All posts by csb10.top

Shoaib Malik has pulled out of Pakistan’s critical encounter with India in the Asia Cup after failing to recover from dehydration. Speculation had surrounded Malik’s place in the side yesterday, after he failed to turn up for practice because he was receiving treatment. He eventually arrived, drip on his arm, had a discussion with selectors and announced himself fit to play. In a surprising move, the selectors then publicly announced the playing XI a day before the game, choosing to name Malik in the side.With Malik pulling out, though, Misbah-ul-Haq, the vice-captain who was not even in the team this time last year, will now take over as captain, while Nasir Jamshed will take his place in the side as opener.Malik suffered initially from dehydration following his hundred against India, but he played in Pakistan’s next match against Sri Lanka, scoring a fifty but taking 30 overs to do it. But there has been little improvement in his condition, despite a few days’ rest. He took a fitness test at the National Stadium just before the toss, but was visibly suffering.”I am ready for the captaincy,” Misbah told reporters yesterday, at which point Malik’s place was unclear. “When you are vice-captain you always are ready for nearly everything, so I am ready for it. I will take along the team with me and win the match.”Pakistan have also called up Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner, for his debut as well as giving Abdur Rauf his second ODI.

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club announced today that they will not beoffering Jeremy Snape a contract for the 2003 season. Their statementreads:”This has been a difficult decision about a player who has performed verywell for GCCC and achieved a lot of success in the 4 years he has been withus. However, his relationship with the cricket management over the past 18months has been very poor and has reached the stage where we believe it isunlikely to improve. Further, competition for places in the middle orderand lower middle order will be fierce next year and we do want to give everychance to a number of young all rounders with considerable potential. Wetherefore feel that opportunities for Jeremy Snape, particularly in the 4day game, could well be limited and, accordingly , cannot justify paying thesort of salary he would be entitled to”.He had developed and improved his game a great deal during his time withGCCC and we wish him every success in the future.”

Somerset all rounder Ian Blackwell who has spent the first part of the winter with the Academy in Adelaide has now joined up with the full England One Day squad ahead of the triangular series that gets underway in Sydney on December 13th.Regarding his time with the Academy he told me: “I very much enjoyed parts of it and hopefully I’ll be a better player for Somerset because of it, but I have to admit my body has taken a hammering along the way!!! Picking up niggles here and there, which are harder to shake off as there isn’t much time to rest.”When I asked him to comment on the current Test series he told me: ” I’m not going to diagnose the Ashes as I can’t see any positives at all, and I fear its only going to get worse!”He continued: “I caught up with both Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick during the Adelaide Test where I was almost called up at the last minute for Michael Vaughan who went over on his knee.Commenting on the mood of the England Test players he told me: “To be honest all the boys are absolutely battered, they have had no respite from anything. Injuries haven’t helped and with Alex Tudor and Chris Silverwood added things couldn’t get much worse.”Blackie went on: ” The one day guys arrived last Tuesday and for me its been greatmoving from the Academy to the Stamford Plaza in the city because it’s given my brain a jog to what being part of England is all about.”He concluded: ” The one day squad is quite different to the Test side so lets hope there is enough of us to pick spirits up in the one day matches and create a positive atmosphere in the dressing room. We have chatted amongst ourselves and we think that will be a key thing for us to do.”

Ventnor are edging nearer first season safety in Southern Electric Premier League, Division 3 after having to virtually rebuild the side that monopolized Hampshire League cricket in recent seasons.They would certainly have fancied their chances of continuing to sweep aside all comers had the likes of Mark Garaway, Steve Snell, Ian Hilsum and the late Walter Masimula remained at Steephill.But when the Islanders stepped up for their Division 3 debut against New Milton back in mid-May, only skipper Mark Whyte, Mark Fletcher, Andy White and Neil Dodds of last season’s undefeated County Division 1 title winning side remained.Predictably, it’s been hard work for Ventnor’s patched-up side ever since. They beat Havant II, Redlynch & Hale and Waterlooville convincingly enough.In between, they suffered seven defeats which kept them in the danger zone. But a fourth win, by a six-wicket margin over last year’s HL runners-up Hartley Wintney, has put Ventnor to within touching distance of safety.Hartley Wintney, in serious danger of immediate relegation themselves after losing all but two of their nine games, totalled 235-9 (Andy White 4-40) on the Steephill shirtfront, with Australian Jimmy Castrisos (78) supported by Mark Digweed (32) and Dave Almond (31).Ventnor got home with five overs to spare – Mark Fletcher hitting 104 and sharing a century opening partnership with Neil Westhorpe (36) before Island legend Jeff Hose belted 63 off 46 balls as only he knows how !The win lifted Ventnor into fourth from bottom position but didn’t stop skipper Mark Whyte from dropping his teammates a few reminders about the hard work still to be done."We’ve got five games left after today’s visit by Alton and those matches include St Cross Symondians and Purbrook, two teams battling to go up – so there’s a fair way to go yet," he pointed out.Poor old Redlynch & Hale all but gave up hope of survival when they hit 272-5 – only to lose by six wickets to Ventnor a month ago.And when Ian Bryan decided to get wed last Saturday, it left club stalwart Iain Souter with virtually a reverse strength side to take to Gosport Borough.The outcome was inevitable – Gosport piling up 322-5 through Nathan Collins (85), Stuart Magee (54), John Adams (51) and young Craig Stares (43).But Redlynch made a creditable 205 reply, with Lee Wordley celebrating his senior debut to the hilt, carrying his bat for 107 after taking 3-56.Hook & Newnham Basics remain in deep trouble too after a rain-adjusted 26-run defeat by Paultons, who 258 all out owed much to tail end pair Peter Lamb and Lee Rayner.Tony Richman (74) had dominated Paultons’ 196-9, but Lamb (40) and Rayner (17 not out) frustrated Hook with a last-wicket stand of 62.Hook were 106-1 – chasing an abridged Paultons total of 131 – when the game was abandoned, some 25.3 overs into the evening session.Hambledon fancied their chances of improving their lowly status when Hampshire’s Derek Kenway struck a glorious 135 not out against promotion outsiders New Milton at Ridge Meadow.Kenway’s innings, which formed an 80-5 rescue act with John Burdekin (48), was "a joy to watch" according to New Milton skipper Steve Watts.But, once Ryan Beck got into his stride, Hambldon’s 243-8 was always in danger."He went out to the middle and took complete control," said Watts (33), who saw both Richard Wilson (26) and latterly Dean Miller (48) fire Milton to a five-wicket win and into fifth spot.Waterlooville’s anxieties were eased by a Chris Baumann inspired 168-run victory over Portsmouth II at Rowlands Avenue.The Queenslander, who captains the Ville, hammered a blistering 147 in his side’s massive 280 all out.Once ever-youthful Stan Rudder (3-27) had ripped out Portsmouth’s top order, only the margin of victory remained. Ali Love’s 4-21 saw Portsmouth bowled out for 112.St Cross Symondians began a crunch three-match spell today, which could decide on of the two promotion positions.The outcome of today’s visit to Purbrook and the forthcoming games with New Milton and Hursley Park will have a significant bearing on the destination of the title.Mark Parker’s domineering century against Leckford, who tumbled to 115 all out in the face of a mountainous 281-7, gave St Cross a useful five-point lead over Purbrook, who were without key players Mike Hennessy, Ian Hinter and Craig Williams this afternoon.Purbrook posted a tidy 257-8 after Will Prozesky (47) had fired a ten-runs-an-over start against Flamingo at The Holt.Hennessy, with an overdue 76, and Hunter (32) helped Purbrook on their way before Flamingo’s, going nicely under Tom Cledwyn (28), sagged to 113-8.Last pair Dave Breach (28) and Dave Wright (21) added an unbroken 51 for the last wicket to take the reply to 181-9 (Mark Stanley 3-28).Alton, who appeared on course for a top two slot after beating Purbrook three weeks ago, desperately needed to win at Ventnor today if they were to avert a repetition of last year’s promotion slip up.The four-wicket defeat by Hursley Park was Alton’s second in a fortnight and sent Julian Ballinger’s troops down to third spot.Alton were going along well when Michael Heffernan (46) departed at 100-2, but never recovered sufficiently to defend an eventual 195-8.When Hursley lost three wickets for eight runs to slump to 71-4 (Jason Marr 39), it was anyone’s game.Matt Harvey’s unbeaten half-century, aided by Rob Lowe (24) and Ben Smyth (24 not out), saw the Park home.Bashley’s Jo Hall won’t want to remember his visit to Havant in a hurry, having damaged an eye socket and had eight stitches inserted in a facial wound after a rising ball from David Wade had gone through the grill of his visor.Hall, who spent five hours undergoing treatment in Queen Alexandra Hospital, was still suffering from blurred vision four days after being hit and had no chance of playing against Gosport Borough today."The staff at the hospital were absolutely superb," said Hall, who was not the only casualty.Veteran spinner Bob Paul, a recent recipient of the June bowling prize, pulled a hamstring, leaving Bashley with only nine fit men.It was no surprise that Havant won, Jon Owen’s 71 top scoring in a total of 177 before depleted Bashley were dismissed for 110, Matt Gover taking 4-10, his best figures for years.

