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Sehwag had shown remarkable patience and application in giving India a superb start, but threw it away when he tried to go from 99 to 105

Sidharth Monga at the SSC28-Jul-2010To listen to Virender Sehwag is to realise that perhaps we take our game too seriously. That, after all is said and done, it is just a sport. Two matches in a row he has thrown away his wicket with the bowlers at his mercy. One of them became part of the reason why India find themselves 1-0 down in the series, the other hasn’t been as fatal, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar. At least that’s what it looks like now.In the second of those instances, Sehwag had shown remarkable patience and application in giving India a superb start, but threw it away when he tried to go from 99 to 105 – off the first ball he faced from Suraj Randiv today. The mind was made up to charge at the bowler, he saw a shortish delivery that he couldn’t reach, made a last-ditch effort to fetch it and drag it to the on side, and missed the straighter one. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, “Yes I read it. I knew it was the doosra, but I went for the shot.”It is not as if he is irresponsible or mindless. To suggest any of those would be unfair, and disrespectful to one of the sharper brains around. Still he gets really annoyed when all the opposition is trying to do is to contain. He fought his instinct for long durations today, and when he saw a new bowler, he perhaps saw an opportunity for a boundary: he had scored only one in the 16 previous overs.”I am disappointed,” he said. “Not because I was out on 99, but because today’s day could have been very good for us if we were one or two down. We had a great opportunity to post a big total. But thanks to Sachin Tendulkar we are back in a good situation. If we play well tomorrow then we can avoid the follow-on and also bat the whole day.”Sehwag didn’t quite panic then, at the mammoth Sri Lankan total. “Not really because the wicket is so good to bat on,” he said. “I knew somebody will make a big one. I was expecting from VVS [Laxman] and Sachin to complete the hundreds, unfortunately Laxman got out. Full praise to Suresh Raina, he batted really well and scored his fifty. I am hoping that tomorrow morning he will come and complete his hundred.”Sehwag deserves praise for the way he began yesterday himself. It wasn’t an easy job to play as aggressively as he did after having spent so much time in the field, and the debacle of the first match. “There was an opportunity if you bat for 18 overs,” he said. “You have a chance to score 50. I grabbed the opportunity and scored 60 not out, and I came today morning and tried to score a big one but unfortunately I got out.”Asked if anybody was waiting in the dressing room to pull him up after that dismissal, Sehwag said, “Probably, I have played (too) many Test matches for anybody to come and tell me I have missed a hundred. It is written there in big letters that I made 99.”Thankfully for Sehwag and India, there was Tendulkar to cover up for his error today. Asked if there was anything new to learn from Tendulkar’s batting, Sehwag is honest. “It is difficult to say what we have learned from watching him,” he says. “Everyday we listen to him in the dressing room, and that is as good as learning.”Looking at Suresh Raina batting and Tendulkar, it is difficult to say who is making debut. The big plus point is about Sachin is that whenever he gets down to play it is as if he is playing his first game.”

Yorkshire will be playing at Scarborough for at least another decade after signing a long-term agreement with the outground

Cricinfo staff25-Aug-2010Yorkshire will be playing at Scarborough for at least another decade after signing a long-term agreement with the outground.Officials from both clubs as well as the local council secured North Maine Road’s future as Yorkshire took on Hampshire in the County Championship. Last season the ground came in for some criticism for poor facilities, but recent work has ensured Yorkshire will return.”Cricket on the east coast forms an important part of the Yorkshire cricket calendar and I’m delighted that Yorkshire will be playing games here over the next decade,” Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive, said. “The ground has improved enormously over the last year, but the hard work does not end there.”We will continue to work in partnership with Scarborough CC, the local council and Welcome to Yorkshire to attract new investment so that cricket on the east coast can be preserved long after this 10-year agreement expires.”Bill Mustoe, chairman of Scarborough Cricket Club, said: “This is a big day for Scarborough Cricket Club and fully justifies the improvements we have made to the ground over the last year. I would like to particularly thank Welcome to Yorkshire who have invested time, money and a deep appreciation of what staging Yorkshire cricket matches means to the east coast region.”

