Kochi to appeal against court's rejection

Kochi Tuskers Kerala have appealed against the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject their case to restrain the BCCI from cashing its bank guarantee of 156 crore rupees

Tariq Engineer21-Sep-2011Kochi Tuskers Kerala have appealed against the Bombay High Court’s decision to reject their case to restrain the BCCI from cashing its bank guarantee of 156 crore rupees. The franchise’s case was denied by a single bench of Justice SF Vajifdar on Wednesday and a new hearing before a division bench of the court has been set for Thursday morning, a Kochi official told ESPNcricinfo.”There is a hearing at 11 am tomorrow before a division bench,” Mukesh Patel, managing director, Parinee Developers Pvt Ltd, and one of the owners of the team, said. Kochi is also seeking a stay on the board’s decision to terminate the franchise and wants the court to refer the dispute to an arbitrator under the arbitration clause in their franchise agreement.Kochi is the third franchise to be expelled from the league over the last 12 months by the BCCI. Last year Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the two franchises that were terminated in October 2010, not only succeeded in having their cases referred to an arbitrator, but the court also returned them to the league and allowed them to compete in the IPL 2011.The BCCI had axed Kochi from the IPL for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan said, after the annual general meeting in Mumbai on September 19. The trigger for the decision was the franchise’s inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. It is understood that the deadline for Kochi to submit the bank guarantee was March 26, 2011. Therefore the BCCI felt it had every right to terminate the contract once the franchise had failed to produce it.Patel, however, denied that the franchise owed the board any money. “The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie,” he said. “We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us 12 to 15 crore rupees ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue.”The franchise’s dispute centres on the BCCI’s decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. “The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees.”Srinivasan, however, had said that the decision to remove Kochi from the league was final and termed their alleged transgression an “irremediable breach”.

Johnson 'hasn't lost his mojo' – Clarke

Australia’s captain, Michael Clarke, does not believe Mitchell Johnson is past his best, but he has conceded the selectors will face a tough decision on which fast men to play in the first Test in South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2011Australia’s captain, Michael Clarke, does not believe Mitchell Johnson is past his best, but he has conceded the selectors will face a tough decision on which fast men to play in the first Test in South Africa. Johnson picked up just six wickets at an average of 52.16 during the series in Sri Lanka this month, and was easily the least effective of the fast bowlers.Peter Siddle’s hard work in his only appearance, during the final Test in Colombo, earned him a four-wicket haul, while Trent Copeland was steady and promising in his debut series. Ryan Harris was the stand-out performer with 11 victims before he missed the final match through injury, and if he is fit for the Tests in South Africa in November, he will be an automatic selection.That means there will be a squeeze of at least four men for three positions and the selectors, one of whom will be Clarke, face a difficult choice. Johnson has a good record in South Africa, but during the Sri Lanka Tests his angle across the right-handers and into the left-handers became predictable, although Clarke believed his strike bowler had toiled hard without luck.”I don’t think Mitch has lost his mojo,” Clarke said after the draw at the SSC, which secured the series 1-0 for Australia. “I still think he’s as good a strike weapon as there is in international cricket. I think he’s a match-winner with bat and with ball, when he’s at his best. Mitch has got some time now if he wants to go away, whether he gets away from the game or if he wants to work on some things.”He still bowls good pace. I think he bowled well throughout this series and didn’t have as much luck as a lot of the other bowlers. You would have seen a lot of play and misses off Mitch. Conditions didn’t really swing as well – he got reverse swing – but I don’t think you saw any bowler throughout the series swing the new ball all that much.”Sidds was awesome, again, grabbed his opportunity, made the most of it. It’s going to be interesting come the first Test in South Africa for all the bowlers to work out which three quicks, if we go three quicks, are the best three for that first Test match. Sidds has done himself nothing but favours but I still think Mitch is a huge player for us. I think anybody that thinks Mitch is past his best would be very silly.”One thing going in Johnson’s favour is the memory of how he performed in South Africa on Australia’s last Test tour there, in 2008-09. He was fearsome in the first Test in Johannesburg, swinging the ball appreciably, and finished equal with Dale Steyn as the leading wicket taker in a series won by the Australians.The conditions in South Africa will be vastly different to Sri Lanka but there are unlikely to be any major changes to Australia’s squad after their consistent performances over the past month. Clarke said he was proud of how the players had gelled together in their first series under a new captain, and in the shadow of the Argus report, which was released at the start of the tour.”There’s been a lot of stuff off the field as well that the playing group have had to deal with throughout this series,” he said. “I think we’ve handled it really well so we deserve a lot of credit for that. Every single player has done nothing but grab their opportunity with both hands.”You’ve got a guy running drinks in Usman Khawaja who batted like a genius the whole series, got a hundred in the tour match and was really unlucky to miss out in the (third) Test match. In regards to the cricket we’ve got coming up. We’ve got a lot of tough cricket. We’ve got to be ready for that as well. This is a great start. I heard that we’re now ranked four in Test cricket, which is fantastic and I’m really happy with that but it’s a long journey.”

