Warwickshire’s bowlers put in a solid shift in sweat and drive but could not do enough to undermine Yorkshire’s resolve, even on a pitch that never allowed a batsman to feel entirely comfortable

05-Jul-2010

ScorecardAn unbroken half-century partnership between Alistair Brown and Chris Read enabled title-chasing Nottinghamshire to gain the upper hand of their Championship duel against Essex at Chelmsford.By stumps they had put on 54 in 13 overs to carry their side to 126 for 5 in reply to an Essex total of 154 all out that represented something of a recovery after they had lost half their side for 45.Their problems began in the fourth over of the morning when John Maunders was needlessly run out attempting a single. Jaik Mickleburgh was bowled by Charlie Shreck soon afterwards before Andre Adams plunged the home side into further trouble when he removed Billy Godleman and Matt Walker in the same over.He did so by finding enough swing and lift to discover the edge and wicketkeeper Read did the rest. Paul Franks then got rid of Tom Westley, again with the help of the impressive Read who went on to claim six victims in an innings for the seventh time in his career.Tim Phillips did his best to keep the Essex innings afloat after entering the battle with the score on 69 for 6. His concentration and careful shot selection enabled him to gather a valuable unbeaten 46 that contained seven boundaries.His biggest support came from Maurice Chambers, the pair putting together a stand of 34 for the final wicket which represented the highest of the innings. Shreck and Franks finished with 3 for 40 and 3 for 20 respectively while Adams’ two successes came at a cost of 26.While Chambers performed doggedly with the bat, it was with the new ball that he made the biggest impact, his hostility and swing quickly putting Nottinghamshire on the back foot.
He struck in his opening over by getting rid of Bilal Shafayat with an lbw decision and then bowled Alex Hales.He later trapped Steve Mullaney leg before and so often did he pass the outside edge that he could consider himself unlucky not to have claimed further successes. The other two wickets to fall were picked up by left-arm spinner Phillips. Mark Wagh fell lbw while Samit Patel was caught at short leg by Godleman while pushing forward.Nottinghamshire found themselves in trouble at 72 for 5 before they gained the initiative through Brown and Read. Read completed a highly successful day’s work by reaching the close on 31 which included a straight driven six at the expense of Phillips.Brown will resume on 30 with Nottinghamshire seeking another 29 to move into a first-innings lead. An absorbing opening day finished with Chambers having claimed 3 for 49 and Phillips 2 for 17.

Guyana had some anxious moments halfway through their chase but another cameo from Jonathan Foo helped them pick up their second successive win

Cricinfo staff25-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Floyd Reifer’s 49 gave CCC a fighting chance but it was not enough to deny Guayana their second successive win•Nicholas Reid/West Indies Cricket Board

