All posts by h716a5.icu

Sri Lanka inflicted a number of statistical wounds on India during their bonus-point victory at Sabina Park, a result Virat Kohli called a “reality check” for his side

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2013Sri Lanka inflicted a number of unsightly statistical wounds on India during their bonus-point victory at Sabina Park, a performance Virat Kohli called a “reality check” for a team that had suffered two defeats in the Caribbean after winning the Champions Trophy in England. India’s chances of making the tri-series final are now diminished, because they need to win both remaining matches and hope West Indies beat Sri Lanka to avoid needing a bonus point.*”We have to analyse what we did wrong. We have two more games to go,” said Kohli, who was standing in for MS Dhoni in his first ODI as captain, after the 161-run defeat. “This is going to hurt the guys a little bit.”India’s bowlers did not challenge the Sri Lankan openers after Kohli had won the toss; the upshot was a 213-run opening stand and the first time that a team batted 50 overs in the first innings of an ODI without losing more than one wicket.”It was a tough day at the office. We were not up to the mark with the ball,” Kohli said. “The Sri Lankans batted really well, and we did not. To chase down 349, you need a quick start, we were not able to do that, that did not give us momentum.”India were dismissed for 187 in the 45th over, managing only 13 more than Upul Tharanga’s individual contribution to Sri Lanka’s 348, with Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 49 being the top score.Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews had been dismayed at losing the toss but was thrilled with how the match played out. “We needed that, especially after losing the toss, we were on the back foot. Mahela showed his class. Upul struggled a bit initially but batted through and was brilliant later.”We needed to get that 250, bowlers never let us down if we score 250. Hats off to Mahela and Upul. I am doing my bit the way I can.”The unbeaten 174 was important to Tharanga because not only was it his best ODI score, but it had come after he was recalled to the squad due to an injury to Tillakaratne Dilshan. Tharanga had been sidelined since January.”We needed to get a start because we lost the toss on a sticky wicket,” Tharanga said. “The first ten overs were crucial. They [India] bowled well upfront. So we had to ride that, and then we put the pressure back on them.”*0650 GMT The sentence had said that India needed to win at least one of their remaining games with a bonus point. This has been amended.

Brendan Taylor’s record 171, the highest score by a Zimbabwe Test captain, pushed the home side to a strong total against Bangladesh on the second day

The Report by Mohammad Isam18-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrendan Taylor made the highest Test score by a Zimbabwe captain•Associated PressA positive response from the Bangladesh batsmen livened up the first Test in Harare. Bangladesh batted freely in the 25 overs they had to face before the close of play, after Brendan Taylor’s 171 – the highest by a Zimbabwe Test captain – guided his team to a challenging score.With exactly 100 minutes left in the day and much to lose in that tricky period, openers Shahriar Nafees and Jahurul Islam chose to take the attack to the Zimbabwe bowlers, not through outrageous shot-making but attractive strokeplay amid a generous dose of half-volleys. Until Nafees’ dismissal in the 13th over, the pair dominated the home bowlers with drives through cover, mid-off and mid-on. Nafees also handled the short ball well, pulling through midwicket. However, he fell for 30 when a leading edge was easily caught at point by Timycen Maruma.Jahurul expressed himself better, using both his natural inclination to defend and his recently-acquired skill to find boundaries. He was dropped off the sixth ball of the innings, much like Zimbabwe opener Maruma had been on the opening day. Jahurul took advantage of that reprieve, striking seven boundaries in his short stay, most of them owing to excellent timing down the ground. He was also severe on balls offering width.Mohammad Ashraful played a couple of flashy cover drives, and there were some hits and misses. But how normal is an Ashraful innings without the odd flutter?The Test match progressed at a contrasting pace earlier in the day, as Zimbabwe took their time to put together a competitive total. Taylor went past Andy Flower’s 156, the previous highest for a Zimbabwe Test captain, made in 1995 against Pakistan at this venue. A few overs earlier, he reached the highest score by a Zimbabwe batsman against Bangladesh, going past Tatenda Taibu’s 153 in 2005. In the first session, he had overtaken his previous Test highest of 117.Taylor played a consummate captain’s knock, before it was ended by a top-edge that was snapped by his counterpart Mushfiqur Rahim. Taylor came to the crease just after the first hour on the first day and used switched gears depending on conditions, situations, and batting partners. He started off slowly with Hamilton Masakadza before letting Malcolm Waller’s energetic approach become the driving force of their 127-run fourth wicket stand. As soon as Waller got out for 55, Taylor restrained himself, only doing enough to reach his third Test hundred.On the second morning, Taylor was under greater pressure, after losing Elton Chigumbura and debutant Richmond Mutambami early. Along with Graeme Cremer, he slowed the pace down considerably, resisting the bowlers determinedly. Till lunch, the pair batted at 1.85 runs per over, before changing gears as soon as Taylor saw Cremer grow in confidence against spin. The two scored at four an over the hour after lunch. During this session, Taylor scored 36 at a run a ball, and his 171 comprised just eight fours and two sixes.Taylor survived two close calls. On 35, he was dropped at long-off by Nafees who ran in and dived to his left, only for the ball to pop out of his grasp. The second life came when he was on 116. Robiul Islam trapped him in front, but umpire Tony Hill rejected the call.Taylor and Cremer added 106 runs and it ended when Cremer was brilliantly caught at slip by Mahmudullah. That wicket was Sohag Gazi’s first in the innings, and he added one more.Enamul Haque jnr and Robiul Islam finished with three wickets each, but they were also made to toil. Robiul was the visitors’ best bowler on the first day, which he finished with two wickets. Mutumbami was his third. For the remainder of the day, he bowled with discipline and cut off the runs. Rubel Hossain took two wickets in his 30 overs and looked more disciplined than he did in his previous Test in Colombo.Enamul bowled 47 overs his left-arm spin seemed largely unthreatening. There was a period on the second afternoon when Cremer was happy to let his turning deliveries go to the wicketkeeper. Gazi was underused, but he, too, didn’t deliver what Mushfiqur would have been looking for. The Bangladesh captain even used Shakib Al Hasan for seven overs; Shakib was supposed to play this Test as a specialist batsman, recovering from an injury to his leg.

Fifties from Marlon Samuels and Kyle Hope put Sagicor High Performance Centre only 42 behind the Zimbabweans with three wickets in hand at the end of the second day of the tour match in Barbados

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2013
ScorecardFifties from Marlon Samuels, returning from a two-month injury break, and Kyle Hope put Sagicor High Performance Centre only 42 behind the Zimbabweans with three wickets in hand at the end of the second day of the tour match in Barbados.Continuing from their overnight score of 222 for 5, Zimbabweans added 33 before declaring. Kyle Jarvis soon reduced SHPC to 15 for 2, taking two wickets in two overs. Samuels and Hope put on 74 to steady the innings but SHPC lost two quick wickets again, both to Graeme Cremer in the space of three balls, to slip to 89 for 4. Cremer struck again to dismiss Keddy Lesporis for 13 and Hope for 62, putting SHPC in trouble at 144 for 6. Jahmar Hamilton and Yannick Cariah put 68 together for the seventh wicket, but Hamilton was dismissed for 37, and became Cremer’s fifth wicket.

Peter Siddle believes the days of a fast bowler playing every Test of the home summer are not a thing of the past, despite the ongoing changes to Australia’s attack

