A round-up of matches from the first day of the One Day National Cup Division Two 2010-11

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jan-2011Group A
Left-arm spinner Kashif Bhatti and opener Sharjeel Khan starred in Hyderabad Hawks’ resounding win over Quetta Bears at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad. Put in to bat, Quetta’s batsmen went about laying a solid platform for a challenging score but failed to consolidate on starts. Each of the top seven batsmen reached double-figures, including Taimur Ali who top-scored with 34, but a steady fall of wickets amid some tight bowling restricted Quetta. Bhatti bagged three wickets as Quetta were bowled out for 188. In response, Sharjeel made mince meat out of Quetta’s score, smashing three sixes and 16 fours in his unbeaten 129 to seal victory with almost 14 overs to spare.Three half-centuries set up State Bank of Pakistan‘s successful chase of 256 against Karachi Zebras at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex in Karachi. Shoaib Khan jnr, the opener, set the ball rolling with a half-century before he retired hurt, and Adnan Raees and Naved Yasin took on the mantle in in a 114-run third-wicket stand. Yasin was aggressive while Raees scored steadily to help scale what seemed like a challenging total with 28 balls to spare. The fourth-wicket pair of Wajihuddin and Rameez Aziz had struck fifties in helping the Zebras reach 255, but their efforts were in vain as SBP won the battle of the bats.Group B
Lahore Eagles edged a low-scoring contest against Peshawar Panthers at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Offspinner Waqas Aslam combined with seamer Emmad Ali to skittle out Peshawar for 135 as the pair shared seven wickets; only Nawaz Ahmed was able to offer any significant resistance with 34. In response, seamer Taj Ali bagged four wickets to put the Eagles under pressure but captain Intikhab Alam led the reply with 39 and Aamer Hayat guided the team home by two wickets in the 36th over with an unbeaten 20.Khan Research Laboratories, thanks to a 118-run stand between opener SaeedAnwar jnr and Ali Naqvi, had reached 166 for 3 in 36 overs against Abbottabad Falcons at the Gohati Cricket Stadium in Swabi before rain intervened and washed out the remainder of the game.

India’s bowlers backed up a strong performance from their batsmen to seal a 10-run win over West Indies in the fourth ODI in Rajkot

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2011India’s bowlers backed up a strong performance from their batsmen to seal a 10-run win over West Indies in the fourth ODI in Rajkot. The series is now tied at 2-2 with the final ODI to be played at the same venue on January 19.West Indies won the toss and elected to field on what looked like a good pitch for batting. The India openers Poonam Raut and Neha Tanwar started off slowly and India managed to reach only 38 runs in the 15th over before Tanwar was run out. That brought Mithali Raj to the crease and the tempo of the game changed. Raj looked in fine form as she carted the West Indies bowlers all over the park. She and Raut added 108 for the second wicket before Raut was dismissed for 63. Raj, however, continued in the same vein as she reached her century off 100 balls, the last 50 runs coming off just 34 balls. She was unbeaten on 106 as India reached 216 for 4 in their 50 overs.West Indies’ chase started off strongly as openers Stafanie Taylor and Julian Nero added 127 within 33 overs before they were run out in quick succession. That derailed the chase as the remaining batsmen failed to string together substantial partnerships. Shemaine Campbelle hit some big blows and West Indies were still in with a chance when they needed 13 runs off the last over. However, offspinner Diana David held her nerve to dismiss Campbelle and No. 10 Anisa Mohammed in the final over as West Indies were bowled out for 206.

Peter Drinnen, the Netherlands coach, has warned his players not to read too much into their shock World Twenty20 victory against England

