All posts by csb10.top

Chris Harris could be the latest former international to join the Indian Cricket League, with reports from New Zealand that the allrounder has already reached an agreement with the group. However, his domestic side Canterbury and the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association (NZCPA) were doubtful that Harris had made a decision.A number of news sources said this week that Harris would be joined in the ICL by Chris Cairns and Nathan Astle, with a fourth unnamed player also set to follow their lead. The reports said Harris had rejected a new deal with Canterbury and would further boost the league’s list of international players that includes Brian Lara, Lance Klusener, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf.But Heath Mills, the manager of the NZCPA, told the no New Zealand players had made agreements with the ICL. “I’d definitely know if Harry had signed,” Mills said. “The ICL have approached a number of our players, but I’m not aware of any who have signed.”The chief executive of Canterbury Cricket, Richard Reid, was also unconvinced by the reports. “I don’t know whether he’s signed or not,” Reid said. “I would presume that he would tell me if he had. Neither Dave Nosworthy [the Canterbury coach] nor I know that he’s signed.”Harris, 37, has not played for New Zealand since 2004-05 but has remained a first-rate contributor in domestic fixtures. Last season he was Canterbury’s top one-day run-scorer with 362 at 60.33 and chipped in with nine wickets, while also averaging 42.80 in a solid first-class campaign.He was outstanding in the State Twenty20 competition, where he led the competition’s tally with 237 runs from five games at a strike-rate of 160 and claimed seven wickets with an economy rate of 6.45. The only man to make a State Twenty20 century last summer, Harris was included in New Zealand’s preliminary 30-man squad for the Twenty20 World Championship but was cut from the final line-up.Cairns and Astle, both of whom have retired from first-class cricket, have been mentioned for some time as potential ICL recruits but they have not confirmed the rumours. Stephen Fleming has also declined to publicly comment on the speculation that he would join the group.

ScorecardIt was restrictive bowling at its best as ICL India XI, led by Ali Murtaza’s miserly spell of 2 for 22 in four overs, shut Pakistan XI out of the contest after an aggressive start in their chase of 177. Pakistan XI pinned their hopes on Imran Farhat and Hasan Raza to guide them through but were unable to cut loose against the slow bowlers and eventually ended on 144 for 6, 32 short of the target. The win sealed India XI’s place in the final on Tuesday.The win was setup by an attacking half-century by Tejinder Pal Singh, whose 52 off 32 balls piloted India XI to 176. Ibrahim Khaleel and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala added 66 for the second wicket before a doube-strike by Arshad Khan set them back at 84 for 3. Tejinder and S Abbas Ali staged a recovery with a blistering stand of 52 in just 4.4 overs. Abbas Ali hit two fours in his 22 before he was run-out by Abdul Razzaq at the bowler’s end for backing up too far. Tejinder continued the assault and launched two sixes, including one which towered high over long-on. He fell for 52 off just 32 balls, bowled by Naved-ul-Hasan off the penultimate ball of the innings.Pakistan XI suffered an early setback after Imran Nazir was forced to retire hurt early owing to a groin injury. Razzaq meanwhile launched the chase into overdrive, smashing seven fours and a six in his 38. G Vignesh, the medium pacer, then struck twice in the space of two overs, sending back the dangerous Razzaq to bring the Indians back into the contest.Farhat and Raza came together with the score at 52 and for a lengthy period, ensured Pakistan didn’t ensure any further loss of wickets. However, the required rate began to climb once the left-arm spin duo of Murtaza and Syed Mohammad and the seamer T Kumaran operated in the middle overs, giving very little away. The odd six lifted Pakistan’s spirits but the fluency was missing. India XI’s fielding inside the circle was of a very high standard, forcing the batsmen to improvise. Cheeky glides to third man and straight drives were intercepted and the nagging stump-to-stump line by Murtaza only made life difficult for the pair as almost every slog failed to make contact with the bat. Farhat finally hit out in the 18th over, skying a catch to R Satish off Kumaran. Vignesh finished with the best figures for the Indians with 3 for 22 in four overs.Pakistan XI needed an improbable 43 off the last two overs and the contest was effectively sealed. With India XI already in the final, tomorrow’s match between Pakistan XI and World XI is a virtual semi-final.

Catch of the day
Mahela Jayawardene’s low pluck at short midwicket to remove KevinPietersen. He didn’t have to move so it was routine in most senses,but it travelled like a bullet and had been tossed a mile in the airalmost before anyone had registered what had happened. Pietersentrudged off ruing the vagaries of fortune. For the first time in hiscareer, he’s failed to make a fifty in a completed Test series.Over of the day
At every critical juncture of this series, England have faltered andSri Lanka have surged. So it proved in a thrilling over before lunch,when the menace of Muttiah Muralitharan combined with the fear of theEnglish batsmen to produce a catastrophic implosion. Pietersen’sdismissal had created a ripple of disquiet, but when Paul Collingwoodwas confounded by the doosra and stumped by two feet, a precipiceopened up beneath England’s innings and poor Ravi Bopara stumbledstraight in. A panicky edge, a stuttered attempt at a run, a thrillingpounce, a despairing backflip, a gleeful whip of the bails. SuddenlyEngland were embracing oblivion for the second innings running.Drop of the day
Prasanna Jayawardene has been a picture of anonymity in the field,which for a wicketkeeper can only be a good thing – Matt Prior canonly dream of the day he’s not got a mention in the morning papers.Even so, he produced something of a blooper in the second over of themorning, when Alastair Cook had added just one run to his overnight53. The ball was fired down the leg-side, and brushed the face of thebat as Cook shaped to glance. But Jayawardene missed his moment, andEngland’s survival prospects lived on.Innings of the day
England hadn’t gone through an entire Test series without at least onecenturion since they were overturned by New Zealand in 1999. Thatresult, coincidentally, left England rock-bottom in the worldrankings, so symbolically it was rather important that someone -anyone – stood up to be counted today. The honour eventually went toCook, who doesn’t turn 23 until Christmas Day. Yet has now racked upseven centuries in his young career, which equals Javed Miandad at thesame age. Only Bradman and Tendulkar, with eight, have managed more.That’s some illustrious company.Self-publicising numpty of the day
Yesterday, a banner appeared on the fort which caught the attention ofthe England team – Cook included, who commented on it after the match.Today, clearly chuffed by the amount of publicity his little stunt hadgenerated, the same chap turned his sheet around, and scrawled: “15days of torture – thanks for nothing England”. Pillock. If you’re thatbored of the cricket, go and sit on the beach. Or walk around thefort. Or lounge on a shady verandah. Or go home to damp, freezingBlighty.Stat of the day
Ryan Sidebottom (253 balls) faced more deliveries in theseries than Pietersen (250). There are England’s shortcomings ina nutshell.

Gary Kirsten believes the “spirit of cricket was breached” during the controversial Sydney Test, and feels both the captains need to sit together and resolve the issue.”I’m not sitting on the fence. The game doesn’t need two nations saying ‘I was right’,” Kirsten, who joined the Indian team as a consultant in Perth, told Cricinfo.Refusing to take sides, Kirsten, set to become India’s head coach from March 1, said there couldn’t be smoke without fire from either side. “One needs to be a careful. I have got to look at this thing objectively. I have got to be very careful in what I say. To me what’s going on is sad.”I’m looking at it objectively because I wasn’t in the heat of the battle. Maybe I’d have a different perspective if I was in the heat of battle saying India were unfairly treated, and there were comments made, but the way it’s going is not good for the game at the moment.”Kirsten felt it was up to the players to find the best way to resolve the issue. “I read that Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble are meeting up and that is very good. They need to sit down with the players and tell them, ‘Listen, we are the custodians of the game at the moment and we’ve got to make sure we uphold this game and the passion with it should be played’.”He wanted both teams to take a fresh approach to the way they go about playing in the remainder of the series. “No individual is greater than the game. These are two great cricket nations and as players, they need to stand up and say, ‘This is the way we are going to go about our business now’. I don’t think for one minute that takes away the aggressiveness and competitiveness with which you should play the game. I think there has been an overstepping of the mark and once players breach that anything can happen.”

