All posts by csb10.top

On the dime
Confidence is coursing through Anil Kumble’s veins at present. Today, after losing the toss on a flat track, he decided to open the bowling against two devastating batsmen. David Warner was away first ball with a tucked single to square, bringing Virender Sehwag – short of a few runs – on strike. Kumble began with a flipper on the pads which Sehwag failed to connect with. Sehwag missed the second ball while attempting a feisty drive. The third had some flight on it and he drove straight to a fielder. The fifth too was unable to pierce the strong off-side field and the sixth yielded just a single toward deep cover. That was a top over from a veteran slow bowler against two men who feast on spin.Six and out
No reference to the band that Brett Lee used to be part of. Abhimanyu Mithun’s career has progressed rapidly over the past season, with a superb debut Ranji Trophy season leading to an ODI cap. He hadn’t been a part of his home city’s IPL side until this evening, and the young quick made an immediate impact. Not with his first ball, however, which Sehwag carved over six, but with his second. Mithun pulled back the length and got the short ball to follow Sehwag, who for the umpteenth time in his career ended up chopping it onto his stumps. Mithun let out a roar that matched what the Kotla faithful had been bellowing during Sehwag’s all too brief cameo.Throwdown
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s second draft for this match also made his presence felt early in the piece, contributing to send back the other dangerous local Delhi batsman. Warner got cramped by a Jacques Kallis delivery and bunted it to toward cover, where KP Appanna – another hometown boy – ran in and took out the stumps with a direct hit to run-out Gautam Gambhir.One for the classic catches series
Dinesh Karthik’s eyes would have lit up when he saw a wide and short ball from Appanna. He wouldn’t have known, though, that when he smashed that one towards cover, Cameron White would fling himself to his left, get to the ball with both hands, and bring off a stunning catch very low to the ground.A experiment gone awry
Unfortunately for Bangalore, White was nowhere as sharp when he was given the ball right after that catch. There’s a reason why White hasn’t bowled himself much during Victoria’s domestic season. Ricky Ponting also hasn’t turned to him when he’s played limited-overs for Australia of late, and even White seemed a bit surprised that Kumble had picked him to deliver the 12th over. His third ball was so wide outside off that Steve Harmison would have laughed, and when White sent down some embarrassing half-trackers Paul Collingwood thumped two sixes and a four to round off a potentially game-changing 19-run over. That’s one experiment we won’t be seeing any more of.What a letdown
White got a chance to redeem himself when he was promoted to open with Kallis, but he barely managed to get into first gear. After facing eight deliveries for just four singles, and swiping and swishing plenty, White finally connected to one. Up over cover it went, and settled into the specialist long-off Warner’s hands.Slow coach
One can understand that Kallis, the leading run scorer this season, had been instructed to bat out the innings but what was Kevin Pietersen doing? He could not time the ball off the square and indulged in singles against some disciplined bowling from Delhi’s medium-pacer pair of Rajat Bhatia and Pradeep Sangwan. After scratching his way to 16 off 18 balls, Pietersen was put out of his misery on the 19th – a lovely yorker from Sangwan that crashed into the stumps.Men at work
Time was when a running catch on the edge of the cricket field used to get the adrenalin pumping. But in this time of Twenty20, it’s not just cool to take a catch on the run. You have to give it your damndest. What R Sathish, Angelo Mathews and Adam Voges did in the ICL and international Twenty20s over the past two seasons has become all the rage in the IPL. David Hussey and Doug Bollinger pulled off incredible leaping, relaying and parried catches this week and today Warner tried and just failed to become the third Aussie to add one to the collection. He leapt back to try and catch a big hit from Kallis, lost balance, lobbed the ball up, balanced himself and took the catch but immediately signaled that he was not sure whether his back foot had made contact with the rope. Replays showed that it indeed had, and Warner shrugged his shoulder. But it truly is a sign of the times when such efforts are being made with regularity.