Chris Simpson has been the most helpful Queensland player for Jason Floros since he moved from Canberra last year, but this season the 19-year-old is chasing his senior team-mate’s spot

Peter English30-Sep-2010Chris Simpson has been the most helpful Queensland player for Jason Floros since he moved from Canberra last year, but this season the 19-year-old is chasing his senior team-mate’s spot. Simpson’s demotion from captain has made him more of a target and opened up the field for a slow-bowling allrounder.”I’ve done a lot of one-on-one stuff with him, it’s good to see another batting allrounder in the squad that I can relate to,” Floros said. Now the mentor and the quietly spoken teenager will be battling for game time. “I guess that’s why I go to him as well, I know what I have to do to beat him for a spot.”Floros, who will play his first senior match for Queensland next Wednesday, is polite enough to admit it sounds bad, but it is the reality of professional sport. Cameron Boyce, the legspinner, will start the summer as the Bulls first-choice slow man in the Sheffield Shield, but Floros can take advantage of the changed landscape.Primarily a left-handed run-maker, Floros has been developing his offspin and is not totally sure his bowling would be an immediate success at first-class level. “I’m trying to push more as a batsman at the moment and develop my bowling as I go,” he said. “The way the game is going you are going to need two skills to push into any sort of team.”Eighteen months ago Floros was on a two-week visit to the Centre of Excellence from Canberra when he was called into the office of Trevor Barsby, the Queensland coach, and offered a rookie contract. “It’s an opportunity not many people from Canberra get,” he said. “Since then it’s been rush, rush, rush.”He was called into the squad for the Shield final in March and his 12th man duties included a couple of days in the field after James Hopes picked up a calf injury in the 457-run defeat. “It was a really good experience to get to run around the MCG in a Shield final, with a couple of thousand people cheering and heckling,” he said.This summer he hopes to debut in all three forms for the Bulls. He is on a full contract and has been boosted by his part in Australia’s Under-19 World Cup win. Floros, who returned mid-season from a broken jaw suffered in a club game, delivered valuable contributions of 35 and 1 for 19 in the final victory. “It’s definitely my biggest achievement in cricket,” he said. “It was unbelievable, nothing compares to it.”

In a move that was widely expected, Yawar Saeed has stepped down as manager of the Pakistan team, the PCB said in a statement today

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Sep-2010Yawar Saeed has stepped down as manager of the Pakistan team, as had been widely expected. The PCB announced in a brief statement that Saeed had asked the board chairman to be relieved of his duties and that Ijaz Butt had agreed.Saeed had indicated several times that Pakistan’s long tour of England would be his last. During the tour the team played two Twenty20s and two Tests against Australia, and four Tests, two Twenty20s and five ODIs against England.The tour began well, with Pakistan splitting the Tests against Australia, but became troubled following accusations of spot-fixing against Pakistan captain Salman Butt, and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif, on the last day the Lord’s Test. All three have been provisionally suspended by the ICC while it investigates the allegations.The relationship between the PCB and the ECB deteriorated over the course of the tour, culminating in the ECB threatening to take legal action over comments made by Ijaz Butt that appeared to accuse the England side of fixing as well.Saeed, whose father Mian Mohammad Saeed was Pakistan’s first-ever captain in their unofficial matches before they received Test status, has been manager of several Pakistan sides over the years, most recently last year, when he stepped down after the Champions Trophy. At the time there was speculation of differences between him and the then captain Younis Khan. But eventually, after the disastrous tour of Australia earlier this year, Saeed was convinced to return at Ijaz Butt’s request. Normally, managerial appointments are made by the PCB on a tour by tour basis and no longer than that.

Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh maintained their sang froid to get India close before the adventurous Suresh Raina sealed the win in style

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera20-Oct-2010India 292 for 5 (Kohli 118, Raina 71*, Yuvraj 58) beat Australia 289 for 3 (Clarke 111*, White 89*, Hussey 69) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsVirat Kohli’s calm century shepherded the chase•AFP

The target of 290 appeared to be stiff, especially when India were wobbling at 35 for 2 in the ninth over, but Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh maintained their sangfroid to get India close before the adventurous Suresh Raina sealed the win in style. Kohli, in particular, impressed. He not only lost Yuvraj in the 34th over with India still 118 runs adrift of the target but also, by then, was suffering from severe cramps and was forced to bat with a runner. If those hurdles fazed him, he didn’t show it and went on to clinch the game in the company of Raina.The chase mirrored Australia’s innings to an extent. Australia had also started slowly before they consolidated, courtesy of a fine 144-run partnership between Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey, to 205 for 3 from 45 overs, before exploding in the end. Australia looted 84 runs in the final five overs with Cameron White whacking 70 in his last 24 deliveries. Australia might have felt they had enough in the bank but Kohli pulled off a cool heist.Kohli’s personal big moment came in the 42nd over when he brought up his century with a crisp square-drive and screamed with glee. And the game was all but over in the 43rd over when Kohli swung Clint Mckay for two fours and a massive heaved six over long-on. After that shot, even his limp towards square leg seemed to acquire a swagger. It was indeed a special night for Kohli who has now moved ahead of Rohit Sharma in the pecking order.Kohli’s nerves, if he had any, must have eased after Raina collected 17 from the 38th over of the innings, bowled by James Hopes. He struck three fours -a glanced boundary preceded two mows to the wide midwicket boundary – to reduce the target to 81 from 12 overs. And when Raina picked up two more fours in the 40th over, India required 66 runs from the final 10 and they did it without much fuss. Though India soon lost Kohli, who holed out to long-on, and MS Dhoni, Raina guided them home.The chase stood out for India’s calm approach. They initially chose to conserve wickets and reserved their assault for the second half of the chase. At the half-way mark they had reached 117 for the loss of the openers and required another 173 runs.

Smart Stats

• The unbeaten 129-run stand between Michael Clarke and Cameron White was the highest fourth-wicket partnership for Australia against India.

• This was Michael Clarke’s fifth century in ODIs and second against India. He has remained unbeaten on four of these occasions

• Cameron White hit six sixes during his knock of 89 which was the third highest by an Australian batsman against India. He scored his last 70 runs off just 24 balls.

• The 84 runs scored off the final five overs by Australia is the third-highest last five-over aggregate since 2000.

• This was Australia’s 20th score of over 250 in the first innings in India. They have won on 17 of the previous 19 occasions.

• The 137-run partnership for the third wicket between Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh was the second-highest for India against Australia.

• This win was MS Dhoni’s 50th as captain putting him third on the list of Indian captains with most ODI wins.

As you would expect with such an asking run-rate, Kohli and Yuvraj did play a few big shots to ease the pressure. Kohli pulled the 20-year old debutant Mitchell Starc for a four before flicking and square-driving John Hastings, another debutant, for successive boundaries. Yuvraj whiplashed Hastings over midwicket, lifted Starc to the straight boundary and swept Nathan Hauritz for another four.Australia tried to keep it tight, with the seamers hitting the back of length and bowling as straight as possible. However, the errors in line and length started to creep in as the pressure increased, and with the spinners proving to be ineffective, Kohli and Yuvraj cruised along. The pitch had quickened up as the evening wore on and the ball started to come on nicely to the bat which also helped India’s cause.This change in nature of the wicket had helped Australia too at the end of their innings. It was ruthless violence in the end, but the Australian innings had three distinct phases. They crawled to 16 for 2 in eight overs; they then consolidated to 205 for 3 from 45, before finishing off in style.White swung Praveen Kumar for two sixes to the straight boundary in the 48th over before he bossed Vinay Kumar in some style. There were four massive sixes against the hapless bowler spread over two overs. He cleared the front foot and walloped a full-pitched delivery to the straight boundary for the first six. The second fell into the second tier over long-on and the third was swiped over the midwicket boundary. The fourth, off the final ball of the innings, showcased his skill: It was yet another full toss and he swat-flicked it over the wide midwicket boundary.It would be tempting to focus solely on the surge in the last five overs but it was all set up by a superb stand between Hussey and Clarke. It was Hussey who increased the run-flow with three crisp boundaries by the 10th over. An inspired Clarke soon produced the shot of the afternoon: a classy on-the-up punchy drive past Praveen that defied the slow pitch.It was a mature show from Clarke; there might have been a temptation to try taking risks and worrying about the ideal target to set but he seemed very clear in his head about the way ahead. You felt all along the afternoon that Clarke was waiting for the batting Powerplay and he cashed in style. He crashed Vinay to the cover boundary before nearly decapitating the umpire Billy Bowden with a powerful straight drive. It was around this time that he handed the baton to White. Their efforts didn’t prove enough, though.

