Dwayne Bravo has replaced Darren Sammy as the West Indies ODI captain for the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2013

West Indies squad for the Champions Trophy

Dwayne Bravo (capt.), Denesh Ramdin (wk & vice-capt), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith

Dwayne Bravo has replaced Darren Sammy as the West Indies ODI captain for the Champions Trophy. Sammy, who retains his place in the side, will continue to lead them in Tests and Twenty20 internationals. Under Sammy, West Indies won the World Twenty20, but have won only three ODI series over the last three years, two of them against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.”Our results in Tests and T20s have been showing consistent improvement, and Sammy deserves every kudos for the work he has done in leading and moulding the team in these formats,” chairman of the selection panel, Clyde Butts, said. “We remain confident in his leadership in these formats, and will recommend that he continues as the captain for Test and T20 cricket.”However, our ODI results have not been as strong, and we believe that it is best that we freshen the leadership of the team in this format.”West Indies have won 19 and lost 30 ODIs under Sammy, who first captained them in April 2010. Sammy averages 21 with the bat and 42 with the ball in the format. He has often been criticised for batting too low – usually No. 8 – to justify his place as primarily a bowler of limited penetration. However, that criticism hasn’t been limited to just one format.I’ll take it from here: Dwayne Bravo replaces Darren Sammy as ODI captain•AFP

Bravo, who averages 24 with the bat and 30 with the ball, was thrilled at the news. “I must say congratulations to Sammy in his leadership of the team, and I am very happy to be taking over from him,” he said. “I am even happier that he remains in the team, and I am looking forward to working with him along with the team management and all the players, especially vice-captain Denesh Ramdin, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard and Marlon Samuels.”Sammy pledged support to the new captain. “I congratulate Dwayne Bravo,” he said, “and give him my full support as he leads the ODI team. He can be assured of my unwavering commitment to the team and our plans to be champions of one-day cricket.”Bravo did captain West Indies in February when Sammy was rested during the home ODIs against Zimbabwe.For the Champions Trophy, Andre Russell, Narsingh Deonarine, Veerasammy Permaul and Kieran Powell were left out from the 13-man squad that faced Zimbabwe. Sammy, Ravi Rampaul, Samuels, Gayle, Devon Smith and youngster Jason Holder made comebacks.”We have shown confidence in the players who have served well in both the batting and bowling departments, and have identified some young players such as Jason Holder and Johnson Charles who add quality to the squad,” Butts said.Among those left out, only Powell was injured. Darren Bravo, who has undergone a minor eye surgery, was picked although he is yet to resume playing for Trinidad & Tobago.

Alan Richardson completed his second 10-wicket return in a week as Worcestershire piled the pressure on Gloucestershire in their Division Two match at New Road

24-May-2013
ScorecardAlan Richardson made it consecutive 10-wicket hauls to put Worcestershire in sight of victory•PA Photos

Alan Richardson completed his second 10-wicket return in a week as Worcestershire piled the pressure on Gloucestershire in their Division Two match at New Road.After his side had batted on to make 457, the veteran seamer led the push for victory with 3 for 34 as Gloucestershire continued to struggle on a ground where they have not won in the Championship for 27 years. Needing 223 to avoid an innings defeat, they were still 136 short of their target on closing the third day because of bad light at 87 for 5.At the age of 38, Richardson is in the form of his life with career-best match figures of 12 for 63 in a two-day win against Kent and so far a return of 11 for 71 in the current game following his eight for 37 in the first innings. Yet up to the trip to Canterbury last week, he was beginning to feel he “couldn’t buy a wicket” after taking only 6 for 282 in the first four matches of the season.Now his mood is upbeat after playing on two helpful pitches. When the ball is new and nipping around, as it has done in this match, he is likely to cause problems for the best batsmen. Gloucestershire had no answer on the first day and they were again in trouble when batting again in between afternoon showers.After an initial flurry of boundaries, Richardson brought one back into Chris Dent’s pads and claimed a second success in his next over when wicketkeeper Michael Johnson held a straightforward chance from Dan Housego.Gloucestershire’s captain Michael Klinger, who played for Worcestershire in the first part of last season, looked in good form with five boundaries but having reached 26 he played on as soon as Gareth Andrew switched ends to replace Richardson.Hamish Marshall stayed for more than an hour but then edged Chris Russell’s first ball down the leg-side and Richardson claimed the bigger prize when Alex Gidman was also caught behind after making 26 in 33 overs.Gloucestershire’s struggle was tough on teenage pace bowler Craig Miles after his efforts in taking 6 for 99 in only his fourth Championship appearance. When Worcestershire resumed at 302 for 3, Moeen Ali added only one run before he was out for 123, pulling Miles to square leg for the first of three wickets in nine balls.The home side could have wobbled when Neil Pinner fell to Liam Norwell for 18, but the ever-dangerous Andrew smacked 66 from 71 balls and put on 98 with Jack Shantry (31) before Miles took two of the last three wickets.