Brydon Coverdale22-Dec-2012Peter Siddle believes the days of a fast bowler playing every Test of the home summer are not a thing of the past, despite the ongoing changes to Australia’s attack this season. Jackson Bird looks set to become the seventh fast bowler to wear the baggy green this summer, with reports that Mitchell Starc might be rested from the Boxing Day Test in an effort to manage his workload, and that would leave Siddle as the only fast man to hold his place after the Hobart victory.A side injury has ruled Ben Hilfenhaus out of the Melbourne Test and should the selectors decide to save Starc for the New Year’s Test in Sydney, it will mean Siddle, Bird and Mitchell Johnson will share the pace duties next week. Already this summer, Australia have used Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Starc, Johnson, James Pattinson and John Hastings over the course of four Tests, a far cry from the days when the same attack was used for every Test, as occurred during the 2006-07 Ashes series.Over the past 18 months, Ryan Harris, Pat Cummins and Trent Copeland have also moved in and out of the Test attack, along with the spinners Nathan Lyon and Michael Beer. Whether the changes have been due to form, injury or workload management, it has meant learning about team-mates and developing bowling partnerships on the run, and Siddle said the bowlers had become adept at working with whoever was on duty from Test to Test.”That’s been the big thing that we’ve done well in the past 18 months is that whoever has come into the squad knew what they had to do,” Siddle said. “The guys who have come in in that time have shown that they can execute their skills and work with the rest of the players in that squad to maintain that pressure. The squad has changed a lot with the bowlers but we’ve stuck together and worked well as a team and we can keep doing that. That’s a big positive.”Siddle pulled up well after bowling 51.3 overs at Bellerive Oval, better than he did after the Adelaide workload that forced him to sit out of the next Test against South Africa in Perth, and he is in no doubt for Boxing Day. There is less certainty over Starc, who sent down 52.2 overs in Hobart and according to some reports is set to be rested for either the Melbourne or Sydney Test due to his age and workload.Last summer, the Australians were told by their sports scientists that Pattinson would break down during the Sydney Test and they played him anyway, only to lose him to a foot injury mid-match. Siddle said while no bowlers wanted to sit out of any Test match, the key was to be open and honest with the team management about how their bodies were recovering, as Siddle was when he stayed on the sidelines at the WACA.”[Starc] has had a big workload but he has had time to rest now back at home, he’s got another three or four days until we have to be out there playing,” Siddle said. “Everyone wants to play. I don’t think anyone ever wants to rest. But there does come circumstances where personally you don’t feel right and you might need to, like myself in Perth. I wasn’t right so I didn’t play.”The last two summers here I played all 11 Test matches, so it can be done. The same thing would have happened this summer. I did not want to miss Perth but personally I made the right decision. I knew that if I had have been selfish and gone out there and got injured I would have put a lot of pressure on the rest of the side. After what we had in Adelaide I didn’t want to do that.”You get plenty of say. It’s your body. No one knows your body. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the physio, the doctor or the selector, they don’t know how you’re feeling. It’s about being honest with them. That’s the big part of it, being honest with them about how you are feeling and how well you think you can go.”Now Siddle is preparing for his fifth consecutive Boxing Day Test at his home ground, and he enters it in fine form, having collected 15 wickets at an average of 19.93 in his past two Tests this summer. His MCG record is also strong – 18 victims at 22.44 – and it’s something he shares with Bird, who in two first-class appearances at the venue has collected 5 for 35, 5 for 61 and 4 for 73.”It’s a very patient ground. Our game plan works beautifully here,” Siddle said of the MCG. “I’ve had my success a similar way to him [Bird], you bowl nagging lengths and be patient, you bowl tight lines. That’s the go-to here for us. Sometimes it hasn’t been about the big swing, it’s more about being patient and working the batsman over and setting the right fields … He’s a very similar type.”

A swashbuckling knock by Dwaine Pretorius helped Lions to their second win in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge as they comfortably overhauled Titans’ total in Johannesburg

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A swashbuckling knock by Dwaine Pretorius helped Lions to their second win in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge as they comfortably overhauled Titans’ total in Johannesburg. Pretorius walked in at the fall of Quinton de Kock’s wicket in the 14th over with 65 runs still needed. He waited just four ball before smashing first of his four sixes. In the 18th over, he took 14 runs off the four balls he faced off Marchant de Lange. By the time he was out in the 19th over, only three were needed. Jean Symes smashed his first ball to the boundary to complete the chase with seven balls to spare. Ethy Mbhalati picked up all three wickets.Lions were given a strong start by de Kock, who missed out his half-century by three runs. But Neil McKenzie stayed unbeaten on 32 to steer the chase.Titans, put into bat, lost a couple of wickets in the first three overs, but came back strong and were on 92 for 3 in the 13th over. But regular wickets from there on meant that Titans weren’t able to push beyond 150. Ferhaan Behardien and Henry Davids top-scored with 36. Sohail Tanvir, Aaron Phangiso and Hardus Viljoen shared two wickets each.

