All posts by h716a5.icu

Australia’s coach Micky Arthur has said that Mitchell Johnson will have to compete with Pat Cummins for a place in the playing XI

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2012Australia’s coach Micky Arthur has said Mitchell Johnson will have to compete with Pat Cummins for a place in the starting XI during the one-day series against Ireland and England in June and July.Both Johnson and Cummins were recalled to the squad after recovering from foot injuries they sustained during Australia’s Test tour of South Africa in November 2011. “Mitchell Johnson returns and we can’t wait to have him back around the group,” Arthur said. “He may have to wait his turn though, as we are taking such a talented group of bowlers on the tour with us.”Arthur said he was excited with the prospect of seeing Cummins, who took seven wickets on Test debut against South Africa last November, return to top-flight cricket. “The player I am most excited about is Pat Cummins, we all saw what he could do in his one and only Test match and to have him back in the mix is fantastic,” he said. “He has the ability to become one of the best in the world. He and Patto [James Pattinson] will take a huge amount out of this tour.”Arthur hoped the Pattinson-Cummins combination would make their attack a force during the Ashes in 2013. “We hope they both will be firing this time next year when we go to England to claim the Ashes back and drawing on the experience of touring the UK before will certainly give them an edge.”Arthur also expressed support for Australia’s Test batting line up. “I am very happy with where our Test team is headed. Continuity in selection and role clarity is so important in creating team culture and I know that all players now know where and how they fit in,” he said. “We have a settled top six now and, together, this unit has played seven Test matches.”Edited by Carlyle Laurie

Suryakumar Yadav rescued West Zone from a top-order collapse with brisk century, but East Zone still held the edge on the first day of the Duleep Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2012
ScorecardSuryakumar Yadav rescued West Zone from a top-order collapse with a brisk century, but East Zone still held the edge on the first day of the Duleep Trophy quarter-final in Valsad.East Zone’s bowlers had first use of the pitch after Natraj Behera won the toss and they made early inroads. Ashok Dinda struck first, bowling Harshad Khadiwale in the fifth over, and Basant Mohanty dismissed the other opener, Kaustabh Pawar, reducing West Zone to 20 for 2. The runs were hard to come by as well and the early run-rate was below two an over. Abu Nechim then struck two blows in quick time, leaving West Zone in trouble at 41 for 4.Cheteshwar Pujara, the captain, and Yadav steadied the innings and their 153-run stand for the fifth wicket gave West Zone a solid platform to build from. East Zone, however, dismissed both set batsmen within a short time of each other. Pujara made 55 off 107 deliveries before he became Abu Nechim’s third wicket. Shahbaz Nadeen then had Yadav caught behind for 134 off only 137 balls, with 23 fours and a six.West Zone were stumbling again at 233 for 6, when Rohit Motwani and Akshay Darekar added 66 for the seventh wicket. Motwani did not survive until stumps though, and West Zone ended on 299 for 7.

An imperious display of strokemaking by Virat Kohli powered an Indian fightback conspicuous in its absence recently, made a mockery of an imposing score and kept India’s finals hopes alive

