All posts by csb10.top

Without question, these have been three of the most grotesquely one-sided days in Ashes history – and given the recent precedents that is quite some achievement. England have been outbatted, outbowled, outfielded, outshouted, outnumbered and out on a limb, from Harmison’s hopeless first delivery to Ponting’s pointed decision to go back out for a second innings this afternoon.It’s been men against boys, and yet, remarkably, one of the most boyish figures on the pitch has emerged as an unexpected hero. Ian Bell is not a man whose demeanour inspires confidence – diffidence is his default setting, and memorably it was his undoing in the 2005 Ashes, as he slumped to seven single-figure scores in 10 innings, including a pair in the series decider at The Oval.Today, however, he was a solitary beacon of hope in an otherwise dismal batting display. In fact, he was to England’s batting what Andrew Flintoff had been to their bowling on days one and two, and it’s not often that those two characters can have been likened to one another. He was disciplined, determined, and skilfully certain of his right to demand control of such a high-profile and high-stakes contest. Without him, England’s humiliation would have known no limits.Okay, so he made just 50 runs, which is barely a fifth of the total that Australia’s No. 3, Ricky Ponting, has so far racked up in this match. But it is 50 more than he managed in that last Ashes outing – an experience which, it was suggested at the time, looked likely to destroy him. Instead it might just have been his making.Body language was Bell’s biggest failing in his previous incarnation as a Test cricketer. He simply lacked the presence to compete with the likes of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, and all too often he was beaten before he reached the middle of the pitch. But it’s a different story now, and even McGrath was moved to admit as much. “In the last Ashes series we probably felt we had it over him,” he said at the close, “but obviously he’s come along well, and he looks a lot more confident out there, especially against Shane.”Bell’s hunger for runs is well documented. After his first three Tests against West Indies and Bangladesh he was averaging 297, and against his favourite opponents, Pakistan, he has racked up four hundreds in seven Tests, including three in a row in last summer’s home series. But the suspicion remained that he was something of a flat-atmosphere bully, all too happy to cash in when the going was good. Today’s innings, in the roughest of rough circumstances, might have silenced the doubters a touch. Insofar as the doubters can be silenced in such a miserable team performance as this.There was little sign of his new confidence as Bell faced the press corps this evening, but then he was discussing issues way beyond his control. Not even Kevin Pietersen could have put a positive spin on England’s desperate situation, as Bell pontificated about Ponting’s unusual decision and patted out the platitudes – “It’s always going to be a battle against Australia when their tails are up.” But with a bat in his hand, he has become a different proposition to the one that the Aussies had envisaged when this series began.It is too early to eulogise Bell as the saviour of England’s series, but on a day when the size of their task was so starkly demonstrated, his efforts were a sizeable crumb of comfort. Barring a dramatic end to Queensland’s six-year drought, the teams will reconvene at Adelaide next week with Australia 1-0 up and with one finger wrapped firmly round the base of the Ashes. Pyrrhic victories are all England have left to deal in.

Scorecard
Left-arm spinner Dave Mohammed had a dream debut, claiming figures of 5 for 8 to help dismiss St Lucia for 105, after which Trinidad and Tobago chased the target with ease to claim an eight-wicket win at the Stanford Cricket Ground. Incidentally, Mohammed’s were the best ever returns in Stanford 20/20 history.Chasing 106, openers Lendl Simmons and William Perkins gave Trinidad a blazing start, putting on 75 runs in 51 balls, before Perkins, who made 25, was caught by Cyrille Charles of offspinner Shervin Charles. Simmons failed to reach his half-century, when, after scoring 42 with four fours and a six, he was dismissed by seamer Xavier Gabriel. Daren Ganga and Kieron Pollard then knocked off the remaining runs to complete a facile win.Earlier, St Lucia’s openers Keddy Lesporis and Johnson Charles added 45 runs in eight overs before Charles was bowled by Richard Kelly. The second-wicket stand between Lesporis and Shervin Charles (17) fetched 35 runs, before Charles was caught by Mervyn Dillon of offspinner Sherwin Ganga.But the complexion of the match changed when Lesporis, who had kept up St Lucia’s scoring rate with a 40-ball 45 with three fours and a six, was caught by Samuel Badree of Mohammed, who was introduced in the 16th over. Mohammed then dismissed Mervin Wells to make it two wickets in succession. Medium-pacer Rayad Emrit claimed the wickets of Cyrille Charles and Sergio Fedee, while Mohammed had Alleyne Prospere caught by Sherwin Ganga before adding two more wickets to get his five-for. Not surprisingly, Mohammed went home richer by US$25,000 when he received the Man-of-the-Match award.

