All posts by csb10.top

Hasan Raza continued his liking for Sri Lanka ‘A’ bowlers by stroking an undefeated 119 as Pakistan ‘A’ took complete command of the first Test at Iqbal Stadium here Thursday.By stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day fixture, the tourists had reached 72 for two, having conceded a big first innings lead of 208.Sri Lanka ‘A’ managed a paltry 183 in their first essay on Tuesday.Hasan’s superb innings serves an appropriate reminder to the shortsighted national selectors who had omitted him from the original list of probables announced earlier this month.With the senior squad facing crisis in the wake of poor form and spate of injuries, Hasan has now emerged as one of the candidates for the offshore home Test series against world champions Australia beginning early next month.The 20-year-old right-hander was chiefly responsible of putting his side on verge of a probable victory as Pakistan ‘A’ lifted their overnight score of 149 for two to 391 for eight before skipper Faisal Iqbal applied the closure.Young fast bowler Umar Gul then dealt two severe blows to the Sri Lankans’ hopes of saving the match by removing both the left-handed Test openers, Michael Vandort (1) and Avishka Gunawardena (29), in an impressive opening spell.But the day belonged to Hasan, who chalked up his third century in as many matches against the same rivals. He made two unbeaten centuries at Dambulla (121) and Galle (102) when he led Pakistan ‘A’ to series victory on the away tour last year.Hasan’s 231-ball knock was embellished with seven fours and a brace of sixes, against medium-pacer Chamila Gamage and leg-spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi.All-rounder Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan also played a significant hand by sharing a partnership of 111 with Hasan Raza, after Pakistan ‘A’ were in some bother at 196 for five. He struck three fours and one six in making 48 off 98 deliveries.Test all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was also in good nick as he hit 33 off 79 balls with two fours and one six. He dominated the seventh-wicket stand of 58 with Hasan.Moin Khan, the former Test skipper, fell after making only a 37-ball 14.Lokuarachchi was the most successful Sri Lanka ‘A’ bowler with figures of four for 112 in 34 overs, having given away 36 in six overs on Wednesday without any success.Gamage finished with two for 57, including the scalp of Taufiq Umar, going after adding only five to his overnight 68.

FRUSTRATIONWhen are the Zimbabwean top order going to push on with bigger scores? There are just too many players reaching 40, 50, 60 and relaxing (maybe thinking their job is done!!) and getting out. Good players push on and make no excuses, so perhaps this is the reason so many Zimbabwean batsmen average 30 and below in Test cricket. They simply make too many scores where they have done the hard work and fail to push on further.It is just so frustrating to see players who clearly have ability (they wouldn’t consistently make these scores if they didn’t) not fulfilling their talent simply because of a failure of concentration and confidence (this can be the only explanation). All of the Zimbabwean batsmen should be averaging AT LEAST in the mid to high thirties or they probably shouldn’t be playing at Test match level.Also what are the selectors doing? Why isn’t Craig Evans being considered for selection? He is obviously the form batsman in the first-class competition. Recently Australia selected Darren Lehmann for the first Test against England; he is 32, the same age as Evans. Age should be no barrier to selection, particularly if the runs are on the board.Marty Lauritsen (Western Australia)ROCK BOTTOMAs a passionate Zim Cricket Fanatic I take comfort from the fact that when you are this down at least you know that there’s only one other way to go.Anale Bango (Scotland)

Andrew Caddick asked constant questions of the Championship leaders Surrey as another round of matches got under way today. The Somerset opening bowler took five for 66, including England colleagues Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe and Alec Stewart after Surrey won the toss. Ian Ward was Surrey’s top scorer with 62 as they were bowled out for just 220 at The Oval. Caddick was well supported by the young left-arm seamer Matt Bulbeck, who took four for 60. At stumps Somerset were 10 without loss in reply.Caddick’s new-ball partner for England Matthew Hoggard took three wickets at Headingley as John Crawley continued his excellent run of form for his new county. Crawley made 79 and William Kendall 67 as Hampshire reached 273 for seven at stumps.At Horsham, where play didn’t get under way until after lunch, a century partnership between Vince Wells and Darren Stevens revived Leicestershire after Sussex had reduced them to 111 for four by tea. Stevens departed for 50, but Wells went on to reach an unbeaten 85 as the visitors closed on 257 for seven. Robin Martin-Jenkins took four wickets for Sussex.At Chester-le-Street Durham’s decision to bat first reaped rewards as their top four batsmen put in a sterling performance against Gloucestershire. Martin Love made 78, Gary Pratt 66 and Paul Collingwood an unbeaten 47 to take the home side through to 238 for three at The Riverside.Tony Penberthy revived Northants after they lost wickets regularly on choosing to bat at Trent Bridge. Andrew Harris took three wickets for the hosts, with only Russell Warren (42) and Mal Loye (37) providing much initial resistance. But Penberthy then weighed in with an undefeated 83 to enable Northants to close on 249 for nine.

Lancashire Lightning will be fielding a changed side for the Norwich Union League floodlit match against Sussex Sharks at Hove on Tuesday 20th August.Warren Hegg is out of the side after suffering from a dislocated finger onhis right hand during the recent Roses fixture at Old Trafford and JamieHaynes will be keeping wicket until Warren is fit again. Stuart Law stepsin to take the Captains reins with Neil Fairbrother being rested for thematch, Neil will travel down to Hove for the Frizzell County Championshipmatch starting on Thursday. Peter Martin also returns after incurring aside injury.The side in full:

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Lt Gen Tauqir Ziawas disappointed with team’s performance and said analysis needed to be done.”The team management needs to put their heads together and decide where we went wrong,” he said on the eve of his departure for Cape Town where the ICC executive council begins this week.Pakistan were mauled by eight wickets in the Asian Test Championship final by Sri Lanka at Lahore. Pakistan had come into the game with six successive victory under their belt. “Even if we had won, I would have liked them to examine the performance. But I admit the performance has been poor and very disappointing,” he said.The General said his establishment can provide all possible assistance and facilities to the players. “But its upto the boys to make better utilization of them. The boys need to evaluate their performance and decide how to lift themselves.”There are serious reports of rift in the team with communication gaps clearly evident between the selectors, captain, coach and the vice-captain. “Investigation is a hard word since no crime has been committed. But yes, if things have to put in the right place, all issues need to be addressed,” he said. The defeat was Pakistan’s sixth in 14 Tests at home.Pakistan are to appear in a tri-nation one-day tournament in Sharjah in April before taking on New Zealand in a two-Test and three-match one-day series between April 18 and May 12.Meanwhile, former captain Intikhab Alam blasted the team’s performance and said the management was bound to answer certain questions. “I think people need to know why Saqlain Mushtaq was not played, Wasim Akram not considered for selection and what was the logic of playing on a lively pitch after contesting previous four Tests on docile wickets.”There looked clear lack of planning. Against one of the best sides like Sri Lanka, you can’t win if you commit so many mistakes,” he said.He argued that if the team management thought Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi would deliver the goods with the leather, they were living in fools paradise. “They are batsmen-cum-bowlers. They are not in the same class of Saqlain Mushtaq who is a match winner.”Intikhab advised Wasim Akram not to be selective. “If he wants to be selective, then its better that he calls it a day. I think Wasim is the best bowler Pakistan has at the moment. I also feel that he fits into our World Cup squad.”If that’s true, then he needs to play in all the games. The selectors also need to give him the respect he deserves. I believe he has been roughly treated. No team in the world would have handled Wasim the way we have,” he said.Hasib Ahsan, former chairman of selectors, felt it was time that the team be allowed to stabilize. “We have had enough of experimentation. Chopping and changing has only brought established players under pressure and they are not performing, the way they are capable of. “It’s time that the selectors pick 14 players and persist with them so that the team can be prepared for the World Cup,” he said.He felt that the basic mistake in the humiliating defeat was the dropping of Saqlain and Wasim, adding that the team management was nothing but spectators. “I don’t know what influence the selectors have in picking the squad but to me, dropping Wasim and Saqlain makes no sense. As regards the manager and coach, they looked least interested in the performance of the team because there was no improvement in the players approach and commitment.”Hasib said Yawar Saeed and Mudassar Nazar were looking after their own interests and needed to be shown the door. “The team needs officials who can interact with players and know the youngsters playing in the domestic circuit. Yawar and Mudassar are not contributing to the cause of the team or the players as evident from the performance of the squad.”He added that the investment made by the PCB chairman would only be justified if the team produced results. “Unfortunately that has not been the case so far. We won against poor teams but against a team of our strength, we fared badly.”He called for the ICC to review the bowling action of Muttiah Muralitharan who once again bamboozled Pakistan with eight wickets in the match. “I am not saying he throws. But his arm definitely bends and that needs to be reviewed immediately.”

The continuing vagaries of air communication in the region left the West Indies cricket team short-handed yesterday.While the ten who actually made it to Georgetown the night before had their first practice session prior to the first Cable & Wireless Test against India, starting at Bourda tomorrow, the three Trinidadians Marlon Black, Merv Dillon and Brian Lara – were waiting for a flight out of Piarco after they were grounded on Monday night.They and team trainer/physio Ronald Rogers were expected by a BWIA flight late yesterday afternoon.They were booked to fly out on Monday night but were bumped off the flight when their plane was grounded with some sort of mechanical failure and was replaced by a smaller aircraft, team manager Ricky Skerritt explained.It’s a bit of a setback as we would obviously have liked everyone to be here as planned, Skerritt said, adding with a knowing shrug: I suppose we’ve come to accept these things by now.As the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) continues to use scheduled flights to transport both teams and officials the length and breadth of the Caribbean during home series, Skerritt’s philosophical reaction is understandable.Six years ago, a One-Day International in St Vincent was in jeopardy as the New Zealand team’s gear only arrived on the morning of the match, two days behind hand.Late departures and arrivals are as commonplace for high-profile international cricketers as they are for the ordinary, long-suffering traveller.There have been suggestions from various quarters that the WICB charter flights instead that would be a more convenient and reliable way of moving the sizeable entourage of players, administrators, umpires and media personnel around.The WICB’s official line for some time has been that it would be more expensive and unnecessary, given that foul-ups are infrequent.With the logistical nightmare it will have to confront when it hosts the 2007 World Cup, the latest disruption is a salutary lesson.Captain Carl Hooper supervised yesterday’s practice session at the Police Sports Club ground but did not actively participate.He is still carefully attending to the injury to his finger sustained in the Busta International Series final against Jamaica in Kingston on Saturday although he confirmed that he is fit enough to play.The finger is bruised, not fractured, and improving with treatment.There was encouraging news for the Indians yesterday as the MRI scan performed on off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s right shoulder in Port-of-Spain on Monday revealed no significant damage.He was returning to Georgetown on Monday on the same flight as the missing Trinidadians God and BWIA willing and would put the shoulder to the test in the final practice session today.Harbhajan, 21, is a key member of the attack and there was inevitable concern when he complained of pain in the shoulder after throwing a ball from the outfield in India’s warm-up match against the Guyana Cricket Board President’s XI at the Everest Sports Club here Sunday.The Indians took the day off yesterday, presumably satisfied with their preparations.It was a decision that did not entirely correspond with coach John Wright’s comment following their derisive go-slow batting in a pre-arranged limited-overs match Sunday that his players were keen to have some practice.

North Zone batsmen started their Vijay Hazare Trophy final against holdersEast Zone in style by piling up 398 for seven by the end of the first dayat the RSI grounds in Bangalore on Thursday. Centuries by Paras Dogra (110)and Gaurav Gupta (105*) were the highlights of the day.Put in to bat, North Zone were given a good start with openers VishwasBhalla (14) and Rahul Arora (39) putting on 36 runs off 8.5 overs. Bhallawas the first to be dismissed caught by SP Priyadarshan off S Sarkar. Hispartner Arora soon joined him in the pavilion as he offered a return catchto Avik Choudury in the 14th over. In the very next over Sarkar sent backHimanshu Mehta (2).This brought Paras Dogra and Deepak Soni (25) together and they steadiedthe ship with a 107-run fourth wicket stand in 29 overs. Dogra was thechief contributor in the partnership. Scoring his runs at will, Dograreached his fifty needing just 41 balls. The partnership was broken whenSoni was bowled by SK Ray. Then Gaurav Gupta joined Dogra and forged a77-run fifth wicket partnership. During the course of the stand, Dograreached his century, needing 114 balls in all. Dogra got bogged down alittle and by the time he was dismissed in the 61st over, he faced 177balls and hit 16 boundaries.The fall of Dogra brought Abhinav Bali (55) to the crease. Along withGupta, he further tormented the East attack for a 102-run sixth wicketstand. Gupta then lost one more partner that of Bhupinder Singh (8) even asthe score proceeded beyond 350. At the end of the day, Gupta remainedunbeaten ably supported by Abhishek Sharma (8). Arshad Iqbal was the mostsuccessful bowler for East with figures of three for 84.

