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Adam Gilchrist has raised doubts over Shaun Marsh’s dismissal against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, saying that he was not convinced the ball carried through to the wicketkeeper.

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2012Kings XI Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist has raised doubts over Shaun Marsh’s dismissal during their eight-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday, saying that he was not convinced the ball carried through to the wicketkeeper.Marsh was controversially dismissed in the 14th over, when his edge off a Brett Lee delivery was taken low by wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla. The on-field umpire then ruled him out, even though TV replays suggested there was a doubt. Kings XI relied on Marsh to give them momentum, after Gilchrist pulled a hamstring in the 11th over while completing a quick single. Until Gilchrist’s departure, Kings XI were going along at 7.50 but post-Gilchrist, it had declined to 5.93.”I am not convinced it was out, but I think there’s a huge element of doubt there,” Gilchrist said. “Shaun asked the wicketkeeper, which I must say is the way I like to play the game, you ask the fielder and the wicketkeeper told him ‘yes I caught it’, so Shaun walked off.”Following the dismissal, Gilchrist stepped in to quash a debate between the team owner Preity Zinta and match officials. “I saw her on the sidelines and all I said was ‘let me handle this’ and she responded and sat down.” Gilchrist said.After the match, Knight Riders medium-pacer Rajat Bhatia said that Gilchrist’s injury and Marsh’s dismissal helped them restrict Kings XI to 124. “Bisla never said that he took the catch. He said that ‘I think I took the catch’. If the umpires would have given it to the third umpire then the decision would have been different. That really helped us, to be honest,” Bhatia said.Having lost three matches and won two in the IPL, Gilchrist said that consistency is important to succeed in the tournament. “We all need to contribute as there’s a full batting line-up there. It’s up to all of us to get the runs. We’ve been inconsistent and that’s an area where we can improve.”Gilchrist also said he was concerned about the security of players after an intruder ran on to the field during the match.”There’s always concerns when you get pitch invasions in any sports,” Gilchrist said. “We’ve seen historically there’ve been some terrible things happening. When someone runs on like that and runs towards players, we can never be too sure what’s going to happen. It is a concern and no doubt the ground authorities will try and improve on security and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

India will have their first on-field action on their tour of Australia on Thursday, December 15, when they take on a Cricket Australia’s Chairman’s XI in a two-day game

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Dec-2011India will have their first on-field action on their tour of Australia on Thursday, December 15, when they take on a Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI in a two-day game.Peter George, who made his Test debut against India in Bangalore last year, and Tom Cooper, who played for Netherlands in the World Cup, are the best-known faces in the Chairman’s XI side. Ed Cowan, one of the candidates for a batting slot in the Australian squad, was to originally captain the side but was pulled out to represent his Big Bash League side. Cowan, and other bigger names in Australian domestic cricket, like David Warner, Phil Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Doug Bollinger, will be in for India’s second tour game, which begins on December 19.Not a first-class game, India’s first outing is expected to allow all the specialist batsmen in the squad to have a hit and all the specialist bowlers to bowl. However, the second half of India’s touring party reached Canberra only in the wee hours of Wednesday, so it is possible the likes of Virender Sehwag might be rested. “We would like to give our youngsters an opportunity of course; some of us haven’t played much cricket over here,” MS Dhoni, the India captain, said. “It’s slightly different, so we will try to make the most of it.”Medium-pacer George, whose first Test wicket was Sachin Tendulkar, said his side will provide decent opposition to the tourists. “We definitely don’t want to give them a nice walk in the park,” George said. “Cricket is definitely a game of momentum, and if you start to get on a bad roll it tends to snowball a bit, so if we can manage to do our bit to help the Aussies and peg the Indians back in these games it would be good.”Dhoni also said the game was important in terms of building momentum. “The first game is always important; if you have momentum on your side it always [builds up],” he said. “You don’t really want to lag too much behind right from the very start, so a good start is crucial.”This is India’s first overseas trip after they were whitewashed in England, where their insufficient preparation came in for sharp criticism. Dhoni said that aspect can be ruled out this time. “We are here close to 12 days early and if 12 days are not enough then one month wouldn’t be enough so we have to adapt to the conditions.”

