All posts by h716a5.icu

James Taylor has declared himself far better prepared for Test cricket now than he was on debut last year, despite conceding that his unbeaten century against the Australians in Hove was less than fluent

Brydon Coverdale in Hove28-Jul-2013James Taylor has declared himself far better prepared for Test cricket now than he was on debut last year, despite conceding that his unbeaten century against the Australians in Hove was less than fluent. Taylor and his temporary county team-mate Monty Panesar both enjoyed their audition against the Australians and both will hope to face them again next week after being named in England’s 14-man squad for the Old Trafford Test.Panesar’s chances of playing hinge largely on the condition of the pitch in Manchester, while Taylor’s hopes rest on the condition of Kevin Pietersen’s troublesome calf. Taylor, parachuted in from Nottinghamshire in order to gain some experience against the Australians, scratched around for his 121 not out and was dropped twice before he reached triple-figures but said if he received the nod in Manchester he would be ready.”It wasn’t the best innings I’ve played, it wasn’t one of my most fluent at all, but it’s about finding a way when you’re not feeling in the best touch and I did that,” Taylor said. “Mentally and technically I feel in a good place. I’m delighted to score runs, I don’t really mind how. It’s not how, it’s how many, and that’s how I go about my game.”Taylor’s two Tests against South Africa last year brought scores of 34, 10 and 4, and he was told by the selectors to go away, work on some technical issues and churn out the runs at domestic level. He has done that, piling up 824 for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship this season, and his hundred against the Australians was his third first-class century this summer.”I’ve worked hard on my game since I was left out,” he said. “It was a great experience playing against South Africa but it was all too brief, and I’ve gone away and worked really hard since getting left out. I’ve piled on the runs like the selectors asked me to and I feel like I’m in a good place now.”I was in a kind of a no-win situation in this game, but the purpose was to spend time in the middle against the red ball after all the T20 cricket in recent weeks and it was nice to do that against a decent attack. It was definitely a pressure situation – if I hadn’t scored any runs everybody would have commented on that, but luckily I did and got what I needed out of the game.”Like Taylor, Panesar got what he wanted out of the match against the Australians, picking up 3 for 70 in the first innings, and it was another confidence-booster after a difficult start to the summer. Panesar has managed only 21 wickets at 40.09 during the Championship this season but he said some remedial work with Peter Such, England’s spin bowling coach, had put his season back on track.”I kind of struggled early season, I was not getting the action I wanted to get, and then I went away and did a bit of work with Peter Such on a one-to-one basis to get my action in the right order,” Panesar said. “Over the Twenty20 period I’ve used the time to get my action in order, and in the Championship games and in the dry weather we’ve had I’ve tried to perform and prepare myself if the call came.”Panesar has an outstanding record at Old Trafford, where he has collected 25 wickets at 16.72 in three Tests, but it is five years since he last played a Test there. If, as expected, the teams are greeted with a dry pitch, a two-man spin attack could well be employed by England, and Panesar said he would fancy his chances against the Australians in such circumstances.”The England team have put them slightly under pressure, but the Australia team is a very competitive team, they are going to come hard at us. You always feel maybe against spin there is an opportunity,” he said. “But they are good players, you can’t completely discard Australia, they’re a competitive cricket team – but I do feel even in this game I was always in with a chance.”

Sri Lanka Cricket’s first election by secret ballot concluded peacefully with Jayantha Dharmadasa and Nishantha Ranatunga being elected uncontested for the two most powerful posts of president and secretary respectively

