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The IPL closely following the World Cup has meant that the franchises’ squads have not had much time to prepare as a unit, but that, says Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming, means the players can hit the ground running

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Apr-2011The IPL closely following the World Cup has meant that the franchises’ squads have not had much time to prepare as a unit, but Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said that it also means the players can hit the ground running.”With most of our players being in action during the World Cup, lack of match practice will not be an issue,” he said. “Playing the best teams in the world and on our home grounds is the best build-up any player could hope for. We are quietly confident of our prospects. Our core team remains the same, so we look forward to another successful run [Chennai are the defending champions].”Captain MS Dhoni also said he is pleased with the team composition, but a lot will depend on players’ fitness, with key players like Doug Bollinger and Dwayne Bravo currently on the injured list. “The new team is very good. But I have always maintained it’s not about how good the team looks on paper, but how we’re doing on the field. If everyone is fit and all 24 players are available for selection, it’s a very good side.”Chennai retained Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel and M Vijay from the first three seasons’ squad and bought back Michael Hussey, Bollinger, R Ashwin and S Badrinath, among others, during January’s auction. New players in the squad include Faf du Plessis, Bravo, Suraj Randiv, Ben Hilfenhaus, Scott Styris and Tim Southee, while the biggest loss remains Muttiah Muralitharan who will play for Kochi this season.”We have Vijay to start off, and Badri, me, Raina, Albie, Du Plessis … Scott Styris is an allrounder. Michael Hussey [who is in Bangladesh with the Australia team] will also be joining us shortly,” Dhoni said. “So I think we have quite a few players who can get runs when it matters. Murali is a great cricketer, a very good influence in the dressing room, with plenty of ideas. We’ll definitely miss him. We’ll also miss Balaji [who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders in the auction].”One player they bought at the auction who will not be available is Australian fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus, who is out of the tournament with injury, according to the team’s website. Tim Southee, who was added to the team after the auction, following his strong show in the World Cup, will take Hilfenhaus’ spot in the side.Chennai play Kolkata in the opening IPL match on April 8 at home.

Television ratings for the 2011 IPL continued to plunge, with the average rating for the first 37 games down 25% from the previous year across six key markets, but the cumulative number of viewers has already surpassed last season and ticket sales have bo

Tariq Engineer06-May-2011The MS Dhoni-Yuvraj Singh face-off in Chennai drew the biggest TV audience last week•Associated PressTelevision ratings for the 2011 IPL continued to plunge, with the average rating for the first 37 games down 25% from the previous year across six key markets. But it wasn’t all bad news for the league, as the cumulative number of people that have watched the tournament this season has already surpassed last season’s total, and ticket sales have boomed.The tournament has drawn an average Television Viewer Rating (TVR) – a time-weighted figure which accounts for time spent watching by viewers and the number of viewers – of 4.07 across the cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. That figure is down from 5.44 in 2010, according to TAM Sports, a division of TAM Media Research, the leading television ratings agency in India. The ratings are the lowest for the first 37 games over the four years of the tournament.However, a cumulative total of 146.4 million viewers have watched all the games so far, a number that exceeds the 143.7 million that saw the entire 2010 season (60 games). This suggests that while the IPL continues to attract new fans, they are watching each game for shorter periods.League leaders Mumbai Indians have not been immune to the trend of diminishing returns either. Their game against Rajasthan Royals, in which they were dismissed for 94, their lowest total in the IPL, posted a TVR of 2.28 with only 12 million people tuning in. The best game of the week was between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils, where Kolkata successfully defended a total of 148 at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The TVR for that game was 5.20, the only rating over 5 over the last 11 games, and it drew 21 million viewers.The best watched game was Chennai Super Kings’ comfortable win at home over the fast fading Pune Warriors, with 23 million catching at least some part of that match.Ratings jargon

Universe: The total number of people in a defined target audience (in this particular case, the universe includes all cable and satellite viewers in the six metros).

Reach: The number of individuals in the universe who watched at least one minute of a particular game or a particular show. It is typically expressed in percentage terms. For example, if 1000 out of a universe of 10,000 watched at least one minute of a game, the reach would be (1000/10,000) x 100 or 10%.