Kyle Mills’ outstanding form for New Zealand in the Champions League has won him a contract with Middlesex in this summer’s Friends Life t20 competition.

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jun-2013Kyle Mills’ outstanding form for New Zealand in the Champions Trophy has won him a contract with Middlesex in this summer’s Friends Life t20 competition.Mills, now in his mid-30s, will join up with Middlesex on Friday morning, the day after New Zealand’s second t20 International against England at The Oval.He will play for Middlesex against Kent at Canterbury that evening and is available for the entire tournament, should they progress to finals day.New Zealand players are in big demand for England’s FLt20 competition. Mills is the third signed in not much more than a week, with Nathan McCullum signing for Glamorgan and Mitchell McClenaghan winning a deal with Lancashire.Mills took six wickets at 10.50 runs each and conceded less than four runs an over as New Zealand narrowly missed out on a place in the Champions Trophy semifinals.Middlesex CCC’s Managing Director of Cricket, Angus Fraser, was delighted at the capture of Mills. “There are several reasons why Kyle is a good and exciting signing for Middlese,” he said. “During the recent Champions Trophy he highlighted what a high-quality white-ball bowler he is by topping the tournament averages and having one of the best economy rates.”Kyle will bring experience and quality to our attack, with his presence also allowing the club to manage the workload of a bowling attack that is competing in all three domestic tournaments.Middlesex play two LV= Championship matches in the middle of their T20 campaign, matches which could easily go amiss during the concentration on th4e shorter format and undermine a strong Championship challenge which surprisingly faltered with a home defeat against a weakened Yorkshire side.”Ideally, we want to keep our fast bowers as fresh as we can.,” Fraser said. “At the moment we have two or three bowlers who are either injured or recovering from injury. Corey Collymore is not contracted to play t20 cricket and we will also lose Tim Murtagh to Ireland for a week in early July. The squad is looking forward to welcoming Kyle on board.”

Ireland will be without the experience of Alex Cusack when they take on England next month, after the allrounder was ruled out with a back injury

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2013Ireland will be without the experience of Alex Cusack when they take on England next month, after the allrounder was ruled out with a back injury. He has been rested from domestic cricket in recent weeks but will not be fit for the September 3 ODI.Cusack has played 50 ODIs for Ireland, taking 52 wickets with his right-arm medium pace to go with 679 runs at 22.63. He shared a sixth-wicket stand of 162 with Kevin O’Brien, scoring 47, during Ireland’s famous victory over England in Bangalore at the 2011 World Cup.”It’s certainly disappointing for Alex to miss the game as he’s an important player for us, particularly in the Powerplays,” Ireland’s coach, Phil Simmons, said. “However, we have strength in depth now and it’ll give one of the other guys a chance to shine. We are blessed with a number of very talented allrounders so have plenty of cover in that department.”The match against England will mark the opening of Ireland’s redeveloped ground at Malahide, which has had its capacity increased to 11,000. With three weeks to go, tickets are still available on the Cricket Ireland website but well over half of the allocation has already been sold and Simmons said that anticipation was building.”We’ve seen just how well the tickets have gone with over 7,000 sold already,” Simmons said. “It’s going to the biggest match ever held in Ireland, and there will be a fantastic atmosphere at the new international venue at Malahide. It’s my home town and I know just how much of a buzz there is around the place to have the Ashes winners coming here. It’ll be a magnificent occasion, and hopefully we’ll give the Irish fans another day to remember.”Despite losing to Ireland in a record run chase at the last World Cup, England have won on each of their four visits to play ODIs. As in 2009, England will arrive in Ireland having won the Ashes – and on that occasion their winning margin was just three runs in a rain-affected game.

Mosharraf Hossain has continued to claim that his bowling figures from Dhaka Gladiators’ February 2 BPL match against Chittagong Kings are enough evidence to prove his innocence