Flower defends England's attitude

Andy Flower, the England coach, has defended the team’s on-field attitude following the series-deciding defeat in Mohali

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2011Andy Flower, the England team director, defended his players’ on-field attitude, which has been a source of criticism on their tour of India, and also the approach of Jonathan Trott after another innings that divided opinion in their series-deciding defeat in Mohali.Throughout the series the England players have been agitated in the field and there were further examples on Thursday as they failed to defend 298 in the third ODI. Tim Bresnan was fined for snatching his cap off the umpire after a frustrating over; and Craig Kieswetter’s ‘chat’ behind the stumps has raised questions, especially because of his unconvincing performances with the gloves which included a dropped catch and missed run-out on Thursday.Even within the team some players are not afraid of airing their views to team-mates when something goes wrong – with Graeme Swann often seen berating fielders – but Flower believes England have got the balance right and thought Bresnan’s fine, although small, was unfair. That view backed up Bresnan’s not-guilty plea that meant a hearing was required.”Tim Bresnan is an outstanding young man with a very good disciplinary record,” Flower said. “To be quite honest, I think in this instance it is a harsh judgement – in that it was quite a frustrating over for him.”His snatching of a cap was done out of frustration at five overthrows and an edge down to the third-man boundary, as opposed to any dissent for a decision. I have no problem at all with Tim’s behaviour. He has an outstanding conduct record. They’ve made their judgment, and whether or not we disagree with it is by the by. I think we all move on now.”The on-field chat hasn’t just come from England and following the second one-dayer in Delhi the match-referee, Roshan Mahanama, spoke to both captains about the conduct of their teams. Following the match in Mohali, Dhoni said England might need to change their strategy of verbal intimidation considering it had not worked in their favour.Again, though, Flower believes that England have shown acceptable emotions when in the heat of battle and that disappointment can be misunderstood as anger. “Every sportsman has to consider that balance, and in the main I think our cricketers are excellent role-models and conduct themselves in the way that passionate English sportspeople should do.”The match-referee, after the second one-day international, spoke to both captains about the conduct of both sides – and I think he was right to do that. I think in that second game there was too much ‘talk’ out in the middle. After all, we play the game as a game of skill and you’re there to ‘out-skill’ your opponents.”Yes, there is a difference between passion and poor conduct and, on almost all occasions, I think our guys are excellent at finding that balance.”Flower was also fully supportive of the innings played by Trott who made an unbeaten 98 off 116 balls to anchor England’s total in Mohali. Kevin Pietersen and Samit Patel, with a career-best 70 off 43 deliveries, played more aggressive hands in partnership with Trott and Flower thought the balance was right, pointing out the career-record of Mahela Jayawardene as a comparison to Trott’s figures.”Since he started playing one-day cricket for England, he has been very consistent – and that consistency has helped us score bigger totals. I think, if anything, some of the players around him have under-performed with the bat, and I think he’s playing good cricket. Until a better player comes along, Jonathan Trott will play.”England are now focused on avoiding a 5-0 whitewash which would match the scoreline from the 2008 series when the final two matches were cancelled due to the Mumbai terror attacks. England’s next attempt to secure a win will come in Mumbai, the first time they have visited the city for an international since 2006.Graham Onions, who replaced the injured Chris Woakes, has linked up the with the squad and will provide a fast-bowling option alongside the uncapped Stuart Meaker if the management want to leave out the struggling Jade Dernbach.