Michael Clarke believes the added responsibility of captaincy has been a factor in his remarkable year as a batsman

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne 27-Feb-2012Michael Clarke believes the added responsibility of captaincy has been a factor in his remarkable year as a batsman. Clarke won his third Allan Border Medal in Melbourne on Monday and it was no surprise after a 12-month period in which he topped Australia’s run tally in both Test and one-day international cricket, and took over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting.In contrast, the previous year was much leaner for Clarke, who averaged 31.30 in Test cricket in the 12 months up until last year’s Allan Border Medal. The highlights of Clarke’s 2011-12 were his triple-century against India at the SCG and his double-hundred in the Adelaide Test two games later, but he made a ton in each of Australia’s four Test series and topped the run tally in three of those.”I think the added responsibility of captaining the team has probably made me stand up and lead from the front,” Clarke said. “People see the rewards when you stand up on the big stage, they don’t see the hard work you do off the field. When you have the chance to go and bat for Australia in the middle of the SCG or the Adelaide Oval, that’s the fun part, that’s the part where you just walk out and enjoy yourself because the hard work has been done.”With some young guys coming in to our team this summer it’s been crucial that the senior players have stood up. It’s a great reflection when you look at that leadership board for the Allan Border Medal you’ve got myself, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson – the senior players are on that board and I think that’s played a big part in the success we’ve had over the last 12 months.”And it has been a prosperous year for Clarke’s team as well as for himself. He is yet to lose a series as captain and started his tenure in the Test role with victory over Sri Lanka and over the past two months helped his side whitewash India 4-0. But in among those triumphs there have been lower points: their 47 all out in Cape Town and the loss to New Zealand in Hobart in particular.”I think it could have gone better, definitely,” Clarke said of his first year as captain. “I think over the past 12 months we’ve played some really good cricket but there’s been some patches that we’d like to forget as well. I think we’re heading in the right direction as a team. When you’re the No.1 one-day team in the world it’s really hard to stay on top of your game all the time; you have to keep finding new things, new ways to improve. You have to keep working hard, you can’t take anything for granted. Getting to the top of the tree is very hard but staying there is even harder.”The job we face as a Test team is we have three other teams in front of us. We know we have a lot of work to do. We see that every single day with the ICC rankings, we see very clearly where we sit. We have very clear goals there. I think we’re a long way from the team we want to be but I do believe we’re heading in the right direction.”Clarke won the Allan Border Medal by quite a distance from the second-placed Hussey and Watson, who came in third. Ponting was fourth, followed by the emerging fast man James Pattinson in fifth position and the batsman David Warner, who came sixth.

Jason Roy hit a brilliant century while Jade Dernbach and Chris Schofield took four wickets each as Surrey Lions beat Leicestershire Foxes by 141runs at Grace Road to clinch a home tie in the semi-finals of the Clydesdale Bank 40

21-Aug-2011
ScorecardJason Roy hit a brilliant century while Jade Dernbach and Chris Schofield took four wickets each as Surrey Lions beat Leicestershire Foxes by 141runs at Grace Road to clinch a home tie in the semi-finals of the Clydesdale Bank 40.Roy blazed his way to a career-best 131 off 99 balls to lead Surrey to a formidable total of 292 for six. It was the 21-year-old’s second successive century in the competition having scored 101 last week against Warwickshire. Then Dernbach, named in the England one-day squad for Thursday’s game against Ireland, took four wickets for seven runs and leg spinner Schofield bagged four for 26 as the Foxes were bowled out for 151 in 25.5 overs.Once an opening stand of 75 was broken the hosts collapsed dramatically, losing nine wickets for 76 runs in 16 overs – the last seven of them falling for just 25 runs in nine overs – to hand the visitors a 10th win in the competition this season. To add to the Foxes’ problems, left-arm seam bowler Harry Gurney was unable to bat having come off the field with a side strain midway through his sixth over.Gurney has been one of Leicestershire’s key bowlers in their successful Friends Life t20 campaign, which has taken them to finals day at Edgbaston on Saturday. Surrey made a disappointing start to their innings, losing two wickets for 12 runs in the first three overs before Roy took centre stage producing a sublime knock.He raced to 50 off 35 balls with six boundaries plus a straight six off Wayne White and shared a third wicket stand of 120 in just 16 overs with Tom Maynard. However, it was Roy who dominated the partnership with some superb shots both sides of the wicket.The pair were separated when Maynard was finally bowled by Josh Cobb, having made 33 in the partnership. Roy continued to lead the Lions’ charge for a big total, reaching back-to-back centuries in the competition off 79 balls with eight fours and three sixes.It was a fabulous innings and with Matthew Spriegel also blasting a 35-ball half-century the home attack continued to leak runs. White finally claimed Roy’s wicket, bowling him as he tried yet another big shot. By then, however, it was too little too late for the Foxes and they faced the daunting target of 293 to win.Cobb and Jacques du Toit gave them the perfect start with a stand of 75 in 10 overs with Cobb racing to a half century off 29 balls, hitting two sixes and seven fours. But once Dernbach had dismissed both of them in the same over the Foxes capitulated with wickets falling at regular intervals.Even James Taylor, also in the England squad for the Ireland match, could do little about it, falling to Schofield for 21 as Surrey cruised through to victory with 14 overs to spare.

