All posts by csb10.top

At the end of day two, Sourav Ganguly had said that South Africa’s collapse in the first innings, during which they lost nine wickets for 113 runs, boosted India’s confidence in the second. Perhaps he knew the bowlers had got the measure of the Green Park pitch, something Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captaining in his first Test, reiterated today after the dramatic win.”In the second innings, everybody knew what lengths to bowl, and from what spots they would get variable bounce,” Dhoni said, “The fast bowlers especially deserve a lot of credit in the second innings.”A major change from the first innings was that India opened with Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma, neither of whom gave anything away. They made sure there were no free runs on offer to let off the pressure that a 60-run deficit would have put on the South Africans. India applied what Dhoni termed as ‘mindgames’ with that lead in their bags, and delayed its erasing as much as possible, knowing the wickets would just be a matter of time if they could push South Africa into a shell. The approach was rewarded fully, as South Africa had lost four of their best batsmen by the time they were only 12 ahead. “Although this was the third day of the match, this was not a third-day pitch,” Dhoni said. “The way Harbhajan and Viru [Virender Sehwag] bowled, we knew it was going to be just a matter of time. There were no easy singles on offer, so we put a lot of pressure on them. We made sure they didn’t take a single and go off strike.”This is where the efforts of Ganguly and VVS Laxman provide a stark contrast to the South African batsmen, and also proved crucial in the final equation, as they controlled the innings, consciously looking to score more often than they usually would. “To play positively on this wicket is very important,” Dhoni said. “You can get out irrespective of whether you are playing your shots or not, the way it happened to Rahul Dravid. So you have to keep scoring on such tracks. It was very crucial the way Sourav batted on this track, and the 60-odd lead was very crucial, because it changes the whole mindset of the team that is batting next.”Almost all the bowling changes he made seemed to work. In the first innings, Piyush Chawla got wickets in his first over on two occasions. In the second, Sehwag got a wicket with his first ball and Ishant got two in the first over of his second spell. But Dhoni said it was easier to captain on this pitch, especially with the way the bowlers bowled.”Viru is much more than a part-timer on this kind of wicket. He continuously kept bowling the right areas, in the rough. It was a deliberate move, and we knew that with him and Yuvraj in the team we would not need an extra spinner.”He had a pretty difficult job of replacing Anil Kumble as captain, and also playing without Sachin Tendulkar and Kumble for the first time since the latter’s debut. “It’s pretty hard to replace a man like Kumble, and especially on such a wicket,” he said. “Had he been playing, I don’t think this would have lasted three days.”Well we did well, but it doesn’t mean we are better off without Sachin or Anil. Who is there to replace Sachin? Who is there to replace Kumble? It is better to have them in the side than not, but the credit goes to the boys who stood up in their absence.”It was also an extremely difficult match for Dhoni the keeper, and to his credit he did himself no shame during the last three days. “The wicket was turning square, and most of our spinners were bowling in the rough,” he said. “So you find yourself keeping to some balls that would spin and some that wouldn’t. I was quite happy with the way I kept, because some balls were kicking and some were keeping really low. The way our fast bowlers were bowling, it could hurt your fingers pretty badly. It was good fun though.”This series was part two of a potential rivalry that India had started in South Africa last year. India needed a tailor-made track to come back on level terms on a series that they were expected to win easily. Dhoni, though, agreed with the South African coach Mickey Arthur that there was nothing wrong in playing to your strengths. “If we go to Australia, we get bouncy tracks; when we go to England, we get swinging tracks. When you come to India, you expect turning and bouncing tracks, and that’s what this one was. It’s better to stick to the specialties of certain places.”India fighting South Africa on a greentop at Kingsmead should make for an equally gripping a battle, if India can fight as hard as South Africa did at Green Park.

Bangladesh looked like continuing their discouraging streak of failures since their inception into Test cricket in the second Test against Pakistan at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong. The hosts found themselves blown away for 148 just before the tea break and, by stumps, Pakistan had steadily advanced to 99 for just the loss opener Shadab Kabir.Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who bowled little and unsuccessfully in the first Test at Dhaka, was the chief architect of the Bangladeshi collapse, luring five Bangladeshi batsmen to their doom and conceding only 35 runs in the process. At the other end, continuing his strategy of torment against Bangladesh, was Danish Kaneria, who claimed 4-62.Bangladesh were most comfortable in the day only between Khaled Masud winning the toss and the openers taking strike against Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar. First strike on a flat, dry batting surface that promised to aid spin later in the match was an advantage that Bangladesh badly needed. It was also an advantage that was to be squandered.Javed Belim, the right-handed opener playing in place of Mohammad Ashraful, opened with an injured Al-Sahariar. The pair added 21 runs for the first wicketbefore Waqar induced a nick from Al-Sahariar and sent him back for 13, caught behind by Rashid Latif.Mehrab Hossain and Belim then proceeded to give their supporters a rare moment of cheer. Batting patiently and steadily, they saw off the opening pace salvo and then looked comfortable when spin was introduced into the attack. Just before lunch, however, Belim, then on 17, misread the bounce from a Saqlain delivery, offering a catch to silly point Shadab Kabir.One of Bangladesh’s more dependable bats disappointed on the day. Habibul Bashar’s dismissal mirrored Belim’s, with Shadab Kabir taking yet another catch at silly point off the bowling of Saqlain. Their best batsman gone for just 2, the remaining members of the batting line-up crumbled in the face of fine spin bowling from Saqlain and Kaneria.Aminul Islam and skipper Khaled Masud did offer some resistance further down the order, adding 27 runs for the seventh wicket. Aminul ground out 27 runs, while Masud top-scored in the innings with 28.Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis was in particularly attacking vein on the day, setting suffocating close-in fields to entice the batsmen into playing big shots. The plan worked brilliantly, with almost all the batsmen fell into that very trap. The home side’s innings lasted only 56.4 overs.Mohammad Sharif brought slight cheer with his early success, removing Shadab Kabir caught behind in the sixth over. Shadab appeared suspect outside the off-stump from the very start, prodding at deliveries that were meant to be left alone. His mode of dismissal, thus, came as little surprise.That was to be Bangladesh’s last success of the day. Younis Khan and Taufeeq Umar consolidated their side’s position to run up 99 runs by the close of the play. Both were unbeaten on 47, taking eight boundaries each off a Bangladeshi attack that appeared unlikely to set things up for a series-squaring win by bowling Pakistan out twice.

Sri Lanka 456 for 7 (Atapattu 170, Jayasuriya 157) lead Zimbabwe 199 by 257 runs
Scorecard

Sri Lanka, as expected, took little mercy on Zimbabwe’s inexperienced bowlers on the second day of the first Test at Harare. The highlight was a superb opening stand of 277 between Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya, who both passed 150. But it did not go all Sri Lanka’s way, as Zimbabwe had a few surprises for their middle order in the final session. However, Sri Lanka closed a good day’s work on 456 for 7.Atapattu and Jayasuriya provided the backbone of Sri Lanka’s innings. They batted throughout the morning session and Zimbabwe were firmly on the back foot. But just as minds started to wander about record team and individual scores, Zimbabwe did at least gain some pride as the last four wickets of the day fell for only 27 runs.The opening pair chose to compile their total by steady accumulation rather than the explosive power for which Jayasuriya, in particular, is renowned. He reached his half-century from 56 balls, and it took him only another 34 to reach his 12th Test hundred. In that time, he suddenly decided to erupt when in the 70s, hitting Mluleki Nkala for 18 in one over and racing to his hundred off only 90 balls.Atapattu was not to be overshadowed, and in a less spectacular way he too began to accelerate after reaching his half-century, having been dropped on 43. He made Zimbabwe pay, reaching his 13th Test ton in the last over before lunch. Accuracy of bowling may have saved this Zimbabwe team from too much pain during the one-day series, but it was proving totally inadequate on a good pitch against quality batsmen with time on their hands.It was Tatenda Taibu, the captain, who surprisingly made the breakthrough after he handed over the wicketkeeping duties to Alester Maregwede and came on to bowl. Jayasuriya hit his first ball past midwicket for four, but perhaps a touch of complacency set in as he misjudged the third ball and played an indeterminate shot which lobbed off his gloves to Douglas Hondo in the gully (281 for 1). His 157 came off only 147 balls, including 28 fours and three sixes.Kumar Sangakkara, the most successful batsman on tour until now, may have been hindered by his long wait, as he had made only 11 when he top-edged a sweep off Stuart Matsikenyeri’s occasional offspin to give Taibu an easy catch at backward square leg (312 for 2).Taibu should have taken the gloves back, as Maregwede dropped both Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene shortly before tea. But after the interval, the bowlers rocked the Sri Lankan middle order, due partly to their own efforts, and partly from complacency by the batsmen.

Jayawardene was the first to go, pulling a short ball from Elton Chigumbura a little carelessly directly to Prosper Utseya at midwicket for 37 (369 for 3). Shortly afterwards, Zimbabwe took the second new ball which triggered a minor collapse. With his fourth ball of a new spell, Hondo took the prized wicket of Atapattu for 170, clean bowling him as he played a loose shot without any footwork. However, it was a magnificent innings of 170 from 253 balls, including 24 fours.Tinashe Panyangara then chipped in with two wickets in quick succession. Good outswingers accounted for Thilan Samaraweera, caught behind by Taibu (399 for 5), and Prasanna Jayawardene, who was bowled (403 for 6). Tillakaratne Dilshan then fell in the same manner as Mahela Jayawardene, pulling a short ball from Blessing Mahwire straight to Utseya at midwicket (414 for 7).Although Sri Lanka were by that stage over 200 runs ahead, play continued as if Zimbabwe were on top, with Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharoof playing very carefully before the close.

Rahul Dravid has been sidelined for two to three weeks following a hair-line fracture to his right middle finger, an injury that forced him to retire on the morning of the final day in Adelaide. Dravid was struck on the glove by a Brett Lee bouncer and walked off after showing signs of discomfort.Dravid hasn’t been included in India’s one-day squad for the CB series and is expected to be fit for the home series against South Africa, starting in March. Dravid couldn’t grip his bat too well after the injury and, after receiving regular treatment from physio John Gloster, decided to leave the field in what will probably be his last appearance in Australia.He was taken for an X-ray soon after and spent the day using ice-cubes to heal the finger. A final report is awaited but he is unlikely to be ready for action before at least another couple of weeks.

Polly UmrigarI am sorry to hear about his sad demise. He was one of our great cricketers, and gave yeoman service to Indian cricket for a number of years. What appealed to me about Vijay is that he was a gentleman cricketer with few words. He had terrific amounts of concentration while batting, which was a very strong point. He was a treat to bat with, as he had a very sound defence and he gave you a lot of confidence. In fact I associate my big innings with him.He was a dedicated cricketer. Once he got into the game, if he stuck, it was very difficult to shift him from there. He was a very good, quiet person. Good, in the sense that he would mind his business and play cricket and put everything into the game. He did not go to parties in the evenings. Once the game began, he was [all] there.I remember an incident. It was against Pakistan. After I got my fifty I attacked the bowling and got to my hundred. He was in his nineties. I asked for a glass of water. He came near me, and expressed in few words, “Young man, you’ve got your hundred, but I’ve not got mine.” I knew at once what he wanted to say. I should have waited for him to get his hundred. He was a man of few words, but was to the point.After we had batted, we had the habit of sandpapering our bats. Once he got a duck, and he sat in the dressing-room and did this in one corner. We said, “Rao [as a mark of respect], the ball has not touched your bat, so why are you using this sandpaper?” He said, “I’m preparing myself for the second innings.” He had that grit.Mushtaq AliVijay Hazare was a fine gentleman and a brilliant cricketer. We had contrasting styles – he had one of the best defensive techniques while I always attacked. Vijay was a run-getting machine and managed to stay at the wicket for very long periods. We also had a good friendship off the field, and I still remember the wonderful times we had on the 1946 tour to England. He was a great person to know. I was very saddened to hear about his ill health, and am still in a state of shock after hearing the news of his sad demise.Madhav ApteHazare and Vijay Merchant were the two greatest Indian batsmen of their generation. I have many memories of watching Hazare bat. His technique was one of the soundest I have ever seen. Hazare was also my captain on the tour of West Indies in 1952-53, and he went out of his way to make sure I felt comfortable.Hazare was a thorough gentleman – a very quiet, reserved person with a heart of gold. After retirement he returned to Baroda, and I saw him only rarely. The last time I saw him was at a function last year in Mumbai to honour Indian players who had done well at Lord’s, and then he was clearly ailing. He will be remembered as one of the greatest batsmen India has ever produced.

