Category Uncategorized

West Indies’ seamers bring more wickets and experience to this series than their counterparts but will still have to deliver brief, intense spells to be successful in Sri Lanka, bowling coach Curtly Ambrose has said.Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach have played over 30 Tests and each have at least 120 wickets each, where Sri Lanka’s most successful seamer, Dhammika Prasad, has 66 scalps. But though Sri Lankan surfaces have become friendlier for seamers in the past two years, the climate still presents a challenge, Ambrose said.”I think in these conditions which are very, very hot, it’s going to be important to bowl shorter spells,” he said. “Bowling eight, nine or 10 overs in a spell is going to be too much for them. The skipper will have to monitor the fast bowlers a bit better, and they’d bowl three or four over spells, where they can really give their 100 per cent. That way at the end of the day they are going to have some energy to produce. Hydration is going to be important as well. You can’t wait till you’re tired or dehydrated to put in the fluids.”Ambrose said that with the quicks’ energy levels expected to dive through the day, taking wickets with their new-ball spells would be crucial. He was however pleased with the seamers’ outing in Colombo, where he believed they had adjusted well to the pace of Sri Lanka’s surfaces. Roach, Taylor and Jason Holder claimed two wickets apiece in that match.”The pitches, for me, have something for the fast bowlers. It’s not a quick pitch but there’s something for the quicks. What impressed me in that practice game was that they found the right length to bowl. We don’t have to tell them what length to bowl.”Holder, who will lead West Indies in his ninth Test match, said his seamers could not just rely on pace and bounce on Sri Lanka’s surfaces. The pitch at Galle, in particular, can play slow and low.”We have a bit of pace in our attack but skill comes into play in these conditions,” Holder said. “If the pitches are pretty batting friendly, and pace may not rattle many international batsmen. You have to be skillful as well, and Jerome has adapted to that in the last few series.”There have been instances of seamers gleaning substantial conventional and reverse swing at the venue. Notably, Dale Steyn helped South Africa win a match at the ground thanks largely to two impressive spells with the old ball. Holder said reverse swing was a skill West Indies had focused on as well.”In the past we spoken a lot about revere swing its something we have been technically been doing pretty well – we are working really well with the coaching staff,” Holder said. “We’ll try to get as much reverse swing as we possibly can, depending on the conditions. Having said that our boys are skilled enough to adapt.”His team had lost five wickets to the offspin of Suraj Randiv in the three-day warm-up match, but Holder believed his batsmen would be effective against Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers.”We’re not too startled by spin. Certain batsmen didn’t spend much time in the middle as they wanted in the practice match, but speaking to them, and the way they been moving in the last few days, they look fairly confident.”

ScorecardFile photo – Bilawal Bhatti’s figures of 8 for 56 were his best in first-class cricket, as were his match figures of 11 for 95•AFP

An eight-wicket haul from Bilawal Bhatti shot out United Bank Limited for 189 in their second innings, leaving Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited chasing a target of 160 to win the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. SNGPL’s chase got off to a rocky start, however, as they ended the third day 56 for 3, with the experienced pair of Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq at the crease.The second day had ended with Bhatti dismissing the opener Sharjeel Khan to leave UBL 17 for 1 – effectively minus 13 for 1. The third day began with Bhatti needing to bowl one ball to complete his over. He had Umar Siddiq caught behind off that ball.UBL avoided giving Bhatti the hat-trick, but Azizullah bowled Shan Masood and Sohaib Maqsood in between. The two SNGPL quicks had taken four wickets in the space of seven balls, conceding only two runs in the process.From 19 for 4, UBL recovered thanks to Younis Khan’s 128-ball 98, which contained 16 fours. He dominated a fifth-wicket partnership of 141 with Hammad Azam before Bhatti bowled him. There was little resistance thereafter, as Bhatti swept through the lower order, picking up the remaining wickets as UBL lost their last six wickets for 29 runs. Five of Bhatti’s eight wickets – and seven of ten overall – were either bowled or lbw.Bhatti’s figures of 8 for 56 were his best in first-class cricket, as were his match figures of 11 for 95.

Nasser Hussain, the former England captain turned TV commentator, has criticised the appointment of Hugh Morris and Mike Gatting as the ECB’s new managing directors.In his Daily Mail column, Hussain accused the ECB of not searching “beyond their backyard” and of indulging in a jobs-for-the-boys approach.”As a member of the group put together under Ken Schofield’s chairmanship to look into English cricket, I feel a sense of huge disappointment,” Hussain wrote. “It smacks of jobs for the boys, of the ECB being desperate not to rock the boat nor bring in anyone who might question how they do things. They just want to retain the status quo.”It was not our brief to find the right people, merely to put down guidelines. But I saw this as a fantastic opportunity for our game to bring in new people with exciting ideas.”Maybe the right type of people did not apply, but were enough efforts made to find the right people? Did a head-hunter seek out the very best talent before reaching the conclusion that Morris and Gatting were the best way forward? I would like an explanation.

