All posts by csb10.top

A day after announcing his retirement from international cricket, Sourav Ganguly said the decision came at the right moment. “I just felt it was time for me to go,” Ganguly said on the eve of the first Test against Australia in Bangalore.Ganguly said he had not rushed into the decision and had arrived at it after he was ignored for the Irani Cup. “Obviously I can’t deny the fact that I was disappointed after the Irani Cup selection. To be honest, I felt I’d two outstanding years except the Sri Lanka series,” Ganguly said. For the record, Ganguly has scored 1667 in 21 matches at 45.05 in the last two years. Still he undercut the sense of sadness with wit.Asked as to why he was the most scrutinised among the Fab Five, Ganguly smiled and replied, “Probably people didn’t like my face.”On Tuesday, after briefing the media, Ganguly made the surprise announcement to call it a day. He said he didn’t want the attention focused on him since the series was the priority. “I didn’t want to make much of a fuss and that’s why I announced it at the end of the press meet because the series is more important,” Ganguly said.Asked if there was a sense of relief now, Ganguly said, “The pressure of doing well will always be there and that probably brings the best out of everyone. Whether it’s a relief or not, all I can say is I’ve not been sad.”Ganguly also rubbished all the rumours about him intending to stick around for a couple more years. “I’ve not said anywhere that I wanted to play for two years. It was picked from an interview a year ago after I played against Pakistan,” Ganguly said.Well aware of the fact that a lot speculation will surface about his decision, Ganguly said he wasn’t bothered about it. “I know what is the right thing and you will find out in due course,” he said.Picking his debut, at Lord’s in 1996, as the best moment of his career, Ganguly said if there were any unfulfilled expectations, it was the India’s loss in the 2003 World Cup final.

Chris Rogers will take his lead from Simon Katich this summer as he aims to force his way back into contention for the Test team less than a year after making his debut. Rogers has not given up hope of adding to his one Test cap despite losing his Cricket Australia contract for 2008-09.During the off-season Rogers, 31, switched from Western Australia to Victoria after he became increasingly frustrated by what he felt was a lack of support from the Warriors, who regularly overlooked him for their one-day side. He has spent the winter with Derbyshire and has been one of the leading scorers in the County Championship, and he hopes it will be the spark he needs to restart his international career.”Right now, you look at [Phil] Jaques, [Matthew] Hayden and Katich and there doesn’t seem to be much room,” Rogers told the Sydney Morning Herald. “But then you look at someone like Katich or David Hussey, and you see that with hard work and consistency, you can make it back. Katto is a real inspiration. He’s set a precedent I now need to follow.”An injury to Hayden opened the door for Rogers to play the Perth Test against India last season. He scored 4 and 15 but was unhappy with where his cricket was heading at the time, and a week later he found himself playing grade cricket because Western Australia did not want him in their limited-overs side.”I was very upset. I had just gone from playing in front of thousands of people in a big Test to Joondalup in a week,” he said. “I found it emotionally hard to deal with. I turned up right as the first ball was being bowled, which I’m not very proud of.”I ended up coming into bat at No. 7, was in just before lunch, and ended up getting 150-odd. I remember that morning I had been speaking to my dad and saying, ‘This isn’t what I want. I don’t know if I can deal with this’.”He finished the domestic season with a solid but not outstanding collection of runs, whereas Katich’s record-breaking summer earned him the backup batting spot for the West Indies tour. Further Hayden injuries meant Katich opened in the Caribbean and he scored two centuries to make Rogers’ task even more difficult.Katich was named in the squad for the upcoming tour of India and with Shane Watson, David Hussey and Brad Hodge all remaining on the fringes of the national side, Rogers will face a tough road back. However, he hopes the move to Victoria will reinvigorate him and help him return to the form that saw him top the Pura Cup run tally in 2006-07.”Things are clearer now,” Rogers said. “I need to score runs and be consistent. I’m more comfortable with myself again.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Needing to chase 219 to make it to Sunday’s final, India Green muffed their chances and succumbed to a 19-run defeat. A poor start put pressure on the middle order, which in turn failed to come up with the goods, and by the time Cheteshwar Pujara fell for 65, the match was out of Green’s control. India Blue themselves had failed to bat out 45 overs – overnight and morning rain forced the reduction in overs – but a tidy bowling display backed up Robin Uthappa’s 76 for a win that will boost their confidence ahead of Sunday’s final against India Red.On a day that threw up pretty ordinary cricket, Green had poor fielding to blame. Pankaj Singh should have an early wicket but Mohammad Kaif dropped Virat Kohli in the first over at second slip. While RP Singh bowled Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh, both batsmen perishing to needless shots, Pankaj looked on as RP spilled a straightforward catch running back from mid-off. Uthappa was on 29 then. In the next over an aerial cover drive, hit very hard, screamed past a clueless Suresh Raina at short cover. Another thick edge flew wide of the slips before Pankaj finally got his name into the wicket’s column when an lbw appeal against Arjun Yadav was upheld.Uthappa, unusually watchful to begin with, meted out punishment to Pragyan Ojha – he hit three fours and two sixes off the left-arm spinner – but also fell to him in the 31st over. Shaping to sweep Ojha, he was given lbw for 76. Uthappa’s front-foot driving remained his strongest means of scoring, but he did powerfully swing three sixes down the ground and to the leg side.Yogesh Takawale played well for a 50-ball 34 before he tried to carve Yusuf Pathan over the infield and the ball spiralled up and settled into wicketkeeper Naman Ojha’s gloves. Against India Red, Blue were boosted by Irfan Pathan’s 43, and today he came up with a 34-ball 28, which included three fours before he was cleaned up by his half-brother Yusuf. He removed R Ashwin in the same over, and the first two deliveries of the 45th over resulted in wickets as Blue were bowled out for 218.When Green’s chase began, Kohli held an exceptional one-handed catch at gully to send Shikhar Dhawan back in the third over. Irfan was lucky to pick up a second wicket, however. Naman drove at a wide one and there was no deflection, just bat hitting ground, but umpire Shavir Tarapore raised his finger. Raina hit a few pleasing shots but failed to curb his enthusiasm in Ashok Dinda’s first over. A short ball came on quicker than Raina expected and his attempted pull lobbed up to mid-off.Kaif’s painful innings of 7 from 32 deliveries came to an end when Chetanya Nanda won an lbw appeal in the 19th over. Seven overs later Nanda drew a top edge from Rajat Bhatia and the chase was one step closer to being derailed. Pujara batted with composure, if not fluency, and held up one end. The run-rate had already inched up while Kaif was struggling at the crease, and Yusuf ‘s dismissal after a brisk 32 was the turning point. When he departed, chipping a return catch to Ashwin a ball after he hit him for six, Green needed 65 from 54 balls. Ashwin added RP in the 40th over. In his next over, he lured Pujara (65) out of his crease and had him loft the ball to Nanda at deep midwicket. The tail offered little resistance and Blue wrapped up victory by 19 runs.

