All posts by csb10.top

Benson and Hedges Cup Final at Lord’s
Saturday 22nd June 2002Tickets for the Benson and Hedges Cup Final at Lord’s will go on sale fromthe Club to members only as follows:09.00 am – 11.00 am Tuesday 11th June – Southend Cricket Club09.00 am – 11.00 am Tuesday 11th June – Colchester Cricket Club>From 10.00 am Tuesday 11th June – County Ground, Chelmsford>From 11.00 am Wednesday 12th June – Ilford Cricket ClubApplications can only be made in person – telephone applications cannot beaccepted for this Final, although members residing out of the county maymake a postal application to the County Ground using the blue ticket voucherin their membership card.Tickets are currently restricted to four per member and are priced at £22,£24 and £35 per ticket with seats currently available in the Edrich, Grand,and Mound Stands. Tickets for juniors under 16 can be purchased in anyavailable stand for £5.Non members may purchase tickets direct from the MCC ticket office bycontacting them on 020 7432 1066, although you are encouraged to use the MCCwebsite booking service at www.mcc.org.ukDavid East
Chief Executive

Somerset Sabres, who are already doomed to the second division next season, give two young players their chance to shine when they play against Durham in the NUL National League at the Riverside Ground at Chester le Street tomorrow.Wes Durston and Arul Suppiah are brought into the team and will both be looking to continue the run of good form that they have been showing in recent second eleven matches.Durston, who is a former Millfield School pupil is twenty one years old and hails from Glastonbury is a middle order right handed batsman and an off break bowler. Suppiah is also a former Millfield pupil, and celebrated his nineteenth birthday last Friday. He is a top order right handed batsman and slow left armer, who is currently attending Exeter University.Ahead of tomorrow’s game Kevin Shine told me: "We are having to rest a few people at the moment to try to make sure that we get them right for the vital championship match against on Wednesday. We have got two players making their NUL debuts, Wes Durston and Arul Suppiah who have both performed well in the second eleven and also gave a good account of themselves against West Indies ‘A’ recently."The side will be captained by Marcus Trescothick who gets another outing for the county before playing for England in the final test match on Thursday.The full Somerset team is: Marcus Trescothick, Matt Wood, Pete Trego, Arul Suppiah, Ian Blackwell, Wes Durston, Rob Turner, Keith Dutch, Matt Bulbeck, Simon Francis, Steffan Jones.

It certainly has been a camp with a difference. After a morning session of nets, fielding practice and stretching, John Wright adjourned his wards to an indoor session of tape viewing in the afternoon. Using aids of this kind is not synonymous with Indian cricket, but Wright seems to bringing about a metamorphosis.On the subject of changing things, high on Wright’s priorities is India’s away record. Despite being champs at home, the away victory remains as elusive as ever. The Zimbabwe tour provides an ideal opportunity to set the record straight.To achieve this, India are likely to opt for a bowling attack that has room for as many as five seamers. The trio of Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan are certainties to make the trip. With two warm up games to be played in the course of the Test series, India need to have enough hands on board in the fast bowling department. Reetinder Singh Sodhi might squeak in on virtue of the fact that he is likely to play the one-dayers. With Robin Singh not being selected in the initial probables list, the young Punjab all-rounder is a strong contender for a place. The slot for the fifth mediumpacer is still wide open, with Debashish Mohanty and Ashish Nehra being the contenders. If indications here in Bangalore are to be believed, it seems as though the Delhi left arm mediumpacer might well get the nod.Skipper Sourav Ganguly, speaking to reporters recently has given strong indications that Sameer Dighe will be the man doing the job behind the stumps. The Mumbai stumper’s cause has been amply helped by the fact that the two other keepers in the squad, Deep Das Gupta and Ajay Ratra have very little experience between them. With a vital unbeaten 22 that saw India to victory on the final day of the decisive third Test against Australia at Chennai in March, Dighe seems to have done enough to catch the eye of the selectors.The opening batsmen, Sadagoppan Ramesh and Shiv Sunder Das will lose no sleep this evening. The pair have done more than enough to be guaranteed of their places. With almost no competition for the openers’ slots, Das and Ramesh will make the tour to Zimbabwe. In the middle order, India’s greatest strength, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly will call the shots. Hemang Badani has done well in the few chances he has got in limited overs cricket, and has impressed with his levelheadedness.No prizes for guessing who the number one spinner will be. With 32 wickets in the three match series against Australia, Harbhajan Singh is easily the strike bowler of the lot. Anil Kumble, still out with a shoulder injury has had an uneven record – doing exceptionally well at home while flattering to deceive abroad. Whether Harbhajan Singh will go the same way remains to be seen. The Punjab offspinner however, can take heart from the fact that the Zimbabwe batting line up has plenty of left handers in it. As during the series against Australia the second spinner’s place is still very much up for grabs.With only two of the five national selectors in Bangalore on Wednesday, one day before the final 15 is selected, indications are clear that the team is unlikely to be drastically different from the one that played against Australia.

