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Bangladesh batsman Aftab Ahmed has been left out of the squad for the Asia Cup beginning in Sri Lanka in June

Cricinfo staff09-Jun-2010Bangladesh have left out top-order batsman Aftab Ahmed from their squad for the Asia Cup, while recalling the out-of-form Mohammad Ashraful for the tournament in Sri Lanka in June. The 15-man team, led by Shakib Al Hasan, also includes medium-pacer Syed Rasel, who missed the ODIs against England in March.Ashraful was not part of the home ODI-series against England, but had made the cut for the ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean and the recently-completed Test series in England. He made a half-century and a duck in two innings in the West Indies and had a poor tour of England, averaging 12.50 in four Test innings.Aftab played all three ODIs against England but made only 52 runs at an average of 17.33. He got just one opportunity in the World Twenty20 but was dismissed for 1 against Australia.Nasir Hossain and Nazmul Hossain, both of whom were part of the ODI squad against England but didn’t play a game, were left out.Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Jahurul Islam, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Mahmudullah, Mashrafe Mortaza, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Suhrawadi Shuvo.

Sussex slid to their first defeat of the Friends Provident t20 campaign and missed their chance of setting a new domestic record of 14 successive Twenty20 wins

16-Jun-2010
ScorecardSussex slid to their first defeat of the Friends Provident t20 campaign and missed their chance of setting a new domestic record of 14 successive Twenty20 wins as Gloucestershire caused an eight-run upset under the lights at Hove.In the absence of their England one-day stars Luke Wright and skipper Michael Yardy, the previously unbeaten South Group leaders blew hot and cold on a chilly night on the south coast – allowing the Gladiators, inspired by James Franklin’s career-best 90, to chalk up their second win.Chasing down Gloucestershire’s impressive 178 for 4, Sussex were restricted to 170 for 9 after failing to cash in on two strokes of good fortune early in the reply when both home openers received a life from successive deliveries. Matt Prior saw Hamish Marshall fail to hold on at deep square and then, from the next ball from Steve Kirby, Brendon McCullum was downed by the same fielder at point.With his dander up, Kirby sent Prior packing for 17 with a yorker, but McCullum made slightly more of his let-off by cracking seven fours and a six in a 28-ball cameo for 46 that ended when he swept a flat catch to Kadeer Ali at deep square leg off the bowling of Vikram Banerjee.Needing 93 from their last 10 overs, Sussex lost Murray Goodwin to a sliced drive to cover and then crucially big-hitting Dwayne Smith, who lofted to deep square-leg where Marshall made amends for his earlier blunders. Chris Nash, in looking for a single, was run out by bowler Anthony Ireland when following through and, two balls later, Ireland had Andrew Hodd caught behind to finish with three for 35 as Sharks lost their way in their frantic quest for late runs.Having been inserted by Sharks’ acting captain Goodwin, Gloucestershire promoted pace bowler Jonathan Lewis to pinch hit and he responded with three boundaries in 10 balls before being yorked by Chad Keegan. Franklin and Marshall teamed up to post the Gladiators’ 50 within seven overs. In a contrasting, little-and-large second-wicket stand worth 91 in 63 balls, it was tall left-hander Franklin who proved the major aggressor.He hit the first six of the night onto a car bonnet off Will Beer after nine overs and then lofted one from Nash over long-on in the next over to reach his 1,000-run milestone in t20 matches. Marshall improvised effectively, dabbing one from James Kirtley to the third man boundary to take Gloucestershire’s total into three figures.He then crashed a length ball from Smith through cover to move to 37 from 33 balls, only to lose his leg stump to Smith’s next delivery. Franklin cracked on to a 32-ball 50 with five fours and a brace of sixes, but lost Chris Taylor when he miscued a pull shot into the deep.Without once slogging, 29-year-old Franklin continued to make rapid progress with 90 from 50 balls. Unfurling measured, textbook strokes he garnered 11 fours and three sixes – the last of which broke his bat as he dispatched a Keegan slow-ball bouncer out of the park.Keegan had his revenge in pegging back Franklin’s off stump in the penultimate over, yet their testing asking rate of nine an over proved too much for the Sharks

