All posts by csb10.top

Ricky Ponting, the Australia captain, has had surgery on his injured right wrist and is no certainty to take part in the team’s next matches, a series of three ODIs against Bangladesh in Darwin starting in late August. Ponting suffered the injury while batting in the third ODI against West Indies in Grenada last Sunday.He was released from the tour and sent back to Australia, where he immediately had an assessment with Cricket Australia medical staff and had the operation in Melbourne on Monday. The process was completed as quickly as possible to give Ponting the best chance of taking part in the Darwin ODIs and the Champions Trophy that follows.”We’re not sure [on his availability against Bangladesh] at this stage,” a Cricket Australia spokesman told . “We’ll have to assess him as we go along. But that’s why they got him in for assessment so quickly, so they could decide on a course of action rather than him going home [to Sydney] and leaving it a week. This way it gives him more time to recover.”Trefor James, Cricket Australia’s chief medical officer, said Ponting had a tendon injury that “requires repair of tissues that hold the tendon in place”. In Ponting’s absence in the Caribbean, Michael Clarke led the side for the first time in one-day internationals and completed the 5-0 whitewash that had started under Ponting.

The semi-final between South Africa and India re-affirmed theglorious uncertainty of one-day cricket yet again. It was athoroughly incompetent batting display from the South Africans inthe end overs that helped India recover and win a game which atone point seemed to have slipped out of their grasp.

The turning point of the game came when Herschelle Gibbs wasforced to retire with cramps in both hands. At that stage, Gibbsand Jacques Kallis seemed to have batted India out of the gamewith their 178-run second wicket partnership. But Gibbs’sunfortunate departure presented India with the slightest ofopportunity and all credit to them, for they seized it with bothhands. The spinners – Harbhajan Singh and later Virender Sehwag -bowled a tight line and stifled the South African batsmen whilethe fielders led by Yuvraj Singh pulled off some fine catches asIndia willed themselves back into the game.Evidently, South Africa had their chances but the lack ofimagination and daring on the part of their batsmen saw Indiatightening the screws on the opposition with every passing over.I felt that Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener played as ifwinning the game never really mattered to them. Kallis afterhaving played himself in during the partnership with Gibbs wasideally suited to take over the role of the senior partner butstrangely he seemed reluctant to force the pace. Klusener’sinability to play slower bowlers, meanwhile, meant that therewere no breathtaking assaults from his end either as the SouthAfrican challenge met with a tame end.After this performance, I wouldn’t be surprised if Klusener isaxed on his return. South African cricket will indeed have totake some tough decisions, even if that means showing the door tosome of the established players for having let the team down.I also wonder about whether there was any communication betweenSouth African skipper Shaun Pollock and Kallis and Klusener. Thethoughts arise because it was befuddling to see a professionalside like South Africa play so poorly, and that too in the secondbiggest one-day tournament.Earlier, the Indian batting failed to take advantage of ablistering start. When Sehwag was around, flaying the SouthAfrican bowling, I had hoped that the Indians would end up with ascore in excess of 300.

All credit, though, should be given to South African bowlers andtheir breathtaking fielding for restricting India to what was atbest a competitive total. India wouldn’t have got to even thatscore if Rahul Dravid and the very impressive Yuvraj Singh hadnot come up with vital knocks which ensured that India were givena fighting chance of winning the game.I am glad that the boys, then, showed the spunk required of themin the evening and qualified for the big final. With either SriLanka or Australia, both strong batting teams, destined to betheir next opponent, it is time the think-tank thought aboutstrengthening our bowling line-up. I for one would like to seeAjit Agarkar replace Kumble in the bowling line up.If that happens it would only strengthen a team that now seemscapable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the best teams inthe world. With the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif allplaying crucial roles in recent Indian wins, Sourav Ganguly’s menhave indeed grown into a formidable force in one-day cricket.The success of these youngsters has also meant that India are inthe finals despite their premier batsman Sachin Tendulkar havinga poor tournament, according to his standards. The big final,though, might be the setting that will inspire Tendulkar intogiving his best. Winning it is not going to be easy, but itsurely is not impossible and I wish the boys all the very bestbefore the all-important encounter.