Madhya Pradesh crumble for 63

A round-up of the first day of the second round of matches in the Ranji Trophy Elite League

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2011Group BA clinical bowling performance coupled with some steady batting gave Baroda complete control of their match against Madhya Pradesh at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Madhya Pradesh were bundled out for 63 – only two batsmen reached double figures – before Baroda reached 207 for 4 at the end of the first day, a lead of 144. Firdaush Bhaja, playing in just his third first-class game, and India allrounder Irfan Pathan did most of the damage, helped in part by some poor shot selection, as the visitors slumped to 32 for 8 in just the 18th over. A ninth-wicket stand of 29 delayed the final blow but the run-out of last man Amit Sharma typified Madhya Pradesh’s poor approach. Having driven the ball down the ground, Sharma needlessly took on Yusuf Pathan’s arm in attempting a third run, and a direct hit found him well short of his ground. Irfan ended up with figures of 3 for 23 while Bhaja took 4 for 19.Kedhar Devdhar fell for a duck and Rakesh Solanki for 15, but Aditya Waghmode and Ambati Rayudu ensured Baroda pressed home their advantage with a 144-run partnership. Waghmode narrowly missed out a century, falling against the run of play for 99, and an over later Yusuf Pathan holed out to mid-on off the last ball of the day to give Madhya Pradesh some late joy, but the visitors will be hard pressed to avoid defeat from here.After their first game was all but completely rained out, Tamil Nadu got their 2011-12 Ranji Trophy campaign up and running with a disciplined bowling performance against Haryana at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk in Chennai. Haryana made a positive start after choosing to bat, reaching 83 for 1, but L Balaji struck twice in the same over as the visitors stumbled to 90 for 5. Priyank Tehlan led the rebuilding effort with 95, adding 81 with Prateek Pawar, before he fell short of a hundred with 9.3 overs left in the day. Balaji took three wickets, while Aushik Srinivas and Sunny Gupta split the other four to fall on the first day, leaving Haryana on 264 for 7.The two Patels, Parthiv and Niraj, both made centuries to steer Gujarat to 358 for 6 against Delhi at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Valsad. Parthiv made exactly 100, his second successive century to start the season, and it came in aggressive fashion – he faced only 120 balls and struck 12 fours and a six. Niraj was more circumspect, as he played the anchor role, needing 203 deliveries for his unbeaten 111. Young left-arm spinner Vikas Mishra was the pick of the bowlers on the day and picked up four wickets.Group ARobin Uthappa made a typically aggressive ton while Murali Kartik took five wickets to leave honours even on the first day between Karnataka and Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi. Uthappa blazed away from the start, smashing 10 fours and five sixes, but he received little support from the rest of the top order, who struggled against Kartik’s left-arm spin. Uthappa retired hurt on 100 with the score at 140 for 3, but returned after Karnataka had stumbled to 259 for 6. Unfortunately for the visitors, he was caught off the last ball of the day, having made 117 off 141 deliveries. “It is my natural style,” Uthappa told . “That’s the pace I like to play at.” Kartik, who was wicketless in the opening game, ended the day with 5 for 76.A lower order fightback helped Orissa recover from 56 for 5 to 246 for 9 after seamers Brainder Sran and Sandeep Sharma had struck the early blows for Punjab at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. It was a bit of a procession after Orissa were put in to bat, as Sran struck three times to reduce the visitors to 23 for 3 before Sharma picked up two wickets to leave Orissa reeling. Their revival was first led by Subhrajit Sahoo, who added 49 with Lagnajit Samal and 47 with Deepak Behera, before becoming Sharma’s third victim after making a fighting 56. It was then carried on by Behera and Basant Mohanty, who put on 83 together, by far the highest partnership of the innings.Behera ultimately fell to Sharma two short of his half-century, having spent three hours and three minutes at the crease, but Mohanty was still battling on 58 at the close. India offspinner Harbhajan Singh, who was left out of the squad for the second Test against West Indies, had figures of 1 for 44 from 18 overs.Tanmay Srivastava batted through the first day to guide Uttar Pradesh to 266 for 4 against Saurashtra at the Cantonment Board Ground in Meerut. Srivastava made Saurashtra regret their decision to field as he posted his first-century of the season, and shared three substantial partnerships in the course of anchoring the innings. The visitors were boosted by the two wickets they took in the last session, as Sandip Maniar struck off consecutive balls to remove Parvinder Singh for 47 and India batsman Suresh Raina for a golden duck.

