All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardStafanie Taylor’s century set up a crushing win•International Cricket Council

Former captain Stafanie Taylor blasted West Indies to a 148-run win over Netherlands on the opening day of the the ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge in Potchefstroom.Opening the innings after Netherlands captain Helmien Rambaldo won the toss and put West Indies in, Taylor thrashed 147 from 141 balls to launch West Indies to an imposing 283. In contrast the Netherlands chase never got going as they were restricted to 135 for 8 from 50 overs.Taylor received able support from Stacy-Ann King who made 22 in an 80-run stand for the fourth wicket but it was the following 113-run stand with Deandra Dottin that carried West Indies out of sight.Dottin shot to prominence when she became the first woman in history to score a Twenty20 international hundred – which she made off 38 balls – against South Africa in the World Twenty20 earlier this year and she was in typically aggressive form in this game, reaching 59 from 58 balls. The standout innings, however, came from Taylor who smashed 15 fours and a six before falling in the penultimate over.The total was always going to be beyond Netherlands but their approach seemed more concerned with survival than at giving themselves a chance of victory. Esther Lanser top-scored with 39 at the top of the order, but her innings, which came off 92 balls set the tone.Rambaldo’s 27 was the only other score of note as the rest of the line up struggled to get to grips with the West Indies attack. Dottin made her good day even better by picking up 2 for 15 from her seven overs of medium pace as Netherlands crept to 135 for 8 to finish well short.
ScorecardSouth Africa thrashed their Sri Lankan counterparts by 153 runs – rolling them out for 75 after battling to 228 on the North-West University No2 Ground.The spin pair of Dane van Niekerk and Sunette Loubser were the chief destroyers, taking four wickets each to help inspire a collapse from 50 for 2 to 75 all out in 10.5 overs. Just three players reached double-figures, Chamari Polgampola top-scoring with 25 at the top of the order. The 4 for 13 that 17-year-old legspinner van Niekerk finished with was her best figures and she now has 15 wickets from seven ODIs.What was barely a contest in Sri Lanka’s chase was more of a tussle in the South Africa innings. Captain Cri-zelda Brits anchored the innings with 78 from 108 balls. At 131 for 3 it looked as though a big total would be built but Polgampola struck back with three wickets to help reduce South Africa to 189 for 7 by the time Brits fell.Yet Loubser and Shabnim Ismail rallied to take the score to 228. It meant that Brits’ knock, which featured six fours, was not wasted and allowed enough for the bowlers to surge to victory.
ScorecardPakistan gave their country’s cricket fans some much-needed cheer by thrashing Ireland in their opening match of the ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge in Potchefstroom.Opting to field they made light work of the Ireland line-up, bundling them out for 116 in 31.5 overs. Only three players made reached double- figures as Asmavia Iqbal took an impressive 3 for 17 from nine overs. She was ably backed up by Kanwal Naz who took 3 for 18 with her left-arm spin.Jill Whelan top-scored for Ireland, striking three boundaries in her 18 before being run-out. All around her the Ireland line-up came and went in a procession leaving a simple chase for Pakistan.Whelan followed up her relative success with the bat by taking the first wicket in the second over of Pakistan’s chase but that only brought Nain Abidi to the crease. She laid a sound platform alongside Javeria Khan in a 50-run second-wicket stand and despite two more wickets falling, Abidi held firm to reach an unbeaten fifty and seal the victory.