A total of nearly 200 school children aged between 7 and 10 from the Volksschule Markomannenstrasse 9, in Vienna’s 22nd district, had an introduction to cricket on 4th-5th December, with eight classes seeing promotional videos about the sport, prior to then having a cricket session in the school gym, with Siva Nadarajah and Pascal Cyniburk, himself a product of Concordia CC’s Youth Development Programme, assisting the European Development Programme’s Dave Gelling, who whilst no stranger to Austrian Cricket, was making his first trip under the Regional Coaching Initiative.Amongst the presentations, children were shown the 2001 Confetti Show programme on Cricket – which was shot at Seebarn, and in which the children taking part in Concordia CC’s Youth Development Programme presented cricket to Austria’s younger television viewers, as part of state broadcaster ORF’s children’s programming (Confetti TV).The children were also able to try out Kwik Cricket, with sets being presented to the school, so the hope is that cricket will soon be played on a regular basis at the school which overlooks Concordia’s ground, with the previously "mysterious" activities at the ground, visible from the school’s classrooms being less strange. Hopefully some of the children will take up cricket outside of school and will establish themselves for club and country!The Austrian Cricket Association would like to thank the European Development Programme for their assistance in this project, especially at such short notice, and to thank Dave Gelling in particular, whose next project will be an introductory coaching course in Vienna this weekend.

KINGSTON – Vasbert Drakes has described a fine leveled at him for using indecent language as "nonsense" and plans to make a formal appeal to have his name cleared.Match referee Johnny Gayle, a former Test umpire, says however, the code of conduct he referred to mentions there shall be no right to appeal.The 32-year-old Drakes, a seasoned overseas professional who is representing Barbados for the first time since 1998, was fined half his match fee after attending a hearing following the conclusion of the Red Stripe Bowl cricket match between Barbados and Jamaica at Sabina Park last Saturday.According to Gayle, Drakes breached two clauses of the code of conduct by bringing the game into disrepute by his behaviour and using abusive language to the umpire. In response, an upset Drakes said there was no "solid evidence" against him."I am going to defend myself. If it needs to be taken further, I will. It is nonsense," Drakes told NATIONSPORT from the team’s Knutsford Court hotel yesterday.`No solid evidence’"I went into a meeting and explained myself and it was decided, without having any sort of solid evidence of what happened, to impose a fine on me. Whatever the umpire said and whatever I said, no one heard."The incident in question was alleged to have occurred in the dying stages of the match when Drakes was batting with Barbados chasing an imposing target of 308 in 47 overs.Satisfied that the quality of the ball had deteriorated, Drakes asked umpire Cecil Fletcher if it could be changed.Pressed for comment on the matter, Fletcher said because he didn’t change the ball, he was met with indecent remarks from Drakes."I immediately reported the matter to the next captain and to my fellow umpire. I told him [Vasbert] I was going to report it when we go off the field," Fletcher said.After Fletcher’s report, Drakes was summoned to a hearing that was attended by himself, umpires Fletcher and Maurice Chung, match referee Gayle and Barbados manager Tony Howard."What the umpire wrote on a piece of paper was not what I said. You are basically taking one man’s word without having any evidence," Drakes said."I will appeal. This is the first code of conduct that I see a player doesn’t have a right to appeal. How can you have no grounds for appealing?"Gayle, an experienced match referee who umpired in Tests and One-Day Internationals in the 1980s, said the level of the punishment was justified."Using indecent language is not a thing to be taken lightly," Gayle said. "He [Drakes] did say he would appeal, but the code of conduct I have mentions there shall be no appeal."All-rounder Drakes had smashed a quick-fire 26 off 15 balls before he was caught at deep wicket off off-spinner Ricardo Powell with Barbados still requiring another 30 runs in a little more than two overs. As it turned out, Barbados lost by 20 runs in their only defeat of the preliminaries.In giving reasons why he opted not to change the ball, umpire Fletcher said the issue was beyond his control."The whole problem of balls is not one that umpires can deal with," he said. "You just cannot find suitable replacements for white balls. After about ten overs, all of them get discoloured."When Jamaica batted, however, the ball was changed mid-way into the innings. Barbados had asked for one of a similar wear and tear, but a new ball was brought out and it was rubbed into the turf before use.Drakes is also questioning whether his captain, Courtney Browne, should have been present at the hearing."You cannot have rules for one person and don’t have them for the other. We don’t do things the right way," he added.

Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson has written to all 7000 of the club’s members `to apologise for the poor display by our players this season.’In the letter that dropped onto every members doorstep over the weekend the Somerset boss says that despite the C and G Final appearance at Lord’s `too many of our performances seemed to lack enthusiasm, urgency, and the requisite application expected of professional players.’Mr Anderson refers to the meeting that Cricket Chairman Vic Marks is going to have with the coaches and senior staff to `assess what went wrong and what is needed to rectify the situation’ and goes onto say that the club are making financial provision to sign three new players including an additional overseas player.The Somerset chief promises ` each and every coach and player will be interviewed and left in no uncertain terms what is expected of them in 2003. For most of them the message is quite simpleyou got us down, you get us up.’However Mr Anderson reassures the supporters when he says `The ground, facilties, youth development, training and finacial structure are the envy of many’ and concludes by saying `What has happened has depressed us all but it is not the end of the world; nor is it the end of Somerset County Cricket Club.Certainly if the players can carry on with the kind of spirit and application that they demonstrated in the last NUL game against Durham Dynamos they will be a force to be reckoned with in 2003 and will be promotion contenders in division two.

The West Indies are three insignificant wickets away from a resounding victory in the fifth and final Cable & Wireless Test that would secure the series and administer a welcome, overdue dose of self-confidence to Carl Hooper and his team.India, required to score an unprecedented 408 for a rare overseas triumph, were undermined yesterday by the spirited efforts of the second string West Indian fast bowlers, Pedro Collins and Adam Sanford.Only fading light that ended play four overs early and obliged Hooper to operate with the occasional spinners, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, for the last seven overs prevented the Indians the ignominy of defeat in four days.They resume this morning 237 for seven, 171 away from a target never before achieved to win a Test.Yet, for a couple of hours in the middle session, Sachin Tendulkar batted with an authority that silenced the few thousand expectant West Indians scattered around Sabina Park and suggested the little maestro could knock off the runs all on his own.But Collins, who was having the best day of his 11 Tests, has had the measure of the most complete batsman of his time throughout the series, twice removing him for "ducks", second ball in the second Test and first in the third.The tireless left-armer intervened again with an even more timely strike.By tea, Tendulkar was 82, dominating a partnership with captain Sourav Ganguly then worth 89 and joining the elite with nine other great batsmen who have reached 8 000 runs in Test cricket, aged 29 and in his 96th match.He stroked Collins’ first ball after the interval nonchalantly to the third man boundary to add to the 12 fours he accumulated before the interval, mostly with savage square-cuts and one vicious, spine-tingling cover-drive off Merv Dillon.Collins’ sixth, delivered from round the wicket, sent him back in hasty defence, kept lower than he anticipated and brushed the under edge of his bat before crashing into the middle and off-stumps.The bowler and his teammates broke into leaping, spontaneous jubilation, the previously muted stands instantly erupted into cheering, whistle-blowing celebration and the speakers in the Red Stripe Mound boomed out the appropriate music.Everyone knew it basically confirmed the outcome that was in little realistic doubt once the West Indies extended their lead to over 400 in the morning, with Collins to the fore with his highest Test score of 24.Only one team has ever totalled over 400 to win a Test match – ironically India’s 406 for four over the West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1976 – and India were highly unlikely to repeat the success of Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath and others against a threadbare West Indies spin attack then.But the sight of Tendulkar disappearing into the players’ area beneath the George Headley Stand for the last time of the series was a huge relief.The job was not done when he left – nor before he came in – and Collins and Adam Sanford, equally enthusiastic, ensured that no one else got in their way.With Merv Dillon, the spearhead of the attack, possibly exhausted after his first innings effort of five wickets and patently listless, and Cameron Cuffy steady but no more, it was left to Collins and Sanford to fill the breach.Collins took care of the openers and Sanford despatched Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and V.V.S.Laxman, India’s three most consistent batsmen in the series.As he so frequently does, Collins struck as soon as he replaced Cuffy after nine overs.Wasim Jaffer stabbed his third ball firmly, but straight into the lap of Wavell Hinds at short-leg who safely pouched the catch in precisely the same place where he has taken so many since coming into the team.In his next over, Jaffer’s little partner, Shiv Sunder Das, went hesitantly forward and was ruled lbw by umpire Russell Tiffin. Since Collins was over the wicket, it was a marginal decision and the TV tramlines did indicate the ball pitched an inch or two wide of leg-stump.By lunch, Dravid had established India’s plan with a succession of positive strokes while Tendulkar bided his time.He was looming as a definite threat when Sanford, in his best spell of the series, pinned him on the backfoot after an hour and 20 minutes for 30 and Tiffin raised the finger again for the lbw decision.For the next hour-and-a-half, Tendulkar took centre stage with the kind of performance of which only the genuine stars are capable.In that time, he was beaten twice outside off-stump, once by Dillon and once by Hooper’s straight ball, and offered one edged shot, a slash over the leaping Brian Lara at first slip off the persevering Collins.Otherwise, everything came from the middle of a broad bat. A hundred seemed inevitable when Collins shocked him.There the resistance ended.Sanford, with his bounding approach and strong action, rushes off the pitch at surprising pace and gains steep bounce. Both attributes – and a little verbal confrontation with Ganguly – set up his two wickets. Late on the shot, Ganguly hooked him straight to Sarwan at square-leg six runs afterTendulkar’s departure.Laxman was undone mainly by the bounce, getting his shot high on the bat high to mid-wicket where Dillon stepped back to hold an excellent, two-handed catch above his head.Cuffy showed that whatever Dillon could do he could do just as well with a tumbling take at mid-on that intercepted Harbhajan Singh’s cross-batted heave that gave Gayle a bonus wicket.Had Hooper not floored Ajay Ratra’s deflection off Sanford, everyone might have had today off. But it should not be delayed long.Tendulkar’s wicket capped a dream day for Collins.A novice No. 9 right-handed batsman whose highest Test score was 13, he had already made a significant contribution by remaining through the last hour and 25 minutes the previous afternoon with Shivnarine Chanderpaul to halt a spirited Indian comeback in a stand of 43.With a mixture of authentic strokes and tailender’s heaves, Collins moved from four to 24 after Chanderpaul drove a return catch to Zaheer Khan after adding only five to his overnight 54.They were enough to send the lead above the psychologically satisfying 400. Then he went to work with the ball.

