All posts by csb10.top

Rajesh Sharma’s career in cricket has been put on hold, at leasttemporarily. Cricinfo had earlier reported that the Punjab offspinner’s actionhad been reported to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on twoseparate occasions, something which the chairman of the Punjab selectioncommittee then claimed to have no knowledge of. All that has changed.”We have asked the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) not to select him for thefinal Ranji match of the season,” Niranjan Shah, secretary of the BCCI,said. “He was reported two times and there is a danger of him being calledin a match. It is better this way [than him being called in a match].”There was some confusion over how the Sharma case would move forward afterhe was reported for a suspect action, first in the final of the DuleepTrophy, and then in Punjab’s Ranji Trophy match against Maharashtra.”We do not want any bowler with suspect action playing domestic cricket,”said Shah. “Now we will send him to the NCA [National Cricket Academy] for him to reviewed by the bowling review committee, of which Shivlal Yadav is a part.” Yadav will provide technical assistance to Sharma in an attempt to straighten out the kink in his action.When asked if the board was being more pro-active with issues such asthese, Shah said he did not see any harm in what the BCCI was doing. “Theboard has to take an active role,” he said. “There has to be communicationbetween the board and the players and others. We have to let them knowwhat we are thinking. After all the board runs cricket, and the attentionof people and media is so high.”At the same time Shah did not give much credence to suggestions that hewas growing in stature as his term of office unfolded, and that he wasbeing more assertive in his role as secretary as he gained experience. “Ihave to follow the policy of the board. I speak to all my colleagues andtake their opinions on any issue,” he said. “I think I now have enoughexperience [in administration] and that counts. I’m lucky to have apresident like Sharad Pawar who gives me the freedom to do my work.”In the past there have been numerous cases of players being reported forsuspect actions in domestic cricket, by umpires and match referees, butthis is one of the few times any concrete steps have been taken to remedythe problem.

India and Sri Lanka have been fined for slow over-rates during their CB Series match in Adelaide on Tuesday. Jeff Crowe, the match referee, imposed the fines after the two sides were found to be one and two overs short of their targets, respectively, when when time allowances were taken into consideration.In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct regulations governing over-rate penalties, players are fined 5% their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was fined 10% of his match fee, with each of his team-mates receiving 5% fines. Mahela Jayawardene was fined 20% and the rest of his players 10% of their match fees.”The over-rates for all teams in this series so far have been pedestrian at times with teams failing to complete their full quota of overs in the stipulated time on several occasions,” said Crowe. “Allowances and early finishes have meant players have been fortunate to escape fines in previous matches and this is an area that all the sides need to give further attention to and improve upon.

No venue shift for Bangalore
The Bangalore Royal Challengers’ match against the Rajasthan Royals on Saturday will go ahead as scheduled after Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, refused their request to shift the match in light of yesterday’s serial bomb blasts in Jaipur, which killed about 60 people. “We cannot do that [shift the venue]. The match will go ahead as scheduled in Jaipur on Saturday,” Modi told Cricinfo, adding that additional security will be provided at the team hotels and the Sawai Mansingh stadium, the match venue.Laxman backs under-fire Dravid
VVS Laxman has firmly backed Rahul Dravid, his India team-mate and Indian Premier League rival, whose Bangalore team is in the middle of a torrid run. “For sure, Rahul is a good captain,” Laxman, told Cricinfo. “Even if you see the games Rahul’s team have lost, some of them were very close. If they had won those, no questions would have been raised about his captaincy. I am sure he will bounce back because I know he is a very tough character.”Kolkata’s poor time management skills
The Kolkata Knight Riders have been handed US$1000 fine by Talat Ali for maintaining a slow over-rate during their match against the Delhi Daredevils, the third time in as matches that they have been rapped for the offense. The IPL’s regulations state that a team will be fined $500 for each slow over. Ali had leveled a similar fine on them after their match against the Deccan Chargers, prior to which they incurred a $500 fine after facing the Bangalore Royal Challengers on May 8.