Opening batsman Chris Gayle, along with bowlers Mervyn Dillon and Neil McGarrell have been omitted from the West Indies team for the sixth Cable & Wireless One-Day International at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad tomorrow.The West Indies XI is as follows: Carl Hooper (captain), Daren Ganga, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Ricardo Powell, Marlon Samuels, Ridley Jacobs, Cameron Cuffy, Kerry Jeremy, Dinanath Ramnarine and Corey Collymore.The West Indies, who have already lost the series will retain the same squad for the final Cable & Wireless One-Day International inSt. Vincent next Wednesday (May 16)

Ramnaresh Sarwan, the West Indies batsman who hasn’t played since June 2011, has won his case against the WICB over comments made about his fitness and has been awarded $161,000 in damages. The matter was heard in arbitration.Though the verdict was delivered earlier this March*, details of the ruling have only emerged in the last week. Reportedly, one reason being cited, is WIPA wanted to make certain the players had got the money in hand.Sarwan had lodged the appeal, in conjunction with the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA), against the WICB in March 2011 for unfairly questioning in public his fitness and attitude. This, he said, effectively cost him not only a central contract for the 2010-11 season but also damaged his “reputation as a professional cricketer” and “sullied his career as an international cricketer.”Accepting Sarwan’s claim that he had suffered “loss and damage”, the arbitrator, Seenath Jairam, concluded that the batsman had been “denigrated” because the selection processes of the WICB were not transparent and the board had committed various breaches of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the player.The WICB called the verdict a “highly flawed ruling by the arbitrator.” A release issued on the board’s Facebook page stated it was treating the matter as “closed”.Earlier this summer Sarwan, who had a successful county season with Leicestershire even as West Indies were being beaten on their England tour, had said how he had been “mentally broken down by certain individuals”, while blaming the coaching set-up for his non-selection.

Simmons wins $117k in damages

In another setback to the WICB, opening batsman Lendl Simmons was awarded $117,203 in damages through arbitration in a case the player had filed against the board. Simmons, who is part of West Indies squad for the World Twenty20, had sought WIPA’s help last year after he was rendered jobless despite having a valid contract with WICB between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010.
After Simmons missed the ODI series against Zimbabwe (March 2010), World Twenty20 (April 2010), West Indies A against Zimbabwe (May 2010) and Bangladesh (May-June 2010), South Africa series (June-July 2010) and West Indies A tour of England and Ireland, WIPA checked with the WICB if Simmons was facing any disciplinary issues. WICB said that was not the case.
However, Clyde Butts, the West Indies chairman of selectors, told the Caribbean Media Corporation that Simmons had some “issues” other than those related to performance. WIPA alleged that this had served Simmons badly as it had impacted his livelihood, “his professional reputation and has hampered his ability to procure and exploit other commercial and business ventures and future employment.”
Having heard both sides, Seenath Jairam, the arbitrator, awarded the damages for the same set of the clauses he had ruled on during the Ramnaresh Sarwan judgement.

