All posts by csb10.top

In the latest round of Frizzell County Championship matches, Somerset hosted Warwickshire in the only Division One match of the day. The visitors, looking to climb into second place, are well set after the first day with Michael Burns (95) falling narrowly short of a century. Ian Blackwell was the star, clubbing his way to 110 off only 105 balls, including 16 fours and two sixes. Matthew Wood was trapped leg-before in the first over by New Zealander Shane Bond, but Somerset then played the bowlers with ease to end the day with 403 for nine. Graham Wagg claimed three for 62 for the Midlanders.Michael Di Venuto led by example to put Derbyshire in the driving seat against Division Two leaders Middlesex at Lord’s. Di Venuto scored an unbeaten 173 and was in outstanding form as he helped his side maintain their presence in the promotion run-in. His innings included 19 boundaries, but it was his running between the wickets that frustrated the fielding side. Australian pace bowler, Ashley Noffke, although expensive, claimed five wickets. The visitors finished on 375 for eight.Essex edged nearer to promotion after dismissing bottom-of-the-table Durham for just 259 at Colchester. Michael Gough scored a resilient 103 but couldn’t save the visitors from registering yet another low score. John Stephenson picked up two for 20 off 14 overs and Mark Ilott also claimed two as the hosts gained the upper hand. Essex lost three quick wickets in reply. Darren Robinson and Will Jefferson were both caught behind without a score to their name. Andy Flower soon followed when he edged Ian Hunter (two for 15) to Gough at slip. Essex, without six first-team regulars, have it all to do tomorrow after closing on 24 for three.At Trent Bridge, Gloucestershire found batting difficult as Nottinghamshire bowled with great conviction. Paul Franks (four for 33), and Stuart MacGill (three for 44) excelled as the visitors scored just 173 in their first innings. Ian Fisher made 57 with nine fours and one six, but the home side took full control early on. In reply the hosts were at one stage 76 for three, before the in-form Kevin Pietersen struck 12 fours in an unbeaten, 49-ball 60 before bad light stopped play with his side on 165-3, still eight runs behind.Carl Greenidge took five for 44 as Glamorgan slumped to 144 all out against second-from-bottom Northamptonshire at Northampton. Matthew Maynard was the only batsman to offer his side a lifeline, as he top scored with 43. In reply, the hosts took advantage of their opponents’ lacklustre performance. Richard White scored an eye-catching 80 (11 fours, two sixes) before he was bowled by Andrew Davies. At stumps Northants held a lead of 61 runs, on 205 for three.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is known to come up with bizarre decisions and the latest example is the team selection for the third Test against Australia Saturday morning.All-rounder Shahid Afridi was flown in to replace the injured Abdul Razzaq. However the tour management surprised everyone by leaving out both the all-rounders and instead went into the match with four specialist bowlers, two of them still greenhorns and not regular members of the team.What was the logic behind dispatching Shahid for one Test when he was not to be considered is another decision by befuddled PCB officials.According to PCB officials, Shahid was not selected due to shoulder injury and lack of Test cricket. If this was the case then the flamboyant player should not have been flown to Sharjah in the first place.It seems obvious that Shahid was sent against the wishes of the tour selection committee which in fact trying its best to ruin his Test career.The same could also be said about poor Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan. He has been part of the original squad but so far has done nothing but carry drinks and do fielding stint as substitute which shows lack of imagination on part of PCB management.It was time for PCB to explain the cases of Shahid and Rana Naveed and whoever is responsible for this mess should be taken to task so that such blunders are not repeated in the future.Unfortunately nothing will happen, a legacy of our past, and such unfortunate and wasteful exercises will be swept under the carpet with the usual everything was satisfactory and the PCB was doing its best to win the 2003 World Cup.