Mohammad Isam20-Aug-2013Mosharraf Hossain, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, has said the ICC has charged him for being involved in alleged match-fixing in Dhaka Gladiators’ February 2 BPL match against Chittagong Kings earlier this year. He, however, continued to claim that his bowling figures from the match are enough evidence to prove his innocence.”The ICC has accused me on charges of match fixing in the game between Dhaka Gladiators and Chittagong despite doing well,” Mosharraf said in a statement. “I had picked up two wickets for 17 runs in that game. It seems that I am a victim of situation and decided to take the recourse of law to prove my innocence and I am confident about it.”If anyone wanted to do fixing then he needs to bowl badly – at least bowl three or four deliveries in an over should be a full toss and a short ball. I am not such a fool that I would do fixing and also bowl well.”Several top Bangladeshi newspapers had raised suspicions after the match, especially at the manner in which high-flying Gladiators lost meekly to Kings by 54 runs. Gladiators had won five out of six games before February 2, and were seen as the form team having taken the title the previous season and having further strengthened their side. Kings had won two of their last six games before the match in question.On Tuesday, Mosharraf arranged a press conference at the City Club ground in Mirpur where he denied every angle of questioning that linked him to corruption. But he admitted that after the February 2 match, there was discussion in the dressing-room regarding the team’s performance.”After the match there was no other discussion apart from our bad performance. Some of us fielded badly while our batsmen were getting out. But there was no discussion regarding the fixing issue in the dressing room.”I am totally confident that I had not spoken to anyone regarding any deal of match-fixing. So there cannot be any question of obtaining any recorded telephonic conversation of mine.Mosharraf has now found himself in two of the biggest controversies in Bangladesh cricket. In 2008, he was among the 12 players who were banned for joining the rebel Indian Cricket League. He was pardoned by the BCB the following year, after which he came back strongly. He earned a senior call-up earlier this year in Sri Lanka but did not play any of the ODIs.At the time of receiving the ICC charge letter, he was playing a tournament in Kent in England but had to abandon his team to appeal against the accusations. Having been suspended till the completion of the anti-corruption tribunal’s proceedings, Mosharraf is set to miss next month’s domestic one-day competition, the Dhaka Premier Division League. But at the moment, he is more interested in being proven innocent.”Even if I cannot play anymore, my major goal now is to clear my name from this scandal. If I can prove my innocence, I will be the happiest person.”

A number of Australia’s batsmen made starts against England Lions but gave their innings a way, while Usman Khawaja could not even make double figures

Brydon Coverdale at Wantage Road17-Aug-2013
ScorecardPhillip Hughes was given a working over by the Lions quicks but battled to make 30•Getty Images

On the eve of this match, Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann was asked whether any restrictions would be placed on how long a batsman could play, given the two-day contest was limited to 100 overs per side. “I don’t think we’re at that stage where we can do that,” Lehmann said. “If someone can bat 100 overs, they bat 100 overs.” It turns out even surviving for 100 balls was too tall an order for any of the Australians.Matthew Wade and James Faulkner might have got there, well established as they were when bad light ended play just after 5pm, consigning the one-innings match to a draw with Australia on 227 for 6 in their chase of 270. But the very fact that only one of Australia’s top six – Phillip Hughes – lasted longer at the crease than the No.7 and 8 batsmen suggested the day had been a bust for the Australians, who needed to gain some batting confidence.When play was abandoned, Wade was on 38 from 69 deliveries and Faulkner had 29 from 75 balls, but it was the efforts of Hughes and Usman Khawaja that were under greater scrutiny given the likely battle for the No.3 spot at The Oval. Neither man made the big score he wanted but Hughes won on crease occupation against a solid all-round England Lions attack, albeit on a pitch that didn’t offer much in the way of sideways movement.It was telling that Khawaja, the incumbent first-drop in the Test team, was demoted to No.6. His only scoring stroke was a crisp on-drive off his pads for four but he was caught behind when he prodded outside off and edged Ben Stokes for 4. By comparison, Hughes looked uncomfortable at times, including when he fell over while playing a hook off James Harris and when he copped a few shortish deliveries on the body, but at least he found a way to survive.Hughes played some classy strokes as well, a couple of cover-drives in particular, before playing back when Keith Barker dropped the ball short of a length and playing on for 30 from 92 deliveries. It was a start wasted, but Hughes was not alone in that regard. Shane Watson and David Warner both struck the ball well but failed to reach half-centuries, and Ed Cowan and Steven Smith made starts but no more. None showed the selectors what they wanted to see.Smith looked in terrific touch when using his feet against the spin of Simon Kerrigan, but less so against pace and he was yorked by Stokes on 18. Watson had also hinted at fine form and crunched three boundaries from one Kerrigan over, forcing him down the ground with cross-batted swipes and a loft over mid-off, and he also slog-swept him for a cleanly-struck six. But on 45, Watson picked out fine leg with a hook off Harris and it was another case of looking good but getting out.Warner had also played some encouraging drives before he came down the pitch and was stumped for 35 when Kerrigan squirted the ball wider. His opening partner, Cowan, was more circumspect and scored his only boundary with a cut through point when Kerrigan dropped short and his innings ended on 17 when he edged behind off Liam Plunkett, who came around the wicket and got a delivery to straighten down the line.Stokes was the most impressive of the England Lions bowlers, collecting 2 for 27 and having a catch put down that should have been his third – Wade was on 3 when his cut to gully was spilled by Plunkett. Stokes bowled with sharp pace and was always at the batsmen, although by the end of the day Wade and Faulkner were looking comfortable during their unbeaten 67-run stand.Earlier, England Lions had declared on their overnight score of 269 for 7 after morning drizzle reduced the first session to 75 minutes. Bad light prevented a result but an Australian win would have done little to hide their ongoing batting issues ahead of The Oval Test.