Phillip Hughes, the Australian opener, has returned to the Test squad while his New South Wales team-mate, the uncapped 19-year-old fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, has also won a place in the 15-man pool for the tour of India in October. Offspinner Nathan Hauritz, whom Ricky Ponting had termed last month as a ‘lock-in’ for the India series and the Ashes, reclaimed his position as Australia’s No. 1 slow bowler after recovering from a foot injury but wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was deemed to have not sufficiently recovered from an elbow injury.The trio take the place of fast bowler Clint McKay, middle-order batsman Usman Khawaja and left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe, who were part of Australia’s squad for the two Tests against Pakistan in July.”The squad we have selected sees the return from injury of Phillip Hughes,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. ” [It] includes a very good mix of experience and new young talent with Steven Smith, Hughes and two young fast bowlers in Peter George and Josh Hazlewood.”Hazlewood rose to prominence during the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, and became the youngest cricketer to represent Australia when he played an ODI against England in June. The India tour will give him a chance to win a Test cap before he turns 20, in January.His state team-mate Haddin, the first-choice wicketkeeper, is still not available giving Tim Paine another Test series behind the stumps. “Haddin is due to commence restricted batting in the next few weeks,” Australian physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said. “He is on track to be available for club cricket and for New South Wales with the possibility of being available for selection in the India or Sri Lanka one-day series.”There was also no place in the squad for Victoria fast bowler Peter Siddle, a regular till a back problem ruled him out of action for seven months ago, who will test his fitness in this month’s Champions League Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.Two Tests form the first leg of Australia’s tour of India, followed by a series of three one-dayers which ends on October 24.Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke (vice-capt), Doug Bollinger, Peter George, Nathan Hauritz, Josh Hazlewood, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Marcus North, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith and Shane Watson.

ScorecardLeicestershire’s County Championship clash against Derbyshire is evenly poised after the bottom-of-the-table visitors staged a spirited fightback on the third day at Grace Road.Derbyshire claimed the last four Leicestershire wickets for 16 runs and then converted a first-innings deficit of 94 into a lead of 144 by reaching 238 for 5 at stumps as they look for their first Championship win since April.Wayne Madsen led the way with 66 off 129 balls sharing an opening stand of 86 with captain Chris Rogers and another half-century partnership with Garry Park. But left-arm spinner Claude Henderson kept the hosts in with a chance of their fifth win of the season by dismissing Dan Redfern in the penultimate over of the day to complete a spell that brought him figures of three for 41. Leicestershire began the day on 260 for six, a lead of 64.But they failed to capitalise on the strong position they held, spending more than an hour scoring 16 runs in 16.1 overs for the loss of the last four wickets. Henderson had his middle stump uprooted by Steffan Jones in the second over of the morning and although Tom New reached a half-century – his sixth against Derbyshire – off 85 balls with five boundaries the runs then dried up.Wickets fell with New the last man out when he was beaten going for a single by a direct hit on the stumps from Greg Smith. Smith finished with impressive figures of 3 for 40 off 23 overs and there was also a three-wicket haul for Jones.Leicestershire did not make the best use of the new ball before lunch and both Rogers and Madsen were able to unleash a succession of boundaries as Derbyshire made a run-a-ball start in the first 11 overs. It was not helped by Madsen being dropped at slip off the bowling of Nathan Buck and the same player also survived a big lbw shout from Nadeem Malik.But Rogers, who looked in fine form, fell three short of a half-century with Matt Boyce making up for his earlier drop by taking a sharp low chance at slip off Malik. Madsen had some good fortune on his way to 50, playing and missing on several occasions before Henderson struck finding the edge against Park with a delivery that bounced on the batsman.Madsen’s 129-ball innings came to an end when he mistimed an intended off-drive at Henderson giving Paul Nixon a catch at mid off. Derbyshire’s run rate slowed in the evening session with Henderson keeping a tight grip on things before claiming the vital wicket of Redfern, leaving an impressive Chesney Hughes still there on 30 at the close.It gave Derbyshire a useful lead of 144 but with rain forecast for the final day it will need some enterprising play from both sides to produce a positive result.

ScorecardUSA’s women trounced Canada by 112 runs in the first game of the three-match series played at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City.Canada elected to field in overcast conditions, and after being circumspect early on, USA settled in well. Player-cum-coach Indomatie Goordial-John led the dominance with 83 runs off 118 balls, with captain Durga Das contributing 53 despite difficulties running between wickets due to heavily strapped knees from an injury. The pair compiled 92 runs for the 2nd wicket, and it could have easily been more had Das been able to turn the ones into twos that were on offer. Helene Gaffney and Suthershini Sivanantham impressed with the ball, but the rest of the attack was a letdown, as Canada conceded 31 runs in wides and no balls.Canada’s run chase of 227 never gained momentum as wickets fell frequently. Shondell Ward was unplayable in her spell of 5 for 20 as the top four departed for single-figure scores. Mikaela Turik’s 40 delayed the inevitable and took Canada past three figures, but that was little solace as the hosts lost four wickets to run outs in a hapless batting display. Goordial-John claimed the final wicket, to seal a resounding victory for her side and the player-of-the-match award.Canada have a lot of work to do and ahead of the second game on Wednesday, and keep the series alive going into the final fixture on Friday.

