All posts by csb10.top

Sanath Jayasuriya has been overlooked for Sri Lanka’s four-day warm-up game against Sussex at Hove, starting tomorrow, and is therefore a doubt for the second Test at Edgbaston next week.Jayasuriya, who recently reversed his decision to retire from Test cricket, met up with the squad during the Lord’s Test and had been expected to slot quickly back into the side.But Sri Lanka’s achievement in saving the first Test has changed the management’s strategy. Upul Tharanga, who made a composed half-century, is guaranteed a place in the starting line-up, but both Michael Vandort and Jehan Mubarak are expected to compete for the second opener’s slot.At the age of 26 and 25 respectively, they are a full decade younger than Jayasuriya, and consequently form part of Sri Lanka’s long-term strategy.”We need to be playing the guys who are fronting up tomorrow,” said Sri Lanka’s coach, Tom Moody. “They need the opportunity to find some form and prepare them for the Test match.”Sanath is very much a part of our plans depending on the conditions going into the second and third Tests. You just don’t know what the form, fitness and all those things are going to be.”All we are concentrating on now is working very hard with a young and exciting squad in a transitional period. As long as we are patient and show faith in these young players the future of Sri Lanka cricket is in good shape.”With a ten-day gap between Lord’s and Edgbaston, the game against Sussex is important for Sri Lanka’s top-order batsmen to keep their momentum going. Sri Lanka are therefore likely to play their full batting line up barring Tillakaratne Dilshan who is being rested because of a mild hamstring injury.”It’s a crucial game for us because it is important that we continue the positive momentum we’ve taken from Lord’s into this game,” added Moody. “Hopefully we will get some very good practice ahead of what’s going to be an important second Test.”Moody added that Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas would also be rested because of the heavy workload they will be asked to do for the rest of the tour. Nuwan Zoysa and Lasith Malinga, who missed out at Lord’s, are likely to get an opportunity to impress.”We need to see who the form bowler is,” added Moody, “because we want to win the second Test and we need to take 20 wickets.”Sri Lanka team v Sussex (probable) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Jehan Mubarak, 3 Michael Vandort, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Lasith Malinga, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Malinga Bandara, 11 Farveez Maharoof.

New Zealand’s abbreviated season was confirmed today with Stephen Fleming’s side hosting only two Tests and eight one-day internationals in 2006-07. Sri Lanka’s tour begins in November and also includes a couple of Twenty20 matches, which were scheduled ahead of a third Test, and Australia will visit for the Chappell-Hadlee Series in February.The downscaled itinerary comes as the country focuses on limited-overs fixtures to prepare for the World Cup. “The amount of Test cricket scheduled in the next 18 months is minimal and we believe it is more beneficial to concentrate on the one-day game as we lead into the World Cup and prepare for the Twenty20 World Cup,” Martin Snedden, the New Zealand Cricket chief executive, said. “The decision to play two Twenty20 matches in place of an extra Test against Sri Lanka was made both for climatic reasons and because the Twenty20 format has more potential to develop players.”Snedden said the “risk” of a three-Test series before Christmas was “too great”. “The weather tends to be unsettled at this time of year,” he said, “and playing the extra Test would have meant the first match was played in late November.”Hamilton’s Seddon Park returns to the international fixture list after a one-year absence due to pitch and outfield conditions and will host the third match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series. Queenstown has been pencilled in as the venue for the second contest of the Sri Lanka series, but Snedden said some “outstanding issues” had to be resolved.New Zealand v Sri Lanka
1st Test, December 7-11, Christchurch
2nd Test, December 15-19, Wellington
Twenty20, December 22, Wellington
Twenty20, December 26, Auckland
1st ODI, December 28, Napier
2nd ODI, December 31, Queenstown (to be confirmed)
3rd ODI, January 2, Christchurch
4th ODI, January 6, Auckland
5th ODI, January 9, Hamilton
Chappell-Hadlee Series
1st ODI, February 16, Wellington
2nd ODI, February 18, Auckland
3rd ODI, February 20, Hamilton