Lahiru Thirimanne joined the centuries club as Sri Lanka Board President’s XI once again dominated the Indians, on the final day at Colts Cricket Club

Cricinfo staff15-Jul-2010
ScorecardLahiru Thirimanne was Sri Lanka Board President’s XI’s fourth centurion of the match•AFP

Lahiru Thirimanne joined the centuries club as Sri Lanka Board President’s XI once again dominated the Indians, on the final day at Colts Cricket Club. Pragyan Ojha was the only Indian player to gain as he finished with three wickets – to go with his first innings five – to push his selection for the second spinner in Galle, assuming Harbhajan Singh recovers from his illness on time.Batting practice was the objective of the final day, when the Sri Lankans took guard for their second innings with a lead of 223. Upul Tharanga began aggressively but his knock came to a halt when he was caught by VVS Laxman off Ishant Sharma for 21 off 15 balls. Dinesh Chandimal earned a promotion and he made it count as he helped himself to a half-century and added 113 with Thirimanne. The pair went after the spinners and the partnership progressed at more than seven an over. Chandimal slammed four sixes in his 69 before Ojha had his revenge.The spinners hit back with the quick wickets of Kaushal Silva and Prasanna Jayawardene. Thirimanne made 102 off 149 balls before he was dismissed by Ojha. His partner Amit Mishra managed to get Thilan Samaraweera stumped and a short while later the captains decided to call it off.It was a difficult three days for the Indians who were outplayed with bat and ball.

A group of Australian limited-overs specialists including Brett Lee could be crossing the ditch to New Zealand to play in its Twenty20 league this summer

Cricinfo staff26-Aug-2010A group of Australian limited-overs specialists including Brett Lee could be crossing the ditch to New Zealand to play in its Twenty20 league this summer. Lee no longer appears in whites for Australia or New South Wales so is chasing extra games to keep him in touch for his domestic duties and any international calls.New Zealand’s Twenty20 tournament is in December while Australia’s Big Bash is mostly in January, meaning there could be a trade of talent across the Tasman. Nathan Bracken has approached New South Wales to see if he can join a provincial team while it is believed Wellington and Canterbury are interested in Lee. The obvious problem is that the players would be unable to turn out for their home sides and the overseas team.Last summer Daniel Vettori (Queensland) and Ross Taylor (Victoria) made cameos in the Big Bash while Brendon McCullum represented New South Wales once the previous season. Playing in two tournaments also increases the cricketers’ chances of winning a spot in the annual Champions League Twenty20.Michael Brown, Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket, said he was ready for the moves if there was room in the programme. “The first priority for an Australian player is here, and even with players on the periphery the selectors might want them here, but subject to those things we are open to it,” he said in the Australian. “Subject to everybody being okay with it I can’t see too many negatives.”

Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan offspinner, has become the latest cricketer to call for life bans for those guilty of fixing

Cricinfo staff15-Sep-2010Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan offspinner, has become the latest cricketer to call for life bans for those guilty of fixing. Fellow spinning great Shane Warne and New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori had also demanded similarly harsh punishment for cheats after three Pakistan players were provisionally suspended by the ICC for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test last month.”If they are guilty, they should get a life ban, that’s the most important thing,” Murali told ESPNcricinfo in Centurion ahead of his match for Chennai Super Kings against Wayamba on Wednesday. “The younger generation should not follow that, so the punishment should be harsh if [players] are guilty.”Pakistan’s Test captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were quizzed by police earlier this month for their alleged role in bowling deliberate no-balls during the fourth Test at Lord’s between England and Pakistan; an undercover sting operation by the tabloid News of the World apparently revealed that they had done so at the behest of Mazhar Majeed, an agent to the players. Majeed was arrested but released on bail while the players had their mobile phones confiscated. No charges have been pressed against them yet. A fourth Pakistan player, fast bowler Wahab Riaz, was questioned by Scotland Yard on Tuesday.Players from several other countries including Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have reported being approached by suspicious characters over the past two years. “The game has to be clean,” Murali said. “If somebody gets a life ban doing these things, others will stop doing that. The ICC has to act a lot on this.”On Tuesday, the ICC began a review of the existing anti-corruption measures and was looking at the possibility of engaging with national governments on regulating betting and the system of players’ agents.

