All posts by h716a5.icu

Gary Kirsten has said he knew Virat Kohli was destined for success when he worked with the batsman during his tenure as India coach

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2013Gary Kirsten has said he knew Virat Kohli was destined for success when he worked with the batsman during his tenure as India coach and added that he was fortunate to be a part of Kohli’s development process.”I always had a different kind of feeling when I started working with Virat Kohli,” Kirsten told . “From the beginning, I was very sure that he was a rare talent and would become a great player. He grew massively in these past few years and has matured a lot. I was fortunate to be part of that process of seeing him grow and that give me immense pleasure.”Kohli made his debut in India’s limited-overs squad in 2008 and was part of 54 ODIs during the Kirsten years, scoring five centuries. Since Kirsten’s departure as India coach, following the World Cup win in 2011, Kohli has matured to become the best batsman in the Indian side and has also graduated to the Tests. However, Kirsten was careful not to make any comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.”I have always been very careful about appointing someone in that place (Tendulkar’s replacement). It’s a very dangerous position and very risky to name anyone.”All I can say is that Kohli is a fantastic batsman whom the opposition bowlers are finding difficult to get out. The teams nowadays do a lot of planning to get him out.”Kirsten also had words of praise for Shikhar Dhawan with whom he had limited interaction when Dhawan made his ODI debut in 2010.”Unlike Kohli, I haven’t seen much of Dhawan but what I have gathered over time after some interactions with him is that he has a massive amount of self-belief in his abilities which is very refreshing,” Kirsten said.Kirsten will have another chance to work with Indian talent after he signed up as coach of Delhi Daredevils for the next three years.

Akram Khan will leave his position as chairman of Bangladesh’s selection committee on the day the BCB election dates are announced

Mohammad Isam04-Jul-2013Akram Khan will leave his position as chairman of Bangladesh’s selection committee on the day the BCB election dates are announced. He confirmed this on Thursday after being asked to continue in the role till September, along with the other selectors Habibul Bashar and Minhazul Abedin.In the meantime, the BCB will formally ask the National Sports Council, Bangladesh’s sports regulatory body, to announce the board election dates. According to BCB president Nazmul Hassan, that could very well be this month.Akram has apparently been assured by the NSC that he will be elected unopposed as one of their designated directors on the board. In the 2008 elections, the number of NSC directors on the board was one, but it has not been made certain which constitution will be followed in the forthcoming election.”I will leave this position the day the election dates are announced,” Akram said. “If it happens to be before my term ends in September, I will let the board know. I am not interested in contesting elections in the present situation. I have been given an assurance. I may become a director through NSC’s quota.”I have already told the board regarding my desire to become a director, and I have done that before my tenured ended on June 30. I plan to make cricket better in the country, at all levels. I have a lot of plans about school cricket and age-group cricket. I have been a selector for six years, and I have worked with honesty and hard work.”

England will return to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua for the first time since their Test against West Indies in 2009 was abandoned after 10 balls

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2013England will return to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua for the first time since their Test against West Indies in 2009 was abandoned after 10 balls due to a dangerous outfield consisting largely of sand.Alastair Cook, who opened the batting with Andrew Strauss in that match, will take his ODI team to West Indies for three ODIs beginning at the end of February all of which will be held at North Sound. Three Twenty20s then follow, which will be staged in Barbados, as preparation for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh which is due to start in mid-March.The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium returned to the international scene in May 2010, 14 months after the abandonment involving England, after the outfield was relayed for a second time and has since held matches in all formats.The brief tour of the Caribbean is part of a period full of ODI and Twenty20 cricket for England in the early part of 2014 following the conclusion of the Ashes in Sydney in early January.

Everywhere you look at Edgbaston, there seems to be a picture of Chris Wright and Keith Barker, grinning broadly, one hand each on the LV= Championship trophy, but Varun Chopra had an equal part to play.

