All posts by csb10.top

Former cricket board President Thilanga Sumathipala has been barred from attending the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Executive Board meeting in London this week by Sri Lanka’s Attorney General.Last month, the Sports Minister appointed Sumathipala as an alternative representative to Hemaka Amarasuriya, the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) Chairman, despite Sumathipala not holding a formal position with the cricket board.The Minister’s unusual move (the BCCSL is normally represented at ICC Executive meetings by the BCCSL President or Chairman and the Chief Executive) drew intense criticism from the cricket board, eventually forcing five members of the ten-member interim administration and two selectors to resign in protest.However, the Attorney General was then forced to step in and prevent Sumathipala from representing the BCCSL after opponents drew attention to an unresolved legal injunction banning the former President from holding a position within the BCCSL.The BCCSL will now be represented by Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya, Chief Executive Anura Tennekoon and Marketing Director Jayantha Kudahetty in the meeting that runs from 24-28 June 2002.

NAIROBI – After 70,727 deliveries bowled metronomically off the samerun-up in top-class cricket, Glenn McGrath decided it was time for achange.Unfortunately for Kenya, the decision to shorten his run-up workedperfectly.McGrath was sensational as he took 3-8 off eight overs against thestartled Kenyans and was primarily responsible for their lowest total(84) since being allowed to play full one-day internationals.For years – in Tests, first-class matches, one-day internationals andlimited overs matches for NSW – McGrath has run in from his standardmark of 27 metres.That equates to almost 20,000 kilometres of running, not to mention theequivalent 20,000km of walking back to the top of his run.So it’s little wonder the world’s premier pace bowler was a bit tired ofit all and decided to shorten his run to 17 metres.”To be honest I haven’t been overly impressed with my run-up over thelast 12 months or so … I wasn’t hitting the crease as well as I havedone,” McGrath said after Australia made 2-85 to win the triangularseries match by eight wickets here on Monday.”I’ve had the same run-up since I started playing and I thought it wasabout time I had a change.”I didn’t expect to be trialling it in a match so soon but there was agreat opportunity in this game. I’d felt comfortable in the nets so awayI went.”My follow-through was much better and I had much more in reserve -hopefully as time goes by I’ll now be able to bowl longer spells.”Bowling off a shorter run also speeds up play in the one-day arena -especially with Australia currently using four pacemen – which will helpavoid problems with slow over rates.”With the shorter run-up in one-day game we get through our overs morequickly which gives us a bit more time (to make decisions) which isbetter for us,” he said.”This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while and I think I’ll stickat now and see how it goes.”While fast bowlers often shorten their runs towards the end of theircareers, young Aussie quick Brett Lee has also been cutting down whileJason Gillespie has been the prime mover to a more economical approachto the crease.”I thought it may have been a tad long for the last couple of seasons,and I’ve found I can get the same amount of pace and rhythm and alsomomentum off a shorter run,” Lee said.”Growing up, like a lot of young kids I probably thought – like a lot ofkids still do – that the faster you wanted to bowl, the longer yourrun-up had to be.”That’s totally not true, and Jason Gillespie’s proved that – he’s got avery short run and bowls at very good pace.”