TVR: It is a time-weighted figure which accounts for time spent by viewers in addition to the total number of viewers. So you could have a higher TVR because more people watched a particular game or you could have a higher TVR because the same number of people watched the game, but each person watched more of the game than before.

Media experts pin the blame for the downward trend on the surfeit of cricket, the diminishing meaning of the IPL to fans in view of India’s World Cup win and the shuffling of the players on each team, but advertisers are not worried by the lower ratings, saying there is still plenty of buzz around the tournament.”As a country we have been watching competitive cricket since February 19, so there is no doubt that would have a bit of an impact,” Abhijit Avasti, national creative director of advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, told ESPNcricinfo. “But personally, I wouldn’t think advertisers have to worry. We still have clients eager to get on the IPL bandwagon. Interest is definitely alive and kicking.”Not everyone is convinced, though. Santosh Desai, the chief executive of Future Brands, a leading brand consultancy firm, believes the viewership numbers might reflect a deeper structural problem with the league, in that it has been marketed as a television programme that features cricket and the “fault lines are [now] showing between sport and a television programme.””A sense of meaning has been absent,” Desai said. “It has become repetitive. Sports must produce some sort of meaning finally. Otherwise it is just leather hitting wood.”But even he agrees advertisers don’t have to worry yet, saying “there is still good reason for [the IPL] to exist” and that it simply needs to transition from being a spectacle into a tournament that reflects “what every team represents and stands for”.There has also been strong demand for tickets for most of the games. Ashish Hemrajani, the CEO and founder of Book My Show.com, which sells tickets for four teams, concedes that a certain amount of fatigue has set in with TV viewers, but believes the World Cup created a latent demand for tickets because “lot of people could not go to the stadium and see the games [then]. So now a lot of people want to go and see the same players in the same atmosphere.”According to Hemrajani, Mumbai Indians sold as many tickets in the first six days as they did all of last season, Delhi Daredevils have sold over four times as many tickets as last year and for Kings XI Punjab, that figure is two and half times. The website handles both online and offline ticket sales for the teams (with the exception of Delhi, for which it deals only with online sales).Neetu Bhatia, the chief executive of KyaZoonga.com, which handles ticket sales for the two new teams, Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala, said demand has been good considering the teams are in their first year, especially for Pune, whose games have seen at least 70% of the tickets sold. Sales for Kochi have been slower in comparison, Bhatia said, but the early bird tickets for the team’s home games in Indore were sold out overnight, indicating more interest. KyaZoonga also handles the entire gamut of ticket sales for both teams.

Once every two years, Bangalore hosts Aero India, the country’s biggest air show held on the outskirts of the city. On Friday night, Chris Gayle took it upon himself to deliver a similar spectacle to the home crowd

