All posts by csb10.top

Scorecard

After four days of clubbing records, Victoria set Queensland the biggest of them all – pull off the biggest run-chase in 110 years of domestic cricket to win the Pura Cup. Queensland began their second innings needing 576 to win, and stumbled to 2 for 56 by the end of the fourth day.With a Queensland victory as close to an impossibility as sport can produce, Victoria appeared certain to seal their first first-class title since 1990-91. The wickets of Jimmy Maher (0) and Martin Love (14) made it even more likely that, on a wearing pitch on the fifth day, Victoria would have no trouble finishing things off.Not content with posting a monumental 710 in their first innings, Victoria bowled out Queensland for 275 and then, instead of enforcing the follow-on, batted again. Perhaps chasing revenge for years of away losses to Queensland, Victorian captain Darren Berry opted to inflict more misery on the bowlers and let Matthew Elliott and Jason Arnberger slog for two hours.Berry’s declaration at 1 for 140 left Queensland a victory target of 576 in 105 overs and any whiff of a successful chase disappeared on the first ball when Michael Lewis had Maher brilliantly caught at first slip by Cameron White, who dived to his right and stuck out a right hand after the ball bounced off Berry’s left glove.Lewis then bowled Love before Queensland steadied to 2 for 56 at stumps, with Clinton Perren 32 not out and Stuart Law 8 not out, with another 520 runs required.Berry’s decision to bat again raised eyebrows but allowed his bowlers to freshen, as the left-arm fast bowler, Allan Wise, was missing from the roster because of stress fractures in his left foot. It also allowed Elliott (55 not out) and Arnberger (72) to post their second 100-plus partnership of this game.Arnberger was savage on Nathan Hauritz, smashing three successive sixes and a four off his sixth over. Elliott broke another record, this time for the most runs in a first-class season by a Victorian batsman – if one includes his 48 against the touring Indians.He finished the season with 1,429 runs – the most by a Victorian and the most by any player in a Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup season (1,377). Law, who will bow out of Australian first-class cricket at the end of this match, after 16 seasons, was given a guard of honour off the ground by his teammates after Victoria’s declaration.”I was trudging off [thinking], ‘Thank Christ we’re not fielding again’, and all of a sudden I look up and see my teammates and I’m still in the middle of the pitch,” he said. “Our guys have been brilliant to me all year, I’ve had four or five farewells now in different situations and we just kept managing to get another game in.”It was special, it meant a lot to me, it means I’ve got respect from a lot of people who’ve played with me and against me.”

Shoaib Malik’s initiation in to the captaincy has been a mixed one. He begansmoothly in May last year with an ODI series-win over Sri Lanka, and led ayoung side to the final of the ICC World Twenty20 in September.Since then, the going has been rougher, with four consecutive series losses (ODI and Test) to South Africa and India cranking up the pressure on him. Talk of newcaptains hasn’t been far away, despite the Pakistan board appointing him captainuntil December 2008.But as he prepares to lead Pakistan in their first assignment of 2008, againstZimbabwe, he is hoping a new year might bring new results. “I am more confident nowas captain,” he told reporters days before the first ODI in Karachi.”The senior players are supporting me and I’m happy the board has placed itsconfidence in me. I don’t worry about how much time I have. I admit mistakes weremade in the last seven months, but this year there will be no repeat.”Poor results bring their own pressure, often putting personal performances out ofcontext. Malik’s ODI numbers since taking over as captain aren’t bad – from 13matches he averages four runs more than his career average of 34 – yet he was stillasked about a dip in form.”I don’t think my recent record is that bad if you look at it. In my last match inJaipur, I was player of the match [for an all-round performance]. I just want to makesure that the consistency is there,” he said.Malik also asked for more time to be given to Geoff Lawson, who took over as Pakistan’s coach last August, stressing that this was his first international assignmentin that role. Though not overtly criticised, Lawson’s impact has been repeatedlyquestioned and some officials have been privately underwhelmed by his contributionso far.”Bob Woolmer had his own skills, Geoff has his own,” Malik countered. “Bob came with a lot of top experience with South Africa and Warwickshire while this is Geoff’s first international role. It takes time to settle in to that and we should give him that.”There was doubt over Malik’s participation in the run-up to the Zimbabwe series dueto an ankle injury sustained in India, but he believes he has now fully recovered.”I am fit. I came through my rehabilitation, passed a fitness test and am doingeverything the others were at the camp.”With Australia scheduled to arrive soon – to provide the sternest test yet to hisleadership – Zimbabwe offers Malik the perfect platform to chalk up somemorale-boosting wins, ideally on the back of some impressive personal contributions.”This is a good opportunity to try out some young talent and to work out plans aheadof the Australia series. You can’t underestimate Zimbabwe, but we will put all ourefforts in to it.”