With a 5-1 lead and one eye on the plane home, South Africa’s cricketers could be excused for taking preparations for the seventh and final one-day international against the West Indies a little easy. In fact, they have the perfect excuse – none of their training kit had arrived on the island by Monday night and practice was set to be little more than a chance for the players to familiarise themselves with the Arnos Vale ground and have perhaps the final touch rugby game of the tour.No matter how low key the preparations, the game will have particular significance for one member of the squad. On Wednesday, Jonty Rhodes will become the first South African to play in 200 One-Day Internationals.”I haven’t been big into milestones and statistics in my career and may be that’s a fault of mine,” Rhodes said as he relaxed on the beach outside the team hotel. “Maybe I wouldn’t have been left out of the Test side for a season and a half if I had a higher average.”Especially with a guy like Hansie around who was always going to play every game, it wasn’t as if I was ever going to be the most capped player. 200 was never really a milestone, the next World Cup is my goal. But there are 25 year-olds in the team who have already played 120 or 140 games – they’ll be playing 250 or 300, so it’s not that big a deal. I’m just grateful to have played 2, let alone 200.”I always thought through the years of sports isolation that I would end up like a Clive Rice or a Jimmy Cook or a Peter Kirsten, just playing county cricket and that was the extent of your international exposure,” Rhodes said.Rhodes admits his decision to retire from Test cricket has added an extra burden of pressure to perform when he pulls on his international colours these days. But if there were any doubts at all of the extra dimension he adds to the South Africa team, he has emphatically erased them since joining the tour in Jamaica a month ago.He is averaging comfortably over 50 with the bat and his standards in the field remain the highest in the world. A blinding catch to dismiss Chris Gayle in Jamaica and the match-winning run out of Brian Lara in Trinidad are only two of the highlights of a display which has had local fans and journalists alike slapping their thighs and exclaiming to the heavens in astonishment.Nothing short of the Arnos Vale ground slipping into the sea (which is not entirely impossible – it is perched between the airport runway and a palm-fringed beach!) would seem to be able to prevent Rhodes winning his 200th cap on Wednesday. Andre Nel is less likely to earn his second after pulling up lame during his impressive debut in Trinidad, but Boeta Dippenaar has made a full recovery from the twinge which forced him off the field in the same game.The desire to rotate roles within the side could also present JustinOntong with an opportunity to bat higher up the order – a chance snapped up by Justin Kemp in Trinidad whose 46 in a partnership of 92 with man of the match Neil McKenzie was the backbone of the South African effort.

The chairman of Pakistan cricket selectors Wasim Bari refused to sharethe blame for his team’s eight-wicket drubbing against Sri Lanka inthe Asian Test Championship final.The former Test wicket-keeper stressed his committee had picked thebest available 14 and left it upto the captain and the coach tofinalize the starting lineup.”The decision of playing or not playing Saqlain Mushtaq was entirelythe decision of team management. We named Saqlain in the 14 because wethought he was good and deserved a place,” he said, adding: “You areasking the wrong person reasons to omit Saqlain.”Pakistan were thoroughly thrashed by the Sri Lankans who dismissed thehome team for 234 and posted 528 in their turn. Had 328 minutes notwasted on the fourth day, the game would not have gone into the finalday.Bari, facing a barrage of questions, said his committee had pickedSaqlain as the only specialist spinner. But when asked in whatcapacity Shoaib Malik had been played, he said: “You should ask thecaptain or the coach. We selected Saqlain as the only specialistspinner while Shoaib was included in the 14 because of his previousmatch performance.”Shoaib had scored a century in the second One-day Internationalagainst the West Indies at Sharjah. He was preferred over Saqlain forthe Asian final that triggered a controversy.Bari also defended his panel’s decision to overlook Wasim Akram. Hesaid there was enough doubt in the selectors’ mind that the lefthander lacked fitness. “He hadn’t played enough cricket lately. But Imust stress here that Wasim is an integral component of our World Cupsquad.”To a question how Wasim will force his way in the Test squad asPakistan is to play at least seven One-day Internationals beforetaking on New Zealand in the first Test at Lahore from May 1, Barisaid: “I think he would have played enough cricket by then to confirmhis fitness.”Bari rested all the blame on the team for a poor performance at thecricket headquarters in Lahore. “If you score 234, then allow theopponents to score 528 aided by five spilled catches, you are alwayson the defensive. But as regards the 14 we picked, I think they werethe best.”There can be a difference of opinion on who should have played andagainst whom. But that’s for the team management to decide and ask.It’s not our cup of tea which team takes the field,” Bari said.Bari’s selected teams have lost the home series’ against Australia,Zimbabwe, England and now the Asian Test Championship final. But thestar wicket-keeper of yesteryears believes the defeats had more to dowith rifts and poor performances of the team than poor selection.”We lost to Australia and Zimbabwe because the captain [Aamir Sohail]and coach [Javed Miandad] were not on talking terms. There weredifferences between the two.”Against England, there was a batting collapse in the second inningsand then five catches were dropped. Similar was the case in the Asianfinal. I don’t think its because of poor selection that the teamslost,” he reiterated.The chief selector said the captain and the coach were given theoption of naming the starting lineup of their own choice because therewere grievances of the captains in the past that the players of theirliking were not being given a chance to play.Now there is criticism that the captain and the selector are notpicking the right players. I understand that there is personalityclash and egos involved [while the starting lineup is picked]. Butthat’s in our society,”I still believe that the captain should be given the powers to play ateam of his choice since he has a game-plan. What’s the point ofimposing a player on whom the captain has no confidence.”

Canterbury was forced to a third final tomorrow in its bid to retain the Shell Cup this summer after Central Districts took a 45-run win off it tonight at Jade Stadium in Christchurch.In only the second year of the best-of-three format, CD became the first side to beat Canterbury, and it did so in memorable fashion.Canterbury’s effort in chasing 174 to win was a calamity.Glen Sulzberger, who earlier this summer was despatched to Africa as a replacement player for the CLEAR Black Caps, was the star turn of the evening with bat, ball and in the field.CD coach Dipak Patel was full of praise for him.”His effort was outstanding. He did the inspirational things you look for in a game like this. He put his hand up tonight,” he said.CD could thank its last partnership for its success. Sulzberger and No 11 batsman Brent Hefford added 49 unlikely runs. Sulzberger was the last man out, in the penultimate over, when caught from Astle’s bowling for 43. Hefford’s effort resulted in 16 not out.”When I went out there were still half the overs left and when Heff came out there were still 15 overs left. I wanted to bat as long as I could and to face as many balls as possible,” Sulzberger said.”While there were times when I turned down runs, I knew that if we stayed there we could afford not to take those runs.”Luckily we hit a few boundaries towards the end.”We were talking all the time. I was mainly impressing on him that he couldn’t get out then as he got his confidence he was much happier about facing more of the bowling.”It just goes to show what you can do when you do the small things right,” he said.Sulzberger said the side’s batting has been a little bit of a worry this season but the players knew that if they had scored the runs in the first game they could have been 2-0 up and holding the Shell Cup already.He rated picking up Doody’s wicket with his first ball a highlight because it put pressure on the other batsmen.”There was always the Chris Harris factor. He was in a position where he had to be there at the end, and that put pressure on the other batsmen as well. Things worked in our favour and I picked up three. That’s the first time I’ve got three in a Cup game so it was nice to get them in a final.”The most pleasing thing was the whole team fought right to the end. We didn’t give it away.”It was a case of the shoe being on the other foot from the first final in Napier. On that occasion CD was left lamenting its chance when chasing and missing out by 13 runs. Canterbury produced a superb bowling and fielding effort in defence of its total then.CD repeated the dose tonight and could claim to have done it even better.However, Canterbury would have due cause to debate the dismissal of wicket-keeper Gareth Hopkins. CD bowler Andrew Schwass was certain he had Hopkins edging a catch to wicket-keeper Bevan Griggs.Griggs seemed to have to think about it before joining the appeal. Umpire Billy Bowden shook his head as if dismissing the appeal. Schwass was disappointed to have the appeal declined and then looked up again to see Bowden with his finger crooked and the batsman given out.Brad Doody looked as if he was going to play the big innings Canterbury needed to assure itself of the win. He played with a confidence none of the other batsmen managed, much in the same way that Ben Smith showed for CD while scoring 35.However, he succumbed to Sulzberger’s first ball of the innings. He was caught at the wicket by Griggs standing up.Earlier, Nathan Astle was out for a duck, a score repeated by fellow CLEAR Black Cap Craig McMillan, although McMillan was out to the first ball he faced.Canterbury tempted the fate often suffered by those who change their batting order around. Stephen Cunis, who came in at No 3, did what was required of him by scoring 24 by chancing his arm. He gave the momentum to the innings that was required, but the work was undone immediately with McMillan’s dismissal.Gary Stead, who can usually be relied upon to graft his way out of trouble, was out for two when turning a ball from Brent Hefford to square leg where Smith took it with delight.Again it was Chris Harris who refused to follow the trend and who kept the hopes of a good-sized crowd alive.Earlier, Stephen Cunis unleashed an inspired spell of bowling to pick up the wickets of Mathew Sinclair for 19, Smith and Jacob Oram for one. His nine overs resulted in 3-26.Patel felt the side could win the game even with their low score.”At the tea break Jacob [Oram-captain] came up to me and said he thought 180 would have been a good total.”So we knew that if we bowled as well as we have in our earlier games, and got some early wickets, we could do it,” he said.What was especially pleasing was the fact the side had shown great patience, especially when Chris Harris was looking as if he might do the job and drag Canterbury back up.”The captaincy of Jacob Oram was tremendous under the pressure,” Patel said.The side had not bowed to all the media talk which installed CD as the underdog, a situation which would leave it vulnerable on Jade Stadium and in front of a parochial Canterbury crowd.”The guys showed the character required to be competitive at this level.”We out-played them today,” Patel said.

