Category Uncategorized

Suicidal jump of the day
Batsmen are instructed to get in the way of the ball while running between thewickets; Misbah-ul-Haq made all the right moves before blowing a fuse at the lastmoment. Patting to point, he took off for a quick single and just needed to groundhis bat at the non-striker’s end when he chose to jump and evade the throw instead.Dinesh Karthik’s effort from point found its way onto the stumps and Misbah was out when inmid-air.Suicidal second run of the day
Meanwhile batsmen are also better off not running after slipping at the crease.Sachin Tendulkar completed a single and took off for the second, despite losing hisfooting at the crease. In fact he seemed more intent on the run after slipping thanbefore it. The throw was on target and Tendulkar, sent back by Rahul Dravid, foundhimself a few inches short.One an airplane, another a stoic
Shoaib Akhtar should have had Wasim Jaffer in the first over of the innings, leg-before toa speedy one that angled in, but had to wait till the 22nd over before he could geta positive response. Off he went in an airplane impersonation, ecstatic that hisfine spell had finally got a reward. His opening partner, Sohail Tanvir, though,doesn’t do expressions. After dismissing two batsmen with far greater records, withdeliveries that arced in at a menacing angle, he dead-panned his way to histeam-mates and looked the most serious of the lot.Tactic of the day
Mahendra Singh Dhoni thought it best to come down the track to counter Tanvir’sswing. It had worked in the one-dayers and Dhoni felt it best to do the same here.It tempted Tanvir to try a few short ones but Dhoni was behind the line to those,blocking with purpose. He somewhat miscalculated a charge against Danish Kaneria,though, missing a legbreak that had him nick one to the wicketkeeper.Warning of the day
The authorities at the Feroz Shah Kotla are obviously wary about poor crowdbehaviour. “Spectators are reminded that racially abusive comments and action willresult in ejection,” said a couple of boards in the Wing A side of the ground.

David Byas has left his post as Yorkshire’s director of cricket by mutual consent after weeks of discussions with the board, ending a 20-year association with the club.It is the second administrative hiccup for Yorkshire this winter following the muddle with Chris Adams. The Sussex captain, who this year led his side to the Championship and the C&G Trophy, agreed to move north to skipper Yorkshire and become their director of Pro-cricket. It pushed Byas out of a job but, when Adams performed a rapid u-turn two weeks later and announced he was staying with Sussex, Byas was left pondering his options.”The club would like to thank David for his service to Yorkshire,” Stewart Regan, the Yorkshire chief executive said in a statement. “Under his leadership the club were promoted to the first division of the County Championship in 2005. He has also overseen the development of a number of the county’s emerging prospects.”Yorkshire have no one in line to replace Byas, with the current coaching staff covering until a replacement is found.”The club is going through a major change process both on and off the field,” the statement continued, “and both David and the club agree that it is time for a new structure.”

The departure of their impressive international contingent has forced New South Wales to make a string of changes to the Pura and ING Cup squads for matches against Western Australia in Perth. Aaron Bird, Ed Cowan, Grant Lambert and Matthew Phelps have been added to both outfits while Matthew Nicholson, Aaron O’Brien and Doug Bollinger were included in the Pura Cup unit.Greg Mail, the batsman, was dropped following the comfortable four-day win over South Australia at the SCG last week while Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken and Stuart MacGill will be in Brisbane for the first Test. The Blues play a day-night match at the WACA on Friday before the Pura Cup game begins on Sunday.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Matthew Phelps, Corey Richards, Dominic Thornely, Ed Cowan, Brad Haddin (capt, wk), Aaron O’Brien, Grant Lambert, Stuart Clark, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger.

