Tom New hit an unbeaten 51 on a rain-affected third day to put Leicestershire in a strong position against Kent in the County Championship Division Two match at Grace Road

04-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Tom New hit an unbeaten 51 on a rain-affected third day to put Leicestershire in a strong position against Kent in the County Championship Division Two match at Grace Road. Although only 22.4 overs were possible wicketkeeper New struck 50 off 61 balls with seven boundaries to steer Leicestershire to 227 for 5 and a lead of 265 before play was called off for the day.New was ably supported by 17-year-old Shiv Thakor on his Championship debut. Thakor, an England Under-19 international, gave an assured performance as he contributed 24 off 81 balls to an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 79.Persistent light rain throughout the morning delayed the start until 2pm with Leicestershire resuming at 148 for 5 leading by 186 runs. The sixth-wicket pair made good progress with New timing the ball well and as he struck two glorious cover drives to the boundary off Adam Ball and Azhar Mahmood.With the seamers getting little out of the pitch offspinner James Tredwell was brought into the attack but he too failed to trouble the batsman with New and Thakor posting a half-century partnership in 16 overs. But their progress was halted by another rain shower with the scoreboard reading 201 for 5. A further seven overs were lost and an early tea was taken
with play resuming at 4pm.New was soon back into his stride with another excellent cover drive off Wahab Riaz taking him to a splendid fifty. The rain returned again with Leicestershire on 227 for 5 and after further
inspections by umpires Peter Hartley and Trevor Jesty play was called off for the day shortly after 5.30pm.Leicestershire will now look to score some quick runs on the final day to set Kent a run chase and bid for their first Championship win since beating Glamorgan in the opening match of the season.

England have rested Kevin Pietersen for the upcoming ODI series India and called-up Durham allrounder Ben Stokes

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Aug-2011England have rested Kevin Pietersen for the upcoming ODI series India and called up Durham allrounder Ben Stokes.Pietersen, who was the highest scorer in the Test series against India, has been left out as part of the selectors’ ongoing policy of ‘managing player workloads’. While Pietersen has recovered his Test form in fine style, his one-day returns have been less productive – just two half-centuries since November 2008.Geoff Miller, the England selector, emphasised, however, that Pietersen was being rested rather than dropped. “The decision to omit Kevin Pietersen from the one-day squad is in line with our policy of sensibly managing player workloads and will give the opportunity to another batsmen to test himself batting at number four.”Stokes is the only one of the three debutants from the one-off ODI against Ireland to have made the squad, with Ravi Bopara holding his place ahead of James Taylor and legspinner Scott Borthwick not selected either. Stokes was close to playing against Sri Lanka earlier in the summer but picked up a finger injury. He has had an excellent season for Durham in the CB40 with 357 runs at 51.00. Though he won’t be fit to bowl, he offers England hard-hitting ability down the order.While the remainder of the ODI squad is largely similar to the one that beat Sri Lanka 3-2 earlier in the summer, there are maiden Twenty20 call-ups for Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler and Nottinghamshire opener Alex Hales. Buttler has not actually had as productive a season as last year in Twenty20, but has showcased enough potential to step in for the injured Luke Wright.Hales, meanwhile, replaced Michael Lumb from the team that lost to Sri Lanka in the one-off T20. Ian Bell, who was a non-playing member of the squad from that game, has been dropped. Hales impressed in all forms of the game for Nottinghamshire this season and is the highest-scoring English player in the Friends Life t20 with 544 runs from 16 games. “The domestic Twenty20 competition went well for me and I’m pleased to have been recognised for scoring runs in a winning team,” said Hales.”England are the world’s best Test team and the Twenty20 world champions so breaking into the setup at any level is a big deal and I’m extremely proud to have done so. I need to back my ability to play positively and score runs if I’m going to stay in contention for a place and that’s my target going into Wednesday’s game.”Miller, meanwhile, backed the squads blend of youth and experience to succeed. “Across both squads we believe we’ve selected an exciting blend of experienced international performers along with some exciting young players with a great deal of talent,” he said in a statement. “We will need to play a high quality brand of limited overs cricket against the world champions India.”We’re very excited to have included some bright young players in the form of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Alex Hales, all of whom have proved themselves domestically and will now be looking to successfully take the step up to international level.”Twenty20 squad: Stuart Broad (capt), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes, Graeme SwannODI squad: Alastair Cook (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jade Dernbach, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Ben Stokes, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

The Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise has been issued a suspension notice by the BCCI for non-payment of a bank guarantee, PTI has reported