Jon Culley at Edgbaston12-Apr-2013
ScorecardVarun Chopra settled back into the old routine with runs for Warwickshire on a dismal day•PA PhotosEverywhere you look at Edgbaston, there seems to be a picture of Chris Wright and Keith Barker, grinning broadly, one hand each on the LV= Championship trophy. And with good reason. With 118 wickets between them, their strike bowling partnership was the key to many a Warwickshire victory.Yet there was another key alliance at the heart of Warwickshire’s success and the scoreboard at the close of day three in this rain-ruined beginning to their title defence might indicate that it remains in fine working order. The Varun Chopra-Ian Westwood partnership at the top of the order developed into one of the most reliable in the competition. Both batsmen ended the season averaging in the forties and five times they gave the Warwickshire innings the perfect platform by scoring more than 100 runs without being parted.It was a contribution not to be underestimated. If the ability to take 20 wickets is key to winning Championship matches, then amassing totals that can be defended comes a solid second. The left-handed Westwood has endured some tough times in the last few years, fulfilling a career ambition by landing the captaincy but giving it up at the end of the 2010 season when he struggled for form. Subsequently, his place in the side was often little more than a stop gap when Ian Bell was on England duty.He started last year slowly but his form picked up in the second half, when the partnership with Chopra was at its most formidable. In one six-innings sequence the pair compiled stands of 100, 175 and 136. Westwood made two centuries in August, 19 days apart.Westwood’s recovery has been to Chopra’s benefit, too. The more at ease Chopra has become in the partnership, the more consistent has his form been. The only other England qualified batsman to pass 1,000 first-class runs in Division One last season was Nick Compton, who earned his elevation to the Test side as a result.Chopra, a 25-year old right-hander, has prospered, like his team-mate, Wright, since moving to Edgbaston from Essex. He made 1,000 runs in 2011 as well. His reward — alongside Wright — was a place in the 17-man England Performance Programme squad in India and a Lions tour to Australia, where he scored centuries in two 50-over matches, the second in the first meeting with Australia A in Hobart. Like Wright, he has been named also in in the provisional squad for the ICC Champions Trophy.Those spectators with the patience to wait for some action at a dank and gloomy Edgbaston yesterday saw Chopra and Westwood finish 10 short of another three-figure partnership, which will offer Warwickshire encouragement from a match destined to end in a draw. After the fragmented action that followed a 3.30 start, about 90 minutes of play was possible, and the conditions, in terms of pitch and atmospheric conditions, and the need to focus and refocus as stoppage followed stoppage, were hardly ideal for batting. Yet Chopra and Westwood set about their business with a familiar efficiency.Derbyshire might consider themselves a little unlucky. Tim Groenewald saw Chopra dropped on 10, albeit off a very hard chance high in the air to Ross Whiteley at point, and edge just short of first slip on 19. But Chopra picked off nine boundaries to illustrate to the newcomers how narrow are the margins for bowling error in First Division cricket as Warwickshire finished the day with a platform for a decent yield of batting points on the last day, if nothing else.

New Zealand slipped into London almost unnoticed on Tuesday, minus their captain and senior batsman, but are determined to leave their mark on an English season where the main attraction is their trans-Tasman rivals.