The problems started when Ernest Hilaire, the WICB chief executive, sent a brief communiqué to Sarwan on January 11, 2010, immediately after West Indies’ Test series in Australia. Sarwan had played the final two Tests of the three-match series with injury, which he suffered on the eve of the first Test. Hilaire told Sarwan the WICB had done a review of the tour and was concerned about his “attitude and approach to fitness and physical preparation.””While this letter is not intended to highlight specific incidents, we hope that you take our concern as a statement of our desire for a higher level of commitment and application from you as a contracted player and a member of the West Indies cricket team,” Hilaire had said.Sarwan called up Hilaire for clarification, and in his testimony during the arbitration, Sarwan mentioned Hilaire had not been forthcoming. “Dr. Hilaire still refused to let Mr. Sarwan know what he meant by his words in his letter and, further, stated that ‘if I don’t change my attitude, my career would end’, and then he hung up the phone,” Jairam noted in his final judgement. Hiliare, who did not testify during the arbitration, denied that Sarwan was “threatened” in any way, as was reported during the hearing.”Mr. Sarwan had a telephone conversation with Dr. Hilaire relating to the letter. Mr. Sarwan, in that telephone conversation, contested that he was unfit and argued that the team physiotherapist and fitness trainer did not like him,” the WICB said. “Dr. Hilaire defended the professionalism of the staff. Mr. Sarwan was told that he would need to satisfy team management that he was sufficiently fit to play.”Sarwan noted the indifference of the West Indies team management during the Australian tour when at one stage he was denied an MRI scan; he eventually had it done, with the charges being borne by Cricket Australia. Then, during the home series against South Africa in 2010, Sarwan picked up a hamstring injury but was told by West Indies coach Ottis Gibson that he was not in charge of the matter and the physio was the best man to deal with it. Sarwan sponsored his own trips to Florida and later Canada to get treatment.When the WICB issued fresh contracts for the 2010-11 season, Sarwan was not given one. He was told by Clyde Butts, the chairman of selectors, that he did not get a contract “due to concerns about his approach and attitude to fitness, which resulted in the frequency of injuries sustained.” Sarwan said he was astounded as no one, including Butts, had ever raised any issue about his fitness or attitude in person in the past.However, a WICB media release, made public on September 2, 2010 put the onus on Sarwan. “The team management, selection committee and the WICB are concerned about Mr. Sarwan’s extremely indifferent attitude and sporadic approach towards fitness, particularly in recent years. It is the considered view of the selection committee, following consultations with the specialists in the team management, that Ramnaresh’s less than satisfactory and fluctuating fitness levels have directly contributed to multiple injuries thereby causing him to be unavailable for selection to the West Indies team.”Due to these multiple injuries, Ramnaresh was available for only two Tests and a total of only 13 international matches for West Indies in the past contract year, (October 2009 to September 2010) which is less than half of the total number of matches played by West Indies for the period.”Deposing before Jairam, Sarwan said he was shocked as no one from the team management or the WICB had sent him a report expressing any concern. He found the release to be a breach of the WICB’s MOU with players.While delivering the verdict, Jairam said he wasn’t in any doubt that the WICB had treated Sarwan unfairly, and that the board’s selection process and the appraisal procedure were far from transparent. Accordingly, he awarded Sarwan the following damages: $95,000 as damages for loss of retainer (original claim $120,000), $20,000 as damages for breach of contract (claim: $40,000), $18,000 for loss of provident fund contributions given his age (claim: $18,000), $13,000 as damages for loss of publicity/reputation (claim: $15,000), and $15,000.00 under his claim for further or other relief.*11:23 GMT, September 14: The story has been updated to incorporate the date of the ruling.

A fourth wicket stand of 130 runs between I Srinivas Rao (89) and skipperAnoop Pai (80) helped South Zone end the first day at 255 for seven in theVijay Hazare Trophy (under-16) quarterfinal match against Central Zone atthe Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodayar Sports Centre in Bangalore on Wednesday.South Zone started off on the wrong foot after they opted to bat. OpenerDinesh Kartik (7) was caught behind by Ali Akbar off Devendra Singh off thefirst ball of the fifth over. His partner Prasanth Peter (7) hung aroundtill the 12th over when he was bowled by Vivek Yadav. This brought SrinivasRao and Anoop Pai together. They took their time to settle down and thenset about rebuilding the innings. Before long both notched up halfcenturies, with Srinivas getting to the mark first.The partnership was broken when Srinivas was dismissed caught by TahirAbbas off Shivakanth Shukla in the 54th over. During a 203-minute stay inthe middle, Srinivas faced 147 balls and hit 15 boundaries. Then with thescore on 195, new batsman Srivasudeva Das also departed caught by Shuklaoff Rahat Ali. Anoop was finally out in the 78th over of the day when hewas caught by Tahir off Praveen Gupta. Anoop had batted a shade over fourhours, during which he faced 209 balls and found the boundary ropes eleventimes.Central Zone claimed the new ball after 83 overs and in the last stages ofthe day’s play Abhinav was trapped leg before by Devendra Singh. Two oversbefore the scheduled close of play, new batsman Manjunath also departed ina similar manner, the bowler this time being Vivek Yadav. I Varun (17) andS Yadav (9) were at the crease at stumps. The wickets were shared allaround with new ball bowlers Devendra Singh (2 for 55) and Vivek Yadav (2for 30) being the pick.