All posts by csb10.top

Dan Marsh has recovered from his torn calf and will captain Tasmania in their first Pura Cup home final against New South Wales starting next Monday. The Tigers have also been boosted by the inclusion of Adam Griffith, who has had hamstring problems.Marsh missed Tasmania’s last two qualifying games, while Griffith has not played a Pura Cup match since January. Xavier Doherty has been left out of the 13-man squad.The selection of Jason Krejza, the offspinner, completes an interesting summer for him. Krejza appeared to be the fourth-choice slow bowler for New South Wales before leaving Sydney mid-season to seek better opportunities in Tasmania. He could find himself playing his former state for the title.Tasmania squad Michael Di Venuto, Tim Paine, Michael Dighton, George Bailey, Travis Birt, Dan Marsh (capt), Sean Clingeleffer (wk), Jason Krejza, Damien Wright, Luke Butterworth, Adam Griffith, Brendan Drew, Ben Hilfenhaus.New South Wales squad Phil Jaques, Ed Cowan, Simon Katich (capt), Dominic Thornely, Ben Rohrer, Peter Forrest, Daniel Smith (wk), Grant Lambert, Moises Henriques, Nathan Hauritz, Matthew Nicholson, Doug Bollinger, Stuart MacGill.

Scorecard

Nathan Adcock and Jason Borgas frustrated Western Australia’s attempts to make the Pura Cup final, putting up strong resistance and ensuring a tough chase for the Warriors. South Australia reached 5 for 273 at stumps, with an overall lead of 198.Adcock made 95 and Borgas scored 83 as they built an important 147-run third-wicket partnership. Adam Voges’ part-time spin troubled the Redbacks near the end of the day and he finished with his best first-class figures, 3 for 42.Borgas again proved a slow but steady scorer and his 264-ball innings was his fourth half-century in his five-game career. Adcock blasted his runs in more entertaining fashion, smashing four sixes and nine fours from his 136 deliveries.Voges had both batsmen caught at slip shortly before stumps and also removed Darren Lehmann, who made a lively 36. The Warriors added only 12 to their overnight score before Ryan Harris finished the innings with 5 for 92, which was his maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket.The Redbacks, searching for their first and only win in a depressing season, have the chance to set Western Australia a challenging final-day target. The Warriors would have nothing to lose in the chase and a victory would likely push them into the Pura Cup final against Tasmania.

The fall-out from the late-night drinking of the England players before the match against Canada continues with two of the backroom staff added to those fined.Kevin Shine, the bowling coach, and Jeremy Snape, the Leicestershire captain, have been asked to ‘make a donation’ to the Chance to Shine foundation.Although both coaches weren’t directly involved with the main incidents on the evening, Duncan Fletcher was unhappy that neither stepped in when the players appeared to be going too far.Shine was in the Rumours nightclub with his brother and has been warned about his future conduct. Snape, who had been in the Caribbean to work with the Associates and was a late addition to England’s squad, was due to leave at the end of the group stage in any event when his contract expires.