Andrew Flintoff has said his time as England captain turned into “the lowest point” of his career and vowed to offer as much support to Kevin Pietersen as possible when he encounters difficult times.Flintoff led England on-and-off for just under a year, beginning with the 2006 tour of India when Michael Vaughan suffered a recurrence of his knee problem, and cumulated in the Ashes tour the following winter.England were whitewashed in the Test series, and although they surprisingly won the CB Series – with Flintoff again replacing Vaughan during the tournament – the 5-0 Ashes drubbing remains at the forefront of Flintoff’s mind. He said when the going got tough in Australia, he felt abandoned by his team-mates and didn’t want Pietersen to go through a similar experience.”In hindsight, the captaincy was one job too many for me,” Flintoff told the . “And when we were getting hammered out there, it was a lonely one as well.”The blame was flying in all directions and a lot was assigned to me. What happened then was that self-preservation kicked in among some of the players. It was human nature, they started looking after themselves and retreated into their own groups.”I felt isolated. It was the lowest point of my career and, having been through it, I would never let a captain I played for go through that experience.”Pietersen sailed through his early days as England captain, winning his first Test in charge and then securing a 4-0 one-day series victory over South Africa, but the recent Stanford Super Series in Antigua offered him his first look at the job when things not go to plan.”Kevin has started brilliantly and the team have responded,” Flintoff added. “But he has to be ready if things start to go wrong. Being captain of England is a great job, especially when you are winning.”But when you are struggling, it is tough and you can’t just do it from 9 am to 7 pm. It is with you all the time and it plays on you. I hope it never comes to it, but if things start to go wrong I’m going to make sure KP doesn’t stand alone.”