The Bulletin by Siddhartha Talya06-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Domination personified•AFPOnce every two years Bangalore hosts Aero India, the country’s biggest air show, on the outskirts of the city. On Friday night, Chris Gayle took it upon himself to deliver a similar spectacle to the home crowd, which went ballistic while watching a flogging of a lifetime inflicted on Kings XI Punjab. As the deflated attack desperately sought mercy, Gayle celebrated his domination with a triumphant smile, propelling his team to a thumping fourth straight win with an unforgettable century that made a backyard out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium.Adam Gilchrist, cheery as ever, decided to field on a pitch that promised assistance to his four-pronged pace attack. While he met Gayle’s onslaught with a look of awe and admiration, his bowlers were what they looked – stunned into submission. The early movement and a spate of hits and misses in the first couple of overs were the few signs of encouragement in an otherwise dispiriting innings.Gayle targeted the straight boundary, rarely attempted any cross-bat heaves or slogs, and relied on brute strength, partly a consequence of what is known to be a fitness regime that’s ever the aspiration of the healthier than normal. Ryan Harris was the first recipient of Gayle’s treatment, as he clobbered two consecutive sixes over long-off and long-on in the fourth over.The Punjab bowlers erred in length, often doling out length deliveries, but most would have been unsettled by Gayle’s ruthless approach. His initial movement was to make room and, depending on the line, have a free swing in the same direction. Praveen Kumar’s skills with variations in pace were conspicuous by their absence as he dished out a series of length deliveries that Gayle was only happy to dig into. After launching him for two straight sixes, he cashed in on some misdirection to pick up two fours in an over that yielded 22.Gilchrist had to turn to spin and he found the expensive Piyush Chawla, whose figures this season took further beating with two monstrous sixes over midwicket off long hops. Virat Kohli, in a fortunate yet largely mature innings, was only too happy to cede floor to his partner. Gayle directed his attention to Love Ablish, whose pain of rejection was felt in three consecutive boundaries, one of which was a streaky edge past the diving Gilchrist.A half-tracker from Abhishek Nayar disappeared over square leg, and the returning Ryan McLaren, who had delivered Punjab their first breakthrough with the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan, was to bear first sight of Gayle’s celebration upon reaching his century. He was hammered over long-on, followed by a disdainful punch through mid-off that brought up the landmark off 46 balls, Gayle’s second this season.Relief came when Gayle holed out to deep midwicket off Chawla, and Kohli was bowled two balls later, but AB de Villiers kept the innings on track with a typically aggressive cameo to leave Punjab with a daunting task. Such was the manner in which Gayle imposed himself, anything else was destined to be a sideshow. Punjab’s innings turned out to be worse – it was a virtual non-event.The signs were there when Gilchrist was brilliantly run out first ball by Asad Pathan while attempting a quick single, and as is the case in games decided by individuals, it wasn’t long before Gayle stepped in. He cast aside his usually calm, sober self and reveled at every Punjab misfortune wrought by his offspin. Paul Valthaty spooned one to square leg, Dinesh Karthik was trapped in front and Chawla yorked. As Punjab limped towards a fourth defeat in a row, Gayle stood out amid the celebrations, fluttering curls, locomotive moves and all.

Shoaib Akhtar, the retired Pakistan fast bowler, has pulled out of the Sri Lanka Premier League, a domestic Twenty20 tournament in July-August, because of personal reasons

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jun-2011Shoaib Akhtar, the retired Pakistan fast bowler, has pulled out of the Sri Lanka Premier League, a domestic Twenty20 tournament in July-August, because of personal reasons.”My parents are old and I want to spend time with them,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I also don’t want to play or want to be on the ground anymore. I’m not even coming back for a job in cricket or anything, but if some youngster needs my help I’ll visit from time to time to help them but no more of this game.”I want to explore other parts of the world now. I played this game for 18 years and I don’t want to spend another 18 years in that scenario anymore. I am going to be involved in charity work from now on.”Shoaib had announced his retirement from international cricket during the 2011 World Cup and his career ended on the bench as he watched Pakistan lose the semi-final to India. He had been drafted in for the Twenty20 tournament hosted by Sri Lanka Cricket along with other international players such as Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Herschelle Gibbs, Daniel Vettori and Kevin O’Brien.The tournament is scheduled between July 19 and August 4.

The decision to have a modified DRS made mandatory across Tests and ODIs is being considered a victory by both sides