ScorecardChaminda Vaas played a key role with bat and ball to help Northamptonshire secure victory•Getty Images

Chaminda Vaas hit a quickfire half-century and then took two vital wickets as Northamptonshire Steelbacks beat Leicestershire Foxes by 10 runs in their Friends Provident t20 clash at Grace Road. The visitors posted 166 for 4 after the game had been reduced to 18 overs because of rain, with Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall sharing a stand of 82 off 38 balls.Despite a fine innings of 53 by Will Jefferson, the Foxes were unable to reach their target, and crashed to their third defeat in five games and their second at home. It was the Steelbacks’ third win in a row after two early losses in the competition, and they owed much to the all-round ability of Vaas.Promoted to open as a pinch-hitter, he responded with a half-century off 35 balls that included eight sweetly-struck boundaries which gave the Northamptonshire the perfect start. Then, after they became bogged down in the middle of their innings, Boje and Hall swung the game their way with some dramatic hitting in the later overs.Boje made 54 off 30 balls, with nine fours and a six, and Hall gave him fine support, scoring 29 off 18 balls, hitting a six plus four other boundaries. It was a blistering response by the fifth-wicket pair after the Steelbacks had slipped to 84 for 4 in the 12th over. A total of 62 runs came off the last four overs, and it was to prove decisive to the result of the game.For much of the time, the Foxes were well up with the rate, with Jefferson and James Taylor giving them real hope of their first win at home in the competition this season by sharing a partnership of 72 in nine overs for the third wicket. Taylor looked in fine form, making 38 with a six and four fours before pulling a full toss off the bowling of David Willey to square leg.But the all-important wicket of Jefferson was claimed by Vaas, who trapped him leg before wicket as he tried to work the ball to leg, having made 53 off 35 balls, with the innings including seven fours.The Foxes needed 16 off the final over for victory, but Hall made sure they got nowhere near it, conceding just five runs and taking the wicket of Wayne White with his final delivery to give Northants a win by 10 runs.

The same two sides had contested the final of the Asia Cup two years ago, and the totals and margin of victory are similar to the title clash at Dambulla on Thursday. The two matches couldn’t be more different though.Sri Lanka’s win had come on the back of two freakish performances – Sanath Jayasuriya’s counterattacking 125 to revive them from 66 for 4, and Ajantha Mendis’ star-making haul of 6 for 13 that derailed a rampant India – while MS Dhoni’s side won through an array of mostly routine but important contributions from nearly everyone in the side.Ashish Nehra may grab the headlines but his quick-bowling partners had done their bit earlier on. Praveen Kumar showed off yet again how dangerous he can be in conditions that suit him, and removed the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan in the first over, while Zaheer Khan tormented Upul Tharanga with sideways movement before getting him to shoulder arms to an indipper that took the offstump.As for the batting, Dinesh Karthik was the surprise Man of the Match but five other batsmen made 25 or more to steadily drive India’s total towards the zone labelled ‘competitive’. For a side that has often ridden on individual brilliance and its batting arsenal, a bowler-led team-based victory in a tournament final is especially significant.Dhoni was a pleased man after witnessing his side lift their game every time it mattered in the tournament, with the only defeat coming in the inconsequential league match against Sri Lanka. “This was a very satisfying win for us since we won three out of four games,” Dhoni said. “It was an important tournament, four of the best sides were playing, and each side was quite balanced, overall happy with the performance.”With the final being played on a fresh pitch, getting to bat first proved a big advantage at a venue where the team batting second usually finds it harder to score. “The guys were pumped-up to perform. It was a good toss to win, conditions were ideal for batting,” Dhoni said. “It got a bit slower as the game progressed and it started doing a bit under the lights, the fast bowlers made the most out of it.”There were some aspects of Thursday’s showing that he felt needed improvement, such as the number of batsmen who didn’t go on to score half-centuries after getting their eye in. “Most of us got the starts that was needed, we should have converted those starts,” he said. “But if you win a game nobody questions that but it is very important to learn even if you are winning games, I still think we could have scored more runs and given the bowlers the extra cushion of 15-20 runs.”India’s next limited-overs assignment is the tri-series in Dambulla, also involving New Zealand, following the Tests against Sri Lanka next month. With none of the batting youngsters having made compelling cases in the Asia Cup and the Zimbabwe series, it will be interesting to see what the pecking order is when the squad is chosen for that triangular.Another facet that Dhoni wanted the team to improve in was fielding, which had played a key role in Sri Lanka’s win in Tuesday’s league game. Kumar Sangakkara’s team was flat in the field during the finals, with several dropped chances and plenty of fumbles in the outfield.Kris Srikkanth, the Indian chairman of selectors, had said the players’ fitness and fielding levels had been looked into while picking the squad for the tournament, and the team has also shown a renewed focus on fielding during their practice sessions. “We need to improve our fielding, but one good thing, we had a few youngsters who did really well, so we don’t really have to hide too many in this side,” Dhoni said. “All our fielders are not brilliant but it was good in this series, if we gradually improve our fielding till the World Cup, we will be a safe fielding side, and fielding really contributes in one-dayers.”

ScorecardDarren Bravo remained unbeaten on 107•Bangladesh Cricket Board

West Indies A continued their unbeaten the tri-series and sealed a place in the final, after beating South Africa A convincingly by 81 runs in Mirpur. Darren Bravo’s unbeaten 107, and half-centuries by Brendon Nash and Kirk Edwards carried West Indies to a tall 295, but the target was too much for the South Africans who stumbled to the pace duo of Gavin Tonge and Lionel Baker.The West Indies innings was built around a stand of 133 between Bravo and Nash. They came together at the fall of the third wicket at 67 in the 15th over and carried on till the 39th. Nash made a run-a-ball 71 before he was caught by David Miller off Thandi Tshabalala. Bravo added another 86 with Edwards, who made a 31-ball 50. Bravo reached his century off 113 balls and stayed till the end to pose a stiff challenge to South Africa.The South African openers got off to a rollicking start, adding 50 in just seven overs. But it all started to go downhill from there as Baker and Tonge reduced them to 60 for 4. David Miller and Dean Elgar made 30s but couldn’t carry on, as West Indies made further inroads. Baker finished with 4 for 32 while Tonge was expensive but finished with 3 for 47.

Ravindra Jadeja, who missed IPL 2010 after being banned by the tournament organisers for trying to negotiate a contract outside the player auction, wants to put the disappointment behind him and focus on the World Twenty20.”There is no point in looking back, at the moment my focus is on the ICC World Twenty20. I didn’t play cricket for 45 days, there was frustration but I’m keeping my fingers crossed now. It hurts when you see your colleagues playing and you are practising at home,” Jadeja told the .Jadeja thought the IPL ban denied him crucial match-practice that his India team-mates could get during the tournament. “There are 14 matches in the IPL and it would have been great preparation for the ICC World Twenty20. You get a better idea of what you need to be doing when you are playing matches. The match situation, the pressure, the crowds, the tips from fellow players, you don’t get all that sitting at home,” he said.Though he missed the on-field action, Jadeja said he had been training hard to maintain his fitness ahead of the World Twenty20. “It was a really hard thing to do to miss the action and sit at home. I had a fixed schedule. Early in the morning I used to have a batting session, then I would run for a short while and in the evening, there was a bowling session along with some fielding. I also played a few Twenty20 matches to try and stay in good touch,” he said.Jadeja rose to prominence after his part in India’s victory in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup and hopes to now participate in another World Cup win. “I’m really happy to be part of the ICC World Twenty20 team. I was hoping that my name appeared (in the squad). I’m really eager to go out there and perform. I was part of the India Under-19 side that won the junior World Cup three years ago and this time I’m hoping to be part of the Cup-winning India team.”I’m just hoping that all goes well. I will try to give my 110 per cent on the field. But the most important thing will be to try and get a winning momentum going for the team,” Jadeja said.