New Zealand’s line-up for the third Test against England at Trent Bridge on Thursday could feature as many as three changes from the side that lost at Old Trafford last week, as the Kiwis attempt to battle back into a series that they looked to have in their control at the midway point of the second Test.After missing the Manchester match with an upset stomach, the teenaged seamer, Tim Southee, seems a sure bet to reclaim his place at the expense of Iain O’Brien, but it is the form and fortunes of two of New Zealand’s middle-order batsmen, James Marshall and Daniel Flynn, that will come in for the most scrutiny in the coming days.Flynn, 21, suffered an horrific facial injury on the second day at Old Trafford, when he ducked into a James Anderson bouncer and was forced to retire hurt with two missing front teeth. He did not reappear in the second innings, and though he played during the warm-up match against Northamptonshire at the weekend, he was a notable failure, lasting just 12 balls in two innings.Flynn has been enduring several bouts of dental surgery between innings, but his coach, John Bracewell, described him as a “tough rooster” and backed him to resume his two-Test international career sooner rather than later. Even so, there is so much at stake in the third Test, and Flynn’s confidence took such a battering, that the steady presence of Peter Fulton could yet be called upon in his place.”I would have liked to see Daniel spend more time at the crease getting his confidence,” Bracewell told the Press Association. “There’s nothing like being in the middle, and the hustle and bustle of it, to get yourself back on the bike. He’s a tough rooster and he will recover very quickly, it’s just whether we match up Peter Fulton’s form against him and James Marshall.”Fulton was dropped ahead of England’s recent tour of New Zealand after failing in the one-dayers, but Bracewell had some encouraging words after watching him return to form with a confident 57 against Northants. “He looked, for the first time in a long time, in pretty good nick,” said Bracewell. “He looked to be hitting the ball crisper in the areas we wanted him to hit the ball, and he certainly comes into contention.”All of which heaps extra pressure on Marshall, who started the tour well with a century against Essex to cement his place at No. 3 for the first Test, but since then his form has been on the wane. He managed just 52 runs in his first four Test innings – a tally that included ducks at both Lord’s and Old Trafford – and he managed only 13 runs for twice out at Northants.”James scored a brilliant hundred in trying conditions against Essex earlier in the tour, and I don’t think you can discount those sorts of innings,” said New Zealand’s vice-captain, Brendon McCullum. “The selectors will just have to come up with the best team that can go out and level this series for us.”Even so, McCullum’s own success as a No. 5 batsman means that New Zealand could be tempted to call up their specialist wicketkeeper, Gareth Hopkins, who furthered his own cause with a fighting 63 at the weekend. That route, however, would require a promotion for both Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori, who have played important roles at No. 7 and 8 respectively.Whatever line-up New Zealand settle on, they will not be dwelling on their missed opportunity in the second Test. “In a strange sort of way, Old Trafford was a confidence-builder for us,” said McCullum. “We put ourselves in a position where we should have won the Test match, and that was something that heading into the Test, we may not have whole-heartedly believed.”To be able to do that and then go to Northampton and put on a performance like we have – batting so clinically – was pretty good. It’s a step forward. It certainly hasn’t rectified all our issues, but in my mind it is a step in the right direction.”

