All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardBilly Godleman struck the highest score by an England Under-19 batsman in one-day internationals as the team kept alive their hopes of squaring the series against Pakistan Under-19s with an 80-run win at Grace Road. Godleman and Adam Lyth added 126 for the second wicket as England piled up their biggest total at this level then Steven Finn’s four wickets meant Pakistan couldn’t get close.The day after the senior side comprehensively beat India at The Rose Bowl, the U-19s put in an equally impressive display. The 36-run defeat at Northampton left England facing a must-win situation to retain any interest in the series. Godleman and Alex Wakely laid a solid base with an opening stand of 100 before Lyth arrived and increased the scoring rate.Godleman showed the skills which have earned him a place in Middlesex’s Championship side and why many believe he is an England opener in the waiting. He was strong through the off side and paced his innings to perfection, expanding during the closing overs and surpassing such household names as Michael Vaughan and Mike Gatting.Lyth’s 75 took 65 balls and although the middle succumbed to a series of wild swings, the momentum was never lost and England scored more than 100 off the last 10 overs.Pakistan needed a rapid start if they were to chase down the runs, but weren’t helped when opener Shan Masood was unable to take his place after picking up a finger injury in the field. Finn produced a superb opening spell and removed Umar Amin, who has been one Pakistan’s leading batsmen on the tour.Usman Salahuddin again showed good form, but was forced to retire hurt with cramp when Pakistan needed to accelerate. Left-arm spinner Liam Dawson removed Ali Asad and Imad Wasim in three balls as the middle order tried hit out and got out. Although Salahuddin returned to completed a battling half-century, and Masood showed what Pakistan had missed in the top order, the contest was long since over.The final match of the series takes place on the same ground on Thursday.

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is to conclude its current tour of India with a first-ever match against Afghanistan.The fixture, described by an MCC spokesman as “pioneering and historic, will take place at the Police Ground in Mumbai on Thursday. MCC will be led by the former England and Middlesex captain, Mike Gatting.”I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead MCC in this historic gameagainst Afghanistan,” said Gatting. “Cricket has developed rapidly in the country over the last few years and MCC is keen to assist this process – as it is in all emerging cricket-playing nations.”Cricket’s popularity in Afghanistan has surged since many of the refugees who fled from the country in the early 1980s, after the Soviet invasion, started to return from Pakistan – where they first saw the game and started to play and follow it.In the last decade, the membership of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation has grown more than twenty-fold – from 500 to 12,000 members. The Afghan team, whose travel is being sponsored by MCC, will be flying into Delhi before transferring to Mumbai by train. The British Embassy in Kabul and the World Cricket Academy inMumbai have also played key roles in facilitating this match.Explaining the background to the fixture, MCC’s president, Robin Marlar, said:”This match is the culmination of many months of hard work. It all started severalyears ago when an MCC Member, Mark Scrase-Dickens, raised the issue of Afghancricket at a Club AGM.”Subsequently, at the Asian Cricket Council in London last summer, I was asked to help and we have been so pleased with the contributions made by the World Cricket Academy in Mumbai and, of course, the authorities in Afghanistan who have been swift to seize the opportunity.””This is merely the beginning,” added Marlar. “Because of the intensity of interest in the game in Afghanistan, there is no reason why that country should not progress year upon year with Bangladesh – the newest of the Test-playing nations – as the example to follow.”MCC also played a key role in the development of cricket in Bangladesh in the months and years following their war of liberation in 1971, with representative sides being sent to rekindle interest in the game. In 2002, MCC joined forces with Slazenger and the RAF to equip an Afghan XI and an international peacekeepers’ team for a match in Kabul.MCC squad Mike Gatting (capt), Tony Matharu, Bryan Jones, Sam Anderson, Stephen Brogan, Paul Carroll, Matthew Friedlander (Cambridge UCCE), Chinmay Gupte, Michael Jarrett, Richard Kettleborough, Tom Leaming (Cardiff UCCE), Danny Miller (Loughborough UCCE), Sameer Patel, Tim Smith, David Snellgrove.

It’s the new wave of the international game, so we might as well get used to it. Those who measure the quality of a cricketer by his performances over the long haul, and have grown to tolerate one-dayers as a necessary evil, will probably look scornfully upon the two Twenty20 Internationals between the West Indies and England.Just as the 50 over version was ridiculed in its fledgling years as “pyjama cricket” with its coloured clothing and other gimmicks, so too has the 20 overs-per-side hybrid been dismissed as a glorified whipping session, where the subtleties and complexities of the real thing are abandoned in the quest to clear the boundary ropes almost every delivery to the accompaniment of ear drum-puncturing noise from the resident DJ.Given their stubborn refusal to accept those ODI innovations in the immediate aftermath of Kerry Packer’s revolutionary World Series Cricket, it is more than a little ironic that this latest consumer-friendly variety has really taken off in England, as evidenced by the overwhelming popularity of the domestic version since it was introduced to a very receptive audience four years ago.They were not the first to experiment with an even shorter form of one-day cricket, but it is fair to say that its instant success convinced the ICC of the need to get in on the action, seeing as almost every match, whether domestic or international, is played in front of capacity crowds that are representative of every strata of society, from hardcore party animals to whole families enjoying an evening’s entertainment.And that’s essentially what it is: entertainment. Not a complex series of sub-plots and individual skirmishes, all unfolding over time in a duel that has almost as many twists, turns and changes of pace as the most complex scandal-laced soap opera.In an era when those who have extra money can’t enjoy the luxury of much spare time, Twenty20 fills the breach almost perfectly.

Most people were more preoccupied with the staggering sums of money shovelled out than the quality of the cricket played, but Allen Stanford’s ground-breaking Caribbean version of the frenetic spectacle proved such a hit last August in Antigua that, just for a moment, we almost believed his baseless boast that “West Indies cricket is back on track!” just after Narsingh Deonarine smashed a six off the penultimate ball of the final to give Guyana a pulsating victory over Trinidad and Tobago.It’s all about instant gratification, so there’s no point griping about it lacking the depth of the longer contest. That is not to say, of course, that any fool can dash to the nearest phone booth and be transformed Clark Kent-style into a Twenty20 superhero.Indeed, there is enough evidence to suggest that the concentrated demands of this extremely abbreviated style have contributed to even sharper fielding, while batsmen exposed to it on a regular basis are now more inclined to attack much earlier and with more clinical efficiency in both Tests and one-dayers.Still, it doesn’t appeal to all players, despite the financial rewards. Two years ago, Brian Lara commented that he didn’t enjoy having to swing for the hills almost from the word go when rain reduced an ODI against South Africa at the Queen’s Park Oval effectively to a Twenty20 affair.A number of Australia’s senior players, including skipper Ricky Ponting and 2007 World Cup final hero Adam Gilchrist, have cautioned against exposing younger players too much to a form of the game that could see them developing habits inimical to ensuring the country’s continued dominance at Test level.Still, Twenty20 has well and truly claimed its place in the cricketing world with the ICC approving the inaugural World Cup in South Africa in September. It is unlikely, however, given the increasing complaints about squeezing more matches into an already congested international schedule, that Twenty20 will enjoy the unfettered growth of its 50-over relation.Of course, as with anything else, it takes some getting used to, and Sunday’s 84-run humiliation at the hands of Derbyshire is not an encouraging sign for Chris Gayle’s reconstituted side. Hopefully, the final warm-up against the PCA Masters at Arundel would have proven more encouraging ahead of their first clash with Paul Collingwood’s England at The Oval in London.In their only Twenty20 International before the upcoming matches, the West Indies lost out in a tie-breaking bowl-out in Auckland at the start of their New Zealand tour in February of last year. It was an entertaining experience with a thrilling finale, but apart from the fact that it marked the farewell of allrounder Chris Cairns to international cricket, hardly anything else is worth remembering.But that’s Twenty20 for you: gratification without any real meaning, much like life in the 21st century. It is very much a game for the times.

1. Geoff Marsh – Mr. Nudist
A long-time room-mate of David Boon, Swampy lived and breathed cricket, mostly batting, as anyone who saw his bowling action would testify. He was so passionate that Boonie was often woken early in the morning to the site of Swampy – in his birthday suit – practising forward defences in front of the mirror! Never great at amusing himself, he would get annoyed if Boonie was reading a novel and not talking to him. On one occasion Boonie left the room, only to return to find his novel ripped to shreds by a smiling Swampy.2. Justin Langer – Mr. Sleepwalker
JL is known as a bit of a sleepwalker and also talks in his sleep. This alone might not seem like such a big problem, however Alfie is a black belt in martial arts, which adds some intrigue when you are woken by him screaming obscenities as he walks towards you throwing his kicks and punches. One of the major factors in the push for single rooms, not so much for solitude but for self-preservation.3. Steve Waugh – Mr. Messy
There is an old TV sitcom called The Odd Couple about Felix too neat, and Oscar too messy. When I roomed with Steve it was two Oscars and that meant trouble. I roomed with him once in Brisbane before the first Test against the Poms in 1994-95, and it was a disaster. We got along fine as blokes but we had a few problems with our domestication duties – shirts, shoes, socks, cricket gear and mini-bar wrappers were all sprawled around our room over the week-long stay. At the end of the Test, he left with half my gear and I left with half of his, although I didn’t get his cherished baggy green.4. Mark Waugh – Mr. Julio
I roomed a bit with Junior early in my career before I really got to know him. We didn’t have a lot in common in our touring life. I’m a massive Hawthorn fan in the AFL and his love was for the Bulldogs in the NRL. On a day off he loved nothing more than 18 holes of golf, while I was a non-golfer. He was one of the prominent members of the Julios, guys within the team who took a lot of pride in personal grooming. I was in the middle of the Nerd clan and very fashion-challenged. To motivate myself for big games I’d listen to Metallica, ACDC and Kiss, while Junior preferred the sounds of The Little River Band!

5. Michael Bevan – Mr. Mission Impossible
Rooming with Bevo was a bigger challenge than Tom Cruise had in any of his Mission:Impossible movies. Bevo was a perfectionist who needed the right amount of sleep to bring out his best game. He took objection to smokers, snorers, earlier risers, late-to-bedders, tall blokes, small blokes, drinkers etc. This is a man who has had the flu now for 36 years and took his own pharmacy on tour to maintain peak physical condition. Another individual who brought the notion of single rooms to the forefront.6. Darren Lehmann – Mr. McDonald’s
Would be Michael Bevan’s nightmare roomy from hell. Smokes like a trooper, loves a beer and the odd late night. Then when he does get home he proceeds to snore as loud as rioting elephants. We roomed together in Sri Lanka in 1996 for an ODI tournament which was under heavy security. We couldn’t leave the hotel, so that made the boys a little stir crazy for the three weeks. The highlight, for Boof and myself, was me questioning him about the McDonald’s menu. At that stage he had a McDonald’s card that gave him free food. I would ask questions like, “How much is a Big Mac meal deal, six nuggets and a caramel sundae?” He would have 15 seconds to answer. “Supersize or regular?” he would ask. “Supersize”, I would reply. “$9.55” . . . hours of fun!7. Brad Hogg – Mr. Fitness
Hoggy made his Aussie debut touring India in 1996 and was keen to set a good example. He was always first to training and last to finish, which would have impressed his team-mates except for the fact that the team bus couldn’t leave until he had finished! Jeez we watched him bowl a lot in the nets. Being from the country he was always up early and ready for action. Room-mates were woken to grunting noises as he punched out push-ups and sit-ups at 5.30am. And he is still the only Australian cricketer to actually buy weights on a tour and carry them around for the entire trip!8. Shane Warne – Mr. Entertainment
Rooming with Warney was always enjoyable as he loves his gadgets – DVDs, Minidiscs and the latest in mobile phones. He used to bring complete home entertainment systems on tour, lugging around a subwoofer and speakers in its own suitcase, before proceeding to play his music and movies – loud. Not a problem when he played some Powderfinger but I think Spice Girls should be listened to in the privacy of your own headphones. He once bought a mobile phone in Dubai in 1994 when they were only just new and the size of a house brick. He was disappointed with the low volume when speaking only to realise the phone was upside-down and back-to-front! Also a softie at heart, I once woke to find him crying during Notting Hill, when Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts reunite at the end.

9. Merv Hughes – Mr. Bodily Functions
I first roomed with Merv as an 18-year-old mulleted teenager straight from high school. I grew nervous when my fellow team-mates wished me luck. But we hit it off straight away; he became like a big brother to me. On arrival I would be sent to get food – maybe a couple of hamburgers, with a diet coke to even it out! I would also buy a Big M and Picnic each for sweets, to be saved for later that night. We would then “bat cave” our room by closing all curtains so no light could enter and have a couple of hours’ siesta, then wake up and go out that night. Merv would then leave earlier than me, and I would go home to find two empty Big M cartons and Picnic wrappers. No need for an alarm clock, we had Merv’s natural one. All I will say is that it was loud and smelly but very consistent – set for 30 minutes before departure. In those days for Victoria we used to swap roomies every second trip. I don’t know what I did wrong but I roomed with Merv for six years!10. Craig McDermott – Mr. Neat
Was the leader of our pace attack when I first came on the Australian scene and going from Big Merv’s laidback attitude to Billy was quite a contrast. It really was The Odd Couple with myself and Billy. Everything had to be packed neatly, clothes put into drawers and shirts hung up on their hangers. In my seven years touring with the Aussie team I never packed any clothes in hotel drawers. Any rubbish I had thrown around was picked up by Billy and put in the bin before he would even acknowledge me. He was a massive snorer. The night before an Adelaide Test against the Poms I was in bed early, wanting a long relaxing sleep. Just as I was drifting off, Billy starts snoring. After tossing and turning for hours I finally screamed out, “Stop snoring Billy!” In a semi-conscious state he apologised and proceeded to stop snoring. I don’t know how that works.11. Troy Corbett (Vic) – Mr. Fast Food
Special mention to one of the great blokes of Victorian cricket. I was rooming with him and our middle-order player Laurie Harper in Darwin for pre-season one year. The apartments had one double bedroom and one bedroom with two singles. Using my Australian experience, I pulled rank immediately and chose the double. I slept beautifully and woke to see Laurie camped with bed sheets in the kitchen looking like he’d hardly had a wink of sleep. He told me he’d had to move out as he was scared to sleep in the same room as Ronnie. Ronnie, who was working at McDonald’s at the time, was a sleepwalker and Laurie awoke to his team-mate above him, flipping burgers in his sleep, and of course … he was nude!