On the first full day of play at the 2nd Americas Cricket Championships, hosts Argentina performed respectably against World Cup qualifiiers Canada, restricting the Canadians to 182 in their 50 overs, and mustering 142 in reply.The Caymans pulled off an upset, beating Bermuda by 4 wickets in a low scoring game. Bermuda were skittled for just 59, but the Caymans lost 6 wickets in passing their total.The USA crushed the Bahamas, despite a fine bowling performance from Armstrong, who had the US in trouble at 115/5 before captain Bacchus provided an unbeaten 83 to raise the total to 255. The Bahamian batting crumbled against the US bowlers, managing just 78.

West Indian Test umpire Steve Bucknor called a Windward Islands bowler for throwing in a Busta Cup match yesterday.

Off-spinner Shane Shillingford was removed from the attack on the opening day of the Windwards’ game against Leeward Islands at St George’s, Grenada, on Thursday, after Bucknor called no-ball on three occasions because of the bowler “throwing”.Shillingford was called twice when Bucknor was standing at square leg. When he was switched to the same end at which Bucknor was standing, the veteran of 54 Tests and 80 one-day internationals called Shillingford again. Under Law 24 of the Laws of Cricket, the bowler had to be removed immediately from the attack for the remainder of the innings following his third transgression.Shillingford bowled 3.3 overs, taking 1/15 (Alex Adams, clean bowled), before he was banished. In three previous Busta Cup matches this season he has taken 13 wickets at 24.53, with a best haul of 7/66 against Jamaica. This is the first time this season he has appeared in a match umpired by Bucknor.At the end of the first day’s play, the Leeward Islands were 266 for 8.

The Hampshire-based Southern Electric ECB Premier League is poised to launch its 128-page fully illustrated handbook for the coming season.The book, recognised as one of the top publications of its type in the country, is crammed full of facts, figures and photographs of the top tier of recreational cricket in Hampshire.It tells of the inaugural season of ECB-accredited Premier League cricket in Hampshire, and includes a week-by-week account of how Havant became the first league champions.Read too how Channel 4 television plans to revolutionise coverage of this summer’s Ashes Series using an `umpire’s aid’ idea devised by Burridge batsman Paul Hawkins on `leg before wicket’ decisions.Copies of the yearbook, priced £3 inc postage and packing, can be obtained by writing to Mike Vimpany, 16 Radclyffe Road, Fareham, PO16 8SH.Some copies of last year’s Premier League yearbook are available at a reduced price of £2.

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, believes Alastair Cook’s wealth of experience at international level gives him a head start after taking over the Test captaincy from Andrew Strauss who retired from professional cricket on Wednesday.Cook, who has been England’s one-day captain since last year, will take charge for the first time on the tour of India which starts in October and already has 83 Tests to his name.”He is unquestionably England’s most experienced leader to have got the job,” Vaughan told ESPNcricinfo . “He has played 83 Test matches for England. When I got the job I had played 31, Straussy had got the job when he played 50, Nasser Hussain got the job when he had played 47. Even if Cook is still a young boy he is the most experienced guy to ever have taken the role. So he should be in a great position to lead the team.”Strauss’ retirement was the latest instalment of a difficult year for England who are also having to deal with the ongoing Kevin Pietersen stand-off. The Test side has lost six of 11 matches this year to concede the No. 1 ranking to South Africa cumulating in the recent 2-0 series loss to them. However, Vaughan said the basis of English cricket remained solid and there was no need for Cook to press the panic button.According to Vaughan, who was handed the captaincy in 2003, after Nasser Hussain called time on the role after the first Test against South Africa at Edgbaston, most captains assume the captaincy job in equally “tricky” situations. Vaughan led England for five years, starting with the onerous task of phasing out some of his senior team-mates to allow the “new generation” help him reach his goal.”Whenever you get the job you never get in a great circumstance,” he said while promoting the Extreme Sailing Series in Cardiff. “I got the role when there were a lot of senior players around and clearly that transition of bringing in new players has to happen.”So I had to kind of oversee how we were going to rid of the legendary or senior guys who had performed well for England for a number of years and bring a new generation and change the mentality of the team. We had lost to Australia for many, many series. I had to change the mentality of beating the great Australian side. That was my role.”