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Colombo16-Apr-2013Sri Lanka Cricket’s first election by secret ballot concluded peacefully with Jayantha Dharmadasa and Nishantha Ranatunga being elected uncontested for the two most powerful posts of president and secretary respectively.The majority of office-bearers elected for the main posts last year were retained, with the exception of Asanga Seneviratne, who lost his seat as vice-president to Mohan de Silva. That was the only major upset in an otherwise straightforward contest. K Mathivanan retained his seat as one of the vice-presidents by polling the highest with 113 votes. Nuski Mohamed retained his seat as treasurer when he beat his opponent Eastman Narangoda by 32 votes (87-55).The election was supervised by officials of the Elections Department at the request of SLC because this was the first time a secret ballot was being used to elect the office-bearers. Although all the key office-bearer posts barring the president and secretary were contested, the incumbent office-bearers managed to re-elect themselves for a two-year term. The official term for the previous year’s board was one year, but due to postponement of elections, their term was stretched to 15 months.Jayantha Dharmadasa was appointed the sole nominee for the position, after the three original candidates were disqualified, for three different reasons. Thilanga Sumathipala was first ruled to be contravening Sri Lanka’s sports law, which states no person linked to the betting industry, media or a sports equipment business may stand for SLC presidency, before incumbent president Upali Dharmadasa – Jayantha’s brother – and Badureliya Sports Club president Sumith Perera, were disqualified by the board for falling foul of the SLC constitution.With no legitimate candidates left standing, SLC’s executive then exercised a constitutional right to appoint their own nominee, after Jayantha Dharmadasa expressed strong interest in the role, and had already acquired the documentation that would allow him to stand for election.Full list of office bearers

President – Jayantha Dharmadasa
Vice-Presidents – K Mathivanan, Mohan De Silva
Secretary – Nishantha Ranatunga
Asst. Secretary – Hirantha Perera
Treasurer – Nuski Mohamed
Asst. Treasurer – Ajita Pasqual
Tournament committee – Roshan Iddamalgoda (chairman), Kavinda Liyanage (secretary), Manuja Kariyapperuma, Samantha Dodanwela, Upali Seneviratne.
Umpires Committee – ARM Aroos (chairman), Gajaba Pitigala, Jayantha Paranathala, Lal Ranasinghe, Hiran Jayamanne
Tour Organising Committee – One of the SLC vice-presidents (chairman), SLC secretary (secretary), Chandra Rodrigo, Anil de Silva, Roland Perera, Daminda Cooray, Jayantha Jayaweera
Sponsorship Committee – One of the SLC vice presidents (chairman), SLC treasurer (secretary), Sarath Abeysundara, Matheesha Dharmasiri, Eranga Egodawela, plus two to be picked by ExCo.
District Associations – Thilina Tennekoon, Dr Sandasegara
Affiliated Clubs – Jayananda Warnaweera, Sumith Perera
Controlling Clubs – Shammi Silva, Srinath Silva, Irwin Jayawardene
Mercantile CA – Ashley Ratnayake
Nationalised Services CA – Nalin Aponso
Schools Association – president and secretary of SLSCA

Jayantha Dharmadasa was SLC interim president from 2005 to 2007, and is joint managing director of business conglomerate Nawaloka Group, alongside his brother. Ranatunga was elected to the post of secretary without contest for the second year in a row.He had also served in that role in two interim committees immediately preceding the 2012 elections, and has been SLC’s secretary since 2009. Before last year’s election, SLC had been run by a series of interim committees for seven years.Seneviratne, who was one of two vice-presidents elected last year lost his seat by 13 votes to de Silva, a former SLC president. Silva polled 81 to Seneviratne’s 68. Hirantha Perera and Ajitha Pasqual also retained their posts as assistant secretary and assistant treasurer respectively.Perera polled 79 against his opponent Bandula Dissanayake, who managed 51 while 14 votes were rejected. A third contestant, Priyantha Soysa, withdrew. Pasqual won by the thinnest of margins against Irwin Jayawardene (71-68) with five votes being rejected.Outgoing president Upali Dharmadasa will automatically serve in the next Executive Committee as the immediate past president, making it the first instance of two brothers serving in an SLC committee.There were contests for the tournament, umpires and tour organising committees while the sponsorship committee went uncontested for lack of candidates.The new board is another major change in a season of flux for SLC. In the past three months, SLC has appointed a new CEO, two new captains (Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal) and a new fast bowling coach (Chaminda Vaas), while the sports minister named a new selection panel, headed by Sanath Jayasuriya, in February.The elections were conducted amid tight security at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo. It commenced at 10.30am and lasted a marathon eight hours.