The Report by Siddhartha Talya28-Feb-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Virat Kohli was “in the zone” during his 133 not out off 86 balls•AFPTurnarounds don’t come any better. Fortunes don’t change more dramatically. And emotions don’t bear a starker contrast. At the halfway stage, Sri Lanka would have felt they had one foot in the final, having left the India bowlers deflated after a dominating performance with the bat. And they would have been right to think that way, the Indian batting having shown little promise in the series and the team on the brink of elimination.But Virat Kohli put on an imperious display of strokemaking, his malleable wrists powering an Indian fightback conspicuous by its absence on what had been, until now, two forgettable overseas trips. Kohli’s innings made a mockery of an imposing score, kept India’s finals hopes alive and left Sri Lanka having to beat Australia for a third time in the tournament to knock India out.Given India’s poor outings with the bat in their recent games, one would have expected them to struggle to chase a target of 321 in 50 overs. They achieved it in 36.4 – needing to chase it in 40 to stay alive in the series – and did so with Kohli finishing things off in a blaze of glory. Kohli was in the zone; he dismissed anything that came his way with clinical precision, found the boundary at will whether the field was in or pushed back, ran swiftly between the wickets to catch the fielders off guard and middled the ball with scarcely believable consistency.While Kohli was the protagonist in India’s successful chase, the other characters played their due part. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to do more but gave India the explosive start they desperately needed to stage a counterattack; Gautam Gambhir continued to be fluent, just four boundaries in a knock of 63 off 64 balls showing the toil behind the runs; and Suresh Raina, under pressure to perform, kept Kohli valuable company in a matchwinning stand.If India were insipid with their bowling, Sri Lanka were far worse, as wides flowed, gift balls were doled out with regularity and the fielding buckled under the pressure of an unexpected fightback. Both innings were replete with fumbles, misfields, wayward throws – one of them, had it been on target, could have run Kohli out – making batting even more profitable on the easiest track in the series thus far. The brisk start to the chase and the subsequent consolidation by Gambhir and Kohli meant India were in with a fighting chance with two Powerplays still remaining, and both proved highly lucrative.Kohli made both his own, first targetting Nuwan Kulasekara in the 31st over, which began with India needing 91 in 10 overs for a bonus point. He carted three consecutive fours as attempted yorkers failed to meet their desired lengths and served as tempting length balls. Two were whipped – in trademark Kohli fashion, a momentary turn of the wrists imparting tremendous force to the ball – and the other sliced over point in an act of improvisation.The Sri Lanka fast bowlers misfired badly but even when they got it right, like an accurate yorker from Malinga, Kohli was able to shuffle across and expertly work it past the short fine fielder. He took 24 from Malinga in the 35th over, flicking him for six, sending one through the covers for four and then picking up three more fours past short fine, and finished the game with two thunderous drives through the off side. A pump of the fists was followed by a roar of elation and relief as MS Dhoni calmly trudged on to the field to join in the celebrations.A win this dominating seemed a distant possibility when Kohli joined Gambhir at the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket. Tendulkar had walked across too far to be caught plumb by Malinga, ending an innings in which Tendulkar seemed devoid of pressure and completely uninhibited in his approach. Sehwag and Tendulkar batted with freedom, the former smashing Malinga into the grassbanks behind deep midwicket in a fiery opening stand of 54, and Tendulkar going over the top on the off side, and displaying an adeptness in picking Malinga’s variations. But at 2 for 86 in the 10th over, with India’s two most experienced batsmen back in the pavilion and the required-rate still very high, Kohli and Gambhir faced a daunting task.That both took little time to get going was crucial in maintaining the tempo that had been set. Gambhir steered Kulasekara for four off his third delivery before punching one past midwicket, and Kohli warmed up with one of several whips off Malinga off his second ball. The pair didn’t get bogged down despite a 35-ball boundary drought, running swiftly between the wickets, converting ones into twos by putting the outfielders under pressure and making the fielders inside the circle appear redundant by stealing quick ones.Kohli broke that drought with a drive off Thisara Perara past extra cover and later clobbered Angelo Mathews over the wide long-off boundary. At the halfway stage in the chase, the pair had notched up half-centuries, laying a solid foundation for the onslaught to follow with ten Powerplay overs still remaining. After Gambhir fell to an accurate throw while trying to steal a second, Raina infused the innings with greater urgency, providing a quicker partner at the other end to Kohli and indulging in some power play of his own to help hasten the finish.The Kohli show overshadowed an assured and commanding performance by Sri Lanka with the bat, and centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, who capitalised on a palpably below-par show from India’s bowlers.Dilshan shrugged off his initial unease against the swinging ball to gradually open up and march towards his 11th ODI century and Sangakkara played an innings as attractive as several of his abruptly terminated cameos this tournament, only longer in duration this time, full of confidence and more pleasing on the eye. The determination and focus of trying to bat India out of the game was unwavering in their innings, and the smiles on their faces and the India players’ drooping shoulders suggested a one-sided game. But body-language is not always a reliable indicator, for it had taken an about turn in three hours’ time.Edited by Dustin Silgardo