Sangakkara says spin will play a role

Kumar Sangakkara says both Sri Lanka and South Africa’s spinners could play a role in the Test series despite South African conditions being known to favour pace

Firdose Moonda in Benoni12-Dec-2011In almost 30 years as a Test-playing nation Sri Lanka have gone from minnows to maestros and, in the last year, halfway back. They have begun a tough tour of South Africa by suffering injuries to key players in the lead-up to the first Test, which starts on December 15 in Centurion. Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s second-highest run-getter in Tests, is one of the players in doubt for the first Test after he split the webbing on his right hand during Sri Lanka’s drawn warm-up match against a South Africa Invitation XI in Benoni. He does expect to play a part in the series, though, and said the team would prove a point to themselves and their opposition.”We are in a transition period and are coming to terms with new players coming into the side, especially younger ones,” Sangakkara said. “We know where we stand as a group. It’s important for us to understand that and work with what we have.”In recent times, Sri Lankan cricket has been run by interim committees appointed by the country’s sports minister. The most recent of these interim committees was dissolved in November with board elections set to be held in January next year. Sangakkara said the changes at the administrative level did take a toll on the team. “There has been quite a big change in the sense of personnel coming in and out really quickly. Once we come to an understanding of how we want to build in the future as a side, we will have a lot more settled intent and a settled kind of feel to us.”For now, their intent lies in putting on a competitive performance against South Africa. Their tour began with a rain-hit warm-up match in which openers Tharanga Paranavitana and Tillakaratne Dilshan found form, and Mahela Jayawardene was allowed some time in the middle. Although a shortened tour match was not ideal, Sangakkara said the team were relatively happy with what they got out of the match, particularly from a bowling perspective.The Sri Lanka attack was depleted when Nuwan Pradeep tore his right hamstring after bowling just ten balls on the second day in Benoni, but Dilhara Fernando and Rangana Herath enjoyed fairly successful spells with the ball. “The benefit was in getting out there, getting used to conditions, understanding what lengths to bowl to try to get wickets and really coming to grips with the challenges South African wickets are going to present for the bowlers,” Sangakkara said.Since the retirements of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka’s bowling has been a major concern but Sangakkara hopes that this tour will help the team move on from that. He said they should focus on finding new talent to take them forward. “You get one Murali and that’s it. It’s important for us to come to terms with that mentally. We are not looking for the next Murali. We are looking for the next best spinner to come and win games for us. He might not take 800 wickets but I think the guys we have on tour are good enough to do a job for us.”In Benoni, Herath played both a containing and an attacking role, and most importantly was successful on a surface that offered no help for spinners. It is that quality that Sangakkara says makes Herath a top-class competitor. “Spin has come to play a major part in all formats of the game, much more than ever before. If you are a good spinner you should know and be able to work on how to take wickets on pitches that don’t assist you.”Although Sri Lanka have been warned against going into a Test in South Africa with two frontline spinners, they may be forced to because of the deluge of injuries that have hit their fast-bowling department. Ajantha Mendis, famous for his variations, is the other spinner in the squad, and Sangakkara said Mendis would have to concentrate on accuracy rather than magic balls. “It’s nice to have that x-factor. But Test cricket is about being disciplined, bowling in the right areas, ball after ball, over after over, and exerting pressure on the opposition.”Sri Lanka remain hopeful that one of either Nuwan Kulasekara or Dhammika Prasad will be fit enough to rejoin the tour, and perform a containing role. With five injured fast bowlers, Sri Lanka have had to answer questions about the fitness of their quicks and Sangakkara agreed that they have to work on their stamina.”The fast bowlers must start working on their bowling loads. They have to get their bodies used to the load that international cricket demands of you.”The series is one that many expect to be decided by the gulf between the two teams’ pace attacks but Sangakkara said there could be more to it than just that. “South Africa has always depended on pure pace and skill with the ball when it comes to fast bowling. But they’ve got a good spinner in [Imran] Tahir. It will be interesting to see whether the wickets will assist them [spinners] enough for them to break open games.”