Guyana had some anxious moments halfway through their chase when they lost three of their senior batsmen in 10 deliveries, but another cameo from Jonathan Foo helped them pick up their second successive win and assured them a spot in the semi-finals. Their bowlers had done the job earlier in the day, keeping Combined Campuses and Colleges to a modest total, with offspinner Lennox Cush taking a hat-trick in the final over.The chase of 143 looked on track despite the loss of Travis Dowlin, Man of the Match in the victory on Friday, in the first over. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Sewnarine Chattergoon didn’t have too much trouble taking Guyana to 57 for 1 after eight overs – the only chance being a reprieve for Chattergoon on 10 when wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton grassed an outside edge.CCC’s fightback started when Sarwan mishit a pull which was snapped by Nekoli Parris at midwicket after juggling it thrice. It was a similar stroke that had ended Sarwan’s innings against Windward Islands as well, and the Guyana captain was livid at losing his wicket. His mood didn’t improve when Narsingh Deonarine sliced a catch to extra cover in the next over. Three balls later, the set batsman, Chattergoon, also fell to an overhead catch by Omar Phillips at backward point.Royston Crandon hit a couple of boundaries but he was soon stumped by Walton, and with Christopher Barnwell making slow progress, the asking rate sneaked up towards 10 with five overs to go. Foo crashed a boundary to extra cover in the 16th over to revive Guyana’s chase, before Barnwell smashed the first ball of the next to the midwicket boundary. Foo rounded off that over with a clean hit towards the sightscreen. Three more fours in the next over, which completed a forgettable debut for Rubel Brathwaite, brought it down to nearly run-a-ball in the final two overs, which was easily picked off with four deliveries to spare.It shouldn’t have been such a convoluted chase after CCC had been kept down to 142. Following a 40-minute delay due to rain, the CCC openers made contrasting starts: Miles Bascombe hammered Cush for 15 in an over including a six over square leg as he raced to 31 off 16, while Romel Currency watchfully made his way to 8 off 13. Currency’s first attempt to clear the infield led to his dismissal in the sixth over, and Bascombe also holed out to midwicket after a quiet two-over spell.From there, the innings revolved around another substantial innings from captain Floyd Reifer, who battled his way to 49 despite a leg injury. A short ball was clubbed over the bowler Crandon’s head, and another was heaved beyond midwicket. As the innings progressed, Reifer found it harder to run between the wickets and started scoring almost exclusively in boundaries. There were four fours in quick succession to push CCC to 123 for 4 after 17 overs. However, just as he set himself up for a final assault, Reifer was run out by a Sarwan direct hit and CCC could only make 19 runs from the final three overs.The last over of the innings, from Cush, started well with a swipe over midwicket for six but the batsmen swung each of the next three deliveries to fielders in the deep to hand Cush a hat-trick, and spark wild celebrations. Guyana and Cush would have expected a simple victory at that stage but their batsmen were made to work hard by a spirited CCC team which for the second game in a row fell just short of victory.

New Zealand’s six major domestic associations have announced the names of players offered first-round contracts for the 2010-11 season

Cricinfo staff09-Aug-2010New Zealand’s six major domestic associations have announced the names of players offered first-round contracts for the 2010-11 season.The contracting process involves two rounds for the first time. Each association can offer 9-11 contracts at their discretion in the first round, and the remaining contracts in the second round on August 24 to complete their contingent of 12 players.The contracts commence on October 1 but will come into effect only after ongoing negotiations between the parties are completed.List of contracted players
Auckland Aces: Michael Bates, Andrew De Boorder, Colin De Grandhomme, Roneel Hira, Anaru Kitchen, Johann Myburgh, Jimmy Neesham, Jeet Raval, Lance Shaw, Bhupinder Singh, Greg ToddCanterbury Wizards: Corey Anderson, Todd Astle, Hamish Bennett, Dean Brownlie, Andrew Ellis, Peter Fulton, Rob Nicol, Michael Papps, Richard Sherlock, Shanan Stewart, Reece YoungCentral Stags: Doug Bracewell, Brendon Diamanti, Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Michael Mason, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tarun Nethula, Brad Patton, Mathew Sinclair, Kruger van Wyk, Tim WestonNorthern Knights: Graeme Aldridge, Jono Boult, Trent Boult, Anton Devcich, Daniel Flynn, James Marshall, Peter McGlashan, Michael Parlane, Bradley Scott, Brad Wilson, Joseph YovichWellington Firebirds: Josh Brodie, Dewayne Bowden, Matthew Bell, Leighton Burtt, James Franklin, Mark Gillespie, Cameron Merchant, Neal Parlane, Joe Austin-Smellie, Luke WoodcockOtago Volts: Nick Beard, Neil Broom, Anthony Bullick, Ian Butler, Craig Cumming, Derek De Boorder,
Shaun Haig, Warren McSkimming, Aaron Redmond, Neil Wagner, Sam Wells

Namibia followed up a solid batting display by picking up two wickets in Uganda’s second innings to move into a commanding position in Windhoek

