All posts by csb10.top

Victor Trumper will have a permanent place on the SCG’s old hill after the new grandstand was named after him in a ceremony at the ground on Thursday. Trumper was described by Rodney Cavalier, the SCG Trust chairman, as the “the finest Test cricketer Australia has produced”.”His peers did not have a bad word to say of him in life or death,” Cavalier said. “None who saw Victor Trumper conceded they ever saw his equal.”So good was Trumper that cricket writers, attempting to make an assessment of just how good was the Bradman boy from Bowral, dared to compare Don Bradman to Vic Trumper. No other superlative worked, not while the memory of Vic had living witnesses.”Trumper was a graceful batsman who played 48 Tests between 1899 and 1912, scoring 3163 runs at an average of 39.04. At 37, three years after finishing his international career, he died of kidney disease.He beat a field that included the Waugh brothers and Richie Benaud for the naming rights to the $70m stand, which will be completed in December and be ready for Australia’s Test against South Africa on January 3. The extra 8,700 seats will lift the capacity to 47,000.Trumper was born in Darlinghurst, not far from the SCG, and had strong links to the other sports that have been contested at the stadium. “If Trumper had only ever played cricket, his deeds on the field of play alone qualify him for the name ahead of all others,” Cavalier said. “Consider then that Vic played representative games of rugby union and Australian football on our ground.”He was good enough at Australian football that he could well have played for the Swans if that possibility had existed.” He was also a founder of rugby league, which is celebrating its centenary this year.In Trumper’s Almanack obituary it said he was great under all conditions of weather and ground. “He could play quite an orthodox game when he wished to, but it was his ability to make big scores when orthodox methods were unavailing that lifted him above his fellows.”

Sourav Ganguly has brushed off suggestions of his retirement after being left out of India’s preliminary squad of 30 for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan in September.”I’ve been out of India’s one-day team for the last three months and I am not going to play one-dayers for the next three. So I’m not thinking about ODIs at the moment,” Ganguly told reporters in Kolkata. “I’m concentrating on Tests and the upcoming Sri Lanka series.”I’m still enjoying cricket,” he said, “and as long as I do that, I’m not going to hang up my boots.”One of the challenges ahead would be facing Ajantha Mendis, who rattled India’s ODI team with figures of 6 for 13 in the Asia Cup final in Karachi. Mendis is also contracted with the Indian Premier League’s Kolkata Knight Riders, captained by Ganguly.”He [Mendis] is an excellent prospect. Has a lot of variety,” Ganguly said. “But I have faced him in the nets when he came here to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Also, players like Sachin [Tendulkar], Rahul [Dravid], [VVS] Laxman are very good against spin bowling.”I’m doing some home work to counter his bowling,” Ganguly said. “I have special plans for him. We have to read him off the hand. It will be too late if you start picking him off the wicket.”Watching him on TV, I got the impression that he relies more on change of pace … his legspinner doesn’t turn much.” Ganguly also pointed out Sri Lanka had Muttiah Muralitharan in their ranks. “But I think Murali would be a bigger threat. He has variation and pace and can turn the ball a mile. He is in a different league altogether.”On Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to sit out of the Test series in Sri Lanka, Ganguly said: “It’s his personal decision. Being the captain and a wicketkeeper-batsman, Dhoni takes a lot of pressure. So it’s natural to feel fatigued. But very few cricketers can afford to take a break.”I don’t remember pulling out of a Test series because of fatigue when I was the captain,” he said. “It also depends on your position in the side; I’m sure not many players, with a place in the side not guaranteed, will be able to do that. I know only one player who has been able to do it successfully — Sachin Tendulkar.”Ganguly, though, played down the IPL factor. “I don’t think it opens up the IPL versus country debate.” He also disagreed with the view that ODI cricket was on the decline thanks to Twenty20. “I was in England recently. I went to watch a one-dayer between New Zealand and England. It was a full house.”So I don’t think people don’t like ODIs anymore. I’m sure when the ODI format returns to India, we’ll see the same packed house as it was earlier.”

Match facts

Saturday June 21, 2008
Start time 10.45 (9.45GMT)

Big Picture

England’s bristling one-day form hit a stumbling block at Edgbaston, escaping with a no-result in the second ODI, largely thanks to the faintly ridiculous regulation of having a needless 30-minute interval in between innings. Happily for New Zealand, and the public, such tomfoolery has been nipped in the bud by the ICC to allow the umpires the authority to decrease the interval if the first innings is interrupted. New Zealand were robbed, and showed a far improved effort after the first ODI – particularly in their fielding. Brendon McCullum brought out his calm alter ego in Birmingham, guiding New Zealand almost to the finishing line. For all their confidence this season, it has been England’s inconsistency which has characterised their one-day cricket in the past few years, and they will need to be on their guard against a New Zealand team still smarting from their poor luck two days ago.