Prepare 'rank turners' for visiting teams – Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has called for “rank turners” when teams visit India after India have lost seven consecutive away Tests on pitches that he reckons had lot of grass on them

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval22-Jan-2012Gautam Gambhir has called for “rank turners” when teams visit India after India have lost seven consecutive away Tests on pitches that he reckons had lot of grass on them. He said the real test of a team was to win overseas, and that Indian curators shouldn’t hesitate to make it as tough as possible for visiting teams.”We need to realise that when we go overseas every country prepares wickets to their own strengths,” Gambhir said. “So once the other teams come home we need to prepare tracks to our advantage as well. So there should not be a lot of talk when Australia or South Africa or England come home that we should not be preparing turners. I think we should be playing to our strengths, and if we can prepare rank turners, that’s where their technique and their temperament will be tested.”Gambhir said there was a lot of movement available to seam bowlers in all of their seven defeats starting from the English summer onwards. “We have seen in last three Tests matches and even in England, there was a lot of grass and that helped their seamers,” he said. “Once these people come to India we should not be hesitant in making turners, and that’s where we would get to know whether they are mentally strong, and [what happens to] the kind of chit chat do they do when we go overseas and they talk about our techniques.”That’s where they will be tested, and we’ll see how good they are against spin bowling. So we shouldn’t be hesitant in preparing turners to our advantage, and that has been our strength and if we can do that people should support us rather than saying we should not be preparing turners. We should always be preparing something which is to our advantage.”Gambhir was asked what progress he saw in Peter Siddle’s bowling from the time he debuted against India in 2008-09 to now being the leader of the Australian bowling attack. “The only difference is the conditions,” Gambhir said. “He made his debut in Mohali. He played really well in that Test series. It’s [these are] his own conditions, it’s his own backyard. The important thing is once you start doing well in subcontinent, that’s when you are rated as a very good bowler.”He has bowled really well in this series – no doubt about that – he has been their main bowler who has always taken wickets whenever he has got into his spell. The important thing is, how he bowls well in the subcontinent. Here he has bowled well, but let’s see what he does in other conditions as well.”That didn’t stop Gambhir from praising the Australian bowling unit, whose performance he rated higher than the English bowlers last summer. “When you see the results both have been at par,” Gambhir said. “England had a lot of lateral movement, but over here a lot of credit goes to them [the Australian bowlers]. They had a very inexperienced attack. England have far more experience than the Australian fast bowlers. The way they have bowled in this series is tremendous.”They have never let us off the hook, they have always kept us under pressure though they were playing with just three seamers and a spinner. They kept coming at us, which is important, because there are times in Test cricket where you can get easy runs, especially in middle sessions. A lot of credit has to go to them.”Even in the middle sessions they kept hitting those areas, and never let us score freely. As we all know Indians are known to score runs freely. Most of our middle order has been boundary hitters. They never let us score those boundaries. Never gave us balls where we can score freely. Especially in that middle session.”

COMMENT – A frustrated reaction

Gambhir’s comments about the pitches seem to be a combination of many factors. At worst they could be indicative of the defensive attitude of a team that has lost seven away Tests in a row. They can easily be seen as an extension of the response of Ishant Sharma and Virat Kohli to sledging by Australian players about the Indian batsmen’s technique and average. You would expect better from a team that wants to be the best in the world.There also seems to be a lack of awareness that India’s recent wins outside the subcontinent have all come on seaming tracks that make it easier for their bowlers to take 20 wickets. Also the pitches in Sydney and Perth were hardly the monsters they are being made out to be.However, at such times, it is easy to miss the deep-rooted frustration at the kind of pitches the Indian curators have been rolling out over the recent years: slow, low, devoid of life and excitement. The last time India actually got a pitch that turned and bounced was in Kanpur in 2007-08. Otherwise the pitches in India are all designed to last the longest possible distance. Gambhir is also understandably annoyed at how easily the turning tracks are labelled “disgraceful” by the media and the ICC. Sidharth Monga

Ponting's ton, Clarke's double demoralise India

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting both scored milestone hundreds to put Australia in complete control on the second day against India in Sydney

The Report by Brydon Coverdale04-Jan-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMichael Clarke scored all around the wicket during his maiden Test double-century•Getty Images