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out

It was a little over a year ago that Steve Harmison raced into Australia at Lord’s; smacked Justin Langer on the head; tore a gash in Ricky Ponting’s cheek and generally bowled like a demon. Though England lost that encounter, his performance ignited England’s summer. In a similar fashion, Harmison’s remarkable spell of 6 for 19 today, in the second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford, has not only put England in command but rather suggested their summer has finally begun.Before this Test his name littered the back pages, or wherever it is English cricket’s status lies in the dailies at the moment, with rallying cries and calls for him to “come to the party”. On a pitch which was rightly suspected to be seriously greasy, Harmison was at his most lethal, gaining prodigious tennis-ball-like bounce with which no Pakistan batsmen could cope. He began with three maidens – as if to emphasise his excitement at what might be in store, or his delight at Andrew Strauss losing the toss – before tearing in like a well-oiled steam engine.Pakistan’s curious decision to promote Kamran Akmal to No. 2, in place of Salman Butt, lasted a mere six overs as Harmison firstly removed Imran Farhat before Akmal edged him straight to Marcus Trescothick at first slip. Geraint Jones did his utmost to unsettle Trescothick by leaping salmon-like in front of him but, for once, the crowd sighed in relief instead of pity that the England wicketkeeper didn’t get a glove to it.At the other end, Harmison received brilliant support from Matthew Hoggard. The overcast, muggy conditions in Manchester favoured his outswing as he bent the ball markedly, and provided the perfect foil to Harmison’s vicious lifters. Inevitably, perhaps, Mohammad Yousuf – double centurion at Lord’s last week and owner of the most impenetrable of defences – took the attack to England. Together with the recalled Younis Khan the pair put on 81 combative runs for the third wicket. Younis was particularly impressive against Hoggard, countering his swing by planting a heavy front foot doggedly down the pitch and check-driving him down the ground.

Effective and nasty though Harmison was, it was Monty Panesar who made the breakthrough when, in the penultimate over before lunch, he induced Yousuf into a lackadaisical cut shot which Jones gobbled, this time, with no mistake. England were the happier side at lunch, but it was Harmison’s spell after the interval which made the difference to the day. In a breathless 45 minutes Pakistan capitulated to lose six for 26, with four wickets falling to a menacing Harmison.A rip-snorting delivery rising up dangerously into Inzamam-ul-Haq’s throat was fended to Pietersen, whose butter fingers of 2005 were today replaced with buckets (he took three fine catches and effected a run-out). Shahid Afridi briefly threatened to blitz a quick hundred, as he is prone to do, but fell foul of Panesar’s impressive guile and was beaten in the flight. Abdul Razzaq and Mohammad Sami were mere rabbits in the headlights, and Harmison mowed them down to record his first five-for since Lord’s last year. It was a quite fabulous spell of bowling: effortlessly fast, and at times unplayable.Interestingly, Hoggard went wicketless. Without the height and subsequent bounce which his team-mate Harmison extracts, and even despite the copious swing he gained, his skiddier bowling wasn’t suited to the pitch in much the same way as it didn’t suit Pakistan’s attack.The visitors bowled too wide – and criminally so given the meagre total they were defending. Though they picked up two wickets – and in truth it must be noted that the luck was not with them in the evening session – England were determined and confident, even swashbuckling at times. It was Strauss, after losing Trescothick early, who initially anchored England’s reply with a beautifully crafted 42 which demonstrated a man acutely aware of his responsibility.However Razzaq, who bowled poorly all afternoon, took advantage of Strauss’s loss in concentration when play had to be held up as the sun reflected off an open window. Upon the resumption, he was enticed into nibbling at a little off-cutter. Alastair Cook then enhanced his reputation as a ridiculously level-headed youngster with a sweetly-struck unbeaten 65, taking him past 500 Test runs in the process and handing England a vital lead of 49. With Pietersen at the crease, even despite a pitch which is by no means a five-dayer, the lead tomorrow morning ought to be built upon in a hurry.Before the Test Strauss spoke of his desire to rekindle the passion and energy England showed last summer. After a brilliant bowling display and a promising show with the bat, it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t succeeded.