Middlesex were in sight of victory and promotion at the end of the third day of their County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire

14-Sep-2011
Scorecard
Middlesex were in sight of victory and promotion at the end of the third day of their County Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire at Grace Road. Gareth Berg hit a career-best unbeaten 130 as Middlesex totalled 502 to secure a first-innings lead of 183 runs.Then their bowlers took over leaving Leicestershire tottering on 222 for 7 by the close. Tim Murtagh dismissed both Leicestershire openers in his first two overs before offspinner Ollie Rayner took three for 32 as the home side crumbled in the evening session despite half-centuries from Greg Smith and James Taylor.Middlesex now look set to clinch the victory that would send them up as Division Two champions. They began the day at 401 for 8 and added another 101 runs in 19 overs with Berg and Murtagh sharing a record ninth-wicket partnership of 172.It beat the previous best of 160 set by Patsy Hendren and Jack Durston against Essex at Leyton in 1927. The runs came quickly against some erratic Leicestershire bowling with Berg reaching the second century of his career off 122 balls with three sixes and 11 fours.Murtagh also enjoyed himself cracking nine boundaries on the way to his first half-century of the season. He finally succumbed, edging a delivery from Wayne White that provided wicket-keeper Ned Eckersley with his sixth catch of the innings, one short of the record held by Neil Burns against Somerset 10 years ago.With a lead of 183 Middlesex made immediate inroads into Leicestershire’s second innings with openers Matt Boyce and Will Jones back in the pavilion in less than three overs for the second time in the match. After striking two crisp fours in Murtagh’s first over Boyce was out lbw to the final delivery.Jones, out for a duck in the first innings, managed two runs before he too was trapped lbw by Murtagh leaving Leicestershire at 11 for 2. But a battling third-wicket stand of 121 in 34 overs between Smith and Taylor put the break on Middlesex’s progress.The two of them showed plenty of determination and concentration with Smith reaching his second half-century of the game with a glorious off-driven boundary against Steven Crook. Taylor also went to his 50 off 89 balls with six boundaries and the pair of them finally began to give Leicestershire some hope of staging a fight back.But Smith was then trapped lbw by a quicker delivery from Jamie Dalrymple for 58 and although Taylor continued to look in good form wickets began falling at the other end.Having reached 80 Taylor edged a short pitch delivery from Crook through to the wicket-keeper and Rayner bagged the wickets of Jacques Du Toit, White and Rob Taylor as the home side lost four wickets for 35 runs in the final session.

A round-up of the action from the third round of National Cricket League 2011-12 matches

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2011Away at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong were upturned by a spirited Rajshahi by eight wickets, thanks to captain Farhad Reza, who picked up five second-innings wickets to help bowl out the home side for only 155 runs.After Chittagong made 378 in the first innings, Rajshahi took a 75-run lead thanks to Farhad Hossain’s double century. Faisal Hossain battled for Chiattagong in the second innings, making 71 off 112 balls, but it was not enough for the southeastern division. Rajshahi needed only 83 for the win and they completed the task in 19.2 overs, with Mizanur Rahman hammering an unbeaten half-century.Dhaka Metropolis continued their excellent start when they beat Barisal by 237 runs in the third round of the National Cricket League at the Sylhet Stadium. After their victories over Rajshahi and Dhaka, they completed a hat-trick of wins on their return to the first-class competition by crushing a depleted Barisal side that was missing on national and A team duties.Set a mammoth 516 for a win after Dhaka had extended their first-innings lead by an additional 185 runs, Barisal battled haplessly on the final day as they were bowled out for 278 in 96.1 overs. Nuruzzaman struck an unbeaten 88 while Salman Hossain scored 48. For Dhaka, fast bowler Tareq Aziz took three wickets while Arafat Salahuddin and Mohammad Ashraful picked up two each.Two games ended on the first day with Sylhet breaking their five-year first-class duck by beating Rangpur by an innings and 173 runs at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium. It was also their first win by an innings since 2002.Riding on Rajin Saleh’s 132 in the first innings, Sylhet bowled out Rangpur for 138 and 112 respectively, with Abu Jayed picking up nine wickets in the game. The win would do a lot of good to the division’s psyche as they have been the whipping boys of NCL.In the other game that ended inside three days, Khulna beat Dhaka by 91 runs in Jessore. Dhaka were always behind the eight-ball after conceding a 66-run lead to Khulna in the first innings after Abdur Razzak picked up four wickets for the southwestern division. Set a 286-run target, Dhaka struggled as Kulna, minus Razzak, whose mother died on Monday evening, skittled them for 194. Left-arm spinner Taposh Ghosh took five for 51, with only Taibur Rahman scoring a fifty.The teams now go on Eid vacation and will return on November 12.