Hussain warned that England need someone who will do his job rather than be preoccupied with not losing it. He also said that Gatting and Morris were from a different generation to the current players and that the ECB would have better advised to go with someone younger.”Mark Ramprakash would have been ideal in this job,” he said. “I know that he still has ambitions to reach a hundred centuries and maybe even play for England again. But he is someone who knows all about the domestic and international games and the difficulty in bridging the gap between one and the other. He is also young enough to be in touch with how the game is evolving.”And Hussain concluded with a warning about another area covered by the Schofield Report. “One opportunity appears to have been wasted … will the next one, a chance to reinvigorate selection, go the same way?”

Kenya 224 (Obuya 44, Tikolo 43) beat Bermuda 145 by 79 runs
ScorecardKenya continued their dominance over Bermuda with a 79-run victory in the opening match of the three-ODI series at Mombasa Sports Club.The ground’s inaugural ODI had been in doubt after heavy storms during the week – the same rains which had washed out the Intercontinental Cup tie at Nairobi Gymkhana – but the game started on time and Kenya overcame a mid-innings wobble to score 224 for 8.Opener David Obuya continued his good form with a determined 44 and he received good support from Steve Tikolo who was on course for a fifty when he was run out by Janeiro Tucker. But Kenya’s middle order wobbled and it took an unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 66 in 7.1 overs to give the home side a decent score. Peter Ongondo blasted 26, including a four and a six, off 21 balls, while Nehemiah Odhiambo’s 31 included three fours and a six. Saleem Mukuddem, who took six wickets at Nairobi, was the pick of the Bermuda bowlers with 3 for 45.Bermuda started reasonably to reach 55 for 2, but they failed to cope when the spinners came on, losing four wickets for 32 to effectively end their hopes. Ongondo and Thomas Odoyo bowled an excellent line but the pick of the bowlers was slow left-armer Hiren Varaiya who picked up 3 for 29 from his 10 overs.

More than 16,000 people voted in our Super Series Poll, and here are the results of Test and one-day Super Series teams. The 11 players with the highest votes haven’t actually made it to each side, as we had to take the balance of the team into account. A team with nine batsmen is hardly going to beat the Australians, so we let go of a batsman to bring in a bowler wherever necessary. None of the batsmen who polled the highest votes for the Test side were openers, so we had to include Virender Sehwag and Graeme Smith (openers with the highest votes) in the side. Inzamam-ul-Haq, who aggregated the seventh highest votes, lost out.Rahul Dravid topped the Test votes and Andrew Flintoff topped the one-day votes, with Muttiah Muralitharan coming second in both, followed by a bevy of batsmen. Ironically, the two men who topped the captaincy votes in the Test XI actually failed to make it to the side:Michael Vaughan and Inzamam. Smith had the third-highest votes, and is your notional captain.In the one-day side, Inzamam won the captaincy by a massive margin, and found a place in the side as well. Shahid Afridi suffered: he won more votes than Shoaib Akhtar but he missed the final cut because the only available slot by the time his name was reached was of a specialist bowler. He could still, if Inzamam so desires, be a super sub.

So here they are, the Super Series sides that you have picked. Do you think the ICC can match this?Rest of the World Test team

Rest of the World ODI team

Bruce Patterson, Scotland’s veteran opening batsman, has been named in Scotland’s squad, and is set to make his National League debut against Durham on June 20.Patterson, 38, replaces Steve Knox after convincing the selectors with innings of 33 and 51 in the Intercontinental Cup match against Holland last weekend, which ended in a draw. He also picked up two cheap wickets, his first in international cricket, in Holland’s second innings. That game was Patterson’s first for Scotland in three years.Apart from his inclusion, the side is unchanged from Scotland’s previous game.Scotland squad Craig Wright (capt), Yasir Arafat, Asim Butt, Cedric English, Paul Hoffman, Dewald Nel, Bruce Patterson, Colin Smith, Sidharan Sriram, Ian Stanger, Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts.