Nagraj Gollapudi in Nagpur20-Feb-2011Peter Drinnen, the Netherlands coach, has warned his players not to read too much into their shock World Twenty20 victory against England when they launch their World Cup campaign against the same opponents in Nagpur. Netherlands won that famous match at Lord’s off the last ball by four wickets and six members of the team are still part of the squad, but Drinnen has stressed to his players the difference between 20- and 50-over cricket.”The big thing is at times we can get ahead of ourselves,” Drinnen said “We lack the knowledge of batting in the 50-over cricket. We need to special attention to that.” Not that Drinnen wants the Dutch to forget their maiden triumph against a full member nation. He said they can take plenty of pointers from their victory at Lord’s.”Certainly half the squad were there on that evening and they are fully aware of what is possible on any given day. I know it was a shorter version but they are going to take quite a bit of confidence out of that victory into this. I have got no doubt their confidence will spread through the group and rub off all the players.”Netherlands have been preparing for the World Cup for three weeks including a preparatory camp in Dubai followed by three warm-up matches in Sri Lanka. They won the last n against Kenya having lost the first two to Canada and Sri Lanka respectively and Drinnen believes he has a balanced squad at his disposal.”We have got a good top order. Our bowling attack is not youthful in age and probably is and inexperienced attack,” he said. “The way they have progressed in the last six months is significant. The challenge is going to be great as the wickets are flat. Bowlers know they really have to be disciplined.”If Netherlands want to improve their World Cup record, where they have managed just two victories out of 14 matches spread across the three editions, much would depend on the performances of the senior players like Bas Zuiderent, Tim de Grooth, Peter Borren and Essex allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate. “If we put up a performance we know we are capable of, we know we can cause some problems,” Drinnen said.Drinnen also cleared up doubts over the availability of Borren, the captain, who had been sidelined in the warm-up matches and could not attend the opening ceremony after suffering from a side strain but today he had his first complete workout. “He is fit but still carrying side strain. He has trained very well, had a full hit out in the field and full hit out with the bat today. We are happy with his progress. I’m confident looking at how he has performed today and he will be fine for the match.”

Bangladesh’s captain and coach have hit back at the former players who have been criticising the team in newspaper columns and on talk shows on news channels

Sidharth Monga in Chittagong06-Mar-2011Bangladesh’s captain and coach have hit back at the former players who have been criticising the team in newspaper columns and on talk shows on news channels. There has been widespread criticism of the team management after their dismal effort against West Indies – 58 all out. Neither Jamie Siddons nor Shakib Al Hasan pulled punches in response to the criticism.In a press conference in Chittagong, Siddons said, “We try not to read the paper or listen to what people write. Everybody’s got to write, they write what they want. [However], lot of players are disappointed by the past players having their say. And I am disappointed by some of the past players who are saying stuff about me as well. I wish they had the b*** to say that to my face. Some of them are not that courageous.”Shakib expressed his disappointment in a column he wrote in . Shakib suggested that his team has not performed as badly as the previous teams did. Loosely translated, he wrote, “I don’t think there are former players in Bangladesh who have not faced such a humiliation. We have faced such a situation once or twice, but there are former cricketers who have been in such situations often. So everyone needs to think before talking. I am not saying that every former cricketer is trying to run us down. There have been some who have lent out a supporting hand. That has been our biggest boost.”Siddons was more forgiving of the people that threw stones at Shakib’s house. “Some people react,” Siddons said. “Things happen in every country of the world, after crazy performances like that.” That just suggests how irked the team is by the columns and the talk shows.That is perhaps because there is no doubting that the majority of the crowd has been good and well behaved. “These people are very big supporters of cricket, very big supporters of the Bangladesh cricket team,” Siddons said. “I saw nothing different when we drove in today, or yesterday from the airport. Unbelievable support. Everyone was disappointed by our performance, but everyone needs to realise these are the best 15 players in Bangladesh, and they are doing their best. If they have bad performances, that’s the way it is. We are trying, we are doing our best. We’ll play good cricket against England. .”However, Siddons said that the unrealistic expectations of his side could have played a part in the ugly public reaction and also in the players’ failure to play freely. “Yeah I think the expectations are unrealistically high for this World Cup,” Siddons said. “Definitely for our team. Two years in, we have improved a lot, but the expectations are high. We were playing at home. We expected it to be a good contest with West Indies. We expected to push them. On that wicket, if we made a decent score or if we bowled first, the result might have been different. Because it spun, it would have helped our bowling against their batting, but we had no runs to play with.”All this, Siddons said, has made the side more determined. “Definitely more determined. And also makes us realise where we are at. We need to improve some things, and we can be – because of our youth and age – up and down. Don’t expect us to be that down, though. We have been playing better cricket for the last 12 months, and that was out of the blue. No one expected that, that’s why we are so devastated.”

A day ahead of the World Cup final, Sri Lanka have replaced injured allrounder Angelo Mathews with offspinner Suraj Randiv from their 15-member squad

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2011Sri Lanka allrounder Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of Saturday’s World Cup final, with the team management drafting in offspinner Suraj Randiv to their 15-member squad. Mathews’ absence is a huge blow for Sri Lanka, since he was a significant presence in the middle order in addition to being a reliable back-up seamer.Mathews had left the field during the semi-final against New Zealand with a quadriceps muscle injury when Sri Lanka were fielding, and was visibly hampered for movement when he later came out to bat with a runner. Muttiah Muralitharan was also not in peak physical condition during that game, and the Sri Lankan team management decided to call-up Randiv and veteran seamer Chaminda Vaas as standbys. The pair joined the Sri Lankan team on Thursday evening.With Mathews not recovering soon enough, Sri Lanka sought approval from the ICC’s technical committee for swapping him with Randiv, and they were given the go-ahead on Friday, less the 24 hours before the final. Randiv was a regular member of Sri Lanka’s limited-overs’ side last year, but initially missed out on a World Cup spot to Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, who were picked ahead of him as the spinners to support Muralitharan.Despite struggling with a number of niggles, including injuries to his knee and hamstring, Muralitharan is expected to play in what will be his last international game.India have injury worries of their own ahead of the final, with seamer Ashish Nehra a doubtful starter, having sustained a fractured finger on his right hand during the semi-final victory against Pakistan.