St Vincent prime minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has made a personal plea in a bid to get West Indies fast bowler Cameron Cuffy his job back.Cuffy was among 41 employees dismissed last Friday by West Indies cricket sponsors Cable & Wireless.Gonsalves believes Cuffy is a special case and has spoken and written to Ian Kyle, general manager of Cable & Wireless operations on St Vincent, requesting a review of Cuffy’s dismissal.Quoting from his letter, Gonsalves said: “As you are aware, Cuffy is a treasured national of St Vincent & the Grenadines and an exemplary son of our Caribbean civilisation who has brought much glory to our people in the field of cricket.”He is currently a member of the West Indies Test cricket squad, he has wornyour company’s logo with pride on the field of play nationally, regionally andinternationally to the enormous credit of your company”Surely, if your company finds that it is unable to retain Cuffy in hiscurrent job as a survey officer in the technical department, an appropriateposting possibly relating to sports development in your company and the countrycould be found,” he suggested.”Let us face it, Cuffy is a special individual deserving of specialtreatment. It is for this reason that I have intervened specifically on hisbehalf,” Gonsalves explained.Cuffy, 31, is now a goodwill ambassador for St Vincent & the Grenadines.

Tim Bresnan said that Kevin Pietersen’s return for his first England appearance in almost three months, after a destabilising episode that threatened to see the batsman cast into the international wilderness, was no different to having a player come back into the side following an injury.Pietersen was part of the England XI taking on India A in a three-day tour match and took a catch off Bresnan’s bowling to help remove Ajinkya Rahane in the first session. Pietersen last featured for England in the second Test against South Africa at Headingley at the start of August but Bresnan described his team-mate as the “same old Kev” and said it was good to have him back.”For the lads it’s nothing different to having a player come back to the squad who has been missing for a while,” Bresnan said. “There’s not been much made of it. Everyone in the know of what’s being going on, they’ve sat down and spoke about things and I guess a few of the senior players have spoken, but for the rest of the boys it’s pretty much been like having someone who’s been injured come back in the side, it’s not been exceptionally different.”It’s been the same old Kev. The energy in the field he showed today, all day, it was just Kev to be honest. It’s been good.”Despite losing Steven Finn to a thigh problem early in the day, England’s bowlers made regular breakthroughs after being asked to bowl in their first tour outing. Bresnan was the pick of the attack, with 3 for 59, while Graeme Swann also picked up three wickets as India A closed on 369 for 9, Manoj Tiwary top-scoring with 93.”Overs under the belt is key in warm-up games, especially when we’re playing Twenty20 cricket for quite a spell over the last month or so,” Bresnan said. “So definitely, get a day out there, get a day in the legs, a day in the field.Tim Bresnan was England’s most successful bowler on day one against India A•AFP