BERBICE – Horrendous!That’s how Barbados captain Courtney Browne described the tactics of Guyana after a combination of rain, faulty covers, the hosts’ slow over-rate and fading light denied Barbados the opportunity of completing their first first-class victory in this country in 23 years.The tournament leaders were 17 runs away from victory, but with only two wickets in hand, when they accepted the umpires’ offer to go off because of fading light at 5:49 p.m. at the Albion Community Development Centre.Given almost the entire day to make 138, Barbados were 66 for three when play resumed at 4:30 p.m. following two significant interruptions for rain that accounted for the loss of 200 minutes on the final day of their fourth-round Carib Beer Series match.On resumption, the visitors needed another 72 runs from 24 overs, but the Guyanese bowled a mere 11 overs in an hour and 20 minutes, even with a spin bowler operating.At a rate of four minutes an over, 20 overs should have been bowled in that time.With the Guyanese seemingly delaying the game, Barbados’ batsmen took several risks and wickets fell at regular intervals.They were 121 for eight when umpires offered "light"."The sort of cricket the Guyanese displayed here was horrendous," Browne told NATIONSPORT."You can’t play cricket like that. It is supposed to be impossible to bowl nine overs in an hour, bowling with a fast bowler and a spinner. That is total madness."The Guyanese constantly made several field changes, held countless discussions among themselves, and leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo was often delayed by with mud on his boots or an apparent stomach ailment."I would say it wasn’t conducive to good cricket," Barbados coach Hendy Springer said."It is a matter for them, if they want to bowl four overs in an hour. Unsportsmanlike is not a word I want to use, but it was very negative."It’s not conducive to good West Indies cricket and that’s what the people participating in this tournament are aspiring to."Even so, both Browne and Springer felt Barbados should have long wrapped up the match to achieve their third win."We should have won the game in three days," Browne said. "We had a very poor third day – batting, bowling, fielding, whatever."Springer said the batsmen did not do well enough in the run-chase."It should not have come down to the fact that light was involved."We should have knocked the runs off a lot earlier. We lost some very soft wickets badly chasing those runs," he said.With the knowledge that the light would have been a factor, Barbados’ batsmen were drawn into aggressive strokes that caused their downfall.After Floyd Reifer and Ryan Hinds extended their fourth-wicket partnership to 59 in between the stoppages, Reifer (39) was bowled playing across a full-length ball from Nagamootoo.By now, it was 5:13 p.m. and 42 runs were required with six wickets in hand.Browne soon lifted a catch to long-off and Hinds, on the backfoot, was lbw for 29 to one that kept low from Nagamootoo.Once Ryan Hurley gave a catch to backward point and Ian Bradshaw was run out, the Bajans decided it would be a tall order for Dwayne Smith in the company of Sulieman Benn and with only Tino Best to come."I thought I did the best thing. I’ve played this cricket long enough and I knew that if we had batted any further on, we would have lost the game," Browne said, explaining why they accepted the umpires’ offer for light.The first sign of rain surfaced during the lunch break and light, persistent showers delayed the resumption after the break until 2:20 p.m.Only one over was bowled before a heavy shower drove the players off the field. When the covers were removed, there were wet spots on the pitch that required the use of fire and the application of grass to dry the affected areas.When it was all set for resumption, there was the unusual sight of batsmen emerging from the pavilion before the fielders. It was a sign that the Guyanese were going to take their time.At no stage did the hosts appear to have been cautioned or warned about their over-rate.Yet, when Barbados emergency fielder Antonio Thomas came out to middle to say something to Barbados’ ninth-wicket pair, he was stopped.

Five wickets for Glenn McGrath and a fine century for Mark Waugh gave Australia a tight and possibly inextricable grip over the Second npower Test Match at Lord’s.McGrath’s wickets helped to polish off England for 187 in the morning session, the innings closing ten minutes before lunch after the last six England wickets fell for 66 runs. McGrath finished with 5-54 with Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Craig White his second-day victims, all three falling in the space of nine balls.Waugh’s superb century was a typically stylish and elegant collection of immaculately timed shots, the runs off his legs proving the most pleasurable for a capacity Lord’s crowd.He spent a few torrid overs in the 90s and was hit on the helmet while on 98 by Andrew Caddick. But he stayed composed and effortlessly brought up his first hundred at Lord’s with a gently pushed single to mid on.The century was a long time coming for Mark Waugh. On the Ashes Tour in 1993, he was bowled by Phil Tufnell for 99 and in the eight years since then his highest score at Lord’s has been 33.His hundred came up in 165 balls and took three and a quarter hours but on a sunny Friday afternoon in London, there can have been few better ways of being entertained than watching the 36-year-old younger twin strike 13 boundaries to reach his 19th Test hundred.At the other end, his brother was watching over and for the second time in two matches, the pair added a century to Australia’s total in 170 balls.But a dramatic demise came soon after when, scampering a quick single, he was found a foot short of the crease as the bails flew off the stumps after a direct hit by Darren Gough at mid on.He had added another eight runs to his total in a further 12 minutes and when he walked off, he was given a rousing reception and standing ovation by an appreciative crowd who had enjoyed every minute.By then Australia were 212 for four with a solid 25-run lead over England whose captain Mike Atherton had been struggling to think of new ways of breaking up the Waugh partnership. It had lasted two hours after Michael Slater fell for 25, with the score 105 for three.It might have been broken sooner had Craig White not missed a chance at gully when he was on 59 and if Darren Gough had held a caught and bowled chance to Steve Waugh when he was 14. Waugh senior moved his score on to 45 before he departed, attempting to fend off a tricky delivery from Cork that was going down the leg-side.Stewart, covering some ground to get to the ball, took it safely and Australia had lost their fifth wicket with the score 230. The remainder of the day saw Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist, who both made centuries at Edgbaston, establishing another solid platform in the evening sunlight and by the close they had extended Australia’s lead by 64 runs to 255 for five.

Kenya’s ambitions to bridge the gap between themselves and the Full Member countries have been dealt a blow by the news that Roger Harper will not be renewing his contract as coach after the ICC World Twenty20.Harper took charge in January 2006 and has had considerable success in rebuilding a side that hardly played in the previous three years. In February this year Kenya won the World League Division One, a success which earned them a place in the ICC World Twenty20. The Kenyan side has also become far more disciplined in his time at the helm.Harper turned down an invitation to continue because of family commitments in the Caribbean.”Roger has been a truly marvellous ambassador for the game of cricket,” Samir Inamdar, Cricket Kenya’s chairman, told Cricinfo. “His steadying influence at a time when our cricket was in pieces has been an outstanding feature of his stay here. It has, I believe, succeeded in bringing our national team together into a cohesive and disciplined unit.”Kenya will look to fill the vacancy immediately after the tournament. Harper’s successor will be appointed for the period ending June 2009.

Having seen off India’s timid challenge, Australia and West Indies willcontest bragging rights in the DLF Cup final in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. For the first time in a competition where they have experimented with all types ofcombinations, Australia will be fielding their strongest side, and a WestIndian team missing the experience and canny swing bowling of CoreyCollymore will have its work cut out to be competitive.The two teams split the two matches in the league phase, with West Indieshaving squandered a tremendous opportunity in the tournament opener, whenthey went from 172 for 1 to 201 all out. On Sunday though, they’ll facethe world’s most potent new-ball attack, with Glenn McGrath and Brett Leein tandem for only the second time in the competition. The support cast isno less impressive, with the ever-improving Shane Watson and NathanBracken, and West Indies would also do well to be wary of Brad Hogg, whosorted out a couple of Indian batsmen with his variations on Friday night.The batting order, even without the hulking figure of Matthew Hayden -rested in view of not being part of the Champions Trophy squad – isimposing, with Damien Martyn likely to miss out from the twelve chosen forthe game. Simon Katich and Watson should open the innings, with RickyPonting, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Michael Hussey forming afrightening middle order. Brad Haddin’s effervescent efforts with the bathave made the absence of Adam Gilchrist seem like a trifling problem, andHogg too is no Bugs Bunny with the bat.West Indies’ prospects will depend entirely on the top order, capable ofshredding any attack on a good day. Brian Lara leads the way, and his 87in the last game against Australia was touched with genius. Chris Gayle,Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have also shown signs ofexceptional form at various times in the tournament, and West Indies wouldlove all four to make an impact against a bowling line-up that will be atthem from the outset.Jerome Taylor’s raw pace complements Ian Bradshaw’s control with the newball, and Dwayne Smith has performed creditably in his outings with theball, swinging it late with great accuracy. But Dwayne Bravo has had anindifferent series, and plenty of worries remain about the fragility ofthe middle order. Wavell Hinds scratched around dreadfully in the lastmatch against India, and Marlon Samuels may just have played his way outof the XI.With a thigh injury depriving them of Collymore’s services, West Indies’only real hope is to bat big and hope to pressure Australia’s batsmen intomistakes. Chasing against the likes of Lee and McGrath is a difficult taskat the best of times, and as India found out yesterday, the anaconda gripgets you eventually.TeamsAustralia 1 Simon Katich, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8Brad Hogg, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Glenn McGrathWest Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 3 RamnareshSarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Wavell Hinds, 7 RunakoMorton, 8 Dwayne Smith, 9 Carlton Baugh (wk), 10, Ian Bradshaw, 11 JeromeTaylor