Form guide

England NWLTW (most recent first)
New Zealand NLWTL

Watch out for

Luke Wright Members at Hove can testify to Wright’s fearlessness, but England fans have had to wait a while. He cracked a fifty at The Oval on debut last summer but has since lacked fluency – until, that is, on Wednesday at Edgbaston with a brisk 52. Inventive at the crease and not afraid to hit inside out, he smote Michael Mason for 4-4-6 in one over – the second maximum heaved over midwicket with the authority of Steve Waugh. Peter Moores knows Wright’s worth from their time at Sussex, and if both he and Ian Bell can fire in the same innings, Alastair Cook might have played his last one-dayer for a while.Grant Elliott Weybridge’s loss is New Zealand’s gain. Elliott, plucked from the Surrey Championship, showed his more experienced colleagues the wisdom of bowling full and straight at Edgbaston, picking up 3 for 23 on debut. Tall, with a short, angled approach to the crease – not unlike Mark Ealham – England found him difficult to get away and he provided Daniel Vettori with control at a time when Wright was beginning to accelerate. He has huge, size 15 shoes to fill – Jacob Oram is still injured – but the initial signs are promising.

Team news

Andrew Strauss is clocking up the miles on the motorways. He has again been called into England’s squad as cover for Cook who is still struggling with a shoulder injury. More worryingly, however, Ryan Sidebottom might miss his second game in succession with a stiff back, and England haven’t yet ruled out calling up another fast bowler should he fail his fitness test at Bristol.England (possible) 1 Luke Wright, 2 Ian Bell, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Ravi Bopara, 5 Paul Collingwood (capt), 6 Owais Shah, 7 Tim Ambrose (wk), 8 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.Oram’s hamstring strain keeps him on the sidelines and his absence continues to hamper New Zealand’s balance. Nevertheless Elliott showed impressive composure at Edgbaston to cement his place for Bristol. Gareth Hopkins will keep the gloves again, allowing McCullum to free his arms and play as a batsman only. Mark Gillespie gets a game in place of Mason, the only change that New Zealand have made to their playing XI.New Zealand 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Jamie How, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Scott Styris, 5 Daniel Flynn, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Mark Gillespie.Umpires: Steve Davis and Peter Hartley

Stats and trivia

• England have only played five matches at Bristol, losing three of them – most recently against India last year.
• Paul Collingwood is the unlikely name at the top of the wickets list this series, with 5 at 7.60.
• Bristol is generally a high-scoring ground. India have twice reached the heights of 329, and (discounting Zimbabwe’s 92 in 2003) the average first-innings score at the ground is 265.

Quotes

“I think we showed in the Twenty20 and in the match in Durham how good a side we are when we play well. The boys are all confident and we all believe we’ve got a really good squad and we still have people like Andrew Flintoff to come back into that as well.”
“Everyone knows him [Brendon McCullum] as a guy who can get us off to a great start but it was a pretty composed innings and he got us into a really comfortable position. The fielding was also outstanding. Now we are riding with a little bit of confidence but we’ve got to make sure we take that to Bristol and don’t let ourselves down.”