The ICC has ruled out creating a separate window in the FTP for lucrative domestic leagues like the IPL, despite increasing calls for the game’s governing body to figure out a way to allow players to participate without disrupting their international commitments.”We don’t envisage a separate window for a domestic event like the IPL,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC’s CEO, said in New Delhi at the unveiling of the ICC World Twenty20 trophy. “We cannot incorporate all domestic events into the FTP. It is just not possible as there would be implications for all other member boards.”Players from Australia, New Zealand and West Indies had to miss the first few games of the IPL this season as they were busy playing for their countries. Australia and New Zealand were involved in a bilateral series and the players couldn’t reach India before April 1. Former Australian wicketkeeper and captain of Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist, was the latest to join the chorus for an IPL window, pointing to the financial rewards for the players.Commenting on the Twenty20-heavy calendar, Lorgat said he wasn’t too concerned about possible player burnout once players assemble in the West Indies for the World Twenty20. The tournament begins on April 30, just five days after the conclusion of the six-week IPL. He pointed to the success of last year’s World Twenty20 in England, which followed just after the IPL.”The World Cup in England last year came immediately after the IPL. But it was extremely successful. We saw a full house at all the venues. I think the IPL is a great forerunner to the World Cup,” he said. “Players are in Twenty20 mode and we are hopeful of an equally successful World Cup this time around.”The World Twenty20 is supposed to be held once every two years, but the fact that this edition follows barely a year after the previous one is an anomaly, which the ICC is trying to fix.”The fact that it is the third T20 World Cup in four years is a bit of an anomaly,” Lorgat said. “We are trying to rectify the scheduling and set it right.”He also brushed aside concerns that the popularity of Twenty20 will overshadow that for Tests and ODIs. “Its popularity has gone beyond expectations but other formats are alsopopular. There was a lot of negativity around the other formats, but in the last 12-18 months we have seen some fascinating 50-over games,” Lorgat said. “When (India’s) Sachin Tendulkar scored 200, most people were of the view that 50-overs cricket would definitely survive.”

Ottis Gibson, the newly-appointed West Indies coach, has emphasised the need to move on from the winless debacle in Australia to prepare for success against Zimbabwe. West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the Tests, 4-0 in the ODIs and 2-0 in the Twenty20s during the tour of Australia, and Gibson, who took over from interim coach David Williams, warned against complacency against one of the minnows of international cricket.”It has been a difficult tour for them in Australia, we all recognise that. As far as the mental work that needs to be done, I think first of all we need to put to bed what happened in Australia and focus on the series against Zimbabwe, which is going to be a challenge for us, and spend time planning and preparing for that,” Gibson told reporters in Trinidad.”If we focus on the negatives all the time it can sometimes lead to a negative mindset. What we’ve got to try and do is look ahead to what we have coming up and plan and prepare very well for that. If we can do that we will take steps towards going into the series and looking to win it.”Zimbabwe have played 27 ODIs since the start of 2009, winning 13 and losing 14 but they’ve taken on teams other than Kenya and Bangladesh just thrice. Still, Gibson said, West Indies could not afford to let down their guard. “If we take Zimbabwe for granted what happened in Australia could easily continue. We have to get together as a group and outline what needs to be done and what are the key challenges we face and how I want to see how things shaping.”Since 2004, West Indies have had six different coaches before Gibson’s appointment, starting with Roger Harper, Gus Logie, Bennett King, David Moore, John Dyson – who was sacked after defeats against Bangladesh – and David Williams. Gibson didn’t wish to talk about failures under previous coaches, but added that the overall development of a cricketer would be his focus. “I don’t know what went on before, I haven’t been there,” Gibson said. “What I do know is that in the make-up of a cricketer you have technical aspects, the tactical aspects, the physical attributes, the mental aspects and (the need to) cope with the demands of international sport. All those are key areas I am concerned about.”Gibson, who was formerly England’s bowling coach, said the leadership of Clive Lloyd during West Indies’ heydays in the 1970s and 1980s was something the current generation of cricketers should seek to emulate. “Everybody keeps taking us back to the glory days. What I like about those years was that Clive Lloyd was able to get the team to play for one common cause. We can identify a brand of cricket we want to represent as a team. And when people come into the stands and watch us, they can see this is what we’re trying to do.”Gibson also spoke of the different levels of professionalism in England, where he had considerable experience playing county cricket, and West Indies, and said the transformation would require improvement in certain basic areas which he hoped to address. “In England the environment is very professional. England has a lot of financial resources that they can call on to get things done. The West Indies Cricket Board is not in the same position and we have to accept that but there are basic things that we can do to try and start and those are the things I will be focusing on.”