Andrew McGlashan01-May-2013New Zealand slipped into London almost unnoticed on Tuesday, minus their captain Brendon McCullum and senior batsman Ross Taylor who are at the IPL, but are determined to leave their mark on an English season where the main attraction is their trans-Tasman rivals.”We don’t really have anything to do with the Ashes,” Kane Williamson, the captain in McCullum’s absence, said. It helps, no end, that the series played during March between these two teams was very competitive. Talk about flat pitches killing the game was off the mark – weather was the bigger factor in the first two Tests – and New Zealand came within one wicket of a famous victory in Auckland. That is enough for this return contest to be given the respect it deserves.Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, hopes his team can provide more than a footnote to the summer. “I can guarantee from our perspective these two Tests are massive for us. We are making progress as a side and we certainly wouldn’t like to be the entrée for the main course later on.”He was even keen to see the benefits in having two key players arrive late for the tour. McCullum and Taylor are due on May 7 or 8, ahead of the second warm-up match against England Lions at Grace Road. McCullum will still have a role to play in the early days of tour, albeit from thousands of miles away, and is in regular contact with Hesson.”I’m actually quite happy with it because with a squad of 15 it’s quite hard to get everyone a game,” he said. “Those guys, although they haven’t been playing a lot, they have been training a lot. To get our whole squad involved in those two warm-up games is critical for us. In previous tours we haven’t even had any warm-up matches so two is huge. There will be no complaints from us about being underdone.”It is nothing new for a touring side to arrive in England for the May Tests in dribs and drabs – Sri Lanka and West Indies have faced similar situations in recent years – and is unlikely to be the last time it happens. Perhaps there should be a sense of gratefulness, and relief, that McCullum and Taylor will be here in time for the Test series. They are both fascinating sub-plots to the series; McCullum’s leadership was a key part of the contest in New Zealand, while Taylor’s return to the set-up has been far from smooth.The abiding memory of the previous series was the dramatic final day where England survived nine wickets down through defiance from Matt Prior, Ian Bell and Stuart Broad – plus Monty Panesar’s desperate dive – and the feeling of a fantastic opportunity missed by New Zealand still lingers.”I’ve tried to forget about that game to be honest, especially the end of it,” Hesson admitted. “We felt we dominated but that’s the game. These two Tests will be tough in very different conditions. We gained a lot of confidence, but it was a series in isolation and we can’t get carried away.”After the upturn in their fortunes during March, there are unlikely to be many major selection headaches leading into the Test series. Hesson confirmed that Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton will continue their opening pairing even though Martin Guptill is in the squad again after injury, so the key decision may come down to whether they retain a spinner – Bruce Martin – in their XI or go with four quick bowlers. Doug Bracewell, who missed the home series after injuring his foot on a piece of glass, and Mark Gillespie are the extra pacemen in the squad.

Ravi Bopara failed, as did the rest of his England team-mates, as South Africa’s bowlers made good use of a slow, turning pitch