Australia 2 for 142 (Warner 67, Watson 62*) beat West Indies 7 for 138 (Deonarine 36*, Harris 2-27) by eight wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner’s 18-ball half-century set up Australia’s victory•Getty Images

David Warner hammered the second-fastest Twenty20 international half-century to hand Australia an eight-wicket win over West Indies and complete their dreams of an unbeaten summer. Warner raced to fifty from 18 deliveries, beating his own 19-ball effort from last season, as Australia reeled in the target of 139 with a ridiculous 50 deliveries to spare.West Indies’ total looked semi-competitive until the first over of the chase when Warner and Shane Watson took 26 off Kemar Roach, who bowled too short and allowed Warner to swing through midwicket. There were three sixes in the over – as many as the visitors hit in their entire innings – and the contest was all but decided.By the time Warner had cleared the boundary off Darren Sammy in the second over, he had 33 from eight deliveries and Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball half-century record was conceivably in danger. He struck seven sixes in total, all in the midwicket to long-on region and including at least one off each of the six bowlers he faced, before he holed out for 67 from 29.At the other end, Watson was so good that he too entered the list of quickest fifties, when he reached the mark from 26 balls, but he was utterly cast into the shadows while Warner was at the crease. Watson finished with an unbeaten 62 from 33 and after Brad Haddin fell with one run needed, the debutant Daniel Christian struck a four to complete the triumph.The win ended the summer on a high for Australia, who since the introduction of ODIs in the 1970s had only had one other summer – 2000-01 – when they didn’t lose a match. Warner and Watson blazed home but the result was really set up by an outstanding effort in the field as they again caused problems for West Indies’ top order.The debutants Ryan Harris and Christian grabbed two early wickets each and Steven Smith was everywhere in the field, producing one of the most memorable catches of the summer. The trouble started when Chris Gayle tried to flick Harris over square leg and top-edged to Smith at third man for 12.Harris followed two balls later with Runako Morton, who edged to Cameron White at second slip for a golden duck. White’s catch was sharp but there was far better to come from Smith, who had impressed in the first game on Sunday with two athletic takes on the boundary.He eclipsed those efforts with a leaping catch at deep midwicket to give Christian his maiden international wicket when Travis Dowlin’s heave off middle stump looked to be sailing for six. Dowlin was the man who appeared most likely to guide a West Indies recovery and he made an admirable 31 from 32 balls without ever truly finding perfect touch.Dowlin needed more assistance from the middle order but Morton, Kieron Pollard, Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith at Nos. 3 to 6 all failed to reach double figures. Hinds fell victim to Australia’s slick fielding when he tried to get off the mark with a perilous single only to see White at point throw to Smith at the bowler’s end where the batsman was short.There was a late recovery from Narsingh Deonarine (36 not out) and Sammy, who hit 26 from 11, but the inadequacy of their total was shown by Warner and Watson. It was a memorable way to end a summer of Australian dominance.

South Zone

Tamil Nadu picked up their third easy win in a row, thanks to S Anirudha’s maiden List A century, which helped them crush Hyderabad by eight wickets at the India Cements Limited Guru Nanak College ground in Chennai. Anirudha’s 134 ensured that Tamil Nadu did not feel the absence of three of their main batsmen – Dinesh Karthik, M Vijay and S Badrinath – who are with the Test team in Kolkata. He added 152 at just less than a run-a-ball with Abhinav Mukund for the first wicket, setting Tamil Nadu up to overhaul the target of 251 with more than 12 overs to spare. The target would have been a lot stiffer had it not been for a spectacular collapse earlier in the morning, Hyderabad losing their final seven wickets for 20 runs after half-centuries from Ambati Rayudu and opener Akshath Reddy had taken them to 230 for 3.Karnataka also maintained a perfect record, easing to a seven-wicket victory over Kerala on the back of a century from the in-form Ganesh Satish at the MRF Pachyappas ground. Kerala were in trouble at 83 for 4 after choosing to bat, but captain Raiphi Gomez (68) and Karimuttathu Rakesh (41) put on a 109-run stand for the fifth wicket to bail them out. A brisk 30 from wicketkeeper Akshay Kodoth took Kerala to a competitive 246, but that didn’t prove too much of a challenge for a strong Karnataka line-up. R Jonathan made his second half-century of the tournament and Manish Pandey slammed a quick 47 but the star was Satish, who hit 14 fours and two sixes in his 98-ball 121. It was his second hundred of the tournament, to go with his 82 against Andhra, and kept him top of the run charts.At the Central Polytechinc India Pistons ground, Goa picked up their first win of the campaign, a five-wicket victory over Andhra. Medium-pacer Saurabh Bandekar was the star with the ball, taking three wickets in five overs to leave Andhra reeling at 63 for 5. Vemu Lenin, playing his first senior tournament at the age of 27, then made a battling 78 to lift Andhra to 207. The experienced S Sriram guided the Goa chase, making an unbeaten 84 to finish the match with 11.2 overs remaining. Bandekar assisted him with a breezy 31, and the pair put on 76 for the fifth wicket, the biggest stand of the match.