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2010
ScorecardNamibia followed up a solid batting display by picking up two wickets in Uganda’s second innings to move into a commanding position at the end of day three of the ICC Intercontinental Shield match in Windhoek. Substantial contributions from the middle and lower order lifted Namibia to 609, the highest first-class score without a century.Resuming at 320 for 4, Namibia lost Craig Williams, lbw to Charles Waiswa in the day’s first over and Bjorn Kotze soon after, with the score at 340. Gerrie Snyman and Louis van der Wethuizen staged a recovery, putting on 115 runs for the seventh wicket. Snyman scored 86 with seven fours and two sixes while Wethuizen made 50 with seven boundaries.Their departure, within 25 runs of each other, offered Uganda no respite. In came Tobias Verwey and Louis Klazinga, who added 99 at over a run a ball for the ninth wicket. Verwey made 73 off 78 balls with nine fours and three sixes while Klazinga hit an unbeaten 48 off 53.Uganda used eight bowlers in the innings with Waiswa the best of the lot, picking up 3 for 123. Every Namibia batsman reached double figures as they set their first-class record, going past the 605 scored by Madhya Pradesh against Haryana in 1998-99.Uganda’s problems were compounded when they lost two quick wickets in their second innings. Roger Mukasa was unbeaten on 48 at the close of play as Uganda finished the day at 77 for 2, needing 203 to make Namibia bat again.

A day after Ricky Ponting called for a controversy-free tour, he was ironically involved in the first real incident of the series

Sidharth Monga in Mohali01-Oct-2010A day after Ricky Ponting called for a controversy-free tour, he was ironically involved in the first real incident of the series. After he was run out by a superb direct hit from Suresh Raina, Ponting was seen exchanging words and gestures with Zaheer Khan. Ponting was walking off, and it seemed Zaheer had something to say to him from the team huddle. Ponting turned back and was seen pointing his bat towards Zaheer.Both sides, though, played down the incident, and no charges had been pressed last checked. “When two top teams are playing, you expect some competition and that’s what it was,” Pragyan Ojha said after a tough old-fashioned day of Test cricket. “When you play hard, you obviously exchange some words. Nothing more than that.”Watson sought to play with the similar straight bat as was the hallmark of his unbeaten, restrained century, but cheekily opened the face at the last moment. “The umpires didn’t get involved, did they?” he said. “Wasn’t too bad. Something that does happen on a cricket field when people are competitive. As you did see, on the footage – everyone really knows how Ricky is, he is not going to go looking for a fight unless someone steps out of the line, out of the huddle, and has a bit to say. It was there for all to see.”The good thing, though, is that neither team seems to be bothering too much about it. And in what was a welcome sight, at stumps, the Indian players, including Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh, almost queued up to congratulate Watson on his effort. All’s well that ends well. At least until the next incident.

Round-up of the opening day’s action in the Faysal Bank T-20 Cup 2010-11

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2010Imranullah Aslam’s whirlwind 57 off 27 deliveries took Multan Tigers to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Peshawar Panthers in Lahore.Aslam smashed four sixes and six fours, and by the time he got out, Multan needed 44 off 67 with eight wickets in hand. Left-arm spinner Zohaib Khan’s 2 for 25 was in vain as Multan reached the target of 125 with 19 balls to spare.Aslam had earlier helped restrict Peshawar to 124, taking 2 for 13 with his legspinners, including the wicket of former Pakistan captain Younis Khan. Peshawar had got off to a good start, reaching 75 for 1 in the eleventh over. However, they lost too many wickets after that, four of them to run-outs.Lahore Lions held their nerve to prevail over Abbottabad Falcons by three runs in Lahore, after Abdul Razzaq had smashed a quick half-century to boost them to 165.Razzaq came in when Lahore were in trouble at 37 for 3, having lost the big wickets of captain Mohammad Yousuf and Umar Akmal. He first steadied the innings with Ahmed Shehzad, and then dominated an 80-run partnership with Raza Ali Dar that came in 44 balls. Razzaq hammered four sixes and five fours in his 60 off 30 deliveries. Left-arm fast bowler Junaid Khan – who has played for Pakistan A – took 2 for 11.Lahore’s bowlers struck regularly at the start of the chase to reduce Abbottabad to 48 for 4 in the eighth over. Ahmed Said and Wajid Ali brought their team back into the game with an 82-run stand in 55 deliveries. With 36 needed off 22, fast bowler Aizaz Cheema dismissed Ali for 39, to finish with 3 for 27. Said remained unbeaten on 54 off 43, as Abbottabad finished on 162 for 7.A disciplined bowling performance from Sialkot Stallions gave them an easy seven-wicket win over Karachi Zebras in Lahore. Karachi were restricted to a mere 99, which Sialkot knocked off without fuss, courtesy Imran Nazir’s unbeaten 64.It was a struggle for the Karachi batsmen as five of the top six did not reach double figures. Only opener Ali Asad resisted with 33. Three run-outs only added to Karachi’s woes. Legspinner Adeel Malik, Pakistan allrounder Shoaib Malik’s younger brother, finished with 2 for 15.Despite the loss of two early wickets, Nazir almost single-handedly led the chase, hitting eight fours and two sixes on his way to 64 off 42 deliveries, as Sialkot won with more than seven overs to spare.