Scottish Cricket is happy to announce that it has finalised a deal with The Grange Club, Edinburgh which will give Scottish Cricket a national `Home’ for its first year in the National Cricket League (formerly NUL). The deal is initially for one year with a further option on both sides for a further two years.The Grange Club was chosen as Scotland’s first official `home’ after almost a year of consultancy in association with sportscotland, and final pitch evaluations by the ECB.The initial 8 clubs who noted interest in becoming Scotland’s `Home of Cricket’ where whittled down to 4 using 2 main criteria: Quality of Pitch and Quality/Potential of Facilities. The final four grounds (Ayr, Heriot’s, Uddingston and The Grange) were then further assessed on the original criteria with the addition of a third factor; Event/ Marketing potential.Scottish Cricket Director of Operations, Euan McIntyre, concluded:“This has been an incredibly intense and time consuming process, but if Scotland are to compete at a `first-class’ level it was essential that we were meticulous in our assessment of the possible venues. The Grange have been chosen primarily because of their superb playing facilities, but their city centre location and excellent transport links will also be vitally important in the Marketing and Branding of Scotland’s premier summer sporting event”All 9 home games of the 2003 Norwich Union League plus the C&G Trophy 3rd round match will be played at Raeburn place, home of the historic Edinburgh club, founded in 1832, meaning the likes of Somerset, Middlesex, Lancashire and Derbyshire will all be sampling the capital’s hospitality.On being chosen as the home of Scottish Cricket Gordon Tolland, Honorary Secretary of The Grange Club, said:“We are very proud to be chosen as Scotland’s home venue for the National League. This is the most exciting and important development in Scottish Cricket for many years and The Grange Club looks forward to playing an integral part in its success.”He added:“The Grange has hosted major cricketing events at Raeburn Place for over 100 years and, as acknowledged at the 1999 World Cup, our ground offers a wicket and backdrop second to none.”The Grange Club have also hosted the majority of International test sides: Australia 15 times, South Africa 5 times and in recent years the West Indies, Pakistan and New Zealand have all visited the clubs famous ground. It was also the venue of Scotland’s most famous victory against Worcestershire in the Nat West Trophy in June 1998.For More information please contact either Sara Maclean 0131 313 7422 or Euan McIntyre 0131 313 7424

Critical comments about the county cricket system in England by the Editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack have provoked an incandescent response from the Chief Executive of one of the leading counties.Writing in the newly-published 2002 edition of the “Cricketers’ Bible”, Graeme Wright warned that county cricket is at risk of disintegration unless radical changes are made.”The county system survives on a confederacy of mediocrity,” he wrote. “Take out the centrally-contracted bowlers and the standard of county bowling is deplorably low.Wright suggests the possible replacement of county cricket with a city-based system, which he believes would revive flagging attendance. “County cricket drifts along in a backwater,” he wrote. “Cities are marketable commodities in a way that counties, states and provinces are not.”The Chief Executive of Somerset, who won last year’s Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy and were runners-up in the CricInfo Championship, is incensed.After hearing Wright’s comments in an interview with BBC Breakfast News, Peter Anderson has written him an open letter, which is published on the Somerset website.Anderson said: “Wisden seems totally unaware of the changes first-class counties are making to the way in which they prepare their players, play their matches, identify and coach emerging young talent and publicise and popularise the game with the young in their areas.”It seems fashionable in this country to ignore rural communities as politically and economically unimportant. However, reducing the number of first-class counties and basing those left on city-based clubs would leave huge swathes of the country and its population without a cricket team to watch within reasonable travel distance.”Mr Anderson then calls on Somerset supporters who visit the club’s website to support him in his response.For only the second time in the Almanack’s history, there are no England players in the traditional list of “Five Cricketers of the Year”. Three Australians, Adam Gilchrist, Jason Gillespie and Damien Martyn, are included along with Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower and VVS Laxman of India.

The Punjab capital needs a sufficient number of grounds to stagefirst-class cricket. This situation, interestingly, has beenprevailing in a city which happens to be the seat of the PakistanCricket Board (PCB).Lahore, having the a population of about 6.5 millions, is mainlyrelying on the only ground of Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA)where first-class matches are being held, though it also requiresimproved facilities.The other grounds available for first class cricket belong to LahoreGymkhana, Bagh-i-Jinnah and the Railways Stadium. But the charges forhiring the Lahore Gymkhana are so high that no team can afford it.The Lahore Gymkhana authorities charge Rs 7,000 per day excludingSundays. The Railways Stadium has basic facilities for first classmatches, but the PCB is not using it for reasons best known to them.The Grade-II matches of the domestic cricket are being played at theModel Town Greens and the Punjab University Old Campus grounds whereimprovised tented baths and pavilions are made available for theplayers.Compared with other cities which are smaller in size as that of thePunjab capital, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Faisalabad, havedeveloped good infrastructure, but Lahore is facing a dearth in thisvital area of the game.Strangely, the numbers of the domestic cricket matches at Lahore aredecreasing every season due to poor non-availability of grounds.During the 2000-2001 cricket season around 400 matches were played inthe national junior grade-I and II, Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I andII, Patron’s Trophy Grade-I and II, national one-day tournaments whichwere held separately for departments and associations. But Lahore, dueto lack of grounds got only 29 matches included 22 first class andseven Grade-II.The financially sound departments affiliated with the Pakistan CricketBoard like National Bank, Allied Bank and Habib Bank have so farfailed to have their own grounds in Lahore. Interestingly, the ABL’sRamiz Hasan Raja is holding a key post in the PCB as member of theadvisory council but the bank has no ground yet.To eliminate the dearth of grounds in the city, short and long termplanning is necessary. As a short term planning, those grounds shouldbe renovated where first class matches have been played in the past.In long term planning, new grounds should be laid especially in thenewly developed areas.The grounds where the first-class matches have been held are the D.SWorkshop ground and the Railways Stadium. The PCB should also urge theLahore Gymkhana authorities to make their venue available for firstclass matches at cheaper rates as a national cause.