How they were out

EnglandMarcus Trescothick c Akmal b Sami 5 (30 for 1)
Andrew Strauss c Akmal b Razzaq 42 (95 for 2)
PakistanImran Farhat c Pietersen b Harmison 0 (4 for 1)
Kamran Akmal c Trescothick b Harmison 4 (9 for 2)
Mohammad Yousuf c Jones b Panesar 38 (90 for 3)
Younis Khan c Collingwood b Harmison 44 (93 for 4)
Faisal Iqbal c Jones b Panesar 3 (93 for 5)
Inzamam-ul-Haq c Pietersen b Harmison 0 (93 for 6)
Shahid Afridi c Pietersen b Panesar 15 (112 for 7)
Mohammad Sami c Strauss b Harmison 1 (113 for 8)
Abdul Razzaq b Harmison 9 (118 for 9)
Danish Kaneria run out 0 (119 all out)

Rahul Dravid pronounced himself satisfied after the Indian team’s three-day stint at the Pegasus Institute of Learning in Doddaballapur, about 60km away from Bangalore. The facility, which stresses on the Outward Bound Learning experience, is often used by executives of various companies, and Dravid said that the team had benefited from the experience.”From our perspective, it was a chance to go out and do some physical activity but more importantly the activities we did over the last three days challenged us mentally as well,” he said. “You had to use your mental capabilities to complete tasks and it also involved a lot of team work to get the job done. It gave us a chance to get away from it all. Not many boys have the opportunity to train and be on their own without a lot of people around them, without having the press constantly photographing them.”Dravid suggested that the gains from such an exercise would be seen more in the long run. “Every camp has that element which is directed towards the short-term, in this case the triangular series [in Sri Lanka]. We have used this camp to give people some new experiences and new opportunities.”The challenge for us is not only about helping them grow as cricketers but also to help them grow as people with some of these opportunities that we give them. Let’s be honest, nothing we do in one day or two days, like yoga or going out and doing something, will change anything overnight but it gives you something new to think about, it gives you an opportunity to experience something that you wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.”The team lived in tents, with mobile phones switched off from 8am to 8:30pm, and did several exercises that the armed forces use as part of their training. Dravid said that the focus had been on strengthened team bonds, despite criticism from former greats that such endeavours were merely superficial. “I think sometimes in a cricket set-up, there are certain experienced players and certain less experienced players but when we go out in a group like this and do these activities, you know everyone is equal,” he said. “I mean, I have no more or no less experience than a Sreesanth and Tendulkar has no more or no less experience than a Munaf Patel when it comes to the things we did there. Everyone starts on a equal footing and hopefully the boys will gain something out of this.”Most of the activities we did there were something which none of the guys had done before. I have seen some reports that we did rock-climbing and rafting and all that but we didn’t do any of that. Maybe if we had stayed for a week, we might have been climbing Everest with the way things get exaggerated. It’s a set-up which has army drills and the physical aspect of it is something that we as athletes can do, but it also challenges you mentally to finish the task.”When asked if Sachin Tendulkar, on the comeback trail after surgery on a torn shoulder muscle, had struggled with any aspects of the camp, Dravid said: “Sachin responded well and he did everything that was asked of him. Obviously we had our physio to advise us in case anything we did had a risky element in it but he participated in every single thing we did there. He was very keen and looks in very good shape. More importantly, he looks in a very good state of mind and that is most important to me.”With yoga, tai-chi, a swim and gym work scheduled for later in the day, Dravid stressed that none of these could be see as a magic formula. “If you did one session of yoga, you are not going to change the world or your body,” he said. “But it is just a new experience. The NCA has been using tai-chi and they have had some good reports about it so we wanted to experience it. I have had no prior experience and I am looking forward to the session today. Everything benefits but you have to do it continuously. It is up to individuals.”All the talk had been of team bonding, but according to Dravid, that was hardly dependent on climbing exercises or life in the great outdoors. “It was a nice experience to stay in tents and do new things but team bonding does happen when we are playing, when we are at the camp, when we are at the nets. It did happen here too but that was not the primary thing. I think we are pretty confident about the way the team is shaping up. We didn’t go there just to bond but we went there to give the guys something new.”Dravid emphasised that there was more to fitness than an experiment like this, and added that the cricket-skills camp which starts on August 6 would be just as vital in the build-up to Sri Lanka. “Going away for three days will not improve our fitness amazingly. All these things are experiences which you have to do constantly. It takes hours and years for athletes to reach the level that they want to reach. Cricket skills start on the 6th and we will have more match simulated situations, centre-wicket practices and there will be five days in Sri Lanka as well. There will be a practice match and four practice sessions. The boys really respond well to centre-wicket practice because they are used to the nets all the time.”When asked if he would recommend that such camps be used again in future, Dravid’s response was cautious. “It depends on situations and what we are trying to achieve. It did help us in the last three days and in the future if we come across a situation in which something like this might help us then we might do it again. For all you know it could also be something different.”People should understand that these are just tools to help people think differently. For instance, you can go out and study and get a B.Com degree but can you quantify how it helped you. It is not easy to quantify. I can tell you honestly that with more experience I have become a more confident player but I can’t tell you honestly that it helped me score 1000 more runs or helped me win one more series.”You cannot say that they have done tai-chi, so now they will win the Sri Lankan series.”