“You can get value for your shots out there, if it’s past the infield, it’s pretty much four. There’s not much margin for error short or full so I think that’s a bit of rustiness but you expect that first day out.”They played nicely, Tiwary played lovely but it seems like a nice wicket to bat on and obviously we’ll know more after we have a go on it but it wasn’t doing particularly much. And they dug in for a partnership when the going was good so that’s part of what cricket’s about.”The biggest stand of the day came when Tiwary put on 110 with Irfan Pathan for the seventh wicket. Tiwary was eventually the eighth man out, the first of two in two deliveries for Bresnan, who said that he had enjoyed bowling with the SG ball. “We’ve been using them a bit in Dubai the last couple of day,” he said. “I like the balls here, they’re nice to bowl with, swing a bit early on and reverse a bit later on, the spinners like them. It’s a lot like a Dukes, but not a Dukes.”

Rangana Herath will not be allowed to participate in the Champions League Twenty20 despite having travelled to India with the Kandurata Maroons, because he was not part of the Kandurata squad in the Super Fours domestic tournament, the Champions League technical committee has ruled.”Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that Rangana Herath’s inclusion as a replacement to Injured Dhammika Prasad has been rejected by the Technical Committee of CLT 20, due to the fact that the technical committee was not convinced that Rangana Herath was in the original squad of the Kandurata Maroons,” an SLC statement said.Herath did not play for any of the teams during the Super Fours tournament, but in an SLC release on August 8, he had been named in the Uthura Yellows squad. He was not part of Kandurata’s original 15 to travel to India, but had been a last-minute inclusion after fast bowler Dhammika Prasad picked up an injury.Kandurata are yet to name an official replacement for Prasad. The team lost their first match in the tournament qualifiers by eight wickets.However, South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who was registered as a Dolphins player at the time of South Africa’s domestic Twenty20 competition, is currently in India as part of the Lions squad. He switched over to Lions in May, after the domestic season ended.

Test cricket will continue to await its first day-night encounter after Sri Lanka’s team management declined Pakistan’s proposal to play a day-night Test during their year-end tour to the UAE. Sri Lanka Cricket cited its players’ lack of practice with the pink ball as the source of their reluctance.”Since the national team players have not practiced under lights and with the new pink ball, the executive committee decided to stand by the decision taken by the national team management, to inform PCB that SLC is not willing to play a day-night Test match as requested by PCB,” a SLC release said.SLC president, Jayantha Dharmadasa, had been positively disposed to the idea of Sri Lanka being part of the first day-night Test, but others closer to the team had strong reservations. The series against Pakistan will be Sri Lanka’s first Test outing against a top-eight opposition in almost a year, and SLC’s decision is understood to have also been influenced by their desire to safeguard their team’s chances in an important series.PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar had told ESPNcricinfo that the PCB’s interest in pioneering day-night Tests was grounded in an attempt to revive interest in the longest format. “The major aspect in our discussion with SLC is the correspondence on the colour and brand of the ball. The venues are definitely ideal and there is no dew factor involved in December and January,” Sarwar had said.MCC has trialled day-night first-class matches, with a view to fine-tuning the colour and characteristics of the ball in order to make it fit for international cricket. Day-night Tests are not only likely to stoke viewer interest in the format, but as a result, the matches are also expected to be more lucrative for broadcasters and advertisers. Last year, the ICC approved day-night Tests, but left it to member boards to agree on the hours of play, and the colour and brand of the ball. Only the PCB has so far shown interest in playing day-night Tests. It has also experimented with day-night long-form cricket twice by playing the first-class Quaid-e-Azam trophy final in January 2011 and December 2011 under lights with an orange ball.Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan begins in December, and comprises of two Twenty20s, five ODIs and three Tests. Either Abu Dhabi or Dubai would have hosted the day-night Test, if SLC had agreed to it.