Australia A pressed home their advantage on the second day at the Country Club in Harare; Phil Hughes’ 125 helping them get to 294 for 4 at stumps, a lead of 64

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill16-Jul-2011
ScorecardPhil Hughes’ century on day two helped Australia A take the lead against Zimbabwe XI•Zimbabwe CricketAustralia A pressed home their advantage on the second day at the Country Club in Harare; the fast bowlers recovered from a wicketless start to cut through Zimbabwe XI’s lower order in quick time before Phil Hughes’ 125 helped them get to 294 for 4 at stumps, a lead of 64.Zimbabwe’s batsmen had done well to deny Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle any joy on the first day, but both quicks made amends after the hosts resumed on 206 for 6. The new ball was taken first thing, and Siddle found it to his liking as he soon trapped Elton Chigumbura in front of his stumps for a 16-ball duck.Tendai Chatara also failed to get off the mark before he, too, was removed by Siddle, while Brian Vitori managed to reach the boundary once before he presented Hilfenhaus with his first wicket of the match. No. 11 Njabulo Ncube edged his second ball through to wicketkeeper Tim Paine, leaving Malcolm Waller unbeaten on 14 as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 230.Hughes and David Warner got off to a spirited start in reply, with Warner taking a particular liking to Chatara’s seamers. Warner looked set to reach his half-century before falling to Vitori two runs short of the mark shortly before lunch, and after the break Hughes and Usman Khawaja continued to pile on the runs.The 100 was raised in the 29th over, with Hughes bringing up his fifty shortly afterwards, but Zimbabwe had some relief when Chatara found the edge of Khawaja’s bat to dismiss him for 26. That brought Callum Ferguson to the crease, however, and he proceeded to add 104 for the third wicket with Hughes, easing past fifty before he was bowled by one of Waller’s offspinners with the score on 233.Hughes slowed in the afternoon, bringing up a 171-ball hundred after tea, but he helped extend Australia lead to 54 before he finally fell to Chigumbura. Paine and Mitchell Marsh added a further 10 runs before the close, and Zimbabwe will need to show a lot more penetration on the third day if they are to keep the lead under 100.

Mumbai showed exactly why they can be backed almost blindly in important contests, as they shredded the Saurashtra batting to take charge of the final