Joe Denly struck an unbeaten century to bring an element of competition to the Champion Counnty match in Abu Dhabi

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2013
ScorecardJoe Denly struck an unbeaten century to bring an element of competition to the Champion County match against Warwickshire in Abu Dhabi. After being made to follow on, Sam Northeast and Peter Trego also added half-centuries as MCC closed 123 runs behind with six second-innings wickets standing.Having resumed in a parlous state on 73 for 7, MCC were dismissed for 130. Denly returned after retiring with illness earlier in the innings and top-scored with 47, putting on 52 with James Middlesbrook, before Oliver Hannon-Dalby took the last two wickets to fall in consecutive deliveries. Denly was quickly back out in the middle, as Jimmy Adams departed for 4, but a 156-run partnership for the second wicket with Northeast helped ease MCC away from total embarrassment.”It’s been a good day,” Denly said. “I was disappointed to get out in the first innings the way I did, but I was very happy to spend some time out there second time around and get some runs. I didn’t really notice any change in the conditions during the day. Under the lights it skidded on a bit quicker, but this actually helped it to come on the bat quite nicely. In terms of the ball moving sideways or swinging, it was pretty consistent all day.”Chris Wright, who claimed 5 for 35 in the first innings, removed Northeast on the brink of tea and Dale Benkenstein fell to the first ball after the resumption but Denly batted gamely on and was involved in an unbroken stand of 79 with Trego during the evening session. The MCC batsmen were not unduly troubled second time around, although they still have some work to do to avoid defeat after conceding a first-innings deficit of 431.”If we can get another couple of big partnerships tomorrow to keep them out in the field for a bit longer, hopefully we can come away with a positive result,” Denly said.Warwickshire were forced to bring on Peter McKay as a substitute wicketkeeper after Tim Ambrose sustained a strain early in MCC’s second innings, while left-arm spinner Paul Best also left the field with a back injury after bowling just eight overs and taking the wicket of Adams.

Quinton de Kock’s disciplinary hearing for allegedly pushing an opposition player in a first-class match will not take place before next Wednesday

Firdose Moonda17-Jan-2013Quinton de Kock’s disciplinary hearing for allegedly pushing an opposition player in a first-class match will not take place before next Wednesday, which has cleared him to play in the first two ODIs against New Zealand. Gary Kirsten confirmed de Kock will keep in all the matches he plays in the series.To help de Kock prepare for his fifty-over international debut, team management roped in the services of Mark Boucher, who trained with him at Claremont Cricket Club on Thursday. “When Mark retired I said to him that his experience in international cricket is something I wouldn’t want to turn away,” Kirsten said. “I think he has a lot to offer. We felt the perfect place for him would be to be with a young keeper like Quinton, to spend some time with him and give him and understanding not only of the skills required but the pressures of international competition.”Mentoring de Kock also seems to be part of integrating him into the national structures because he has only emerged on the circuit quite recently. De Kock is a former South Africa Under-19s player but this is first season contracted to a franchise and Kirsten admitted he does not know much about the 20-year-old. “I’ve met this guy once before and the longest conversation I had with him was one minute,” he said.Kirsten’s assistant, Russell Domingo, may have slightly more information on the youngster. Domingo coached the national side during de Kock’s debut: the T20 series against New Zealand in which he also donned the gloves. All evidence suggests de Kock has been earmarked as a permanent replacement for AB de Villiers, who seems set to give up wicketkeeping in limited-overs. “We want to give AB a chance to just be the captain,” Kirsten said.”We feel that to captain, bat at No.4 and keep is a very hard task. It’s something that we spoke about even before he started the role because I was concerned that it was going to be too much to ask of him. He really wants to focus his attention on his captaincy.”De Villiers was named South Africa’s limited-overs captain in July 2011. He missed his inaugural series as leader against Australia in late 2011 because of injury and Hashim Amla stood in for him. De Villiers was first in charge for the 3-2 win over Sri Lanka last January. He also captained in the T20 and ODI series in England and the World T20 in Sri Lanka. He kept wicket in all those matches but did not play the T20 series against New Zealand, citing fatigue and a focus on his Test keeping.It has now emerged that de Villiers also finds wicket-keeping in ODIs too taxing on his chronically bad back and does not feel he has enough of a grip on the demands of captaincy to do both jobs. “He has had all this on his shoulders,” Kirsten said. “He feels keeping in 50 overs is more intense than in a Test match and he just needs to understand how he is going to go about captaining this team.”Some of the strategies de Villiers will have to get his head around are the floating batting line-up and the possibility of changing personnel. Both are tactics Kirsten will continue with, although he has indicated he may rein in the former. “We’ve tried to rotate the batting order, we feel we need to find a middle road there,” he said. “We are certainly going to be flexible. We believe that is the way forward but, at the same time, we cannot be silly about it.”Kirsten suggested that Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, the two quicks who play all three formats for South Africa, will be rested for some of the three ODIs because the three-Test series against Pakistan is only two weeks away. “Test cricket is our number one and we want to make sure we pick a full strength team in whatever Test we play. We don’t rest players and rotate at that level,” he said. “With the other versions, because there is a lot of cricket, something has to give. These guys are fit enough to play every game but I want them mentally 100 percent ready to deliver.”Although Kirsten’s main emphasis is on Test cricket, South Africa will not have as taxing a year as they did in 2012. Their only away tour in which they will play in the longest format is to the UAE to face Pakistan in October.Contrastingly, South Africa play much more ODI cricket this year. Eight matches at home (three against New Zealand, five against Pakistan) will be followed by the Champions Trophy and a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka. With one eye on ICC silverware, Kirsten indicated the 50-over game will come into the spotlight in 2013, where he hopes South Africa can step up.”We would like to perform at a higher level than we have done so far,” he said. “We’ve been ok but we haven’t been outstanding. We’ve got a great opportunity this year so there will be a lot more emphasis on ODI cricket this year.”