England have rested Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad for the ODI series against Australia after their involvement in the 3-0 Ashes victory. In Cook’s absence, Eoin Morgan will captain the side. Kevin Pietersen, who returned from a knee injury shortly before the Test series, is also included in the 14-man squad.England will play five ODIs against Australia after a one-off fixture against Ireland next Tuesday. Pietersen, Joe Root and Jonathan Trott will not travel to Dublin for that match, during which Morgan will again lead the side.Chris Jordan and Jamie Overton receive senior call-ups for the first time, while Michael Carberry, capped once previously in Tests, is now in both limited-overs squads. Boyd Rankin, the former Ireland fast bowler who made his England debut during the T20 series against New Zealand earlier in the summer, and Luke Wright, whose last ODI appearance came during the 2011 World Cup, are also included.Gary Ballance, Danny Briggs and James Taylor are the three players replacing Pietersen, Root and Trott in the 14 to take on Ireland, with Yorkshire batsman Ballance in line for a potential debut. In all, five players yet to play ODIs for England have been included.Of the XI who played in England’s defeat to India in the Champions Trophy final in June, five will be missing against Australia – in addition to Cook, Bell, Broad and Anderson, Tim Bresnan is absent through injury. Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes, who were part of the Champions Trophy squad, have also been omitted, possibly to allow them more red-ball cricket with their counties during the Championship run-in.”Following a very intense period of cricket this summer we have decided to rest a number of senior players, which will allow them to recover from a heavy workload over the last three months and to prepare for the tour of Australia which begins in eight weeks,” England’s national selector, Geoff Miller, said.”This creates an excellent opportunity for players who have impressed in county cricket and for England Lions recently to test themselves at international level as we continue to build a squad ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup, which is less than 18 months away. There are a number of very experienced one-day players in the squad alongside players who are new to international cricket and we are expecting a very tough challenge both from a strong Ireland side and then from Australia in what will no doubt be a very competitive NatWest series.”Pietersen has been included despite saying during the Test series that he would have to manage his knee for the rest of his career. He didn’t play for three months after suffering bruising to the joint on the tour of New Zealand. His last ODI appearance came in January, during the ODI series in India, and he has been carefully looked after by England since briefly retiring from limited-overs cricket last year.Without their established openers Cook and Bell, Carberry looks set for a first ODI appearance after a summer of heavy scoring for Hampshire. He could be partnered by Root, who has spent his one-day career to date in the middle order. Despite the struggles that led to him being dropped from the Test side, Steven Finn will be the senior fast bowler in an inexperienced attack, with James Tredwell continuing to deputise for Swann and Jos Buttler retaining the wicketkeeping gloves.Ashley Giles, England’s limited-overs coach, has plenty of in-form players to look at as he begins to shape plans for the 2015 World Cup. Wright, who made his highest List A score – 143 not out from 68 balls – when captaining England Lions against Bangladesh A, has hit four centuries in his last ten innings in all formats; Ballance has made scores of 104, 115 and 87 in three knocks for the Lions; while Sussex allrounder Jordan, the first player to take 50 Championship wickets this season, claimed 4 for 38 on his Lions debut last week.Morgan, meanwhile, hit 90 for Middlesex in the YB40 on Monday, his first half-century since returning from a broken finger that required surgery after the T20s against New Zealand in June. Buttler and Ravi Bopara also played significant innings for their counties over the Bank Holiday weekend.England squad to play Ireland: Eoin Morgan (capt), Gary Ballance, Ravi Bopara, Danny Briggs, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Steven Finn, Chris Jordan, Jamie Overton, Boyd Rankin, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Luke Wright.England squad to play Australia: Eoin Morgan (capt), Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Michael Carberry, Steven Finn, Chris Jordan, Jamie Overton, Kevin Pietersen, Boyd Rankin, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright.