All posts by csb10.top

Kyle Mills was bizarrely banned from bowling for half an hour in Friday’s rained-out game after breaching a little-known rule which states that a warm-up delivery can’t bounce on the pitches in the middle. Mills, the New Zealand vice-captain, was given the ball for a new spell in the 39th over but the umpires stopped him from bowling after he was deemed to have broken Law 17.1 by pitching a practice delivery on the popping crease. The over was then bowled by Jacob Oram.At the post-match press conference, Ross Taylor seemed amused by the incident. “He bowled a warm-up ball with BJ Watling coming on (to catch it). I saw it landed on the popping crease,” Taylor said. “Mills’ knowledge of the rule – 17.1 was it? He wasn’t aware of the rule.”Though he laughed off the Mills half-hour bowling ban after the match, Taylor said it could have proved costly for New Zealand. “I must say we were lucky,” he said. “Kyle being our best bowler and he could have only been able to bowl seven overs. In hindsight, it’s funny but then it wasn’t funny. But Kyle won’t do that again.”This isn’t the first time New Zealand have been at the receiving end of such a ban. “We had a similar situation in a warm-up game last year when Chris Martin did a similar thing. I am not sure where the rules say 30 minutes but I think he was off for an hour.”The incident comes four days after the Suraj Randiv no-ball controversy, which also involved a rule several players – including Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara and Taylor – said they were unaware of.

Peter Ingram, the New Zealand batsman, has said learning from watching Virender Sehwag bat has helped transform his career. Ingram is sometimes criticised for a lack of footwork, but he said the reduced foot movement – a hallmark of Sehwag’s batting – has helped trigger the run of form which has lifted him to the New Zealand team.Sehwag and Ingram are both international openers, born just five days apart. While Sehwag has been among the most feared batsmen in the world for years Ingram is still taking his first tentative steps in international cricket, working full-time as a teacher as he is yet to win a central contract.After several poor seasons on the domestic scene – he has been around since 2001-02 – he was in commanding form over the past three years. “I played for five years for Central Districts, and averaged 17, used to try and move my feet heaps and block too much,” Ingram said. “And then I just kept watching Virender Sehwag, if he can not move his feet and score runs then so can I. Since then I have averaged about 65 and scored heaps and heaps of runs.”This is the first tournament he is playing involving Sehwag, and he is looking ahead to learning from the Indian batsman. “I have tried to have a chat with Sehwag. We are trying to organise one. I want to have a talk with him and see how he works and trains.”The stand-and-deliver method isn’t something that Ingram recommends for everyone, though. “Not everyone is the same, obviously it suits me and suits him,” he said. “I am not as good as he is, but one day hopefully I will be.”Sehwag has made a habit out of reaching his centuries with a six; most recently he nearly did it off the controversial Suraj Randiv no-ball last week, but it isn’t something Ingram has attempted. “No, I haven’t even thought about it.” He does dream of a Sehwagian feat. “I want to play Test cricket and smash a hundred of 80 balls.”

The ICC has approved the nomination of Alan Isaac, who was chairman of New Zealand cricket, for the post of ICC vice-president, bringing an end to the controversy surrounding the appointment following the rejection of John Howard. Sharad Pawar, the ICC president, confirmed the appointment and welcomed his deputy, who will succeed him in 2012.”I am delighted to announce that Alan Isaac’s nomination for the role of ICC vice-president was unanimously endorsed by the ICC executive board and the full ICC council, by circular resolution, has also approved the recommendation of the board,” Pawar said. “I am looking forward to working with Alan as we now set out to continue improving the ICC’s image and reputation. I know that Alan is a highly-respected cricket administrator, having contributed significantly to New Zealand Cricket as well as the ICC.”Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said Isaac was keen to focus on making improvements to the packed international schedule. “Alan is determined to build context and content in the Future Tours Programme for international cricket while maintaining the primacy of the ICC global events,” Lorgat said. “I am looking forward to working with him and I know that together with Sharad Pawar they will look to enhance the international game as well as the unity that exists within the game.”Isaac was pleased to be extended the honour and looked forward to “serving our great sport at international level and protecting the primacy of international cricket”.Howard was the initial Australasian nominee for the role, but he did not have sufficient support within the ICC board, with the African and Asian blocs opposing his nomination. The ICC officially rejected Howard’s nomination, directing Australia and New Zealand to nominate a new candidate. Isaac’s name was forwarded after John Anderson, the New Zealand candidate who lost out to Howard in the initial Australiasian election for the nominee, declined a request to step in.

