All posts by csb10.top

Polly Umrigar
“Sam Loxton [the Australian fast bowler] was so impressed with Mushtaq that he said if he can bat like this consistently he must be the best opener in the world. He was a fearless hooker of the ball, one of the finest to play the shot, and used to step out and play the shot against the fast bowlers. He was an attacking batsman right from the word go. He was also a thorough gentleman.”
Chandu Borde
“It’s sad that both Vijay Hazare and Mushtaq Ali had to leave us in the last few days. Both were greats and Indian cricketing history will be incomplete without them. My first Ranji Trophy match was against Indore and on the very third ball I bowled, he jumped down the track and hit me off length. His footwork was fantastic and he could read length better than most. He even jumped down the track to Sam Loxton when he was bowling really quick. When I asked him for advice later in the evening he said, ‘You are looking at the batsman and not at the pitch’. That proved to be a crucial lesson for me and I will always remain grateful to him.”
Madhav Mantri
“His entry on the ground used to be greeted with huge applause. Tall and upright, he was an unorthodox opener who felt attack was the best form of defence. Mushtaq was a real crowd-puller whose double century partnership with Vijay Merchant for the first wicket in 1936 at Old Trafford is still remembered. During that century knock when he was in the 90s Walter Hammond walked up to him and told him to be a bit more cautious as centuries don’t come that easily. He was that sort of a batsman. Though we were part of the Commonwealth squad we never played together in the playing eleven as when I was in the reserves he was in the eleven and vice-versa. He was a thorough gentleman and we had excellent rapport even after our playing days.”

After sealing the five-match one-day series against New Zealand with a four-wicket win on Sunday, Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, says his side can – and will – keep getting even better.South Africa, with some Justin Kemp belligerence again to the fore, reached their target with four balls and four wickets to spare to take an unassailable 3-0 lead and at least partially avenge their one-day series loss when they toured New Zealand last year.Smith was quoted on www.news24.com as saying, “It was a very good game. I thought we fielded and bowled superbly, although we let it slip a bit in the last few overs. We should have kept them down to about 220.”We’re still about 30 off our best. We want to keep getting better, and we want to keep on winning. We want more free-flowing scoring – all our batsmen are in good form, we just need to string together some bigger partnerships.”Smith was particularly pleased with the performance in light of the absence of Jacques Kallis, their batting mainstay and recently voted ICC Player of the Year.”Herschelle batted superbly, and Justin (Kemp) and Shaun (Pollock) were brilliant. We’re growing in confidence, and we are all loving our cricket, and loving playing for South Africa.”Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, was understandably disappointed at losing the series so early. But he also insisted that his team would fight to give the final scoreline some semblance of respectability.”We are aiming to win the last two matches – we’ve lost the series, but 3-2 would be preferable to 5-0. We certainly aren’t just going to roll over. It’s very tough to beat South Africa. We keep giving them opportunities, and they are taking them.”The next match is at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday, and the final match will be played in Centurion on Sunday.

Cricket Australia is facing up to a projected loss of more than $14m in the current financial year, with contests against New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies expected to be damp squibs. Australia’s newspaper, which had access to CA’s report for 2003-04, has said that the organisation expects to post a loss of $14.2m, as compared to a healthy surplus of $4.5m last year when India were the visitors.The takings from the gate for the Tests against New Zealand and Pakistan are also expected to be more than $1m down, with the aggregate crowd expected to be the lowest in a decade.According to Peter Young, spokesperson for Cricket Australia, the developments were not unexpected. “We always knew this coming year would be a deficit year, as will the next year [against West Indies],” he said. “It’s not a concern, it’s part of the cycle in this business.”It would be nice not to have trough years, it would be fabulous to have a surplus every year. And that’s one of cricket’s critical long-term concerns – to be profitable year in, year out. Australian cricket revenue is very cyclical. We have always had years where we make a surplus and years where we make a deficit and the key driver is which countries tour for that summer.”Cricket Australia made a killing over the past two summers, with England and India visiting. The Ashes contests have always drawn crowds, and the TV rights also sell for top dollar, as they did when India – the game’s financial powerhouse – came over for Steve Waugh’s farewell series last summer.According to the paper’s projections, CA will have reserve funds of around $18.2m after this financial year, well down on the $32.4m that were in the coffers at the completion of the last season.In 2001-02, CA had reserve funds of $15.9m. If this year’s projections are accurate, that figure will rise to $18.2m – but it’s a huge drop on the $32.4m CA had in its coffers at the completion of the 2003-04 financial year.After 568,774 watched a largely one-sided Ashes series, and 512,692 trooped through the turnstiles for a thrilling drawn series against India (four Tests), only 154,964 have bothered to make the trek to the grounds for the first three Tests of the summer.

The ongoing battle over the way English domestic cricket should be run shifted back towards the counties and away from the England & Wales Cricket Board with the announcement that a county-dominated review group would look at the way ahead.Last month the proposals made by the ECB’s Domestic Structure Review Group (DSRG) – which included merging the first-class and one-day leagues – were soundly rejected by the counties, and at yesterday’s meeting of the First Class Forum (FCF) in Loughborough it was agreed that an Interim Review Group (IRG) would come up with an alternative strategy.The ECB will still have the final say, but it represents a setback for those at Lord’s determined to press ahead with radical reforms.The IRG will be chaired by Mike Soper, chairman of the FCF, and will look at the development of Twenty20 cricket, the National League format, the scheduling of first-class cricket, the issue of promotion and relegation and the extension of floodlit cricket. The IRG will put forward its proposals at an ECB management meeting on June 8 and, if accepted, make its report by the end of the season.Whereas the DSRG’s proposals were largely centred on a desire to improve the standing of the national team, the IRG’s are likely to be based more on the self-interest of the counties. The decision yesterday to continue with two overseas players per county in 2005 rather than limit it to one per county was an indication of this.Reaction to the formation of the IRG was mixed. Those closely allied with team England will have been disappointed that proposals to limit the amount of cricket played during the summer have almost certainly been shelved. But county treasurers, secretaries, and members will have been relieved that those at the cutting edge appear to have regained control."The present bunch of county chairmen appear to be a militant lot who clearly feel enough sacrifice has been made to the cause of team England," wrote Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph. "If it looks like revolt, it is not. The 18 county clubs have long wielded power disproportionate to their financial clout within the modern game. Some … feel their relationship is little more than parasitical, something this latest move does little to dispel."

The Women’s Cricket Association of India (WCAI) will cease to exist in its current form in the near future.Shubhangi Kulkarni, honorary secretary of the association, confirmed that the BCCI had asked herself and Ranee Narah, the president of the association, to resign from their posts in the WCAI and join the BCCI’s Women’s Committee. Kulkarni said that an emergency meeting of the WCAI would be held at the earliest to inform members of the WCAI about the latest developments.In a long-anticipated move the BCCI announced earlier that it had decided to organise the activities and matches of women’s cricket in India. In order to do so they have formed committees at the national and state level comprising former women cricketers and BCCI officials.Kulkarni, who has several times met Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former president of the BCCI, in an attempt to effect some sort of a merger between the BCCI and the WCAI, was delighted that this had finally come through.”Women’s cricket and women cricketers in particular will benefit immensely by it,” she said. “We are happy that BCCI has decided to look after women’s cricket. I am sure, in the larger interest of women’s cricket WCAI members will look at this positively. This decision of BCCI will be the turning point for Women’s Cricket in India.”While the Indian men’s team may not be in the best of form in recent times, the women have shown good results. India reached the final of the World Cup for the first time last year, and most recently won their first ever Test series in England.

So England have done it. They’ve conquered the Caribbean for the first time since 1967-68, and while the timing of their win will not have been ideal for the Sunday papers in Britain, Michael Vaughan and his merry men still found their way onto most of the back pages this morning.England’s win is sure to trigger plenty of praise in the press over the next week. As Scyld Berry, among many others, pointed out in , this was England’s first series success in the West Indies for 36 years, only their third ever over there, and the first time that they have ever won three Tests in a series in the Caribbean.”In each match West Indies have been in a position of some strength, on a par with England, only for their batting to disintegrate,” he wrote. “Yesterday they reached 45 for 2 before Matthew Hoggard’s hat-trick transformed their total into 48 for 6, beyond recovery.”Not surprisingly, Hoggard hogged the headlines. “Hoggard’s hat-trick relives swinging Sixties as England make history in the Caribbean with a demolition job on Lara’s men,” marvelled the . “England created their own significant slice of cricketing history last night by securing a Test-series victory in the West Indies, their first in the Caribbean since 1968. Back then, only one of the squad – Nasser Hussain – had been born,” enthused Stephen Brenkley. “The 12,000-strong English contingent at Kensington Oval maintained a cacophony of largely unmelodious noise as soon as it became clear that England were destined to win.”Angus Fraser, writing in the same paper, provided his own appreciation of Hoggard, a bowler who so resembles Fraser as the hard-working and hangdog bowler. Understandably, Gus was only too chuffed. “Before yesterday’s remarkable events in Barbados, Matthew Hoggard had been the un-sexiest of England’s quartet of fast bowlers,” he said. “Surrounded by bigger, faster and more sensitive bowlers he is often the one who is asked to do the donkey work. Harmison and Jones, England’s two quickest bowlers, will always want the wind or the slope in their favour and it has been Hoggard’s job to try to support them from the other end. This can be a thankless task and Hoggard has performed it admirably.”He continued: “Hoggard is not very good at hiding the way he feels and sometimes this has worked against him. He is a simple man. Like all fast bowlers, he wants to be respected and appreciated, but he does not enjoy or go out looking for the celebrity status that some of his team-mates yearn for. A perfect day for him would consist of a five-wicket haul, a couple of pints and a good walk with his dog.”Then it was Vic Marks’s turn to ham up Hoggy in . “The potency of England’s bowling attack here has been stunning,” he said. “Yesterday their workhorse became their champion, their wonder horse. On a muggy morning in Bridgetown this unassuming Tyke was the hero. No-one can begrudge Hoggard his success. And none of his peers will. These England pace bowlers pride themselves on the way that they operate as a unit. They hunt as a pack. They revel in each other’s success. And it was Hoggard’s turn to reap the statistical rewards.”

The unsurprisingly went for the blunt and the bold. “Hoggy, Hoggy, Hoggy”, roared the headline, adding “Matt-trick seals series win” underneath for good measure. Keeping with the theme, David Norrie opened with, “Oggy, Oggy, Oggy! Out, out, out. A stunning hat-trick by Matthew Hoggard inspired England’s cricket heroes to an eight-wicket win.”From one end of the spectrum to the other: Simon Wilde, in the , observed: “It was Hoggard’s remarkable intervention that put England on course as he ripped the heart out of the West Indies second innings in the third Test,” as the West Indian batsmen “rose and sank like ducks on a funfair rifle-range”.He also had a word for poor old Brian Lara, who he noticed “slumped on his backside on the outfield, too shattered to any more endure the sight of 15,000 Britons jumping around in the stands”, commenting that “Lara’s future as West Indies captain now looks precarious. A home defeat to England, plus his eccentric tactics in the field, will surely bring repercussions.”So what did the West Indian press make of it all? Garth Wattley, writing in the , didn’t hold back. “The bigger they come, they always say, the harder they fall,” he fumed. “Just a decade ago, there was no bigger, more mighty team in the cricket world than the West Indies. But no more.”He went on, “Yesterday at Kensington Oval, once the fortress for the Caribbean team, a place where no opposition dared even think of winning, a few more rafters in the once-magnificent structure tumbled to the ground. Crash, crash, crash. Their faces as joyless as the conditions, the West Indies players, some with heads hung low, endured the post-match ceremony before disappearing quickly into their dressing-room. That was the only place they could find any comfort. Outside, the throngs of England supporters chanted themselves silly over ‘mighty, mighty, England’.”Ancient Babylon fell more swiftly to Cyrus the Persian, but the fall from grace has been far more painful for the Caribbean team. Yesterday’s humiliation was effectively set up by yet another batting display that shamed those who were supposedly defending a great legacy. The inability of the Windies batsmen to cope with the moving ball had left the innings in another shambles at 45 for 5. It was like a case of dead men walking to and fro.”And Wattley, as much as it must have pained him, summed it all up: “It had been too easy for England. Once more their discipline and focus were no match for a Windies side patently lacking both.”

