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Sri Lankan’s rookie offspinner and seamer were the major movers and shakers on the second and final day of the drawn warm-up match in Queenstown, as they claimed three wickets apiece to help reduce the New Zealand Chairman’s XI to 125 all out

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Dec-2014
ScorecardFile photo: Niroshan Dickwella scored 63 off 51 on the second day in Wellington•AFPSri Lankan’s rookie offspinner and seamer were the major movers and shakers on the second and final day of the drawn warm-up match in Queenstown, as they claimed three wickets apiece to help reduce the New Zealand Chairman’s XI to 125 all out. Quick Dushmantha Chameera and offspinner Tharindu Kaushal only bowled 7.5 overs between them, but claimed 3 for 13 each. Dimuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella also hit fifties in the second innings.The Chairman’s XI resumed play on 37 for 3, after Sri Lankans had made 173 for 9 declared, and the regular fall of wickets that had defined the first day, continued on the second morning. Dhammika Prasad was the first to strike, removing Matt Taylor for 19, before Chameera had opposition captain Cole McConchie caught behind to reap the first of his scalps.The Chairman’s XI was at 108 for 5 when Kaushal dismissed innings top-scorer Jono Hickey for 57 which sparked a deluge of lower-order wickets. The last five wickets fell for 17 runs, leaving Sri Lankans with a 48-run lead.
Karunaratne retired out after hitting 52 from 75 balls, but even he was outdone for aggression by Niroshan Dickwella, whose 63 retired out was struck off 51 balls. Dinesh Chandimal remained 36 not out at the end of the match, after Lahiru Thirimanne added a 35 to his first-innings 50. Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews failed to make substantial contributions for the second time in the match, falling for 29 and 19 respectively. Sri Lankans scored 261 for 8 in 62.1 overs despite this.Kaushal’s haul places him well in contention for a Test cap on Boxing Day, with fellow offspinner Dilruwan Perera not having made a breakthrough in his eight overs. Perera has bowled with plenty of control in support of Rangana Herath this year, but is seen as a less attacking option than uncapped Kaushal, who comes highly-rated from the domestic circuit.Chameera, who is among Sri Lanka’s quickest young bowlers, will find it tougher to make it into the XI, despite his performance. Prasad, Suranga Lakmal, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep are also in the squad, and have played key roles in Sri Lanka’s Test successes in the first six months of the year.

Stuart Poynter scored a fighting century to rejuvenate a sinking Ireland chase but his innings couldn’t quite take his team over the finish line, as Sri Lanka A wrapped up a 28-run win in the first unofficial ODI in Belfast

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2014Stuart Poynter scored a fighting century to rejuvenate a sinking Ireland chase but his innings couldn’t quite take his team over the finish line, as Sri Lanka A wrapped up a 28-run win in the first unofficial ODI in Belfast.Chasing 284, Ireland were 107 for 7 when Eddie Richardson, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the visitors’ innings, retired hurt. Craig Young then added 81 with Poynter before he became medium-pacer Dushmantha Chameera’s fourth victim. Ireland needed 116 at that point, with 69 balls remaining.Poynter and last man Peter Chase brought the equation down to 55 from 24 balls after taking 15 runs off the 46th over, but Ishan Jayaratne and Lahiru Gamage gave away just 11 in the next three overs to leave Ireland needing an improbable 44 from the final over. Poynter reached his century with a six off the first ball and hit fours off the next two legitimate deliveries but was out with two balls remaining, having struck 11 fours and two sixes in his 89-ball 109.Sent in to bat, Sri Lanka A lost Kusal Perera in the first over before Mahela Udawatte and Danushka Gunathilaka scored half-centuries in a 106-run second-wicket partnership. With Ashan Priyanjan and Chathuranga de Silva making useful contributions, Sri Lanka A reached 250 before they lost their last five wickets in a heap, all of them to medium-pacer Richardson, and were bowled out for 283. Udawatte top-scored with 88.