Central Zone

Monish Mishra launched a fearsome onslaught on the Uttar Pradesh attack at the Maharani Usharaje Trust Cricket Ground to give Madhya Pradesh their second consecutive win in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Mishra’s knock, coming in at number three, made light of two early losses in the chase of 275 off 45 overs. Eight sixes and ten fours were hammered as he took a special liking to Sudeep Tyagi’s medium-pace which conceded 52 in five overs. Tyagi managed to hit back and remove both Mishra and his partner-in-crime Jalaj Saxena who scored 69, but it was only temporary solace. Harpreet Singh finished the match in a hurry, with a blistering 56 off 31 balls. The chase totally overshadowed the efforts of Tanmay Srivastava, who struck 104 and Eklavya Dwivedi who contributed 89, as UP progressed to a strong score.Sanjay Bangar served a reminder of his allround abilities to give Railways the extra point against Vidarbha at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore. He started his handiwork in his first over, the second of Vidarbha.s innings, when he got Akshay Kolhar’s wicket. Amit Paunikar, Ravi Jangid and Ranjit Paradkar set things right briefly and Vidarbha were well in control at 140 for 2 in the 27th over. However things went pear-shaped from there on in, as three run-outs and some tight bowling from the spinners Murali Kartik and Karan Sharma checked the progress of the innings. Karan finished with two wickets, before Bangar came back to blow away the tail, and the innings closed at 207. Bangar continued to stamp his authority with a scintillating knock that ensured that the result was never in doubt. By the time he fell in the 32nd over, he had smacked five sixes and 13 fours for 115 off 98 balls.

West Zone

A gutsy last-wicket stand spearheaded by the nervesless Shitanshu Kotak made all the difference as Saurasthra outlasted Mumbai in an attritional battle at Sardar Patel Stadium B in Ahmedabad. Batting first, Mumbai never came to terms with the conditions, slowly progressing to 63 for 2 in the 19th over before losing the plot. Five wickets fell for 33 runs as Sandeep Jobanputra, Jayesh Odedra and Ravindra Jadeja struck regularly. Abhishek Nayar’s sedate 36 and a minor salvage operation from the tail gave Mumbai 159 and something to bowl at. Saurashtra’s reply had disaster written all over it as they lost wickets with alarming regularity to some tight bowling from the trio of Ramesh Powar, Ajit Agarkar and Iqbal Abdulla. At 119 for 9, Mumbai would have thought that it was only a matter of time before the last wicket fell, but it was not to be. Number 11, Jaidev Unadkat, blocked around for 55 minutes and 24 balls which yielded him four runs, but more significantly gave Kotak the elbow-room to inch his side through to the target. The paid had added 40, tellingly the highest stand of the day, when the hard-fought victory came in the 47th over.No such thrills in the adjoining Sardar Patel Stadium C where Baroda romped home against Gujarat by the comfortable margin of 71 runs. Pinal Shah’s busy 77 took advantage of the toss and set Baroda up for a big score. Yusuf Pathan kept the momentum going with a chirpy 40 from number four, before Swapnil Singh and Abhimanyu Chauhan brought up a strong finish to take their side to 297 for 7. Nileshkumar Chauhan’s haul of 3 for 50 gave Gujarat some solace in an otherwise shoddy display. Niraj Patel led Gujarat’s chase with a pugnacious 83 off 82 balls, but no one else from his side had the stomach for a fight. Wickets fell with monotonous regularity through the innings before Yusuf hastened the end with 3 for 7 in his 1.5 overs, which gave his side the bonus point.