Ricky Ponting knows his batsmen let the team down in both innings at Headingley, but he is not yet considering the idea of Steven Smith taking Marcus North’s position at No. 6. North was easily the most disappointing of the top six during the series, scoring 36 including two ducks, and only the No. 11 Doug Bollinger had a lower aggregate.North made a century and a 90 on the tour of New Zealand in March, but since the start of the Australian summer his big scores have become less frequent. Smith, on the other hand, lit up the Headingley stadium with a dazzling 77 on the third afternoon to keep Australia in the match, and in his 15 first-class appearances he has made four centuries.One of the main selection queries for Australia on their tour of India in October will be whether they can find a way to retain Smith when Nathan Hauritz returns from injury. However, Ponting does not believe Smith is ready to challenge for a more senior batting role and he said the conditions had made it difficult for North and the rest of the batsmen this month.”I don’t think Smith will put pressure on North,” Ponting said. “I thought the runs we got out of Smith yesterday were pretty entertaining and very valuable as far as the game is concerned. You can look at all of our batsmen through this tour, we’ve faced some pretty challenging conditions at different times. Both innings at Lord’s the ball went around a fair bit, the first innings here was probably the most challenging conditions that any of us have batted in.”Simon Katich was the only member of the team to average more than 35 during the series, as the Australians failed to find answers to Pakistan’s terrific swing bowling. The 349 they compiled with the help of Smith in the second innings in Leeds was their highest innings of the series, but Ponting also felt that in sunny conditions it was the time when they let themselves down.”I was a little bit disappointed with our batting yesterday,” Ponting said. “I thought we probably had the better of the batting conditions yesterday, and we had a chance to get a few more than 349 in the second innings. We let a little bit of an opportunity slip there. But the way we stuck at it late last night and this morning showed some character.”The ball won’t swing and seam as much during their two Tests in India, or for the Ashes back home, so the selectors might be hesitant to judge the batsmen on their tricky tour of England. Whatever they decide, Ponting believes the XI chosen for the first Test in India will not necessarily be a pointer to the team for the Gabba Ashes opener.”What the conditions probably do throw up over there [India] is the likelihood of maybe having to tinker with the setup in your team,” Ponting said. “We’ll wait and see who we’ve got that’s fit and ready to go for that tour and pick a squad of players we think can win a Test series over there and then worry about the start of the Ashes after that.”

The concept of two-innings one-day cricket, which Cricket Australia will trial next season, has been viewed with cautious optimism by two of the county second XI coaches in England who have had first-hand experience this year, but with concern voiced that matches can be decided very early.Leicestershire and Sussex have both reached the semi-final stage of the knockout competition where the split innings are being used in the 40-over matches. Phil Whitticase, who is in charge of Leicestershire’s second team, has experienced both ends of the spectrum in the matches he has been involved in.”I think the jury is still out, in the two games we’ve played I’ve seen both sides of it,” he told Cricinfo. “In the first we had Northamptonshire 76 for 6 after 20 overs and it meant we could play very steady cricket and won the game. I called it second-gear cricket, which isn’t want you want.”But in the second, against Surrey on a very good pitch, we won a good chase off the penultimate ball and it was a close game throughout. It certainly seemed to have more merit after that second game, but the feedback we have got is that some games could be over by three o’clock.”Some of the supporters who watched the Surrey game said it was a bit hard to follow with too much chopping and changing but I think that is something they could get used to.”Mark Davis, the Sussex second XI coach, also said there was a danger of matches being decided very early but believed the format was worth further discussion because of the increased tactical element it involves.”One issue I have had is that if a team performs badly in the first 20 overs the game can be as good as over and it isn’t much of spectacle which can become a bit boring,” he told Cricinfo. “First up people were quite sceptical and negative about it, much like they were at the start of Twenty20 cricket, but the two games we have played have been quite interesting and different to be involved in.””It’s a very tactical format, which makes it a good test for the captains and coaches who have to be able to think on their feet and adjust strategies depending on the situations. It has created a few novel situations.”However, where Davis feels a two-innings set-up could really benefit the game would to even up day-night one-day matches where the toss can have a major influence at grounds affected by dew. Davis remembered his experiences of playing domestic cricket in South Africa where batting under lights can become a hazard.”It would certainly even up the contest under lights,” he said. “I remember playing in South Africa, at places like Centurion and Durban, where you could basically win the toss and win the match because one team had 50 overs when the ball was zipping around all over the place. Split innings would certainly help balance that out.”Whitticase, meanwhile, has experienced what splitting an innings can do for a batsman who is in full flow when the first 20 overs ends. “We had a young guy on 48 in the first game and then he had stop and field for 20 overs,” he said. “He then needed to play himself in again and although he got fifty he said he didn’t feel as though he’d really earned it.”Angus Porter, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, suggested it would be quite a while until the format was considered for first team cricket in England.”I think it’s highly unlikely that the version we are playing in the second XI this year will get transferred across to the first XI competition,” he told the . “Players are enjoying it but what I think they are saying is ‘we’re not quite sure exactly where this particular experiment is taking us’.”The initial feedback from that experiment is that everyone is up for trying new things but that this one doesn’t actually seem to improve the game from a playing or a spectator point of view.”