Gloucestershire have announced that Phil Weston is to leave the club at the end of the season to spend more time with his family. Weston joined Gloucestershire in 2003 after leaving Worcestershire, who he played with since making his debut in 1991.”I have asked to be released from the final year of my contract with Gloucestershire primarily for family reasons; this is to move back to my home in the north,” Weston said. “This has been a difficult decision and one which I have not taken lightly as I have enjoyed many happy and successful times during my four years at Nevil Road.””I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved at the club especially the supporters and players to whom I wish every success in the future.”Weston has enjoyed a solid final season, scoring 911 runs in the Championship at 39.60, with two hundreds and six fifties.”It was a great bonus to sign Phil in 2003 and he has been part of a very successful opening partnership with Craig Spearman,” Gloucestershire’s chief executive, Tom Richardson, added. “Obviously we are sorry that he is no longer playing with us but in this sense we do respect his wishes.”

David Sheppard, the former England Test captain, has passed away, aged 75, following a long battle with cancer. He would have turned a year older on March 6. Sheppard was also the former Bishop of Liverpool.Sheppard played 22 Tests – and led England in two – in a career that spanned 13 seasons. He averaged 37 and racked up three hundreds and six fifties in that time, and was named one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. One of his hundreds came against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956, the match in which Jim Laker took 19 wickets.Remembered by cricket fans for his graceful play and immense concentration, he was nonetheless also remembered for his fielding. Six years after he returned to the side in 1956 as the first ordained minister to play for England, he toured Australia and dropped catches, provoking a legendary jibe from Fred Trueman: “It’s a pity t’Reverend don’t put his hands together more often in t’field.”

Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has labelled Jagmohan Dalmiya’s re-election as Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president as a “victory of evil over good”. Bhattacharjee, who had backed Dalmiya’s prime opposer Prasun Mukherjee, the police commissioner of Kolkata, has vowed to remove Dalmiya in the interest of cricket.”So far [as] I’m concerned I’ll not compromise with this man,” he told reporters. “The battle will continue. I want him to leave this post. I want him to leave the organization. So long [as] he is there in the CAB the future of cricket in Bengal is doomed. He has many interests … vested interests … all interests other than cricket. Unless he leaves, it will further deteriorate.”Bhattacharjee had publicly opposed Dalmiya’s campaign for the top spot well before the election date but his words had little effect on the result. Dalmiya went ahead and filed his nomination and won the highly politicised election late Sunday.Bhattacharjee backed his anti-Dalmiya campaign again and emphatically stated that this was not a battle between two individuals. “It’s a fight between good and evil forces. Evil has triumphed this time. It happens at times,” he said. “Whatever I said, I said consciously. In normal circumstances one does not take such a stand. But there are times when it is a crime not to intervene when such interventions are necessary. I said this in the interest of Bengal cricket, the cricketers and to save the Eden Gardens which has become a condemned stadium. And accordingly I had requested Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty to persuade Dalmiya to stay away.”Bhattacharjee also felt that there were plenty in West Bengal who were apprehensive of the CAB’s management. “Cricketers, both former and current, and also budding ones, do not like it,” he said. “Some well-meaning persons wanted to bring about a change in the CAB. But unfortunately they were defeated.”However, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu on Monday disapproved of Bhattacharjee’s statements, asserting that Dalmiya had triumphed through democratic means. “I don’t know what he has said. We will discuss it in the party,” Basu said when his comment was sought. When it was pointed out that Bhattacharjee had described Mr. Dalmiya as an “evil force,” Basu said the CAB president had won the election in a democratic way.Chakraborty, who openly sided with Dalmiya despite Bhattacharjee’s request, summed up Dalmiya’s win as a victory for democracy. “I congratulated Dalmiya on his re-election and Prasun Mukherjee whose defeat proved that political interference in cricket was wrong,” he said. “It will be a bit of an embarrassment to the chief minister as his nominee Kolkata Police Comissioner Prasun Mukherjee could not win.”Bhattacharjee refrained from comment on Chakraborty’s stance during the controversial election.

Chris Cairns, the New Zealand allrounder, has been ruled out of the rest of the Videocon Cup in Zimbabwe owing to a recurrence of a hamstring injury during the fifth match of a tri-series against India on Friday.Lindsay Crocker, the New Zealand manager, said Cairns had appeared to make a full recovery before the match after passing a fitness test in the nets. New Zealand have further injury problems ahead of the final on Tuesday with Jacon Oram, the other allrounder, also suffering from a hamstring problem.Cairns didn’t make too much of an impression in the tournament, managing only 40 runs and two wickets in the three games he played in.

Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the new BCCI president, emphatically denied being a proxy candidate for Jagmohan Dalmiya and claimed that the election had been conducted as per the rules and regulations of the board.”This point has come up now and then,” Mahendra said when asked about him being propped up by Dalmiya, “As soon as I take over as the president of the board, you will see how I work. My only endeavour would be to seek the co-operation of each and every one.”He said that his political affiliations – he is a member of the ruling Congress party and the son of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal–had no bearings on his role as a cricket administrator. “I have been associated with the board for 30 years, and have worked as joint secretary, secretary and then vice-president of the BCCI .I am connected with the parties but my political career hasn’t been connected with this.”He claimed that the bitterness of this election would not spill over to the functioning of the board. “This type of groupism is always there in every election. So you can’t say it is a division in the board. Everybody is working for the BCCI and the game of cricket.”He admitted, however, that the BCCI needed to be more professional. “The time has come for professionalism and the board members will be taking some steps towards that.”Sharad Pawar, the losing candidate, insinuated that the election process had been hijacked by Dalmiya. “He was both the bowler and the umpire. He decided the final result,” Pawar said while ruling out the possibility that he would take the matter to court. “I will be the last person to go to court. We will fight this type of elements and we will see that the board runs democratically. I will give full co-operation to the next president to manage the board.”Pawar accused the Dalmiya camp of deliberately postponing the meeting to buy time. “It was the duty of the BCCI’s outgoing president to complete this election procedure,” Pawar said, “but the meeting was again and again adjourned and without any official communication to Justice Mohan. Knowing fully well that I have got a clear majority, deliberate disturbance was raised and the representative of Maharashtra, DC Agashe, who has been the member [of the Maharashtra Cricket Association] for 20 years, was sent [away] from the meeting place and not allowed to vote.”

Vanka Pratap in the process of giving Hyderabad the upper hand with atimely century, put to shade a good bowling performance by Keralaseamer Tinu Yohannan (6 for 177). Such was the dominance of Hyderabadthat they declared at 489 for 9 well into the second day of theirSouth Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Nuclear Fuel Complex Ground atHyderabad on Thursday. Kerala at stumps were tottering at 69 for 4.Resuming where he left off the previous evening, Vanka Pratap (128)went on to complete his century after a 317 minute stay at the crease.His overnight partner Vinay Kumar (71) was not far behind, reachinghis half century off 85 balls. After forging a 146 run fourth wicketstand with Vanka Pratap, Vinay departed caught by Ananthapadmanabhanoff Ramprakash. Then Vanka Pratap fell leg before to Yohannan afteradding 45 run for the fifth wicket with PR Satwalkar. Stumper MSrinivas joined Satwalkar and put on 56 runs for the sixth wicket.After the fall of Satwalkar, the Hyderabad innings folded up with theaddition of 41 runs. In reply Kerala made a circumspect start with theopeners V Girilal (22) and MP Sorab (24) adding 48 runs. But disasterstruck Kerala when former Indian spinner Venkatapathy Raju wasintroduced into the attack. Raju drew first blood for Hyderabad in the18th over when he trapped Girilal in front. Two balls later he sentback Sorab in much the similar manner. Kerala’s woes were not to endthere as Raju in his very next over picked up the wicket of S Shankar(0) caught by Vinay Kumar. Kanwaljit Singh joined in the act and inhis very first over trapped Sunil Oasis (6) leg before.