David Saker, the England bowling coach, has said England’s bowling attack is “as good as” the great Australian attack that dominated world cricket for more than a decade

George Dobell29-May-2012David Saker, the England bowling coach, has said England’s bowling attack is “as good as” the great Australian attack that dominated world cricket for more than a decade.Saker, the 46-year-old Australian, was appointed to the England role in April 2010. Before that, however, he had played with and against some of Australia’s finest cricketers as a fast bowler with Victoria and Tasmania. He was also assistant coach of the Victoria side that lifted two Sheffield Shield titles and of the Delhi Daredevils side that played in the 2009 Champions League. He is, therefore, well placed to offer informed views on the subject.”We should be saying our group is as good as them,” Saker said. “You can compare them. The Australians were stand-out bowlers, a great group for a long time and they also had a world-class spinner. Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne in tandem were amazing, but I have seen some spells from Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann that have been just as good or better at times. It’s important we don’t forget the ability of Swanny when he comes in around the three quicks. That’s really important.”McGrath was the stand-out in that group but they had Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Andy Bichel, too: they were all fantastic bowlers. It’s a bit like when Jimmy and Swann bowl together – it is not unlike McGrath and Warne at times. There is so much pressure on the batsmen.Craig McDermott’s departure from Australia’s bowling coach role has created a vacancy back in Saker’s home country, but there appears little chance of him being persuaded to leave the England job such is his admiration for their talent.”In Sri Lanka, there were a couple of times, especially late on day four in the second Test, those two reminded me so much of McGrath and Warne. They put so much pressure on the Sri Lanka batting group and the wickets fell. They also have the back-up of some really good quicks as well, which is nice to have.”That ‘back-up’ may have an opportunity in the next Test. With England having secured a series-clinching victory over West Indies at Trent Bridge, England are considering resting James Anderson and, perhaps, Stuart Broad, and allowing Steven Finn and Graeme Onions an opportunity to adapt to Test cricket. While Saker understands that Anderson and Broad will be keen to play in Birmingham, he believes that England’s strength in depth is such that even if they missed the Test, the quality of the attack would hardly be diminished.”There’s no doubt that the likes of Anderson and Broad will want to play as it gives them more chance of taking Test wickets. But if they have a Test off here and there, in my opinion, it probably gives them the chance to play longer. Those wickets can be picked up later because their careers will be longer. So there are two ways of looking at it.”We have a lot of hard cricket ahead, Tests and one-dayers, and we need to make a decision for the good of English cricket. All our bowlers at Trent Bridge normally play in all three forms of the game so we have to be mindful of trying to give them a rest. But we also have to be mindful that nobody really wants to give up their place, which is fair enough, they are very proud of playing for their country. We have to assess that closely.Two great attacks?

England

James Anderson: 267 Test wickets at 30.05

Stuart Broad: 161 at 30.42

Tim Bresnan: 52 at 25.46

Graeme Swann: 188 at 28.12

Australia

Glenn McGrath: 563 at 21.64

Brett Lee: 310 at 30.81

Jason Gillespie: 259 at 26.13

Shane Warne: 708 at 25.41

“If Finn and Onions were to play, I don’t think we would lose too much. That’s the beauty of it. Obviously, you would lose your top two bowlers, but the quality of the guys coming in is high. They will step up and do a great job. We showed that in Australia when we lost Broad and then Finn lost his spot. A lot of people were very dubious about whether we had the cover but we did. That proved the group of six or seven bowlers can all do a job if they get the opportunity.Steven Finn has made no secret of his frustration at not being able to force his way back into the line-up and Saker appreciates that waiting on the sidelines can be tough when a bowler feels in good form.”I’m sure Finn is very frustrated,” he said. “The selectors pick the best team to try to win a game but I’m sure Finn will get his chance. He is still young. He is very exciting and his one-day form over the last 12-18 months has been outstanding. He will have a lot of cricket ahead of him. In an ideal world, we would love to get him in. But we have three fast bowlers doing a really good job.”Saker has been particularly impressed with the bowlers’ ability to adapt to conditions as required. England were anticipating being able to utilise green wickets and conventional swing in the Test series against West Indies. Instead, however, they have been confronted with two slow, low wickets and conditions that have offered little assistance.”The wickets have probably been flatter than we are used to in England,” he said. “In that sense, it was really good that we took 20 wickets in each match. At times, it was really difficult because the batsmen dug in – particularly Chanderpaul and Samuels. We found it hard to dismiss them. I was really proud of the way the bowlers kept slogging away and got the breakthroughs. The reverse swing late on day three at Trent Bridge helped us out a bit as well. And the DRS helps as well with the lbws. The boys were outstanding. We applied a lot of pressure.”This group is very skilful. What they do really well is assess conditions quickly. They will see if it is swinging and, if so, they will stick to our original plans. If it is not doing that, they will come up with some other plan. They are very good at talking out in the middle. Stuart and Jimmy are very good at that and they pass on that message to the rest of the group. To be able to bowl conventional swing and they say ‘this is not going to work’ and then switch to reverse and attack in different ways – that is a huge weapon to have.”

A rapid half-century by Darren Maddy and three wickets in four deliveries by Chris Woakes overpowered the Unicorns as Warwickshire maintained their Clydesdale Bank 40 challenge with a 60-run victory at Edgbaston.

22-Jul-2012
ScorecardA rapid half-century by Darren Maddy and three wickets in four deliveries by Chris Woakes overpowered the Unicorns as Warwickshire maintained their Clydesdale Bank 40 challenge with a 60-run victory at Edgbaston.The county side kept up the pressure on Group C leaders Sussex by making 228 for 9 and this proved to be beyond the part-timers despite an impressive knock by veteran captain Keith Parsons. Now aged 39 and playing Minor Counties cricket for Cornwall, Parsons made 58 from 77 balls and put on 71 with ex-Leicestershire wicketkeeper Tom New (31) as the Unicorns replied with 168 for 7.Warwickshire’s patchy batting display was initially underpinned by Varun Chopra’s measured progress to 69 and then set alight by Maddy’s first half century in the competition for two years. He settled in during a stand of 57 with Chopra and despite losing a string of partners during a spirited response by the Unicorn’s bowlers, he accelerated to an unbeaten 79 from 56 balls.Warren Lee, a pace bowler who played two List A games for Kent in 2009, gave the visitors an early lift with wickets in successive overs. William Porterfield (24) put up a simple chance to mid-off and Jim Troughton drove the first ball he received to extra cover. The Unicorns’ rotation of their left-arm spinners paid off to an extent with Tim Ambrose (28) lbw to Bradley Wadlan’s second delivery and Chopra bowled in the first over of a second spell by Luke Beaven.Former Lancashire seamer Steven Cheetham later removed Rikki Clarke and Woakes in the space of seven balls but the lower order stayed long enough for Maddy to inflict maximum damage. In all he hit eight fours and two sixes.Lee had Keith Barker caught at short third man for a final return of 3 for 50, and Wadlan (2 for 37) bowled a good final over in which Paul Best was stumped and Jeetan Patel run out.The Unicorns’ response was all but extinguished as Woakes blew a hole in the top order in his opening spell of 3 for 15 in six overs. It was the ex-county professionals who averted the danger of a complete collapse, although Parsons, who hit five fours and a six, was dropped twice before Warwickshire regained their momentum.Clarke eventually ran out New from mid-off and Troughton comfortably caught Parsons at deep midwicket in the final over from left-arm spinner Best.