New Zealand Cricket has moved closer to resuming bilateral ties with Zimbabwe after a break of five years by naming an A team to tour the country in October

Cricinfo staff12-Sep-2010New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has moved closer to resuming bilateral ties with Zimbabwe after a break of five years by naming an A team to tour the country in October. New Zealand A’s tour, however, will be finalised only after an inspection of the safety and security conditions in Zimbabwe. The news is a boost to Zimbabwe after Scotland and MCC cancelled their visits to the country because of UK government advice.”New Zealand Cricket, in liaison with the New Zealand government, has monitored the situation and we are comfortable with the improved conditions and stability in Zimbabwe,” NZC chief, Justin Vaughan, said. “A rejuvenated Zimbabwe have their sights set on Test cricket and the tour will help provide experience and incentive for them to reach their goal, as well as strong competition for the New Zealand A team. The tour will, of course, be subject to our standard full safety and security check before the team departs.”The pre-tour inspection of Zimbabwe will be conducted by Geoff Allott, NZC’s general manager, and Heath Mills, the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association’s executive manager. The A team’s tour will be New Zealand’s first contact with Zimbabwe since 2005, when relations were suspended because of health and safety issues within the country. New Zealand A will play a two-day warm-up before three four-day match-ups against a Zimbabwe XI.Allrounder James Franklin was named captain of the squad, which also includes three spinners – Jeetan Patel, Bhupinder Singh and Nick Beard – and batsman Martin Guptill.”We are keen for Martin Guptill to regain the form that made him such a force for New Zealand last year and think that the four-day matches in Zimbabwe will give him the best opportunity to do that,” Mark Greatbatch, a New Zealand selector, said. “Three spinners have been included in the NZ A team. Young Nick Beard and Bhupinder Singh will benefit from playing along side Jeetan Patel. They deserve their opportunity having both impressed on recent training camps.”New Zealand A: James Franklin (capt), Graeme Aldridge, Brent Arnel, Nick Beard, Dean Brownlie, Daniel Flynn, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins (wk), Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Tim McIntosh, Chris Martin, Jeetan Patel, Bhupinder Singh, Reece Young.

Queensland’s back-up wicketkeeper Ben Dunk will make his first-class debut as a specialist batsman when the Bulls kick off their Sheffield Shield campaign on Friday