Hobart Hurricanes, the only non-IPL franchise in the semi-finals, will be facing probably the toughest T20 attack in these conditions in the form of Kolkata Knight Riders’ spinners

The Preview by Abhishek Purohit01-Oct-20145:29

Agarkar: KKR start as clear favourites

Match factsThursday, October 2, 2014
Start time 1600 local (1030 GMT)Big pictureThere is only one way the first Champions League T20 semi-final will be decided. Hobart Hurricanes, the only non-IPL franchise in the semi-finals, will be facing probably the toughest T20 attack in these conditions. The Kolkata Knight Riders spin army has spared no side this tournament. Perth Scorchers and Dolphins, their two non-subcontinental opponents, were restricted to 151, one batting first and the other batting second. Lahore Lions from Pakistan were also not allowed to go beyond 151. Even the powerful Chennai Super Kings batting line-up managed only 157.Sunil Narine. Kuldeep Yadav. Piyush Chawla. Yusuf Pathan. Mystery, chinaman, legspin, offspin. Had Shakib Al Hasan been available, they would have had left-arm orthodox covered too. They just keep coming at you one after the other. The four have collectively picked up 23 wickets in four matches, which is almost six wickets every game. Add to that a collective economy-rate of 6.20, and you have lost the bulk of your line-up with very few runs on the board.Scorchers coach Justin Langer has compared facing spin in India to eating chilli to make his point about how daunting and unfamiliar a challenge Australian batsmen face in these conditions. Hurricanes have posted big wins over Cape Cobras, Northern Knights and Barbados Tridents, but none of those attacks posed the threat that 16 overs of spin will.The semi-finals are in Hyderabad, where the Knight Riders have been based from the start of the tournament. There is the obvious advantage of having played all their group matches on the same ground. Further, Narine has said that the size of the outfield, which is comfortably larger than at most Indian grounds, has helped him. Batsmen will be more hesitant to take on the boundary-riders, and will find it harder to get away with mishits if they do.What will give Hurricanes hope is Knight Riders’ batting form this tournament. They have struggled all three times chasing, which is their preferred mode, 11 of their 13 successive wins coming batting second. They managed to stutter against Lions even after a century opening partnership. The game not being over till the last ball is bowled is not a cliché when it comes to Knight Riders. It is an opportunity for the opposition.Form guideKolkata Knight Riders WWWWW (completed matches only, most recent first)
Hobart Hurricanes WWWLLWatch out forIt is almost as if the opposition has only 16 overs to chase a target in a T20 if Sunil Narine is in the opposition. Lasith Malinga and Chris Gayle are T20 superstars, but Narine is expected to, and nearly always makes, a huge impact on every single match he plays in the format. Eleven wickets in four games at an economy rate of 5.12 is pure gold in T20. His quicker deliveries may have been reported for a suspect action and it will be interesting to see how he adapts, but he will still be the biggest threat for Hurricanes.Hurricanes will need someone to hold the innings together and push on in case it threatens to fall apart in the face of the spin onslaught. They have the man for that task in Shoaib Malik. The former Pakistan captain is much better suited to these conditions than the Australians are, and while he has not really blazed away, he has had a fine tournament. He is Hurricanes’ second-highest run-getter after Aiden Blizzard and has a strike-rate of 135.89.Stats and trivia Knight Riders’ spinners and Hurricanes’ quicks have taken the same number of wickets in the tournament – 23 At 5.80 runs an over, Hurricanes have had the slowest average opening partnership in the tournamentQuotes”Nothing has been said over the last three years since he has been with KKR. So, it’s a bit of a surprise but Sunil is a character. He is confident that it might be a problem in technique, something he can go on and work on.”

Rob Newton scored the first century of Northamptonshire’s season as they had marginally the better of the first day with Warwickshire at Wantage Road.