Three days ago, Johnson Charles scored his first international hundred but couldn’t stop an Australian victory. This time, a brisk Charles half-century was enough to set West Indies on the way to their first win over Australia in Australia in any format f

The Report by Brydon Coverdale13-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Johnson Charles was in fine form once again•Getty ImagesThree days ago, Johnson Charles scored his first international hundred but couldn’t stop an Australian victory. This time, a brisk Charles half-century was enough to set West Indies on the way to their first win over Australia in Australia in any format for 16 years, as they showed why they are the reigning Twenty20 world champions. Australia might have swept the ODIs 5-0, but West Indies will at least fly home on a happier note.They had not beaten Australia in this country since the Perth Test in February 1997. The only man from that contest involved in this drought-breaking match was Paul Reiffel, then a fast bowler, now an umpire. It didn’t worry West Indies that Australia fielded one of the least experienced sides they have employed in many years. In international cricket, a win is a win, and this win brought relief for a group of men who have been disappointed with their own efforts over the past two weeks.Charles set up the victory but Kieron Pollard was Man of the Match, for his quick 26 with the bat and 3 for 30 with the ball. In an enormous chase of 192, the Australians relied on Adam Voges with a half-century and then held out slim hopes while Brad Haddin was at the crease, but when Pollard got rid of Haddin and the debutant Ben Rohrer, the last remaining specialist batsman, as well as the dangerous James Faulkner, it was all but over.Australia then needed 51 from three overs with only the bowlers at the crease. Not surprisingly, they didn’t get close, losing by 27 runs as Sunil Narine, Pollard and Tino Best proved difficult to get away. Narine collected 2 for 19 from his four overs and was the key man with the ball for West Indies. None of Australia’s batsman seemed comfortable against him and he did not concede a boundary, while also having George Bailey caught sweeping for 15.Things hadn’t started well for Australia in their chase when Aaron Finch played on to Darren Sammy for 4. Shaun Marsh (19) and Voges then put on a 74-run stand that could have put Australia in a position to push for victory, but both men were run-out within four balls of each other, costing Australia valuable momentum. Voges, who made 51 from 33 balls, had looked especially threatening and carried on the form from his maiden international hundred on Sunday.The same could be said of Charles, who justified Sammy’s decision to bat first. With the exception of the impressive James Faulkner, an inexperienced Australia attack struggled to contain the world champions, who also had useful contributions from Darren Bravo, Pollard and Darren Sammy.Early in the innings West Indies lost Chris Gayle, who was passed fit having missed the final two one-day internationals with a side injury. On 8, Gayle miscued a pull off the debutant Josh Hazlewood and was brilliantly caught by another man in his first international, Nathan Coulter-Nile, who ran back from mid-on and claimed the catch above his head despite having to twist and turn to keep the ball in his sights.But it was Gayle’s opening partner Charles who set the tone, turning the ball behind square regularly to keep the runs ticking over and swinging hard when he had the opportunity. Charles struck seven fours and one six, a whip over midwicket off Coulter-Nile, and he brought up his half-century from 31 balls before falling for 57 from 35 when he played on off a Coulter-Nile slower delivery.However, the 88-run partnership between he and Darren Bravo had set West Indies up well. Bravo was less adventurous and scored 32 from 27 balls before he was the victim of a terrible mix-up with Kieron Pollard when both men ended up at the same end. Pollard managed two fours and one six but he wasn’t able to hang around until the end, caught at long-on off Faulkner for 26.Faulkner was comfortably the best of Australia’s bowlers, collecting 3 for 28 from his four overs, and it was only a couple of monstrous sixes clubbed by Sammy in the 19th over that prevented Faulkner’s figures being even better. He stopped Sammy (20 off seven balls) doing further damage by having him caught at deep midwicket, having started his wicket-taking earlier by bowling Dwayne Bravo for 13.Andre Russell, who hit a late 23 from 11 balls, and Narsingh Deonarine (6 not out) pushed the total into extremely worrying territory for the Australians; only four times in 302 Twenty20 internationals ever played had the team batting second chased down more to win. And at the end of the night, it had still happened only four times.