Sharda Ugra in Hong Kong27-Jun-2011The decision to make a modified DRS mandatory across Tests and ODIs is being considered a victory by both sides. The BCCI was quick to emphasise that they had not changed their stance on the DRS and the ICC was confident it had won over the last and strongest opponent of the review system in its previous form.At the end of a day that contained several meetings at the annual conference in Hong Kong, ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat had only one comment to make. “This is only the end of day two of what is a Test match,” he told ESPNcricinfo as he left a cocktail party held for all the delegates.The DRS decision had not been brought to a vote during the morning session of the chief executives’ committee meeting. Later in the afternoon, the word “unanimous” was quickly and repeatedly used to explain how smoothly all the differences had been resolved.The discussions over the DRS and the FTP were expected to begin on the first day of the ICC’s conference, along with the cricket committee’s other recommendations concerning playing conditions. ESPNcricinfo learned that they were deferred to the second day because there were said to be fairly frosty exchanges during the meeting. Members were given the impression by the BCCI’s statements that there was a possibility that the FTP’s final design could be linked to their opinions on how the DRS recommendation was handled at the meeting. Some officials strongly implied this was the case, though others like Gerald Majola, the Cricket South Africa chief executive, dismissed it outright.The FTP agreement, which has been sent up to the ICC’s executive board for approval, is vital for all Members as television rights are sold based on the itineraries drawn up in advance. The presence of India in the schedule brings the largest chunk of member boards’ earnings. It is important to note that seven of the ten Full Member nations (excluding Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India) will draft new television deals in the next 12 months. Any freeze in relations with India reflecting in the FTP would have a direct bearing on the value of those broadcasting agreements.When the meetings resumed on Monday the common opinion was that, while everyone agreed on the necessity of the DRS, it would be advisable to opt only for the technologies that everyone agreed with. This led to the ball-tracking technology being removed and the infra-red camera being included in the list of mandatory requirements for the DRS.The BCCI’s acceptance of the DRS is particularly ironic. The suggestion of a review system for umpiring decisions was first brought to the ICC’s attention, an official said, “about six to eight years ago,” by Duncan Fletcher – then coaching England but now working with the Indian team. In his first press conference as India coach, Fletcher’s comment on the DRS was cut short by the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan with the statement, “Mr. Fletcher doesn’t know BCCI’s stance on DRS”. It has now changed. Or perhaps it has been allowed to stay the same.

MS Dhoni escaped the trip-wires of the over-rate through the somewhat open-ended ICC rules that depend on “many factors on the ground” and their interpretation

Sharda Ugra and Nagraj Gollapudi27-Jul-2011India head into the second Test in Nottingham with much hanging over them: they trail England 0-1, their main strike bowler is battling to return from injury and their batting is looking to get into the groove. The one blessing is that captain MS Dhoni has defied widespread apprehension and cold calculation to escape the trip-wires of the over-rate in Tests through the somewhat open-ended ICC rules that depend on “many factors on the ground” and the interpretation of those factors.A transgression at Lord’s would have been Dhoni’s third in a calendar year and would have led to an automatic suspension from the next Test.At the end of England’s innings at Lord’s, India were found to be two overs short; that was the calculation of three independent sets of scorers, two of whom were present at the ground. A similar calculation by the official Lord’s scorer would have meant Gautam Gambhir captaining the side at Trent Bridge. After the match, Dhoni said that he had been informed by the match referee that India had done well on the over-rate and he was in the clear.ESPNcricinfo contacted the ICC and asked whether it was possible that the official scorers had taken a particular situation or event into account before arriving at their calculation that had India well within the rate required and if there were unconventional factors other than innings breaks, fall of wickets or inadvertent delays that had been worked into the calculation.An official spokesperson said that the calculation for over-rates depended on “many factors on the ground on the day and the interpretations of those factors. These are always left in the hands of the match officials as they have a better grasp of the mitigating issues. The calculation is made over the course of both innings and the regulations provide that in calculating the over-rate, allowances must be given for, inter alia, all time lost due to circumstances beyond the control of the fielding team.”When asked whether India had been reminded of their over-rate at any point during the Lord’s game, the ICC spokesperson said, “What we can say is that players are regularly reminded of the laws and regulations regarding time wasting and over-rates and they are always requested to be more proactive in improving the pace of play.”An official present at Lord’s said that umpires could give due licence to captains depending on local circumstances. At Lord’s, for example, new batsmen sometimes take more than two minutes to settle down. “You have to come down a flight of stairs and then walk through the Long Room and past the members into the stands. At times the batsmen take more time to settle down and can delay the play by doing various sorts of things.”The official stated that both teams were on par in terms of over-rates, though India may have been a minute faster, and that the official times varied across all the three Lord’s “time-keepers” – the field umpires, the match referee and the official scorers.The best way to complete the required number of overs, the official said, would require the change between overs to be around 10 seconds, which can save up to 16 minutes in a day. Protracted celebrations of wickets followed by a fielding change after the new batsman had got ready to play also led to more time being wasted.