After suggesting that the Pakistan cricketers boycott this year’s Champions League Twenty20 and the 2011 edition of the IPL, the country’s sports minister Ijaz Jhakrani has asked the Indian government to start an inquiry into why not a single Pakistan player was bid for in the IPL auction on January 19.”We want the government of India to intervene in this issue and let us know who was responsible in keeping Pakistan cricketers away from the IPL,” Jhakrani told AP. “From day one our stance is that the IPL decision was an influenced one.”The eight IPL franchises did not consider buying anyone from Pakistan because they were uncertain of their availability, despite all 11 players obtaining the necessary clearances from their government and the Pakistan Cricket Board. India’s home minister P Chidambaram sympathised with the players, saying their non-selection was a disservice to cricket. Shah Rukh Khan, the co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, said their exclusion was humiliating.”His [Chidambaram’s] statement is a positive sign and it vindicates our stance, and I would appreciate if the government of India interferes in this [IPL] issue,” Jhakrani said. “Their statements make it crystal clear that there was involvement of a third player in influencing the IPL auction.”Both the Indian government and the BCCI were quick to distance themselves from the results of the auction after Pakistan players reacted with anger. Jhakrani had also complained to his Indian counterpart and the PCB raised the issue with the ICC. There were calls for the Pakistan hockey team to pull out of next month’s World Cup in India, and a parliamentary committee canceled a trip to India in protest. Jhakrani added that a Pakistan golf team’s tour of India had also been put on hold.

Match facts

Thursday, December 24
Start time 14:30 (09:00 GMT)The absence of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni gives the injury-hit visitors a chance to draw level in Kolkata•AFP

Big Picture

The 2-1 scoreline is not unexpected given the way India have pushed Sri Lanka to the brink in all but one game – a Twenty20 – played in the limited-overs leg of the tour. But now, with the home team missing two match-winners, a hurting Sri Lanka have a realistic chance of leveling the series.This will be the first time since MS Dhoni’s debut in 2004 that India play an ODI without him and Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni has often said that missing Yuvraj is a big blow, so how India cope with the loss of their captain and best batsman in ODIs in addition to Yuvraj will be crucial.The tour has seen so many players succumbing to injuries it’s a surprise the rest have managed to get so far. Sri Lanka have lost the services of Thilan Thushara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando and Angelo Mathews. Nuwan Kulasekara missed the Tests but returned for the shorter versions. Yuvraj had a recurrence of his finger injury and has been indefinitely ruled out. Sreesanth is yet to feature after getting the flu, while Lasith Malinga overcame it in time for the last game. Thankfully, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virender Sehwag overcame minor scares.But there is always fear – especially among bowlers – of another injury around the corner. Three of them have shouldered the burden of carrying their respective attacks: for the hosts, the experienced duo of Harbhajan Singh (187.2 overs bowled so far) and comeback man Zaheer Khan (131) are in need of breaks. On the other hand, Sri Lanka thrust the rookie Chanaka Welegedara (126 overs) into the forefront on his first major series and he will be longing for a breather at the business end of a testing tour. This is the start of another busy season for India and there isn’t much time to think ahead. Wrapping up the series in Kolkata will allow India to rest weary players ahead of the Bangladesh tour starting January 4. Sri Lanka also feature in the tri-series that kicks off that tour but, needing to win both their remaining matches in India, cannot afford the luxury of rotation.The pitch, one that’s expected to play slow and low in the latter half, will favour India’s spinners who found rhythm and confidence in Cuttack. Chilly temperatures, the dew factor and a slow-paced track mean that the bowlers will need to produce another special performance. With bitter cold and early morning fog expected to have a telling impact in Delhi, the venue for the fifth match, India will be keen to wrap up the series here.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
India – WLWLL
Sri Lanka – LWLLL

