All posts by csb10.top

Pakistan have replaced Javed Miandad as coach of the national team with Bob Woolmer, the former England batsman and South Africa coach.Miandad, who was in his third stint as Pakistan’s coach, was under contract to hold the position until April 2005, but he and the board decided to go their separate ways in the wake of the recent Test and one-day series against India, both of which Pakistan lost.Shaharyar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan board (PCB), said today: “Woolmer has agreed to be our national team coach which is a matter of great satisfaction for us. Miandad wanted to be released from the job and we felt we should honour his request.”Miandad, 47, reportedly became increasingly unimpressed at the level of criticism which came flying his way after the defeat to India, and he even threatened to stand down back in April because of it. “I am sure that this team has the potential to bounce back, and I can guide this team to improve,” he said then, “but I will quit if there are major shake-ups in the team management.”The main areas of criticism were for his alleged unprofessional approach as the coach, and the indiscipline of his bowlers and fielders. There were even inquiries into some players faking injuries during that series as well. Miandad’s previous two spells as coach also ended in controversy: the first time around, he quit after disagreements with his senior players, 15 days before the 1999 World Cup; the second time, he was sacked. “His contract has been terminated,” Khan confirmed today, adding: “We offered him to serve as national cricket advisor but he has declined.”Woolmer, his replacement, played 19 Tests for England between 1975 and 1981, and coached the South Africans for four years. He had been working as the ICC’s high-performance manager, but has now been signed up to coach Pakistan until the 2007 World Cup.A statement released today by the PCB said that Woolmer had been picked due to his “advanced technological methods”, and Khan himself added: “It was not easy to get a coach of Woolmer’s status, who is a pioneer and highly respected,” he said, “but through negotiations we have convinced him to take the job before the Asia Cup until the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.”

With barely a week to go before Canada’s Intercontinental Cup match against Bermuda in Toronto, the Canadian board (CCA) has finally selected a venue – but the choice has left many surprised and disappointed.With the cash-strapped CCA unwilling to pay to use one of the main venues, it was left with few alternatives and plumped to play the game at Sunnybrook. While the ground might sound idyllic, one local told me that aside from their being no pavilion to speak of, there is "no running water, no hydro, no covers, no sightscreens and a very poor schoolyard scoreboard."The venue is used regularly for cricket, but there has not been a turf wicket there since 2001, when they were specially laid for the ICC Trophy. Last season the artificial pitches, which are used for all games, were relaid, and the adjoining grass wickets were damaged during that work and never repaired.Reports suggest that the CCA has been carrying out some urgent work on the grass pitch, but the chances of getting a surface good enough to last three days, and good enough for a first-class match, in such a short time is almost impossible."A three-day wicket takes considerable preparation or it will deteriorate after the first day or so, and either become dusty and turn square or be so lively on the first day that a medium-pacer will be unplayable," a local curator explained. "I cannot believe that the umpires will allow it [the game] to proceed on this track."

The CCA faces other problems. The venue is in a picturesque public park, and as such it cannot be fenced off and so there will be no opportunity to charge for admission. Without any cordoning off, there will also be problems in erecting any tents or marquees to sell alcohol. That, coupled with the fact that players will not have immediate access to washing facilities, means the entire venture is verging on a farce.This is Canada’s chance to show the world that it is ready to be taken as a serious player in world cricket. The Canadian board appears to be hell-bent on squandering that opportunity, and with ICC officials in town for the match, it could be a very public humiliation.Back in May, the CCA attempted to get the Intercontinental Cup tie against USA in Florida postponed, claiming that there had not been adequate time for preparation. Rightly, the ICC ruled the game had to go ahead. This time, the CCA has had seven months to prepare, and yet they only approached the three clubs with good grass wickets – Ajax CC, King City and the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club – in late July.For the good of Canadian cricket, it has to be hoped that, somehow, the whole thing comes together and works. If it doesn’t, then the CCA, already deeply unpopular in some quarters, will face increasing calls for change.Click here for www.canadacricket.com’s full report on Sunnybrook

Kevin Pietersen, England’s newly qualified South African-born batsman, has hit out at his non-selection for this winter’s tour of South Africa, hinting that politics may have played a part in his omission.”I was disappointed not to go to South Africa because I have scored more than 5000 first-class runs in county cricket at 54 in the past four years,” Pietersen told The Guardian. “I haven’t spoken to the selectors but I have heard that they don’t want to take me back to South Africa, with all the extra pressures.”Pietersen, who was born and raised in South Africa, has an Afrikaaner father but an English mother, and he has already earned himself something of a reputation for plain-speaking. His resentment of non-white quotas in South African sport played a major part in his decision to shift his allegiance to England, and his burning ambition led last season to a major rift with his county side, Nottinghamshire, where he has been spending his four-year qualification period.”You are brought up to be loyal to the country you are in,” added Pietersen, “but I have never been totally patriotic to South Africa. It is a case of how I was brought up at home. My mum ruled the roost and she is English through-and-through. Dad is an Afrikaner but he doesn’t speak Afrikaans at home. If England go to South Africa and win, I’ll be a happy boy.”Rod Marsh, Pietersen’s coach at the National Academy, is adamant that his country of origin played no part in his omission from the South Africa tour, adding that England will benefit from his desire to play at the highest level. “English cricket’s spirit will be strengthened by him, not diluted,” said Marsh. “He has made an enormous sacrifice of leaving his own country. Maybe English cricket’s spirit has been diluted in the past by those English players who have not wanted it enough.”