Johnny Hayes, who made 15 Test appearances for New Zealand as a fast bowler in the 1950s, has died at the age of 80.A tall right-arm bowler who on his day was genuinely quick, Hayes toured England under Walter Hadlee in 1949 but sustained a groin strain which meant he was a virtual passenger for much of the trip. His Test debut eventually came against England in 1950-51 and the following season he produced possibly his best single burst when he removed Gomez, Walcott and Worrell in eight balls against West Indies.In 1955-56 he toured India and Pakistan with success, taking 35 wickets at 32.11 in first-class games where he used the new ball with skill. He was less penetrative in the Tests, his 13 wickets in six outings costing 46.61.He made a second trip to England in 1958 where he took 62 wickets, including 11 against the MCC at Lord’s. The New Zealand side was widely regarded as one of the worst to tour overseas and Hayes struggled in the four Tests with only six wickets. The bulk of those came in England’s only innings at Lord’s where Hayes took his Test-best 4 for 36.In all first-class cricket he took 292 wickets, playing his domestic cricket for Auckland and Canterbury.After retiring from cricket in 1961, he worked in an import-export business and was Morocco’s honorary consul-general in New Zealand until his retirement in 2004.

Lawyers working for the Indian Cricket League are believed to be preparing the ground to file lawsuits against the ECB, following yesterday’s news that five ICL players were refused registration by the England board.The five players – Justin Kemp, Hamish Marshall, Johan van der Wath, Wavell Hinds and Andrew Hall – were all refused by a rule which requires non-England players not to have played for their home countries in the past 12 months. The ECB seem confident that they are on a firm legal footing but, privately, the ICL believe they have a very strong case for a ‘restraint of trade’ suit.”Our clients are taking this extremely seriously,” a lawyer representing the ICL told the , “and we will be supporting them. They find themselves in a nightmare situation where they have signed a contract with the counties in good faith and now they are not allowed to play.”The counties themselves are unlikely to take action against the ECB; most have seen this situation coming for months. The worst situation for all, though, is if the players take action against the counties themselves; if the counties lose, the ECB would have to bail them out. Where this leaves the likes of Marshall, who turned his back on New Zealand and is now effectively unemployed, is unclear.These five players won’t be the last; the ECB are expecting another raft of applications which will only intensify the pressure on both the counties and the board, not to mention increase the ICL’s belief that their legal case for action is solid. The Professional Cricketers Assocation (PCA) announced two weeks ago that it would step in to help the players better understand the muddle, and would conduct meetings with all the counties before the start of the season.”Our position hasn’t changed from two weeks ago when we made our last statement,” Jason Ratcliffe, the PCA’s assistant chief executive, told Cricinfo today, adding that the meetings had yet to be concluded.

Northwest surprised Western Province with a four wicket victory off the penultimate ball of the match in the Standard Bank Cup clash in Potchefstroom on Friday.Northwest scored 261 for six in response to Western Province’s 258 for five in their allotted 45 overs.Home side opener Hendrik de Vos scored 82 not out while West Indian Mark Lavine blasted 44 off 21 balls down the order that swung the match in favour of the hosts.Western Province’s bowling was well below par as they conceded 23 wides to compound their misery.It started well for the visitors, who won the toss and elected to bat. Spearheaded by a maiden one-day century from opener Graeme Smith they looked well placed to record a win that seemed a mere formality.Smith scored 106 and took three for 46 in 8.2 overs to earn the man of the match award. His heroics were not enough as the rest of the team failed to raise their game when it was needed.Western Province openers Smith and suspended national team player Herschelle Gibbs put on 40 for the first wicket. Gibbs blitzed 22 that included five boundaries before being caught by De Vos off the bowling of seamer Garth Roe.Zimbabwean international Neil Johnson played the dominant role in a 103-run second wicket partnership with Smith, scoring 58. It was an aggressive knock that included four boundaries and one six. He holed out to Craig Light off spinnner Corrie Jordaan.Lloyd Ferreira then played the support role as Smith moved to his century. Ferreira was Roe’s second victim caught in the covers by West Indian Mark Lavine.Smith was run out two overs from the end of the innings as he tried to force the pace further. But he had already done enough to put his side into a strong positionThe Northwest response was spirited as they tried manfully to stay with the required run rate of five and a half to the over.They had fallen behind with the loss of opener Glen Hewitt (42), Arno Jacobs (18) and Martin Venter (3) before Lavine made hay and turned the match on its head.When he holed out to Herschelle Gibbs at point, the way was paved for De Vos to steer his side to victory.