Following their challenging first week back for pre-season training, the Somerset players face an even more gruelling week ahead.On Monday and Tuesday the squad of eighteen will spend time at Centre Parcs which is at Longleat in Wiltshire.Whilst they are there they will be taking part in the new Company Action Challenge, which will include rock climbing and a rope challenge.Head of injury prevention Darren Veness told me: “On the first day they will be challenged by an obstacle course which will be very testing for them all, and then on the second day they will be spend a little time relaxing before preparing for the next day.”On Wednesday the Somerset squad will be spending all day at the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre at Lympstone in Devon.Fitness instructor Andy Hurry, himself a former Royal Marine told me: “The whole day is targetted at team building. First thing in the morning they will all undertake the assault course working as teams taking a telegraph pole round the course, which will be interesting to say the least!”Later in the morning they will go down to the River Exe estuary and work on the beach in the mud, with activities like touch rugby, and then after lunch they will go out on the water in small craft.”On Thursday the Somerset players return to Millfield School where they will be continuing with their specific sprint training out on the tartan track, and then in the afternoon there will be a pairs badminton competition.The players will then have the Easter break before reporting back on Tuesday to step their training up another gear when they focus more upon their technical ability under the supervision of Coach Kevin Shine and his assistant Mark Garaway.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Lasith Malinga was taken for 16 runs in his first over; he returned to pick 5-16 in his next three•AFP