Hampshire’s Academy side have taken a significant step towards achieving "gold" status in the ECB Southern Electric Premier League’s Division 1 next season.They ended Lymington’s six-match winning spurt by nicking a two-wicket win over the New Forest club on the Rose Bowl Nursery ground to enhance their position as Division 2 leaders.It was largely due to an undefeated 64 by Chris Benham, who complimented an earlier all-round bowling performance of some promise, that the Young Hawks achieved their goal.Three-wicket medium-pace duo James Manning and David Wheeler, both members of Hampshire’s Under-17 side, and leg spinner Ian Hilsum caught the eye as Lymington were restricted to 178-9 in 50 overs.But it was Benham, who has produced a series of sound batting performances after coming down from Loughborough UCCE, who lifted Hampshire from a worrying 56-4 and through a late order collapse to seal victory with seven balls of the match to spare.Over 200 regular first team Hampshire supporters, disenchanted with their side’s performance against Lancashire, at least had something to cheer as they lined the grassy Nursery ground banks to watch Tony Middleton’s youngsters in the field."The great thing about our bowling was the way the young guys, Manning and Wheeler performed."It was a good wicket which gripped a bit. If you hit the seam, it always had a chance of doing something," Middleton said.The Academy’s accurate bowling – which wasn’t worthy of the 20 wides conceded – certainly kept the normally free-flowing Lymington batsmen in their shells.By the 25-over halfway drinks point, Lymington had reached 89-3, with Aaron Heal (23) following Glyn Treagus and Danny Peacock back into the pavilion.Hilsum (2-31), whose direct-throw ran out Peacock, proved particularly difficult to get away after the new-ball pair had finished their initial stints.Having got Heal with his second delivery, the former Ventnor leggie tied down both Ben Craft (46) and Matt Molloy (28), who took Lymington on to 113 before the youngster was `yorked’ by the returning Wheeler, who finished with 3-24 off 11 overs.Once Craft hoisted a high return catch to Manning (3-41), Lymington’s innings lost any kind of thrust – the final ten overs yielding a mere 32 runs for the loss of four more wickets.When Iain Brunnschweiler (24) and Martin Bushell eased the Young Hawks to 42-0, it appeared Lymington’s 178-9 might be overhauled with some comfort.But Lymington came fighting back, with the Academy losing three wickets for just two runs at one point – two of them to balding seamer Trevor Phillips (2-26), who at one stage bowled 24 consecutive deliveries without conceding a run."We came back very well, showing a lot of character," praised captain Peacock, who provided Dave Coles with one of three victims by luring Bushell out of his crease.From 56-4 Benham, with a series of crisp cover and straight drives, and Wheeler reasserted Hampshire’s grip on proceedings with the 75-run partnership which was to decide the match.Wheeler, the hugely promising teenage New Milton all-rounder, twice flicked sixes off his legs over the fence and way on to the golf course fairway.It appeared as the duo might carry the Hawks home, but when the Australian Heal trapped Wheeler leg before, the county hopefuls wobbled alarmingly.Three wickets went down for 15 runs as the Academy slipped to 146-7.But Lymington were unable to shift Benham, whose growing maturity and support from Hilsum proved essential – and an eventual Hampshire match winner."The good thing is that we’ve been winning a few close games lately," said Middleton, after an anxious finale to the game."Chris batted really well, as he has done all season. I’m very pleased with him."The Young Hawks’ win sets up an intriguing tussle at second-placed Easton & Martyr Worthy next week.Easton effectively ended United Services title prospects with a thumping 118-run victory at Burnaby Road.

South Wilts’ new ball attack will have a unique look about it this summer – both their opening bowlers are left-arm quicks !The Bemerton club has snapped up former Kwazulu-Natal bowler Shaun Adam, 22, to partner Jimmy Tomlinson, who has been contracted by Hampshire.A former South Africa Under-19 player, Adam has played nine SuperSport 4-day matches and six Limited Over games for KN, with a best 5-57against Gauteng in Durban in 1997/8.Adam, who spent last summer with top East Anglian Premier League side Sudbury, plays for Amanzimtoti – the former home of Hampshire’s Nigel Cowley and Sparsholt’s Rob Savage – in the Natal Union League.Adam is joined at Bemerton this season by former Calmore Sports all-rounder Paul Draper, who announced his Salisbury-bound move at the end of last season.

Manicaland made Matabeleland toil for two sessions at Mutare Sports Clubyesterday afternoon after winning the toss and batting in favourableconditions. Having hit 269 for three it’s impossible to envisage a way theycan lose the game, but coming in on four successive first-class defeats itwould still take courage to put meaningful money on them. Matabeleland hasyet to win a game themselves this season so this result will decide the footof the table.The first session was lost because overnight rain caused a wet patch on oneof the bowlers’ delivery creases. Despite the recent acquisition ofTest-size covers, ground staff tipped water onto the playing area whilstremoving them before start of play. To speed things up a burning barbecuehalf-drum was positioned above the patch and left to smolder for two hours.Manicaland owe their strong position to a splendid unbeaten 137 from captainNeil Ferreira. It was his highest first-class score to date, his third ofthe season and the sixth of his career. Offering only one chance on 88, hiscontrol was total — being particularly severe off the back foot through thecovers. Even before the innings he was talking of a possible move nextseason to Harare to further his prospects. His record and commitmentcontinue to be ignored by the selectors– even at A team level. As withcricket all over the world, to get noticed you need to play in the capitalcity. It’s ironic that senior players like Alistair Campbell, Andy Flowerand Paul Strang have moved away from Harare this season to rediscoverteam-values and spirit in Manicaland.After an opening stand of 126 with 16-year-old schoolboy Tino Mawoyo (37),Ferreira was joined by Leon Soma who blitzed a smoking 52-ball 75. His styleof controlled mayhem is a psychological crusher from number three. `Pommie’Mbangwa – recently back from Zimbabwe’s tour of India — was launched forconsecutive overs of 18 and 15.Missing Heath Streak — required on the family farm during the biggestcrisis to face the Zimbabwe farming community — the Matabeleland attacklacked the firepower to overcome a benign pitch. Opening bowler MattTownshend – son of team-manager and ex national off-spinner `Dobbo’ – wasthe best – mixing up in-swingers and slow balls — but even he could notovercome the conditions. With half-an-hour being added to the second dayManicaland will look to score quickly and declare by tea to give themselvesa chance of bowling the opposition out twice.