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran in Mumbai26-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo: Dhawal Kulkarni was the most effective of Mumbai’s bowlers on the first day•ESPNcricinfo LtdBased on this season’s form, there was no reason for Mumbai to start the final as overwhelming favourites against Saurashtra. But when it comes to big matches, the formbook can be ripped apart. At the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday, Mumbai showed exactly why they can be backed almost blindly in important contests, as they shredded the Saurashtra batting to take charge of the final.Before the game, it was assumed that Mumbai’s strategy, if they won the toss, would be to bury the opposition under a mountain of runs, as they had done to perfection in the quarter-final against Baroda. Surprisingly, they chose to bowl. At times, there were three slips and two gullies in place and Saurashtra’s run-rate was almost always below two an over, even though the track was not a batsman-killer. It had decent bounce and a bit of movement in the morning, but was certainly not tricky enough to merit the visitors’ collapse to 50 for 5. Perhaps Saurashtra were overwhelmed by the occasion, and Ajit Agarkar looked to exploit that by banging in a bouncer on the first ball of the match.Agarkar’s new-ball partner Dhawal Kulkarni was the star of the morning session with his opening spell of 7-4-6-2 that kept the Saurashtra batsmen on edge. Opener Sagar Jogiyani retreated towards leg and pushed his bat out, edging to second slip in the second over of the day. Rahul Dave, unsure whether to duck or pull a Kulkarni short ball, got himself tangled up before providing another slip catch. One of the best deliveries of the day was the one that accounted for Sheldon Jackson, Saurashtra’s highest run-getter this season with centuries in the quarter-final and semi-final. Kulkarni got it to bounce and swerve away just a touch, making Jackson prod the ball to the keeper. He finished the innings with figures of 21.3-13-24-4.The experienced opener Shitanshu Kotak hardly played a forceful shot in his two-hour stay, as he tried to stabilise the rocky innings. He fell, though, in a manner which had some resemblance to his semi-final dismissal – caught at slip while trying to force a spinner off the backfoot.While Saurashtra struggled, their captain, Jaydev Shah, down with a fever, decided to demote himself from his regular No. 4 spot, walking in after four wickets had fallen. If he had hoped the extra time in the dressing room would have allowed time for the moisture in the track to evaporate, he needn’t have bothered as he clipped left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar to midwicket for a duck.Saurashtra showed more spine after lunch with Aarpit Vasavada, the bespectacled left-hand batsman who has been one of their success stories this year, battling to a half-century filled with slaps and edges around point. Kamlesh Makwana, a regular source of runs in the lower order, also resisted and the pair cautiously played out almost the entire session.With the track flattening out, Saurashtra raising hopes of a competitive total and Mumbai’s bowlers unable to make the breakthrough, the home side turned to their crisis man, Abhishek Nayar, who duly delivered by removing both batsmen a few minutes short of tea.The Saurashtra tail hung around for a while, riding their luck as they repeatedly swished and missed at Kulkarni’s deliveries outside off. The batting collapse aside, Jaydev Unadkat’s run-out would have disappointed Saurashtra coach Debu Mitra, who had spoken before the match about how he had worked hard to imbibe some cricketing nous in the team during his long stint. Unadkat didn’t show much evidence of that. The bowler, who took off a lackadaisical single after hitting to point, didn’t try sliding his bat in to beat a throw from Dabholkar. He was out for 22. It was the sort of schoolboy mistake that famously makes Sunil Gavaskar livid.Unadkat could have made up for that mistake as early as the first ball of Mumbai’s innings when he jagged the ball in to beat Wasim Jaffer’s bat only for the loud lbw appeal to be turned down due to the height. Mumbai reached stumps without losing any wickets and a bigger crowd than the thousand-odd who showed up on the first day will be on hand to cheer them on Sunday, when they look to bat Saurashtra out of the match.