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2011The Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise has been terminated by the BCCI for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan has said after the annual general meeting in Mumbai. The trigger for the decision was the franchise’s inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. It is understood that the deadline for Kochi to submit the bank guarantee was March 26, 2011. So the BCCI felt it had every right to terminate the contract once the franchise had failed to produce it.”Because of the irremediable breach committed by the Kochi franchise, the BCCI has decided to encash the bank guarantee [for 2010] in its possession and also terminate the franchise,” Srinivasan said. When asked if Kochi had any chance of returning, Srinivasan responded: “No, we have terminated the franchise because the breach is not capable of being remedied.”Under the terms of the franchise agreement, each franchise has to submit a bank guarantee every year that covers the fee payable to the BCCI. “We waited for six months for the fresh bank guarantee to come,” a top BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. “They kept saying they will, they will, they will. That had no meaning.”According to the official Shashank Manohar, who stepped down as BCCI president at the AGM, had told Kochi’s owners that in case they needed an extension, they should send a letter signed by all the owners stating they would fulfill their commitments under the franchise agreement or the BCCI could encash the bank guarantee. The franchise had assured Manohar they would send the letter the same evening.”The last president [Manohar] said that that if you want an extension of two to three days or more, you give us a letter signed by all the owners saying that we undertake to pay the guarantee money by such and such a date,” the official said. “And if we fail to do that we have no objection to the bank guarantee to be encashed by the BCCI.”The official said the Kochi owners sent a “simple letter” that did not include all the details Manohar had asked for and so the board took the decision to terminate the franchise. “[These] things do not work. It is even unfair to the other franchises.”According to the official, the BCCI was not worried about Kochi going to court because it was the franchise that had defaulted. As for the players, they are likely to go back into the auction. “And in case the players’ dues are not paid, we would ensure that it is paid from the bank guarantee money we encash.”The chairman of Kochi, Mukesh Patel, however, denied that the franchise owed the board any money. “The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie,” he told . “We will take legal action against them after our legal team reviews the case in a day or two. Maybe we have to move court. We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12 to 15 crore ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue.”The franchise’s dispute centres on the BCCI’s decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. “The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees.”The BCCI also appointed Rajiv Shukla as the new IPL chairman, succeeding Chirayu Amin, and said that the league’s governing council would take a decision on whether to have another auction for a new franchise. With Kochi’s termination, the ten-team competition will be reduced to nine.The consortium that owns Kochi is reported to have defaulted on an annual payment of Rs 156 crores as a bank guarantee. In April 2010, the BCCI’s working committee had rejected demands from Kochi and Pune Warriors for a reduction in their franchisee fees. The two new franchises, which made their debuts in 2011, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season. The schedule was later reduced to 14 matches per team.The two teams already paid 75% of this year’s installment and wanted the balance waived. They argued the reduction in matches was a breach of the terms of the Invitation to Tender the BCCI had issued before the two new teams were bought. Since they had based their bid on the number of matches to be played, a reduction should therefore be accompanied by a reduction in the franchise fee. However, the BCCI voted to turn down the request at its meeting in Mumbai in April.In March 2010, the Sahara group had bid $370 million to became owners of the Pune franchise while a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World offered $333.33 million for Kochi.

Warwickshire were indebted to a gritty unbeaten 144 from their former captain Ian Westwood for sustaining their County Championship title challenge

07-Sep-2011
ScorecardIan Westwood laid a solid platform for Warwickshire•Getty Images

Warwickshire were indebted to a gritty unbeaten 144 from their former captain Ian Westwood for sustaining their County Championship title challenge against defending champions Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston.The left-handed opener batted through an attritional day to help Warwickshire to 235 for 3 and collect a batting bonus point which nibbled away at the seven-point gap leaders Durham, who sit out this round of matches, enjoyed at the start of play.It was hard going against an accurate seam attack and the batsmen also found timing difficult when the ball went soft. But Westwood applied himself diligently and his patient innings stabilised the innings with support from Jim Troughton after Warwickshire had made uncertain progress to 114 for 3.Westwood’s century was the ninth of his career and his second of a season that was disrupted by a broken finger last month. He resigned last winter after two years as captain so that he could concentrate on his batting and found form in mid-season after a spell of second-team cricket.Westwood dominated a second-wicket stand of 56 with William Porterfield, of which the Ireland captain’s contribution was only 14, and then shared a more fluent unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 121 with Troughton, who succeeded him as captain.Warwickshire’s innings almost shuddered to a halt during a tedious afternoon session when they were pegged back by the accuracy of Andre Adams and they managed only 54 runs in 29 overs. Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted 46 balls for eight runs but then edged a low catch to Chris Read off Darren Pattinson.Chanderpaul and Westwood had chiselled out 19 from 17 overs in a strokeless third-wicket stand but Westwood then played with greater fluency and turned a 106-ball 50 into a 205-ball century. The majority of his 16 fours were cut or off driven. There was a moment of alarm for Westwood as he neared his century with a top-edged hook for four off Adams, who was again the pick of Nottinghamshire’s attack.Westwood outscored Troughton in their unbroken stand of 121 but Troughton, without a championship century in two years, buckled down and played a disciplined innings in support of his fellow left-hander.Both attacked against slow left-armer Graeme White with Westwood bringing up the 200 when he went down the pitch and straight drove the spinner. Westwood had just struck his 20th boundary of the day when umpires Nick Cook and Steve O’Shaughnessy took the players off for bad light 40 minutes before the scheduled close.