Who is the right partner for Cook?

The right man to occupy the vacant opening slot left behind by Strauss should be a specialist opener according to Michael Vaughan instead of a middle-order player being moved up.

There has been discussion that one of Jonathan Trott, the current No. 3, or Ian Bell should go alongside Cook. Such a move, Vaughan cautioned, could be counter-productive. “I have heard rumours about Trott or even Bell to move up and open the batting,” he said. “I would advise them to pick an opening batsman, who has done it from an early age. The best openers in the game historically come from people who have done all their lives. Cook and Strauss did that as little boys.”

Another reason Vaughan felt the move could backfire was because an opening batsman generally was more adept at moving down order whereas a middle-order batsman can struggle to settle against the new ball.

“You can go from opening to No.3, but, I am not so sure you can move in time from middle order to open. It is a very specialist position so I would advise them to pick who they feel is the best opening batsman to go with Cook and leave the experience in the middle order. So Trott and Bell, we need those kind of players in the middle of the innings particularly in the parts of the world like India.”

Similarly, it was a difficult time when Strauss took over in the midst of the Pietersen-Peter Moores dispute in 2009. Despite such incidents, Vaughan stressed, England have always held the advantage of having a ready back-up in place. “When Straussy got the role there was a fall-out between Pietersen and Peter Moores, but there was a still a good element of players around. There has been a system for a while now, what I describe as a conveyor belt where England would keep producing players.”And now Cook gets the role again in a tricky circumstance: England have lost six in their last eleven Tests, the Pietersen situation, how does he manage that, only he knows best how to manage that. It is actually good because you can start from afresh and move forward.”Paying tribute to Strauss, Vaughan called him a “good captain,” someone who would always fall in the bracket of the best men to lead England this generation. Equally impressive for Vaughan was the timing of Strauss’ retirement.”The respect side was always there,” Vaughan said. “The way he dealt with people was outstanding. The way he dealt with media was outstanding. And he has won games for England and managed to score runs as a captain. He is right up there with the captains of last 20 years. Andrew Strauss would be in that group that got mentioned quite often. He has done a good job and he has gone out at the right time.”It was Vaughan the captain who handed Strauss his Test cap on debut against New Zealand at Lord’s. A decade later Strauss finished an illustrious career standing next to Vaughan among the most successful Test captains for England. Vaughan had 26 wins alongside 11 losses during his 51-match tenure while Strauss had 24 wins and 11 losses in the 50 Tests at the helm. Yet, according to Vaughan, neither man was destined to be a leader.”I certainly did not think on my debut I would captain England, never mind going on to lead England 51 times and win 26 of those Tests,” Vaughan said. ” I never even expected that. And I never expected Andrew Strauss to have 50 Tests as captain when I gave him the Test cap. When I retired in 2008 Kevin Pietersen got the role and I did not see an opportunity for Strauss to get the job. But it came out of circumstance.”Vaughan called Strauss selfless, a modern leader. “He is very self-deprecating, always looked out for others and the team before himself. That is what makes a good leader in this era, someone who really looks at the rest before he looks at himself. That is really good.”On the August 30, Michael Vaughan is making his way down to Cardiff for the Extreme Sailing Series, Extreme 40 Catamaran race weekend. Raced by many of the world’s best sailors, including Ian Williams the skipper of the GAC Pindar team and three tims World Match Racing Tour champion, the race will take place on Cardiff bay over four days with the event open to the public.