Once upon a time the first round of matches in the County Championship was an eagerly anticipated rite of passage – the clocks may have come forward and the daffodils may have bloomed, but spring could not officially be declared open until the pavilion gates had closed behind the players and umpires.It’s all a bit different these days. An exhaustive glut of international matches has drowned out those first cuckoos, and more is in prospect, with England’s Test and ODI calendar rammed to the gunwales from May to September. As a result, many of the country’s top players will once again be forbidden by their contracts from turning out for their teams. If the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack served up a damning appraisal of the county game last year, this time around it has delivered an even more brutal snub – it hasn’t even reached the nation’s bookshelves in time for the start of the 2003 season, because publication was delayed so that the World Cup could be included.The season – in case you blinked, or have been locked in a darkened room since the first Test at Brisbane last November – actually began last week, with four of the most untrumpeted first-class matches on record, between counties and university teams. But tomorrow at 11am, the real thing begins, and on the hottest April weekend in memory to boot. It is appropriate weather for a sport that no longer believes in an off-season.That off-season does still exist, of course, although the behind-the-scenes machinations have been almost as exhausting as the winter’s international treadmill. Leicestershire have undergone a coup de shire, with eight players, including the captain Vince Wells, driven from the ground amid mutterings about lawsuits. Graeme Hick has been sacked as captain of Worcestershire, Shane Warne was appointed – and hastily replaced by John Crawley – at Hampshire. And Phil Tufnell has chosen to face his demons Down Under, on the reality gameshow I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, rather than commence a 17th season at Middlesex.But it is the structural changes to the county game that will cause the most upheaval in the coming months. Out goes the Benson & Hedges Cup, in comes the Twenty20 Cup, a mid-season, early-evening slogathon designed to attract a “new breed” of spectator, presumably the type with a short attention span. In the absence of any rest, a change will have to do, and it can only be hoped that the experiment is a success.Another change, largely to offset the loss of so many international players, is the reintroduction of two overseas signings. Not since the heyday of county cricket in the early 1980s has such a move been permitted, but much of the lustre has since been removed. When international cricket was the exception, not the rule, the likes of Joel Garner and Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge and Malcolm Marshall would light up the county stage. These have now been replaced, for the most part, by journeymen and greenhorns although, as in all walks of life, there are several honourable exceptions.Inevitably, money matters have dominated the winter agenda. The announcement of funding cuts by the ECB – in the wake of the Zimbabwe affair – have prompted renewed speculation about the future of the county game. Glamorgan, who say they couldn’t afford to hire a second overseas player, have mooted the possibility of a cross-border merger in the not-so-distant future. The two-division Championship format, meanwhile, is entering its fourth year, and by the end of 2002, the disparity between the haves and have-nots of the county game was becoming ever more evident.The 2002 Championship was won at a canter – for the third time in four seasons – by county cricket’s millionaires, Surrey, and it is difficult to look beyond them for yet another triumph. “We’ve been favourites for every game we’ve been in for the past four or five years,” said Adam Hollioake, their hugely respected captain. “We just turn up and play.” Turn up and play, and win, of course.For Hollioake, 2002 was a year that began in desperately tragic circumstances, with the death of his brother Ben in a car crash in Perth. He took his time to return to the game, but then channelled his grief into some of the most spectacular form of his career. Surrey is a team moulded in his fervent image, and an outfit chock-full of international players can only be strengthened by Alec Stewart’s likely retirement from England’s one-day side, especially if Rikki Clarke and a rejuvenated Graham Thorpe – and possibly Hollioake himself, maybe even as captain – find themselves winging in the other direction.At the opposite end of the spectrum lie Yorkshire, beaten and broke and riven with internal policking. The very year after claiming their first Championship for three decades, they were relegated to the second division, and an immediate return to the top is imperative for their new captain, Anthony McGrath, who took over after (but not, apparently, because of) Darren Lehmann’s much-publicised PR failure against Sri Lanka.Two fixtures stand out on the opening day: Essex v Middlesex at Chelmsford, where Ronnie Irani returns to the day job and Andy Flower begins life after that protest; and Surrey v Lancashire at The Oval, which already has the look of a potential Championship decider, even with Andrew Flintoff forced to sit out the match and Harbhajan Singh threatening to miss the entire season with a finger injury. In the second division, Jonty Rhodes and Jack Russell are threatening to form the quirkiest fielding and middle-order batting partnership since Derek Randall and mountain-climbing Bruce French left Notts, and their livewire personalities could spark Gloucestershire to more than just one-day trophies.Andrew Miller is assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo in London.