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, is aware that cricket is facing another challenging time following the recent revelations from the IPL and the task of maintaining the status of Test cricket in an increasingly crammed schedule. There is a growing fear that the game has opened itself up to a new wave of corruption with the sums of money now involved in Twenty20 plus the ease of access to matches now provided by satellite TV and the internet.The ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit, which has been in operation for 10 years since the Hansie Cronje scandal, has worked hard to ensure a clean sport but wasn’t involved in the first two seasons of the IPL. It now has a new head man in Ronnie Flanagan following the retirement of Paul Condon and Lorgat said plans remained in place to deal with new and existing issues.”It would be naïve not to realise that the greater the sport becomes, the more exciting it becomes, the more money it attracts, the bigger the challenges,” he told Cricinfo in St Lucia. “We have got a very solid foundation and structure in place to deal with most of these challenges that come to the table. On a daily basis we deal with issues and we do so successfully. I think we have a system which is pretty robust to deal with most things that we face.”The other question posed by the explosion of Twenty20 is a more prosaic one of how to manage an already crammed international schedule. Lorgat confirmed that the new Future Tours Programme cycle has been “agreed in principle” but added that it was almost reaching breaking point.”There are a few caveats we are working through to confirm it,” he said. “There isn’t much more room if you think there are ten Full Member countries who bilaterally arrange fixtures, then there are the global events which are pencilled in, which doesn’t leave much more space. All the international fixtures we have pretty much fills up the FTP.”The plans for a World Test Championship remain on the table and Lorgat is “excited” about what could be brought to the next ICC meeting in June. Various models have been suggested to try and bring context to Test series, ranging from a two-year rolling table to a two-divisional structure, but Lorgat feels the five-day game is now in better shape after a worrying time.”Less than two years ago there were concerns,” he said. “I went to watch Australia play India in Mohali and I think it was the very game Sachin Tendulkar crossed 12,000 runs. There wasn’t much support which was a concern.”That isn’t what you want to see for the pinnacle of the sport. We are very keen to promote Test cricket and build context but importantly it’s the quality of the games that will attract interest and I think people are starting to realise we need to proactively do something about it.”With the hectic schedules in mind, Lorgat is content that Twenty20 has found its home on the international stage. There have been three successful tournaments with the current event in West Indies concluding on Sunday in Barbados.”I think the way we have it where every alternate year we play a world event at Twenty20 and the member countries are limited in terms of how many T20s they play is the right sort of balance,” he said. “The majority is then played domestically, which is about right.”He also hinted that the ICC would be keen to reduce the length of future 50-over World Cups following the success of the three World Twenty20 events and the Champions Trophy in South Africa. “That was in our minds when we planned it [the 2011 World Cup] and we shaved off six days for the one next year,” he said. “That’s the maximum we could cut out and if we can in the future we will cut off more days.”