There are three candidates seeking to become the new USACA president in elections set to take place on March 29.A list of all candidates for the various executive posts, including secretary, treasurer, and vice presidents, was announced by USACA after the vetting processes required under the new constitution were completed.As expected, Gladstone Dainty will be seeking re-election as president, and he faces a strong challenge from Ram Varadarajan. A third candidate, Kamran Khan, a former USACA president and captain of the US side, is also standing.The main battles for the other posts are between existing USACA officials and those who have lined up on Varadarajan’s ticket.Click here for a full list of candidates

James Hopes has become the fourth Australian to suffer a hamstring injury during the tours of South Africa and India and will miss the Twenty20 match in Mumbai on Saturday. Hopes, the allrounder, was hurt during the final game of the one-day series on Wednesday after appearing in each contest as a replacement for Shane Watson, who fell to the same problem during the World Twenty20.Michael Hussey also left that tour with a serious tear while Ricky Ponting was able to recover from his strain in time to play a part in India. Hussey hopes to be fully fit for the first Test next month while Watson will aim to make Queensland’s side for the tour match against Sri Lanka starting in Brisbane on November 2.Hopes’ injury provided him with a sad end to a satisfying tour. Batting at No. 7, he collected 136 runs at more than one a ball and picked up six wickets with his medium pace. Hopes, who had played only nine ODI games before the tour, gave up 4.6 runs an over while bowling and his list of victims included Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.Matthew Hayden is Australia’s other injury concern after missing the past two matches with a hip complaint. He batted in the nets on Thursday and will be closely monitored in the lead-up to the final fixture of the tour.

The West Indies national team have called for the resignation of Bruce Aanensen, the WICB’s chief executive who has been in office for less than three months, highlighting what seems an almost irreparable divide between players and officials.In a strongly-worded letter, originally posted on caribbeancricket.com, to Dinanath Ramnarine, the chief executive of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), the players wrote that they were highly offended that Aanensen publicly labelled them as incompetent.”We are now left with the rather difficult situation of determining whether as players we would be able to continue working with Mr. Aanensen,” the letter concluded. “Unfortunately, given the unfair and frankly thoughtless nature of his comments we would not be keen in having any further interaction at a professional level with Mr. Aanensen. From Mr. Aanensen’s comments, for which, significantly, he has made no withdrawals or apologies, we would find it virtually impossible to engage him in any meaningful manner.”Gordon, who leaves office in 12 days, responded to Ramnarine, who forwarded the players’ letter along with a few asides of his own, by saying that he was not satisfied by the letters as there was no justification in the charges made.But he rounded on Ramnarine, accusing him of being “frequently abusive to Deryck Murray [WICB director] and his team at negotiations.” Gordon wrote: “You have stated at meetings with one of our board members and two executives of WICB present that I am a liar. You have since denied saying so, while everyone present heard your comment …”Reacting to the attack by the players, Aanensen said that he was anything but happy about it though he added that his response would be measured and forthcoming at the appropriate time. About the charge of calling the players “incompetent” following the second Test, Aanensen told the : “I had discussions with some of the players long after that interview [in the second Test] was done and I got no sense of animosity from them.” He accused Ramnarine of wanting to unleash an assault on him. “[He] thought that [the players’ letter] was a good support mechanism for his assault.”