Rahul Dravid has been fined 20% of his match fee for a slow over-rate during the first ODI against Pakistan at Peshawar. The rest of the team have been fined 10%.India were behind by two overs. The rule stipulates that 5% of a player’s match fee will be docked for every extra over and the captain is fined double the amount. The final drinks break was unusually long and that could have cost India the fine. Pakistan won the first ODI by seven runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis system after bad light stopped play.

Scorecard

Saqib Ali, the United Arab Emirates captain, rattled up 195 to boost his team’s second-innings total to 306, but a target of 61 proved all too easy for Ireland on day four of their ICC Intercontinental Cup clash in Abu Dhabi.Ireland duly knocked off the required runs with nine wickets in hand to gain 20 points from this game, which put them at second place in the tournament’s points table.Saqib, resuming the final morning on 98, brought up his fourth first-class hundred without fuss. Along with Zahid Shah, batting at No. 9, he continued to delay the inevitable. The two added a further 100 to UAE’s overnight score of 186 for 7 before Greg Thompson, the legspinner, ended Zahid’s 166-ball vigil. Zahid’s 28 included four fours and a six, and he put on 159 runs for the eighth wicket with his captain.Saqib, meanwhile, stood head and shoulders above his team-mates. He scored nearly 64% of UAE’s total, moving past his previous first-class best of 142, but was cut agonisingly short of a maiden double-hundred. He fell to allrounder Alex Cusack, who took his fifth wicket of the match. Saqib’s 195, compiled off 358 deliveries and with 24 fours and four sixes, won him the Man-of-the-Match award.UAE batted out 62.2 overs on the fourth day, but Ireland’s first-innings lead of 246 meant they needed only 61 to complete the win. William Porterfield made an unbeaten 40 as the defending champions sealed victory in 14.2 overs for the loss of one wicket.Ireland now have 49 points and remain 17 behind Kenya, with one game in hand. Ireland’s next match is not until July 9, against Netherlands at a to-be-announced venue. UAE’s disappointing campaign will end with a match against Netherlands in Sharjah starting April 3.

James Hopes will fly to Bangladesh to replace the injured Shane Watson in Australia’s one-day side. Watson is still recovering from a calf injury picked up when playing for Queensland in the recent Pura Cup final.Hopes and Watson have been jostling for position as Australia experiment with their squad ahead of next year’s World Cup, with Watson preferred for the recent tour of South Africa and then getting the nod for Bangladesh.But now Hopes will have the chance to stake his claims in the three-match ODI series which starts in Chittagong on April 23. He has taken three wickets in the eight one-dayers he has played since making his debut against New Zealand in 2004. Seven of those were earlier this year in the triangular VB series at home.

Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAPakistan cricket has always revolved around stars, says Osman Samiuddin, Cricinfo’s Pakistan editor, but are now learning to play without them. He tells Ranjit Shinde that Shoaib Akhtar’s absence won’t be a big blow for Pakistan, who have the bench strength to win without him. Listen in.Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA