All posts by csb10.top

Graham Napier has signed a two-year deal with Essex which will keep him with the county side until the end of the 2011 season. The news comes on the same day Napier was named in England’s provisional 30-man squad for the ICC World Twenty20.”I am delighted to be with Essex now until the end of the 2011 season,” Napier said on his website. “It is a great honour for me to play for Essex. This new contract will bring my time at Essex up to nearly 14 years.”Napier made the headlines during the English summer with a breathtaking 152 off 58 balls in the Twenty20 Cup against Sussex, and has now cemented his place after a number of seasons dogged by injury. “Going into last season I would have been doubtful that Essex would have offered me a new contract,” he said. “It is a real pleasure to be involved with the club for a further three seasons.”Napier’s Twenty20 heroics last season prompted talk of him being handed an England call-up. He became a very marketable property and even drew the attention of the IPL franchises.The 29-year-old, who returned to England after a winter in New Zealand with the Wellington state side and the England Lions, had agreed to join the Mumbai Indians but the franchise and Essex are still to agree on the period of time he will remain in South Africa. Napier is close to finalising a contract with Mumbai but as an uncapped player was outside the auction process.”For me it is going to be a new experience, playing with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar,” he said. “The team is full of stars at the top of their game, to be playing with them is a great learning experience.”With the IPL set to run during April and May, Napier would miss an early chunk of the county season if he signed a long-term deal with a franchise.

Tasmania 8 for 269 (Bailey 123, Duval 61*, Cleary 5-78) v South Australia
Scorecard
Points table

George Bailey fought to keep Tasmania’s season alive with a gallant 123 to overcome a horrible start against South Australia. Needing an outright win to remain a chance to meet Victoria in next week’s final, the Tigers won the toss and quickly slumped to 6 for 81 at lunch, with Mark Cleary already owning five wickets.Bailey stood above the wreckage on a normal Adelaide pitch with his second century of the season as the Tigers posted a much healthier 8 for 269 at stumps. He has been Tasmania’s most productive batsman this season and took his tally to 643 Sheffield Shield runs with a classy display.The revival started with his 139-run stand for the eighth wicket with Chris Duval, who continued on after Bailey departed to a catch behind off Daniel Christian. Duval was unbeaten on a career high 61 while James Smith was 20.Jon Wells was the first to depart in the seventh over when he was lbw to Cleary while Dan Marsh was yorked and Travis Birt played on. In the last over before lunch Cleary forced Tim Paine (25) into an edge to third slip and then quickly raised his five-wicket haul when Luke Butterworth was taken in the gully. His 5 for 23 in the first session turned into 5 for 78 and Peter George chipped in to remove David Dawson and Jason Krejza.

A repeat of the 1997 farce between India and Sri Lanka in Indore nearly took place on the outskirts of Rajkot during the one-dayer between Gujarat and Mumbai. The match had to be abandoned 6.5 overs into the first innings after the pitch was deemed dangerous for play, but luckily for the organisers, another pitch at the Khandheri Cricket Ground was ready to be used in quick time. The game was restarted again and, unlike the recent Antigua fiasco, the teams just had to adjust to the playing strip shifting a few yards.Gujarat, who won the contest eventually, had chosen to bat on what appeared to be a flat track. But the unpredictable nature of the newly-laid surface became an issue, with puffs of dust emerging when the ball hit certain patches at both ends. It soon became nasty. Gujarat opener Jesal Karia was hit in the ribs by a straightforward delivery from Dhawal Kulkarni, and another ball from Kulkarni pitched on a good length and climbed over Parthiv Patel’s head.Fearing injury to the players, Parthiv, the Gujarat captain, and his Mumbai counterpart Wasim Jaffer spoke to the on-field umpires. The match referee was consulted and the game was abandoned. However, it was decided to start a new game on an adjacent pitch. An hour’s play was lost in readying the track for the game, which was reduced to 41 overs a side, and the captains walked out again for the toss. Mumbai, who won it this time around, chose to bat and even made a change to their side, with medium-pacer Wilkin Mota replacing Ankit Chavan. The game went on without any further pitch troubles, and Gujarat chased down Mumbai’s 222.Pravin Amre, Mumbai’s coach, told Cricinfo he was unhappy with the unprepared pitch, and pointed out that it could have potentially put two of his players – Rohit Sharma and Dhawal Kulkarni – in danger of sustaining an injury right before their departure for India’s tour of New Zealand. However, he did not blame his team’s loss on the pitch switch.

Andrew Flintoff will undergo a scan in Barbados on Friday to find outthe extent of his hip injury. Flintoff, who is suspected to have amuscle tear, bowled through the pain on the final day of the thirdTest in Antigua, sending down 12 overs as West Indies squeezed out a draw. However, interim coach Andy Flower conceded the allrounder is struggling to be fit for the fourth Test at Kensington Oval, which starts on February 26.With England pushing for a series-levelling win in Antigua, Flintoff put in the extra effort in a six-over spell after tea, even touching 90mph, which went against the medical advice to bowl within himself. Flower admitted he was worried that the allrounder had harmed his long-term prospects. “I was very concerned about him doing himself lasting damage but I don’t think that is the case luckily,” he said. “Before the day started there was a line that he and Strauss had to walk between using him when we needed him and not doing himself lasting damage.”I think they did that but we will find out tomorrow when we get the scan results. It is quite likely he might be out of the next Test.”The importance of Flintoff’s presence for England is reflected by thefact that the ECB are flying in two players, fast bowler Amjad Khan and batting allrounder Ravi Bopara, all the way from New Zealand – where they were touring with the England Lions squad – as cover.What makes replacing Flintoff more difficult is the possible absence of wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who would be a candidate to bat at No. 6. Prior is due to fly home for the birth of his child straight after the third Test finishes on March 2, but he would leave the tour if his wife, Emily, goes into labour before the match.”He [Prior] could bat six and we could play five specialist bowlers even if Flintoff wasn’t playing and that is one of the options available,” Flower said. “If the baby arrives early then he will leave but if he starts the Test, he will finish it.”Part of the reason we have called up Amjad and Ravi is because if we decided to play six batsmen we wouldn’t have anyone in reserve, so if someone bust a finger in the two-day game [the warm-up before the Test], we wouldn’t be able to play our six batsmen,” Flower explained. “On the other hand if he is out we would be one seamer down, so we have got Amjad Khan in.”Flower said there will still concerns over left-armer Ryan Sidebottom, whois struggling with a chronic Achilles problem, but it is clearly Flintoff who is topping the list of walking wounded. This is Flintoff’s second injury setback on the tour after he suffered a slight side strain in the opening warm-up match against a St Kitts Invitational XI. He was withdrawn from that game as a precaution and didn’t have any further cricket ahead of the first Test.Flintoff’s fitness issues – he returned to the Test side after an18-month absence last year – could also put a doubt over hisparticipation in the IPL. He has been signed for record US$1.55million fee by the Chennai Super Kings. Flower said the team weremonitoring the workload of the players, especially Flintoff.”He’s a vital ingredient of English cricket and we wouldn’t want oneof our best assets to be poorly used. He is a sensible bloke and wewill need some sensible negotiation over the next few weeks.”The ECB are likely to ensure its contracted players pass fitness testsbefore competing in the IPL. “In the short term it might not be tooserious, it might be a significant problem,” Flower said. “England ishis priority, so we will monitor it closer to the time and it is tooearly to say ‘yay or nay’ on that one.”He’s a mature adult and he will make any decision along with the ECB.”

In a departure from previous tours, and in the latest example of Andrew Strauss wanting to lead the England team in his style, the opening match of their West Indies trip, against a St Kitts & Nevis XI, will be a standard 11-a-side fixture, rather than the expanded 12 or 13-player contests that became common under Duncan Fletcher and Peter Moores.Restricted to eleven for the match at Warner Park, it has also been the first significant selection process for Strauss and Andy Flower, the interim coach. Owais Shah has come out on the right side of the deliberations and is given an outing with Paul Collingwood rested. It is a chance for Shah to put more pressure on Ian Bell, who retains his place at No. 3, ahead of the Test series.Shah was unlucky not to earn a recall in India and Bell’s poor form on that tour has increased scrutiny on the No. 3 spot. Shah has just two Test caps despite making 88 on debut, against India, in Mumbai in 2006 and Strauss said he deserves his chance to stake a claim.”He has pretty much done everything he could do,” Strauss told the . “He has certainly played very well in the one-day game and he has pretty much consistently scored runs in four-day cricket for Middlesex as well, so he is definitely knocking on the door very loudly. That is a great situation to have as a team, knowing there is someone very competent to come in.”The match is the sort of contest that would have often seen England use an expanded team in order to give practice to as many players as possible. However, even though this is one of only two warm-up matches – the second is against West Indies A – Strauss is eager for the players to be fully focussed on match situations from the outset.England are prone to slipping up in embarrassing style against lesser opponents at the beginning of tours. Before the one-day series against India they were humbled by a Mumbai XI that barely had any first-class experience and Strauss believes these upsets are caused by players not quite knowing how to treat the warm-up games.”My own personal view is that players got caught up somewhere between middle practice and a match because 13-a-side is not a proper game of cricket,” Strauss told reporters. “That is why I think it is definitely worth giving 11-a-side a go, trying to challenge the guys about how we are going to play in the Test match and make sure we hit the ground running rather than ease into it too much.”Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire legspinner, has also been handed an early opportunity ahead of Graeme Swann as England play two spinners on a surface expected to be slow. Monty Panesar, under pressure for his place after a poor tour of India, is given the chance to find his form before the Tests. However, the omission of Swann is probably more down to his success in India and the confidence the management have in his ability.Strauss and Flower clearly want to assess all their options ahead of the first Test on February 4 which means Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom are on the sidelines for the opening match. But with two spinners an unlikely option during the series, both will be expecting a run-out against West Indies A next week and at least one is likely to line up as part of the pace attack in Jamaica.England XI Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Andrew Flintoff, Matt Prior (wk), Adil Rashid, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Monty Panesar

The Pakistan Cricket Board is planning to invite top officials of the ICC to witness the forthcoming home series against Sri Lanka to get a first-hand view of the security arrangements for visiting teams and to attempt to change the perception of Pakistan as an unsafe place to tour.Salim Altaf, the PCB’s chief operating officer, said the chairman Ijaz Butt is also planning to invite Jack Clarke, Cricket Australia’s chairman, to Pakistan when they meet in Perth on January 31 for the ICC Executive Board meeting.”There is a big possibility that the PCB chairman will invite his counterparts in ICC and Cricket Australia to visit Pakistan during the Test series (against Sri Lanka),” Altaf told the .”The Sri Lanka series in Pakistan can be used as a yardstick by the ICC and Cricket Australia. Now that the series against India is not happening, the only opportunity for others to see for themselves that Pakistan is a safe destination for cricket is the series against Sri Lanka.”Pakistan have been hit hard by pull-outs over security fears over the last year. A tour by Australia and the Champions Trophy were postponed to 2009 while India cancelled their scheduled tour for January following the Mumbai terror attacks. Sri Lanka had agreed to tour the country to fill in for India and will play three ODIs this month before returning in February for two Tests.The series opens in Karachi on January 21. Altaf said the board will provide VVIP security cover for all players and officials.

Match facts

November 28 to December 2, 2008
Start time 10.30am (00.00GMT)

Big Picture

Australia won the first Test in Brisbane, though it was not as one-sided as they might have expected. But a win is a win and after they had not triumphed in any of the four Tests in India the result was welcome. The success became slightly overshadowed in the days that followed after news emerged of Andrew Symonds’ latest bar-room incident. Symonds had only just made his comeback and some of his team-mates were frustrated at seeing him involved in more off-field drama but Cricket Australia decided he had done nothing wrong and he kept his place for the Adelaide match.It is the final Test of the series and following the game several of the Australian players will rush to India for the Champions League Twenty20 – if it goes ahead following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai – while their team-mates can enjoy a two-week break ahead of the first Test against South Africa in Perth. New Zealand head home after this game to host a series against West Indies.The stakes are high for the tourists. They cannot win the Trans-Tasman Trophy and the best they can do is draw the series. However, should they lose the match they will fall to eighth in the ICC’s Test rankings, behind West Indies. It would leave them ahead of only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and would increase their reputation as a challenging one-day side that struggles to adapt to the longer format.

Form guide (last five Tests, most recent first)

Australia WLDLD
New Zealand LDWLL

Watch out for

Matthew Hayden – The match should be a celebration for Hayden, who is playing his 100th Test. But in the past couple of weeks as much ink has been dedicated to speculation over his future as to reflecting on his achievements. Hayden has not made a Test century since he last played at this venue, when he posted 103 against India in January. A lingering achilles tendon injury stopped him from playing in the West Indies and since then he has averaged 26.88 from five Tests. A series-ending Test on a batting-friendly surface against a middling attack could be precisely what he needs to get back inform.Ross Taylor – In a batting line-up that struggled severely in Brisbane, Taylor was the one man who threatened to get on top of Australia’s bowlers. He top scored in both innings and his 75 in the second might have helped them save the game, had he had any help from his colleagues. Not a man whose score will trickle along with too many singles, Taylor has had his temperament questioned at Test level but his talent is without doubt. He likes playing Australia. In his first ODI against them he made 84 at better than a run a ball in Hobart and his 117 in a Chappell-Hadlee Trophy match set up a superb chase of 340 at Eden Park.

Team news

Australia’ horses-for-courses selection policy has cost Shane Watson his position as the selectors were keen to include a specialist spinner on a surface where fast bowling is not always the most rewarding occupation. Things became more complicated when Jason Krejza hurt his right ankle at training and Nathan Hauritz was rushed into the squad. If Hauritz plays, he will be the sixth specialist spinner Australia have used in Tests this year following Brad Hogg, Stuart MacGill, Beau Casson, Cameron White and Krejza. The inclusion of Peter Siddle in the 12 has also meant Stuart Clark has been asked about his position this week, which is a strange scenario after Clark took six wickets in the first Test, but Siddle will be carrying the drinks.Australia 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Simon Katich, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Jason Krejza/Nathan Hauritz, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Stuart Clark.New Zealand added the offspinner Jeetan Patel to their squad and released the fast bowler Kyle Mills, who did not play in Brisbane. But Patel is not guaranteed of a spot and New Zealand would need to cut a fast bowler to accommodate him. The batting has also been boosted with the addition of Peter Fulton as a replacement for the allrounder Grant Elliott, who had little impact at the Gabba. Their top order was disappointing in the first Test, where they were four down for less than 80 in both innings, but they have few other options and Adelaide should provide a more comfortable experience for the batsmen.New Zealand (probable) 1 Aaron Redmond, 2 Jamie How, 3 Jesse Ryder, 4 Ross Taylor, 6 Peter Fulton, 6 Daniel Flynn, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Tim Southee, 10 Iain O’Brien, 11 Chris Martin.

Pitch and conditions

A green-tinged Gabba pitch could hardly be more different from the expected surface at the Adelaide Oval, where scoring big totals has never been a problem. Only once in the past five Tests at the venue has the side batting first failed to post more than 500. West Indies could only manage 405 in 2005-06. It is a ground where spin generally has an effect and there have been plenty of long and fruitless days for seamers over the years. If ever there was a venue where win the toss automatically means batting first it is the Adelaide Oval; Mohammad Azharuddin in 1992 is the only Test captain to have sent the opposition in here in the past 25 years.

Stats and Trivia

• Hayden becomes the 11th Australian to reach 100 Tests.
• Australia have lost one Test at Adelaide Oval in the past 13 years – against India in 2003-04
• Last time the teams met in a Test in Adelaide Australia won by 213 runs but much has changed since then. Only three men from each team during that 2004-05 game will be turning out this week: Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin.
• Vettori needs 90 runs to move into the top 10 all-time Test run scorersfor New Zealand.

Quotes

“Generally 95 times out of 100 we want to play a specialist spinner. We felt that Nathan was probably the best skilled and probably the most experienced of the spinners playing around Australia at the moment.”
“When you come to Adelaide it probably brings a bit more of a sense of calm about everything because you know how good the wicket is and the expectations to score runs.”

Jamie Smith and Gary Putland are both in line for first-class debuts after South Australia made several changes to their Sheffield Shield side. The Redbacks, who have no points from their first three games, have named a 12-man squad for the match against Western Australia in Adelaide starting on Monday.Shaun Tait will be rested as a precautionary measure due to tightness in his left hamstring while Younis Khan has temporarily returned to his Pakistan duties for their upcoming one-day series in Abu Dhabi. Younis has had a slow start to the season – his unbeaten 71 against New South Wales has been his only score of note – and he will return to the side for the next game against Queensland later this month.The opener Tom Plant has been axed having averaged 12.50 in three disappointing games. The batting gaps have provided an opportunity for Smith, 20, a top-order batsman who made his state one-day and Twenty20 debuts two summers ago at the age of 18.The attack has also taken on a fresh look with the absence of Tait. Peter George impressed with six wickets on debut this week and the Redbacks will be hoping for a similarly strong start from Putland, 22, a left-arm fast bowler who has been a fringe member of the one-day side over the past few seasons.Sheffield Shield squad Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger, Callum Ferguson, Cameron Borgas, Jamie Smith, Aaron O’Brien, Graham Manou (capt, wk), Mark Cleary, Dan Cullen, Peter George, Gary Putland, Allan Wise.