Ian Ward has announced he will leave Surrey at the end of the season, citing the need for a new challenge and fresh motivation as the reason.Ward did not play for Surrey in today’s National League match against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens, but was in the commentary box instead. And talking on , Ward insisted his departure from Surrey was not acrimonious, but said: “I feel my future lies elsewhere, I want a new motivation in a new place. I’m looking forward to a challenge somewhere else.” He didn’t let out where that somewhere else will be, although he did admit he had received interest from a few counties.Keith Medlycott, Surrey’s coach, said that financial reasons also played a big part in Ward’s departure. He said: “Cricket is a business and we have to stay within a set budget, and players’ salaries play take up a big part of that.”Ward, who played five Tests against Pakistan and Australia in 2001, also said he hoped this move would help him revive his international career. “I am desperate to resurrect my England career. I feel a move away with new ideas and new drive is what I need.”

Northamptonshire have insisted that they are still expecting Phil Jaques to return for duty next season as a non-overseas player, even though he is currently playing for New South Wales in Australia’s domestic season.Under the ECB’s current regulations, appearing for NSW means that Jaques will be reclassified as an overseas player, as even those holding British or European passports are classified as overseas players if they appear in first-class cricket in their homeland in the preceding 12 months. But Northants are keen to challenge that regulation, thinking that Jaques should still qualify, and a legal battle is looming.John Scopes, Northants’ chairman, was confident of winning the wrangle, saying that he expected Jaques to sign a new three-year contract as early as next week. “We’re proceeding as if Phil will be returning to us next season. I am convinced that the European Union laws are on our side,” Scopes said. “Our lawyers believe it will be illegal if the ECB do not allow us to register Phil as a player for next season. We’re in conversation with them at the moment. We shall fight our corner.”Scopes added: “If he is British, which was accepted by the ECB last season, he can’t suddenly be a non-British player this season.”Jaques was born in Australia but has English parents and thus holds a British passport. He smashed over 1000 runs at an average of 58.70 last season for Northants, and helped them to promotion in both the Championship and National League, so they are understandably keen to keep him.The ECB’s registration committee is due to meet at the end of the month to discuss the matter, but if the rules stand, Jaques will be forced to find another club that will take him on as one of their foreign players, as Northants have already secured their two overseas players.Talking in the last week, Jaques confirmed he was keen to return to Wantage Road, and is confident of doing so. “We think we’ve got a pretty strong case for restraint of trade,” he said. “Since I am a British passport-holder, we feel I should be allowed to play county cricket, even if I do play first-class cricket out here [Australia].”It would be a different story if I was playing for Australia over here and then wanted to play as a local player over there. European law states that anyone holding a passport from an EU member country can work freely within the EU. With England being a part of the EU we feel I should be able to work over there. This is my job, it’s my career, and I feel it’s harsh that I can’t go and work in a place where I do have a passport.”