England’s players could face contractual gagging orders in the aftermath of Duncan Flecther’s warts-and-all autobiography.A number of other sports impose such conditions in contracts of international players and coaches, although, as shown by Mike Catt’s recent comments about the England rugby management, those are only effective while the player is still contracted.Speaking to Wales on Sunday, Hugh Morris, the ECB’s managing director, said that it was an issue he would be reviewing. “Part of my new remit is to look at all issues, weigh up both sides of the argument and come up with an agreement that is suitable to both the organisation and the player. Gagging orders raise all kinds of issues with freedom of speech.”Censorship is not on our agenda, but we don’t want players or members of the coaching staff, for that matter, fearing that anything they say or do in the sacred confines of the dressing room is revealed in a book months later.”While any gagging clauses would prevent current players and coaches from speaking out, they would make no difference to someone like Fletcher who was no longer bound by any contract when he released his book.Asked if he had read Fletcher’s observations, Morris said: “I’ve not read the book so I can’t comment on its contents.”

Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and his Sussex team-mate Mushtaq Ahmed guided Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to an emphatic ten-wicket win inside three days against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in their second-round Patrons Trophy match at the Sheikhupura Stadium on Monday.After Naved had taken five wickets in PIA’s first innings and then hammered a brilliant 124, legspinner Mushtaq just sliced through PIA’s second innings, taking eight wickets for 53 runs in 17.2 overs. WAPDA, resuming their overnight score of 238 for 7, extended their first innings lead to 163.Then, they had PIA bowled out for a poor 181 the second time round and, reached their target in a matter of 4.5 overs.Unbeaten at 62 on the second afternoon, Naved raced to his third first-class century, his 124 coming in less than three and a half hours with 12 fours and five sixes. With Kashif Raza (12), his eighth-wicket stand was worth 72 runs. Mushtaq, fresh from his haul of over a 100 wickets with Sussex, completed his 94th five-wicket haul. He took 10 wickets in the match, for 84 runs. PIA, who have incidentally never won the Patrons Trophy title outright, have virtually been eliminated from for a spot in the Quadrangular Stage from Pool B after two straight defeats.Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) gained a slim but important ten-run first innings lead over Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) on the penultimate day of their Patrons Trophy match at Rawalpindi.Just like the previous two days, when the proceedings were interrupted by poor visibility, the last 11.5 overs of the third day’s play were also lost to bad light. Resuming their first innings at the overnight 28 for no loss, KRL made 197 in reply to SNGPL’s 187. The latter reached 20 for 2 in their second innings before bad light halted play.Opener Saeed Anwar Jnr made 34 with four boundaries while Jaffer Nazir hammered 43 with three fours and two sixes in the KRL first innings. Umpire Iqbal Butt also gave KRL five penalty runs. Should there be no result on the last day, KRL will collect three points on the basis of the first innings lead.National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) were pushed to the edge of defeat by Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), on the third day of their four-day Patrons Trophy match at Karachi on Monday. Forced to follow-on, National Bank were 134 for three wickets in their second innings, thanks to a fighting knock of 70 by Salman Butt.Naeem Anjum, the left-arm spinner, took the key wickets of Butt and captain Naumanullah to put NBP under great pressure. NBP were still 104 behind in order to avoid an innings defeat with seven second innings wickets in hand. Salman’s knock contained 11 fours while Naumanullah scored a fine 48 off just 47 balls with nine well-timed boundaries.Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 83 for 5, National Bank were bowled out for 202 mainly because of a defiant 56 by Fawad Alam in 183 minutes and a marathon 39 in 222 minutes by Qaiser Abbas that came off 141 balls. Mohammad Sami blasted three fours and a six in his 36 at No.10 that saw 62 being added for the ninth wicket with Qaiser. Rao Iftikhar was the pick of the ZTBL bowling attack with four wickets for only 41 runs.Pervez Aziz compiled a patient unbeaten century to help Attock Group stage a fightback against Pakistan Customs, on the third day of their Patrons Trophy match at Karachi.Aziz finished the day at 113 as Attock Group made 305 for 9 in reply to the Customs’ total of 379. Attock Group were still 74 runs behind with their last pair in. Aziz with Asim Butt had added 61 runs for the tenth wicket. Butt was 17 not out at stumps yesterday. Opener Imran Ali cracked a fine 61 earlier, with six boundaries in 244 minutes. The Customs’ pace duo of Uzair-ul-Haq and Rizwan Akbar caused much of the damage by sharing three wickets each.