The injury-plagued New Zealand squad got one small piece of good news when Nathan Astle confirmed that the bone chips in his right knee weren’t serious enough for him to miss the second Test against South Africa, which starts on Thursday at Newlands, Cape Town. However, just to balance out the positive news, Hamish Marshall has been ruled out of the match with a rib injury.”It just niggly,” Astle told NZPA. “I’ve had an x-ray, there’s a couple of little bone spurs but there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s good enough to play on.” Astle made just 4 and 2 in New Zealand’s 128-run defeat in the first Test, but was optimistic that the team could bounce back. “I think we’re going to have three result-orientated wickets, the series is still alive.”Marshall, though, hasn’t recovered enough from the blows he took from Makhaya Ntini during the first Test. “Hamish won’t be available for the match, his ribs just haven’t improved enough,” the New Zealand coach John Bracewell told a news conference in Cape Town. “He’s a bit like that character from ‘The Fugitive’, that one-armed man everybody was looking for.”Either Jamie How or Michael Papps is likely to step up into the team, which has also endured the news that Shane Bond will miss the rest of the tour. James Franklin, the third player battling . knee problems (fluid in his left knee joint), had light practice sessions at Newlands on Monday.Meanwhile, the pitch for the Test is likely to be more batsman-friendly than it was when Australia played South Africa last month. That match finished in three days as South Africa’s master plan to nullify Shane Warne’s threat by watering the pitch backfired badly with Stuart Clark taking 9 for 89.According to Bracewell the track will offer some variable bounce and help Vettori. “The wicket is reasonably bare at the ends,” he told NZPA. “We’ve been told while it won’t spin a great deal there will be bounce for spinners. Dan [Vettori] will be licking his lips at that opportunity.”Christo Erasmus, the Newlands groundsman, said that the challenge had been to produce a good pitch despite all the rain and the onset of winter. “It’s the latest we’ve had a match at Newlands in my time here,” he said. “There has been a lot of rain around. Although we are still having warm days it is taking longer for the ground to dry out.”

Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, will return to the side for the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka at Auckland on Saturday. Fleming sat out the first three games as per New Zealand’s rotation policy ahead of the World Cup in March and the side was instead led by Daniel Vettori, the left-arm spinner.While Nathan Astle, who opened for New Zealand in the absence of Fleming, will sit out of the fourth game, Jeetan Patel, released from the squad to play for Wellington, was recalled. Craig McMillan, who wasn’t part of the third one-day squad, replaced James Marshall.”With the continued use of Brendon McCullum at the top of the order, it is now necessary to introduce a player who can provide a powerful finish to the innings and we are looking to Craig to provide that,” said John Bracewell, the New Zealand coach. He added that though Marshall was unlucky to miss out the game, the management wanted him to put pressure on those who had been selected.New Zealand lead the five-match series 2-1 after they won the low-scoring third game played through rain interruption.Squad
Brendon McCullum, Stephen Fleming (capt), Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Craig McMillan, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Andre Adams, Mark Gillespie, Shane Bond, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel

Mark Vermeulen has been charged by the police in connection with two arson attacks earlier this week which destroyed buildings at the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy and damaged an office at the headquarters of Zimbabwe Cricket. He is expected to appear in court in the next few days.A source said that Vermeulen, who played eight Tests between 2002 and 2004, had been due to fly to Johannesburg on Wednesday.”He’s been detained since yesterday on charges of arson,” Vermeulen’s father Roland said. “We don’t know at the moment where they are holding him … but we are trying our best to get him out and sort matters while he is outside.”He flew back to Zimbabwe in September ostensibly to try to win back his place in the national side. But he was not picked in the provisional squad for the forthcoming tour of Zimbabwe and his chances of a recall appeared almost non existent.His summer in England ended in controversy when he was banned – initially for ten years but that was reduced on appeal – following an altercation during a Lancashire League match.

The cap belonging to Eric Hollies, who bowled Don Bradman for a duck in his final Test match at The Oval in 1948, has failed to sell at auction in Melbourne.Hollies is forever associated with Bradman as it was he, in dismissing him for a second-ball duck, who denied Bradman a career average in excess of 100. Bradman retired after the game averaging 99.94, a record which still stands today. After the Test, which Australia won comfortably by an innings and 149 runs, Hollies gave his cap to the Australia opener, Arthur Morris, who was at the other end of the crease when Bradman was dismissed. Morris went on to score 196 after England were blown apart in their first innings by Ray Lindwall, who dismissed the hosts for just 52.The cap, auctioned by Charles Leski Auctions, was accompanied by a letter from Morris authenticating it – but it remained unsold, despite expecting to fetch in excess of US$23,000. “There was not a lot of interest in it,” a spokeswoman for Charles Leski Auctions said. “People will still be able to buy it over the next few weeks.”