England, the reigning World Twenty20 champions, have been unveiled as the top T20 side as the ICC launched their rankings for the shortest format of the game

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2011England, the reigning World Twenty20 champions, have topped the ICC’s inaugural rankings for the shortest format of the game. England batsman Eoin Morgan tops the batting ratings, Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis is the top bowler and Australia’s Shane Watson the No. 1 allrounder.England have 127 points and are ahead of Sri Lanka, who have 126 in the rankings, announced on Monday. If England win their T20 against India at Eden Gardens on October 29, they will have a four-point lead over Sri Lanka. If they lose, though, they will slip below Sri Lanka and India.”The introduction of rankings for international Twenty20 cricket provides real context to the various series played between member countries on an ongoing basis,” England’s team director Andy Flower said. “Until now we haven’t had the chance to play a large number of Twenty20 Internationals so this will offer a benchmark as to who is performing at international level.”The next four teams – New Zealand (117), South Africa, India and Australia – were separated by only six points. Pakistan, who won the World Twenty20 in 2009, were ranked seventh followed by West Indies, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.Bangladesh, along with Associate Members Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland, which have T20 international status, will join the table as soon as they have played sufficient matches (at least eight T20s since August 2009) to qualify for a ranking.Since August 2009, England played 20 T20s, winning 12, losing six and two no-results. Pakistan played the most matches (24) during the same period, but lost more than 50% of its matches, which contributed to its low rating.Brendon McCullum and Kevin Pietersen were No. 2 and 3 behind Morgan in the rankings for batsmen, while spinners occupy seven of the top ten spots for bowlers. “I believe spin bowlers have adapted to T20 cricket better than most,” Daniel Vettori, who has retired from T20s, said. “To see spinners succeed in a tough environment is great for the game and means bowlers can enjoy Twenty20 cricket, most of the time!”Watson, the No. 1 allrounder, is followed by Shahid Afridi, David Hussey and Mohammad Hafeez. Abdul Razzaq, at No. 10, is the third Pakistan player among the top ten allrounders.

Pascall Roberts, the former Trinidad bowler and selector, died on June 20 at the age of 73

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2011Pascall Roberts, the former Trinidad bowler and selector, died on June 20 at the age of 73. Roberts played 67 first-class matches and represented Paragon Cricket Club in the 1960s and 1970s, and after his retirement worked towards the development of Trinidad cricket. He was part of the West Indies squad that toured England in 1969, but never got his Test cap.Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath said Roberts was an icon of T&T cricket. “Pascall Roberts contributed much to the development of the club and helped establish Trinidad and Tobago as a regional powerhouse. The cricket fraternity has lost one of its loyal servants.”Dinanath Ramnarine, president of the West Indies Players’ Association and a former T&T player, praised Roberts’ contributions as a national selector. “Roberts always remained involved in the game in Trinidad and Tobago and would always have good, sage advice for young men like myself who wanted to dedicate our lives to cricket the way he did.”Roberts started his career as a left-arm seam bowler and took 5 for 79 on his first-class debut, against Barbados. He later changed to left-arm spin, and formed a partnership with offspinner Jack Noreiga. He took 211 wickets in 67 first-class matches in a career spanning almost 20 years.Ronald Faria, who played alongside Roberts in the Paragon team, said he was a hard-working cricketer. “I played with Pascall at Paragon for close to 15 years and he could always be relied upon to give 100%,” Faria said. “He formed a deadly spin attack in tandem with Jack Noreiga and helped Paragon win Championship titles three years in a row.”