A round-up of the first day of the third round of matches in Division One of the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2010Left-arm spinner Mohammad Aslam gave Habib Bank Limited the edge against Karachi Blues at the Southend Club Cricket Stadium in Karachi. His 5 for 30 helped bowl out Karachi for 190 after they had threatened to get much more given a 67-run opening stand between Naved Khan and Rameez Raja, who smashed 47 in just 33 balls. But Aslam struck timely blows, backed up by Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood, who took two wickets. The last seven Karachi wickets fell for just 58. In reply, HBL were in a bit of trouble themselves, finishing the day at 52 for 3, still 138 adrift.An unbeaten 128-run stand between Atif Ashraf (73 not out) and Junaid Zia (56 not out) helped Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited recover to 270 for 5 on the first day against Faisalabad at the Sports Stadium in Sargodha. A partnership of 61 between Inam-ul-Haq (53) and Shahid Yousuf had promised to steer ZTBL to a competitive score but the team lost three wickets for 34, and was in trouble at 142 for 5. But Ashraf took the lead in the rescue, striking seven fours in his 14th first-class half-century, and was backed up by Zia, who has played ODIs for Pakistan, to give ZTBL a slight edge at the end of the opening day.It was an action-packed first day at the Diamond Club Ground as 15 wickets fell for 275 runs in the contest between hosts Islamabad and Water and Power Development Authority. It was the latter who held the advantage at stumps on the first day, finishing on 135 for 5 after skittling out their opponents for 140. The stars for WAPDA were two experienced campaigners – fast bowler Sarfraz Ahmed, who’s playing his 115th first-class game and has more than 400 wickets to his name and Pakistan international Naved-ul-Hasan. The two grabbed seven wickets between them and the only significant resistance they met was from No.3 batsman Ameer Khan, who top-scored for his side with 53. However, WAPDA would think their response has been less than satisfactory. They lost their openers early while the pair that followed, Sohaib Maqsood and Bilal Khilji, was dismissed after getting good starts. Seamer Nasrullah Khan took three wickets but with just five runs behind, and Hasan Adnan unbeaten on 29, WAPDA will look to build a competitive lead.National Bank of Pakistan and Multan played out a closely-fought first day at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The hosts, after being put in, were bowled out for 303 but fought back to nip out two NBP wickets before the close. The Multan innings was given impetus by a 84-run fourth-wicket stand between Taimur Ali and Kashif Naved, each of whom scored half-centuries. They were well-paced innings as well with Naved’s 63 coming off 66 balls, laced with seven fours. But things went downhill from then on as the last six wickets fell for 63. Fast bowler Wasim Khan, who had taken 314 wickets at the first-class level before this game, led the way with a four-for while every other bowler in the attack delivered at least one breakthrough. But NBP were jolted in their reply by seamer Abdur Rauf, whose double-strike left them at 35 for 2 at stumps.Rawalpindi were in control of their contest against Pakistan International Airlines at the Rawalpindi Stadium after restricting them to 171 for 9 at the end of the first day. Left-arm medium-pacer Nasir Malik, playing just his fourth first-class game, grabbed 6 for 55 to dent the PIA batting. PIA will be left to rue missed opportunities as seven of their batsmen reached double-figures but the highest individual score was just 26. The openers had promised much with their start; Agha Sabir and Shehzar Mohammad added 51 but the innings fell away soon after. The batsmen who followed, despite settling in, failed to measure up to Malik. In fact, it was the extras that led the scores tally for PIA with 28.Faisal Khan led the charge for Sialkot against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot, scoring a century to guide his team to 261 for 3 at stumps on the opening day. This was Faisal’s third first-class ton and it helped his team fight back after the loss of both openers with the score on 26. Faisal revived the innings in a 186-run third-wicket stand with Majid Jahangir, who made 92, missing out on what could have been his fifth first-class century. Sialkot, with two losses in this tournament thus far, are the bottom-placed team in the Division and the performance on the first day of a new round will come as a major boost.