Close India 650 for 5 (Tendulkar 220*, Laxman 178; Gillespie 3-112) v Australia
Scorecard

It could not have been a better day for India. Sachin Tendulkar made 220 not out, his third Test double-century and his 32nd hundred, and added 353 assured runs with VVS Laxman (178) in a partnership that ground out any chances of an Australian win. India finished the third day on 650 for 5, a total that effectively ensured that they would not lose this match, and would keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Steve Waugh, playing his last Test, looked more and more forlorn as the day went on, out of ideas on how to turn the match around, as two men who have tormented Australia so often in the past put together an exhibition of masterful batting.India seized the momentum early in the morning, as Laxman and Tendulkar smashed Brett Lee for seven fours in three overs to hit him out of the attack. Laxman hit five of these, with wristy flicks and elegant drives that evoked memories of the last time he played at Sydney, when he smashed a Stan McCabesque 167. Having got the day off to a blazing start, though, the batsmen then focussed on careful consolidation, playing the bowling on its merit.Laxman’s innings was all sense and sensuousness, with swathes of studied watchfulness punctuated by passages of dazzling brilliance. He caressed balls that pitched outside off through the leg side with the most delicate flicks of the wrist; he cut and drove on both front and back foot with flowing grace; and yet, there was no risk in his batting. His shotmaking was judicious, while his strokeplay was magisterial.At the other end, another master. Tendulkar did not destroy the bowling today as much as he allowed it to disintegrate. He played a solid compact game, clearly determined to make sure that the errors of Melbourne were not repeated, when India had frittered away a fine start. He was outscored by Laxman in the morning session – he began the day on 73 to Laxman’s 29, and reached his 100 when Laxman was in his 80s – but did not let that bother him, and in fact, walked down the pitch a couple of times when it seemed that Laxman was shifting gears, to caution him. He did put away the bad balls, and played quite a few of his staple straight-drives and back-foot punches, but he batted largely within himself, giving respect to a lot of balls he might, in his younger days, have tried to put away. Instead of going to the bowlers, he made them come at him, strain themselves for extra effort, and in the process, reveal their inadequacies.

There was little the bowlers could do. Lee was off rhythm, not getting his length right in any of his spells, bowling either too short or too full. Jason Gillespie and Nathan Bracken were accurate but never hostile, while Stuart McGill generated a lot of spin off the pitch without ever looking likely to take a wicket. He bowled plenty of balls to Laxman on just the length outside off which had induced edges from him in his two innings at Melbourne, but there were no reflexive prods from Laxman, who got into line, watched the ball till the last possible moment and let it go if it was spinning away, as it usually was.India did not accelerate as the last session began, which indicated that they did not intend to declare towards the end of the day, but to bat on, just as Australia had done against England at Headingley in 1993. As Gideon Haigh recounted in a recent piece in Wisden Asia Cricket, Allan Border, then captain, had famously told Steve Waugh that he wanted to “cause further mental and physical disintegration”. Here, the Australians began to disintegrate after tea – at least MacGill did, dropping Tendulkar on 149 and Laxman on 177.The second new ball finally got Australia the long awaited breakthrough, as Laxman was bowled for 178 through the gate by an incutter from Gillespie (547 for 4). Rahul Dravid had been lbw to a similar incutter the previous day, and Gillespie had a couple of lbw shouts against Tendulkar, who shrugged off these aberrant moments and moved on fluidly towards his double-century. He timed the ball beautifully in the last session, and one shot that stood out, and that he played repeatedly, was the wristy on-drive for four between midwicket and long-on.Sourav Ganguly made an aggressive 16, off 11 balls, before being yorked by Lee (570 for 5), and then Parthiv Patel took over. Patel, astonishingly, dominated an 80-run partnership with Tendulkar, making 45 off 40 balls, including seven crisply struck boundaries. Although many of these were off MacGill and Simon Katich at the tail of the day, it showcased his potential as a batsman.Tendulkar, meanwhile, moved on to his highest Test score, concentrating hard, running harder, all the way till the last ball of the day. It was not just the quantity of his runs that made this a career highlight; it was also the import of the occasion, with India all set up for an away series win against the best side in the world. It was, of course, the farewell Test of another modern great, wearing a baggy green cap. But Steve Waugh has never been a man for sentimentality, and he, of all people, will appreciate what India have accomplished so far.Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.

Jack Clarke has been elected as the new chairman of Cricket Australia following the retirement of Creagh O’Connor, who held the position for three years. Clarke, a solicitor from South Australia, was appointed at Cricket Australia’s annual general meeting in Melbourne.A director of Cricket Australia since 1999, Clarke was made deputy chairman last year and his accession to the top job was a formality. A former player for Glenelg in Adelaide’s club cricket, Clarke has sat on the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) board for 21 years.O’Connor, who like Clarke is on the SACA board, has resigned not only from the chairmanship but from the board itself. In his parting address, O’Connor said the major issue for Cricket Australia and the state organisations in the next few years would be striking the right balance between investing in grassroots cricket and at the elite level.Clarke said O’Connor would be remembered for outstanding service to Australian cricket. “In particular,” Clarke said, “Creagh has won the respect of the global cricket community for his measured diplomacy at a time of complex international issues which have been managed on a culturally diverse world stage.”