The Report by David Hopps08-Sep-2012
ScorecardJP Duminy shared a match-winning stand with Jacques Kallis•PA PhotosThis was a flaccid England batting display which will fill them with misgivings ahead of World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. Ravi Bopara’s batting, at least, suggests that he remains scarred by his recent emotional upheavals and the ability of younger batsmen to succeed on turning pitches will be further doubted after the way they were dismantled by a confident South Africa.South Africa’s pursuit of 119 on northern England’s version of a slow turner was a stroll in the park and, even though England’s new-ball attack created some ersatz excitement by taking 3 for 29 in reply, it did not last long.The one they needed was Jacques Kallis and, with a single to his name, he edged Steven Finn just short of Alex Hales at first slip. He never faltered again. Kallis and JP Duminy quietly assembled South Africa’s highest fourth-wicket partnership in T20s against England in a stand of 90 at a run a ball and a seven-wicket win meandered into view in textbook fashion with an over to spare.Kallis’ timing of the chase was impeccable, one lazy despatching of Jade Dernbach’s slower offcutter pronouncing: “I have logged your variations and have now programmed my response.” Duminy, drawing confidence from Kallis’ presence, ducked and carved alongside him. They won to barely a murmur.South Africa rested Hashim Amla and his replacement Faf du Plessis, on debut, made only 4 before he was lbw to Finn. There were two wickets for Dernbach, too. But England were roundly outplayed. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the dispute involving Kevin Pietersen, and the issue has not been short of analysis, this England team is weaker for his absence.If selecting Bopara in his current state is adamant, for him to bat at No. 3 looks increasingly delusional. He took time off last month as he was beset by relationship problems and since his return his batting has been clouded by self doubt. He does not look in a good place.England are desperate for him to succeed as his bits-and-pieces bowling balances their side, but his troubled batting run continued as he managed only 6 from 11 balls. South Africa brought Dale Steyn into the attack added a slip and Bopara, with a lack of foot movement, edged to first slip. It was adventurous captaincy by AB de Villiers to bring in a slip outside the Powerplay overs, although as Bopara has been repeatedly edging it in this direction for weeks it was perhaps less daring than it appeared.South Africa’s domination did end at Bopara. Presented by a slow Chester-le-Street turner, not too far removed from the surfaces they may encounter in Sri Lanka, Robin Peterson and Johan Botha did not disappoint. They dared to bowl slowly, turned the ball and were backed up by solid fielding.England’s surfeit of one-day internationals against three different opponents this summer had attracted criticism for overkill, but a three-match T20 series had obvious relevance. South Africa are ranked No. 1; England are defending champions with a good recent record. Even the losers in this NatWest Series will feel happier than Australia who now find themselves ranked beneath Ireland.Craig Kieswetter and Hales are beginning to have the feel of a settled opening partnership for an England side which once famously changed combinations on a whim, but they are still some way from an understanding between the wickets if Hales’ run out in the fourth over is any guide.His enthusiasm for a leg side single as Kieswetter got a thick inside edge was not shared by his partner and Jacques Kallis lumbered in to pick up and hit the non-striker’s stumps direct. Hales left the field distraught in his last T20 international when he was dismissed for 99 against West Indies at Trent Bridge. On this occasion he was cursing.There had been some spin in the preceding women’s match – England beating West Indies by eight wickets – but Botha still spun his introductory delivery enough to surprise Kieswetter, who fell lbw.Kieswetter’s six over wide long on against Lonwabo Tsotsobe had been one of the few invigorating moments for England as they reached midway at 64 for 3 and Botha defused their most explosive batsman, Eoin Morgan, as he tried to sweep and dragged on one that kept a little low.What followed smacked of naivety. England have great faith in Jos Buttler’s potential but it is yet to be rewarded. He has had few opportunities and when they do come along, such as on this occasion when half the overs were still unused, he has flattered to deceive. Like Hales, he is unproven against spin and Peterson, bowling markedly slowly, drew him down the pitch and bowled him with ease. Nine England T20s have now brought 36 runs and that is no sort of preparation for a world cup.Jonny Bairstow, needing to up the pace, plonked Albie Morkel into Botha’s hands at deep midwicket and Samit Patel fell in similar fashion against Peterson as Kallis thundered in for a good, low catch at long-on. Only some spirited late forays by Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, as England took 34 from the last five overs, gave England anything to bowl at. As for Dale Steyn, his four overs conceded only 13.The limited-overs matches mount up, but once again entertainment was in limited supply at the end of a long season. South Africa rested Hashim Amla and his replacement Faf du Plessis, on debut, made only 4 before he was lbw to Finn. There were two wickets for Dernbach, too, the straightforward approach of Richard Levi silenced at first slip and de Villiers, after two glorious boundaries, edging a little carelessly to the keeper.Swann’s offspin, delayed until the eighth over, at 50 for 3, was chipped around cautiously and the tyro slow left-armer, Danny Briggs, had not been selected. He may be more fortunate at Old Trafford.

