All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard

Lisa Keightley kept Australia on course for the semi-finals with a brilliant 103 from 154 balls, as the hosts, South Africa, were swept aside by 97 runs at the de Villiers Oval in Pretoria. Australia, undefeated so far in the tournament, were asked to bat first but made solid progress throughout their innings, as Keightley added 61 for the first wicket with Belinda Clark, and 96 for the second with Karen Rolton. Johmari Logtenberg was the pick of South Africa’s bowlers, with 2 for 38 from eight overs.South Africa’s reply never really got started. Cri-Zelda Brits made a battling 49 but received stant support, with South Africa’s golden girl, Johmari Logtenberg, once again falling wastefully, run out for 3. South Africa had been fined one over for a slow over-rate, but translated that form into their batting as well, as they trickled along at barely three runs an over. At 118 for 7, the match was dead in the water, but South Africa’s tail at least gained some useful batting practice.India 141 for 3 (Chopra 64*) beat England 139 (Edwards 58, Brindle 51*, Goswami 4-27) by seven wickets
Scorecard

Charlotte Edwards and Arran Brindle made a pair of vital half-centuries, but none of England’s other batsmen could even reach double figures, as India took the honours in the vital top-of-the-table clash at the Laudium Oval, Tshwane. After winning the toss, England made heavy weather of the conditions, and slumped to 56 for 4 before Edwards was joined by Brindle in a 38-run stand for the fifth wicket. But, before they could forge a true recovery, Jhulan Goswami returned to the attack to scythe down the tail with figures of 4 for 27.Needing just 140 for victory, India were made to work hard for their runs, as Lucy Pearson, Helen Brunt and Clare Connor maintained a tight line and length in the early part of the innings, and kept the run-rate to manageable proportions. At 35 for 3 in the 20th over, it was anyone’s game, but India stretched their legs as the change bowlers entered the attack, and with Anjum Chopra and Rumeli Dhar adding 106 for the fourth wicket, England’s resistance was finally broken.
Scorecard
West Indies boosted their prospects of a semi-final spot as Sri Lanka were overwhelmed by eight wickets in a one-sided encounter at Benoni. After winning the toss and batting first, Sri Lanka slumped to 152 all out, an effort that was marred by five suicidal run-outs. Dedunu Siriwardene stood out from the ruins with a classy 52, although she too ended up short of her crease with 11 balls of the innings remaining.West Indies never looked like handing back such an advantage, as Nelly Williams anchored the reply with a resolute 70 not out from 124 balls. She added 68 for the first wicket with Nadine George, and a further 74 with Juliana Nero, as West Indies won with more than 10 overs to spare.
ScorecardNew Zealand kept up the pressure on the group leaders, by easing to a nine-wicket win over the winless Irish at Harlequins Oval. Ireland batted first and were bowled out for a paltry 91, with Helen Watson taking 3 for 19 as the pick of New Zealand’s attack, ahead of Louise Milliken and Natalee Scripps who both picked up two wickets.Only Caitriona Beggs, with a defiant 30 from 102 balls, put up much resistance, but it was in vain once Aimee Mason and Maia Lewis were into their stride. They added 83 for the second wicket to wrap up victory with more than 31 overs to spare.

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has been docked 70% of his match fee after his side failed to meet the minimum over-rate requirements during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Trinidad.Gayle, after a hearing with match referee Chris Broad, was fined on the basis of having breached Level 2.11 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct regulation relating to the “failure by a captain to ensure that his team meets the minimum over-rate requirements.”The rest of Gayle’s team-mates were each fined 35% of their match fee for the same offence, as West Indies were found to have bowled six overs short of the required over-rate.”During the hearing, neither the captain, coach nor manager was able to persuade me that the shortfall in overs was beyond their control or that the allowances permitted to teams by the match officials were not appropriate,” Broad said.”I saw very little evidence that the West Indies team, after learning of their slow over-rate predicament, actually tried to speed things up. Therefore, they left me with little option but to enact this penalty,” he said.Gayle has the right to contest the verdict, and must do within 24 hours of receiving the same by lodging an appeal in writing with the ICC’s legal counsel.

Scotland overcame a major attack of nerves to seal their first National League win of the season against Warwickshire. Scotland were 70 for 1, chasing 114, when Heath Streak and Neil Carter ripped through the batting. They still needed six to win when the last pair came together, but Paul Hoffmann finished the match with a six over extra-cover. Hoffmann had earlier taken 3 for 19 as Scotland ran through Warwickshire in just 33 overs, with Dougie Brown top-scoring with 23 not out.Durham pulled off a thrilling one-run win against Kent at Tunbridge Wells, after the home side were cruising to victory. Set 189 to win, after a stuttering Durham batting effort, Kent were 170 for 3 after Andrew Hall and Matthew Walker added 97 for the third wicket. But the middle and lower order collapsed against the nagging accuracy of Ashley Noffke and Nathan Astle – Durham’s new overseas pair – and the tail could not scrambled the necessary runs.