Somerset’s dismal start to the season continued with a second consecutive innings defeat, this time to Lancashire in Liverpool

Jon Culley in Liverpool22-Apr-2011
Scorecard
Somerset’s confusing start to the new season continued here with a second consecutive innings defeat, giving every pundit who had made them favourites for the title this season cause to wonder if they have made a serious error of judgment.This was not a humiliation on the scale of their calamitous opening against Warwickshire at Taunton, where the margin required a trawl through the record books back to 1895 to find something worse. It was a thumping nonetheless, set up by a debut century from the Sri Lankan allrounder, Farveez Maharoof, and completed midway through the final session on day three when a stumping for the excellent Gareth Cross to remove Ajantha Mendis put Somerset out of their agony, bowled out for 163.The result may also require a reassessment of Lancashire’s prospects. Considered by some to be among those who might find the season a struggle, particularly with only a small squad at their disposal and a heavy dependence on their veterans, Glen Chapple and Gary Keedy, to take their wickets, Lancashire’s record after two matches is the exact opposite of Somerset’s.After winning both their matches by an innings, they sit proudly at the top of the early First Division table, and while that may not mean a lot in April, the lessons of recent history are that an early-season roll can be the bedrock of a successful summer.It was suggested to me that Somerset’s humbling at the hands of Warwickshire might not have been a bad thing, however painful, if it reminded them that they cannot expect the title to fall into their laps, even if they have all the credentials. If two kicks up the backside are necessary, though, Marcus Trescothick is right to be concerned.”You could try to sum it up with any number of cliches but the fact is that we are not playing well enough,” Trescothick said. “We are not switched on to what we need to be doing. There has been nothing wrong with our preparation but at the end of the day it comes down to whether you play well or you play badly. It is up to individuals to get it right.”What made victory taste all the more sweet for Lancashire is that they did it without Chapple, who missed the match because of a calf problem, and cocked a snook at anyone who had doubted their judgment in picking Maharoof as their overseas player, a decision driven in part by cost.The 26-year-old allrounder was the architect of Lancashire’s success, turning the occasion into a personal triumph by scoring a debut century and adding a couple of wickets for good measure.His 102 batting at No. 8 was the fulcrum of Lancashire’s second consecutive first innings total in excess of 450. After sharing a key partnership with Tom Smith on Thursday, he took the initiative himself yesterday, when he particularly enjoyed getting the better of his compatriot, the mystery spinner Mendis, whose wiles were clearly no mystery to him.Having promised on Thursday to “smoke” Mendis if he had the chance, he was true to his word. Eight of his 14 boundaries — 13 fours and a six — came off the spinner, who ended with figures of 0 for 103. The six, hit hard and straight, soared over the bowler’s head, landing somewhere in the vicinity of the tennis courts at the River End.Maharoof has made no secret of his own reasons for coming to play in England at this time, coinciding with a Sri Lanka tour. Three and a half years after his last Test appearance, Maharoof is eager to remind his national selectors of what they are missing. “I want to prove something to myself and to others,” he said. “That is the reason I’m here, to make my case for getting back into the Test squad.”Somerset’s batting looked brittle from the moment Maharoof made the first breakthrough as they confronted a 183-run first innings deficit. Nothing summed up their state of disarray more uncomfortably during a collapse from 30 for 0 to 81 for 6 than the dismissal of James Hildreth, who was unwisely attempting a fourth run when Craig Kieswetter stopped him in his tracks and Steven Croft’s throw allowed Maharoof to whip off the bails at the non-striker’s end.Otherwise, there were simply too many loose strokes as Maharoof showed himself to be well capable of adapting quickly to English conditions, tempting the drive with full length balls as adroitly as Saj Mahmood and Tom Smith.Lancashire see their temporary exile from Old Trafford as giving them an edge in the title race. Apart from knowing how to get the best from wickets that generally produce results, they see the club ground setting as being to their advantage.”We can make this a fortress,” acting captain Mark Chilton said. “The facilities are fine and we are quite happy with them but it is a club ground and a lot of counties are not used to how it feels to play on a club ground. And we know how to get results here.”