Tamim Iqbal will play for Wellington Firebirds in this season’s HRV Cup. Tamim will join the New Zealand domestic side after Bangladesh’s series against West Indies, and is expected to play seven games in the Twenty20 competition.Jamie Siddons, the Wellington coach who was in charge of the Bangladesh team between 2007 and 2011, was the key element in the deal as he broached the idea to Tamim a few months ago.”We are excited to have signed Tamim to play in our T20 competition,” Siddons told ESPNcricinfo. “He will be a great addition for the Firebirds. I chose him over the many other overseas candidates because I think he possesses the explosiveness that we need at the top of our batting order. Tamim is yet to take off as a T20 player but I have seen him enough to know that it is going to be very good when he gets it all together in this format. I want my team to benefit from this in our competition this year.”Siddons, however, would have liked to keep the batsman a little while longer, but the start of the Bangladesh Premier League would shorten Tamim’s stay by a few matches. “He will only be available for a possible seven games and the final but the BPL will possibly reduce that to six and no final as the dates suggest he would have to leave early which is disappointing.”Siddons said he would have liked if Shakib Al Hasan also joined Tamim at the Wellington side. “We were interested in Shakib but he declined due to injury at the time,” Siddons said.Tamim said that the BCB has given him the No Objection Certificate, though he is likely to miss some form of domestic cricket in Bangladesh after the West Indies series. He could play first-class cricket in New Zealand though Wellington will be playing only two Plunket Shield matches.”Jamie asked me a few months ago whether I would like to join them,” Tamim said. “At the time I was playing the Sri Lanka Premier League and the World Twenty20 was coming up so I didn’t proceed with the formalities. The board too has given me the NOC so I will be joining Wellington after the West Indies series.”Tamim’s average in Twenty20s is 24.76 and he has played in domestic competitions in Sri Lanka (for Wayamba) and England (Nottinghamshire) with mixed results. Among the other Bangladesh players who have played in domestic first-class tournaments abroad are Shakib (for Worcestershire) and Enamul Haque jnr for Maharashtra.

In the match at the Motibaug Cricket Ground in Baroda, both Baroda andSaurashtra ran up tall scores and the match meandered into a tamedraw. Put in to bat, Baroda amassed 441 thanks to a painstakingcentury by R Solanki (145). Coming in at the fall of the third wicketwith the score on 73, Solanki was the backbone of the innings. He wasthe eighth batsman to be dismissed after helping the score to 356.During a 414-minute stay at the crease, Solanki faced 322 balls andhit 15 boundaries and a six. He was ably supported by opener R Salvi(61) with whom he added 58 runs for the fourth wicket. The score wasthen helped along by some lusty hitting by H Ali (78). In reply,Saurashtra played out the rest of the match by scoring 336. Theinnings was held together by two good knocks by opener K Vaghele (82)and H Jadav (81). The wickets were shared by Hitshu Bachani (5 for 60)and Pathan Junior (4 for 71).

Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson returned to the issue of centrally contracted England players when I spoke to him at the County Ground on Thursday morning.He told me,” We are watching very carefully the proposal to increase the number of centrally contracted England players, which is inevitably linked to the numbers of overseas players who can be registered with each county.”The Chief Executive continued,” Somerset County Cricket Club assume that there will be an increase in the number of England contracts. With that in mind we have put on the table for the next meeting of the First Class Forum meeting a proposal, seconded by Lancashire, that each county should be able to employ up to three overseas players for 2003, 2004 and 2005.”He continued, “Somerset will back a proposal to increase the number of centrally contracted players, provided that we are happy with the management of the players who are not playing for England at the time.”He added,” For example it would be totally nonsensical if Steffan Jones instead of playing for Somerset was used as a net bowler in a Test Match.”