Glenn McGrath warmed up for the first Test with his best spell in “I don’t know how long” thanks to a lightweight pair of shoes borrowed from Shane Watson that put some spring back in the old man’s step.By all accounts, Watson is a good guy who would give you the shirt off his back, but in McGrath’s case it was handing over a pair of size 12s that revitalised the veteran fast bowler on the eve of what is going to be a gruelling series against India.McGrath was hugely optimistic about his Test prospects after taking 4-28 from 20.2 overs against Mumbai at Brabourne Stadium, an unwaveringly accurate and varied performance that suggested he was back to his penetrative best.”That was the best it’s felt in I don’t know how long, quite a few years,” said McGrath, whose 11-year Test career was in serious jeopardy earlier this year when ankle troubles persisted.”I tried something different – I tried lighter boots.”My normal boots are a kilo each and these are half a kilo. It made me feel so much lighter. I felt I was running in well and my follow through, which is always a key to how well I’m bowling, felt as light as it’s been for a long time.”I was mixing it up a lot to try every type of ball and they were coming out really well. I couldn’t be happier after this match. I came off after bowling and I had that much energy, I couldn’t sit still.”McGrath, whose preparations for India hit a snag last month when he conceded 0-46 from eight lacklustre overs in the Champions Trophy semi-final against England, was forced to search for new boots when his regular model went out of stock.”They (Puma) made up a new batch, but they only had four left and they weren’t going to make them anymore,” said McGrath.”I had to change sooner or later.”I found in that last game in England that it just felt really heavy and I wasn’t hitting the crease. In the nets I’ve been bowling in half-spikes, and they felt quite good.”Watto had another pair of full-spike Puma ones, low-cut, and I tried them and I couldn’t be happier. He had a couple of pairs and said I could break them in for him. He’s not getting them back now and I’ve asked for more to be sent over.”Test captain and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist barely had to move when McGrath was bowling because the line was so deadly straight. Two of McGrath’s three wickets on the final day were from LBW decisions and there could have been a couple more.”I thought he was outstanding in what he did,” said Gilchrist.”He was back to what we’ve come to expect from him.”Because he hasn’t had a chance to have that extended hit-out, it’s been hard to know where he’s at. In one-dayers it’s hard to monitor and judge what he’s doing and I think he had a little bit of uncertainness about where he was in his whole rehabilitation and re-entry to the game.”So he’ll gain a lot out of that.”The first Test starts on Wednesday at Bangalore.

England XI 225 (Langeveldt 5-48) and 154 for 7 (Vaughan 82*, Willoughby 3-47) lead South Africa A 281 (van Jaarsveld 71, Ontong 56, Morkel 47) by 98 runs
Scorecard

One top-order aberration could be put down to ring-rustiness, but two in a single match smacks of carelessness. For the second day running at Potchefstroom, England’s batting collapsed in a heap against South Africa A, leaving the team in severe danger of an embarrassing three-day defeat. With less than a week to go until the first Test at Port Elizabeth, all of their pre-series optimism has gone floating down the river Mooi.Up until twenty minutes before tea, the day was looking quite promising for England. A spirited bowling performance had limited the South Africans to a first-innings lead of 56, and England seemed ready to set out their stall on a pitch that had flattened out since the first morning. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans. In a disastrous five-over spell before tea, England slumped to 3 for 3, and went on to lose four more wickets in the final session, with only the captain, Michael Vaughan, hanging around to man the barriers.By the close, Vaughan was still there on 82, a innings of phlegmatic serenity that was reminiscent of his effort at Johannesburg on Test debut four years ago, when England were reduced to 2 for 4 by Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock. The destroyers on this occasion, however, were nowhere near such a potent pairing. Instead Charl Willoughby and Ethy Mbhalati stuck to the basics of line, length and a modicum of movement, and let England’s lack of application do the rest.

The first of their victims was Marcus Trescothick, who had scratched around for a 43-ball 7 in the first innings. He lasted just five more balls second-time around, before being pinned plumb lbw in Willoughby’s first over. And then Andrew Strauss, with a fluent 50 to his name already, turned Mbhalati straight into the hands of JP Duminy at short-leg, to fall for a six-ball duck.The worst, however, was yet to come for England. Mark Butcher, who was in desperate need of some time in the middle after his two failures on the tour so far, had faced just ten balls by the time he was adjudged lbw by umpire Karl Hurtur, again for a duck. There was more than a hint of inside-edge in the decision, but no matter. England’s selectors now face a tricky decision – should they risk Butcher, or persevere with the in-form Robert Key, the man who replaced him when he was injured last summer?Graham Thorpe at least showed some signs of fluency in his brief stay – he rasped an Mbhalati half-volley through the covers for four, but was then beaten by a ball that kept a fraction low and bowled off the inside-edge by Willoughby. At 29 for 4, Vaughan was joined by Andrew Flintoff, just as he had been at Jo’burg five years ago, and together they wiped out what remained of the deficit with a series of counterattacking cuts and pulls.

But a change in the South African bowling attack ended that brief flurry of runs. Albie Morkel struck with his fifth delivery, clipping Flintoff’s off bail as he played down the wrong line (64 for 5), and for the second innings running, Geraint Jones arrived at the crease with England in all sorts of bother. He did his best to provide Vaughan with support, cracking five fours in an hour-long stay, but when Mbhalati returned to the attack, Jones feathered a lifting delivery through to Mark Boucher, to depart for 26 from 47 balls.Mbhalati then blotted his copy-book off the very next delivery, as he dropped Vaughan at fine leg, but by then the damage had been done. Ashley Giles was unable to stick around in his now-customary manner, as Martin van Jaarsveld snapped him up at second slip off Alfonso Thomas, but Matthew Hoggard did his bit, clinging on in the fading light as England closed on 154 for 7.For the first two sessions, it had looked like being England’s day, as their bowlers enjoyed precisely the sort of workout they needed ahead of the Port Elizabeth Test. Flintoff extracted some menacing bounce with his heavy-limbed action to pocket three scalps in a brisk spell before lunch, and though the rest of the attack took their time to click through the gears, each of them picked up at least one wicket, with Simon Jones cleaning up the tail in perfunctory fashion. For South Africa, van Jaarsveld top-scored with a fine 71, and Morkel cracked two sixes and six fours in an entertaining 47 from 48 balls, but it was with the ball that they really did their talking.

Scorecard

Matthew Elliott and David Hussey led Victoria’s charge and helped them race to a comprehensive seven-wicket win in the warm-up game against the West Indians at the MCG. Chasing a modest 202 for victory, Elliott and Hussey added 129 in quick time as Victoria romped home with 18 overs to spare.After a hesitant start, Hussey’s excellent knock came from just 62 balls and included five sixes as the West Indian bowlers were taken apart. Elliott played the anchor role to near-perfection and though he was out late in the innings, the victory was all but ensured by then. Pedro Collins, the left-arm seamer, was the most impressive of the West Indian bowlers. He trapped Brad Hodge lbw for 3 and finished with figures of 2 for 26.Earlier in the day, the West Indian batsmen failed to capitalise on starts and no-one went on to post a big score. Chris Gayle gave them a blistering start with a 23-ball 33 but he fell in the fifth over and the rest didn’t cash in on the momentum. Apart from Gayle, six other batsmen – including Brian Lara – reached double figures but none was able to kick on to a sizeable score.The West Indians were reduced to 6 for 63 and only a fighting ninth-wicket partnership between Courtney Browne and Ian Bradshaw, the same pair who had starred in a historic triumph in the Champions Trophy final in September, enabled them to cross the 200-mark.For Victoria, Michael Lewis, Cameron White and Hodge, who bowls part-time offspin, snapped up two wickets apiece. Tim Welsford, the allrounder, claimed his first wicket for Victoria and it turned out to be the prized one of Lara – caught behind by Adam Crosthwaite for 24.”The players have played enough international cricket to do better than they did today,” the West Indies coach Bennett King told the AAP news agency.”Five of our top eight looked like they were in very good form and showed some very good signs but unforced outs can really cruel you in this game and that’s what what we had today.”We were playing a very good side but again I’d expect a lot better from our bowlers.”The players will only have two chances to practise ahead of the VB series which starts on January 14, when West Indies take on Australia at the MCG. They will play two more warm-up games – both against Australia A – in Hobart on Saturday and Sunday.”We’ve got a lot of work to do in the next week or so and with the week leading up to the VB Series we’ve got some good plans in place,” added King.

The Pakistan board has maintained that their team will not play in Ahmedabad on the forthcoming tour to India. The Indian government had earlier sent a letter asking them to reconsider their decision, but the PCB insisted that Ahmedabad was a no-no, while also doing a volte-face and insisting that the decision was based on security concerns, and not political ones as was stated earlier.Calling the earlier reports speculative, the Pakistan board said in a media release: “The PCB hereby clarifies that after receiving the report of the security team that recently visited India, the PCB has requested the BCCI to change the venue of the Test from Ahmedabad to any other venue of Test status in India on grounds of security. The PCB contradicts reports suggesting any motive other than security in making the request.”Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the PCB, told The Times of India: “We’re not going to play in Ahmedabad. As of now, even if the government of India or the BCCI asks us to reconsider, we will stick to our decision. We are concerned about only two things – firstly, the safety of our team, and secondly, the fear that the improving bilateral ties might be derailed even if there is a minor incident.”The newspaper also reported that the Pakistan board had come up with an alternative solution to solve the problem, suggesting a one-dayer at Mumbai instead of Delhi. Mumbai has in the past been a sensitive venue as well, due to the strong anti-Pakistan stand by the local Shiv Sena Party, but the PCB indicated that a match there would send out a clear signal that there were no political reasons for backing out of Ahmedabad.Meanwhile, the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) has demanded that the tour be cancelled if Pakistan refuse to play in Ahmedabad. “I will raise this issue in the next BCCI meeting on February 16,” Narhari Amin, the GCA president, told Press Trust of India. “Our message [to the PCB] is clear – either play in Ahmedabad or call off the entire series.” With so much at stake for the Indian board, it is highly unlikely that the BCCI will take any such step.Rajiv Shukla, the vice-president of the BCCI, is already in Lahore and is expected to meet Shaharyar in an attempt to resolve the issue. According to reports in various sections of the media, Chennai will get to host the Test if Ahmedabad is found unsuitable by the Indian board and the government.

ScorecardWestern Australia sealed their highest run-chase in domestic history with a stunning 4 for 397 against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval. Led by the captain Mike Hussey and backed by fine contributions from Chris Rogers and Marcus North, Western Australia leaped to the top of the Pura Cup table with a win sealed with nine balls remaining.Hussey made 95 and put together 133 for the first wicket with Rogers (74), while North concluded with an unbeaten 94 after Tasmania had set them a daunting 396 in less than a day. Western Australia’s previous highest sucessful chase was 390 against South Australia in 1992-93.”It was just basically assessing what Tasmania set us and then going out there until there were 50 overs remaining and treating it like a one-day game,” North said. “It worked out we were roughly five an over from that point so we were in a good position.”Western Australia required 182 in 35 overs at tea, but their efforts were hindered by the dismissals of Hussey and Rogers, who both fell lbw to Dan Marsh. However, North, Shaun Marsh and Adam Voges, who added 105 with North, pushed the Warriors, who now have a two point lead over Queensland and New South Wales, to victory.Michael Bevan completed his second century of the match when play resumed this morning, and had moved to 114 when the declaration arrived, adding to his first-innings 190.

Shaun Pollock is unlikely to participate in the second Test against Zimbabwe due to an ankle problem he sustained during the series against England. His discomfort was visible in Zimbabwe’s second innings of the first Test, where he bowled only five overs.Shane Jabaar, the South African team physiotherapist, believed the Shaun’s ankle would not recover in time for the Test, which begins on March 11. Supersport quoted him as saying, “Shaun will consult a specialist about his sore ankle on Wednesday, but I do not think he will play in the second Test.”Jabaar also spoke about the injuries afflicting Graeme Smith, Charl Langeveldt and AB de Villiers. “His ankle remains problematic and we are treating it,” Jabaar said of Smith. “However, we need time, that is something we do not have.”But he had some good news. He confirmed that AB de Villiers did not have a broken finger and that Langeveldt’s hamstring problem was recovering well. “Charl is responding well to treatment and will remain in the squad,” said Jabaar. “I cannot see his injury preventing him from playing in the second Test.”

Peter Chingoka, Zimbabwe Cricket’s chairman, has said that the dispute with Zimbabwe’s rebel players is officially at an end and that it’s now “business as usual”.In an interview with Zimbabwe’s Independent newspaper, Chingoka said that he believed the board had “done everything in our power to resolve this issue once and for all. ZC employs over 200 people and they are treated just like the other employees. We have a system in place, and that is what we are using as a guideline.”Chingoka stressed that the side would be picked on merit and said that “the players’ return means that we have got a good blend of senior and younger players. It fits well with our target of doing well at the World Cup in 2007.”He also denied reports that Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation were investigating ZC over its new logo, insisting that he only learnt of the story through the media. “We can’t stop such mischievous and malicious rumours,” he said. “ZC is an apolitical organisation. When the agent designed that logo, we explained what the colours and emblem mean. To us that should not even be a subject for discussion.”Cricinfo was told by a senior official inside Zimbabwe Cricket that the matter of the logo was raised at board level.