West Indies’ hopes of winning a Test series in the subcontinent is in danger of being washed out by persistent rain which is threatening to disrupt the third and final Test

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Pallekele30-Nov-2010West Indies’ hopes of winning a Test series in the subcontinent is in danger of being washed out by persistent rain which is threatening to disrupt the third and final Test due to begin at international cricket’s 104th Test venue, Pallekele, on Wednesday.”To win the series is massive for us especially in the subcontinent,” West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said. “I can’t tell you the last time we won in the subcontinent. To be also in with a chance of winning here still is exciting and all the players are aware of that.”At the same time we’ve not won a lot of series either. We are still in with a chance. We will be disappointed we didn’t get to play a lot of cricket. At the end of the day we are cricketers and we are here to play cricket. The way we played in the first Test excited us and we wanted to continue and play more cricket. The second Test we didn’t play very well and this is an opportunity to win a series away from home.”West Indies last won in the subcontinent against one of the three giants of Asian cricket in 1983-84 when Clive Lloyd’s team beat India 3-0 in a six-Test series. This series has been dogged by bad weather and the series remains tied at 0-0 going into the decider.”There is not much that you can do about the weather but at the same time we’ve come up here hoping to start reconstruction of West Indies cricket,” Gibson said. “This tour has given us that opportunity but the weather has put paid to that. It’s disappointing to sit around and find ways to entertain the troops.”We have got a pretty good bunch keeping themselves motivated. There’s a little card game going on, very casual friendly stuff, a dominoes game as well and some people retreat into their own space and listen to music and stuff like that. Sulieman Benn is always very entertaining. It’s tough, but we’ve been managing okay and staying focussed still with all the rain and everything going on.”West Indies managed a practice session on Monday, and though Gibson got a look of the conditions he was not in a hurry to name the final XI. He also hoped for an improved performance on the field. “We had a look at the surface and the outfield. We’ll put a team out tomorrow taking into consideration the weather conditions we are expecting to get over the next five days.”We have been pretty consistent until now. We bowled well but we haven’t taken the catches that came our way. In Colombo if we had taken the catches it would have been a very different story. When we create opportunities to get wickets we need to catch the ball and we didn’t catch very well. [Kumar] Sangakkara got a chance on 2 and went onto get a 150. The bowlers have bowled very well according to the conditions but we’ve just not caught the ball as well as we can do. That’s something that I hope we will improve.”Apart from the fielding Gibson stated that West Indies also needed more consistency from their batsmen. “The first Test was built around a massive innings from Chris Gayle. In the second Test, Chris didn’t make runs and we didn’t bat very well. Other guys need to put their hand up and make runs.”Shiv [Shivnarine Chanderpaul] is a very hard worker, very experienced and he is certainly been one of our best players. He hasn’t hit his straps yet. I know he is looking forward to playing in this Test match and get some runs. He is hungry for runs which he has always been throughout his career. He hasn’t performed in the first two games and this game gives him an opportunity to go out and get some runs for us. He knows the responsibility as within the group and keeps everybody calm with his batting.”

Yasir Arafat, who has represented Pakistan in all three formats, put in one of his best performances in first-class cricket, taking 9 for 108

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2011Yasir Arafat, who has represented Pakistan in all three formats, put in one of his best performances in first-class cricket, taking 9 for 108 for Khan Research Laboratorie to bowl out State Bank of Pakistan for 303 on the third day at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. It was his second nine-wicket haul in an innings, his best being 9 for 35. However, SBP did put together a good resistance, with Naved Yasin top scoring with 77, opener Shoaib Khan jnr contributing 76 and the lower order chipping in with useful knocks. The other wicket-taker for KRL was Bilal Asad, who dismissed Yasin, the seventh wicket to tall. Arafat, who has the ability to swing and move the ball off the pitch, won the day though it wasn’t a one-way street given the SBP resistance.