What the key players said after the match:Marvan Atapattu Sri Lanka’s captain
We thought 240 was a good score, but the way we finished was not too good getting just 45 runs in the last 10 overs. We did not plan enough at the end, and if we had concentrated on getting ones and twos we would have got around 270-odd.The [Symonds lbw] decision was made and the umpires decided to call him back and they asked me whether I had a problem with that. Our guys knew it was a wrong decision and we didn’t know what to do but when they asked him I was happy to call him back. It’s only a game, after all, and we have to play the game in the right spirit. I said no because we all make mistakes and it was clearly a mistake. I don’t see anything wrong in that.Ricky Ponting Australia’s captain
It was close and a great game of cricket. I was pretty happy with the way wewent about things today. We were behind the eight-ball early in the gameafter a very good opening partnership, but we fought back really well withthe ball. The batting was pretty good – just two runs shy. The guys will take a lot of confidence out of knowing that we can perform as well as we did today on a very worn Sri Lankan wicket.You are always disappointed when you lose a close game, but we are not goingto point the finger at any individuals. If you look back over the game youcould probably pick up half-a-dozen incidents [that cost us the game].We needed one of us to go on a finish it off, as it was not easy getting astart out there. But I played a poor shot and Matty [Hayden] got caught on theboundary and we did not finish the job. He played really well but we have come to expect that from him as he churns out runs in both forms of the game for us.The venue was good but I was a little disappointed that we used the samewicket today. With there not being a lot of cricket here I would havethought there would have been time for the curator to prepare two wickets.Chaminda Vaas Man of the Match and bowler of the fateful final over
Marvan asked me to bowl the final over and I used my experience and tried tobowl six yorkers, and it went nicely. I have played 220-odd matches but Ithink this was the best one that I have played. I have been playing forSri Lanka for ten years and I know exactly what to do on these wickets.

The first Test between Australia and Bangladesh at Darwin is an unusual one for a number of reasons: it’s being played in the Australian winter; the venue has never been used for even a first-class match; and the Test will be played on a drop-in pitch.This is not the first time that a drop-in pitch has been used in Australia. They were experimented with at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne during the Super Challenge series against Pakistan. But a Test match is a whole new ball game, even if it is against the weakest Test side in the world. Once the venue was fixed, however, the use of a drop-in pitch became inevitable.”The Marrara Oval at Darwin didn’t have a cricket wicket,” explains Tony Ware, the man in charge of installing the pitch. “The only way to bring cricket here was to use the portable wicket technology.” Ware, who is the head of groundstaff at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), has prepared two wickets for this series. One is the pitch that the first Test will be played on; the other is the one for the tour game against the Chief Minister’s XI, which Bangladesh won.So how long does it take to prepare an artificial pitch? Ware needed three months. The pitches were divided in half and then merged together, using a sophisticated ratchet mechanism, once it was in the ground. That sounds simple enough, but the portable pitch technology used by Ware took him four years to develop.Ware likes the weather in Darwin. With a minimum temperature in the lower 20s (degrees centigrade), a maximum around 31 and a fair amount of humidity, Ware feels that the conditions will bring the best out of his pitch. It is a hard pitch with some grass on it, and Ware says that it will favour the medium-pace bowlers.”Australia will do well on the even wicket and Bangladesh – they are learning about cricket – may find it tough,” says Ware. “With enough humidity and the climate not being too hot to dry the wicket – which would have created cracksit will last for five days or four days or whatever it takes to finish the Test.”Once the series is over the wickets will be moved back into the compound at Marrara and will be maintained for possible further use down the track. “The other main advantage is that we don’t heavily impact on grounds like Marrara, which have other usages. We can move the pitch in and out without disrupting the facility for football games.”Can the players tell the difference between a real pitch and a drop-in one? Karl Johnson, the turf manager at the New Zealand’s High Performance Centre, says, “A a lot of it is new territory and it just doesn’t seem real to some.” But he feels that if a player walks into the Jade Stadium in Christchurch – one of the two stadia in New Zealand with drop-in pitches, the other being Eden Park in Auckland – he would not know which one is drop-in and which is not.As for the anomalies of the weather, the portable pitches can be put in marquees or tents and the trays can be moved under them, where they can be monitored in a controlled environment till they are brought into play. “This is a huge advantage for us,” says Johnson, “as we can have a rugby weekend and, immediately the next week, a one-day international.”Drop-in pitches, although still a new territory, are slowly gaining interest in the cricketing world and with major big stadiums like the MCG being used for various sporting activities they are definitely gathering interest. Johnson says: “[Unofficial] level talks between the West Indies Cricket Board and the Melbourne Cricket Club are on to use the drop-in wicket at Florida, in the United States, one of the possible venues for the next World Cup in 2007.” The moot question there is: the pitch might drop in, but will spectators?