Free State produced a remarkable fightback to beat Eastern Province by four wickets in topsy-turvy Supersport Series Super Eight match which finished comfortably inside three days at Goodyear Park on Saturday.After being skittled for just 110 in their first innings, Free State discovered the middle of the bat as if from nowhere, and succesfully chased a target of 258 which in the circumstances had looked well beyond them.The Free State first innings was a sorry capitulation, as batsmenretreated into their shells and refused to take the attack to EP. Howdifferent it was on Saturday. Openers Andrew Gait and Kosie Venter put on162 for the first wicket, the 150 coming up in the 30th over as the devilsin the pitch were consigned to history and the batsmen took control.Gait was particularly severe on anything loose, smashing ten boundariesand four sixes before he was first out for 74. His dismissal was typical ofthe approach he brought to his knock, bowled heaving across the line at DaveCallaghan one ball after smashing him clean over the ropes.Gait’s demise signalled a mini-collapse, but no more than that, as threewickets fell within the space of just three runs. With Louis Wilkinsonproviding valuable solidity in the middle order, victory loomed into sight.Appropriately, captain Gerald Brophy was at the crease as the winning runswere scored and Free State completed a victory which means absolutelynothing in terms of the Supersport Series, but does at least allow them tofinish the season on a high.Earlier, EP must have thought they had done comfortably enough to makethe game safe, despite being dismissed for 187 in their second innings afterresuming the third morning on 129-5. Only young South African schoolscaptain Johan Botha (42)mounted any resistance, but a lead of 257 was arelative mountain for Free State to climb in the context of the match.

Mark Lavine, the 28-year-old Barbadian-born North West all-rounder, died suddenly after suffering a heart attack while playing Birmingham League cricket on Saturday.A cousin of Gordon Greenidge, Lavine made his first-class debut for Barbados in 1992/93 and later that season toured South Africa with Barbados. He was offered a three-month club contract at the end of the tour and eventually settled in South Africa, marrying Patricia in Johannesburg last year.He became a South African citizen and hoped eventually to be selected for his adopted country.According to Vasbert Drakes, another Bajan who has made an impact on South African cricket with Border, Lavine had achieved the consistency of performance which could have brought him success at international level.In nine SuperSport Series matches last summer Lavine scored 477 runs at 29.81, including a first-class highest score of 113 against Border, and took 30 wickets. Including three five-wicket returns, at 33.61.”We were extremely shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Mark Lavine,who was one of the real stars of South African provincial cricket,” saidUnited Cricket Board president Percy Sonn on Sunday.

Match facts

October 10, 2012
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)Can Trinidad and Tobago prolong the Caribbean party?•Randy Brooks/West Indies Cricket Board

How they qualified

Trinidad and Tobago bulldozed Jamaica in the final of the Caribbean T20 by 63 runs in Barbados.Yorkshire finished runners-up in the Friends Life t20 in August, losing the final to Hampshire by ten runs in Cardiff.