A round-up of the action from the fourth day of the fourth round of matches from the Ranji Trophy Elite League 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2011Group BSanjay Bangar hit an unbeaten 77•ESPNcricinfo LtdAshok Dinda’s aggressive fast bowling fetched him his maiden ten-wicket haul in a first-class match and set up a thrilling final day on which fourteen wickets fell at the Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium in Rohtak. Haryana succumbed to the accuracy and pace of Dinda to be bowled out for 169 in their second innings, setting Bengal a target of 189 from 37 overs. The visitors made a good first of the chase, but bad light stopped play 30 minutes before the scheduled end of play, at which point Bengal were 128 for 5, needing 61 runs from 54 balls. Haryana had begun the day on 42 for 1, 61 ahead of Bengal, with a draw looming. But Dinda ran through the line-up to finish with career-best figures of 7 for 44, giving him 12 for 142 for the match, also a career best. Though Bengal lost opener Arindam Das early on, the second-wicket pair of Rohan Banerjee and Abhishk Jhunjunwalla injected the required urgency into the chase with a 55-run stand before Sourav Ganguly cracked a brisk 22-ball 21 that included the only six of the innings to set up what looked like exciting finish until the light decided to play spoilsport.Bengal have five points from three games, while Haryana are slightly better off, in fifth place with eight points from four. Bengal had missed a golden opportunity to overtake Haryana’s first-innings score on Thursday by the small margin of 19 runs when their lower order folded in feeble fashion. Dinda summed up the hurt in the dressing room: “I am happy with my effort but I can’t forget that we fell short,”In Delhi, the fast bowling pair of Parvinder Awana and Ashish Nehra rattled Baroda with speed and movement at the Feroz Shah Kotla, sharing the final six wickets, to help the hosts to a ten-wicket victory. Baroda resumed on 81 for 4, still trailing Delhi’s first-innings score by 16. On the final day, Nehra picked up three quick wickets: the engine room of Baroda’s batting in Rakesh Solanki, Pinal Shah and Ambati Rayudu, who played with a swollen thumb. Awana, who had taken two wickets on Thursday , then polished off the lower order and the tail to pick his fourth five-for of his career. Baroda had been shot out inside 20 overs on the final morning and a target of 48 runs was knocked by the Delhi openers easily. The six points (including the bonus) helped Delhi register their first outright win of the season and jump atop Group B.Awana later told the that during the IPL, Shaun Pollock, the Mumbai Indians’ consultant, had told him not to give up on bowling fast and to “develop” his fast bowling muscles. He also thanked Nehra, who finished with nine wickets, for inspiring hims. “Ashish bowling with so much of effort spurred me a lot. He told me to keep bowling my heart out and the wickets will flow.”Udit Birla’s maiden first-class fifty, in his third match, helped Madhya Pradesh register a five-wicket win over Gujarat on a final day devoid of drama at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore. MP began the day needing 91 to win, with six wickets in hand on a pitch that had offered the seamers good purchase on the previous three days. The overnight pair of Abbas Ali and Harpreet Singh started confidently before Ishwar Chaudhary induced an edge from Ali. The 22-year-old Birla then took charge of the chase – MP were 70 runs away from victory when he came in, and he scored 52 of them.”It was my third match and it’s a special feeling to score [my] maiden Ranji fifty in a winning cause,” Birla told .Niraj Patel, Gujarat’s captain, did not hide his disappointment, though he praised his fast bowlers. “Our top-order did not stand up and be counted on both the occasions. However, I am really pleased with our bowling and fielding efforts.”Madhya Pradesh are tied on eight points with