The profits from the World Cup may entirely clear the debts of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Board president Ken Gordon told the Express last week: “I’m optimistic enough to hope that it might wipe it all out.”The beleaguered board are carrying a debt of US$15m. And it was the pre-tournament hope of Gordon that the six-week tournament, which will end on Saturday in Barbados, would go some way to relieving that burden.Asked last week if the WICB would in fact reap the expected financial bounty, the president said, “I expect that if we don’t reap the full benefits, we will get pretty close. There may be a shortfall but I don’t think it will be of any significance. I think we will come close to the targets we set. And I think overall, we will look back on this as a tremendous event.”Elaborating on what the World Cup profits could mean for the board, Gordon continued: “West Indies cricket expects to get a fair investment on it and out of that it intends to put in place plans for the developing of cricket. That’s what we want to do. We’ve been carrying a deficit of US$15m. If we can find a way to clear that, it eases our overall structure. It gives us the ability to have bank-borrowing, to do things which we can’t do now. Now we can hopefully work our way out of that.”The Caribbean’s first-ever hosting of cricket’s biggest event, however, has been marred by the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, complaints about the numbers of spectators at some venues and the restrictions on them.”Many things have gone wrong,” Gordon admitted. “But,” he asked, “who could have expected Bob Woolmer, right at the beginning of the series, to go like that? Who would have expected India and Pakistan to be withdrawn and so many thousands of people who were planning to come canceling? Who could have expected these things? Some countries have paid the price for it.”In spite of the difficulties, though, Gordon insisted that the World Cup was more success than failure. “This is the third largest event in the world. And we have done it when people didn’t think we could. And I think at the end of the day, we should all take some little pride in achieving it.”Gordon said he was impressed with the manner in which the local organisers have responded to the various problems. “We have dealt with enormous problems and our people have grown every time they have addressed them. And I think even though there were all these setbacks which I referred to, we moved into a second gear. And other things were done to put in place.”Grenada was happy, Guyana was happy. From what I see here, Barbados looks happy. We’ve had some empty stands, but you always have empty stands when you have weak games. The challenge is how you handle that in a way that would minimise the damage to the visible, while at the same time, not affecting the sales you’re trying to build, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job at this.”And Gordon noted further that he was especially pleased with “the tremendous personal growth I’ve seen amongst the people who have been managing this. The volunteers have been one of the great successes of this thing … because they have been absolutely superb. I’ve heard so many tourists talk about that. You can’t quantify the benefit of the warmth that has been generated at that level when those people leave here We must understand that this is not a project that you can expect your investment to be returned in a year or two, it’s a long-term investment.”Gordon, who has tendered his resignation as WICB boss but who has been asked to re-consider, is expected to give the board his final decision on Sunday at a special meeting.The WICB have been busy this week with planning meetings on the way forward for the cricket following the West Indies’ disappointing World Cup performance. Gordon said last week a change of culture was needed, “by laying down rules on which you are first of all absolutely serious about implementing. Those who don’t conform to those rules will know it’s their option to conform or otherwise…the new people you bring in, people who are committed to those standards, will ensure that they are maintained.”Asked why such change was taking so long, Gordon said: “I can only speak for the last 18 months and I will tell you that we have attempted to do so. But when you are dealing with a culture that has been inculcated over a very long time, you don’t do that and press your fingers and it disappears.”Gordon said he felt Brian Lara’s appointment as captain for a third time, last year, and his re-commitment to really do everything that he could to put cricket on a new footing, was the start of “an important beginning.”But the president conceded last week that West Indies cricket must now go back to the drawing board again. “We were found sadly wanting. We tried but it wasn’t good enough because we were not trying the right way, because we are not prepared properly enough to do it. And that’s what we’ve got to correct.”