Chandrakant Pandit, the former Indian wicketkeeper and Ranji Trophy-winning Mumbai coach, has been appointed as the Maharashtra coach. Pandit, 43, played five Tests for India, and more recently led Mumbai to two consecutive Ranji Trophy triumphs in 2003 and 2004.Pandit’s appointment is part of Maharashtra’s revamp process as they gear up for the new season. Darren Holder, an Australian coach, was recently appointed as the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s (MCA) cricket director while speculation persits over several players, like Sairaj Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni, transfering to Maharashtra this season.According to Ajay Shirke, the president of the MCA, Pandit, along with Holder, would be responsible for the coaching of the senior and other teams of all age-groups of the region. Shirke also announced the appointment of Col PRV Nair as the administrative manager of the side.

Jeremy Snape has been named the new captain of Leicestershire following the surprise decision of HD Ackerman to stand down. Snape, who played 10 one-day internationals for England, will form a new management team with Tim Boon, who has recently been appointed as coach.Snape admitted to being surprised by his promotion, having featured primarily as a one-day specialist last season. “It’s been a surreal few days for me in considering this new role,” he said, “but I was very impressed with the ideas which Tim and chairman Neil Davidson put forward and it’s a fantastic opportunity for me to be involved in shaping the club’s future.”Snape has been preparing for his life after cricket by studying for a Masters degree in sports psychology over the last two years. He now hopes to put that knowledge to good effect with Boon.”I was certainly very impressed with Tim’s work as a coach when I was playing for England. He’s been working with the most improved and successful team in world cricket in recent years and Tim’s attention to detail and technical analysis means he will bring very high expectations to Leicestershire.”Ackerman, who joined Leicestershire under the Kolpak ruling in 2005, has said he wants to concentrate on his batting, despite scoring 1027 Championship runs last summer and topping the Twenty20 run chart.”It’s with great regret that I’m standing down from the captaincy, but I feel that freeing myself from the burden of responsibility in the coming season will enable me to make a bigger contribution with the bat.”However, apart from reaching the Twenty20 semi-finals, Leicestershire had a poor season. They finished second-bottom in Division Two of the Championship, were beaten in the second round of the C&G Trophy and narrowly missed out on promotion in the National League.Now, Ackerman feels it is the right time, with a new coach on board, for the club to start afresh. “I strongly applaud Tim Boon’s appointment and both he and the new captain will have my wholehearted support. My decision to step down means Tim can start with a clean sheet.”

The headlines on the back pages of New Year’s Eve’s newspapers summed up everything there is to say about England’s extraordinary year of success in 2004. “England robbed!” they declared, after bad light had deprived the team of a famous win, and so brought to an end their record-breaking run of eight victories in a row.England robbed? Surely not the same England that were bowled out for 139 by tea on the first day of this Test? Yes, the one and the same. In the course of those five days in Durban, England battled back from the brink – and beyond – with absolute, unblinking certainty. The only astonishing thing is that no-one is astonished by what they have achieved anymore.Never mind the past five days. What about the past five years? In 1999, England were officially the worst side in the world. By the end of 2004, however, even the Australians were obliged to acknowledge the steely game-breaking know-how of Michael Vaughan’s merry men (and “merry” is the mot juste, because England’s matey team ethic has been central to their success). “Second-best is first loser” may be the standard Aussie response to cricket’s uniquely competitive squabble for the silver medal, but as 2005 dawns and another Ashes battle looms, the potency of this new-look England team cannot be ignored.2004 was the year when England emerged from the carefully constructed cocoon that Nasser Hussain had thrown around the side in the course of his four-year tenure. It was the year that Steve Harmison spread his wings, and became a strike bowler of genuine menace. It was the year that Andrew Flintoff became the allrounder that the nation had craved since the demise of Ian Botham, so much so that he came third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award – remarkable really, seeing as this was an Olympic and European Football Championships year, and that Australia came (and, let it not be forgotten, were vanquished) for a solitary one-day match.It was the year in which Harmison and Flintoff – bosom buddies since their Under-19 days – became the kingpins at the head of a slavering four-pack of pacemen, each of whom, like some 1980s children’s action-hero cartoon, brought subtlely differing skills into the equation – from Matthew Hoggard’s guile to Simon Jones’s skiddy reverse swing. And it was the year in which the carping about Ashley Giles’s role in the side were silenced once and for all. As if a record haul of 22 wickets in the home series win over West Indies was not enough, Giles’s batting blossomed sufficiently for him to match Graham Thorpe blow for blow in an epic run-chase at Trent Bridge.