A round-up of the second day of the sixth round of Ranji Trophy Group C matches

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2012
ScorecardJharkhand consolidated on their dominance on the first day to pull off a win within two days against Tripura. Both teams were dismissed cheaply, but Jharkhand held the edge due to a crucial first-innings lead and chased 53 to win by seven wickets. Four bowlers took at least four wickets on the day – seamers Timir Chanda and Manisankar Murasingh for Tripura, and Ajay Yadav and Shankar Rao for Jharkhand. The win put Jharkhand at the top of the table with Andhra and Services.Resuming on 95 for 3, Jharkhand lost Jaggi for 43 in the third over of the day. This led to a collapse, and Saurabh Tiwary stuck for 7.2 overs before being the eighth wicket to fall, for 58. Murasingh took crucial middle-order wickets and Chanda, after dismissing the top order the previous day, cleaned up the tail quickly to help bowl them out for 139. Tripura, in their second innings, failed for the second time with the bat, as Rao and Yadav ran through the line-up. A partnership of 31 for the eighth wicket between Abhijit Dey and Chanda was the highest they could muster. They were bowled out for 86, their fourth-lowest total in first-class cricket. Jharkhand’s No. 3 Akash Verma smashed 23 to help chase the target of 53 inside six overs.
ScorecardIn Guwahati, Himachal Pradesh were back into a contest that was earlier dictated by Assam. They bowled Assam out after 44.5 overs on the day, led by Rishi Dhawan’s four wickets, and made a strong reply with the bat.Assam resumed on 213 for 4 but lost middle-order batsman Tarjinder Singh for 40, and after a 54-run stand between Amit Sinha and Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad, Sinha departed for 53. The remaining wickets fell quickly, as Assam were bowled out for 354. Himachal openers played 30 overs and scored 62.
ScorecardA fight for the first-innings lead will be the focus of the third day between Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala in Malappuram. Kerala finished the second day 52 behind J&K’s first-innings score with two wickets remaining, and unlike their opponents, their innings was not based on one knock.After losing opener Abhishek Hegde in the first over of the day, and the other opener VA Jagadeesh soon after, Kerala captain Robert Fernandez shared a 56-run stand with Robert Prem and a 40-run stand with Sachin Baby. Baby’s dismissal, however, led to a collapse, and Kerala were struggling at 147 for 8. Shahid hit two boundaries and a six to take his team to 163 for 8 at stumps.
ScorecardServices, led by centuries from Soumik Chatterjee and Yashpal Singh, built on their strong first day to score 473 before being bowled out. Yashpal, who was unbeaten on 92 overnight, stayed till the end of the innings and ran out for partners. He had useful partnerships with Rajat Paliwal, Muzaffaruddin Khalid, and No. 10 Suraj Yadav, who scored 45. Yashpal’s 166 was his third-best first-class score.Seamer Saurabh Bandekar and spinner Shadab Jakati took seven wickets between them. Goa openers put on 44 runs before the more dominant of the pair, Sagun Kamat, was dismissed. Goa ended the day on 64 for 1, and with a lot to do the next day.

Sulieman Benn carried West Indies A to a rather unlikely three-wicket win against India A in the first Twenty20 in Trinidad

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2012
ScorecardSulieman Benn got two sixes away in the final over of the chase•WICBSulieman Benn carried West Indies A to a rather unlikely three-wicket win against India A in the first Twenty20 in Trinidad. Benn struck two sixes off two balls to help his team snatch the 15 they required off the final over, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in Trinidad.Until then, Bhuvneshwar had been key to India keeping the hosts in check in their chase of 131 from 18 overs – the game was shortened because the start was delayed due to rain. Bhuvneshwar had struck in his first over, the fifth of the chase, bowling West Indies opener Kieran Powell for 10. Not long after, he had the other opener, Nkrumer Bonner, also bowled, and trapped Jason Mohammed – who was trying to play across the line – lbw for 6. While Jonathan Carter tried to rebuild, India kept the pressure on and then Rohit Sharma consolidated their position in the match, taking two wickets in the 16th over – Carter caught for 35, and Jason Holder stumped first ball. Ashok Dinda followed up by conceding only four runs in the penultimate over, but Benn was to have the final say in things.Earlier, India’s innings was built around a half-century from Rohit. They looked set to pile up a stiffer total, but two three-wicket overs kept them to 130. First, Benn got Rohit – soon after he had completed his fifty – Wriddhiman Saha and Jalaj Saxena to help West Indies pull the game back in the 15th. In the final over, Jason Holder took out Shami Ahmed and Rahul Sharma, before Dinda was run out to end India’s innings.