A consequence of Simon Katich’s removal from the Australian team is that Ricky Ponting is the only member of the Sri Lanka tour squad to have played a Test match on the island.

Daniel Brettig04-Aug-2011A consequence of Simon Katich’s removal from Australian team is that Ricky Ponting is the only member of the Sri Lanka tour squad to have played a Test match on the island.Australia’s captain, Michael Clarke, was a member of the touring squad in 2004 but did not make his Test debut until the visit to India later that year.Australia’s 3-0 victory in 2004 arrived in fighting fashion. The hosts led on the first innings in all three Tests before the batting of Damien Martyn and Darren Lehmann, among others, allowed Shane Warne to spin out Sri Lanka in the fourth innings.It was a momentous way for Ponting to start his captaincy, but now he will be the man handing out advice on Sri Lankan climes to his successor Clarke and his team-mates.”As it turns out I think I am the only player that has played Test cricket over there so I will be giving him [Clarke] advice all over the place I think when the Test matches come around,” Ponting said with a smile before flying to Sri Lanka.David Hussey has already spoken of the challenge to be posed by pitches designed to favour the hosts, but Ponting said his best advice would be to play the conditions on merit, not suspicion.”One thing we can’t afford to do, especially when you go anywhere on the subcontinent, is worry too much about wicket conditions,” Ponting said. “In the past we have talked ourselves into what we think conditions are going to be like before we actually started, and made things increasingly difficult for ourselves. There wont be any talk about that.”We’ve got plenty of time to get prepared. We’ve got five days of training before the one-dayers come around and Michael and I are not playing Twenty20 cricket, but we’ve got five one dayers before the tour game, so there is plenty of opportunity for us and there should be no excuses come Test time.”For his part, Clarke said Ponting’s presence would be far more of a help than a hindrance when he is figuring out how to combat a Sri Lankan team that possesses one of the deepest and most statistically accomplished batting line-ups in world cricket.”We’ve caught up a few times over the last couple of months. We spent a lot of time up in Brisbane chatting about the team and a few of my ideas and I was trying to get a bit of guidance from him,” Clarke said. “That’s the advantage the team has, we have such a great player around the group, who’s had some amazing success not only as a batsman but as a leader, and we’d be silly not to utilise that as much as we can.”One thing he’s said to me is that he’s there for me, anything I need he’s more than happy to help. With him not being captain it’s given him the chance to spend more time with the younger players. He’s been spending time with Usman [Khawaja] over the last couple of days, so I’m really looking forward to working with Ricky.”He was great to me when I was vice-captain and he taught me a hell of a lot, and I feel comfortable in my position knowing that I have learned a lot from him and that he’s right there as well if I need any help or guidance.”

Tim Bresnan has had a scan on his calf after experiencing discomfort as England prepare for their World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2011Tim Bresnan has had a scan on his calf after experiencing discomfort as England prepare for their World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka in Colombo, but is expected to be available for the match on Saturday.He underwent the MRI on Wednesday after a similar problem forced him out of the one-day series against Australia after the Ashes. At the time there were concerns he would miss the World Cup, but he regained fitness in time for the trip and played all six of England’s group matches, taking nine wickets at 29.88 including a career-best 5 for 48 in the tie against India.He has been the one ever-present quick during England’s campaign, with form and fitness forcing a number of changes throughout the group stage. Stuart Broad was ruled out with a side strain following the South Africa match and Ajmal Shahzad flew home with a hamstring injury after the defeat against Bangladesh.James Anderson, England’s most experienced fast bowler, was dropped for the crunch clash against West Indies, in Chennai, after some wayward performances but could come back into the mix against Sri Lanka.Chris Tremlett, who replaced Broad, played against West Indies but his five overs cost 47 while another option is Jade Dernbach, the uncapped Surrey quick who replaced Shahzad. The latest player to be added to the squad is Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire legspinner, who was called up on Thursday after Michael Yardy withdrew with depression. He won’t arrive in Sri Lanka until Saturday morning though.