Baroda, Tamil Nadu and Haryana, but they have played three games to Baroda and Haryana’s four.Group AIt took Mumbai an hour to bundle out Orissa at the DRIEMS Ground in Cuttack and secure an easy innings-and-210 runs win. Orissa began the final day on 163 for 7, and lost Basant Mohanty off the second ball of the day for 41. The dismissal gave Ramesh Powar his 23rd first-class five-for. The last two wickets put up brief resistance, with partnerships of 41 and 22, but Mumbai eventually bowled out Orissa for 226 with plenty of time to spare. Zaheer Khan, who bowled 22 overs in the entire match, picking four wickets, did not bowl at all on the final morning. The six points Mumbai take from the match put them at the top of Group A, while Orissa are still at rock bottom.Coach Sulakshan Kulkarni praised his team for not getting distracted following Ajit Agarkar’s decision to head back to Mumbai on the first day of the match because he was not included in the playing eleven. “We did not expect it to be so easy, for Orissa have been in the Elite division for some years now, and have scored well in excess of 400 in their last two matches,” Kulkarni said. “So their collapse came as a bit of a surprise. But then, a victory is a victory. Our bowlers bowled beautifully. Our batsmen, particularly Kaustubh Pawar and Suryakumar Yadav, set the tone of the match by posting a big total. It was total team effort.”Aakash Chopra celebrated going past 10,000 first-class runs on the third day by converting his start into a century on the fourth, to help Rajasthan earn a draw against Uttar Pradesh at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Rajasthan were made to follow on and started the fourth day still 127 runs behind. Chopra and Vineet Saxena took their opening stand from 91 to 166, with Chopra registering his 28th first-class century of his career. Uttar Pradesh bowlers were finding it hard to create any sort of impact on a lifeless pitch. Robin Bist, who had got a century in Mumbai, took advantage of the bowlers’ predicament, scoring exactly 100 not out as Rajasthan reached 349 for 2, enough to earn a point. Rajasthan have managed just one point from each of their four games now, while UP have taken three from each of their games.Karnataka secured three points for the first-innings lead against Saurashtra at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Saurashtra started the day on 179 for 5, facing Karnataka’s 503. It was a question of how long they could bat; they lasted 49 overs – not enough to deny Karnataka three points but just about enough to avoid an outright loss. S Aravind dismissed Pratik Mehta in the second over, but veteran Shitanshu Kotak and Sandip Maniar batted time to prevent a collapse. Kotak, one of the more determined dead-bat batsman in domestic cricket, was let off in the very first over of the day by Stuart Binny in the slips and then again by KB Pavan in the eighth over. He stuck on for the next two hours, virtually snatching Karnataka’s hopes of an outright victory. Aravind eventually dismissed Maniar and offspinner Sunil Raju took a wicket to finish with four in the innings.Though the hosts picked three quick wickets in Saurashtra second innings, Cheteshwar Pujara made a patient, unbeaten 52 to ensure there was no collapse.Punjab’s lower order made handy contributions to prevent Railways from making a comeback at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. The hosts had started the day 144 runs ahead but were four wickets down in their second innings. They slipped to 83 for 6 on the fourth day and needed the lower order to step up to avoid giving Railways a gettable target. Amitoze Singh scored 68, Mayank Sidhana got 49, and Manpreet Gony smashed 45 off 39 balls including two sixes. That took Punjab to 242 for 9. They declared and left Railways with 35.3 overs to bat, which they negotiated thanks to Sanjay Bangar’s unbeaten 77. Punjab took three points from the game to go to fourth in the table.

Alviro Petersen was driving confidently in the morning session and looked set to continue in that vein. If he had, it would have gone a long way in cementing an opening slot

Firdose Moonda at SuperSport Park17-Dec-2010Alviro Petersen’s strongest statement of the day was made in the 20th over. He went down on a bent knee and slog-swept Harbhajan Singh over deep square leg for six. He had previously pulled Ishant Sharma to square-leg, driven Jaidev Unadkat through mid-off and Sreesanth through the covers, but this was that shot that expressed his intentions.”We didn’t want Harbhajan to settle,” Petersen said later. “We felt that if the ball was in our scoring areas and we could hit it, we would.”Graeme Smith went on to play a confident cut, a classy on-drive and a powerful pull and Harbhajan went for 19 in his first couple of overs. After Smith’s exit, Harbhajan got away with three boundary-less overs and if not for a drop from MS Dhoni, would have dismissed Hashim Amla. Petersen receded into his shell a little and came out only to drive a full Sreesanth delivery on the on-side.”We needed to have a lot of patience on this wicket.” Petersen said. He admitted that both he and Smith were tentative early on and “weren’t worried about the runs on the board,” as much as about seeing off the new ball and any early movement. “The longer you stay in, the easier it gets to bat,” he said – an observation that implied he was disappointed that he didn’t push on to reach three figures. He was driving confidently in the morning session and looked set to continue in that vein. If he had, it would have gone a long way in cementing an opening slot.Petersen took over the role at a time when South Africa was going through a mini-crisis. Ashwell Prince had made clear his desire to return to the middle order, Herschelle Gibbs had fallen out of favour and into rehab. Two strong seasons at the first-class level made Petersen the automatic choice. In 2008-09 season he finished third highest domestic scorer with 798 runs in nine matches at an average of 49.87. In the 2009-10 season, he made 557 runs in seven matches at an average of 55.7.With JP Duminy suffering a loss of form after the heroics that in Australia and Prince desperate to return to the middle order, it made sense to bring Petersen in. In February, after the first Test against India in Nagpur, the time was right. Prince had made a duck opening and Duminy nine runs at No. 6. Duminy was dropped, Prince moved down and there was room for Petersen.His debut – a crunch match against India at Eden Gardens – was going to be more mentally taxing than anything else. When Smith fell in the third over with the score on nine, it looked like Petersen was in for a rough ride. It would have been a topsy-turvy experience had he not been joined by the supremely confident and in-form Hashim Amla. Both went on record centuries and Petersen’s talent had announced itself on a grand stage.Apart from that, Petersen has not had a situation tough enough to test his mettle as an opener. He is playing in just his seventh match and has had a fairly gentle introduction to the big time. Ideally, after Kolkata, he should have gone on to stake a claim by scoring a century or two in the June tour of the Caribbean. Instead, he returned from three Tests with only one half-century to his name. His return in the two Tests against Pakistan was better and he looked likely to score a century in the first Test in Dubai before falling for 67.A second Test century is probably due for Petersen now, but he will have to wait for a while, possibly until the next match. Petersen didn’t appear too concerned with not reaching the milestone in the first innings and said South Africa wanted to “bat India out of the match.” He said the dressing room was “not satisfied with where we are now in the match” and had not yet thought about a declaration. Only a massive lead will satisfy South Africa and they only want to bat once.”The wicket is getting quicker and it’s changing quite a lot. A quick wicket suits our strengths so that’s what we want,” Petersen said, a warning to India that another blitz can be expected from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the second innings.

The limited-overs series between Australia and England will turn into one continuous flood-relief effort, as the situation worsens in parts of south-east Queensland

Brydon Coverdale12-Jan-2011The limited-overs series between Australia and England will turn into one continuous flood-relief effort, as the situation worsens in parts of south-east Queensland. Twelve people have died in the floods but that number is likely to rise, and up to 20,000 homes are expected to be inundated in the state capital, Brisbane.The Australia and England teams will be collecting donations in the crowd at the Adelaide Twenty20 international and it will be the first of many fundraising drives during the series. England’s players will donate part of their match fees for the first Twenty20 to the flood relief appeal, as will their Australian counterparts, while Kevin Pietersen is keen to auction a shirt and bat he used during the Ashes to assist the flood victims, and Cricket Australia has donated $100,000 to flood relief.Shane Warne and Darren Gough are also becoming involved, tweeting their interest in setting up a “legends” Twenty20 match to help raise funds. Cricket New South Wales will donate all gate receipts from their Big Bash match against Queensland on January 29, the day before the Brisbane ODI, which Queensland Cricket remains hopeful will go ahead.”It’s been really heartening to see how many people are so willing to stop and do something to help,” Cricket Australia’s spokesman Peter Young said. “Everyone is feeling the pain. It’s really heartening to get calls from clubs in the community who are having sausage sizzles, and they’re saying ‘where do we send the money?’ We have a program called Cricket Cares. What’s been demonstrated today is that cricket does care.”We decided a week or so ago that we, Commonwealth Bank and Channel Nine would run a fundraiser during the Brisbane ODI, on January 30. Given the deteriorating situation with the floods, we’ve decided to broaden that, so we’re starting the fundraising tonight at the international T20 in Adelaide and we’ll run fundraising through the matches culminating in the match at Brisbane.”The offices of Queensland Cricket in Brisbane have been sandbagged and the state’s staff were working from home on Wednesday, as the city was in the grip of a major natural disaster. The Brisbane River was expected to peak at 5.5 metres on Thursday, which would be the worst flooding in the city in more than a century.