Kevin Pietersen has not made a habit of helping himself off the field – at least not this summer – and it could be argued that maintaining his recent vow of silence today was counter-productive

David Lloyd at Taunton29-Aug-2012
ScorecardKevin Pietersen has not made a habit of helping himself off the field – at least not this summer – and it could be argued that maintaining his recent vow of silence today was counter-productive.Saying too much has led to Pietersen current state of separation from England. But saying nothing at all here after rain had ruled out any chance of cricket and following Andrew Strauss’s retirement speech at Lord’s will be seen by some as a bad misjudgment.The – for the moment, at least – former England batsman has kept his thoughts to himself for a fortnight, and wisely so. Here, though, a short statement praising Strauss’s achievements over the years and wishing the ex-captain well for the future would have gone down well. Perhaps he has done that privately and, if so, then fair play to him, but a short public tribute might have mended some fences.Instead, Pietersen turned down several requests for a TV interview and it was made clear to newspaper and web site journalists that he would not be speaking. Instead, with the rain hammering down, he put himself through a series of shuttle runs on the sodden Taunton outfield.Marcus Trescothick, Strauss’s long-time opening partner at Test level, was happy to chat.”I wasn’t surprised, although I was hoping Andrew would continue as an England player,” he said. “I didn’t think he would come back and play county cricket once his Test career had ended and the only other scenario I could foresee was him quitting the captaincy while continuing to play Test cricket for a while.”He took England to No 1 in the world which had been a massive challenge for him and for the ECB, and winning the Ashes away from home would probably be the pinnacle of his time as captain.”I’m sure he would like to have gone out on a high by beating South Africa and keeping the No 1 ranking but sadly that didn’t prove possible.”I don’t believe the Kevin Pietersen issue had any effect on his decision. I’m sure this has been part of his planning for some time.”We were opening partners for England for a number of years and we became good friends. He was a good guy to share a dressing room with a strong leader. I wish him nothing but the best for the future.”

Round-up of the qualifying match of the MiWAY T20 Challenge that took place on March 25

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2012Farhaan Behardien and Alfonso Thomas’ late exploits helped Titans edge out Knights in a one-over eliminator in Centurion to set up a clash with Lions in the final on Sunday. Titans, who batted first in the eliminator, had middle-order batsman Behardien to thank as he smashed a six and a four over extra cover to give Knights a target of 20 runs. But it was the Thomas’ stranglehold on the Knights batsmen that closed the contest as he gave away only six runs.Chasing 145 for a victory, Titans were in trouble early as they were reduced to 29 for 4 after Johan van der Wath removed the dangerous pair of Roelof van der Merwe and Faf du Plessis in his third over. Titans’ problems were further compounded when tournament’s top wicket-taker, Jandre Coetzee removed Martin van Jaarsveld after he had scored 24. With 78 still required in nine overs, Albie Morkel, who scored 25 off 21 balls, combined with Behardien in a 53-run partnership to bring the Titans close. In the last three overs, 26 runs were required and Titans let the game slip as both their set batsmen were removed. When the last over started, the home side needed 13 and were in a dire situation when Thomas swung and missed first three balls off Coetzee. However, he connected in the fourth and the sixth ball, well enough to launch the ball out of the boundary to tie the score.Knights were put into bat and openers Morne van Wyk and Rilee Rossouw immediately stuck into van der Merwe’s spin to take 15 runs. However, van der Merwe got his revenge in the next over as he took a diving catch at deep-square leg to remove Rossouw. Two more diving catches later by Morkel, one of them one-handed at the long-on boundary, Knights started to falter. Spinners Eden Links and du Plessis slowed the Knights with few tight overs in the middle of the innings. However, Ryan McLaren, who scored 42 off 28 balls, stayed unbeaten till the end to set up a competitive target, which proved just a little short in the end.With this victory, Titans have also qualified for the Champions League.