The BCCI has sent show-cause notices to seven of the eight players involved in the pub brawl in St Lucia on May 11, the day India were knocked out of the World Twenty20. According to a board source the seven players are Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja and Murali Vijay. The players have been given a week to explain their role, if any, in the incident and why the board should not take disciplinary action against them. If the responses are found unsatisfactory, the matter will be taken up by the board’s disciplinary committee.Four of the seven players will be touring Zimbabwe for India’s next international assignment but the pull-up is expected to have no impact on their participation in the tour.The eight players had gone to the pub early evening when allegedly some of the fans present inside started heckling one of the players. Unable to stand the taunting, the others reportedly came to the rescue of the team-mate but it only resulted in an unruly brawl.The BCCI bosses, including its president Shashank Manohar, were said to be highly critical of the incident after hearing the report of team manager Ranjib Biswal in person on Monday in Mumbai. Biswal had submitted his report on Saturday to the board’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty but he stayed back to report to Manohar and N Srinivasan, the board secretary, who was also present at the briefing.This is the first instance of the board pulling up so many players in public. But Manohar, the BCCI president, has always had the reputation of being a strict administrator and on this occasion he possibly felt the board was left with little option but to give a warning to the players considering the World Cup is nine months away. And to tolerate such indiscipline, especially after India’s exit from the Super Eights in the World Twenty20 for the second year in a row, would have been inappropriate.Incidentally, Biswal denied reports of the brawl when he returned to India. “There is no truth at all about the brawl. It is all media creation that is doing the rounds,” he said last week.

Match facts

Shane Warne’s team needs to produce a magical performance against Kolkata•Indian Premier League

Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals, Eden Gardens
Saturday, April 17
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

Both teams have only an outside chance of making the semi-finals, but Kolkata’s prospects are slimmer than Rajasthan’s. The hosts have ten points, two games in hand and are in seventh place, while Rajasthan, presently sixth, have 12 with only one to play. Both teams have a negative net run-rate, which worsens their chances. The bottom line is Kolkata and Rajasthan need victory on Sunday to keep their campaigns alive. And even that may not be enough.If Kolkata win, they need to do so by a margin large enough to significantly improve the worst net run-rate of the tournament, and do an encore in their last league game. If they lose, their final match will be inconsequential.Rajasthan also need a large victory to push their net run-rate up towards zero, surpassing Deccan Chargers. And if they manage that, they need to hope Kings XI Punjab beat Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. Should Rajasthan lose to Kolkata, they will be out of the tournament.

Form guide (most recent first)

Kolkata – LLWLW
Rajasthan – LLWWL

Team talk

Kolkata’s four overseas players in the nine-wicket defeat in Chennai were Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Angelo Matthews and David Hussey. And yet they managed to score only 139. Three of them, though, will retain their spots while Hussey could make way for either Shane Bond or Ajantha Mendis.Rajasthan will not change key personnel. They just need Michael Lumb, Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan to fire because it’s their batting that hasn’t come good. Their bowlers have defended anything over 150.

Previously…

Rajasthan 4 Kolkata 1
When these two teams met in Ahmedabad, Rajasthan managed 168 after winning the toss. A Kolkata without Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum struggled during the chase and were restricted to 134 for 5.

In the spotlight

Gayle and Ganguly: In their last two partnerships at Eden Gardens, Gayle and Sourav Ganguly have added 94 and 56 for the first wicket. They both fell cheaply in Chennai, and they will want to give Kolkata another rousing start to get the crowd going.Shane Warne: He has 11 wickets at an average of 32 and an economy-rate of 7.68. But Rajasthan need more than just Warne the bowler to perform on Saturday. They need him at his galvanizing best, cajoling and inspiring his charges into raising their performance to levels never reached before. Nothing less will give Rajasthan a hope of making the final four.

Prime numbers and trivia

• Yusuf began his IPL with a 37-ball 100 against Mumbai and later blitzed 73 against Deccan. In his other 11 innings, however, Yusuf has been poor, scoring only 152 runs in 11 innings.
• Despite the dip in form, Yusuf has hit 24 sixes this season, the second most after Robin Uthappa, who has hit 25. Gayle’s 16 is the most for Kolkata.
• Sourav Ganguly is Kolkata’s highest run-scorer, with 376 runs in 12 innings. His strike-rate of 112, however, is the lowest for any batsmen with over 200 runs this season.
  

