All posts by csb10.top

It was the levelheaded approach of Ramnaresh Sarwan that helpedthe West Indies to a thrilling win at Jamshedpur. I mustcongratulate the tourists team for the resilience they haveshown. After losing the first two Test matches, they have shown apositive approach to their game, and that has patently manifesteditself in a marked improvement in their fielding standards.The signs of improvement started showing even during the KolkataTest, and there is a very definite air of positive confidence totheir body language now. After the Jamshedpur one-dayer, the teamwill now be boosted even more by the performances of their toporder batsmen like Wavell Hinds and Marlon Samuels. And eventhough the experienced Carl Hooper may have failed, Sarwanrefused to throw away his wicket and, ignoring the mountingpressure, sealed a scintillating win.For India, promoting Ajit Agarkar to number three must be ratedas a big gamble. Fortunately for the team management, the gamblepaid off. Agarkar played very well for his 95 runs, and it wasgood to see him involved in two big partnerships, with VVS Laxmanand then with Rahul Dravid.Mohammad Kaif played yet another brilliant cameo towards the end.Surely India have now found their own version of Michael Bevan, alate-order player who can hit up quick runs, consolidate whenneeded, and pace a one-day chase well. Kaif has shown glimpses ofall three skills, and the first of the three helped India to tatotal of 283 – a good score, especially in the absence of aninjured Sachin Tendulkar.But Agarkar’s success with the bat may pose a few problems. WithKaif then coming in at number eight, the batting line-up looksrather over-crowded, and when Tendulkar returns, either Agarkarwill have to move back to his slot in the tail or one of theregular batsmen will have to make way.

Then again, going by their display at Jamshedpur, the surfeit ofriches in the batting department is the least of India’s worriesin one-day cricket. The fact that they failed to defend a scoreof 283, on a placid Indian pitch, must be a worrying factor forthe team management. As the tour progresses, the West Indians arealso getting used to Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh; notably,Samuels, Hinds and Sarwan are finding their feet against bothspinners. The pitch was a touch on the slower side and shouldhave helped Kumble and Harbhajan, yet both were completelyoutplayed.Virender Sehwag was the onlybowler to create an impact on the West Indies. I thought hebowled intelligently and was crucial in the Windies almostchoking towards the end. It is this lack of depth in the Indianbowling that causes worry.The two teams look very evenly matched at the moment, and theremaining games of this one-day series might continue in the samepattern. It is the change in batting fortunes of the West Indiesthat has made all the difference, and the likes of Sarwan,Samuels and Hinds have the right attitude towards the game. Ifthey can concentrate on the job a touch harder and score heavily,the West Indies might give this experienced Indian team a realscare.

Sorry FICA, but your awards and allocation of places on the International Hall of Fame have to be taken with a hefty helping of cynicism.And yes, it is a pure case of Kiwi whingeing.You award Australian openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer the place in history award for four double century opening partnerships.Yet your assessors conveniently forget that Mr Langer was given not out leg before wicket in the second of those opening stands before he had scored a run. A decision for which, now elite panel umpire, Daryl Harper apologised for getting wrong.And yes, you did overlook New Zealander Nathan Astle in the same category.That’s the same Nathan Astle who scored 222 to obliterate the world record set by your international player of the year Adam Gilchrist a few weeks earlier.We’re talking about breaking a record by 59 balls here, not something insignificant.And that innings had an effect on the rest of the series because England were not prepared to let him loose on a reasonable fourth innings target in the second Test. That, of course, rebounded on them when New Zealand won the third Test to tie the series, with the aforementioned Astle playing two key roles, in batting and bowling.While we’re on about it, what more had Astle to do during the year not to be in the running for the international player of the year.Notwithstanding his world record there were other factors.Astle helped ensure New Zealand tied their home Test series with England by scoring vital runs on the dramatic fourth evening in the third Test, before producing a sustained bowling spell to create havoc in the England batting on the last day of the game.His feat in securing his 12th century in One-Day Internationals ensured New Zealand beat England in a one-day series.Then, of course, there was Astle’s share of the four New Zealand centuries scored at Perth in the third Test of the series in which New Zealand was only denied victory by more umpiring controversy.You appointed former England captain Mike Atherton to your Hall of Fame. Nice chap, fine batsman, but worthy of a place ahead of many other claimants?Sorry again. Must disagree.First up, where, for goodness sake is Victor Trumper? Atherton v Trumper.Sorry, can’t agree.Then there’s Doug Walters. Atherton v Walters.Nah, sorry, doesn’t add up.What must poor old Mark Taylor be thinking. How many times did Taylor preside over Atherton’s demise?You’ve got it wrong chaps.And just to make a point for a Kiwi.I wonder if your assessors bothered to contact some of the players on your list still alive whether they might say Bert Sutcliffe might warrant inclusion on that list. If it came down to a choice between Sutcliffe and Atherton, the outcome of a vote would be interesting.But no comparison as far as we are concerned.While we are at, and to show how magnanimous New Zealanders can be, a certain fellow by the name of Clarrie Grimmett doesn’t seem to appear on your list.Yes I know, it is more Kiwi whingeing, after all he was born in New Zealand. But I do think our Australian friends might feel a degree of empathy with us on this point.Or for that matter, were Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh all really that much better than Wes Hall?Dear old Alan Davidson must also wonder when his name is going to be called up.Would it be too much to expect that these players mentioned might make it before Alec Stewart is ushered in? Or is that my cynicism getting the better of me?But then for a list which reveals 23 Englishmen, 14 West Indians, 11 Australians, three Indians, Pakistanis and South Africans and one New Zealander, you would have to think that England had dominated world cricket.Cynicism would seem acceptable on that count.Do you really think your list truly reflects the history of the game?That is what a Hall of Fame should do.

The Somerset players were all back in training at the County Ground in Taunton this morning after their innings defeat inside at the hands of Leicestershire last week that consigned them to the basement of the county championship next season.This is the first time that the Cidermen have experienced life in the second division of the four day game and they will be looking for a quick return to the top flight.Mike Burns who is only four runs short of his 1000 runs for the season and who has narrowly missed out on a century on four occasions including 97 at Grace Road told me: "We are all bitterly disappointed. We are all professional sportsmen and know exactly what is expected of us out there in the middle. We have been trying our hardest all season but it just hasn’t been going our way."Looking forward to the final match of the season against Lancashire at Taunton on Wednesday the all rounder told me: "Although there is nothing on it for us all the boys will want to do well to end the season on a high note to carry forward to next season."Regarding 2003 he told me: "We will be looking to strengthen our squad with another overseas player and then bounce straight back into the first division in both the championship and the NUL."Looking forward to the Lancashire game Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: "We will be playing for an immense amount of pride. We are all very hurt by what has gone on this season and we will be looking into the reasons behind it."The coach continued: "Collectively there will be no taking our foot off the accelerator now, we will be doing the things that we have tried to do all season."

New Zealand’s cricketers who returned home after the Karachi bomb blast 10 days ago got together in Christchurch on Saturday.New Zealand Cricket’s sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka contacted the players who toured Sri Lanka when the 1992 bomb blast occurred outside their Colombo hotel and asked those players what they appreciated when they returned home.Some of the players remained on tour while five players and the coach returned home after the blast.The advice Enoka received was that the 1992 players would have liked to be able to get together as a group to talk about what happened.New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said that it had been a good idea by NZC to follow up on the last bomb blast and talk to the players who had been exposed to terrorism before.Getting back together as a group was what they said, he said.Those players felt the split that occurred in the team in 1992 had hampered the recovery process.”We had a lot of time to discuss what happened and we shared the experience as a group, and it was good of NZC to offer this service.Counsellors spoke with players and their partners who wanted to talk with them on Saturday in Christchurch, Fleming said.Now the side was focusing firmly on the West Indies tour. The side for that tour, which will be split into 15 for the five One-Day Internationals and 14 for the two Test matches, will be named in Christchurch on Thursday.Meanwhile, Fleming refuted comments that he had been taking video camera shots of the carnage in the aftermath of the bomb blast in Karachi.He said the team has quite a good camera and he took two photos of the structural damage caused by the blast, and took nothing gory.”It was for the players’ personal files.”I don’t have a video camera,” Fleming said.The side process any shots they want for their own files from the group camera.The report was rubbish, he said.

Canterbury:
Kent 318-5 (GO Jones 117, MJ Dennington 94*, JB Hockley 67)
MCC Young Cricketers 200
Kent won by 118 runs.Taunton:
Somerset 281-9 (N Edwards 57)
Glamorgan 285-3 47.1 overs (J Hughes 126*)
Glamorgan won by 7 wicketsBristol:
Worcestershire 254-4 (N Round 132*)
Gloucestershire 257-7 (AN Bressington 69*, THC Hancock 52, APR Gidman 50)
Gloucestershire win by 3 wicketsSutton:
Sussex 207 (48.3 overs) (B Zuiderent 57, JR Carpenter 48, CD Hopkinson 45)
Surrey: 211-3 (27.3 overs) (JD Ratcliffe 112, SA Newman 71*)
Surrey won by 7 wickets.Castleford:
Lancashire 189
Yorkshire 191-5 (SA Richardson 61)
Yorkshire won by 5 wicketsWellington Cricket Club:
Minor Counties 186 (IJ Westwood 4-42)
Warwickshire 187-4
Warwickshire won by 6 wickets.

Glamorgan could have two representatives at the first Test against Pakistan, starting at Lord`s next Thursday – spinner Robert Croft and scorer Byron Denning.Byron Denning has already accepted an invitation to act as England`s scorer in the opening Test of the 2001 series. The long serving Glamorgan scorer will be in the scorer`s box alongside Tony Kingston of Northamptonshire as the two teams take the field, and after the announcement this morning of the England squad, it is not inconceivable that `Dasher` will be recording the efforts of spinner Robert Croft.Croft is one of thirteen names in the England squad, which includes uncapped Surrey batsman Ian Ward and Yorkshire`s Ryan Sidebottom. Croft is the only full time spinner in the squad, with Ashley Giles still recovering from a Achilles tendon strain.Many pundits are suggesting that Ward will get the nod in the final eleven, rather than the Glamorgan off-spinner, but Chairman of Selectors David Graveney has not discounted the fact that Croft could figure in the match. “Everyone seems to think Crofty is simply coming along to make up thenumbers, but with the weather being so unpredictable, we believespin could still play a part in this Test.”

The new 2002 Somerset County Cricket Club Yearbook has just been published, and once again editor Michael Hill has produced a tome full of articles and information to keep supporters occupied for many a long hour or wet afternoon.The full colour front cover is dominated by jubilant pictures from the Lord’s Final when Somerset won the Cheltenham and Gloucester trophy, and inside there are several articles relating to that momentous occasion when the Cidermen put an end to the 18-year silverware famine.Richard Johnson and Keith Dutch are the subject of an article by Mark Easterbrook appropriately entitled `Inspired Signings’ whilst Mark Baldwin of The Times writes about Marcus Trescothick describing him as the `ultimate boyhood hero’.Elsewhere there are articles relating to all aspects of Somerset cricket including reports from the Somerset Cricket Board and all the age group teams.There are two sections of colour photographs, and over 30 pages of statistics to gladden the hearts of all those who like to keep a check on the records.Editor Michael Hill has once again provided the club with an excellent yearbook, one that all followers of the county game will want to have on their shelf.The yearbook is available from the Cricket Shop at the County Ground, priced £7.50, with concessions for members, or by post from Somerset CCC Office, St James Street, Taunton, Somerset TA1 1JT (please add £1.50 post and packing.)