Sri Lanka Women eased to an 82-run win against Bangladesh Women in Dambulla, in the first of three limited-overs games on Bangladesh Women’s tour of Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2011
ScorecardSri Lanka Women eased to an 82-run win against Bangladesh Women in Dambulla, in the first of three limited-overs games on Bangladesh Women’s tour of Sri Lanka. The win was set up by an all-round show by Shashikala Siriwardene, who scored an unbeaten half-century and then picked up two wickets.After choosing to bat, Sri Lanka built their innings around three steady stands: Inoka Galagedara and Chamari Atapattu put on 65 for the second wicket and, after a wobble, Sandamali Dolawatte and Siriwardene steadied the innings with 49. Siriwardene then added 42 with Dilani Manodara, the captain and wicketkeeper, to carry Sri Lanka past 200.Chasing 239, Bangladesh crawled to 67 for 2 in the 26th over, before a Siriwardene double-strike made sure Sri Lanka were firmly in charge. None of the Bangladesh batsmen could build an innings, the top score being 35 by Rumana Ahmed and Lata Mondal. Mondal stalled Sri Lanka late in the innings, before Suwini de Alwis came and cleaned up the tail with her left-arm spin.

Tasmania had begun a pursuit of 318 for victory over Victoria after a fluctuating and tempestuous third day on which 14 wickets fell in the Sheffield Shield match in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2011
ScorecardGeorge Bailey was angered when an appeal against David Hussey was turned down•Getty Images

Tasmania had begun a pursuit of 318 for victory over Victoria after a fluctuating and tempestuous third day on which 14 wickets fell in the Sheffield Shield match in Hobart.Having bowled the Tigers out for 235 in the morning, the Bushrangers soon slid to 3 for 10 as Ben Hilfenhaus and Luke Butterworth made the new ball count.However David Hussey was reprieved in the 11th over of the innings when the umpires declined an appeal for caught behind from Hilfenhaus, judging a low edge had not carried to the wicketkeeper Brady Jones.Tasmania’s captain George Bailey remonstrated over the decision at some length, and the incident may have affected the hosts’ composure as Hussey and Matthew Wade added 150 critical runs, the Bushrangers’ gloveman completing a fine double following his first innings 108.Hussey’s eventual departure, lofting the part-time spin of Nick Kruger to long off, heralded another twist to the day, as the final seven wickets went down for 30 runs. Hilfenhaus claimed five wickets, his first such haul since 2008.The Tigers openers Ed Cowan and Steven Cazzulino reached 0 for 23 by the close, leaving Tasmania with some chance of claiming the outright points they require to build momentum after a poor start to the Shield campaign.