  The chatter

  “We can still get in if Deccan only win one of two games, or lose both. And Chennai lose, and we beat Kolkata Saturday night.”

  “The tournament is springing surprises everyday and a few games have produced results to keep us alive. But we need to do this on our own steam, win matches with our own ability.”
  .

Leicestershire 303 for 5 v NorthamptonshireScorecardEngland prospect James Taylor just missed out on a century as Leicestershireracked up 303 for 5 after being put in to bat by Northamptonshire on theopening day of the season at Grace Road.The 20-year-old led the home side’s recovery after seamer Jack Brooks snappedup two early wickets to give Northants a flying start. Taylor shared half-century partnerships with Matt Boyce and Joshua Cobb to turn the innings around before being bowled by Lee Daggett for 88. Tom New and Wayne White also posted half-centuries and by the closeLeicestershire had moved into a commanding position on a pitch offering somehelp to the seam bowlers.There were certainly signs of moisture in it when Leicestershire’s new captain,former England and Yorkshire star Matthew Hoggard, lost the toss and hisopposite number Nicky Boje decided to bowl first. After 10 overs it looked a good decision with Brooks and David Lucas giving Leicestershire’s openers a torrid time. Will Jefferson, making his debut after joining Leicestershire from Nottinghamshire, was first to go. With the score on 15 in the fourth over he edged a delivery from Brooks that kept low through towicketkeeper Paul Harrison.Brooks struck again 10 runs later, this time finding the edge of Paul Nixon’s bat with a delivery that lifted providing David Sales with a catch in the slips. But from that point on the day belonged to Leicestershire as their array of promising youngsters took control.Taylor, whose record-breaking exploits last season, earned him an England Lionscall-up last winter, was once more the pick of the bunch. He again showed why he is catching the eye of the selectors with another exciting knock that included 14 sweetly-timed boundaries. He survived one sharp chance to Vishal Tripathi fielding at short leg to left-arm spinner Boje but after that gave another fine exhibition of controlled batting.A century looked there for the taking until he inexplicably lost patience and attempting a big drive at a ball from Daggett dragged it back into his stumps. It was a disappointing end to Taylor’s innings but Leicestershire were encouraged by excellent efforts from Boyce, Cobb, New and White.Boyce batted impressively to make 47 before edging a catch to the wicketkeeper while Cobb, after an attractive 27, was bowled off an inside edge by Lucas. New and White then provided a bright and breezy end to the day for the home side, sharing an unbroken stand of 110. New reached his half-century off 81 balls with eight boundaries and White was even faster taking just 59 balls and hitting nine fours. Even more encouraging for the home side was that they had taken three batting points in the opening game compared to last season when it took them four matches to pick up the same number of batting points.

Dirk Nannes has always felt comfortable in India and is a definite starter in the IPL tournament beginning on Friday. Nannes left Melbourne on Saturday to join Delhi Daredevils and was confident the security and safety problems would not be an issue during the event.”I have always felt pretty good in India,” Nannes said in the Sunday Herald Sun. “Security can be a bit of perception. If you feel safe, then you probably are safe. But the reality may be completely different.”I wasn’t comfortable in coming to a decision myself, but, luckily, the Australian Cricketers’ Association has done a lot of investigating and has been pushing to make it a lot safer for us. They think if things keep progressing the way they are, then things will be fine from next week and the start of the tournament.”Nannes has retired from first-class action to prolong his career in the shorter formats, which includes representing Australia in Twenty20s. He has played five T20s for Australia and his left-arm fast, which can top 155kph, is a daunting prospect for batsmen as they chase boundaries.”My body simply cannot handle playing first-class cricket,” he said. “Even if I made myself available, there was no chance of me playing the last few [Sheffield Shield] games.”I have a back issue. It’s fine for playing the shorter forms, but if I was asked to bowl 17 overs one day I couldn’t back up and bowl again the next day.” After the IPL Nannes is hoping to be part of Australia’s World Twenty20 campaign, having played in last year’s tournament for the Netherlands.