Scorecard
New Zealand women, also called the White Ferns, kicked off their tour of Ireland and England with a comfortable 200-run win over Ireland at Trinity College in Dublin. The New Zealanders are scheduled to play three warm-up matches against Ireland before taking on England.The New Zealand openers, Rebecca Rolls and Maria Fahey, justified their captain’s decision to bat first by adding 96 and helped themselves to half-centuries. Rolls fell for 50, bowled by the offspinner Mirian Grearley, while Fahey completed her fourth half-century in ten innings before being dismissed for 66. Fahey added 69 for the second wicket with Haidee Tiffen.Maia Lewis, the captain, and Sarah McGlashan finished with a flourish as they added 112, just four short of the New Zealand record. Lewis, who had prepared for the tour by getting some batting instruction from Roger Twose, scored 63 off 56 balls, which included a six. McGlashan finished on a breezy 31, and New Zealand ended with a mammoth 278.Ireland were never in with a chance and folded for just 78 in 36.1 overs. Louise Milliken, the medium-pacer, took 3 for 14 and achieved her best figures in one-dayers. Rebecca Steele, the left-arm spinner, finished with 2 for 6.

England’s hopes of having Andrew Flintoff back in the team for the second Test, against Zimbabwe at Durham, have been dealt a blow with news that he could be out of action for a further two weeks.Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, would have faced a tough decision whether to play a fit Flintoff instead of Anthony McGrath – one of the heroes from Lord’s – but it’s a call he would have welcomed: “If he comes through any time earlier than that then it’s a great advantage to us.”However, Flintoff – who continues treatment for his injured shoulder at Lancashire – was in a positive mood: “If the injury keeps improving like it has done then hopefully I won’t be out for too long.” He added, “I have not ruled myself out of anything yet and I will keep with the treatment and see how it progresses.”And he insisted he could be back earlier than diagnosed: “It is really hard to put a time-span on when I am going to return but it has improved tremendously. I have got a lot more movement in my shoulder than I did have so that is very positive.”McGrath will undergo a scan on Tuesday (May 27) on his strained side but is expected to be fit ahead of the naming of England’s one-day squad.Meanwhile, the England selectors will be keeping their eye on the progress of Darren Gough – another player feeling his was back from injury. Gough, who said he hoped to play in the second Test on June 5, played in Yorkshire’s National League game against Glamorgan at the weekend. He bowled six overs at 32 runs, and didn’t take any wickets, as Yorkshire went down by four wickets.

Barbadian off-spinner Ryan Austin is in the side for the third andfinal four-day Under-19 Test against Young England, starting today, atthe Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street, Durham.West Indies coach Gus Logie confirmed that Austin would be draftedinto the squad, as West Indies were now struggling to hold on withjust 12 of the 15-member party fit to play.The other Bajan in the touring party, Patrick Browne, has notrecovered from a leg injury sustained in the first Test, and fastbowlers Andrew Richardson, of Jamaica, and Guyanese Rayon Thomas havealso been ruled out with stress fractures of the back and foot,respectively.Austin has been bowling well without much success, but he was verygood in the One-Day matches. He will be looking forward to playing inthe final `Test’, and that will give him a very good opportunity,Logie said.The injuries to Thomas and Richardson left the West Indies with justtwo fit pacers: Jermaine Lawson of Jamaica and Vincentian left-armerKenroy Peters.These were both rested for the three-day match against EnglandUnder-18 at Durham University, where prolific opener Devon Smith hithis second century of the tour in the drawn match. He hit 54 in thefirst innings.We don’t have many choices. We will have to play two spinners, comewhat may, and this will put us under pressure, because we’re not awareof the surface we’ll encounter, Logie said.Durham is known to be a seamer-friendly pitch, and the West Indiesbatsmen will have to do most of the work, if they are to protect their1-0 lead in the three-match series.It will be up to the batsmen to perform well again, but the guys haveresponded well. They are very eager, and focused on the job at hand,the former West Indies vice-captain added.Meanwhile England have strengthened their side with the inclusion ofbatsman Nicky Peng, and keeper Matt Prior, who were both named in anelite group of 15 of the country best Under-23 players.The pair played in the first Test but missed the second one due tocounty duties.England team: Kadeer Ali, Ian Bell, James Anderson, JustinBishop, Kyle Hogg, Monty Panesar, Nicky Peng, Gary Pratt, Matt Prior,Joe Sayers, Bilal Shafayat, James Tredwell, Tim Boon (coach), NeilFoster (assistant coach).

England will play a Test in Sharjah for the first time after the schedule for their tour of UAE to face Pakistan in October and November was confirmed. The team will fly out to the Middle East just two weeks after the one-day series against Australia concludes.The trip will include three Tests, which begins on October 13 in Abu Dhabi, followed by matches in Dubai and Sharjah. The Tests will be followed by four ODIs from November 11 to 20, before the tour concludes with a three-match T20 series held between November 26 and 30.The confirmation of the tour schedule had faced delay due to tensions created by the links between Ten Sports, the host broadcaster, and the Essel Group, which has threatened to form a breakaway international league. ESPNcricinfo understands that pressure had been applied by the BCCI on other cricket boards not to play any series in which Ten Sports are the host broadcaster after the PCB recently signed a five-year deal with them.On England’s previous visit to UAE to play Pakistan – during which Pakistan whitewashed the Test series 3-0 but lost both the ODI and T20 contests – the internationals were split between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but Sharjah returned as a Test venue in November 2011, nine years after it had previously hosted matches, and has since hosted matches involving Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

England tour of UAE

September 30, England depart
Oct 5-6, Pakistan A, Sharjah
Oct 8-9, Pakistan A, Sharjah
Oct 13-17, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
Oct 22-26, 2nd Test, Dubai
Nov 1-5, 3rd Test, Sharjah
Nov 8, one-day practice match, Abu Dhabi
Nov 11, 1st ODI, Abu Dhabi
Nov 13, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
Nov 17, 3rd ODI, Sharjah
Nov 20, 4th ODI, Dubai
Nov 23, T20 v UAE XI, Abu Dhabi
Nov 26, 1st T20, Dubai
Nov 27, 2nd T20, Dubai
Nov 30, 3rd T20, Sharjah

The last time England played an international at the venue was during a triangular series in 1999 which formed an odd build-up to that year’s World Cup, which was held in England. On this tour, they will also play an ODI and a T20 at the ground.The tour will be Trevor Bayliss’ first overseas assignment with England and one of his main challenges will be to try and ensure his team do not flounder against spin as they did on the previous trip in early 2012. England, who were the No. 1 ranked Test team at the time, were flummoxed by the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman as the pair shared 43 wickets across the three Tests.England may not face either on this trip – Ajmal has not played Test cricket since returning from remodelling his bowling action and is currently not involved in any format for Pakistan, while Rehman has not played internationals for a year – but the current spinners, legspinner Yasir Shah and left-armer Zulfiqar Babar, have enjoyed considerable success.The pair caused Australia significant problems in the series in the UAE last year. Yasir, in particular, has 61 wickets in 10 Tests after claiming 24 at 19.33 in the recent series in Sri Lanka.Following the conclusion of the tour, England will return home for a short period before leaving for South Africa – another full tour which includes four Tests, five ODIs and two T20s. That will be followed by the World Twenty20 in India during March.England’s red-ball and white-ball teams have now diverged to such a point that there are very few players that appear in all formats, but the likes of Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and perhaps Moeen Ali could be expected to be first choice for Tests, ODIs and T20s, and may require careful handling from the management.

Australia’s captain Steven Smith admits it will be difficult to fit Usman Khawaja into Australia’s limited-overs teams despite his dominant recent performances across all formats of the game.Khawaja’s unbeaten century in Adelaide on Thursday night, to guide the Sydney Thunder into their first Big Bash League final appearance, was the latest standout innings in a summer of many. Since a tour match against a New Zealand XI in Canberra in October his scores across all forms have been 111*, 21, 11, 174, 9*, 121, 109*, 144, 56, 62 and 104*.Smith spoke glowingly of the way Khawaja was playing, and noted that he had also improved greatly in terms of areas like fielding and running between the wickets, two skills considered even more pivotal in ODIs and Twenty20 matches than Tests. However he pointed to a strong and settled 50-over batting line-up as evidence that Khawaja will be difficult to accommodate, even in his current form.”He has certainly got the capabilities to be able to play for Australia in those formats,” Smith said. “It’s a very tough side to break into at the moment, we’re playing some very good cricket as it is, we’re up 4-0 in this series. I’m sure if he does get an opportunity he’ll take it with both hands.”I think he’s continually improving and working on those parts of the game. Fielding’s very important for an Australian team, we hold ourselves to very high standards and he works extremely hard on it, so hopefully he can continue getting better at it, but he’s going okay at the moment.”I thought he batted beautifully again last night, it was great to see him score another hundred and get another Sydney side into the Big Bash final. If he comes in and gets an opportunity, I’ll see where he’s best suited. I think the order’s pretty settled at the moment, so we’ll wait and see how that all pans out.”One circumstance that may allow Khawaja to squeeze into the Australian limited-overs batting order is a schedule that does not allow any room for a first-class warm-up fixture before the looming Test series in New Zealand. Cricket Australia have scheduled a Sheffield Shield match between New South Wales and Western Australia in Lincoln near Christchurch as a way of providing some preparation, however Khawaja’s status as a Queensland cricketer means his best avenue may be to play in the ODIs that precede the Tests.A fellow Queenslander, the opener Joe Burns, is in a similar predicament, and the team performance manager Pat Howard has suggested there is a possibility of changing the ODI squad with an eye towards the New Zealand Tests. Smith, however, appeared to need further convincing about this concept.”I’m not sure about that,” Smith said. “NSW and WA are playing a Shield game in New Zealand as well, so everyone’s been playing a lot of cricket, the conditions aren’t too dissimilar to what we get here if the wicket’s got a bit of grass on it, and guys are playing plenty of cricket, so I think we’ll be plenty prepared for that tour.”As far as I’m concerned I want to win every series we play. It’s another opportunity for guys to play away from home as well. We’ve been playing some very good cricket at home and I want to win another one-day series away. Its about having the best guys on deck to do that.”Nevertheless, Smith has already made one concession towards future assignments by promoting the allrounder Mitchell Marsh to bat at No. 3 against India at Manuka Oval in order to grant him time in the middle. Other such compromises may yet be required if the likes of Khawaja are to be given their best chance of succeeding in New Zealand, a series that offers Australia the chance of pouching the No. 1 Test ranking.”It was about giving Mitchell a bat,” Smith said of Marsh. “He hasn’t had much of a bat this summer, we’ve got some big series coming up in New Zealand, so I would’ve liked him to spend some time in the middle. For us going forward it’s just about trying to win games and it’s whatever the best line-up is to win a game.”Glenn Maxwell is a doubtful starter for Saturday’s final ODI due to knee soreness after he sustained a knock while batting in Canberra, meaning the selectors will have a choice between Scott Boland and Shaun Marsh for the final spot in the hosts’ XI.

Ben Hilfenhaus, the Tasmania fast bowler, has been drafted into Australia’s squad for the first Test after Shaun Tait’s elbow injury flared in his Pura Cup return. Tait had an elbow operation in May and the recovery prevented him from touring South Africa and India with the one-day sides before the latest bout of pain.Alex Kountouris, the Australia physio, described the injury as a minor setback, but Tait’s series of problems is a worry for Australia ahead of a busy home season that starts with the Test against Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Thursday. Tait developed the right-elbow soreness while playing in South Australia’s loss to Tasmania, where Hilfenhaus picked up three wickets.Hilfenhaus, who is capable of high-speed outswing, was the form domestic bowler in 2006-07 with 60 wickets at 25.30 and he was rewarded with Tait’s spot on the limited-overs trips. “Ben richly deserves his opportunity after a magnificent Pura Cup season last year,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “He also impressed all with his involvement around the Australian squad in the one-day international series in India.”Hilfenhaus played in the Twenty20 match in Mumbai and will need an injury to one of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark or Mitchell Johnson to catapult into the starting XI. However, he will continue his grooming as a capable replacement when the inevitable injuries hit as Australia embark on a crammed campaign, starting with six home Tests followed by tours to Pakistan and the West Indies.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Match package
Bulletin – South Africa complete whitewash
Verdict – Pollock defies the critics
Quotes – ‘We haven’t come to grips with the conditions’ – Chappell
Quotes – ‘Our bowlers were fantastic’ – Smith
Short cuts – AB’s blast and a good-luck message
Stats – Smith gets out of a rut
News – Indian fan taken into custody
Audio – Ravi Shastri – There was just one team on the park
GalleryPreview package
Preview – India face a test of character
News – Slings, arrows and the short stuff