Around 5pm on an overcast evening, an enthusiastic crowd at the Wanderers were faced with the prospect of a washout. This, after what was supposed to be the marquee Saturday night match involving teams featuring some of the world’s biggest Twenty20 stars turned into a dead rubber as Lions qualified for the semi-finals earlier in the day, knocking out both Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. They were glad they stayed behind, though, as the widely predicted thunderstorm stayed away paving the way for a last-ball finish in one of the highest scoring matches of the tournament with Super Kings walking away victors.It was hard to believe that the match was so closely contested given the stark difference in the starts the two teams had to their innings: Super Kings motored to 86 for 0 in eight overs, while Mumbai had stumbled to 38 for 2 after eight.The contrast was mainly due to the different stages in which the teams used their best fast bowlers. Lasith Malinga took two key wickets in the 11th over – of the fluent Faf du Plessis and the dangerous Suresh Raina – and two more crucial ones in the 17th – of MS Dhoni, who was showing glimpses of the big-hitting that first made him a star, and of the renowned finisher Albie Morkel. After being caned for 16 in his first over, Malinga took 5 for 16 in his remaining three to rob the second half of Super Kings’ innings of momentum.Super Kings, instead, gave their most potent quicks the new ball. Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger justified the strategy of using two of their overseas slots on specialist fast bowlers, as the pair smothered the Mumbai openers. Despite Dinesh Karthik slog-sweeping Ravindra Jadeja for 19 in the 11th over, the Super Kings’ bowlers seemed to have done enough early on to secure a comfortable victory.It certainly seemed that way when Ambati Rayudu swiped a long hop from du Plessis straight to deep square leg in the 14th, but the contest was back on after Karthik and Kieron Pollard lashed 24 in the 18th over, leaving 27 to get in the final two overs. Dhoni stuck to the policy of giving the side’s best bowler the 19th over, and Hilfenhaus delivered by removing the rampaging Karthik.With 19 required for Mumbai in the final over, Super Kings shone again in the one department in which they were clearly ahead of the rest in the IPL – the fielding. While there had been several notable efforts earlier in the innings, the best were saved for the final over. Pollard had pummelled the first ball from Jadeja for six, before he fell to a face-forward diving catch by Raina at long-on. Two balls later, Harbhajan Singh hammered a four through extra cover with as much power as any Pollard shot, before he was dismissed by a well-judged clasp by Wriddhiman Saha, arching his body backwards at deep square leg to hold an overhead chance.It left Mitchell Johnson needing to hit a six off the final delivery to tie the game, which could only be thumped towards long-off to confirm Super Kings’ first victory of the tournament.

The Punjab Government has honoured one of its most famous sportingsons, Harbhajan Singh with a cash award of Rs 5 lakhs, a plot of landand offered him a job in the State Police in recognition of hisoutstanding performance in the recent Test series against Australia.At a function in Chandigarh on Wednesday night, Chief Minister PrakashSingh Badal handed over to Harbhajan Singh a draft for Rs 5 lakhs andan allotment letter for a 500 square yard plot of land in his hometown Jalandhar and offered him a job as Deputy Superintendant inPunjab Police.The appointment of Harbhajan Singh as DSP will be taken up and clearedin the next cabinet meeting after a consent in this regard wasreceived from him, according to an official press release here today.The off spinner is already an employee of Indian Airlines for which heturns out in various tournaments.

The England selectors’ plans for the coming three-Test series against Sri Lanka have been disrupted after wicket-keeper James Foster sustained a broken arm in practice.Foster was one of 11 players to win a central contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last month, and would therefore have been confident of selection for the first Test, which starts at Lord’s on May 16th. He sustained the injury while batting in the nets with his Essex colleagues at his home ground of Chelmsford. He now appears certain to miss the first two Tests of the series. The second Test at Edgbaston starts on May 30th.”He has undergone an x-ray and the arm has been put in plaster and he is expected to be out for four weeks,” said ECB spokesman Andrew Walpole.Foster, 22, made his international debut for England on the tour of India last year and kept wicket throughout the recent Test series in New Zealand.His injury could pave the way for a return to the senior wicket-keeping role for Test veteran Alec Stewart, although Chris Read of Nottinghamshire and Lancashire’s Warren Hegg, who toured with England over the winter, are also likely to be contenders. However Stewart’s excellent batting form (he scored 99 and 96 in his first two Championship innings for Surrey) could well present a compelling case for a recall.Stewart, now 39, last played for England against Australia at The Oval last August. His decision to miss the tour of India (and consequential non-selection for New Zealand) led to speculation that his 115-Test career could be over. However he has made clear his intention to reclaim his place, and shown the form to demand consideration.