Australia and New Zealand’s Rose Bowl Series recommences on Sunday, four months after it was dramatically halted when the sides were caught up in the fatal Christchurch earthquake

Jenny Roesler10-Jun-2011Australia and New Zealand’s Rose Bowl Series recommences on Sunday, four months after it was dramatically halted when the sides were caught up in the fatal Christchurch earthquake.On February 22 the quake, which killed nearly 200 people, rocked the Christchurch Novotel where the New Zealand team were gathered ready to head to training. “They were right in the heart of it and saw some pretty scary stuff,” said Australia’s Shelley Nitschke.The hotel remained standing but next door the famous Christchurch Cathedral was ruined. New Zealand managed to head 20km away to Lincoln University, linking up with Australia who had been training there and felt the whole indoor centre shake.The sides then experienced a powerful aftershock when in a supermarket stocking up. “All of the shelves started shaking, tins were falling off,” said Nitschke. “It was pretty scary.” The two teams stayed in makeshift accommodation on site – some on couches and mattresses – for several nights until it was safe to fly out.Now, the series will finally reconvene with three ODIs at the Allan Border Fields in Queensland, Australia, after the Twenty20s – which began back in December last year – were levelled at 2-2.The teams will simply try to focus on the cricket, with New Zealand seeking out their first win this century. “It’s a fierce rivalry actually because the Kiwis haven’t won it for years, they’ve come so close so many times,” said Nitschke. “We’ve been two all and we’ll win, or there’ll be a wash-out so it’s getting to be a pretty good rivalry. Whether or not it will be a bit more important [given the earthquake], I don’t really know, we’ll find out.”Australia will welcome back Jodie Fields to the captaincy after a horror 18 months in which she twice badly injured her hamstring in freak accidents. Alex Blackwell, having led Australia to their first World Twenty20 and recaptured the Ashes after six years, will resume the vice-captaincy and has handled well stepping back to the ranks.”I’ve enjoyed captaining and I feel that it’s actually been a good thing for my own cricket,” Blackwell told ESPNcricinfo. “I’m pleased with the way I’ve handled it. It was an opportunity that came about because of Jodie’s injury, it’s just fantastic news that she’s fit. She’s gone through a terrible time with rehabbing and I know how much work she’s put in.”The pair will work together to help a relatively new team adjust smoothly. Australia have a new-look pace attack after Ellyse Perry was announced in the Matildas’ World Cup soccer squad, while Rene Farrell, the Ashes hat-trick hero, has announced an indefinite break from cricket.The younger players recently headed out to India for a training camp, while Sharon Millanta debuted at the age of 30 after consistent performances for New South Wales.New Zealand will be desperate to recapture a Rose Bowl at long last and will welcome the opportunity for some matchplay before heading to England for the quadrangular also involving India. Having reached the last four World finals but failed on each occasion, there is the prospect of two finals – with Twenty20 and ODI formats on offer – and they will be keen to go one better.For now, though, the Rose Bowl is there for the taking and New Zealand will not want to be bridesmaids again. Australia will feel no guilt, however, should they dash such hopes once more.

A bowling attack having four Test bowlers bowled to its world-class potential for once and Deccan Chargers’ batting did not stumble chasing a middling total to end Pune Warriors slim hopes of making the play-offs

The Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit16-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Sunny Sohal put on 67 for the opening wicket with Shikhar Dhawan•AFP