Durham’s County Championship title ambitions have been kept alive by a208-run victory against Sussex at Hove

03-Sep-2011
Scorecard
Durham’s County Championship title ambitions have been kept alive by a208-run victory against Sussex at Hove. In their penultimate game of the campaign, Durham bowled Sussex out for 312 in their second innings by 2.16pm on the final day to go top of Division One with 211 points.Durham do not play in next week’s round of matches, in which close rivalsLancashire and Warwickshire – each with a game in hand – take on Hampshire andNottinghamshire respectively, but they then have a home game againstWorcestershire in the final week of the Championship.Matt Prior stroked a brilliant 77 for Sussex but Ian Blackwell struck a vitalblow for Durham by having him leg-before in a five-wicket haul, and GrahamOnions hurried Durham to their seventh win of the season with a burst down theHove slope immediately after lunch which brought him the wickets of WayneParnell and Amjad Khan in quick succession.Onions took three for 49 overall, and slow left-armer Blackwell added threemore victims to his two overnight wickets to finish with well-deserved figuresof 5 for 102.Defeat for Sussex drags them further into the relegation picture. Left-hander Parnell edged a fine ball angled across him by Onions to keeper Phil Mustard, who then also took the catch when Khan touched a legside delivery.Parnell had hit a bright and breezy 49-ball 44, in an eighth-wicket stand of 65with Ben Brown, holding Durham up after they had earlier worked hard to splitSussex’s sixth wicket pair of Prior and Mike Yardy.Sussex had resumed on 119 for four and nightwatchman Jimmy Anyon was dismissedin the sixth over of the morning, well held at short leg by Mark Stoneman offMitch Claydon. But Prior and Yardy, both looking to play their shots, saw off Claydon andOnions before also taking the attack to Durham’s spinners, Blackwell and ScottBorthwick.Leg spinner Borthwick received some particularly heavy punishment, Prior twicedriving him past mid on for fours and also hitting him beautifully through extracover, while Yardy swept him powerfully as they took their partnership to 71.Blackwell, however, finally got the breakthrough after being switched to theCromwell Road end and winning an lbw shout against Prior when the England Testwicketkeeper tried to flick a ball away to fine leg and missed. Prior’s 77 hadtaken him only 88 balls and included 15 fours.Yardy was the next to go for 34, superbly held at silly mid off by Will Smithfrom bat and pad as he pushed forward to Blackwell, but the Brown-Parnellalliance took Sussex through to lunch at 274 for 7. Parnell, who had edged Onions between keeper and first slip for his sixth four earlier in the over, then fell with the total at 287 and the end came soon after last man Monty Panesar, to the delight of a decent Hove crowd, had swept and clubbed Blackwell for three leg-side sixes.Blackwell had the last laugh, though, when Panesar aimed another violent blowand was bowled for 18. Durham took 23 points from the game, and Sussex four.

Tom Smith took four wickets for just seven runs as Lancashire’s bowlers took just 55 minutes to wrap up their vital 98-run victory over Worcestershirein their County Championship match at Blackpool

20-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Tom Smith took four wickets for just seven runs as Lancashire’s bowlers took just 55 minutes to wrap up their vital 98-run victory over Worcestershire in the County Championship match at Blackpool to move top of the tableSmith produced a devastating spell of four for seven in 7.2 overs as Daryl Mitchell’s side were bowled out for 230, losing their last five wickets for 27 runs this morning. The win means Lancashire open up a 13-point lead over Durham at the top and the result will inevitably raise supporters’ hopes that the Old Trafford side are about to end their 77-year wait for an outright title win.The first Worcestershire batsman to be dismissed on the fourth morning at Blackpool was Aneesh Kapil, who was dragged forward by Gary Keedy and smartly stumped by Gareth Cross for seven to give the slow left-armer his 50th Championship wicket of a season in which he has recently been linked with a move to Warwickshire.The rest of the morning belonged to Smith, who began his best spell of the season when he had nightwatchman Shaaiq Choudhry caught low down at backward point by Stephen Moore. Less than four overs later the 25-year-old seamer struck again when he claimed the key wicket of wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Scott, who was lbw playing across the line for two.The departure of Worcestershire’s top scorer in their first innings only served to further energise the Lancashire attack and it was Smith who struck the final blows, bowling Richard Jones off the inside edge for three and then having Alan Richardson caught at second slip by Blackpool-born Steven Croft for 1.That left Smith with season best figures of 4 for 32, while Keedy claimed 4 for 58 and skipper Glen Chapple 2 for 60. Gareth Andrew was left on 14 not out to complete a match in which he had taken eight wickets and scored 75 runs.Despite their determined resistance for much of this game, the defeat only deepens Worcestershire’s relegation worries and the two sides will resume hostilities when they meet at New Road in 11 days’ time.

