Category Uncategorized

South Africa bogged down in Kandy

by csb10.top Uncategorized

The South Africa A squad were left increasingly frustrated in Kandy where they were supposed to play the second four-day match against Sri Lanka A starting on Tuesday. The match has now been moved to Dambulla because of the incessant rain in Kandy. It will commence on Wednesday and will be played as a three-day contest.”We are really out of sorts because of the inclement weather, here,” said Vincent Barnes, who is coaching the South Africa A side. “It’s been raining since our arrival and reports say the ground has been waterlogged for over a week. The lack of facilities is also compounding our frustrations.”The South Africans will travel to Dambulla for practice on Tuesday and return to Kandy overnight before returning to Dambulla on the morning of the match. The bus trip is estimated to be between two and three hours.”We have been told that there was no accommodation in Dambulla and wouldnot be available before Wednesday, so we need to bite the bullet,” said Barnes, whose side lost the first match after Sajeewa Weerakoon turned in a stellar display to take 13 wickets.

Crookes and Bhayat revive South Africa A

by csb10.top Uncategorized

New Zealand A 289 for 6 dec (How 61, Canning 60) and 68 for 4 (Bhayat 4-37) lead Lions 175 for 7 dec (Crookes 101*) by 182 runs
Scorecard

Derek Crookes will have a chance to bowl later on, but it was his batting that saved the day for South Africa A© Getty Images

The Highveld Lions staged a stunning recovery through Derek Crookes and Goolam Bhayat after New Zealand A had taken the upper hand in their three-day match at the Isak Steyl Stadium, Vanderbijlpark. New Zealand A had notched up 289 for 6 declared and 68 for 4 in response to the Lions’ 175 for 7 declared.The Lions’ innings began in disaster as Stephen Cook was bowled before a run was on the board. Adam Bacher, Neil McKenzie, Justin Ontong, Matthew Harris and Hylton Ackerman all failed, one after the other, in spectacular fashion. THe Lions were staggering at 29 for 6. Richard Sherlock (3 for 20) was the pick of the bowlers.But, just when New Zealand A had established a stranglehold on the game, Crookes set to work. Coming in to bat at No. 8. Crookes cracked an amazing 101 not out off 148 balls (19 fours) and took South Africa A to 175 for 7, where they declared. Werner Coetsee (26 from 71 balls) kept Crookes good company.New Zealand A’s second dig did not go too well as Bhayat, the mediumpacer, picked up the top four for just 37 runs off 9.4 overs. On 68 for 4 New Zealand A are now 182 ahead with one day left to play.

Tendulkar to return to action in September

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Sachin Tendulkar is expected to play for the national champions Mumbai against a Rest of India side on September 18 – his first outing since undergoing hand surgery after the World Cup.Tendulkar, 30, damaged the ring finger of his left hand while attempting a catch last November. It did not hinder him in the slightest during a magnificent World Cup campaign, in which he was named Man of the Tournament for his 673 runs in 11 games, but he opted out of a subsequent trip to Bangladesh and flew to Baltimore, USA for an operation.The fixture is India’s traditional domestic-season opener, and many Indian players are keen to use it as a warm-up for their international programme. India have had a lengthy lay-off since April, but return to action with two Tests against New Zealand in October, before taking on Australia in a triangular one-day tournament.Tendulkar is the highest scorer in the history of one-day cricket with 12,219 runs in 314 games. He has also made 8,811 runs in 105 Tests, including 31 centuries – a total exceeded only by Sunil Gavaskar.

Match abandonment leaves West Indies short of practice

by csb10.top Uncategorized

West Indies first warm-up game on their tour of Sri Lanka was abandoned on Monday, after torrential downpours over the weekend washed out two full days of play.The poor weather raises fears that the tourists may start a three-Test series against Sri Lanka next worryingly short of match practice.Large pools of water covered the outfield at Nondescripts Cricket Club after an early morning storm and with play always unlikely the West Indies players went for an indoor training session.The team will now leave Colombo for the southern town of Matara hoping that the weather improves for their last scheduled practice game on 8-10 November.Captain Carl Hooper, admitted that the untimely bad weather was frustrating: "We really wanted to play the last two days of this game, with the Test series not being far away.""The bowlers really need to have a proper run-out here so that they can get used to the pitches and the humidity," he said. "Unfortunately, in the nets here, they have to bowl off shortened run-ups.""We can’t do anything about the weather though and we are just hoping that the weather improves for our final practice game in Matara."West Indies batsmen enjoyed the sunnier conditions on Saturday and piled up 334 for seven against a Sri Lanka A with Hooper scoring a serene century. Hooper, however, was disappointed that the batsmen hadn’t occupied the crease for a longer period."I would have preferred it if the players had had more extended stints in the middle," he said. "A few of us got starts, but only Brian (Lara) and I batted for two hours or more and only I had a really decent amount of time out there."He was happy with his form: "I have been feeling good with the bat and have been hitting the ball well since the domestic one-day tournament back in the Caribbean."Brian Lara scored 43 from 103 balls on Saturday and was far from his best, but he, at least, showed no signs of being hampered by his hamstring injury."Brian was keen to spend time in the middle, so that he could get used to the pace of the pitches," said Hooper. "He had a decent hit and lets hope he gets a second one in Matara. His hamstring seems ok. He got through a conditioning session today without any problems."

Roy Hodgson thinking of 2014 World Cup

by h79snht.top Uncategorized

Roy Hodgson has admitted that he is looking beyond Euro 2012, and that the project he has taken on with the national side is one for the long-term.

The new manager started his stint as England boss with a 1-0 win over Norway on Saturday, and will now lead the nation into the European Championships after one last friendly against Belgium.

However, The Telegraph indicate that Hodgson will travel to Brazil after Euro 2012 to look at potential training bases for the next World Cup.

The former West Brom trainer has admitted that although England are eager to have a successful tournament in Poland and Ukraine, the competition is not the be-all and end-all.

“I am looking beyond the Euros. The fact is I signed a contract to do this job over the coming years, up to and including the 2014 World Cup, so I have my sights firmly fixed on the future.

“I also want to do well in the Euros with the team and I will try to get the team as well-organised and well-prepared as I can. But I am not prepared to make the Euros the be-all and end-all,” he confessed.

Meanwhile, Gareth Barry will undergo scans on an injured groin on Monday, with The Guardian stating that Phil Jagielka will be called up to the contingent should the Manchester City man be ruled out.

FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast. FootballFanCast General Stay ahead in the world of football analysis, commentary, and fan insights with FootballFancast.

By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.

By Gareth McKnight

[ad_pod id=’unruly-2′ align=’left’]

Renshaw's maiden ton steers Queensland

by csb10.top Uncategorized


ScorecardMatt Renshaw scored his maiden first-class hundred (file photo)•Getty Images

Opener Matt Renshaw scored his maiden first-class century on a day of slow scoring for Queensland in their Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales in Mackay. At stumps on the first day, the Bulls had moved along to 4 for 215 with Renshaw still at the crease on 116, and he was batting with Jason Floros, who was on 9.Renshaw’s innings had taken 301 deliveries and included just five fours and one six, the slow pitch leading to a Queensland run rate of 2.23 across the day. Scott Henry fell early on when he hooked Sean Abbott to fine leg and was caught for 4 off 39 balls, and after a 76-run second-wicket stand Sam Heazlett fell to the spin of Will Somerville for 34.Marnus Labuschagne was run out for 19 off 62 balls and Somerville again chipped in to get rid of Nathan Reardon for 22. The match is the first Sheffield Shield game played in Mackay.

Women's domestic cricket in India receives financial boost

by csb10.top Uncategorized

The Indian board has marked out 60 to 70 million rupees ($1.47-1.71 million) for women’s cricket this season, almost twice of what had been allotted last year.”The increase in the money available means women will get to play more days of cricket, approximately thrice the amount they played last year,” Shubhangi Kulkarni, the convenor of the BCCI’s women’s committee, told Cricinfo.While last season state cricket was restricted to limited-overs matches, this year women’s state teams will play one-day as well as two-day fixtures. Apart from that, Under-19 inter-state tournaments as well as zonal tournaments will be organised for women. Like with men’s cricket, prize money for women’s tournaments will also see an increase.The women’s committee further plans to hold Level I courses in cricket education for women keen on becoming coaches, scorers or umpires.Though an increase in prize money for international tournaments is planned, it isn’t exactly clear yet how much will be handed out.