South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, has emerged as an injury concern ahead of the third Test against England at Edgbaston on Wednesday, after picking a back injury while batting against Bangladesh A during their drawn warm-up game at Worcester last Thursday.Smith missed South Africa’s training session on Monday, and was expecting to opt out of the indoor nets on Tuesday after heavy overnight rain forced the players to cancel their pre-match middle practice. He now faces a late fitness test on the morning of the Test to determine whether he will be able to take part.”It’s been niggling me a bit and I’m obviously in a little bit of pain, so it’s just about taking precautions to make sure I’m ready for tomorrow,” said Smith. “I don’t want to do anything today that will affect tomorrow, but I’m taking treatment and improving every day, so tomorrow morning I see myself coming down early and putting in the work I need to.”Smith’s absence would be a major blow to South Africa’s hopes of sewing up their first series win in England since readmission. Dale Steyn has already been ruled out with a broken thumb. Edgbaston is a ground which harbours fond memories for Smith as well – it was here, as a 22-year-old rookie captain in 2003, that he racked up his career-best score of 277, the perfect riposte to his opposite number, Nasser Hussain, who had forgotten his name during the pre-match press conference. Hussain resigned immediately after the game as Michael Vaughan took over the reins.When asked if he was 100% sure of being fit for the Test, Smith replied: “I would like to think I am” – a statement that did not sound flushed with confidence. Should he fail his fitness test, JP Duminy is standing by to partner Neil McKenzie in a match that South Africa need only to draw to ensure a share of the series. Ashwell Prince, their form batsman of the series, would take over as captain.Nevertheless, Smith had not mislaid his sense of humour in spite of his fitness concerns. When asked how the injury had come about, he responded: “It was just something that I woke up with – maybe it’s a change of beds” – a reference to the excuse that was offered by England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson, when Ryan Sidebottom reported a stiff back during the Lord’s Test.South Africa 1 Graeme Smith/JP Duminy, 2 Neil McKenzie, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Ashwell Prince, 6 AB de Villiers, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Morne Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Andre Nel, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Australia are likely to arrive a week earlier than expected, to acclimatise ahead of the Test series. Though Cricket Australia and the Indian board are yet to confirm the dates, as per the team’s flight details, Australia will head to Jaipur and stay there till September 30.According to the original schedule, Australia were to land on September 29 and head to Hyderabad for the four-day fixture against a Board President’s XI from October 2 to 5. But before this match the visitors will play a Rajasthan side during their stay in Jaipur.A CA spokesman said they were due to spend six days in Jaipur and intended to play a practice game. “The details of who it will be against and the dates are still to be confirmed,” he said. “But we expect to play a two-day match.”The BCCI said though it was aware of the Australians’ early arrival, it was yet to receive any official confirmation from CA. “We are aware of them playing an additional practice game against an RCA team but it is not official yet”, a BCCI media spokesperson said.As reported earlier, a two-day practice game in Jaipur is slotted for September 27 and 28 against the Rajasthan Cricket Associations’s Centre of Excellence. Incidentally, Greg Chappell, who is the head at centre, and who was recently appointed the director of the Australian Academy’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, is expected to help the Australians in their preparations.

Former England coach Duncan Fletcher is poised to return to the game in an advisory role with Hampshire after the club confirmed they were in talks after appointing Giles White as team manager.”We are in discussion with Duncan Fletcher regarding a consultancy and advisory role with Hampshire,” chairman Rod Bransgrove said. “The purpose of this role is to review the structure of our cricket department and to conduct an audit of our coaching methods and procedures throughout the entire player development process. “White took temporary charge of the team in the latter stages of season after Paul Terry stepped down and Hampshire found some impressive late-season form to finish third in the Championship.”It feels great. It’s been a long six weeks and things have worked out well. I’m looking forward to doing it next year,” White said. “For me to be able to have an influence on how it goes forward, I’m very excited about that.”Bransgrove added: “Giles did a superb job as caretaker manager during the last couple of months of the season and the team has responded positively to his style and commitment. He has therefore earned the right take the position on a full-time basis and I am sure that all Hampshire supporters will wish him every success.”Fletcher had a previous spell in county cricket at Glamorgan before becoming England coach and was in charge when they won the 1997 County Championship.

Jonathan Bairstow has followed in his father’s footsteps by signing a two-year contract with Yorkshire.Bairstow, son of David, the former Yorkshire and England wicketkeeper, turned 19 in September and was the inaugural winner of the 2007 Wisden Schools’ Cricketer of the Year award. He enjoyed a fine 2008 season for Yorkshire seconds, scoring 308 runs at 61.60 in the Second XI Championship, and was understandably delighted in joining the club on a full-time basis.”It’s every Yorkshire boy’s dream to play for this club and to sign my first contract is very special,” he told Yorkshire’s website.”This is where the really hard work starts now, to move on in the professional ranks and do well enough to get into first team contention. I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead.”

The Middlesex captain, Shaun Udal, has been named the club’s skipper for 2009, the decision rubber-stamped by the county’s new director of cricket, Angus Fraser. Udal is currently in Antigua for the Stanford Super Series, as Middlesex prepare to take on England tomorrow.”He’s done a great job for us in the last couple of months and when I broke the news to Shaun today, he was very emotional and very excited,” Vinny Codrington, the Middlesex chief executive, told the club’s website. “I believe with Gus [Fraser], Toby [Radford] and Shaun we have a formidable team in charge of cricket in Middlesex, which can only bring future success.””It is an unbelievable honour to captain this great and proud club and it is my intention to return it to its glory days of years gone by,” said Udal. “I have been fortunate to have achieved a few things in my career but this is right up there with my proudest moments and I look forward to the future with great anticipation.”I was truly touched when Vinny told me the news and I can promise our supporters I will give my all to the club. I also applaud the choice of Gus Fraser [as Middlesex’s director of cricket] and look forward enormously to working closely with him.”