Ricky Ponting considers New Zealand as big a threat to Australia’s World Cup defence as any team and said their fighting spirit would make them a tough opponent. Australia’s Super Eights campaign finishes with what could be two of their hardest matches, against Sri Lanka on Monday and New Zealand on Friday.Ponting said New Zealand, who were undefeated at the tournament until beaten by Sri Lanka on Thursday, had prepared well for the Caribbean. “New Zealand are playing as well as anyone at the moment,” Ponting told . “They’ve been playing pretty much one-day cricket almost 12 months now, they’ve played hardly any other cricket. They’ve been focusing wholly and solely on this event.”New Zealand were disappointing in the CB Series, finishing third to England and Australia, but made a stunning turnaround at home to win the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 3-0 in February. “They played some unbelievable cricket, scored some big runs and chased some big totals down,” Ponting said. “There’s no doubt at the moment they’ve got a bit of confidence and when they are actually at full strength, which they are pretty close to now, they are a very competitive side.”Along with Sri Lanka and Australia, New Zealand have already qualified for the semi-finals but they will be desperate to make up for their past failures – they have lost semi-finals at four previous World Cups. Ponting believes with Scott Styris averaging over 100 and Daniel Vettori looking dangerous, New Zealand have a great chance of reaching the decider for the first time.”They love a fight, they love a scrap,” Ponting said. “They are a pretty proud team and I’ve got a lot of respect for them.” Shane Bond is another who regularly troubles Australia and Ponting said the batsmen would discuss how best to handle him.”At the last World Cup he took 6 for 23 against us in Port Elizabeth and he got a hat-trick against us this year,” Ponting said. “He’s one of those guys, you have to pay the utmost attention to. He’s very dangerous with the new ball.”While the threats posed by New Zealand and Sri Lanka have been well documented by Australia, Ponting said he would also be wary of the fourth semi-finalist, likely to be England or South Africa. England turned around their disastrous Ashes tour to win the CB Series in February and although they are again battling for form, Ponting said another recovery was possible.”Our closest, hardest game so far has been the England game,” he said. “South Africa aren’t playing their best cricket at the moment. England probably haven’t played their best cricket through this tournament yet either. England, having been there and done it before in the Commonwealth Bank series, when everyone had written them off, know they have a chance of doing it again.”Ponting said South Africa’s surprise loss to Bangladesh was not a true indication of their potential and despite their past World Cup disappointments, they too would be a challenging semi-final opponent. “They probably didn’t get the best of the conditions the other day but that can happen,” he said.”They’ve probably lost a couple more games than I thought they would in this part of the tournament. But if they get everything right, I know how dangerous a side they can be.”

Rosalie Birch has been named as England’s captain in their Twenty20 curtain raisers later this month. The women will play an Invitational XI ahead of men’s domestic Twenty20s at Taunton on June 24, and then Taunton two days later. Charlotte Edwards, the usual captain, has been ruled out following a knee operation.It’s the second lead role Birch has taken in the last few weeks, after also being promoted to Super 4s captain of the Sapphires, replacing the retired Laura Newton. Is this a hint from the England selectors that she could be considered for the vice-captain vacancy, a position vacated by Newton?She certainly hopes so – and her goals stretch even further. “To lead my country is my greatest ambition,” she told Cricinfo, “and I hope to impress for the future.”The matches, then, are a big opportunity for her. “To be asked to captain the England side in our showcase Twenty 20 matches is a great honour.”It should be awesome to be part of a men’s Twenty20 day and I am very much looking forward to the challenge of captaincy. I am very excited to be skippering such a talented side in what should be two high profile games.”The other Super 4s captains are Gill Richards, a fringe England player, Nicki Shaw and Alexia Walker. Caroline Atkins was the England captain in their match against Hoddesdon men – and she rose to the occasion with a topscore of 53 in a losing cause.”I have captained The Braves (who became the Rubies) at Super 4s when Connie (Clare Connor) was injured, and I am currently Brighton and Hove captain,” Birch added. “Unfortunately in recent years I haven’t had a look in what with being in the same team as the captain Connor, but I have learnt a lot from her and Lottie (Edwards).”

The two clubs involved in the ugly fracas at Queen’s Park have publicly apologised for the onfield brawl that sullied domestic cricket last weekend.Additionally, Super Centre Spartan and ICBL Empire will conduct internal investigations before determining if they will take disciplinary action against the players involved.In reacting to a confrontation that involved Spartan’s Sulieman Benn and Empire’s Robin Parris last week Saturday, the two clubs yesterday said they regretted the incident in a joint statement just prior to the start of the second day of the Banks Division 1 match.”As two respected clubs, we strive at all times for the highest standard of behaviour and sportsmanship from our players and will not compromise the very high standards which both clubs have exemplified at all times,” the clubs said in a statement that was signed by Empire’s secretary Michael Phillips and Spartan secretary Vincent Bullen.”We wish to assure the Barbados Cricket Association, Barbados Cricket Umpires Association, members, supporters and the public of Barbados, that we will individually carry out our investigation into this matter to prevent any recurrence.”The furore developed after left-arm spinner Benn delivered a beamer to Parris just prior to the tea interval. When Parris was attempting to run a single off the next ball, television cameras captured Benn gently kicking him. Parris showed his frustration by walking past the stumps at the bowler’s end and approached Benn in a face-to-face, glove-pointing, remonstration.Asked by the Sunday Sun if either club was considering taking any action against the players involved, both parties said it was too premature to make any announcement at this stage.”It is a case where an investigation would have to be done. All the facts would have to come before our committee of management and then a decision would be made,” Phillips said. “It would be premature of me to say anything about disciplinary action at this stage because the evidence has not fully come out. We’ve only seen footage. We have to get all parties involved.”Spartan manager Harold Eastmond followed a similar line. “Our committee of management has requested that the manager, the captain Corey Yearwood and the coach Dave Marshall send in reports,” Eastmond said. “A decision will be made based on those reports if it is to go before the disciplinary committee.”On Friday the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) indicated its intention to investigate the reports of indiscipline, and placed all clubs and schools on notice that the BCA would hold them responsible for the actions and behaviour of their members, players and spectators.

Ryerson won the first Canadian National Universities Twenty20 tournament late on Friday night, beating McMaster University (Hamilton) in the final.The scheduled final almost did not take place as the tournament supervising umpire from the Canadian Cricket Association (CCA) proved a highly immovable object to the sentiments of the participating teams. McMaster beat Seneca College in one semi-final and Ryerson edged out the fancied University of Toronto Scarborough (UTS) campus in the other.It was noticed that one of the Ryerson batsman had not been declared in the original team list of 11 players. At one point, Ryerson were deemed to have lost, and UTS were told the final would be forfeited if they did not take the field. There was a lot of sympathy from the attending students as both last and this year’s event owed a massive debt to the key organiser from Ryerson.Figures showing how McMaster had qualified ahead of Ryerson on run-rate for last year’s final have not been publicly disclosed, to the best of my knowledge. I arrived on Friday morning uncertain as to the four semi-finalists. It seems the calculations and discussions went on until late. The ability to advise local media of the line-up for the big-day and a desire to draw a decent crowd evaporated during Thursday night’s deliberations and confusion.

The designated CCA vice-president responsible for schools, colleges and universities cricket, as well as umpiring and scoring, was not present. He attended the opening ceremony on Monday. Eventually the CCA president arrived and about 50 minutes later a replay of five-overs-a-side between Ryerson and U of T Scarborough began.U of T Scarborough, including Trevin Bastiampillai, one of Canada’s batting hero’s from the recent ICC Intercontinental Cup win over UAE, made 45 for 4. Ryerson overhauled this total in the fourth over for the loss of two wickets.Closing speeches followed before McMaster went out and scored 104 for 5 wickets in a match shortened to 12 overs because of problems caused by the setting sun, Hassan Mir leading from the front with an unbeaten 49. Those with long memories recalled he hit 45 earlier in the day against Seneca. A couple of Toronto and District players formed the bedrock of Ryerson’s chase, Harvir Baidwan making 29 off16 balls and Rahath Mirza 37 off 25 to guide them home with an over to spare. In fairness, the fielding side struggled in far from ideal conditions as the sun set and dusk arrived.

Lancashire 517 beat Yorkshire 144 and 247 (Muralitharan 5-66) by an innings and 126 runs
ScorecardYorkshire’s County Championship hopes for 2007 took a serious blow when they went down weakly, by an innings and 126 runs, to Lancashire at Headingley on the third afternoon. In their second innings Yorkshire subsided for a total of 247. Nine of their batsmen reached double figures, but significantly none had the determination to reach 50.To add to Yorkshire’s shame, it was the heaviest defeat they had suffered at the hands of their Roses rivals. For Lancashire, the last-day hero was Muttiah Muralitharan, who took five wickets, although special mention should be made of Steven Croft for his excellent fielding, which brought two catches and a run-out.The Yorkshire innings was a slide rather than a rout, and it began with the second ball of the day. It was bowled by Andrew Flintoff, and edged by Joe Sayers (19) to the keeper. After that, Yorkshire did for a while put up a good fight. They had a batsman in at number three with a Test-match double-century to his credit and even if it was Jason Gillespie, in as night-watchman, and the opposition had been Bangladesh, he rarely throws his wicket away and finished as top scorer with 44.For a while his favourite stroke seemed to be the edge through the slips, and Lancashire bowlers appeared to be feeding it. Then he played two successive off-side drives for four off Flintoff and found his confidence. He put on 79 with Anthony McGrath, who was batting soundly, and Yorkshire looked like making a contest of it.Then came the turning point of the innings, as Muralitharan changed from the Rugby Stand to the Kirkstall Lane End of the ground, and immediately looked a far more dangerous bowler. He had the batsmen struggling from the start, and broke the stand by having Gillespie caught by Croft at silly mid-off for 44 – destined to be Yorkshire’s highest score of the match.McGrath might have been Yorkshire’s man for the moment, but he fatally misjudged the fielding of Croft in the deep and was run out for 40, looking for a third run from one of his impressive cover drives. After that, there was little real fight left in the Yorkshire batting. Younis Khan made 31, but swept Muralitharan straight to Flintoff, and there was an entertaining flurry from the tail, but little traditional Yorkshire grit was in evidence.Lancashire thoroughly deserved their triumph, but for Yorkshire it is a time for serious reflection. They will need to finish the season as well as they started it to have any hope of Championship honours this year.

ScorecardGloucestershire pulled themselves away from the Pro40 relegation zone with a 71-run win against Essex, who are now facing the drop. Steve Kirby took four wickets after Alex Gidman’s aggressive 80 put Gloucestershire on course for a strong total.Essex’s run-chase floundered from the start with openers Varun Chopra and Mark Pettini gone with five runs on the board. Grant Flower soon became Kirby’s second victim as Essex fell to 20 for 3. James Foster (49) and Ryan ten Doeschate (42) pulled Essex back into the contest with a stand of 68, but when Foster was run-out by Ian Fisher the last six wickets fell for 31.Gidman had earlier blazed the ball to all parts during his 67-ball 80, 56 of which came in boundaries. Craig Spearman was equally destructive in his 63 which took 55 deliveries.Danish Kaneria, who bowled intelligently for his three wickets, finally trapped Gidman on the back foot, while ten Doeschate also bagged three to haul in the run-rate. Ultimately, though, Gloucestershire had plenty.

Lord Bill Morris, the former Trade Union Congress leader and director of the ECB, has called for a fresh review of English cricket’s position on cricketing relations with Zimbabwe, in particular whether Zimbabwe should be allowed to tour England in 2009.The thorny issue of Zimbabwe continues to stalk the ECB, largely because of the UK government’s failure to take any decisive action. Critics of sporting ties with Zimbabwe have been heartened by indications that Gordon Brown will be more hard-line towards Robert Mugabe than was the case when Tony Blair was prime minister.”The prime minister is on the record saying that in blunt terms he doesn’t want to be in the same room as Mugabe,” Morris told Inside Sport in The Daily Telegraph. “That raises the whole question of 2009 when Zimbabwe are due to share the tour with Australia.”If the PM doesn’t want to be in the same room as Mugabe, how fair is it to ask sportsmen and women to be on the same field of play with representatives from the regime?”Morris had been spoken of as a candidate for the vacant role of ECB chairman, but he declined to stand and earlier this week Giles Clarke won the backing of the first-class counties.

“That is one of the first issues [Clarke] will face and my concern is this is not going to be a private conversation between the ECB, the ICC and Zimbabwe cricket,” Morris said. “It will become more and more political as the regime becomes more and more oppressive and this will be one of the things the board will have to grapple with and the chairman will have to show leadership on.”Morris said that had he taken charge of the ECB then he would have implemented a comprehensive review of all the issues. “You have to take into account the ICC view because Zimbabwe are pretty close to returning to Test match cricket. But you cannot see the English situation in isolation. John Howard [Australia’s PM] has made his position clear, Zimbabwe will not be allowed to tour Australia. To argue that politics should be kept out of cricket is just a dream.”