Greg Chappell, the Australian selector, has encouraged Michael Hussey to play with freedom so he can continue to be a force at international level

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2010Greg Chappell, the Australian selector, has encouraged Michael Hussey to play with freedom so he can continue to be a force at international level. Hussey has gained the support of Andrew Hilditch and Chappell this week, but has been battling for form over the past two years, averaging 37 in his past 35 Tests.With the Australian squad for the first Ashes Test due to be named on Monday, Chappell offered Hussey some advice. “As you get older, the difficulty is that you are aware of the things that can go wrong and you’re aware of how hard it is to make runs at that level consistently,” Chappell told AAP. “Before you have all that experience, you tend to go out and you can play with a little bit more freedom.”Chappell said finding that freedom was harder as you got older. “The only way you can achieve is to get into the same state of mind that you were in as a younger player,” he said. “That’s the hardest part of being an older player, having that freedom to go out and take some risks.”You’ve got to risk getting out to score runs and that’s the hardest thing to do. We all become more conservative. I haven’t seen anyone who hasn’t suffered from that.”Hussey is now 35, the same age as Simon Katich and Ricky Ponting. The aging line-up has created concerns about the present and fears for the future, with it highly unlikely two of the trio will be playing for their country in a year.Chappell is a believer in young talent but the next rung of batting contenders did not perform well during the week. There were no big scores from Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja or Callum Ferguson in the first few days of their ongoing matches, easing the pressure on the incumbents.Hussey is not playing this week but scored 71 not out, 15 and 6 not out in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. Hilditch said it was important to regard batsmen who average 50 in Test cricket highly. “He’s been a great player for Australia, but he will be looking to get runs to stay in the squad, like everyone else,” Hilditch said. Hussey’s mean is currently 49.75 from 54 Tests.

Australia’s selectors were made to look foolish again when Shaun Marsh hit 110 against England two days after being left out of the World Cup squad

Andrew McGlashan in Hobart22-Jan-2011Australia’s selectors have had a difficult summer and they were made to look foolish again when Shaun Marsh hit 110 against England two days after being left out of the World Cup squad. He may yet make the trip because Michael Hussey, the man he has replaced for this series, remains a major doubt due to his hamstring injury.Marsh made a strong case that he should have been there by right, but his hopes of making the 15-man World Cup party weren’t helped with the selectors able to select Tim Paine as a reserve keeper-batsman. Given Australia’s batting woes this season, it’s difficult to think why Marsh isn’t playing a part across all formats. Mickey Arthur, his coach at Western Australia, rates him as talented as any batsman he has coached, although a first-class average 37.97, lower than his ODI mark, doesn’t do him any favoursBut even though his route to the subcontinent next month rests on the fortunes of others he isn’t dwelling on being overlooked. “I’m never one to worry about selections,” he said after Australia’s 46-run win in Hobart. “I was disappointed not to get picked, but I see these games as an opportunity to improve my game at international level. It’s given me a lot of confidence. I’m sure the guys who go over will do a great job.”England were due to face Marsh when they played Australia A, also at Hobart, in November but he pulled out due to injury. Andrew Strauss said they would need to come up with some new ideas. “He had a nice mix of getting ones and hitting boundaries,” he said. “He’s a player in good form and we’ll have to look at how we could have done things differently.”By trade Marsh is opener, like his father Geoff, but his immediate chances for Australia appear to be in the middle order and he showed his adaptability in Hobart when he came in at No. 6 with the score 4 for 33. He added 100 with Cameron White then an unexpected 88 with Doug Bollinger for the ninth wicket to give Australia a defendable total.”It was just a great opportunity for me,” he said. “Huss going down was very unfortunate but it gave me my chance. It didn’t matter where I batted for Australia, I just wanted to play. It’s obviously different to opening but I knew once I got myself in, and started feeling good, I could play some shots. It was a lot of fun out there especially with Dougie at the end. We got our team to a competitive total and defended it well.”Marsh had plenty of praise for his unlikely tail-end partner. Bollinger had only batted four times in his previous 27 ODIs with a top score of three, but unfurled two cover drives during his run-a-ball 30. “Dougie was loving it out there,” Marsh said. “It was a lot of fun. I was trying to tell him to rotate the strike and keep the ball on the ground. He played some wonderful shots, it was fantastic the way he went about it. Without him we probably wouldn’t have got to 200.”Although Marsh is unlikely to break the opening combination of Shane Watson and Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke made it fairly clear that he wants to make use of Marsh’s impressive form by using him higher up the order. “Shaun will definitely be playing in the next three games,” Clarke said. “It’s unlikely he’ll be batting at No.6 as well, especially when he’s hitting the ball as sweet as he is. He’s in wonderful nick at the moment. He’s certainly going to get opportunities if he plays like that.”