John Bracewell claimed to have inside knowledge on why Adam Gilchrist was rested for Thursday’s final match of the Chappell-Hadlee Series before apologising to Australia’s vice-captain for being misleading. Less than a week after refusing to pass Shaun Tait’s action, Bracewell was back in the limelight with a strange response to a question about whether he was surprised by Gilchrist’s omission for the deciding game in Hobart.”No, not at all because of the circumstances of why he’s left out of the team,” Bracewell was reported by NZPA. “[The reasons are] not for me to reveal. It’s down as ‘rested’, but they’re not for me to reveal. Could it be family reasons? I don’t know. It’s not necessarily rested.”Gilchrist told the Australian: “I don’t care what they say. They’ve had a lot to say over the last week. I wonder what they’ll say next?” A New Zealand spokesman later told the Sydney Morning Herald Bracewell had phoned Gilchrist to “clarify the situation and apologise”.The incident continues a string of strange accusations involving Bracewell when New Zealand play Australia. Before the Test series in 2004-05 he said Australia were vulnerable the longer the match lasted, during the tour he claimed Hawkeye was altered to suit the home team and at the end of it he complained a pitch had been swapped to negate the spin of Daniel Vettori.In 2005 he suggested Brett Lee could be taken to court if one of his high full-tosses hurt a batsman and he also believed the Australians, who were being hit by objects thrown from the stands, stopped play to disrupt a New Zealand chase in a one-day game. Bracewell had refused to comment on the Tait issue in Adelaide and this time said it was “never mentioned in our camp”.He deflected queries about whether he was satisfied Tait operated within the laws by saying: “I just haven’t spoken to the match referee. He’s a bowler like everyone else. He’s damn fast and good on him.”Australia lead the series 1-0 and New Zealand need a victory at Bellerive Oval to retain the trophy. The second match in Sydney was washed out with the visitors in severe trouble at 3 for 30, but Bracewell was not concerned.”To go down to Hobart and have to win a game to win a trophy is a good position to be in,” he said. “It was only a six-over game. Everything starts afresh so the psychological advantage finishes with a non-result.”

Scorecard

Brad Hogg’s five wickets helped Western Australia complete a thumping victory against Queensland on the final day, by an innings and 170 runs. Queensland could not recover following a brutal day of Warriors batting on Sunday, which left them 260 runs off the pace.They headed into the fourth day four down and they finally crumbled in the afternoon session, spun out by Hogg. He picked up three in the morning, quickly removing Chris Simpson in the fourth over of the day. Queensland were in trouble at 5 for 87, and their woes were compounded when Ashley Noffke’s resistance finally gave out, caught behind for 44.Jimmy Maher batted with a runner after injuring his hamstring during his first-innings century, and he was joined by Andy Bichel in a 41-run stand broken by Trent Kelly when Bichel bottom-edged on to the stumps. Hogg’s third victim came up when Chris Hartley sent him a return catch on 3 to complete a miserable morning.Eight down at lunch, it was only a matter of time before Queensland succumbed to their first defeat of the season, and Daniel Doran was duly trapped on 4. Hogg finally wrapped up the match and the five-wicket haul when he removed Maher for 32, the batsman edging to Luke Ronchi, a fitting take for the man who had wreaked such destruction on the third day with a 51-ball hundred.

Canada 203 beat Kenya A 193 by ten runsCanada got their tour of Africa off to a winning start with a 10-run victory over Kenya A at Ruaraka Sports Club.Canada were stuck in by the Kenyans and struggled throughout their innings, with none of their batsmen able to go on and make a decent score as they ended on 203. Moses Otieno and Dominic Wesonga shared three wickets while Ashif Mulla top scored with 36.Kenya started solidly to reach 67 for 1 but lost regular wickets and fell short.With Canada set to meet the full Kenyan side in the Intercontinental Cup later this week, Steve Tikolo, the captain, said his side were ready. “The team is alright and we have been in intensive training for three weeks where we have worked on rectifying our mistakes,” he told The Standard. “We believe we will put a good performance to lay a platform to reach the Intercontinental Cup final next year as well as prepare for the next World Cup.”