Inaugural Asian Sixes postponed

by csb10.top Uncategorized

The inaugural Asian Super Sixes Challenge 2006, which was scheduled to be held in Karachi on the weekend of September 15-16, has been postponed due to what the organizers only described as “unavoidable circumstances”.”We have informed the ICC about this development and have requested for advising us on new available dates,” a spokesman explained.Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and hosts Pakistan were due to participate in the tournament.

ECB did 'bad deal for the sport'

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Channel 4’s Luke Johnson: ‘The ECB did a very bad deal for the sport … they went for the money’ © Getty Images

The remarkable surge in public interest resulting from this summer’s Ashes series has been a double-edged sword for the ECB. While revenues are up and the public cannot get enough of the game, it has also served to highlight the decision to sign away all TV rights to satellite broadcaster Sky Sports.On Tuesday, David Collier, the ECB’s chairman, spoke of his hopes that terrestrial broadcasters will bid for the rights when they next come up for grabs, but that drew an angry response from Luke Johnson, the chairman of Channel 4, who lose the rights after the final Test at The Oval.In an interview with Mihir Bose in the Daily Telegraph, Johnson was quite clear what had been behind the ECB’s decision. “Our view is that the ECB did a very bad deal for the sport. They didn’t handle the negotiations well. They were short-term. They went for the money.”We tried to bring it to the attention of the relevant people at the ECB,” he continued. “But what happened is that there are certain factions in the ECB and they took charge of the negotiations and they are very commercially minded.”The ECB stance is unequivocal. TV money finances the game, and so it was honour-bound to take the best deal. Had it not, so the argument goes, then funding for the England team right down to grass roots cricket would have had to be slashed.While Johnson admitted that Channel 4 could never match the money Sky had available, he said he believed that going for the highest sum was not in the game’s best interests. “The ECB went for the money and they will find they have made a terrible mistake, with cricket disappearing from terrestrial television the level of interest in the sport will decline sharply,” he told Bose. “Cricket is not like football, it needs visibility. How will they get 20,000 people outside a Test ground?”A number of MPs have called on the government to make Test cricket one of the so-called “crown jewel”, events, such as Wimbledon and the FA Cup final, which have to be available on free-to-air terrestrial TV. Test cricket had such status until 1998 when it was taken off the list.Don Foster, the Liberal Democrats’ sports spokesman, told The Guardian: “It is frankly appalling that cricket is not on the list. I wrote to the secretary of state before the Old Trafford Test urging a review and the latest success demonstrates the need for a rethink even more clearly.”

  • From September Sky Sports, which costs around £33 a month to subscribe to, will have the monopoly on all live English cricket, domestic and international, until 2009. Five, a free-to-air channel, will broadcast highlights of home international matches.

    • Ganguly shrugs off 'chokers' tag

    by csb10.top Uncategorized

    Sourav Ganguly – ‘We know how to tackle Vaas and Murali’© AFP

    Sourav Ganguly has dismissed notions of India “choking” in finals and believes their performances in the last few years justify his rebuttal. Under Ganguly, India have reached 12 finals and finished as outright winners just once. On two of those occasions, they were joint champions.Pointing to a few two-team series which went into the deciding game, Ganguly told the Press Trust of India that his team’s record wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be. “We won in West Indies when we were 1-1. We then beat Pakistan when we were 2-2. These were as good as finals. Then of course there was the NatWest title [when India beat England at Lord’s].”In three out of the last four one-day tournaments involving more than two countries, India were thwarted by the mighty Australians in the final stage. “We have lost to them [Australia] because they are such a good side. They lift themselves in the big match and we must similarly try to do on Sunday.”Sri Lanka nearly pulled off a fantastic victory in the previous game, despite the absence of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan. “They will be boosted by Vaas and Murali,” said Ganguly, who quickly added, “it isn’t as if we would be playing them for the first time, we know how to tackle them.”