Brydon Coverdale05-Oct-2010Queensland’s back-up wicketkeeper Ben Dunk will make his first-class debut as a specialist batsman when the Bulls kick off their Sheffield Shield campaign on Friday. Dunk has been named alongside the regular gloveman Chris Hartley, who will remain behind the stumps for the match against Tasmania at the Gabba.Dunk, 23, is in his first season as a fully-contracted Queensland player and he made an unbeaten 93 for the Queensland Academy of Sport team last week. The Bulls will be without the fast bowlers Ben Cutting, Ryan Harris and Scott Walter, all of whom are working their way back from injuries.Queensland have also dropped last year’s captain Chris Simpson, with the legspinner Cameron Boyce set to take the position as the No. 1 slow bowler. James Hopes will captain the Bulls this year, an honour that he has described as being on a par with being selected to play for Australia.Tasmania have named Mark Cosgrove to make his debut for the state after switching from South Australia, while the opening batsman Steven Cazzulino has also been included in their 13-man Sheffield Shield squad. Cazzulino, 23, was recruited from Sydney’s grade cricket after he was the leading scorer in the competition last summer.”He’s ready for first-class cricket,” Cazzulino’s potential opening partner Ed Cowan said. “He’s been on the fringes but was not really recognised at New South Wales. He’s had a couple of really big seasons in club cricket and he’s at that age where he’s learnt enough about his game to put it into practice. He got a great hundred in the second XI last week, so he’s ready.”The Tigers have also named their squad for the first split-innings one-day match of the season, against the Bulls on Wednesday. Jonathan Wells and Alex Doolan, who have played Sheffield Shield but are yet to make their one-day debuts, are in the 13-man group while Travis Birt is expected to take the gloves in the absence of Tim Paine.Tasmania one-day squad Ed Cowan, Rhett Lockyear, Jonathan Wells, Mark Cosgrove, Alex Doolan, George Bailey (capt), Travis Birt (wk), Luke Butterworth, James Faulkner, Brett Geeves, Xavier Doherty, Jason Krejza, Brendan Drew.Tasmania Sheffield Shield squad Ed Cowan, Mark Cosgrove, Alex Doolan, Steven Cazzulino, George Bailey (capt), Travis Birt, Luke Butterworth, James Faulkner, Brady Jones (wk), Brett Geeves, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, Adam Griffith.Queensland Sheffield Shield squad Ryan Broad, Wade Townsend, Chris Lynn, Lee Carseldine, Ben Dunk, James Hopes (capt), Chris Hartley (wk), Chris Swan, Nathan Rimmington, Ben Laughlin, Cameron Boyce, Luke Feldman.

Phillip Hughes is not part of Australia’s squad for the Gabba Test, but he’s still keen to do his part to help the national cause less than a week from the start of the Ashes

Brydon Coverdale at Bellerive Oval19-Nov-2010Phillip Hughes is not part of Australia’s squad for the Gabba Test, but he’s still keen to do his part to help the national cause less than a week from the start of the Ashes. Hughes was 58 not out at stumps on the third afternoon for Australia A at Bellerive Oval, and his plans for the final day include not only turning around his own form, but also halting England’s charge.It has been a tough start to the summer for Hughes, who was Australia’s backup batsman on the Test tour of India in October, but has managed only 56 runs in his two Sheffield Shield games. A big hundred against England would keep him in the minds of the selectors but more importantly for the team cause, it could prevent another win for the in-form visitors.”They’re going to be fired up, they’ve got momentum behind them,” Hughes said. “It’s going to be a great contest for all the batsmen in the Australian line-up. When you’ve got momentum behind you, they’re not going to back down. That’s why I think tomorrow is a big day for Australia A. If we can keep them out on the field as long as possible then hopefully we can turn that momentum.”That’s something that I’ve definitely thought about. We’d like to bat as long as we can, and even have a crack with the ball later in the day. But it’s going to be tough work, it’s not going to be easy early on. We’ve just got to look a ball at a time.”Hughes began the previous Ashes series as one of Australia’s first-choice players but after two disappointing Tests in England he lost his place to Shane Watson, who has been a success in the opening role. Since then, Hughes has played only two Tests as a fill-in – he also had shoulder surgery in May – and when he didn’t make the 17-man squad for next week’s Test, he knew he had to lift.”When that happened I was disappointed at the time,” Hughes said. “But the sun comes up the next day and you push on. That’s just a little hiccup in my career. That’s something I’m not even worrying about now. It’s great to get a few runs out in the middle. I felt pretty good today. I wouldn’t say I felt a 100%. A couple of balls were keeping a tad low throughout the day.”One of the reasons it was difficult to bat was the form of Tim Bresnan, who collected 3 for 25 from nine overs, including the wickets of Australia’s Test contenders Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson. Bresnan’s strikes took Australia A from 0 for 66 to 3 for 84, and gave England a strong chance of victory on the final day.”I thought he bowled well,” Hughes said. “To go bang, bang, bang like that, it’s always a good sign. I thought he bashed the wicket away all day, he was very consistent with his lines. One shot [up] and a couple kept low, I thought he bowled quite straight, good lines.”Bresnan is unlikely to be part of England’s side for the series opener next week but he knows that on a long tour of Australia, an opportunity could arise at any moment. He last played Test cricket in the home series against Bangladesh in May, but he has done no harm to his chances of adding a sixth Test cap to his existing collection.”It’s going to be a massive squad effort to win this Ashes,” Bresnan said. “I’d be very surprised if the same eleven plays all five games, whether that be injury or form or anything else. You never know what can happen over a long space of time.”A short period of time is of more interest to Bresnan right now. England’s batsmen feasted and reached 523 to leave them with a 165-run advantage at stumps, and Bresnan wants to help grab the seven remaining Australia A wickets to give England their second win of the tour, after they beat Western Australia and then drew with South Australia.”We’re in the best position we could be in to win this game, which is what we were striving for when we set out at the start of the game,” he said. “We want to win this game, we were not thinking about declaring early and having another innings, we were thinking about winning the game.”They still should achieve their goal, though Phillip Hughes and his colleagues have other plans.

MS Dhoni is not known to pay history too much heed. Here, in South Africa for an all-important tour, Dhoni is insisting his team should stay in the present

Sidharth Monga in Centurion13-Dec-2010MS Dhoni is not known to pay history too much heed. Nor does he like to call any win the best ever. When India won at P Sara Oval earlier this year with none of the frontline bowlers around, after having lost the toss in Sri Lanka, he wasn’t drawn into a discussion on whether coming back to draw the series had been the biggest challenge of his captaincy career. The next Test that India played, in Mohali, swung this way and that until VVS Laxman pulled off a heist only he could. It was a day to get carried away, to sing praises, to celebrate Test cricket, but Dhoni called it merely one of the best games he had played in. Here, in South Africa for an all-important tour, Dhoni is insisting his team should not pay the future too much heed.”It [mental state of the side] looks good,” Dhoni said in his first press conference on the tour. “Most of us look very calm, very relaxed, thinking about the process and not getting caught up with other things. Which means we are quite neutral when it comes to frame of mind, which is very important for doing well.”It’s not always about history. What you have achieved in the past. It’s not always about the stats. It’s important to stay in the present moment, and how well we adapt.”To adapt well, India have arrived early in South Africa, with most of their stars missing the home ODI series against New Zealand. Dhoni said the preparation has been satisfactory. “Last few days have been good. We were in Cape Town, most of us. We were practising at Gary’s [Kirsten, India’s coach] academy, the facilities were good, we had some decent time to ourselves. Batsmen worked on a few of the things. It was quite relaxed. No hassles. Till now the preparations have been good, we still have three days to go to the Test.”A tour game would have been good for adapting to the conditions, but Dhoni persisted with his of staying in the present moment. “This is what we have got right now. So we are trying to make the most of what we have got rather than thinking about what would have been better. So whatever days we have got, we are trying to make the best of it.”Dhoni and his team have been proud of the No. 1 ranking, but have mostly spoken about the processes that have got them there. However, this series is the most anticipated for this team, one that is supposed to show just how good the side really is. The extra time spent in preparation shows how important India think this series is. Dhoni, though, refused to call it a defining series, a yardstick to judge the team by.”Not really. It’s not about one series. If you talk about rankings, it is the process that takes you to a place. If you talk about our ranking, we started from September 2008, and where we are right now is because of all our performances since September 2008. It’s a constant process, and one-odd series or two-odd series don’t have a bearing on that. In a team sport, at times it is not possible to compare the performance with the kind of talent you have got. Because at times, you have the best players who are injured or not part of the side, and that might have a bearing on the result.”The “team sport” stayed the focal point of what Dhoni said, as he did not speak about any individual who might be a threat in the South African side. He did speak about a mini group, though, who he said were anticipating helpful conditions.”Our bowling attack has done really well. Whatever the situations or conditions be. Whether we are playing abroad or in the subcontinent. They have done well on wickets that haven’t supported them at all, with reverse swing. They adapt really well, and they adapt quickly. That is one of the main reasons for them being successful. This will be a good opportunity for them to bowl at a place that will be helpful for them.”

Round-up of the fourth day of the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy Super League

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Dec-2010
Scorecard
Mumbai will look back on Pankaj Singh’s inspired spell on the first day as a turning point, when he helped Rajasthan dismiss them for a paltry total•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rajasthan halted the run of 39-time champions Mumbai and entered the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. The result was almost a foregone conclusion at the end of the second day, but they had to wait till the fourth evening to finally celebrate. Forget winning, they hadn’t taken a first-innings lead over Mumbai in 50 years and Aakash Chopra caught the spirit of the moment when he wrote, “It’s not often that you have the champions on the mat and the moment is worth a lot more than just a result going your way.” Rajasthan will now meet Tamil Nadu in Jaipur on January 3.For Rajasthan, the fourth day was all about waiting for play to end so they could start their celebrations.They were given added reason to smile as Ashok Menaria, the former India Under-19s captain who replaced Vaibhav Deshpande this game, completed his maiden first-class century. He hit eight fours and five sixes and was the last man out as Rajasthan batted out two hours at the start of the final day. Mumbai then scored 290 for 1 with Ajinkya Rahane and Sahil Kukrejka hitting hundreds. Rahane, in particular, provided some entertainment with a 69-ball 102 runs with 12 fours and three sixes.

Scorecard
R Sathish hit a fine hundred to ensure Tamil Nadu prevailed over Haryana to enter the semi-finals by virtue of a better run-rate in the match at the Bansi Lal Stadium in Lahli. Haryana will be disappointed that they had to end on the losing side despite dominating most of the game. In another fog-hit day when only 55 overs were possible, Sathish revived Tamil Nadu from 91 for 4 to finish on 285 for 6. He found great support in Dinesh Karthik, who had had a horror season before this game, and added 91 runs for the fifth wicket.The equation was simple at the start of the day: if a minimum of thirty overs were bowled in Tamil Nadu’s first innings, the team with the higher net run-rate in this game would advance to the semis. If the fog didn’t allow that many overs to be completed, the net run-rate from the league stage would have applied and Tamil Nadu would have gone through.

Ranji Trophy 2010-11 semi-finals line-up

• Rajasthan v Tamil Nadu in Jaipur, January 3-6, 2011

• Baroda v Karnataka in Vadodara, January 3-6, 2011

Haryana began promisingly as Joginder Sharma and Sanjay Budhawar knocked out the in-form batsmen Abhinav Mukund and K Vasudevadas to leave Tamil Nadu wobbling at 91 for 4 in the 34th over. However, Sathish revived Tamil Nadu with a refreshing knock; he played his shots from the start and went after Sachin Rana in particular. Haryana were further handicapped as their captain Amit Mishra had a lacklustre day with the ball (0 for 53 in 12 overs). Though Karthik fell, lbw to Budhawar, Sathish found an able ally in C Ganapathy (17* in 100 minutes) and added 95 runs for the seventh wicket. Sathish finally fell but Ganapathy played out the final 3.5 overs in the company of R Ashwin to take Tamil Nadu to the semis
Scorecard
Baroda staved off a tough fight from Railways and qualified for the semi-finals on the basis of their first-innings lead. Railways fought bravely in the second innings but it was always going to be a tough ask for them to clinch an outright win after yielding a 168-run lead.Railways’ plan was simple on the final day: get some quick runs, declare and hope for a minor miracle from the bowlers. Prashant Awasthi was run out after completing his hundred and Dhiran Salvi made a quick 40 as they set Baroda a target of 199. There was to be no miracle, though, as Baroda reached 136 for the loss of just three wickets to ensure their progress to the semis. Connor Williams and the first-innings centurion Kedar Devdhar hit fifties to settle Baroda’s nerves after opener Jaikishan Kolsawala was trapped lbw by Jai Prakash Yadav. Though Devdhar and Rakesh Solanki fell, Williams remained unbeaten to ensure Railways went out of the competition.

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