Watch out for…

Tillakaratne Dilshan v Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja: Sri Lanka’s strength lies, keeping with tradition, at the top of the order. In Tillakaratne Dilshan they have a batsman at the height of his powers, equally adept at firing in the first over and taking charge of the slog overs. A converted opener, Dilshan has acquitted himself superbly this year and his centuries in Rajkot and Cuttack kept India sweating all the way. His ability to play unconventional shots on either side of the stumps makes it critical for the spinners to plot their modus operandi against him with care. In the first match of the series, Dilshan collected 36 runs from 23 deliveries faced against Ravindra Jadeja but was more sedate against Harbhajan Singh, who allowed just 17 from 26 balls before he bowled Dilshan for 160. In the second ODI, Dilshan took 33 runs from 27 balls faced from Harbhajan, but just 18 from the 33 Jadeja bowled at him. Dilshan didn’t last long enough to face spin in Cuttack, and if the pair comes up against him tomorrow, the margin for error will be miniscule.Lasith Malinga v Virender Sehwag: Lasith Malinga’s ability to sling out top-order batsmen hasn’t been evident recently on the international stage, owing largely to the injuries that have restricted him to just 10 ODIs in 2009. In the absence of Muttiah Muralitharan and Dilhara Fernando, Sri Lanka’s most experienced bowler has to deliver early if Sri Lanka want to keep Virender Sehwag quiet. Fast bowlers have accounted for Sehwag in his last nine innings, and getting him out early in every game was crucial to Australia’s recent series win in India. On his comeback in Cuttack, Malinga’s first over cost 16 with Sehwag blasting three fours. Sehwag was dismissed by Chanaka Welegedara and didn’t get a chance to face Malinga further, but sparks could fly if they face off in Kolkata.

Team news

Virat Kohli will step in for Yuvraj and hope to build on his impressive 54 last week.India: 1 Virender Sehwag (capt), 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashish Nehra.Sri Lanka don’t have any new fitness worries but they need to address their middle-order problems. Chamara Kapugedera struggled for fluency in Cuttack before a loose shot sent him back, and Sri Lanka should really reconsider Sanath Jayasuriya over Thilan Samaraweera not least because of the left-arm spinning option he creates.Sri Lanka: 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Sanath Jayasuriya/Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Thilina Kandamby, 7 Nuwan Kulasekara, 8 Suraj Randiv, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Chanaka Welegedara.

Pitch and conditions

Kolkata’s Eden Gardens is set to host an ODI after nearly three years. It last hosted an ODI in February 2007, when Sri Lanka toured India for a short series before the World Cup. The dew factor is expected to play a large role and with a 2.30pm start, and the sun setting fairly early, the teams could have some slippery conditions while fielding under lights.

Stats and trivia

• The highest ODI total at the Eden Gardens is Sri Lanka’s 309 in 49.4 overs against Pakistan in 1997.
• Head-to-head in Kolkata, India and Sri Lanka have each won and lost a game, with the third being ruined by February rain.
• The largest margin of victory in an ODI at this venue is India’s 102-run win over West Indies in in 1993.

Quotes

“We have to get back to scoring runs so that we can put pressure on the opposition. It does not matter what team you are. If you are under pressure, you will lose wickets. Good sides make their own luck.”