One can quite understand why there is so much fierce competition to administer cricket in Sri Lanka. In the next six months, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) coffers will be boosted by as much as US $ 9.17 million when they participate in two ICC tournaments.The SLC is set to receive one million dollars as participation allowance (formerly known as guarantee fees) for next month’s Champions Trophy in India. For next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean, they will benefit to the tune of an additional $8.17 million. SLC sources told that 25 percent of this figure will be paid to the cricketers, 25 percent utilised for SLC expenses and the balance used for cricket development.Meanwhile, newly appointed secretary of the SLC interim committee M Mathivanan said that from the 2006-07 domestic season, cricketers of the 14 division one-clubs playing in the Premier League (Segment A) and limited-overs tournaments will receive a 300 percent pay hike.”A player can earn upto between Rs. 127,000 to Rs. 140,000 a season playing in these two competitions,” said Mathivanan. “This is in comparison to the Rs. 40,000-Rs. 50,000 they have been getting in the past. As the clubs have been reduced from 20 to 14 we are able to give this increase. We have done this to ensure that there is more quality and competition in the tournament. We want to make it as professional as possible.”With a personnel of close to 40 cricketers working for him at East West Marketing, Mathivanan revealed that only around 40 percent of the 210 players who are playing in the Premier division are employed. The rest, he said, depended largely on the income they derive from the clubs they represent and the league cricket they play in England. With the SLC having plans to prune down the number of clubs playing in the Premier division further to ten for the 2007-08 season, an increase in payments for the players is on the cards, he added.The groupings for the 2006-07 Premier League season, which commences on November 10, are:Segment A: (Group A): SSC, Ragama CC, Bloomfield, BRC, NCC, Panadura SC, Saracens. (Group B): Chilaw Marians, Colts, CCC, Tamil Union, Moors SC, Badureliya CC, Sebastianites.Segment B: Galle CC, Singha SC, Police SC, Kurunegala YCC, Air Force, Lankan CC, Army SC.The bottom five clubs from Segment A will be demoted to play in Segment B, while the Segment B winner will be promoted to Segment A for the 2007-08 season. The 2006-07 season commences with the Premier one-day limited-overs tournament on November 1. Matches will be played every Wednesday of the week.

Craig White has stepped down as Yorkshire captain following their survival in the first division. Their top-flight future was confirmed with a draw against Durham and While decided it was the right time to stand aside.”Now is the appropriate moment to go. I led Yorkshire to promotion last season and we have stayed up this year,” he said. “I am proud of my record and will support to the hilt whoever takes over.”White has one year left on his contract and the favourite to replace him is his predecessor Anthony McGrath, who gave up the captaincy when he was first selected by England. However, his international days now appear behind him and he would bring plenty of experience to the role.Another former England player, Richard Dawson, will have to find a new county for next summer after being released from Headingley. The emergence of Adil Rashid and Mark Lawson, the legspinners, has meant Dawson was languishing in the second team for the latter half of the season.Stewart Regan, the chief executive, said Dawson’s salary was unsustainable for a player not in the first team.

Scorecard
Martin Love has left behind a poor start to his season and smashed 186 – including 105 in a session – to put Queensland in control of their Pura Cup match against Western Australia at the WACA. Love, James Hopes and Matthew Hayden combined to help Queensland smash 414 runs on day two, leaving them at 7 for 480 in reply to the Warriors’ 208.Love struggled to find his rhythm in the first session, scoring 28 before lunch as Hayden (76) blitzed the bowlers, but he turned on a show in the second in which he plundered 22 boundaries. When he was finally caught behind off the part-time bowling of Michael Hussey, Love had hit 35 fours and one six, and become Queensland’s most prolific batsman with 27 centuries – one more than Matthew Hayden – and 10,084 runs.Love’s 186 came after he accumulated only 15 in his first four innings of the season. His comeback from poor form echoed last year, when he had averaged 14.88 in his nine previous innings and then scored 106 and 50 in a Queensland victory at the WACA. This season’s effort could not have come at a better time for the Bulls, who are on the bottom of the Pura Cup table with two losses.Hopes partnered Love in a 143-run stand and made 90 from 89 deliveries before he became Brad Hogg’s fourth victim. Hogg continued the new trend of spinners being the leading wicket-takers for Western Australia, finishing the day with 4 for 95.Chris Hartley (32 not out) and Andy Bichel (26 not out) added 52 before stumps as the Warriors’ pace attack struggled to break partnerships. After returning from the Champions Trophy in India, Shane Watson, who made 0, and Andrew Symonds (3) were the only Queensland batsmen to fail.