The fact that Sir Paul Condon, head of the International Cricket Council match-fixing investigation team, will be in Auckland tomorrow should not interfere with a thrilling, if arranged, finish to the Auckland-Central Districts Shell Trophy match at the Eden Park Outer Oval.After some arrangements which might be interpreted, depending on the viewpoint, as a gentleman’s agreement or collusion between the two skippers, Auckland will be looking for close to 400 runs, and Central 10 wickets in pursuit of victory tomorrow.Central could end with six points, and keep their Trophy hopes alive, while Auckland could have four points and put a prideful swell on their chests.The mere details of the day were that Central Districts declared their first innings at 397 for six, their overnight total, and then Andrew Schwass led such a brilliant bowling attack that he had the first four Auckland wickets for two runs, and the home side slid to 42 for five, 44 for six and 65 for seven.Then a gallant rearguard action, led by Reece Young, the 21-year-old wicket-keeper batting at No 9, led to Young scoring a totally splendid century and figuring in a 104-run stand for the ninth wicket with Chris Drum (30).This led Auckland to a modest 224 for eight wickets by tea, Central 173 runs ahead, when Dion Nash, the Auckland skipper, closed his innings – obviously safe in the knowledge Spearman would not impose the 150-run follow-on.Instead Spearman led the Central second innings in a blistering assault which brought him 61, David Kelly 85 not out and Mathew Sinclair 32 not out in the Central second innings of 192 for one wicket in the 28 overs before stumps.So Central finished 365 runs in profit and, with a minimum of 100 overs available tomorrow (less three for some possible change of innings) Spearman will have plenty of time to attack the erratic Auckland batting line.In fact, Spearman could declare overnight, and hope for some early-morning help for his bowlers from a pitch covered and sweating under Auckland’s recent run of 98 per cent humidity.This ploy worked superbly this morning when, after Brent Hefford had conceded a run in the first over, Andrew Schwass took three wickets in the next over. He soon had another, opening figures of 3-0-3-4, first-spell details of 7-3-5-4, five wickets for 13 and eventually five for 53.Schwass is a 26-year-old expert at doing the simple things right – bowling a brisk medium, a tight length, accurate direction and let the swing and seam of the ball do the nasty work. He looked so innocent in what became a St Valentine’s Day massacre of the Auckland innings.Some of the life had gone from the pitch and the ball – it became a very hot afternoon – by the time Young (with noble assistance from the rest of the tail) led Auckland some way out of the wilderness.Like Schwass, Young did not become over-ambitious. He kept out the dangerous balls, nudged the good ones for ones and twos, and with his confidence growing hit out boldly over the last half of his heroic 143-minute tour to the first century of his 11-match first class career.Along the way Young hit 17 fours and finished his century from 95 to 101 not out with the suitable splendour of a six over mid-wicket. Drum deserved warm praise for his diligent defence, and the occasional murderous whack of the ball to, and twice over, the boundary.Not surprisingly Spearman, Kelly and Sinclair raced along at a run-a-ball clip in the gloaming, not hindered by a rather cosy new-ball attack, and then helped materially when Blair Pocock and Richard King contributed seven convivial overs from which Central extracted 64 runs.Things became a little more rigorous later in the afternoon, and perhaps Spearman may be tempted to give Auckland all tomorrow to scored the runs.Whatever the questions about the wisdom, or ethics, of Nash’s declaration, the day brought 416 runs for nine wickets, following the 397 for six on the previous day.On that basis anything, and more likely a Central Districts win, could happen tomorrow.

Indian coach John Wright said on Sunday that ace leg spinner Anil Kumble has to ‘fight’ to come back into the Indian cricket team. Wright was talking to reporters in Bangalore after the commencement of the six-day training camp, ahead of the hectic 51-day Zimbabwe tour, that began at the Chinnaswamy stadium.Kumble who recently returned from Johannesburg after undergoing a surgery for his injured shoulder was seen practising at the camp, though he is not among the probables. Medium pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who had not been picked for the camp, was also seen practicing along with Kumble. Both the players said they would attend the camp on all days and would avail the training benefits.

Easily the most severe industrial crisis to hit New Zealand sport has resulted from the stalemate reached today in the pay dispute between New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association.New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Martin Snedden admitted tonight that the last scheduled negotiations today had been unsuccessful and that even with the assistance of a mediator the sides had not been able to move any further ahead.”It is now time to reflect and I will talk with our bargaining team about where we go from here.”There are various options available to us that we will have to consider,” Snedden said.Any further negotiations have been left unscheduled.When starting their action the Players’ Association withdrew the services of the players for the month of October.There has been no indication from the Association about what further action may be taken although they had said they will be on strike until further notice.They had told the NZC team that they will give them an update of their position after the weekend.However, it does seem more likely that the scheduled opening event of the New Zealand summer, the now annual State Max weekend, scheduled for November 16-17, will be in jeopardy.The first game in the four-day State Championship is scheduled to start the next weekend at Wanganui between Central Districts and Otago.A full round of games is scheduled for the following weekend while the Indian tour of New Zealand is scheduled to open with a Super Max game at Jade Stadium on December 4.