National Four-Day League

At the half-way point, Rajshahi and Barisal have distinguished themselves as the frontrunners. Just three points separate Barisal from table-toppers Rajshahi after both recorded comfortable wins over once-formidable opponents. Chittagong’s victory over a luckless Sylhet, meanwhile, pushed them to third – still 11 points shy of Barisal.Khulna were thrashed by eight wickets by a rampant Rajshahi in Khulna. Tushar Imran, a lone battler in his team’s fortunes in the last couple of matches, made 137 but on a typically flat track the next highest was Amit Majumder’s 33. After being put in, Khulna were shot out for 229, with left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo snaring 4 for 56. In reply, Rajshahi made 390 in their first innings, thanks to Jahurul Islam’s 130 and fifties in the middle order. Jahurul added 116 for the second wicket with Farhad Hossain (51) and then 126 with captain Anisur Rahman (67). With 4 for 64 seamer Ziaur Rahman was the pick of the Khulna bowlers. Batting again, Khulna made 213, with Shafiul Islam’s 4 for 38 doing damage. Rajshahi scored the 53 runs required in 16.4 overs.In Bogra, Barisal beat Dhaka by 118 runs. Opener Nasiruddin Faruque’s patient 109 off 264 balls helped Barisal to 230 for 4 on day one after they opted to bat, following which Dhaka came back to take six wickets for 44 the next morning. Left-arm slow bowler Elias Sunny, the first to a hat-trick this season, returned splendid figures of 30-6-63-5. Dhaka, however, were bundled out for 116, with Talha Jubair taking 4 for 30. Batting again on day two, Barisal were under pressure from Sunny (4 for 51) and Ashraful Haque (3 for 34) and could only make 146. Dhaka’s target was 305 in five sessions but, on a deteriorating pitch, they were bowled out for 186. The picture was bleak when they went into the fourth day at 182 for 8 – Jubair took 3 for 44, Saju Datta 4 for 53 – and they were polished off in 2.3 overs.In Chittagong, the home side were rattled by Sylhet’s left-armer Nabil Samad’s 8 for 69 from a marathon 38.5 overs. Bowling a tight line and getting the ball to skid on to the batsman, Samad spun out Chittagong for 293. Six of his victims were either bowled or lbw. The in-form Faisal Hossain’s 129 was the top score. Sylhet laboured to 201 for 9 with Rajin Saleh’s 43 the top score, before declaring at the start of day three. Chittagong were again indebted to Faisal, whose 69 in a poor team effort of 140 proved decisive in the end. Samad had a wily partner in fellow spinner Monir Hossain and both grabbed five-wicket hauls. Needing 233, Sylhet were relatively comfortable going into the last day on 83 for 3 but kept losing wickets and finished 53 runs short.Player of the week: Faisal Hossain’s last three innings in the NCL have been 127, 129 and 69. The left-hand opener, who has represented Bangladesh in one Test and four ODIs, has been the batting mainstay for a struggling Chittagong, hurt by the departure of Nazimuddin, Aftab Ahmed and Dhiman Ghosh to the ICL and the unavailability of Tamim Iqbal and last season’s captain Ehsanul Haque. Faisal, through his uncomplicated approach to batting, has scored runs freely in the NCL and rescued his side from potential danger in this round against Sylhet.

Ricky Ponting will have his right wrist reassessed in Melbourne on Thursday after it caused him some discomfort during the Test series against New Zealand. Ponting is not in doubt for the upcoming matches against South Africa, although a leading sports doctor said the injury could eventually shorten Ponting’s career.The claim has been rejected by Alex Kountouris, the Australia team physiotherapist. “He’s got a little bit of pain in his wrist, no more than what other players carry in other parts of their bodies,” Kountouris told AAP. “He’s really not having anything of significance that he has to miss any games. It would be ridiculous for him to miss any games or any training at this point in time.”Dr Peter Larkins said in an ideal world Ponting would have taken eight to ten weeks off to recover fully but it was likely he would be able to play on with cortisone injections. The latest niggle was believed to be caused by a stabilising screw that was put in the wrist this year.”In theory it could have an effect on his longevity because of performance being affected, in terms of grip strength, mainly for his batting,” Larkins told the . “If he is in pain and distracted by that, and it’s compromising his performances from a batsman’s point of view, his form might drop away.”The wrist has been a worry for Ponting since July, when he went home early from the West Indies tour to have surgery that repaired tissues that held a tendon in place. He missed Australia’s ODI series in Darwin eight weeks later and had regular treatment during his time in India.