Scorecard
Tejinder Pal Singh and Shreyas Khanolkar hit centuries and shared a 161-run partnership to propel Railways to a commanding position at the end of first day’s play in Delhi. Six bowlers were used but the runs came at a frenetic pace as the duo peppered 33 boundaries between them. Railways had yielded two first-innings points to Assam in the previous round while Goa lost their first match.
Scorecard
Abid Nabi and Vijay Sharma snared seven victims between them as J&K dismissed Services for 208 before reaching 79 for 1 at the end of the day’s play in New Delhi. While Nabi came back in his second spell to rock the top order, after Services had run away to 81 for 1, Vijay Sharma harassed the lower-middle order.
Scorecard
Powered by a 110-run partnership between Jagadeesh Arunkumar and Chandan Rawat, Assam ended the opening day on a healthy 247 for 3. Arunkumar joined Rawat at 62 for 2 and slowly lifted Assam to a commanding position. It was a patient effort from the two: While Rawat took 179 balls for his 70 Arunkumar spent 253 minutes and faced 181 balls for his unbeaten 83. Sreekumar Nair got the breakthrough when he foxed Rawat but Arunkumar found an ally in Nishanta Bordoloi and steered the side to stumps without any further damage.
Scorecard
Pritam Gandhe grabbed a five-for as Vidarbha bowled out Madhya Pradesh for 221 before reaching 10 without losing any wicket by close of play on the opening day in Nagpur. With Gandhe bowling 27 overs, Harshal Shitoot rotated the bowlers, using as many as eight bowlers. Three batsmen got starts but failed to carry on and that hurt MP.
Scorecard
Patient half-centuries from Manish Vardhan and Rajiv Kumar saw Jharkhand creep to 180 for 6 on a turgid day’s play in Cuttack. Debasis Mohanty impressed for Orissa, picking up three wickets in 19 overs. Pravanjan Mullick, the captain, employed spin for 35 overs and though they picked up just one wicket, they kept the pressure on giving away only 69 runs.
Scorecard
Himachal Pradesh rode on a century from Paras Dogra to reach a comfortable 264 for 6 at the end of the opening day’s play in Dharamsala. Dogra was involved in hundred-plus partnerships with Sangram Singh and Maninder Bisla and lifted HP from a wobbly 43 for 2 to a healthy 245 for 3. Then Tripura struck back removing Bisla and Dogra in quick succession and picked up one more wicket to end the day on a fighting note.

Dr Roland Toppin has been appointed the new chief executive of the West Indies cricket board (WICB) and will take up his position on February 1, 2007. He fills the vacancy left by Roger Braithwaite who stepped down in April.Toppin said: “Having followed, with interest, the progress of West Indies cricket from as far as I can remember, I consider it a great honour to have been chosen as CEO of the WICB at this critical time and I will do all in my power to put the policies in place which will ultimately lead to the return of the West Indies cricket team to the top of the world standings.”Toppin is currently the general manager of Duraplast Inc in Barbados, a recycling company which manufactures roofing tiles. He is a member of the Barbados Cricket Association and played first division cricket.He will take up his new role in time for the World Cup, which is being held in the Caribbean in March and April 2007.

Ryan Watson will miss Scotland’s Intercontinental Cup match against UAE in Sharjah next month, but his hopeful he will be back in time for the triangular ODI series with Kenya and Canada in Mombasa.He was struck in the face while he top edged an attempted hook in the first ODI against Bangladesh last week. He underwent surgery in Dundee earlier this week to repair a fractured cheekbone and eye socket.”I’m told it’s a four-to-six-week healing process after the operation,” he said, “so at best I am looking at being back for the tri-series in Kenya.”