John Wright, the New Zealand coach, has slammed his side’s batting performance at the Gabba, but said there would not be any changes to the top order for the second Test in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2011John Wright, the New Zealand coach, has slammed his side’s batting performance at the Gabba, but said there would not be any changes to the top order for the second Test in Hobart. None of New Zealand’s top five managed a half-century in the Brisbane defeat, and in both innings the first five wickets had fallen with less than 100 on the board.It was only through some later fight from Dean Brownlie and Daniel Vettori that a respectable total was posted in the first innings, while the second effort of 150 was especially disappointing. The backup batsman in the squad is BJ Watling but he is unlikely to come in to the mix for the Bellerive Test, which starts on Friday.”The batting line-up that we chose in the last Test deserves that opportunity [to redeem themselves] but we’re all on notice,” Wright said at the Allan Border Field. New Zealand trained at the venue on what should have been the fifth day of the Test on Monday, following their nine-wicket loss to Michael Clarke’s Australians.It was not only the lack of runs that was disappointing for New Zealand but also the way key batsmen departed. Jesse Ryder’s dismissal in the second innings, when he lifted Nathan Lyon limply to mid-off, was woeful, and he was one of several culprits who succumbed to poor judgment in the first innings as well.”What I’m looking for is substance in out batters, the ability to bat for a long time and sell your wicket dearly. All these players are talented, they can play shots, but we need to value spending time at the wicket,” Wright said. “One of the main problems in the last match was that we didn’t look like we knew where the off-stump was.”The young debutant [James Pattinson] bowled well – he had five wickets by the third or fourth over [he bowled on the last day], so it happened rather quickly – but he’s the same bowler we played in the lead-up match and played [him] quite well, so it can be fixed. That’s what we’re trying to do in the next three days.”There are signs that if we can put runs on the board and catch accurately we can put Australia under a lot of pressure.”It is a worrying theme for Wright, who took over as coach at the end of last year. In his first Test in charge, New Zealand collapsed for 110 against Pakistan and last month they were 36 for 3 against Zimbabwe. There might not be any changes for the next match, but Wright and his fellow selector Kim Littlejohn cannot tolerate such poor starts for long.”This is only my fourth Test with the group,” Wright said. “We haven’t played a lot of Test cricket. You need to look at the way we play Test cricket and the kind of player we need particularly in the batting department, and the approach you need to take to Test cricket to be successful.”It is the third top-order collapse in the four matches we’ve played, and to be honest Zimbabwe were a far weaker opposition. In the two Tests against Pakistan and here in Australia our top order haven’t delivered. We need to sort that out with players of substance, players who have the technique and the determination. In Test cricket unless you can bat four sessions consistently, every time you go to the wicket you’re going to be punished.”It was that inability to stay with the Australians that cost New Zealand in Brisbane, where they spent the first two days on a reasonably level footing. Wright said the bowlers had played their part, but had been let down by poor catching and a lack of runs to work with.”We need to go to Bellerive, we need to bat and catch, we need to see vast improvement in those areas particularly,” he said. “I think we have the bowling attack, if we catch accurately, to put Australia under pressure provided we have enough runs.”

England Lions coasted to victory in the second one-dayer to square the series against Bangladesh.

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2012
ScorecardStuart Meaker took four wickets as England Lions coasted to victory in the second one-dayer to square the series against Bangladesh A. Meaker helped bowl the hosts out cheaply before Jonny Bairstow’s half-century saw the Lions home with 12 overs to spare.Bairstow’s 50 not out from 65 balls was the mainstay of the chase in an unbroken partnership of 70 with Jos Buttler, who made 41 not out.The chase began badly with the Lions slipping to 23 for 2. Jason Roy was bowled first ball of the innings and Joe Root fell for 5 in the sixth over. James Vince and captain James Taylor got the Lions’ reply moving with a stand of 48 before Bairstow completed the win.The Lions’ bowlers set up the victory with an early burst that saw only one of Bangladesh’s top seven make double figures. Stuart Meaker bowled Rony Talukder with the fourth ball of the match and also cleaned up captain Raqibul Hasan for 2. Danny Briggs also picked up two cheap wickets as Bangladesh A were reduced to 59 for 6.Nazimuddin held things together and reached 50 of 96 balls with five fours. He added eight more boundaries, including four sixes in an unbeaten 99. Suhrawadi Shuvo made the second top score with 20 from 27 balls.Dolar Mahmud’s 17 contributed to the only meaningful partnership of the innings, dominated by Nazimuddin. The pair added 81 in 16 overs to prevent the innings from complete destruction. But Simon Kerrigan had Mahmud caught by Roy and Meaker returned to take the last two wickets.

Duleep Mendis, the chairman of selectors for Sri Lanka, has said the team is going through a period of transition and needs to be given time to start performing consistently