ESPNcricinfo previews the third Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Wellington

The Preview by Firdose Moonda 22-Mar-2012Match Facts March 23-27, Wellington (Basin Reserve)
Start time 1030 (2130 GMT)Wellington was where New Zealand started the series, with a victory, and they look to end it here with victory as well•AFPBig Picture Sportsmen are taught Aristotle’s philosophy of “one swallow does not a summer make,” in an attempt to ensure they don’t get carried away by isolated performances. Most of the time, it’s a sensible way to assess results. The Wellington Test match could be one of those times when it isn’t. It is the concluding chapter of the summer for both teams, and will serve as a decent indicator of where each of them are after a season of hard graft.For New Zealand, a fightback and a victory will end their season on a high after it started, filled with promise against Australia and sprinkled with authority over Zimbabwe. New Zealand were careful to treat their whitewash of Zimbabwe with sobriety and not read too much into the results, knowing that South Africa would be tougher opponents. Just how tough, only emerged later.Since winning the first T20 on February 17, New Zealand have been on the back foot. Even the drawn Test in Dunedin was thought of to have meant more for South Africa as it would have required a record-breaking effort from the hosts to emerge victorious. Wellington was where New Zealand started the series, with a victory, and they look to end it here with victory as well.South Africa will use the New Zealand tour as a springboard to the rest of their travels this year, which include a top-of-the-table Test clash against England and a series in Australia. They cannot lose the series, which will keep their record as world cricket’s best travellers since 2007 intact. In almost every department, bar their first innings showings with the bat, South Africa have looked a complete unit. Morne Morkel said they feel ready to play “the perfect Test match,” which involves one massive innings and bowling the opposition out twice. If they get that right, they will leave New Zealand with having achieved everything they set out to do.Form guide(most recent first)New Zealand LDWWL
South Africa WDWLWPlayers to watchDaniel Flynn last represented New Zealand in December 2009, in the middle order. He will make his comeback as an opener, coming off three consecutive first-class centuries. Although the batting line-up should not depend entirely on him for an improved showing, they will certainly be looking to him for a solid start. New Zealand’s highest opening stand in the series so far has been 16 and Flynn will need to combine with Martin Guptill for many more runs than that if he hopes for a longer stint in Test cricket than Rob Nicol had.He is the bowler almost everyone is talking about and Vernon Philander cannot seem to put a foot wrong. Philander has collected 15 wickets in the series so far, at an average of 14.33, and if he takes five in the Wellington Test he will be the fastest South African to 50 Test wickets and the fastest for almost 116 years. Philander should continue to make use of subtle seam movement and exemplary lines but it will be interesting to see how he deals with the fierce winds at the Basin Reserve.Team newsNew Zealand will include a sixth specialist batsman to prop up their line-up. Nicol was dropped from the squad after the Hamilton Test and Flynn will open in his place. Dean Brownlie has recovered from a broken finger and will slot in at No.6, meaning that Daniel Vettori and Kruger van Wyk will drop one place lower. The new-look batting card will mean New Zealand are forced to leave out one of their seamers and field a three-pronged attack consisting of Chris Martin, Mark Gillespie and Doug Bracewell.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Daniel Flynn, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Dean Brownlie, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Kruger van Wyk (wk), 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Mark Gillespie, 11 Chris MartinGraeme Smith confirmed that there is unlikely to be any changes to the South African XI. Marchant de Lange, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, JP Duminy and Robin Peterson will continue to serve drinks.South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis 5 AB de Villiers/JP Duminy, 6 Jacques Rudolph, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Dale Steyn, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran TahirPitch and conditionsThe Basin pitch was ready to play on four days ago as the groundstaff anticipated wet weather in the lead up to the match. The sun came out on Thursday though, giving the curator Brett Sipthorpe a few hours to allow his surface to dry. He uncovered it for the first time since Sunday and revealed a patchy looking surface that started to even out the more it was rolled. It is being talked of as a good cricket surface, with enough in it for bowlers and batsmen alike. The match could well be interrupted by rain, with scattered showered forecast for the weekend. Conditions will be made more challenging by the strong northerly wind which is set to blow across the ground for the first two days.Stats and triviaNew Zealand’s highest partnership was scored at the Basin Reserve, a 467-run third-wicket stand between Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones in January 1991. Mark Boucher is five dismissals away from completing 1,000 dismissals across all formats in the international gameQuotesWe’re one-nil down in the series we know that were not far away from competing with this side. We’ve been on top in a few situations we just haven’t been able to ram it home.
I’d like to see us keep that curve going up. We’d like to round off with a comprehensive performance in the next five days.
Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