Scorecard
After Aushik Srinivas’ stellar spell, M Vijay hit a brisk 154•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

In a spell befitting a champion spinner, 16-year-old Aushik Srinivas rattled Mumbai with his probing length and persistence and denied the hosts the crucial first-innings lead. Mumbai started the final day needing a further 193 runs to overtake Tamil Nadu’s imposing first-innings 501 with seven wickets in hand, including the overnight centurion Wasim Jaffer. However, Srinivas squashed their hopes in the very first hour of the morning with a mesmerising spell of left-arm spin and returned figures of 8.1-4-11-6.From 314 for 4, Mumbai lost their way drastically. The next six wickets fell for the addition of just 44 runs, the last four wickets going down with the score stuck at 358. Mumbai lost Omkar Khanwilkar, Jaffer’s overnight partner, quickly as the left-hander failed misread the line of a straighter delivery from C Ganpathy and was rapped on the pads and declared plumb in front.The responsibility was solely Jaffer’s now, in the absence of any support at the other end. Even if Abhishek Nayar had joined him, his present form probably might not have given confidence to his captain. Nayar has successfully used the long handle in crunch situations in the past, but this season barring a half-century in the first game against Punjab, he has been struggling. He had just 73 runs in four games before this match.Meanwhile Tamil Nadu, led by Srinivas, were steadily loosening Mumbai’s grip, built by Jaffer-Ajinkya Rahane combine yesterday. Runs slowed down and Jaffer was slightly desperate. In this scattered frame of mind he tried reverse0sweeping a delivery that pitched on middle stump and held its line, but missed the line and the ball hit his bent knee. Srinivas appealed fervently, in unison with the entire Tamil Nadu team, but their plea was turned down. Two balls later Jaffer attempted the same shot against a similar delivery with the only difference being the change in pace. This time the top edge flew wide and to the right of first slip where Murali Vijay plucked a super catch with his right hand.Understandably Srinivas and Tamil Nadu celebrated rapturously, because Jaffer was their chief nemesis. Credit should go to the prodigious tweaker, born in Coimbatore, who thankfully was advised by one of the coaches at a talent camp to become a spinner instead of chasing ambitions of becoming a medium-pace bowler.On Thursday Srinivas had gained the upper hand against Ajinky Rahane in an engrossing contest. Though Jaffer had used his rich experience to quell Srinivas’ challenge, he knew he couldn’t afford to take the youngster lightly. The best example to gauge the impact of Srinivas was to compare him to Iqbal Abdulla, Mumbai’s second spinner, and a left-arm orthodox one at that. Never in either innings did Abdulla assert himself over the Tamil Nadu batting and even to a layman the reasons were clear: while Srinivas attacked with flight and varying pace, Abdulla mostly darted the ball at a fuller length.Little wonder then that Mumbai’s lower order and tail failed miserably against Srinivas. Nayar tried to defend on the front foot but ended up offering a simple return catch to Srinivas. Next ball Ramesh Powar lunged forward to pat the ball down but his outstretched back foot was raised allowing the proactive wicketkeeper U Sushil to knock off the bails. Though Srinivas missed out on a hat-trick he got lucky when Abdulla played casually into the hands of Ganpathy at silly mid-on. Dhawal Kulkarni tried to play with hard hands against a flighted delivery, which couldn’t even cross Ganpathy. Usman Malvi then stepped out valiantly and was stumped. Mumbai’s fall was quick and embarrassing, and it came at the little hands of Srinivas.Vijay made it more painful for Mumbai by scoring a blistering 150, bringing up his century in the second session thereby enlivening the rest of the day. Having three points, Tamil Nadu have are assured themselves a quarter-finals berth while Mumbai, at 16 points, need to make sure they do not lose outright in their final league clash at home against Gujarat starting on December 15.