Alastair Cook, the England vice-captain who has a modest record against Australia, has said the experience gained since his first visit Down Under should help him do better on the current tour

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2010Alastair Cook, the England vice-captain who has a modest record against Australia, has said the experience gained since his first visit Down Under will help him do better during the 2010-11 Ashes. Cook averages 26.21 in 10 Tests against Australia, and could manage only one significant score when England were blanked 5-0 in 2006-07, a second-innings 116 in Perth, but was confident of better returns this time.”The one side I haven’t played as well as against than the other sides has been Australia,” Cook told . “I have got that point to prove over the next three months. Last time [in Australia] I was obviously 21-years old; to come here as an opening batter, as a youngster, was a very tough learning curve. It was my first year in international cricket as well. So to have 50-odd more games under my belt, seen a lot more, I think that experience will help.”Cook, who will open with Strauss, was mindful of the importance of good starts to compete in Australia, something England struggled to do in recent visits. “Obviously Straussy and I have been at the top of the order for a while now, we’ve done reasonably well and there’s always the pressure as an opener to set the tone,” Cook said. “We’ve got that job, we’ve had that job for a while and we’ve done it well. It’s an area we appreciate we’ve got a lot of responsibility. Obviously as captain and vice-captain as well, we like to set the tone for the rest of the team.”Cook also backed his under-fire team-mate Kevin Pietersen to shrug off his indifferent form and be a force during the Ashes. Pietersen has struggled in the longer formats, and has not hit an international century in nearly two years. Despite his effectiveness in the 2010 World Twenty20, the England selectors dropped him from the limited-overs side against Pakistan, leading to a Twitter outburst that resulted in him being fined by the ECB.”He has obviously had a difficult 12 months with his form, but his work ethic over those 12 months has been the hardest I’ve seen him work at his game,” Cook said. “Talent like that and the stats he’s got behind him show what a great player he is. Great players might lose their form for a little bit, but they come back and a big series like this, I think it’s just about the right time to come back. I know he’s desperate to prove to people he’s still a great player.”Pietersen has been at the centre of most of the banter between the sides in the lead-up to the Ashes. John Buchanan said Pietersen could be a ‘major problem’ for England, to which he retaliated by calling the former Australia coach ‘a nobody’. Michael Clarke was wary of Pietersen’s ability to turn things on in big matches, while Andrew Strauss rubbished suggestions that he had a divisive influence on the squad. On Friday, Australia fast bowler Doug Bollinger talked about his plan to keep quiet while bowling to Pietersen since “I think that’s what he likes”.

Steven Finn marked his first Ashes Test by claiming a career-best 6 for 125, which – as a 21-year-old with just eight months of international experience to his name – is no mean feat whatsoever