Pakistani first-class cricketer Nauman Habib has died in Peshawar, reportedly a victim of murder

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2011Pakistani first-class cricketer Nauman Habib has died in Peshawar, reportedly a victim of murder. Habib, 32, had gone missing on October 9 after leaving his house in Hayatabad, Peshawar, for a nearby gym; his body was found near his house on October 11. Habib had been playing for Peshawar against Multan from October 6-8 in the first round of this season’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and had taken seven wickets in the match.Habib, a right-arm seamer, played 63 first-class matches and 30 List A games. He had taken 221 first-class wickets at an average of 26.22, with nine five-wicket hauls; he took ten wickets in a match three times.

Lendl Simmons finally made his first international hundred and, with the help of Marlon Samuels, powered West Indies to a total that proved too much for Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Oct-2011After 53 international innings across formats, most of them as an opener, Lendl Simmons hit his first century in the opening ODI against Bangladesh. Simmons was relieved to break his century jinx and termed the match-winning effort as “one of the most memorable moments” of his life.”It was a special knock today,” Simmons said. “I had got starts against Pakistan and India [in the recent home season], but I couldn’t convert them into hundreds. I would like to dedicate today’s effort to my mum and daughter”.Simmons’ fluent 122 guided West Indies to 298, a score that they defended comfortably under lights. He was pleased with the conditions he confronted, while the new playing conditions of separate new balls from either end must have assisted his stroke play.”The pitch was nice, the ball came on to the bat,” Simmons said. “I was trying to get the pace of the wicket as fast as possible. We didn’t get the start we wanted in the first five overs but by the end of the first Powerplay we got to our target. Then we just went on with the momentum.”Simmons began with assurance in the company of Adrian Barath, his Trinidad & Tobago opening partner. Barath retired hurt after 15 overs, but Simmons and Marlon Samuels controlled the middle overs easily to set up West Indies’ charge for a big score.”I am now stepping into being a senior player in the team,” Simmons said. “Adrian Barath is a junior guy from T&T and we played a lot of cricket back home and have a good understanding. I hope we can blossom well as an opening pair.”Marlon has some good form and he is showing his abilities as a good batsman. He dominated the Twenty20 and today he showed his class. He has been an inspiration. All the guys see that he has form. Our partnership was a good one and it got us to a good score.”Bangladesh struggled to make an impact with the ball, before their batsmen lost steam in a poorly paced chase. Their captain Mushfiqur Rahim said his bowlers had been up against conditions that did not assist spin.”Our main strength is our slow bowlers, especially in our home conditions, but unfortunately the pitch was not like the one during the Twenty20 match,” Mushfiqur said. “The spinners didn’t get any turn from this pitch, and hence got frustrated. It was a batting paradise. Our spinners always get extra advantage here, but it was not the case today.”This wicket initially remains dry and, in the latter part of the innings, dew becomes a factor. That’s why we took the decision of fielding first but unfortunately the ball came on very well [in the first half itself].”Bangladesh’s chase was disrupted early, by opener Imrul Kayes not being allowed to bat for the first 15 minutes. He had been off the field during the closing stages of the West Indies innings. Naeem Islam was promoted in Kayes’ place and he did not give the innings momentum. He scored 52 off 82 balls before he was the second man out at 122 in the 28th over.”It was a very good batting wicket but we could not apply ourselves properly,” Mushfiqur said. “If someone like Imrul or Naeem from the top order could carry their innings to the end, it might have even been possible for us to chase down the total. You know Naeem was in a good form after the way he played in the preparation matches.”Bangladesh have to win the second ODI on October 15 to stay alive in the three-match series.