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting have prior form in shattering Indian spirits at the SCG. Four years ago, they conspired to steal victory during a mad quarter hour late on the fifth day, when Clarke was handed the ball by the captain Ponting and took three wickets in an over. This year, they tortured India more slowly, with a partnership that lasted the best part of six hours and all but ensured Australia could not lose the Test.Of course, since Kolkata in 2001, nothing has ever been truly certain in Tests between these two countries. But the drought-breaking century from Ponting – his first in nearly two years – and Clarke’s maiden Test double-hundred steered Australia into the kind of position from which it would take a Kolkata-like comeback to rescue India. They would need something very, very special.The Sydney crowd had already witnessed the exceptional, from Clarke and Ponting. By stumps, Clarke was unbeaten on 251, having batted through the day, and it was not out of the question that he could become the first man to score a Test triple-century at the SCG. Michael Hussey had chipped in with 55 not out and Australia’s lead had ballooned to 291, with six wickets in hand.Clarke’s innings was mature and mesmerising, but it was Ponting’s hundred that had really brought the crowd to life. Ponting had been starved of a Test century in his past 33 innings, and for the first time since the early days of his career had faced pressure to justify his place in the side. At no stage during his slump did he give up. It was somehow appropriate for a man who had fought so hard over the past few months that he was dirty and dishevelled when his hundred arrived.The milestone came via a quick single, a poorly-judged one too, for a direct hit from Zaheer Khan at mid-on would have had Ponting run out for 99. He dived to make the crease and climbed up off the ground – the most fitting metaphor imaginable – with helmet askew and dirt all down his shirt and trousers. It was a sight that brought smiles from Clarke and even the umpire Ian Gould, and importantly from Ponting himself.Amid all the debate over his form and his position in the side in recent months, Ponting had maintained that he was batting well. In this innings, he was. There were several classic Ponting pulls and his flicks through the leg side were a feature of his game. To some degree, he eschewed the typical Ponting back-foot drives through the off side, though that in part came down to the lines India bowled.It was not until the second new ball arrived that Ponting departed, caught at point for 134 when he drove Ishant Sharma. Ponting walked off to a standing ovation, having joined his catcher, Sachin Tendulkar, and Jacques Kallis as the only men to have scored 40 Test centuries. His 288-run stand with Clarke, the highest fourth-wicket partnership ever compiled against India in Test cricket, had demoralised the visitors.More was to come from Clarke, who had brought up his 18th Test century, and his fourth in his past 11 innings, with a perfectly placed cover-drive for four in the last over before lunch. His double-century arrived from his 284th delivery with a flick through square leg off Zaheer, and it brought a kiss of the helmet and a tear to the eye of Clarke, who is in his first home summer as Australia’s full-time captain.Clarke scored his runs all around the ground, with cover-drives, off-drives, clips off the pads, pulls, cuts, lofts over the infield against spin – perhaps the only thing he didn’t attempt was a reverse-sweep. He was seeing the ball so well that he was able to walk across his stumps and down the pitch to turn good balls from the fast men into opportunities to score through the leg side. By stumps, he had the best score by an Australia batsman in an SCG Test, and needed 37 more to beat Tip Foster’s record for all-comers.To cap it all off for Australia, Hussey joined in late in the day with some quick runs, including two consecutive fours followed by a six off R Ashwin. It was an immensely disheartening day for India, who could manage only one wicket throughout the day after 13 had fallen on the opening day. There were no-balls from the part-time offspinner Virender Sehwag, strange field placements from MS Dhoni and a general lack of spark, which was to be expected by the end of a long, hot day in the field.In the first couple of overs of the morning, Dhoni had a man back at deep square leg when he needed to be on the attack, and later he removed all of his slips while Umesh Yadav was bowling, seemingly a concession that all he could do was try to slow the run scoring of Ponting and Clarke rather than try to get them out.He can be rest assured that Clarke won’t be as defensive in the field when he gets his chance. Unfortunately for Dhoni, that might be a while off yet.

Who can provide the strong finish?

ESPNcricinfo previews the third Twenty20 international between Pakistan and England, in Abu Dhabi

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan26-Feb-2012

Match Facts

Monday, February 27, Abu Dhabi
Start time 2000 (1600 GMT)Hammad Azam played a brief but sparkling innings in the second Twenty20•Getty Images

The Big Picture

After two whitewashes we now have a series decider following England’s slick victory in the second Twenty20 international in Dubai. Twenty20 matches can swing on the smallest of factors, but the intensity and sharpness of England’s display on Saturday suggests they are the side finishing stronger.A series victory will help consolidate England’s position at the top of the rankings, although the bigger picture, and it applies to both teams, is putting in place plans for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka during September and October. Twenty20 internationals are few and far between – three-match series are a new breed in this format – so each game is important towards building a unit.England learned quickly between the first and second matches in Dubai while Pakistan regressed quite significantly, especially with the bat. Jonny Bairstow showed that England’s young players are soaking up their experiences while the incisiveness of the bowling attack is now consistent across all three formats.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
Pakistan LWWWW
England WLWLW