The MCC’s World Cricket Committee has proposed the creation of two three-week periods in the international calendar to accommodate sanctioned events such as the Indian Premier League.There is a concern that players may start preferring the riches on offer in India ahead of playing for their country because there are few gaps in the current schedule.”The committee accepts that there is a place for the IPL but that the introduction of this tournament has brought to the fore the issue of premature retirement from the international game,” read a statement today. “It is vital to ensure that there is a strategic, well-planned fixture list.”The committee proposes that the ICC identify windows in the cricket calendar to enable all forms of the game – Test, 50-over ODI and Twenty20 – to successfully co-exist. Furthermore, the committee hopes that all Member boards will work with ICC to work towards this goal.”Another recommendation was to trial day/night Tests in countries where the climate makes in feasible in order to boost attendances. “The committee recognises that there will be challenges to overcome with a proposed trial of Test match day/night cricket – such as dew, the colour of the ball and clothing used – but that efforts should be made to research and develop this option.”There was also a call to allow elite umpires to stand in matches involving their own country and that an effort should be made to ensure those umpires who don’t want to travel the world can still be used at the top level.The committee said that the minimum Test over-rate should 15-an-hour, calling the current average of 13.8 “acceptable, particularly for the paying public.”A warning on the importance of player conduct said it was vital that international cricketers set the best example, while the committee reiterated its support for the use of increased technology in decision making.

The board of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) is still awaiting a decision on a disciplinary matter involving Sulieman Benn earlier in the season.Benn, who has been named in a 16-man Barbados squad for the upcoming KFC Cup, was embroiled in an on-field confrontation with Robin Parris on June 23 during the Banks Division 1 match between arch-rivals Super Centre Spartan and ICBL Empire at Queen’s Park.BCA chief executive officer, Dr Roland Toppin, said after receiving a report from match officials, that the matter was referred to the complaints and disputes committee. It was heard by a sub-committee but the findings are yet to be passed on to the office.The incident, which both clubs apologised for a week later, developed after Benn delivered a beamer to Parris. When Parris was attempting to run a single off the next ball, television cameras captured Benn gently kicking him.Parris showed his frustration by walking past the stumps at the bowler’s end and approaching Benn in a face-to-face, glove-pointing remonstration

Test discard Hasan Raza bludgeoned a forceful 188 as Habib Bank Limited (HBL) ended day three of their Pentangular Cup 2007 match against the combined North West Frontier Province-Baluchistan team at the NBP Sports Complex, Karachi, in a commanding position.Starting the day 79 runs ahead of their opponents, HBL did not have the best of starts as they lost their first two wickets for only 26 runs. However, first Imran Farhat (66) and Sulaman Qadir shared a 101-run third wicket partnership and then Qadir and Hasan dispatched the NWFP-Baluchistan bowlers to all parts of the ground in their mammoth 237-run stand. Qadir was finally dismissed by Nasir Jalil for 125 but Humayun Farhat scored 41 to enable HBL to march towards the 500-mark.HBL finished the day on 498 for the loss of eight wickets, a total lead of 577 and with a whole day’s play remaining, victory is surely in sight. For the combined side, Jalil picked up three wickets while Arun Lal and Mohammad Fayyaz grabbed a brace each.Sind suffered a usual batting collapse in their second innings but still have a chance to register their first win of the tournament against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at the National Stadium, Karachi.At the close of day three, KRL required a further 275 with six second innings wickets remaining. Mohammad Wasim, KRL captain, was unbeaten on 16 while Usman Saeed had made 11 as these two rescued their side from 37 for four.Earlier, after grabbing KRL’s last five wickets for only 16 runs, Sind looked all set to add to their 170-runs first innings lead. However, barring Fahad Iqbal (57), the whole side failed to stamp authority as the innings wrapped up for only 165. Mohammad Irshad added four wickets to his tally while Saeed Ajmal, Shehzad Butt and even skipper Mohammad Wasim captured two wickets each.

Robin Peterson believes he has a major role to play in the World Cup despite his limited impact with the ball so far. Peterson hoped the success of other spinners – including Brad Hogg, Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori – in the Caribbean might be an indication that he can help South Africa reach the semi-finals.”Coming to the West Indies I thought the wickets were always going to be slow and I expect, at some stage, to have a role in the tournament and I must make sure that I am ready,” Peterson told . He has played only two of South Africa’s four World Cup matches, for figures of 0 for 43 from 11 overs.With Shaun Pollock struggling to contain top-order batsmen and South Africa’s attack dominated by fast bowlers, Peterson hoped he would be called upon more often as the tournament progressed. “I think because of the heat the role of a spinner was always there,” he said.”You can’t bowl seamers all the time and it’s also important to control the over rate, change the pace of the game, so there’s always a role for a spinner. You look to spinner to slow the run rate, just get the batsmen thinking of a certain style of bowling and as a spinner you think all the time and, if you pick up wickets, it’s a bonus.”Peterson’s bowling has been economical but unspectacular, however it is for his only World Cup innings that Peterson’s team-mates will thank him the most. When Lasith Malinga claimed four wickets from four balls to leave South Africa unexpectedly on the verge of a loss to Sri Lanka, Peterson edged a boundary to third man to ensure victory.”I’m not a hero, I was just lucky,” he said. “Obviously I’m happy that it was important to win the game and the two points came our way. The important thing was that we came out on top at the end.”South Africa face Ireland in Guyana on Tuesday, and Peterson said his team would not take the encounter lightly after almost losing to Ireland in a warm-up game. Two days later South Africa will play Bangladesh before finishing the Super Eights with a string of tough clashes against West Indies, New Zealand and England.