Andrew Miller at the Gabba27-Nov-2010Regardless of the toil that preceded his rewards, Steven Finn marked his first Ashes Test by claiming a career-best 6 for 125, which – as a 21-year-old with just eight months of international experience to his name – is no mean feat whatsoever. In so doing he emulated Bill Voce and John Snow as the only other Englishmen to collect such a haul at the Gabba, but afterwards he remained reassuringly downbeat about his achievement.As a man who models himself on Glenn McGrath and who has, in Angus Fraser, the perfect role-model for parsimonious seam bowling, Finn was well aware that his economy rate of 3.71 was England’s most expensive of the day, and at times during the 307-run stand between Brad Haddin and Michael Hussey he was powerless to restrict the run-flow. Nevertheless, having finally persuaded Hussey to hook to square leg for 195, he ran through the tail with an effectiveness that augurs well for future challenges, as Australia lost their last five wickets for 31 runs.”I picked up the wickets but I was the least consistent bowler and I’m aware of that,” he said. “Jimmy and Broady and Swanny at times bowled fantastically well, and when we work together as a unit that’s when we get our wickets. These wickets are for the unit, but personally, there are still a lot of areas I need to improve on and I’m well aware of that. I want to go for less runs, take more wickets and I’ve got a lot of work to do.”England’s day could well have gone a whole lot better, however, had Anderson been rewarded for a fine new-ball spell, in which Hussey survived two lbw appeals on 82 and 85, the first of which was overturned by the Umpire Decision Review System, before the second was left hanging as a plain not-out, after England had unsuccessfully used up their own appeals on day two.Finn admitted that the situation had been frustrating, especially after believing they had made such a key breakthrough in the third over of the day. But, he added, they had refused to let it derail them, despite how it might have appeared as they ended up going wicketless throughout the first two sessions.”It was a frustration that wasn’t going to affect our performance,” he said. “We realised we didn’t have any reviews left and so there was nothing we could do about it. We had to keep putting the ball in the right areas. When you’re in the huddle there and you think you’ve got the wicket, you’re over the moon and then it gets taken away. But if it gets you emotional then it takes you away from what you want to do and how you want to play the game.”It’s easy to look at things in retrospect, but we have to push forward,” he added. “We can only play what’s put in front of us. If those decisions had gone our way we’d be in a different position but it’s something we can’t look at. Those two guys played really well, they didn’t give us a chance, they rode their luck and survived the tough times, and that’s what it takes to score hundreds like that in Test cricket. That’s all we can look at.”Another distraction for England in the past three days has been the health of their coach, Andy Flower, who spent the day in hospital recovering from an operation to remove a cancerous melanoma from under his right eye. Finn, however, insisted that for the squad it had been business as usual, with Richard Halsall, the fielding coach, taking temporary charge.”I wouldn’t say it’s an upset,” he said. “Obviously we’re concerned about Andy, but he’s fine, he’s pulling through, but it hasn’t drawn anything away from what we’ve been doing as a team. We’ve got highly capable back-room staff who are filling in, and we’ve gelled together as a unit, and that helps us through times like this.”Despite the team’s predicament, Finn was sure that the two sides were far more evenly matched than the state of the game would suggest. “I think Test cricket ebbs and flows,” he said. “That’s the nature of the game and to say there is a gulf in class is grossly wrong because I think we’ve played some good, hard cricket these past few days. Australia are on top at the moment but the nature of the way we’ve played our cricket over the past 18 months will stand us in good stead in that dogfight.”

Pakistan’s four-wicket win at The Oval against England last summer has been part of the ICC’s investigation into spot-fixing allegations against three Pakistan players, it emerged in the Doha hearing