Lions captain Alviro Petersen doesn’t have any preferences for their opponents in the Champions League final on Sunday, but has a score to settle with both Sydney Sixers and Titans. Lions lost to the Titans in the final of the MiWay T20 Challenge earlier this year while the Sixers are the only side to beat Petersen’s side in this competition.”I don’t really mind any of them [Titans or Sixers],” Petersen said after they beat Delhi Daredevils by 22 runs in the first semi-final on Thursday. “We lost to the Titans in last year’s final. It would be nice to beat them there. The only game we lost in this tournament has been to the Sixers so we would like to put one over them as well.”Petersen believed that hunger and focus are the constants which the team will take to the final. “What I can assure you is the team will be up for it once more, the boys are hungry. We are playing good cricket. We know that the road that we are on doesn’t end here. We are focused on preparing for what lies ahead, and that will be our real focus.”I think the hallmark of this team is that the guys are so committed to each other. We know that everyone can’t perform every day. When it’s someone’s turn, they make the play for us,” he said.The Lions were also not put off by the forecast of inclement weather. Petersen said their performance had improved as they progressed through the tournament.”We wanted to get out there and play. There was talk of rain but the guys were really professional and mature, the way we have gone about our preparations and performance.”Running at 75% we have still beaten teams, and today I thought we really upped it to about 85-90% and we showed what sort of team we are. We will take that confidence to the final as well,” said Petersen.Neil McKenzie brought the experience of his 105 Twenty20 games after he walked into bat in the 11th over with his side on 63 for 3. He forged a 59-run fourth-wicket stand with half-centurion Gulam Bodi, McKenzie himself making a 28-ball 46 with four boundaries and a six. However, McKenzie still believed the Lions were ten runs short of a competitive total, but the confidence in the dressing-room made the difference.”We got off to a nice start with Gulam [Bodi] and Alviro [Petersen] but then we had a little hiccup in the middle there,” McKenzie said. “When I got in, there wasn’t much time to settle in. It was a case of getting in as quick as I can. Gulam played some nice shots and he got a fifty. But I thought we were ten [runs] light.”Back in the dressing-room, the guys were saying 140 is enough and the bowlers backed up with a huge effort. The Man-of-the-match could have gone to a lot of the bowlers – [Aaron] Phangiso, [Chris] Morris, Sohail [Tanvir], all the guys did the job. Alviro rotated the bowlers beautifully. It was a great team effort.”McKenzie, who was part of the Hampshire side that won the English domestic Twenty20 competition as well, said experienced batsmen like him also have a place in the format.”There’s definitely a room to bat my way and for the other ways. As long as the strike-rate is high at the end of the day, you can’t have seven hitters in the side or seven deflectors. We have a nice balance at the moment, we have a plan to go till a certain stage and then go big from there. It is all about communication, role clarification,” he said.

ScorecardFile photo: David Miller’s 96* maintained Dolphin’s unbeaten streak in the competition•Associated Press

