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Matthew Wade has said batsmen need to find the right balance between patience and aggression if they are to give Michael Clarke the support he needs

Brydon Coverdale07-Mar-2013Australia’s wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has said the batsmen need to find the right balance between patience and aggression if they are to give Michael Clarke the support he needs to turn the Test tour of India around. Clarke has scored more than twice as many runs as any other member of Australia’s top six during the first two Tests and will move up the order from No.5 for the third Test in Mohali in an effort to exert greater influence on Australia’s batting innings.More than a quarter of Australia’s runs in the series have come off the bat of Clarke but only two batsmen have accompanied him for meaningful partnerships, Moises Henriques, in a 151-run stand in Chennai, and Wade for a 145-run partnership in Hyderabad. That ended when Wade cut a catch to backward point off Harbhajan Singh for 62, the ball after a missed stumping, and Wade said he knew he had thrown away a chance to really influence the game.”Michael has had to score a truckload of runs for us,” Wade said. “I felt very disappointed when I got out in this Test match. We’d put on nearly 150 runs and we were both really going. If I could have hung around with him, it could have been endless. Individually we’d like to stick around with him and help him out a little bit more and take the pressure off him. But I’m sure he’s going to keep scoring runs no matter what.”For most of Australia’s batsmen getting starts has not been the problem, but rather finding a way to stay at the crease long and push through to a much longer innings. In some cases they have fallen trying to force some runs to relieve pressure, while in other instances they have found themselves too tentative. Achieving the right balance is a fine art that the Indian batsmen have mastered in this series.”Getting a boundary away or playing a scoring shot relieves the pressure a little bit,” Wade said. “It’s hard work to try to stay mentally in your game plan and not go away from that when the spinners are bowling really well. One thing that I definitely saw in the first innings [in Hyderabad] is when you do get on top, things start to happen a lot quicker. You can go from 20 to 50 quickly in these conditions.”We might have to be a little bit more aggressive at times to get India to do something different because if they get into a rhythm and just bowl dot after dot, the game’s not going anywhere for us. We’re just sitting ducks. We’ve got to try to be a little bit more aggressive and put the pressure back on their bowlers.”However, in some cases when the Australians have tried to do just that it has cost them their wickets. Two Tests in to the series, the batsmen are starting to realise just how difficult the Indian conditions can be in Test cricket, which is a new experience for all but Clarke and Shane Watson among the batting group. Wade said the first two Tests had “definitely” been a wake-up call for the batsmen, who had a centre-wicket practice session on the Hyderabad pitch on what should have been day five of the Test.”The West Indies [2012 tour] was similar to these kinds of conditions, big-spinning wickets, hard to score, good spinners, good quicks bowling reverse,” Wade said. “Coming from Australian conditions to these conditions is a massive difference and it has taken a little bit of time to adapt. But that’s no excuse. We had two trials games where our batters got good innings and our bowlers had a good bowl.”We were a little bit flat [after the loss] but training has helped the mood, to get out there and start honing our skills again. Going to a ground day five when you were supposed to be playing, it’s not a great result when you are there training, but everyone was pretty focused individually on how to get better. The bigger thing is that as a team we need to get better so as the training session went on people got a little more relaxed and came out of their shell.”

Northamptonshire have signed 29-year-old Pakistani seamer Muhammad Azhar Ullah on a one-year deal

George Dobell04-Mar-2013Northamptonshire have signed Muhammad Azhar Ullah on a one-year deal. The 29-year-old seamer was born in Pakistan and, until November, had been playing for the Water and Power Development Authority in Pakistani domestic cricket but qualifies as a non-overseas player in county cricket through residency, which was granted in February, and a UK passport, which he expects to receive in April. He is married to a British girl and lives in Yorkshire.”We are pleased that Azhar has decided to join us as he will provide proven first-class quality in the seam bowling department, providing healthy competition for places,” David Ripley, the Northants head coach, said. “He bowls with good pace and having learnt his trade in Pakistan has developed ways of getting batsmen out on flat subcontinent pitches.”Azhar Ullah has a decent first-class record. Since his first-class debut in 2004, he has played 53 first-class matches and claimed 190 wickets at 26.51 apiece. In List-A cricket he has claimed 40 wickets and concedes an average of 5.27 runs per over, but he has not played a T20 game since 2008. He was recommended to Northants by their allrounder James Middlebrook and has a good record in league cricket in England over several years.Northants’ CEO, David Smith, said: “Our seam bowling attack with Trent Copeland, David Willey, Steven Crook, Luke Evans, Olly Stone, Andrew Hall, Lee Daggett, Azhar Ullah and Sam Sweeney offers us good cover for potential injury and player rotation to manage work load. We also have good spin bowling options with Middlebrook, Con de Lange and Matt Spriegel.”His signing is subject to approval from the ECB, though Northants do not anticipate a problem.

Umesh Yadav, the India fast bowler, will return to competitive cricket when he takes field for Vidarbha in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2013Umesh Yadav, the India fast bowler, will return to competitive cricket when he takes the field for Vidarbha in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Odisha on Thursday in Indore. He last played for India in the Ahmedabad Test in November 2012 before a stress reaction of the back sidelined him. Yadav said he will be selective and will manage his workload in the IPL that follows.”This will be my first competitive game in four months,” Yadav told PTI. “Irrespective of the amount of effort you put in at the nets, there is no substitute to match practice. Tomorrow, I will get an idea about how I am shaping up. I am planning to play all the group league games, which are on successive days, which will provide me with an idea as to how my body is holding up.”Yadav also said he will take it easy during the IPL and will monitor his workload properly, lest he puts his back under too much pressure too soon. “I have fully recovered from my lower-back injury. I will be available from the first match for Delhi Daredevils, but considering the number of matches and the amount of travel involved, I need to be careful about the workload and will speak to the coaches regarding that.” The Daredevils play their first match on April 3.Yadav resumed bowling in the first week of March, and has been under the supervision of the specialists at the National Cricket Academy. “I didn’t want to rush my comeback,” Yadav said. “When I first started bowling, it was off a four-step run-up. Gradually, I increased it to eight steps, and from there to 12 steps. Now I am bowling with my full run-up, which is 16 steps.”

A century from Northamptonshire’s captain Stephen Peters helped them to a slim advantage at the halfway point of a keenly contested match against Kent

Alan Gardner at Canterbury02-May-2013
ScorecardStephen Peters registered Northamptonshire’s first hundred of the season•Getty Images

Northamptonshire may not be Division Two leaders straight out of left-field, to slip into baseball parlance, but their hot streak has caught plenty by surprise. A century from their captain, Stephen Peters, and a by-now-familiar flick of the tail helped them to a slim advantage at the halfway point of a keenly contested match against Kent, as they pursue a third win out of four that would only fuel promotion talk on the bleachers.Northants have been here before and, having missed out by a single point in 2009 and 2011, they might be forgiven for fearing what Yogi Berra, the marvellously muddled former Major League catcher, once called “déjà vu all over again”. David Ripley, who succeeded David Capel as coach last year, was involved with the club on those previous occasions but said “choking” was not a problem he is worried about this time around.”Promotion is a target we think is achievable, especially with the start we’ve made,” he said. “The belief is there that we can do it. I’m confident we can. It’s partly a relief to come out and play well, when you’ve put the work in. Having got those wins in the bank, got ourselves at the top of the table, that’s great – we didn’t envisage being where we are but we’ll take it because we’ve played well.”Ironically, Northamptonshire’s preparations for the season focused on improving a disappointing recent record in one-day cricket – an area in which Ripley felt they “had the most to gain” – and one of the signings who has done so much to help them top the table, Steven Crook, was brought in with that aim in mind. Here, Crook hit 63, his third half-century in four innings since returning from Middlesex, to go with three wickets on the first day, as Northamptonshire recovered from 150 for 6 to post 303.”It ain’t over, til it’s over,” is another Berra aphorism and one the Northamptonshire lower order appear to have taken to heart. In four first innings, their last four wickets have added 648 runs – more than doubling the score on two occasions – although the picture at Canterbury was distorted slightly by Rob Newton batting at No. 11 after suffering a groin strain while fielding on Wednesday. That meant they fielded a last man with an average of 38.95, rather than the usual 21.07 of Trent Copeland.Crook’s contribution was second only to Peters, who recorded his 30th first-class century and the first by any Northamptonshire player this season. While their bowling attack has regularly treated the opposition like skittles, top-order runs have been a little less forthcoming. In April in England, that is not altogether unsurprising but this was the third time Peters has passed fifty and his batting, as well as his leadership, is likely to be crucial if Northants are to stay the course.”He’s been outstanding, he really has,” Ripley said of Peters, who is in his first season as captain. “His example batting, you’ve only got to see how dearly he sells himself in games like we’ve seen today. He’s steely, competitive, loves it when it’s tough. He’s spoken very well with the team, tactically he’s been very good and a lot of the impetus we’ve built, he’s helped us get it going.”The engine required a little turning over at the start of the day and it would be inaccurate to say that the morning session took place under a blanket of cloud only in that a blanket suggests a degree of warmth. That didn’t stop Peters from batting in shirt sleeves and, if the goose pimples helped focus the mind, it certainly wasn’t a bad idea.Peters was involved in the two most substantial stands of the innings – putting on 63 with both David Sales and Crook – but it was his temperament and focus in the face of testing spells from Kent’s raggedy old stagers, Charlie Shreck and Mark Davies, that really set the tone.Ripley said Northants had expected a tough encounter and an important test of their credentials in this fixture and, by the time the sun finally came out in the late afternoon, they had stolen a few more bases. “We’ve always had good four-day skills,” he said. “We’ve been there and gone close before and there’s a feeling that we can be there again.”

He will abstain from discharging his duties as the BCCI president for now but N Srinivasan will continue to represent the Indian board at the ICC

Amol Karhadkar02-Jun-2013He will abstain from discharging his duties as the BCCI president for now but N Srinivasan will continue to represent the Indian board at the ICC.After returning from the working committee meeting in Chennai, Mumbai Cricket Association’s acting president Ravi Savant confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Srinivasan emerged as the preferred choice when it came to representation at the game’s governing body.While Savant didn’t elaborate on the reasons, another member revealed ‘continuity’ as the main factor. “Since Srinivasan has been attending most of the ICC meetings for the last couple of years, it makes sense not to disturb the pattern,” he said, preferring anonymity.Representation at the ICC was one of the critical issues during behind-the-doors deals going into Sunday’s working committee that resulted in Srinivasan temporarily stepping aside as the BCCI president.The ICC’s annual conference is to be held in London from June 25 to 29, and it remains to be seen whether Srinivasan, often accused (or complimented) as the man who unofficially drives ICC’s decision-making, will enjoy the same clout among the group of ICC chief executives that he has enjoyed so far.Had it not been the for the arrests of three Rajasthan Royals players on May 16 for alleged spot-fixing, Srinivasan wouldn’t have had to convene two emergency working committee meetings in as many weeks. However, neither the arrested players nor Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, the Chennai Super Kings management member who has been arrested on the charge of betting on IPL games, were even discussed during the meeting. “Neither betting nor spot-fixing was mentioned even once during the meeting, just like resignation,” said another member.Meanwhile, one of the first tasks of Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has been put in charge of BCCI’s day-to-day activities till the internal probe is completed, will be to appoint a new secretary and a treasurer. Even though the BCCI working committee has requested Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke to withdraw their resignations, both Jagdale and Shirke have made up their mind not to backtrack on their decisions to step down as secretary and treasurer respectively. Besides, Dalmiya will also have to name Jagdale’s replacement in the three-member internal inquiry panel to probe into complaints against Super Kings, Meiyappan and Royals.Even though Dalmiya can choose candidates of his choice, the appointments will have to be ratified by the BCCI’s working committee. Similarly, all the decisions taken by him will have to be approved by the working committee, which is likely to be convened once every fortnight. “In all likelihood, Srinivasan will abstain from all the working committee meetings till his name is cleared in this episode,” a member said.The situation where the BCCI finds itself after ten days of back and forth with Srinivasan, offering suggestions and conditions on how to deal with the news of his son-in-law’s arrest, is exactly what had been offered to Srinivasan on the first day – that he ease himself off his official duties until the board’s own investigation into the IPL corruption scandal could be completed.Srinivasan though dug his heels, ensured that the escalating crisis took out his two most competent aides, forcing him to call the working committee together for the first time following Gurunath’s arrest. It meant that that the agenda of the meeting moved from the crisis in the BCCI to saving an individual.

Upul Tharanga will replace the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan in Sri Lanka’s squad for the tri-series in West Indies, while Ajantha Mendis also gets a recall at Thisara Perera’s expense

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Jun-2013Upul Tharanga will replace the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan in Sri Lanka’s squad for the tri-series in West Indies, while Ajantha Mendis also got a recall at Thisara Perera’s expense. Scans after Thursday’s Champions Trophy semi-final against India showed Dilshan had suffered a second-degree tear to his right medial calf muscle and will be in recovery for four to six weeks. The injury also put him in doubt for South Africa’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka, which begins on July 20.Mendis has been increasingly regarded a Twenty20 specialist, and has not played an ODI for Sri Lanka since January. His inclusion strengthened Sri Lanka’s spin resources on tour, with Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake and Jeevan Mendis also traveling. Perera’s exclusion was a surprise, though, and Dilhara Lokuhettige, who has been with the team in the UK without having played a match, will remain in the squad as they head to the Caribbean.Perera has been a fixture of Sri Lanka’s limited-overs sides in the last 18 months, but made only 15 runs in two innings in the Champions Trophy, and bowled eight overs for no wicket. Tharanga has also been out of the side since January, but had an encouraging season of first-class cricket, in which he averaged 66.66 in 14 innings.Dilshan tore his calf in the fourth over of Sri Lanka’s innings, after he had struck Umesh Yadav for two boundaries. Though he took painkillers, he was unable to continue batting and retired hurt in the next over. He returned in the penultimate over of the innings, but hobbled between the wickets during his stay, and did not take the field as Sri Lanka failed in their attempt to defend 181.The tri-series in the West Indies will feature India, as well as the hosts, and begins on June 28.Squad: Angelo Mathews (capt), Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dinesh Chandimal (vc), Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Shaminda Eranga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis.

Flanked by Australia’s physio Alex Kountouris and their doctor Peter Brukner, Michael Clarke walked laps of Trent Bridge while the rest of his team went rather less gingerly through their paces

Daniel Brettig at Trent Bridge07-Jul-2013Flanked by Australia’s physio Alex Kountouris and their doctor Peter Brukner, Michael Clarke walked laps of Trent Bridge while the rest of his team went rather less gingerly through their paces. Officially this is all part of the plan – Clarke also did 20 minutes of shuttle runs and took part in slips practice later – but it provided a reminder that the captain’s back requires constant vigilance ahead of the first Test against England.Ensuring Clarke’s readiness for the challenges to be posed by Jimmy Anderson and company is chief among the tourists’ concerns in Nottingham. So far he has maintained a steady upward trend in mobility and match form since the tour began at Taunton, culminating in a flashy second innings century at Worcester. Clarke is expected to bat at training on Monday, though his training patterns will likely remain modified for the rest of the series.Chris Rogers, the opening batsman, said Clarke was on course to be fine for the first day of the Trent Bridge match, but also empathised with his captain’s back struggles, which are common among top-order batsmen given their requirement to crouch, twist and sway an enormous amount at the crease if they are to be successful run-scorers.”I think he’s pretty good, I haven’t heard anything different, so I expect he’ll be ready to go on Wednesday,” Rogers said after training. “I don’t know whether he’s 100% or not, I think he’s had to manage it. Bad backs, I’ve had mine too, it’s not the nicest thing, so whether he bowls or not I don’t know, but I think he’ll be right with his batting and he showed it the other day.”It’s just not ideal, it becomes a bit restrictive and when you’re facing the likes of Steve Finn, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson you’re going to be having to move around a fair bit, so hopefully the work he’s done means he’s ready to go.”Apart from their monitoring of Clarke, the other talking points for Australia on their first visit to the ground were the hard, abrasive and dry nature of the practice wickets and the pitch square, and also the fact that the Dukes ball continued to swing noticeably for the impressively rhythmic Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson despite the lack of any apparent overhead help from a pleasingly cloudless sky.”It swings here even today,” Rogers said. “The sun’s out, you expect nice batting conditions when the overheads are good but it swill swung so thats how it’s played traditionally, i expect that to be the case. It’s hard to know what the wicket is going to do, I think it’s going to be pretty good to bat on, but swing is going to be a big threat.”The Test pitch itself was kept under wraps throughout the session, Rogers deducing that the ground staff was eager to retain as much moisture as possible, lest it dry out too early in the prevailing warm weather. “It looked like there were a few cracks in it,” he said. “I think they’re trying to keep some moisture in it definitely. It’s been hot here and I think that’s going to dictate how the pitch plays.”If you look at the wickets next to the pitch they are fairly abrasive already, so everyone realises the ball will scuff up a fair bit. Therefore reverse swing comes into it. Spin is going to have to do a huge role to help out the quicks as well. They have obviously got a trump with Swanny, but Nathan Lyon is bowling pretty well as well. Hopefully we’re in a good position.”