Michael Clarke, Australia’s captain, has all but guaranteed Ricky Ponting his place in the team’s next Test assignment, at home against South Africa in November

Daniel Brettig in Roseau22-Apr-2012Michael Clarke, Australia’s captain, has all but guaranteed Ricky Ponting his place in the team’s next Test assignment, at home against South Africa in November. Ponting has looked in good touch in the Caribbean despite not making many runs and Clarke, who is also a selector, indicated Ponting’s place would be safe for the first Test of the home summer, more than six months away.Having staved off a run of slim scores in Sri Lanka and South Africa before enjoying a storming series at home against India, Ponting joined the majority of his fellow batsmen in struggling to make a major score in the West Indies. Only one century was made in two Tests, by Shivnarine Chanderpaul in Barbados, and Clarke said Ponting was arguably the man most likely to make one should the Dominica pitch offer a little more encouragement to stroke play.”He’s hitting the ball well, probably hasn’t got that big score that he’d like but none of us have. Conditions haven’t been great for making big hundreds,” Clarke said of Ponting. “If you wanted to make runs here you had to bat for a hell of a long time, and need a bit of luck as well along the way. Ricky’s one of the guys that has put the team above himself and sacrificed his wicket or tried to take the game forward because we’ve needed to, to try and help us win the game.”If he continues to play the way he’s played throughout the last 12 months, he had a wonderful summer, then I see no reason he won’t be in the team come the first Test against South Africa. There’s a lot of cricket to be played from now until then. Ricky’s not currently in our one-day squad but we also have some first-class cricket leading up to that first Test so I’m confident Ricky’s batting well and he’s not far away from a big score. If we get a decent wicket here I wouldn’t be surprised if he finished the summer on a very high note.”For his part, Ponting has no thoughts of the finish line, proving it by staying on at Windsor Park for throw-downs from the assistant coach Justin Langer after the rest of the squad had returned to the hotel. “Not yet no, one more game here,” he said when asked about retirement thoughts. “We’ll wait and see how many I get this week, if I get 200 this week you probably won’t be asking me that question.”Seven months and 13 Tests since he led Australia onto the field in Sri Lanka, Clarke called for one final push from his men to ensure the series against West Indies was won. He also pointed to the fact that so many of his men will be going direct from the Caribbean to the IPL as a reminder that fatigue should not be a problem as they play at Roseau’s Windsor Park for the first time.For the first time, Clarke will be joining them, having signed with Sourav Ganguly’s Pune. The IPL will reduce the break available for those playing both Test and limited-overs cricket, before the Australians start travelling again on a 20-month odyssey that will take them to England and India twice each, either side of home Tests against South Africa and Sri Lanka, and rounded off by a home Ashes series in 2013-14.”I think the closer you get to the finish line the more excited you actually get. We know we’ve got no Test cricket now until the Australian summer after this last Test,” Clarke said. “I’m pretty sure all the boys will want to make this Test a good one for themselves personally and for the team because we’ve had a really good summer, we want to finish on a high before we get stuck into one-day cricket and the Twenty20 World Cup before Test cricket comes around.”And guys can’t be too fatigued. 95% of the blokes are going to the IPL, so we have no excuse not to come out and play our best cricket once again in this Test match and finish what has been a very good summer of Test cricket on a high.
I think we’ve done really well in these conditions. We’ve pushed hard to get results, it could have quite easily been two draws but I think our attitude has helped us win the first Test and we thought we’re going to win the second Test.”A lot of the guys hadn’t seen the West Indies conditions as well so it’s been a good eye opener for the guys who haven’t played Test cricket over here. Your No. 1 goal is to win every series you play, there’s no doubt about that, that’s what we plan to do in this third Test. In saying that we’re trying to win every Test as well.”