Big Picture

Yorkshire’s victory over Uva has taken them one win away to qualifying for the CLT20 but they will need to beat the Caribbean T20 winners Trinidad and Tobago to drive into the next stage. A loss would leave them waiting another day for their fate to be decided. T&T, arguably the strongest team in the qualifying group, have their work cut out. A defeat will send them home after just one match and their stay in the tournament would end up being shorter than their flights.T&T have made a lot of the news in the build-up to the tournament. First, they expressed dissatisfaction after being put into a qualifying group even though they finished as the winners of the Caribbean T20 twice in two years. The second issue, that of losing their players to IPL teams, kept the team on tenterhooks for sometime till after a few rounds of wrangling, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine opted for their IPL teams. But can the performance of the national team inspire the weakened regional champions?Pollard and Bravo topped batting and bowling charts for T&T in this year’s Caribbean T20, but the squad still has four players from the World T20 winning West Indies team. They are led by Denesh Ramdin, and have Darren Bravo, Samuel Badree and Ravi Rampaul, with the latter two having played key roles in West Indies’ successful campaign. Another player whose performance will be under the scanner for the team’s and his own good is Kevon Cooper, who has played in T20 leagues around the world on the promise of his potential, but is yet to prove his talent.Yorkshire failed to settle at the start of their match against Uva, who had a strong Powerplay against some wayward bowling that included seven wides. They got better with the ball as the innings went on and will hope to have settled and able to get off to a better side. With the bat, they are without David Miller, their match-winning against Uva, so one or more of the rest of the order needs to play the big innings, preferably one of the top order – captain Andrew Gale, Phil Jaques or Joe Root.

Players to watch

Ravi Rampaul produced the ball of the tournament in the World Twent20 final against Sri Lanka on a pitch which didn’t have much in it for fast bowlers. In South Africa, however, he will pose considerable threat on fresher, faster pitches against lesser batsmen. Rampaul was the most economical bowler for T&T in the Caribbean T20, with an economy of 4.23 runs-per-over, and his seven wickets came at an average of 14.42.Right-arm fast-medium bowler Moin Ashraf played his first season of Twenty20 cricket for Yorkshire this summer and was their second-most successful bowler with 15 wickets, behind Mitchell Starc. In Starc’s absence, the 20-year old Ashraf will be key to Yorkshire’s chances. He was the pick of the seamers against Uva with 2-29 in his four overs.

Quotes

“The most pleasing thing about today is that we weren’t at our best so there is room for improvement. We were probably at about 70 or 80 percent.”

The National Cricket Academy was launched in Bangalore on May 1. Butvery soon Chennai laid a claim to hosting the NCA, thanks to an offerof ground to be made available by the Tamil Nadu government in thesuburbs. However with the Karnataka government making a similar offer,it was always on the cards that Bangalore would stay as the home ofthe NCA, given the built in advantages of better weather and readyinfrastructure.But Chennai was always the favourite as the venue to host the Zonalbranch of the NCA. And now things are getting into place for thesouthern metropolis hosting the zonal academy at the MA Chidambaramstadium.In fact, Ashok Kumbhat, secretary, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, isconfident that the zonal academy will start functioning in April.Talking to CricInfo on Friday, he said that the two-member committeeof former Indian cricketers, Polly Umrigar and Brijesh Patel, who areconsultant and coordinator of the NCA inspected the existingfacilities at the stadium on Wednesday.”They were more than happy with the facilities available. What islacking among the list of items required for the academy is a swimmingPool,” he said.While the swimming pool could be got ready only after obtaining thesanction of the TNCA executive committee, a gymnasium and rooms toaccommodate 25 trainees drawn from the six southern state units of theBCCI would be built soon, Kumbhat said.Umrigar and Patel also insisted on visiting the accommodation wherethe boys are likely to be housed. They also inspected a warehouse tostore academy property, according to Kumbhat. Where the practicepitches are concerned, the TNCA is more than well equipped. While onlyfour practice pitches are needed for the academy, the TNCA has eightsuch wickets.Meanwhile, G Kasturirangan and Dhiraj Parsana, members of the pitchcommittee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India visited theChidambaram stadium on Friday in connection with the conduct of thethird Test match between India and Australia to be played from March18 to 22. According to Kumbhat, they expressed satisfaction with thepitch and the facilities at the ground.