And then there was the batting. As if Hussain had not done enough for England in his time in charge, he will also be remembered for the timing of his departure. In consecutive summers, all it took was one meaningful home Test for Hussain to read the runes correctly, first by abdicating in Vaughan’s favour in 2003, and then by retiring completely in 2004, following the effortless arrival of Andrew Strauss. A century on debut against New Zealand was followed by another hundred in his first match against West Indies and, as if he was just warming up, two more and a 94 not out followed in his first four overseas performances.But Strauss wasn’t the only batsman to seize the day. Thorpe, revitalised since his return to international cricket at the end of 2003, knocked off four centuries of breathtaking importance in the course of the year. Flintoff meanwhile clubbed a fifty in eight consecutive matches, more often than not in partnership with Geraint Jones, who was controversially given the wicketkeeping duties ahead of Chris Read but responded with 458 runs at 35.23 in his first nine matches.And in such a hothouse environment, even England’s understudies thrived. Robert Key cracked 221 and a matchwinning 93 not out against West Indies, but was back on the sidelines by the time England arrived in South Africa, as was Ian Bell, whose 70 at the Oval was one of the most composed debuts since … well, Andrew Strauss.In the course of their 13 matches in 2004, England produced 11 victories and two draws. That tally equalled the record for the most wins in a calendar year, as set by the great West Indian side of 1984, who took 14 games to do it, and one more than the equally great Australian sides of 2002 and 2004. At present, to be bracketed in such company is flattering in the extreme, for England have yet to demonstrate to the Australians that have learned anything from their Ashes pummellings of the past 15 years. But as a staging post for a pop at the world title, it’s not exactly a bad situation to be in.Top PerformersAndrew Flintoff The life and soul of England’s party. Flintoff’sinfluence transcends mere figures, and there’s been nothing "mere" aboutthose this year, with 898 runs at 52.82 and 43 wickets at 25.76, not tomention 16 catches. If you can’t spot him in the field, that’s becausehe’s at the heart of a post-wicket huddle, where his infectious glee rubsoff on each and every one of his team-mates, not to mention his legions offans, young and old.Andrew Strauss What no Harmison, I hear you cry? Well, it’s been afeature of England’s success this year that they have relied on no singleplayer to come up with the goods time and time again – not even Harmy.Strauss, however, has been a constant factor in England’s success, eversince he scored that century on debut at Lord’s in May. Not many playershave the mental fortitude to turn even Nasser Hussain into a quitter.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

The SuperSport Series trophy has been shared after a soporific stalemate in the final at Durban. Needing 378 to win, the Titans never realistically attempted the run-chase, while the Dolphins managed to take just two of their ten required wickets.The light at Kingsmead once again had the final say, with more than five hours of play lost over the five days of the final. Not even the early start times could help the situation.Starting the day at 11 for 0, the Titans did not take up the chase as they ambled along to 170 for 2 just 15 minutes after the tea break, when the light was once again offered and accepted. With no real chance of either team winning the players shook hands as they left the field to share the trophy.Martin van Jaarsveld did manage to put together a very good 72 not out but that was not enough for the Man-of-the-Match award which went to Dale Benkenstein for his magnificent 151.With the teams sharing the trophy there is, however, still no indication from the United Cricket Board as to who will represent South Africa in the first-class competition in India later this year.

ScorecardMohammad Kaif hit a furious 131-ball 151 to help Uttar Pradesh amass 365 before Shalab Srivastava and Praveen Kumar shared seven wickets between them to bowl UP to a crushing 197-run victory over Rajasthan. Kaif launched a ferocious assault on the bowlers, smashing 10 fours and five sixes in his 184-minute stay in the middle. Anshul Kapoor, playing in his sixth game, gave Kaif able support with a career-best 87 and Suresh Raina too joined in the carnage with a 39-ball 50. For Rajasthan, Anshu Jain hit a career-high 95 but he was the only batsman to cross 25 as the seamers wreaked havoc.
ScorecardIn a low-scoring encounter the Delhi bowlers shared the spoils equally to bowl out Himachal Pradesh for 68 to secure a win. Earlier, Virender Sehwag, batting in the middle order, hit 54 and Abhishek Sharma contributed an unbeaten 34 in the lower order to take Delhi to a fighting 170. Amit Bhandari rocked the HP chase with three early wickets after Ashish Nehra got a wicket in the first over. Pradeep Sangwan joined in the fun as HP slid further towards defeat.
ScorecardKaran Goel and Dinesh Mongia came to the party again as Punjab posted 269 and coasted to victory as Rajesh Sharma grabbed a four-wicket haul to polish off Jammu & Kashmir for 185. Goel was involved in two century stands – 106 for the opening wicket with Ravneet Ricky and 141 with Mongia – to lift Punjab to a healthy total. J&K lost wickets at regular intervals, with their chief tormentor Sharma, the offspinner, ending up with figures of 4 for 25.
ScorecardHaryana rode on an allround effort from Amit Mishra, 45 runs and 4 for 29, to beat Services by 112 runs at Ludhiana. Mishra put on 114 runs for the opening wicket with Sumit Sharma before Mahesh Rawat, the wicketkeeper-batsman, and Dhruv Singh added an unbroken 92-run stand to lift Punjab to a huge 294. Services started off confidently courtesy, a 72-ball 73 from Yashpal Singh, and reached 110 for 1 when Mishra got into the act. He struck twice is quick succession, including the wicket of Yashpal, to reduce Services to 115 for 3. Vinay Singh, the other spinner, got two wickets in two balls to push Services to 128 for 5, a position from which never recovered.
ScorecardSunil Dholpure grabbed a career-best five for 44 to spun Madhya Pradesh to a 72-run victory at Indore. Put into bat, MP rallied through fifties from Syed Abbas Ali and Shadab Khan to reach 246. The Railways chase seemed to going smoothly at 86 for 2 when Dholpure, the offspinner, derailed them, ripping through the middle and lower middle-order. Railways collapsed to 124 for 8 and only a dash from the tail helped them reach a decent 174.