Tariq Engineer in Colombo06-Jan-2012Duleep Mendis, the chairman of selectors for Sri Lanka, has said the team is going through a period of transition and needs to be given time to start performing consistently. Sri Lanka’s victory over South Africa in Durban in December 2011 was their first in Tests for 18 months, and the team had faced plenty of criticism during their barren run. However, Mendis said it was only a matter of time before the team came together.”You need to develop the spinners,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “You need to develop the fast bowlers. Now Rangana Herath is becoming a good bowler. Even for the seamers, you need to give them a little time to play matches and to get wickets. They should know how to get 20 wickets.”You need to give them time. You need to give them matches. Then only will you gradually become successful.”When Kumar Sangakkara resigned as captain after the 2011 World Cup, he said it was to give Sri Lanka a chance to start planning for the 2015 tournament, and Mendis confirmed that the selectors were looking at player development in that context. Their strategy, he said, was to blood young players in the limited-over formats first, and then in Tests.”What we thought was we will put more emphasis on the youngsters in the T20 games and some of the one-day games. Then even in the Test team, we thought, whenever possible, we will introduce some of the youngsters into the side and see how they perform.”Since Sri Lanka’s loss to India in the World Cup final on April 2, 2011, eight Sri Lanka players made their debuts in Test cricket, four in one-day cricket and five in T20 internationals.According to Mendis, the key trait the players needed to develop was the mental strength to cope with the demands of top-level cricket. “You need a lot of mental coaching. You come to Test level and what you need is mental strength. You have learned the technical aspects of the game already, so you need the mental strength to go through difficult times, and to come out of the difficult times.”One of the main criticisms Sri Lanka faced over the last year and a half has been their bowling attack’s lack of incisiveness, but Mendis said the pace department was shaping up well. “I would say the pace attack is not a problem. We are going with Dilhara [Fernando], who is clocking 140kph, Chanaka Welegedara, who is bowling well, Dhammika Prasad and Thisara Perera.”At the same time, he said there was room for improvement and that there was a problem in the spin department but “with a lot of experience gained on these tours, they will come into a position where they can become match-winners.”To ease the transition, and to cope with any injury problems, Mendis said the selectors had earmarked a group of 10 bowlers and a similar number of batsmen as players with the potential to play for the national side. “Some of them are performing well in the A team,” he said. “Some of them are performing well with some of the other teams and the best are in the national team.”Sri Lanka’s defeat of South Africa in Durban came after they received a three-day hammering in Centurion. According to Mendis, that defeat would have rankled the side and motivated them to prove themselves in the next game. “When you get beaten in one game, you want to do well in the next game; just to make a comeback and show that you can do much better than the other side. It was a good team effort to beat South Africa in South Africa for the first time.”To beat any country away is something to talk about and especially to beat South Africa for the first time in South Africa, it was a great victory.”What Mendis wanted to see is the team producing those kinds of results on a regular basis. “You need a lot of encouragement for the players and you need to put them on the right path, but more than anything else, I always emphasise, you need a lot of mental strength.”

Chris Gayle’s quickfire century on the first day was just the start the Bangladesh Premier League wanted

Mohammad Isam10-Feb-2012When Brendon McCullum hit that brutal 158* four years ago, he gave the Indian Premier League some cricketing cred, to match the marketing hype, on its opening day. With the Bangladesh Premier League positioned as a mini-IPL, Chris Gayle’s 101* in its first game, naturally demanded comparison.But more than just some cricketing legitimacy, especially after the awful opening ceremony the day before, the poor turnout at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday and a general lack of big Twenty20 stars, it provided BPL a lift it so dearly needs despite the organisers’ blanket marketing in the build-up.With the minimum ticket prices set at a high Tk 500 (approx $6), some fans were bond to be deterred (though it has been reduced to Tk 200 from the second day). The opening ceremony too — three hours long and reflecting very little of local culture was criticised by the media and lampooned on social networks – was another major deterrent.That only a few stands filled up on what is a weekly holiday was staggering when one considers that an important club game still brings a crowd to the Mirpur venue. But Gayle certainly enjoyed himself, so too those who turned up as they were treated to some superb hitting by the Jamaican, who took just 44 balls to reach his century for Barisal Burners, beating his previous best (46-ball ton for Royal Challengers Bangalore).The Sylhet Royals batsmen first got the crowd going with a few sixes in their 165 for 4. Gayle then kept the volume up. He made the fans wait 16 deliveries before striking two sixes in a row off a Scott Styris over that cost 27 runs. From then on, Ahmed Shehzad, who had hit the first six of the innings off Rubel Hossain, let Gayle do all the talking.After another six off Styris, Gayle found Peter Trego’s gentle pace to his liking, hammering the Sylhet captain over long-on three times, one higher than the next. Twenty-three runs came off that tenth over and Alok Kapali was given the same treatment in his first. Two more consecutive sixes high over long-off, before legspinner Noor Hossain served up a long hop that was duly deposited into the mid-wicket stands; hitting the grandstand roof.”The bowler was probably under a bit more pressure. I think that’s what actually happened to get a long hop,” said Gayle after the chase was wrapped up in less than an hour. “I would have taken the chance, regardless. Five runs left, legspinner came on. I knew I got a chance. Glad I didn’t miss out on it.”The BPL is glad it didn’t miss out on Gayle, even if it is for only five days, which could provide the league enough momentum for the next two weeks.