David Miller preserved Dolphins unbeaten record with an 85-ball 96 that stole the show in a rain-affected match against Warriors in Port Elizabeth, with his side securing a three-wicket victory inside the 45 overs required to chase a revised total of 244. After electing to bat first, Warriors openers didn’t last long as Craig Alexander struck off consecutive overs to leave them at 17 for 2. Colin Ingram, fresh off two half-centuries in the competition, continued his good form as he and Ryan Bailey put on 84 runs for the third wicket. Once Bailey was run out, Ingram combined with Christiaan Jonker, who scored 52, to help Warriors reach a competitive 251 for 8. Ingram remained unbeaten on 96 off 123 balls. Alexander was the pick of the bowlers with a career-best of 5 for 52.A brief rain delay at the change of innings meant a revised target of 244 from 45 balls. Dolphins, however, started rather inauspiciously with Jonathan Vandiar getting run out, and Andrew Birch then bowling Khaya Zondo off the next over to leave Dolphins at 12 for 2. Morne van Wyk and Vaughn van Jaarsveld combined for 62 runs to help steady the innings, which was followed by a 76-run stand between van Jaarsveld and David Miller. Van Jaarsveld was dismissed after scoring 61, leaving Dolphins 94 runs to get in just over 11 overs.Birch continued to cause problems as he plucked three more wickets to threaten the Dolphins chase. With 28 required off the final 2 overs, prospects looked rather slim. However, when Birch, who had been the hero of the day with the ball for Warriors, was asked to bowl the penultimate over, it all went to pieces. After Kyle Abbott took three off the first ball, Miller proceeded to slam three consecutive boundaries, including two huge sixes, to even the scales. When Rusty Theron came on to bowl the final over, it was Miller who drove him wide of midwicket to seal the match, giving his team the perfect parting gift before he headed off for national duty in the UAE, to compete in the limited-overs segment of South Africa’s series against Pakistan.
ScorecardMarchant de Lange’s 4 for 29 helped move Titans to second place in the Momentum One Day Cup standings after they overcame Knights by eight wickets in Benoni. After Titans opted to field first, de Lange struck early in the second over, removing Reeza Hendricks with the score on just 5.Rudi Second followed suit two balls later when he was bowled by Ethy Mbhalati. Rilee Roussouw didn’t add much to the total to leave Knights at a precarious 10 for 3 in the fourth over. Knights struggled to put up decent partnerships on the board as tight, disciplined bowling from Titans kept them in check through the innings. They ultimately were dismissed for 90 in the 28th over when Nicky Boje was bowled through the gate by de Lange.After an early scare, with Henry Davids going out in the fourth over with the score on just 5, the Titans chase was regulated by a 79-run partnership between Jacques Rudolph and wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn which effectively ended the contest between the two sides. De Lange was sent up the order as a pinch hitter when Kuhn fell for 43 in the 23rd over, with him and Roelof van der Merwe seeing the chase through inside of 23 overs, and with eight wickets to spare.

Match facts

September 24, 2013
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Titans’ batting is built around AB de Villiers’ inventive style of play•BCCI

Big Picture

Brisbane Heat and Titans have started their Champions League T20 campaigns with losses, but compare the two teams and it’s hard to deny the advantage that Titans hold.One of Titans’ biggest strengths, as captain Henry Davids stated, is their powerful batting line-up, which is built around AB de Villiers and his brutally effective style of play. Davids, Jacques Rudolph and Farhaan Behardien complement de Villiers well. Their bowling has been strengthened by the presence of the Morne Morkel and they have a strong part-time bowling reserves in medium-pace and spin.Heat, meanwhile, are already feeling the absence of Luke Pomersbach and Shane Watson, absent due to injury and IPL-team commitments respectively.Titans will be out to better their average bowling performance that cost them the match against Chennai Super Kings though. Granted, the dew did play a role in the second half of the game in Ranchi, but Titans didn’t do themselves any favours with erratic bowling. After the match, Titans’ captain Henry Davids admitted the bowling lacked discipline, but this is an attack that is still finding its feet.Morne Morkel had 11 wickets from five ODIs and three T20Is in Sri Lanka, but also conceded a few runs. Marchant de Lange, finding his way back to cricket after a rib injury struggled for rhythm against Super Kings. The spin bowling attack rests largely on the shoulders of Roelof van der Merwe – their other spin options include Jacques Rudolph, Eden Links and Graeme van Buuren.They would do well to learn from Trinidad & Tobago, who successfully defended a total of 135 by stifling the Heat batsmen during the Powerplay overs with tight, disciplined lines. Joe Burns was the only Heat batsman who looked in form against T&T – the rest of the batsmen will need to ensure they don’t lose their focus in the instance that they lose quick wickets.Kemar Roach and Alister McDermott are key to Heat’s hopes of containing Titans’ batsmen. Ben Cutting is another good bowler for Heat, with the bounce that he can derive thanks to his height. Nathan Hauritz, who missed a hat-trick against T&T, can be expected to shepherd the spin attack once again.

Players to watch

Brisbane Heat entered this year’s Champions League as Australia’s top T20 team and a lot of credit for that rests on the shoulders of Kemar Roach, who shrugged off an indifferent league stage to pick up 3 for 18 off his four overs in the final of the Big Bash League. Roach’s skiddish pace can trouble the Titans batsmen and it will be interesting to watch how he uses his short ball against batsmen who are bred on pace.Marchant de Lange has bigger goals in the tournament. A stress fracture kept him out for most of the previous domestic season and a rib injury put him out of the A-team tri-series recently. The Champions League is an important chance to prove form and, more importantly, fitness to South Africa’s selectors, with a place in the 2015 World Cup squad in the offing.