At the Chinnaswamy Stadium, it was a morning that belonged to Haryana’s unheralded 21-year-old medium pacer Harshal Patel

Nikita Bastian at the Chinnaswamy Stadium02-Jan-2012At the Chinnaswamy Stadium, it was a day that belonged to Haryana’s unheralded 21-year-old Harshal Patel. An outswing bowler, Harshal took a bold decision to remain in India to play cricket when his parents moved to New Jersey a few years ago, and today that decision looked to have paid rich dividends. Taking the new ball in Haryana’s quarter-final against Karnataka, he rolled the hosts out for 151, bowling with testing outswing and dogged discipline. He finished the day with 8 for 40 – the best figures so far in the 2011-12 Ranji Elite season.Harshal kept the ball on and around the off stump all through, repeatedly testing the batsmen’s technique and patience. He bowled from wide of the crease and got some deliveries to move a tad away, while others held their line, leaving the batsmen in quite a quandary.His first three wickets were caught by the keeper, Nitin Saini. That early burst was aided by the surface. “The wicket had something in it early on,” Harshal said after the day’s play. “There was a little movement off the seam, the ball was also stopping a little, it was a bit two-paced. But it was not damp, we [Haryana] would have batted too.”He backed up an incisive opening spell with one that cleaned up Karnataka’s tail after lunch. This time he tried something a little different to take 3 for 9 in 4.5 overs. “Bowling over the wicket to the tail, they were leaving the ball. The wicket too had slowed down a bit. So I tried bowling around the wicket against them and it worked.” In between he got rid of Amit Verma and Stuart Binny. The in-form Binny had let one of Harshal’s deliveries go and it whizzed away, dangerously close to off stump. He shouldered arms to the next ball too, but this time it pitched on off and held its line to rattle the stumps.Harshal, who played Under-19 cricket for India, made the move from Gujarat to Haryana before the start of the 2011-2012 season, and it was all a natural progression for him. “The year my parents left [India], I had had a very good time in Under-17 cricket – I had taken 32 wickets in five games. So I told my dad to give me some time to keep working on my cricket here in India. He told me he’d give me two years, during which I was to work only on my cricket and see where it took me. Now I’m here.”I was not getting a chance in first-class cricket in Gujarat. Anirudh Chaudhary, the Haryana Cricket Association head, was our [India Under-19] manager at the Under-19 World Cup [in New Zealand in January 2010]. He later called me and told me I could play for Haryana if I wanted to. Several of their seamers had had to have surgery, so I got an offer.”Harshal’s tally puts him behind only Kapil Dev and Joginder Sharma for the best figures in first-class cricket for Haryana. But Harshal seems to know that this is no reason to get carried away. “Whatever format I play, I look to take wickets. There are still flaws in my bowling action that I need to work on. For example, my front knee bends when I deliver and my [body] alignment is a bit on the cross. I’m working on these things.”He has the assistance of former Essex fast bowler Ian Pont to iron out the flaws. Pont, who has a four-year contract working with Haryana, has worked with Harshal since Haryana’s preparations for the 2011-12 season began. Pont, now back in England, is constantly in touch with Harshal and the other Harayana seamers. “Harshal’s got a good head. I first met him at a training camp in May, he was the bowler who really stood out in that camp,” Pont told ESPNcricinfo. “He is very aware of his bowling action. It’s important to know what you need to correct in the first place.”I’ve left him with a few drills for this, simple ones that you could do in the bedroom even and don’t need cricket nets for, and he works on them and gets back to me with updates.”Pont is also working on Harshal’s pace. “He swings it, swings it away, which makes him dangerous. He’s not express, but I think he can bowl much quicker,” he said. “It’s something we are working on, to give him more pace and control.” And it helps that Harshal, like his team-mates, is a willing learner. “Every Indian bowler [that I’ve worked with] is very attentive and they tend to listen to what you say. In addition to that, Harshal is very smart. He takes what he thinks will work for him and goes and works on it. His mental approach is very strong.”This performance, Pont said, could be just the trigger Harshal needed to go on to bigger things. “It’s tremendous for the young man to be put in the same category, in some way, as Kapil Dev. It’s a launching pad.”Young bowlers need confidence; I’ve noticed that Ranji cricket tends to favour the batsmen and you get quite a few huge totals. So for a young outswing bowler like Harshal, this is a great confidence boost.”