Osman Samiuddin in Doha11-Jan-2011Pakistan’s four-wicket win at The Oval against England last summer has been part of the ICC’s investigation into spot-fixing allegations against three Pakistan players, it emerged on Tuesday after the Doha hearing.The hearing, looking into allegations against Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, was widely thought to have revolved only around the final Test of that series, held at Lord’s. But a statement by Michael Beloff QC, the head of the anti-corruption tribunal hearing the case, revealed that the previous Test at The Oval was also under investigation.The very opening of Beloff’s statement caught most off-guard; “The tribunal has been constituted to determine charges against Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif brought under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code in relation to two Test matches played during August 2010 in the series between Pakistan and England, The Oval Test and the Lord’s Test.”But Beloff added that Amir and Asif have been acquitted of all charges relating to The Oval. One charge still stood, against Butt who was captain at the time. “The ICC has withdrawn all charges against the three players in relation to The Oval Test except for one against Mr Butt. The tribunal has formally acquitted the players in respect of the charges which have been withdrawn.”Neither the three-man tribunal nor the ICC gave details about the charges or incidents that were under investigation in the Oval Test. Until a report on the yesterday, in fact, it wasn’t public knowledge that The Oval Test was even under investigation.The , the tabloid that broke the story after an undercover sting operation, had, in fact, referred in its original report to a plan to bowl deliberate no-balls in The Oval Test which was eventually cancelled. There was another reference to a maiden over Butt was allegedly supposed to play out on one of the days. It is believed that it is the charges related to those incidents that have been under investigation.But it is believed that, in a bid to expedite a verdict against the three players, all the charges save one around The Oval Test, were dropped by the ICC’s lawyers during the hearing. The ICC was keen for the tribunal to announce verdicts against the three on Tuesday, the last day of the hearing, and believed that dropping charges, for which evidence is known to be insufficient, might achieve that.The news is a further blow for Butt, who as captain of the side was under particular scrutiny during the hearing. He spent a day and a half answering questions first from his lawyer, then the ICC’s lawyers as well as Asif’s lawyer – more than either Amir or Asif. In addition, the questioning of one witness by his own lawyer is thought to have hurt his case considerably. And differences between him and Asif are thought to have further worsened his case.The decision on the one charge against Butt relating to The Oval Test will also be announced on February 5, the date on which decisions concerning the Lord’s Test against all three are expected to finally be announced.Asif’s London-based lawyers released a statement expressing his delight at having been acquitted of all charges brought against him in relation to The Oval Test.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India has issued a show-cause notice to the Ten Cricket channel for violating advertising norms during the coverage of India’s tour of South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2011Ten Cricket has been asked to explain the violation of the Indian government’s advertising codes during its coverage of the recently concluded series between India and South Africa. Acting on complaints received by consumers, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of India sent a show-cause notice to the channel regarding the intrusive advertisements during live telecast.The channel, according to the government, has breached the advertising code which stipulates that the advertisement should be easily distinguishable from, and not interfere with, the programme.”A show-cause notice has been sent to Ten Cricket channel regarding the violation of Rule 7 (10) of the Advertising Code as prescribed in the Cable Television Networks Rules 1994 which provides ‘all advertisement should be clearly distinguishable from the programme and should not in any manner interfere with the programme viz, use of lower part of screen to carry captions, static or moving alongside the programme,'” Raghu Menon, the secretary of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry which formulates rules for broadcasting and advertising in the country, told ESPNcricinfo. “The ministry has received complaints about the advertisements interfering with the live telecast by using the sides, central and lower parts of the screen to carry the advertisements, thus reducing the visual frame of the main live telecast.”The channel has been asked to show cause within seven days of the notice as to why action in accordance with the provision of the Uplinking Guidelines and Section 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 should not be taken against it.”Ten Cricket – a 24-hour cricket channel – is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and was launched in August 2010. Among its recent cricket telecasts was Pakistan’s Test and limited-overs series in the UAE against South Africa and India’s full tour there which concluded earlier this month.When asked by Harsha Bhogle, during ESPNcricinfo’s fortnightly audio show , if the high prices of broadcasting rights were driving broadcasters to resort to intrusive advertising, Menon said: “Nobody’s really stopping a channel from advertising at the end of an over. When you have advertising exploding out of the ground in the middle of an over, that is terribly intrusive and I don’t think any viewer will appreciate that. That’s really carrying it a bit too far.”When a license is given to a broadcaster, for downlinking or uplinking or showing any programme, they are required to sign an agreement with the government and part of the agreement is that they will follow the program and advertising codes,” Menon said. “To that extent, they are walking into the business with their eyes open and they are required to follow it, otherwise it amounts to a violation of the laws of the land.”When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, Atul Pande, the CEO of Sports Business, ZEEL, said he would respond once he’d received the show-cause notice, but added there was a lot of pressure on TV channels to generate revenue through ad sales due to the high cost of broadcasting rights as well as low subscription prices paid by consumers.