Medium-pacer Sony Cheruvathur, the 29-year-old with just eight first-class matches under his belt, has been appointed as Kerala’s captain for the forthcoming season.The team doesn’t boast any heavyweights but the new coach Vedam Hariharan felt it was an opportunity for the youngsters to stand up to the challenge. “True, the last five to six years we had to depend heavily on imports for our batting,” Hariharan was quoted as saying in the . “This year, we don’t have men with heavy records. Players should now stand up to be counted.” Hariharan, who has coached sides in Australia, Scotland and Ireland was roped in earlier this month.Sadagoppan Ramesh and S Suresh, experienced hands from Tamil Nadu, were Kerala’s outstation professional players last year but the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) decided not to draft anyone in this time. Kerala begin their campaign with an away match against Vidarbha in Nagpur, between November 3 and 6, and host Services in Palakkad from November 15 to 18.The side is also set to play a friendly against Karnataka in Bangalore from October 29 to 31. Kerala plays four of its five matches away from home but Cheruvathur, making his captaincy debut, wasn’t deterred. “We do very well in away matches for we get tracks where we can use our fast bowlers,” he said. Former Indian fast bowler Tinu Yohanan will be leading the pace attack along with the accurate Prasanth Chandran.Squad for the first two Ranji Trophy games: Sony Cheruvathur (capt), VA Jagadeesh (vice-capt), Prasanth Parameshwaran, Sebastian Antony, Sambasiva Sarma, Rohan Prem, Robert Fernandes, Sreekumar Nair, Raiphy Vincent Gomez, Vinan G. Nair (wk), Tinu Yohanan, Prasanth Chandran, S Aneesh, P Prasanth, KJ Rakesh. Coach: Vedam Hariharan.

Mahela Jayawardene praised his bowlers as they wrapped up an historic first Test win in the West Indies with only 16 minutes remaining on the final day. Chaminda Vaas led the march with 5 for 61 as the hosts were dismissed 121 short of their unlikely target of 437.”We had a challenge when we came and that was to win a Test match in the West Indies and we have achieved that,” Jayawardene said. “We played hard and a lot of guys contributed. It was an amazing effort from Vaas and our quicks took 13 wickets in the Test, so a lot of credit to them. Murali bowled his heart out and overall it was a very good team effort.”Jayawardene felt his day-four declaration gave West Indies a hint of a chance and he was pleased when he saw aggression from the home batsmen. “We wanted them to play a few shots on this wicket because that’s how we could have created opportunities,” he said. “That’s why we gave them a target they could have achieved, rather than giving them 500 when they would have been in a very defensive frame of mind.”The move eventually paid off, but the scenario became more difficult during the 134-run, second-wicket partnership between Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Bravo, who was promoted to open instead of Chris Gayle, scored 83 while Sarwan picked up a cautious 72 before becoming the fifth to fall.”If they had batted till about tea it would have been a different story, we would have struggled,” Jayawardene said. “We managed to get Bravo before lunch and then Sarwan before tea, which were two crucial wickets, and in between we got Shiv [Chanderpaul].”Gayle entered at No. 6 and held firm, finishing with an unbeaten 51 and narrowly missing holding on for a draw. “Even though Chris was at one end, we knew we could put pressure on the other batsmen and see what would happen,” Jayawardene said. “Our guys bowled really well to pick up those wickets. In the last hour it could have been anyone’s game in the sense that they could have saved the game or we could have gotten the win. Once we got into that situation we knew we had to give everything.”With his side holding a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, Jayawardene said there was no chance of thinking about a draw in Port-of-Spain from April 3. “It’s important that we go for a win in the second match as well, that’s the way we play cricket,” he said. “That’s the attitude whether it is home or away.”

Scorecard