Fearing protests against Kiran More, the Indian selection committee chairman, and Greg Chappell, India’s coach, following Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Indian team for the one-day match against South Africa in Kolkata on November 25, the authorities are taking no chances with the security situation.”All police stations have been asked to be on alert,” said NR Babu, deputy commissioner (south) of Kolkata police. Both More and Chappell are now in the city. In 1996, India’s World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka could not be completed due to crowd disturbances and Sri Lanka were declared winners.Crowd violence again erupted during the Asian Cricket Test championship outing between India and Pakistan in 1999 and the last few minutes of the game had to be played before empty stands after police used force to clear the galleries. Asked if special security would be provided to Chappell, who has been specially targetted during the protests, Prasun Mukherjee, Kolkata’s police commissioner, said his men would be fully alert to any eventuality.Meanwhile, a thick security blanket has been thrown around the two teams, both at the hotel and the match venue, with the deployment of a large number of commandos, armed policemen, detective department sleuths, plainclothes cops and women police personnel. Commandos are escorting and trailing the buses of the two teams on their journey from the hotel to the Eden Gardens, with around 2000 policemen lining the entire route.The police have virtually taken over the team’s hotel, where three to four commandos have been deployed on each floor. Eden Gardens has been put under a multi-layered security ring, with Mukherjee announcing that nearly 4,000 police personnel, including top police officers, would be deployed in and around the stadium.Mukherjee, who inspected Eden Gardens yesterday, said police would make arrests in the event of any demonstration inside the venue during the match.”Those wanting to hold any such demonstration should better keep off the stadium and also the match, otherwise such acts will prompt the police to make arrests,” he said.

The appointment of the new Pakistan captain and coach will be announced soon, Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, told a parliamentary committee in Islamabad on Monday. Ashraf had been summoned to the National Assembly to explain Pakistan’s poor results.The replacements for Bob Woolmer and Inzamam-ul-Haq will be discussed on Tuesday when the board’s ad-hoc committee meets in Lahore to discuss the future appointments.Inzamam was also called to the National Assembly to discuss the World Cup. Inzamam says he was “hurt” by the match-fixing allegations that arose after his team’s early exit from the World Cup. He said Pakistan had played badly, but added that defeats were part of cricket.”I told them of the hurt I have felt since these match-fixing allegations were made,” Inzamam told Reuters. “I told them not to expect the younger players to perform under such pressure. But coming up with such allegations, which basically questions our patriotism, is not on and not good for our cricket.”Ashraf was also grilled on the decision to appoint Mushtaq Ahmed as assistant coach for the World Cup. Mushtaq was fined and named in the match-fixing inquiry in Pakistan between 1998 and 2000. Ashraf explained that Bob Woolmer and Inzamam had recommended Mushtaq. In turn, Inzamam said that he would not have made the recommendation had he been aware of the Justice Qayyum inquiry report which said Mushtaq should not be appointed to any senior position.Looking to the future, Ashraf explained the board would set up a special commission of former Test players that would aim to improve Pakistan cricket and make it more consistent. The team’s balance will also be re-examined.Inzamam told , a local sports channel, that he backed Younis Khan as the next captain and that a swift decision was necessary in the matter. “A delay will be harmful. I am surprised that the same people who were in my time pushing Younis Khan to replace me as captain are now discussing other names,” he said. Inzamam said he was clear in his mind that Younis was the automatic choice to replace him as captain.