Daniel Vettori has been ruled out of New Zealand’s Test matches in South Africa which begins early next year

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2012Daniel Vettori has been ruled out of New Zealand’s Test matches in South Africa which begin early next year. He has not recovered from hernia and Achilles injuries, the latter picked up during the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.Vettori, 33, has missed New Zealand’s last five Tests against Sri Lanka, India and West Indies having initially suffered a groin injury in the Caribbean. He had hoped to prove his recovery from the latest setbacks in the Plunket Shield for Northern Districts but has not been able to make an appearance.With Vettori unavailable Jeetan Patel, the offspinner, will remain the No. 1 slow bowler while Todd Astle, who made his debut in Colombo last week when New Zealand levelled the series, could be included as a second option.New Zealand play two Tests in South Africa, the first in Cape Town starting on January 2 followed by one in Port Elizabeth from January 11.There are reports emerging that New Zealand may not be led by Ross Taylor for the tour – which also includes Twenty20s and ODIs – after his relationship with coach Mike Hesson reached breaking point despite the impressive series-leveling victory in Colombo. Taylor, however, tweeted* he had given no ultimatum to New Zealand Cricket or made any decisions about his captaincy. “A lot of speculation out there. I have heard from the CEO once,” he said on Twitter. “I haven’t made any decisions. At no time have I given NZC any… …ultimatums about Hesson or Me or South Africa.”

A lot of speculation out there. I have heard from the CEO once. I haven’t made any decisions. At no time have I given NZC any…

— Ross Taylor (@RossLTaylor) December 5, 2012

…ultimatums about Hesson or Me or South Africa.

— Ross Taylor (@RossLTaylor) December 5, 2012

Other than the win in Colombo it has been a difficult year for New Zealand with Test series defeats at home to South Africa then away in West Indies and India while they were knocked out in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20. They have also lost 10 of their last 13 ODIs and in the latest ICC rankings have slipped to ninth behind Bangladesh.Taylor was named captain in June last year following Vettori’s reign having previously done the job as a stand-in. The captaincy had a positive impact on Taylor’s Test average with it rising to 49.85 from 13 Tests compared to his overall figure of 43.57 and he struck three hundreds in those matches, including a crucial 142 in Colombo recently.* – 0500GMT, December 5, 2012 – The story was updated to include Ross Taylor’s tweets