New Zealand team manager Dave Currie has assured he has no ill feelings towards Jesse Ryder after the temperamental batsman verbally abused him in the dressing room after smashing a chair during a Champions Trophy match against Sri Lanka in September. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Justin Vaughan said he was aware of the incident but the offence wasn’t “serious” enough for Ryder to face a stringent penalty.Ryder pulled a left abductor muscle early in his innings but he still managed to smash 74 off 58 balls with the aid of a runner. However, he took his frustrations out by smashing a chair with his bat near the boundary rope and the has reported that when the manager tried to calm him down, Ryder told him to “**** off, you stupid old ****.” Currie copped abuse again when he suggested that Ryder see a doctor. The injury ruled out of the tournament and it could take another month for him to return.Currie said that Ryder’s abuse was more a spur of the moment reaction after getting out. Ryder has had a history of behavioural problems in his short international career and NZC have punished him for his offences, yet kept faith in him.”What do I say? Firstly I’d agree it wasn’t a hanging offence,” Currie said. “Clearly he was a bit grumpy and we felt we had to take some action around that. We have, it’s been dealt with, and we’re looking forward to having him back. You wouldn’t hope to have that behaviour but you accept cricket’s emotional. The other side of the coin is you don’t want bland, unemotional blah … and not be pissed off about getting out either.”Currie added that Ryder had apologised for his actions. “We went through a process, we’re fine,” Currie said. “This stuff happens in teams all the time, emotions can get ahead of yourself. “I like him, he’s a character and teams need characters.”Ryder was fined 15% of his match fee by the ICC match referee for smashing the chair and he was reportedly fined again by NZC but Vaughan said the board decided to deal with it behind closed doors. Ryder escaped a serious reprimand after NZC had given him a stern warning after an incident at a Christchurch bar, where he sustained a hand injury, and Vaughan added that Ryder was too talented a player to be sidelined for too long.”When we said that, it was in relation to a particularly serious incident where he did himself harm by carrying on like an idiot,” Vaughan told the same paper. “Jesse is still a work in progress and we didn’t want to raise the last incident because there seemed no point in publicising that.””Every sporting code has these types of individuals who are enormously talented yet have other issues and we’re still working out how to unlock the key to getting the best out of Jesse Ryder but it’s Jesse who has to understand that more than anyone and figure out the way forward.”We’re going to have to be tough on him. We’ve been caught in the past, and not just with Jesse but with other players, by bringing people back too soon; our team doesn’t need that. When Jesse comes back we need to be absolutely certain he’s fit and ready to go, we’re not going to rush him back just because he’s such a good a player, that’s not the way we want to operate.”NZC has, of late, been dealing with player issues in private. The news of two A team players, Aaron Redmond and Neil Broom breaking a team curfew in Chennai broke out three months after the incident.

Tickets to the 2010-11 Ashes will go on sale on July 14 next year, but only to Australian residents who have registered with Cricket Australia. Remaining general seats, including those to overseas fans who have joined the programme, will be offered on July 20.The first of the five Tests begins in Brisbane on November 25, 2010 as Australia attempt to regain the Ashes following their 2-1 loss in England in August. “Register now to give yourself the best chance at getting your hands on these highly sought-after tickets,” Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland said.A similar scheme operated for the 2006-07 series and was unpopular on the opening day when the ticket sites crashed due to the huge demand. The Australian team was much more successful, taking back the urn with a 5-0 whitewash.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMunaf Patel bowled a teasing spell to pick up three wickets•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

On a mildly overcast day, Rest of India roared back into the game in the second session with some inspired bowling to leave the game fascinatingly poised by the end of the second day of the Irani Cup. Wasim Jaffer had led Mumbai’s bright reply in the morning but he fell after an elegant 68 to trigger a mini-collapse. Vinayak Samant combined with Ramesh Powar in a determined unbroken 40-run partnership to reduce the deficit to 60 before bad light led to an early abandonment of play.Rest of India suffered a early jolt as Virender Sehwag couldn’t take the field today due to fever but S Badrinath, the acting captain, was well supported by his seamers. Sreesanth had led the way in the morning with his impeccable line and length but the rest were guilty of bowling a touch short: Tyagi couldn’t find his radar and Munaf, though steady and tight, pinged back-of-length when the pitch, perhaps, demanded a fuller length. Everything changed in the second session, though.Sreesanth again started with a probing spell that was followed up with some good work from Munaf and a slightly improved showing from Tyagi. Munaf ended Jaffer’s resistance with a cracking full-length delivery that cut back in to run off the inside-edge onto the stumps. Clearly egged on by that success, Munaf cranked up the pressure with a teasing spell of seam bowling in the off-stump corridor. He lured Prashant Naik into edging behind and would have got Vinayak Samant had Manoj Tiwary held on to a very difficult chance, diving acrobatically to his right, at first slip. Things would have been worse for Mumbai had that catch been taken and a plausible lbw appeal against Ramesh Powar, off Sreesanth, been upheld.Tyagi, who bowled too short in the morning, forced Rohit Sharma into edging a length delivery that straightened outside off. Tyagi then tricked Ajit Agarkar into nicking a short delivery outside off to put Rest of India in line for a first-innings lead.The morning, though, couldn’t have been more different as Jaffer led Mumbai’s strong reply with an assured knock. Jaffer plays with such ease in domestic cricket that you can’t help but wonder about his unfulfilled international career. There is only one glaring weakness in that he is slightly iffy on the front foot, especially early on in his innings and it’s something he has never managed to sort out. International bowlers make him stretch forward with full-length seaming deliveries and inevitably induce mistakes.That weakness again led to his downfall today but he wasn’t tested in the morning as no bowler barring Sreesanth really hit a full length. Sreesanth did produce a couple of hurried defensive edges onto Jaffer’s pad and beat him outside off but the Mumbai captain was never in any trouble against the rest. He is a natural back-foot player and he excelled against the short-of-length deliveries hurled by Tyagi in particular. There were several cuts and, of course, quite a few elegant trademark flicks off the pads. As ever, he was easy on the eye and his runs crept up almost stealthily. The spinners – Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja – didn’t pose any problems and he continued to prosper, a caressed cover drive off Ojha highlighting his ease against the slow bowlers.After Sreesanth removed Sahil Kukreja with a peach of a delivery – it cut in to crash into the top of the off-stump – Jaffer found some steady company in Ajinkya Rahane, who settled down after a slightly fidgety start, to play some good shots but was given out caught down the leg side. He didn’t look too pleased at the decision as he walked off and by end of day’s play, Mumbai had more reasons to worry as Rest of India had clawed back into the game.

WEEK 1
EAGLES V COBRAS
There were four centuries scored in this game but only 18 wickets taken in a somber encounter in Bloemfontein. The Eagles hosted the Cobras in the first match of the new season and the while the match was a show-piece of young batting talent, it showing no signs of the competitiveness on offer in the tournament and played out to a draw.The good news is that the four batsmen who reached triple-figures are all fairly young players who may go on to represent the country at higher levels. Andrew Puttick was the first to bring up his 100 and starred in a 149-run opening stand with Alistair Gray. Twenty-one year old Richard Levi was the other centurion with 137, with Gray and Ryan Canning notching up half-centuries. The most positive element of the Cobras batting was the quickfire 60 smashed off 37 balls by Rory Kleinveldt, batting at number nine. The Eagles bowlers toiled hard and with little success, with only Con de Lange managing more than one wicket. (3 for 107).The Eagles responded with equal flair in the batting, and also had an opening batsman score a century. Dean Elgar made 112 before becoming the first of Justin Ontong’s three victims. A second wicket century stand saw the hosts to 219 for two and set the tone for a draw. De Lange scored 54 down the order, as the Eagles were bowled out 527.The Cobras put on 60 without loss to end the first match of the competition. It was the Eagles who ended up with more points, 6.26, while the Cobras finished with 5.54.Batsman of the week: Rilee Rossouw.He scored 115 runs and in the process became the 11th-youngest South African batsman to notch up 1000 runs first-class runs. Rossouw is 19 years and 346 days old. The record for the youngest South African to reach the landmark is held by Kepler Wessels, who was 18 years and 282 days at the time. Rossouw also gets our young Player-of-the-Week accolade.Bowler of the week: Alistair GrayGray was one of three bowlers to take three wickets. He captured 3 for 98 to create some minor destruction in the Eagles middle order which saw them go from 432 for five to 510 for eight.