Watch out for…

Hammad Azam showed some spark in the second Twenty20 and while he was cutting loose, in a manner reminiscent of Abdul Razzaq, Pakistan were not out of the match. For a 20-year-old playing his first Twenty20 international innings it was a display of impressive confidence. It might be worth Misbah-ul-Haq giving him a bowl.Graeme Swann was out-bowled in the Test series by Monty Panesar and often overshadowed by the quicks in the 50-over matches, but he has come into his own in the Twenty20s. His eight overs have brought figures of 5 for 30, which should provide him a nice rankings boost at the end of the series. And he still likes cracking the jokes.

Team news

The form of Shoaib Malik is causing Pakistan problems, which became even more acute when Misbah struggled to score in the second match. The middle order could do with some more kick and it may be worth promoting Azam. Imran Farhat is also in the squad if they decide Awais Zia has proved just hit and miss.Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Awais Zia, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Umar Akmal (wk), 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Hammad Azam, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz CheemaWith the series on the line England won’t be tinkering as they did in the last ODI, which means Tim Bresnan is unlikely to find a place.England (probable) 1 Kevin Pietersen, 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad (capt), 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Steven Finn

Pitch and conditions

In Dubai a score of around 140-150 proved defendable and the nature of the pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi during the ODIs suggests something similar could be par for this final match. It will be another late finish for fans and players with an 8pm start.

Stats and trivia

  • Pakistan’s defeat on Saturday was Misbah’s first as captain in a Twenty20
  • In 16 innings on tour (including the warm-up matches) Eoin Morgan has made 190 runs with a top score of 31.

Quotes

“In this game we won last night, I thought Bairstow’s innings was outstanding – very skilful, and very powerful as well. That’s a very good combination to have.”
Edited by Dustin Silgardo

Whatmore hopes for strong start

Dav Whatmore, Pakistan’s new coach, has said he wants to make a good start in the four-nation Asia Cup, following Pakistan’s dismal performance against England in the one-dayers

Umar Farooq07-Mar-2012Dav Whatmore, Pakistan’s new coach, has said he wants to make a good start in the four-nation Asia Cup, following Pakistan’s dismal performance against England in the one-dayers. A 15-man squad gathered in Karachi before departing for Dhaka for the four-nation tournament starting on March 11.”The Asia Cup is a very important tournament given the opposition,” Whatmore told reporters. “Overall it’s a difficult assignment so it is one of the many tests around and it’s good to be the part of it and I am looking forward to it.”Pakistan have a poor record in the Asia Cup – winning the title once since the event first took place in 1984, while India have lifted the cup the most times (five), followed by Sri Lanka (four). But the event carries a unique importance due to a high-profile India v Pakistan contest. Pakistan will play their first match against Bangladesh on Sunday and take on Sri Lanka on March 15, before going head-to-head with arch-rivals India on March 18.Whatmore has toned down the hype, suggesting that the match is similar to the others in the event. “We understand there’s an extra bit of interest attached to the fixture against India and it’s good for the game, people and for the players but we are treating it as any other match.”Whatmore, the 57-year-old former Australia batsman who coached Sri Lanka to a World Cup title in 1996, took charge on Saturday on a two-year contract, with his first assignment in Dhaka. Pakistan will land in Bangladesh having conceded 4-0 and 2-1 defeats in the one-day and T20 matches against England in the United Arab Emirates last month.”That was a little bit not in the script and I am sure the team wants to make amends,” Whatmore said. “Certainly they had terrific Test series and that was a little bit of a surprise but that’s the way it goes some time. We are not looking back and look to put our best foot forward and work on those areas where we can improve and rectify.”Everyone starts the game at a level playing field. It’s important that we are able to focus on what we are capable of doing – respect the opposition but we focus on what we can do – we can’t make the opposition do anything different.”Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was confident his team can bounce back. “We failed to perform at our best against England,” Misbah said. “But the team will not repeat the same mistakes again. There is nothing to be worried after the failure against England because the same team has performed well in the last one-and a-half years.”