Press Association15-Jun-2014
ScorecardRob Newton’s century was Northants’ first of the season•PA PhotosRob Newton scored the first century of Northamptonshire’s season as they had marginally the better of the first day with Warwickshire at Wantage Road. When bad light brought proceedings to a premature close, the home side had made 297 for 8, with Newton unbeaten on 108.This represented something of a strong recovery given the fact they were 141 for 6 after less than 40 overs of play and it was mainly down to Newton and Andrew Hall’s seventh wicket stand of 129 which dragged them out of the mire.For the visitors, Jeetan Patel was the pick of the attack and at one stage he had only conceded two runs from 11 overs but despite his efforts he only managed to pick up the wicket of Ben Duckett. The other seven to fall were shared around with Chris Woakes taking 3 for 74 and Chris Wright and Rikki Clarke sharing four between them.Having won the toss and elected to bat, Northants lost three wickets before the lunch interval as the visitors made early inroads. Stephen Peters was trapped on the crease by Woakes and James Middlebrook and Rob Keogh fell in the space of four balls to Clarke, the former caught behind and the latter comprehensively bowled.Richard Levi, making his Championship debut for the club after being drafted in to a faltering order, and Matt Spriegel saw it through to lunch at 97 for 3 but both departed within a couple of minutes of each other early in the afternoon session. Levi recieved a decent delivery from Woakes to be caught behind and Spriegel hit across the line to Wright to be trapped in front.Ben Duckett did not last too long as he edged Patel to Clarke at slip and the hosts were in real bother. But that brought Newton and Hall together and the pair, cautiously at first but more fluently later on, rebuilt the innings in determined fashion.The latter survived a strong appeal for lbw from Patel early in his innings and he reached his highest score of the season when he passed 28.Newton’s half century, also his best score of the year, arrived from 96 balls and tea was reached with the score at 202 for 6.It took the new ball to break them up as Woakes breached Hall’s defences but Newton reached three figures shortly after from 164 deliveries, an innings which included 17 boundaries. Steven Crook then drove loosely to become Wright’s second victim, however, Newton and Olly Stone survived until the close.

A former member of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) board has labelled the organisation “amateur” and called upon the ICC to take “strong action” to revive cricket in the USA

George Dobell11-Jun-2014A former member of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) board has labelled the organisation “amateur” and called upon the ICC to take “strong action” to revive cricket in the USA.Brian Walters, who headed USACA’s Governance Review Committee, resigned from the board in March in frustration at the lack of change and in support of the former CEO, Darren Beazley, who quit amid similar frustration. By then it had become apparent that the USACA board would not embrace the recommendations of the review committee which advocated term limits for board members, independent board members and skill-based appointments.The timing of Walters’ intervention is intriguing. The ICC are expected to discuss suspending the USACA at the end of June and the critical words of a man respected as a moderate will demand the attention of those charged with deciding what can be done to exploit the vast untouched cricket market that exists within the USA. While Walters stops just short of recommending a suspension, it is hard to see how else his words can be interpreted.”The ICC has long espoused a ‘carrot’ approach instead of a ‘stick’ approach,” Walters told ESPNcricinfo. “And I would imagine that they might be contemplating that strategy right now.”If USACA continues to be the recognised governing body, there needs to be implementation of the Governance Review Committee recommendations immediately. And there needs to be elections that include as many leagues as possible within the next six months, which will allow the members to decide who they want as a leader.”USACA can only be taken seriously as a viable entity if real, tangible change takes place at the board level and at the constitutional level. It’s an amateur operation and they appear to want to keep it that way. They appear to not want professionalism, as evidenced by the fact that Darren Beazley was not granted the autonomy that is needed in that role; there needs to be a properly functioning CEO in place who is allowed to do his/her job. Darren was exactly the type of seasoned, competent professional who should have been empowered to run day-to-day operations.”But the board was actively hostile towards him and needs to go back to being an advisory board, and stay out of the functional areas of managing the sport. It needs to be a functionally operational board with emphasis on skill-based representation and term limits for all members.”While the American Cricket Federation (ACF), a rival organisation to USACA, has gained the support of around a third of the leagues around the country, Walters is reluctant to offer his support to the organisation fearing that their sometimes “confrontational” style will prove counterproductive.”Anyone who puts cricket kits in the hands of school kids in this country is doing a good thing,” Walters said. “But I don’t think that the ICC will recognise them. I am not interested at this time with being involved with the ACF.”The ACF itself has not really done much work with youth cricket, but Jamie Harrison did the work of distributing youth cricket sets in his capacity as president of the US Youth Cricket Association (USYCA) prior to taking on the role as chief executive with the ACF. He is currently serving a dual role with the ACF and the USYCA, leading to some confusion as to what he is accomplishing in an ACF capacity versus a USYCA capacity.While the deflection of that sizeable chunk of the country’s senior hard-ball leagues to the ACF could cause the USACA problems at the ICC level – under ICC rules, Associate membership is dependent upon a board proving that it is “the sole recognised governing body for cricket in the country” – Walters said he expected those leagues to return to the USACA fold should it clean up its act.”I also think it to be the case that if USACA were to get its house in order, the leagues that went to the ACF would come back to USACA,” Walters said. “But in order to gain trust in the community, the leadership of USACA needs to be different. It is not the fault of any specific board member; it is that the organisation itself is tainted. There needs to be a concerted effort to repair and rebuild confidence and goodwill with sponsors, member leagues, partners in sport and municipalities. There is serious remedial work to be done.”There is palpable frustration all over the country at the ineptness of USACA and it would take a gargantuan effort to fix that. It might be too late.”But what has to take place, in order to salvage anything, is that there simply has to be a change in leadership.”

Vijay Mallya, the owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore, lodged an official protest with the IPL governing council, against the Knight Riders over the Yuvraj Singh bid

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Feb-2014Vijay Mallya, the owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore, lodged an official protest with the IPL governing council, against the Knight Riders over the Yuvraj Singh bid. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals made the opening bids for Yuvraj before Mallya raised the paddle to bid at Rs 3.5 crores (approx $583,000). The bid escalated fast and reached the 10-crore mark. However, there was some confusion as the auctioneer apparently failed to notice the paddle raised by Knight Riders.Knight Riders withdrew their bid at Rs 13.5 crores ($2.25 million) before Mallya raised another Rs 50 lakhs to close the debate.”For me the hammer went down at 10 crores for Yuvraj Singh,” Mallya told . “We have officially written to the IPL governing council for the decision to be overturned.”Ranjib Biswal, the IPL chairman, confirmed the RCB complaint but said the final decision was that of the auctioneer. “They filed a complaint asking Yuvraj should be given to them at 10 crores and not 14, but we can’t do anything now,” Biswal said.Mallya later said that Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers’ captain, was “keen” on getting Yuvraj. Along with Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, Royal Challengers now have one of the most star-studded and powerful batting orders in the IPL.”Virat Kohli, our captain, was very keen on him. That extra Rs 4 crores was somewhat unfortunate, but the auctioneer has the sole discretion,” Mallya said. “Everybody saw him look around the room before the hammer fell but he then chose to continue the bidding. So life must go on.”

A round-up of the Syed Mushaq Ali Trophy Super League matches played on April 12 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2014Group APrashant Gupta’s unbeaten maiden T20 hundred helped Uttar Pradesh chase down a 179-run target against Haryana, boosting their run rate and, eventually it turned out, putting them in the final against Baroda on Monday.*Prashant slammed 102 off 58 balls striking five fours and seven sixes as he guided the run chase with steady partnerships. He had good support from Eklavya Dwivedi and Akshdeep Nath as UP achieved the target with four balls to spare.Earlier, Haryana were reduced to 119 for 5 in the 14th over after their openers Avi Barot and Rahul Dewan had added 63. Late cameos from Rahul Dalal (24 from 19 balls) and Lokesh Sharma (16 off 10 balls), however, lifted the side to a competitive 178 for 8.Both Goa – one of the most dominant teams in this tournament – and Gujarat needed to win big to topple UP at the top of the points table, and seal their place in the final. Both teams fell short, Goa heartbreakingly so. Gujarat needed to win by roughly 30 runs, defending 180. Goa needed to chase it down before the completion of the 15th over. Gujarat didn’t get close, Goa fell short by roughly two balls. Needing a boundary off 14.4 to lift their net run rate over UP’s, the set Harshad Gadekar was out caught. The following delivery, the other set batsman, Rohit Asnodkar was bowled by left-arm seamer Kamlesh Thakor. Goa finished the game with a four one ball later, but it was not enough – again it was so close yet so far for them; had they managed a six off this final delivery, their net run rate would still have been marginally better than UP’s.That they were able to get so close was once again down to a solid platform set at the top – opener Swapnil Asnodkar slammed 64 off 28 deliveries.If Gujarat were in with a good chance of their own, that was also because of the solid beginning their top order game them. Priyank Panchal and Rajdeep Darbar added 86 in nine overs, before No. 3 Smit Patel hit 50 not out of 31 to take them to a very competitive 180.Goa had suffered similar heartache even in the Ranji Trophy, failing to make the knockouts by the thinnest of margins.Group BBaroda qualified for the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy despite yielding their three-match winning streak in the Super League. Kerala were joined with them on 12 points with the victory, but were 0.114 points shy in the run-rate battle. The fact that it got that close was because of an unmitigated assault from Raiphi Gomez. He razed 42 off 19 balls, with three fours and three sixes to imbue momentum to a meandering Kerala innings. Jafar Jamal held the other end during a stand of 55 runs in 30 balls as a scoreline of 81 for 5 in 14.1 was transformed to 152 for 6 in 20 overs.Aditya Waghmode kept Baroda in the hunt with a well-paced half-century. But the middle overs proved disastrous as KJ Rakesh and Rohan Prem orchestrated a collapse – five wickets for 18 runs. Waghmode was the first domino who fell after scoring 50 off 32 balls. The tail realised the futility of an equation that demanded 48 off 13 balls and ushered Baroda through to the 20 overs to salvage vital run-rate points.A fifty from Kshitiz Sharma and seven wickets shared between Javed Khan and Yogesh Nagar helped Delhi beat Rajasthan by seven runs.Kshitiz’s 57 off 42 balls had four fours and four sixes and helped lift Delhi from 36 for 3 to 121 before Sumit Narwal smacked a quick 17 off seven balls to take the score to 144 for 4.In reply, Arjit Gupta looked set to steer Rajasthan to victory, smacking a 36-ball 72 with five fours and six sixes. His dismissal in the 13th over, however, created instability within the ranks and two overs later, Ankit Lamba’s dismissal triggered a slide that saw Rajasthan lose their last seven wickets for 21 runs to fold for 137. Javed and Nagar were the architects of the collapse and finished with 4 for 18 and 3 for 13 respectively.12.45GMT, April 12: The round-up has been updated, after the completion of the Goa-Gujarat game.

The intensity of Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal’s toil in the first Test against Pakistan has moved Mahela Jayawardene to mark them out as future matchwinners for Sri Lanka

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dubai06-Jan-2014It is a rare match in which a Sri Lanka fast bowler delivers more than 40 overs, but the intensity of Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal’s toil in the first Test has moved Mahela Jayawardene to mark them out as future matchwinners for Sri Lanka. Eranga and Lakmal bowled 41 and 46 overs respectively, sharing six wickets evenly between them.Each bowler delivered several spells without success, but they maintained exacting discipline and pace during lengthy occupations of the bowling crease. Their first-innings efforts were particularly notable as they combined mild movement with accuracy to help keep Pakistan’s scoring rate under three an over on a good batting track.”Really happy about the way we came back in that Test,” Jayawardene said. “We knew that there would be something in the pitch in the first innings, when we were out cheaply, and our fast bowlers were very good. This is the first time two fast bowlers bowled this well for us in a long time. If we can help develop those two guys, I don’t think it will be hard to win overseas Tests in the future. Shaminda and Suranga both bowled really well.”Sri Lanka’s batsmen, meanwhile had kept Saeed Ajmal wicketless for 49 overs in the second dig. Ajmal had never before bowled more than 20 overs without a breakthrough in the second innings, and Jayawardene suggested familiarity with Ajmal’s bowling had earned Sri Lanka an edge that may prove definitive in the coming matches. This is Sri Lanka’s fifth Test series against Pakistan in the past five years.”We’ve played a lot of cricket against Saeed Ajmal. He’s a trump bowler for his team, and we knew that if we batted well against him, we could remove that threat to some extent. The younger players batted really well against him, so hopefully we can continue that. That said, he is a very good bowler. There’s a chance he can take wickets against us at any moment, but if we play him like we did in the first match and also play the quicks well, there’s a good chance for us to win the series. We won the last series against Pakistan 1-0 in Sri Lanka by sticking to similar plans.”Jayawardene said Sri Lanka were pleased with the draw in Abu Dhabi, but said they would need to sustain the batsmen’s form to earn a better result in Dubai.”It’s really important that we did well in the first match, having not played Tests in for so long. To be in such a bad situation against Pakistan and then to come back was really good. We got back into the game and that’s what Test cricket is about. Different things happen on different days. When we are behind, we have to show a little character and we did that, even turning it into a potentially winning situation.”But it’s important to realise that’s over now, and we have to go and look at this next pitch and start again. If we do that, and keep to the plans that we’ll devise, it shouldn’t be hard to win here.”

India can expect a hostile reception from South Africa’s pace attack and the Wanderers crowd in the first ODI of a shortened tour

The Preview by Firdose Moonda04-Dec-2013Match factsThursday December 5, 2013
Start time 1330 local (1130GMT)India have never won an ODI series in South Africa•AFPBig PictureSince March 2011, South Africa and India have played only two ODIs against each other. The first was at the World Cup that India went on to win. South Africa beat the hosts by three wickets in Nagpur, in a match that seemed to indicate they were capable of breaking their major tournament jinx. They staged the perfect chase, going after a target of 297 with ruthlessness.They next met two years and three months later, again at an ICC event that India eventually triumphed in. Again, India batted first and again they piled it on, scoring 331 in Cardiff. Although South Africa came close – they were all out for 305 – they were never really in the game.Both tournaments were Gary Kirsten’s last as coach of the respective sides and both teams went through tough withdrawals immediately after he left. India have come out on the other side, following the retirements of senior personnel. South Africa are still in the process of doing the same. Their limited-overs squads took a backseat to the Test team in the Kirsten era, and rightly so; they have since had to start over and they are definitely not there yet.That’s the background to how these rivals meet now, without taking into account the tension that has preceded this series. Although the players themselves have had nothing to do with the boardroom squabbles, they and the fans are the ones who will suffer. What should have been seven ODIs is now just three and although the former may have been overkill, the latter could leave us wishing for more.Since this all we are getting, the best we can hope for is that the series has as much of Nagpur and Cardiff as it can have. The totals may not be as high but if the quality of the competition is as good, it will be a fitting way to end this year for the 50-over game.Form guide (last five completed games, most recent first)South Africa WLLWWIndia WLWWWIn the spotlight India’s first tour to South Africa was called the Friendship tour but this one has already gone some way to becoming the unfriendly one. With emotions running high over the shortened tour and a Wanderers crowd known for being boisterous, India can expect a hostile reception at the Bullring. The day before the match, there were only 6500 tickets remaining out of a total of over 30,000 and even with thundershowers forecast, the Johannesburg faithful are unlikely to stay away.Three of the top five ODI run-scorers this year are Indian batsmen and their line-up has the record for the two highest innings scores this year – both in excess of 360. The ability to post towering totals is undoubtedly their strength but they might find it a little harder to do that against a South African attack that has been miserly and has promised a short-ball barrage on a green top in the hope of exposing the stereotypical subcontinental shortcoming.Team news South Africa are likely to go with the six-batsman strategy that will allow them to play two allrounders in Jacques Kallis and Ryan McLaren. Kallis, Dale Steyn and Graeme Smith should all return to the XI after missing the third ODI against Pakistan, with niggles keeping the first two out and Smith allowed compassionate leave following the death of his grandmother. This being the first match of the series, South Africa will likely field their strongest bowling suit, which could mean no place for Vernon Philander, who is a 50-50 call after falling on his shoulder, or Wayne Parnell.South Africa: (likely)1 Hashim Amla, 2 Graeme Smith, 3 Quinton de Kock (wk) 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (capt), 6 JP Duminy, 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Lonwabo Tsotsobe, 11 Imran TahirIndia’s first choice XI are all fit and raring to go. They will not want to tinker too much with a combination that has won them matches recently and will likely go in with three seamers, two spinners and their familiar, formidable top six.India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt, wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuveshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammad Shami, 11 Mohit SharmaStats and trivia South Africa have lost two of their last three ODI series at home. Both were three-match contests, the first against New Zealand last year and the second the recently-completed rubber against Pakistan. They won a five-match series against Pakistan in between. India have won 22 of the 31 ODIs they have played this year and have the highest win percentage of all teams who have participated in more than five matches – 73.33. Quotes “We are under pressure here in our own country. We just lost a series so confidence is not hugely high but I still think we can beat the No.1 team.”
“The guys are quite familiar with the conditions out here. But South Africa is one place where a lot depends on how the wicket is prepared, whether it’s overcast or not and the circumstances on the day.”

Alastair Cook has assured Monty Panesar that the door is not closed on him in terms of an England comeback.

George Dobell21-Aug-2013Alastair Cook has assured Monty Panesar that the door is not closed on him in terms of an England comeback.Panesar was released by his county, Sussex, earlier this week after he was fined by police for his part in a drunken incident in Brighton that involved the player urinating over nightclub bouncers in the early hours of the morning.But while Cook admitted that Panesar had “let the England shirt down”, he also acknowledged his qualities as a bowler and let him know that he will be welcomed back into the side if he can demonstrate he has made the necessary “changes in his life”.”What’s happened over the last couple of weeks has been disappointing,” Cook said. “I’ve spoken to him – he actually rang me – which shows he knows he’s done wrong and let the England shirt down a bit.”But he recognises he needs a bit of a change in his life which I think is always the first step.”The bottom line is that we need Monty back bowling as well as he can bowl. The way back is through taking wickets and he knows that. We know he has that pedigree in international cricket.”Panesar has started the process of change by joining Cook’s county side, Essex. And while Cook admitted that move had taken him by surprise, he welcomed it.”I didn’t know he was going to Essex,” Cook said. “I thought he was going to Northants. I’m not the be-all and end-all at Essex. But I’m glad we get a quality spinner and I’m going to get a nice good look at him at Essex.”Apart from taking wickets, though, Panesar will also need to demonstrate that he is committed to team success and has no problems with alcohol. Panesar had been dropped by Sussex earlier in the season for a poor on-field attitude.”I don’t really know all the details,” Cook said. “But he has that side of his life that he definitely needs to get right because we know what an off-field life can do to you.”Everyone is saying, ‘Is the door shut?’ It’s certainly not, but he knows what he must do to get back.”It was not the most pleasant phone call for him to make – to the England captain to apologise. But we know the class Monty has as a bowler and what he can do when he gets it right. We’ve seen that time and again. He just has to go back to basics, work as hard as he can and do what he does best – which is taking wickets. If he does it for Essex, it’s even better for me.”