Surindra Shinde’s sedate 97 helped the Karnataka Under-25 team toscore a 4 wicket win on the third and final day’s play over Andhra inthe KSCA Coca Cola Under-25 Tournament at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium inBangalore on Saturday.Set to score 238 for a win, Karnataka lost opener Shyam Ponnappa (6)in the fourth over of the innings when he was caught behind by TSPrasad off Anil Kumar. Then the new batsman AR Mahesh (12) in thecompany of the other opener V Pramod (23) took the score onto 39 whenMahesh found himself struggling to reach his crease in the ninth over.Then nine balls later Pramod departed, giving a catch to BB Krishnaoff the bowling of Anil Kumar.Surindra Shinde (97) and S Rajashekar (40) put the Karnataka inningsback in the right track with a 95-run fourth wicket stand in 24.5overs. Rajashekar departed after offering a catch to Arjun Kumar offVVB Reddy. Amith Kumar (51) now joined Shinde to forge a 82-run fifthwicket partnership to ensure Karnataka of sealing a well deserved win.Shinde lost his defences to K Laxman and the very next ball M Vinod(0) was caught behind. But Amith Kumar and Sunil Kumar (5) sawKarnataka through.Earlier, play started late due to rain and resuming at the overnightscore of 169 for 9, Andhra added just 15 runs before their secondinnings folded up. Top scorer S Arun Kumar (65) was the last man to bedismissed when he offered a catch to S Rajashekar off Sunil Kumar.

It has already been a winter of hard work for England’s cricketers, and that was just to get past the easy bit. But now, with Bangladesh successfully put to one side, and the West Indies tour still a dot on the horizon, it is time to get stuck into arguably the toughest six weeks of England’s three-pronged campaign.The heat and humidity of Dhaka and Chittagong might have seemed oppressive, but it is as nothing compared to the furnace that awaits England at Dambulla tomorrow, where their tour of Sri Lanka will begin in earnest. Up till now, England’s gravest threat has come from the elements (and their own fears of an upset). Tomorrow, however, they face a side that is brimful of talent, and more importantly, one that is gunning for vengeance after the last, fractious, tour early in 2001.On that occasion, England had already wrapped up an historic 2-1 Test series win by the time the one-day circus came to town, and they treated the three matches as something of an afterthought. Nasser Hussain had already flown home early to reap the plaudits of back-to-back series victories in the subcontinent, and in his absence, England were led to a 3-0 defeat by Graham Thorpe. But the current England squad takes its one-day cricket far more seriously than it did back then. A repeat performance would be a massive disappointment.England were the opponents in Dambulla’s inaugural fixture, on March 23, 2001, and for the second time in two tours they will be facing an unknown quantity at the venue. A belated decision was taken this month to install floodlights at the ground – they only received the OK on Thursday – and, after Sri Lanka had tested the conditions in a warm-up game on Saturday, their captain Marvan Atapattu gave them a guarded thumbs-up.”The floodlights were OK,” said Atapattu. “But personally, I did not feel they were as bright as the ones at the Premadasa [in Colombo]. There was also a bit of dew later on, which will be a factor. My feeling is that the ball will move around a bit more in the early evening.” The toss, in other words, will be crucial. The match starts at 0830 GMT.With the onus on seam bowling, Sri Lanka have already indicated that they will be giving a debut to their 21-year-old quickie, Nuwan Kulasekara, as back-up to the established new-ball pairing of Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa. England, on the other hand, are unlikely to jeopardise the balance of their batting by including James Kirtley at the expense of one of the spinners, but one change that is highly likely is a new opening partner for Marcus Trescothick.Vikram Solanki looked to have cracked international cricket when he laced a wonderful century at The Oval last summer, but he was all at sea against Bangladesh last week, scoring only 11 runs in his three innings. He followed that up with a fifth-ball duck in Saturday’s warm-up game, and it cannot be long before Andrew Strauss is given an opportunity to prove his mettle. By his own admission, Strauss will never be a big hitter in the mould of Trescothick or Andrew Flintoff, but his 83 from 88 balls on Saturday was not the effort of a sluggard.No series against Sri Lanka, however, can be contemplated without due deference to Muttiah Muralitharan. “He is the best spinner in the world today,” said Trescothick, one of a posse of left-handers who got the better of him last time around. “We have our game-plans for combatting him, and without giving too much away, it’s about countering his spin, not nullifying him completely.”That is just as well, because Flintoff, England’s man of the moment, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “nullify”. Flintoff and Murali are two good friends from their days at Lancashire, and when they come across each other in the middle, it promises to be a contest to savour. It might even be the defining contest. For years, Sri Lanka have been accused of being a one-man side. In Bangladesh last week, so were England. If one or other gets the upper hand in the coming days, it will serve as a potent marker for the rest of the tour.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Romesh Kaluwitharana (wk), 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Kumar Sangakkara, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Kulasekara.England (probable): 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Rikki Clarke, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Gareth Batty, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 James Anderson.

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.

Close Auckland 164 for 5 (Horne 16*, Young 3*) trail Pakistan 318 by 154 runs
ScorecardPakistan could not get in too many overs against Auckland on the second day of their match at Eden Park’s outer oval. Morning rain prevented any play until 1.40pm, and the late start left Auckland in no man’s land at stumps.They were still 154 runs short of Pakistan’s total, and it may be that for any real benefit to come from the match, a declaration will be required early tomorrow so Pakistan can leave Auckland a target.However, Rob Nicol, another promising batsmen, scored 60, including three sixes and six fours, off 107 balls. Both overnight batsmen, Mark Richardson (23) and Tim McIntosh (32), were dismissed by Shabbir Ahmed, who ended the day with 2 for 24.Matt Horne dug his way to 16 not out in over an hour and a half. He was accompanied by Reece Young, the wicketkeeper, who remained on three not out. Mohammad Sami had a horror day, bowling 11 no-balls and ending wicketless from his 14 overs for 51 runs.

Close Canterbury 443 and 58 for 1 beat Auckland 403 on the first innings
ScorecardAn interesting finish had been building for the Canterbury-Auckland showdown, but it was negated by Christchurch’s weather. Only 1mm of rain fell in Canterbury over the month of December, but some welcome relief for parched grasslands meant there was an early end to the game at Hagley Oval.Two periods of four overs and six overs were possible before misty drizzle set in and forced the umpires to abandon the match soon after the lunch break. Peter Fulton was 28 not out at the end with Shanan Stewart 15 not out.There is a break in the Championship now while the annual one-day domestic series, for the State Shield, is played. It begins on January 9.Close Central Districts 350 and 291 beat Otago 209 and 298 by 134 runs
ScorecardOtago were looking for a substantial total to beat Central Districts at Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. They were set a target of 433 to win, but in spite of some hard hitting by their lower-order, they were unable to get any closer than 134 runs short.It was a deserved change of fortune for Central Districts who, in earlier games in the competition have been unable to finish off opponents. But this time Jamie How’s career-best bowling of 3 for 55, Lance Hamilton’s 3 for 45 and Michael Mason’s 2 for 34, allowed CD to take maximum points from the game.Marcel McKenzie (58), Nathan McCullum (53) and Warren McSkimming (32) offered some defiance but ultimately it wasn’t enough and Otago finished the fifth round, second from the bottom and CD were fourth.Close Wellington 250 and 190 beat Northern Districts 125 and 221 by 94 runs
ScorecardWellington moved into second place in the State Championship after claiming maximum points from Northern Districts on the final day at Westpac Park. Wellington started the last day needing only three more wickets, and conceded only 31 more runs in doing so.In a low-scoring game, the requirement of 316 to win was always going to be tough for Northern Districts and they were unable to dominate a competent Wellington attack. James Franklin continued his good allround season by taking 3 for 65. Matthew Walker’s ability to tie down an end was a useful weapon throughout the game and he took 2 for 18 in the second innings, from 21 overs.Mark Gillespie added 2 for 50, Luke Woodcock 2 for 44 and Jeetan Patel 1 for 18. Wellington took their points to 14, six behind competition leaders Canterbury.

Western Australia 7 for 306 (Rogers 95, North 70, Dawes 4-83) v Queensland
Scorecard

Jimmy Maher, Queensland’s captain, probably regretted his decision to field first after winning the toss on a boiling-hot day at Perth, as Western Australia ran up the handy total of 7 for 306 by the close of the first day of this Pura Cup match. Chris Rogers top-scored with 95, while the in-form Marcus North made 70.Rogers was in good nick from the start, dominating two stands of 43 with Mike Hussey (16) and Murray Goodwin (13). Then Rogers and North put on 74 more, before Rogers fell when in sight of his century, one of four wickets for the persevering Joe Dawes.North eventually fell to Dawes for 70, one of five catches for the new Queensland wicketkeeper Chris Hartley, but handy contributions from Ryan Campbell and Shaun Marsh, and a perky 44 from Brad Hogg, swelled the total past 300.Queensland’s four-man pace attack toiled almost throughout the day – offspinner Nathan Hauritz bowled only nine wicketless overs – but had little joy apart from Dawes’s efforts. Andy Bichel, who had the home fans clamouring for his recall during the Gabba Test, did dismiss Goodwin, and Shane Watson managed two wickets, but Ashley Noffke was another who ended the day without reward.