Read shines as Trescothick goes down

If good leadership is about setting an example, Chris Read might have to be considered a masterful captain

George Dobell at Trent Bridge20-Apr-2012
ScorecardChris Read dominated Nottinghamshire’s first innings•Getty Images

If good leadership is about setting an example, Chris Read might have to be considered a masterful captain. While his colleagues poked and prodded like blind men, Read compiled an outstanding century that made it appear, as Peter Trego put it “as if he was playing on a different pitch.”The simple facts are these: while Read made a chanceless, unbeaten 104, none of his team-mates managed more than ten. While Read made 72 of his runs in boundaries – 15 fours and two sixes – his ten colleagues could muster only three fours between them. None of the top five managed any. And while Read recorded the 21st century of his first-class career, the next highest contribution was extras with 17. Read scored 64% of Nottinghamshire’s runs and looked a class above a top-order containing four other men whose batting has won them international caps for England. Three games into the season, Nottinghamshire have yet to pick up a batting bonus point.Not until Harry Gurney joined Read did he find any meaningful support. When Gurney, making his Nottinghamshire debut, came to the crease with the ninth wicket down, Read was on 58 and there were no thoughts of a century. Yet Gurney, showing fortitude that some of his top-order colleagues would do well to emulate, resisted for 36 balls to allow his captain to take the attack to the bowling. The pair added 56 for the tenth wicket – the highest partnership of the innings – with Read feasting on Somerset’s support bowlers and showing excellent shot selection against the impressive Trego and Steve Kirby.Read’s heroics were somewhat overshadowed by an injury to Marcus Trescothick. The 36-year-old fell to the floor in pain when running after a ball in the field and was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ankle ligament injury that troubled him towards the end of the 2011 season. He was subsequently taken to hospital for scans, the results of which will be known on Saturday. While Trego thought Tresocthick would bat – “he’s a tough old goat” was Trego’s assessment – Brian Rose, Somerset’s director of cricket, was more cautious in his assessment. It would be a major surprise if Trescothick was available next week.Trescothick’s injury also took some of the gloss off an excellent performance from Trego, the 30-year-old all-rounder, who had previously only taken one five-wicket haul in his first-class career – 6 for 59 on this same ground when playing for Middlesex in 2005 – but fully deserved his second with an excellent display of swing bowling. After left-hander Paul Franks was beaten by a fine one that swung back and trapped him prodding half forward, Ben Phillips was unfortunate enough to receive a beauty that pitched middle and leg and swung away to take the outside edge. It would have dismissed most batsmen.Trego has had a busy winter. He not only played domestic cricket in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, but also in the BPL, the Champions League and the Hong King Sixes.But he is not the type to complain at a heavy workload. After a couple of years, 2003 and 2004, when his form and his reputation – possibly an unfair reputation – as something of a waster forced him out of the professional game, he is relishing every moment of his return. With bat, ball and in the field, he has finally developed into the cricketer his talent always suggested he could be.”I was signed by Somerset when I was 15 and straight out of school,” Trego said. “They give you your kit and your bats and you feel fantastic.”But that was all taken away from me when I was 23. After that I had to scrap for a job and it made me realise how much the game meant to me. Once you have had to fight to get something back, you are much less likely to let it slip away again and I think the whole experience made me a better cricketer and a better person.”Playing a lot of cricket suits my body. I’m physically stronger and, having bowled on docile pitches all winter, I am in the habit of putting the ball in the right place. I have a huge desire to play for England; it would make me the happiest man in the world. But I can’t make that my focus. I am very happy helping Somerset win games of cricket.”Somerset’s greatest foe in this game could yet be the weather. The rain that had so curtailed play on the first day returned to steal 40 overs on the second. While Somerset’s batsmen demonstrated the patience and application that their hosts could not to set up a solid foundation, they will need more luck with the weather to take press home their dominance.Arul Suppiah, timing the ball elegantly through the covers off front and back foot, was particularly impressive. He experienced only one nervous moment when, on 21, he edged the deserving Gurney just short of third slip. Samit Patel claimed the catch but, after the umpires conferred, Suppiah was given not out.”Somerset’s batsmen applied themselves well and some of ours were responsible for their own downfall,” Read said. “It’s always dangerous to play away from your body at Trent Bridge and our batsmen will have to ask themselves if they applied themselves correctly. Samit Patel may have to rein himself in a bit.”