All posts by csb10.top

The Dhoni frenzy has caught on in the Steel City, the Indians are on a roll, and scorching temperatures or not, the Keenan Stadium will be choc-a-block when the third one-day international gets underway at Jamshedpur tomorrow. From the organisers’ point of view, Dhoni’s blistering 148 at Visakhapatnam couldn’t have come at a better time – with Ranchi, Dhoni’s hometown, just a couple of hours’ drive from Jamshedpur, plenty of people are flocking to see their local hero in action, forcing the authorities to hoist temporary stands with which they hope to accommodate about 6000 more. If Dhoni fires again, and if India win tomorrow, the crowds will, to quote Dhoni, “go mad”.However, there are two teams involved in this series, and if the last few weeks are any indication, expect Pakistan to mount a strong counter-attack here. On many occasions on this tour, they have been down and ready for the taking; on most of those instances, they have shown the gumption to get up and fight hard. Younis Khan, who has recovered from his illness and is available for selection, said as much when asked about the pressure Pakistan were under: “We are used to it. We came back in the Tests, and we can do it here as well.”And in a one-day match, it doesn’t take much for the wheels to come off for the team in the driver’s seat. In both the matches so far, India have been lucky to win the toss and bat first. If the coin rolls the other way tomorrow, it’s easy to visualise Pakistan’s top order belting the ball all around the park. Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana form a handy enough line-up, and with the firepower which follows in the lower order, the Indian attack may well have their task cut out for them if they have to bowl without the cushion of a huge total. More so, because the pitch seems a belter – its whitish shade is typical of the Keenan Stadium track, and a good layer of straw-coloured grass should ensure that the pitch stays firm throughout the game. Add a well-manicured outfield and short boundaries, and there’s every reason to believe that the team batting first will target, and quite likely attain, a score in the region of 300.

From the Indian point of view, it’s time for some of the big guns to fire. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid have been consistency personified so far, but the rest of the line-up – apart from Dhoni, of course – has been virtually non-existent: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif have together contributed 53 runs in eight innings. Those are damning statistics, and numbers which are in urgent need of correction.What should encourage the Pakistanis is the record of the teams at this venue – Pakistan have won both their matches here – against India in 1986-87 and against Sri Lanka in the Pepsi Cup in 1998-99. The Indians, on the other hand, have a dismal record – their win against South Africa in 1999-2000 is their only one in seven tries. (Click here for the results of all matches at Jamshedpur.)Meanwhile, the hectic schedules and the extreme conditions have already had their impact on the sides, with both teams making changes due to, or to prevent, injuries to their lead bowlers. India have been forced to omit Lakshmipathy Balaji, who has a side strain, while Pakistan will rest Mohammad Sami. Irfan Pathan or Ajit Agarkar will make the final XI – Dravid suggested at the press conference that there were enough part-time spinners in the team for the Indians to omit Murali Kartik – while Iftikhar Anjum will replace Sami. The other change Pakistan are almost certain to make is the inclusion of Younis, in place of Mohammad Hafeez. With the conditions so batsman-friendly, they might even be tempted to drop a specialist batsman – probably Shoaib Malik – and bring in Danish Kaneria.India (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), 4 Rahul Dravid, 5 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.Pakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Arshad Khan, 9 Iftikhar Anjum, 10 Naved-ul-Hasan, 11 Danish Kaneria.

A day after Bangalore Royal Challengers owner Vijay Mallya indicated he was unhappy with the team composition, he has justified the sacking of chief executive Charu Sharma and demanded better results. Bangalore are at the bottom of the table after losing six of their eight games so far.”When I questioned the team’s performance, poor practice facilities and the lack of infrastructure were given as reasons,” Mallya told NDTV. “It was also said that there was no bonding in the team. I said to myself, things can’t continue like this. So I brought in Brijesh [Patel] and who better than him to provide better practice facilities at the home base in Bangalore?”He also said he had other players in mind but backed the judgement of Sharma and the captain Rahul Dravid.”In fact in the second auction, when Dravid was absent, I wanted my set of players but Charu was very tentative and I was held back. It was I who brought in Misbah-ul-Haq.”People have to understand IPL has a corporate side to it. It is not all cricket in the traditional sense. I just want to tell Rahul Dravid to do the best he can with this team and produce results. Dravid doesn’t enjoy being at the bottom of the league and neither do I.”Sharma, sacked last week, responded to the criticism by distancing himself from the selection of the team. He also said the captain and coach should be given more time to prove themselves. “When there are experienced players like Rahul Dravid and Test captain Anil Kumble around, how do you expect me to play a role in the team selection?” he told the news channel CNN-IBN.”The very purpose for stating earlier that ‘through these strange and difficult times all I wish to do is maintain a dignified silence’ – is because that’s exactly what I intend to do,” Sharma said in a statement. “Let us not forget that the team is still out there – on the road – doing its best, trying to improve match after match.”On the eve of the match against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, Dravid was asked how it felt to be termed a ‘Test team’. “We have not played good cricket, so such comments will come. It is disappointing for the team, for all who are part of it including the franchisee,” Dravid said. “But we still have six matches to go and will bounce back with a good performance.”On being asked whether the right players had been chosen at the auction, he said, “There were lot of variables at the auction. The players we picked are all quality players, it’s only that their performances have dipped. The big names are not doing well. We have not got the combination right. All this as magnified after we did not start well and lost some close matches.”

