innings, though, Saker feared the tourists may struggle to recover their confidence before the second Test starts in Leeds on Friday.”The one thing we’ve learned in recent months is that New Zealand are a bloody good cricket team,” Saker said. “They’ve competed extremely well against us and we’ve found it really hard to get them out. And their bowlers have been as good as any bowling attack. They’ve been so disciplined. I think we were all surprised how good they were in New Zealand. So we had a real steely look about us as we’re so impressed by the way they’ve played.”But it can definitely hurt you being bowled out for 68. When the ball moves, we have a lot of teams’ measures. We’ve some good skilful bowlers. Some days in England it is very tough to bat and now we have a chance to keep kicking them.”

ScorecardDevon Smith, the tournament’s leading run-scorer, ensured Windward Islands stayed on top in a small chase•WICB Media Photo/Randy Brooks

Windward Islands put in an all-round showing to beat Combined Campuses and Colleges by nine wickets via the Duckworth-Lewis method and secure the Regional Super50 title in Bridgetown. This is the first one-day championship Windwards have won since the 2000-2001 season.CCC lost the toss and were put in to bat. Keon Peters’ opening spell proved decisive as he removed the top three batsmen within eight overs. At one point, CCC were wobbling at 31 for 4, but were able to recover to 121 for 5 through the efforts of captain Kyle Corbin (46) and Nekoli Parris (34).Once Corbin fell, however, CCC began to struggle even more, and they eventually were dismissed for 174 in the final over of the innings. Peters led the way with 4 for 32, while Shillingford’s impressive tournament continued with his haul of 3 for 29 to remove the middle-lower order. Shillingford finished as the tournament’s highest wicket taker, with 17 wickets in six matches at an economy of 2.86.Rain intervened during the innings break, caused a two-hour delay, and subsequently Windward’s target was reduced from to 134 in 29 overs. Devon Smith and Johnson Charles led the way with an opening stand of 100 at over a run-a-ball to effectively end CCC’s chances. Once Charles fell to the bowling of Keswick Williams, Smith and Tyrone Theophile closed out the game in the 23rd over.Smith ended on an unbeaten 67, and finished the tournament as the highest run scorer with 348 runs in eight matches at an average of 58. Man-of-the-Match honours went to Peters and Smith for their vital contributions.Speaking after the game, Liam Sebastien, the Windwards captain, said: “This is very pleasing. It is a long time [since] we won something, and it is just wonderful that we have won this championship.”