A bowling attack having four Test bowlers bowled to its world-class potential for once and Deccan Chargers’ batting did not stumble chasing a middling total to end Pune Warriors’ slim hopes of making the play-offs.Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma gave the Pune top- and middle-order a complete working over, each posing various problems of flight, turn, pace and bounce. For once, Daniel Christian was much more than just the supporting cast, and the result was that apart from the opening over, there was only one team that dominated most of the match, and it wasn’t Pune. Had it not been for Mitchell Marsh’s counterattacking innings, Pune would have struggled even more.After Kumar Sangakkara began with JP Duminy in his last IPL game, the introduction of Steyn and Ishant was the start of Pune’s woes. Manish Pandey looked as out of place as a bargain hunter in a fixed-price store, top-edging half-hearted pulls and slashing wildly over slip.Jesse Ryder looked much more comfortable, but he fell to a blinder from Ravi Teja at cover, who dived to his left to pouch a powerful drive. Sourav Ganguly did not last long. His first attempt to carve Christian over extra cover resulted in a swing-and-miss. The next one resulted in a simple chance to Ojha at mid-off. Ojha foxed Pandey with one that came in to uproot middle stump.Pune were already in trouble at 45 for 3 when they ran in to Mishra, Deccan’s most successful bowler this season, and the architect of their surprise win over Mumbai Indians. The first delivery struck Robin Uthappa on the pads as he missed the flick, the fourth was a loopy legbreak that dipped on him and produced a fatal leading edge that popped to Mishra. The fifth was even better. It was tossed up outside off stump and Mithun Manhas set himself up for the cut, expecting it to turn away. To his horror, it was the googly that turned in and bowled him off the inside edge as Pune slipped to 45 for 5.Once again, it was down to Yuvraj Singh to lift Pune out of the hole the other batsmen had dug. Yuvraj looked the part, slamming Ojha for consecutive boundaries in the tenth over, but he could not hang around for long, top-edging a wild pull off Christian to Sangakkara.Marsh showed glimpses of why he is talked about so much, smacking the spinners for sixes after having taken his time to settle. Deccan managed 34 runs off the last three overs, courtesy Marsh and Wayne Parnell, and that lifted them to a fighting total which they would have gladly taken at 45 for 5. Deccan hadn’t won a match chasing this season, and Pune hadn’t won while setting a target. The latter trend was to continue.Pune’s only hope was to rattle Deccan’s brittle batting line-up early but with both Shikhar Dhawan and Sunny Sohal managing to perform to expectation, their slender hopes of making the play-offs started to disappear. The Deccan openers stuck to their usual selves; Dhawan chugged smoothly to 28 before throwing it away, Sohal threatened to do so throughout his 34 before Rahul Sharma trapped him leg-before.While Dhawan drove and punched for delightful boundaries through extra cover, Sohal did what he does best, swing at everything, hit some and miss some. There were sixes over extra cover and long-on; he also earned a wide for height as he fell away trying to flail at a short ball from two feet outside leg stump. An opening stand of 67 in 49 deliveries meant Pune needed Deccan to fall apart like they themselves had earlier, but Sangakkara and Duminy ensured Pune were firmly shut out of the game, and knocked out of the race for the play-offs. The only thing Deccan were left wondering was how their season could have gone if their potential had been realised earlier.

Perth Scorchers might have missed out on Chris Gayle but they have secured another international star after signing the South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs for the Big Bash League

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2011Perth Scorchers might have missed out on Chris Gayle but they have secured another international star after signing the South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs for the Big Bash League. On the second day of the tournament’s initial contract window, Perth had already named half their 18-man squad, with Gibbs and Michael Hussey the major new signings.Hobart Hurricanes also confirmed their first players, with the Pakistan allrounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan set to return to the city after previously playing Twenty20 cricket with Tasmania. Hobart also locked in the Tasmania pair of Tim Paine and Xavier Doherty, both of whom are Cricket Australia-contracted.The SCG-based Sydney Sixers signed the local allrounders Steven Smith and Moises Henriques, while South Australia’s Daniel Harris and Cameron Borgas will line up for Adelaide Strikers. Brisbane Heat added Chris Lynn and Nick Buchanan, two young Queensland players, to their squad, while Mitchell Marsh, Tom Beaton and Nathan Coulter-Nile will join Perth.But the biggest-name recruit on Friday was Gibbs, who will join his former South Africa coach Mickey Arthur, who is Perth’s mentor. Arthur said Gibbs, 37, who no longer plays for the South Africa national team, and Hussey, would be significant assets for Perth as they aimed to win the inaugural BBL title and qualify for the Champions League.”When recruiting international players you need to make sure these players bring outstanding qualities and add value to your set-up, and I firmly believe in Herschelle we have exactly that,” Arthur said. “I have known Herschelle for many years and have seen him destroy some of the best attacks in world cricket. I am looking forward to seeing him take to the KFC Big Bash League in a similar manner and I’m sure the Perth Scorcher’s fans will really warm to him.”Mike [Hussey] is a legend of Western Australia cricket and despite the fact we may not see him line up for Perth very often, we wanted to make sure he was not going anywhere else. If for any reason he has a chance to play more KFC Big Bash League matches than anticipated, we want to ensure he is doing it in the orange colours.”The squads so far
Adelaide Strikers Daniel Harris, Cameron Borgas
Brisbane Heat Nick Buchanan, Ryan Harris, Chris Lynn
Hobart Hurricanes Xavier Doherty, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Tim Paine
Melbourne Renegades No players yet
Melbourne Stars No players yet
Perth Scorchers Tom Beaton, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Herschelle Gibbs, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Luke Pomersbach
Sydney Sixers Moises Henriques, Steven Smith
Sydney Thunder Chris Gayle, David Warner