David Shepherd said that he would like to remain involved with cricket in some capacity after officiating in his final Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica. He is scheduled to stand in five one-day internationals in England later this summer and then see out the county season.Shepherd was embraced by the players at the end of Pakistan’s emphatic 136-run win, and Brian Lara even presented him with a bat that said: “Thank you for the service, the memories and the professionalism. Enjoy your retirement.”According to the BBC, Shepherd, who played county cricket for Gloucestershire before becoming an umpire, was keen to give something back to the game. “Cricket has been my life,” he said. “I don’t want to say goodbye completely. I’d like to have some input into it. It has been everything to me and I would like to give something back – what, at this moment, I don’t know.”Shepherd umpired three World Cup finals, and stood in 92 Tests, and said that the journey had been a fulfilling one. “It’s been a very long road but basically a very happy one,” he said. “It’s very important to get the respect of the players. It’s also very important for umpires to respect players – it’s a mutual thing.”

The Indian Premier League (IPL) and its place in the world cricket calendar is expected to be a key area of discussion as chief executives [or their equivalent] from all boards under the ICC umbrella meet over two days in Kuala Lumpur, starting tomorrow.Also on the agenda at the meeting, to be chaired by the ICC’s chief executive Malcolm Speed, are: format and number of teams for the 2011 World Cup, feedback on the international schedule post-2012, and a pioneering proposal from the ICC management to start the “trialling of an ‘umpire decision review system’ during the England v South Africa Test series to be played in England in July/August 2008”.The meeting of chief executives follows a scheduling summit, also in Kuala Lumpur, to review the draft international programme post-2012. While the question of how to accommodate the IPL and the proposed Champions League in the schedule will be touched upon, some wrangling is also expected on who will get to play the big teams.Pakistan, for instance, is expected to push for a “fair share” of Tests and one-dayers. “Our cricketers have to play optimum number of matches if we are to realise our target of becoming the world’s best team,” Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan board chairman, was quoted as saying in The News. “Without putting them at the risk of injury or burnout, we will ensure that their international commitments are at par with other top teams like Australia, India and South Africa.”Ashraf is also expected to seek the help of other members in convincing Australia to go ahead with their tour to Pakistan in March-April, which seems unlikely with Cricket Australia expressing concerns over security. “We have already got a raw deal in the FTP and if Australia don’t come as per schedule, we will just have three Tests this year and that too when India tour later this year in December,” Ashraf told PTI.”We still remain hopeful they will fulfill their obligations of touring Pakistan but the truth is we are in a frustrating situation. Despite repeated assurances that no cricket team has been hit by violence in Pakistan and that it is safe for them to tour and they will be given state-level security, they are still expressing concerns.”Besides scheduling, what will be tracked with keen interest is the umpire decision review system. “According to the proposal, the captain of the fielding team or the batsman, as the case may be, will be entitled to a limited number of occasions to request the on-field umpire to review his decision in consultation with the TV umpire,” said an ICC spokesperson, in a statement. “The chief executive committee will review this proposal and make a recommendation to the ICC board. If the trial is given the go-ahead by the Board, the final playing conditions will be developed in consultation with the ICC cricket committee.”

Muttiah Muralitharan has undergone another round of Tests at the University of Western Australia (UWA) to prove to the Australian crowds that his action is legitimate.”I’ve have gone to tests again … and still people are trying to bully me in a way,” said Murali. “Every time I bowl they shout it from the grounds, every time I go near the boundary line they say things, that means they are not accepting me. Sometimes you feel ‘Why do you want to come and play?'”The latest tests were done after local media reports suggested that Murali’s action was again under question because he was bowling more than 20kmph faster than when he was last tested at UWA. The tests showed that Murali’s average elbow extension while bowling the doosra at 86.5 kmph was 12.2 degrees and for the offbreak it was 12.9 degrees at 95 kmph, well within the stipulated ICC limit of 15 degrees.”There’s nothing more he could do,” said Bruce Elliot, a UWA scientist. “The latest testing shows, irrespective of whether he’s bowling a doosra or an off-break, all his deliveries were under 15 degrees, so none were illegal.” He said Muralitharan was bowling faster because of a shoulder surgery he underwent in 2004.Since he was first no-balled during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne in 1995, Muralitharan’s action has been scrutinised and given the go-ahead four times by the UWA but the taunting at grounds across Australia have continued. He was unofficially reprimanded for making a gesture at a spectator who had painted his face black and had `no-ball’ written on his chest at Perth on January 31. “It happens mostly, you could say 99 percent in Australia rather than any other country I have been to,” he said. “Every country … England, South Africa, everywhere, people respect me. They enjoy my bowling and they enjoy the cricket. Here I don’t know what’s happening.”

As exclusively revealed here a fortnight ago, Andy Moles is preparing to quit as Kenya’s coach, and rumours are linking him with the vacant Scotland coach’s position.Moles, the former Warwickshire opener who has been coaching Kenya since 2003, was one of 20 applicants for the post, which has been vacated by Tony Judd. The pair recent crossed swords in the Intercontinental Cup semi-final, in which Kenya were soundly outclassed by Scotland, who went on to win the tournament.It is an open secret that Moles is frustrated with the in-fighting inside Kenyan cricket, the lack of financial support from the Kenyan board, and the paucity of matches for the side, whose next fixture is not scheduled until June.”Scottish cricket is clearly on the up and the opportunities are in stark contrast to those in Kenya,” he told the Scottish Herald newspaper. “[In Kenya] We only have six days of cricket organised for the whole of 2005.” That is in direct contrast to Scotland, who have a full programme of matches.At the time of the original article, a spokesman for the Kenyan Cricket Association told Cricinfo that the story was without substance. He said: “It seems that your source of information is feeding you a lot of misinformation on Kenya cricket.”

Shoaib Akhtar is likely to start bowling again, possibly this week, the first time he will do so following the surgery he underwent on his knee injury, in Australia.Writing in his column for BigStarcricket.com on April 2, Shoaib revealed, “I’m pleased to say that since my knee surgery, everything has been going well and I will be bowling again after another week. I won’t be charging in off like my usual run-up straight away, as I need to build up gradually. I don’t know how long it will take but I know it won’t be long. I just have to be patient.”Shoaib added that he had been doing extensive gym work since the surgery. “I’m feeling strong as I’ve been doing gym work five to six days a week, not every day as the body needs a day or two to recover from all the workouts. I don’t want to overdo it.”If everything goes according to schedule, he aims to regain full fitness by the end of April. “That would mean that I would be in peak condition by the time the England tour comes around, which has always been my main target.”There have been reports in the local press that Shoaib has not been following the rehabilitation programme devised by the PCB following his surgery and that he has missed considerable training over the last week. Although he didn’t answer the charge directly, he disclosed that he has been in constant touch with Dr David Young, the surgeon who operated on him in Melbourne last month.”He is pretty pleased with the way things are going with my recovery so that’s another plus point. Nobody knows my body better than him after he scanned me all over so it’s good to hear him being confident about my fitness.”Shoaib’s knee injury was thought originally to be a potentially career-ending one and it came on the back of an ankle injury that plagued him through the India series and ruled him out of the ODI series.

In many South African cricket followers’ eyes, Loots Bosman, Roger Telemachus and Robin Peterson were the recipients of an all-expenses-paid jaunt to West Indies next month when they were named in South Africa’s 15-man squad for the World Cup on Thursday.Callers to radio stations and respondents to polls on internet websites have called into question their ability and some have suggested they are there just to fill a quota of seven players of colour in the squad.It must sometimes bring a tear to the eye for the players concerned and it was heartening that coach Mickey Arthur and selection convenor Haroon Lorgat backed the trio and gave clear, sensible reasons for their inclusion when they spoke to the media on Thursday night.All three have shown scratchy form of late, with Peterson and Bosman only appearing in the opening game of the series against Pakistan and Telemachus not playing at all.But Arthur was adamant the selectors have given him “the best possible bowling combination” and stressed Peterson and Telemachus had important roles in terms of the variation they bring to the attack.”If the pitch turns, then we are very confident Robin Peterson will do the job for us. He’s our man as far as a spinner is concerned and he is a wholesale cricketer who gives us three disciplines in one,” Arthur said.”If the pitch is slow, then Roger can bring us variation. He bowls wicket-to-wicket in the middle overs, can reverse the ball and is very good at the death.”Lorgat added that Telemachus’s particular role was to follow the new-ball bowlers, a job he is more suited to than the omitted Johan van der Wath.Lorgat also explained Bosman’s inclusion and Boeta Dippenaar’s exclusion by saying South Africa would like quick starts in the World Cup.”That decision was made around the game plan. We want to get off to a quick start in the powerplays, exactly the way Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers have responded at the top. Boeta is unlucky, but he had five innings at the Champions Trophy to cement his place,” Lorgat said.Arthur also defined the roles of those bowlers who will follow the brilliant new-ball pairing of Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini.”Andre Nel’s job is to strike behind Makhaya and Shaun, while Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt provide variation, reverse-swing and bowl at the death. Jacques Kallis is our fifth bowler and can swing it, Graeme Smith has been working hard on his off-spin and Justin Kemp has been working really hard on his cutters.”South Africa’s squad certainly has a settled look about it with Smith himself, Mark Boucher, Gibbs, Hall, Kallis, Langeveldt, Ntini, Peterson and Pollock all having appeared in previous World Cups. Boucher and Gibbs will be playing in their third World Cups, while Kallis and Pollock were members of the 1996, 1999 and 2003 South African teams.South Africa have had a harsh time of it in recent World Cups (actually in all of them, bar 1996), but Smith believes his team ought to make an impression in the West Indies.”This team has come a long way since 2003, it is much calmer and more confident. Everyone fits in really well, it is a happy team. Now we just need to adapt to conditions and deal with the pressures in the Caribbean,” he said.Cricket South Africa president Ray Mali certainly backed his skipper.”This squad has set the world alight for the last two seasons by playing positive, brave cricket. I am confident they will mount a formidable challenge at the World Cup,” Mali said.Now it just remains to be seen whether the composition of that squad will be greeted with similar positivity in the Republic.

Though disappointed that the winning streak was brought to an end in Bangalore, Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said his team still hopes to become the first South African squad to win a one-day international series on Indian soil.”We were disappointed to lose after 20 games,” Smith said on the eve of the fourth one-dayer at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday. “But our main target is to win the series. We want to be the first South African team to win a ODI series here.”Undeterred by India’s valiant comeback into the series at Bangalore, Smith said, “I don’t think the momentum is with India. Tomorrow’s game is a fresh call. Our confidence is still way up there. Hopefully, we will be able to win the match.”He added that “winning the toss would be crucial” at Kolkata. The pitch, he said, looked different from that of Bangalore, where the ball turned too much and the pitch was not conducive for an international one-dayer. “The wicket looks good. There is a little more grass than expected. If the wicket behaves well, it will be a really good game.”Asked if there would be any special strategy for in-form youngsters Irfan Pathan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Smith replied: “In a team of 12, you can’t take anyone for granted. No one is more important than others. For us, every guy is equally important. We are just going to concentrate on our own game.”The super-substitute rule, he felt, gave additional advantage to the team winning the toss. “You need to rethink on that so that the super-sub can be chosen after the toss to balance the advantage to either side.”With Kolkata holding a special place for South Africa as it marked a re-birth of their cricket in the post-apartheid era in the 1991 series, Smith said, “It’s always a good occasion to play here. It’s going to be a massive experience for our youngsters. This is a rainbow team, part of a new culture. Hopefully we will be able to win here tomorrow.”

Tom Moody’s family will influence whether he stays with Sri Lanka, heads home to Australia or returns to England to work after the World Cup. Moody has a list of potential positions to consider at the end of the tournament, including continuing his role with Mahela Jayawardene’s team or coaching his former state Western Australia.He has also been linked with the England job but that appointment depends on whether Duncan Fletcher remains in the post. “There has been speculation about this, that and the other, but at the end of the day, I haven’t looked at anything,” he said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Yes, WA has contacted me and asked of my interest. I said to them that at the end of the World Cup, I will sit down with Sri Lanka and see what the future holds there, like I will with whatever opportunities may be there.”An ECB spokesman told The Australian Moody had not been approached to replace Fletcher, who has the job for “as long as he wishes”. However, Fletcher’s position has come under increasing pressure since England lost the Ashes and his role is expected to be reviewed once the World Cup ends.Before the tournament Moody withdrew from the field to replace Australia’s John Buchanan, a position taken by Tim Nielsen, because the timing was not right. “It was a huge privilege to be seen as a potential applicant, but I made the decision for my own personal reasons and that hasn’t changed,” he said. “In five years’ time, or ten years’ time, it may be completely different.”I may look at it and think: ‘This is the time now.’ If the demand is there and the opportunity is there, it might be perfect for me, but at the moment, that job, as attractive as it is, wasn’t quite right for where I am.”Moody, who played eight Tests for Australia and won two World Cups, has two young children and his wife Helen lives in England. “Location is not a huge issue but [family] will be the No. 1 priority in the decision, and where I want to be in the next three to four years,” he said. “Not from the point of view of geographically, but where I want to be with regards to the family and the time I want to spend with them.” A position with a state, county or Australia’s Centre of Excellence would offer him more stability than a globe-trotting role with an international team.