New South Wales have axed their wicketkeeper Daniel Smith as part of a raft of changes to their FR Cup squad for Saturday’s match against Tasmania in Sydney. Peter Nevill will make his state debut behind the stumps and the 12-man squad also features Nathan Bracken, who has been missing due to a hamstring injury.The middle-order batsman Ben Rohrer is also in line for his one-day debut 18 months after playing his only two first-class matches for the state. The other inclusion is Ed Cowan, who was a late call-up into the Sheffield Shield squad this week following the unexpected death of the father of the batsman Peter Forrest.Forrest was not considered for the one-day game at Hurstville Oval, while Usman Khawaja, Steve O’Keefe and Smith were dropped. The most notable exclusion was that of Smith, who was Brad Haddin’s backup gloveman for several seasons but has struggled to have an impact with the bat since Haddin’s promotion to Test duties.The call-up has vindicated the move north for Nevill, 23, who switched from Victoria to New South Wales during the off-season. Nevill was Victoria’s second wicketkeeper two seasons ago but he slipped in the pecking order when Matthew Wade shifted from Tasmania and began sharing the duties with Adam Crosthwaite.The match will be the first New South Wales fixture ever held at Hurstville Oval, the home ground of the St George Cricket Club. Don Bradman and Bill O’Reilly both played at the venue during their time with the club, while the current crop of St George cricketers includes the allrounder Moises Henriques.New South Wales squad Phillip Hughes, Ed Cowan, David Warner, Ben Rohrer, Steven Smith, Dominic Thornely (capt), Moises Henriques, Peter Nevill (wk), Nathan Hauritz, Aaron Bird, Nathan Bracken, Doug Bollinger.

Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, admitted he did not expect a 465-run mauling at the hands of Sri Lanka following the application they had shown in the fourth innings in Mirpur, but said they were a bit overawed by the prospect of facing Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis in tandem.”After the 400 [in the fourth innings] in Dhaka where everyone including me saw huge improvement in the young guys this was not what was expected,” Siddons said. “But I still see that six or seven of our first eight batsmen haven’t played ten Test matches yet and against two of the world’s best bowlers, probably the best bowlers in the world at the moment, it is a tough ask.”They were also a bit overawed I think. Mendis took three wickets in no time and we were again four for nothing,” he said. “I am disappointed that our top four can’t consistently make runs and it is always Ash [Mohammad Ashraful], Shakib [Al Hasan] and Mushie [Mushfiqur Rahim], the same three, trying to save our skin. I’m disappointed that we didn’t show that we are improving although without doubt we are.”Siddons said the pitch was not to blame, but felt the lack of experienced showed. “The wicket was okay. Some of the players I think were a little inexperienced to handle the pressure that Mendis, Murali and [Chaminda] Vaas put on them. I mean those names bowling at you is pretty tough for a team of players who haven’t played ten Test matches.”I guess our more senior players like Ash, who looked at ease making 45 in the first innings, Shakib, who has played a lot of one-dayers, and Mushfiqur, who has played a fair bit of cricket, showed that experience can help when you have the talent.”They are getting there and I would love to do this all over again in two years’ time with the same guys and I can assure you that we’ll be a much better team.”Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, was “very happy” with the series win. “We knew it was going to be tough considering the conditions we were given,” he said. “We knew we had to adjust. We were in trouble at times but the guys showed a lot of fight and character.”[Tillakaratne] Dilshan in the first innings showed that when we were 75 for 4 and that is something we encourage the boys to do, to be the best they can. I am very proud of the players. We are a good unit and we have very good standards. We just need to continue working hard and improving. At the moment we are fourth in the rankings and we should try and push ourselves further up.”

Scorecard

Wasim Jaffer scored his third century of the competition, and added 113 for the fourth wicket with Rohit Sharma to put Mumbai in a dominant position against Himachal Pradesh on the second day in Ahmedabad. Vishal Bhatia, the left-arm spinner, took three wickets, but was unable to prevent the Mumbai batsmen from scoring over four an over, and building significant partnerships.The Mumbai openers, Jaffer and Vinayak Samant, put on a half-century stand before Jitender Mehta, the medium-pacer, had Samant caught for 20. Ajinkya Rahane, the tournament’s top-scorer, started from where he left off against Punjab, scoring a run-a-ball 35. Rahane and Amol Muzumdar fell within 27 runs of each other, but Jaffer, joined by Rohit, crushed any hopes HP entertained about running through the Mumbai batting line-up. Jaffer’s innings was laced with 14 boundaries, and his stand with Rohit, who hit eight fours and three sixes, took Mumbai past HP’s totalJaffer fell for 108, caught by Ashok Thakur off Bhatia, but Rohit continued to build the lead, and was ably supported by Abhishek Nayar, with whom he added 80. Both, however, departed in quick succession, but Ajit Agarkar and Sairaj Bahutule, who have proved capable batsmen, put on an unbeaten 56 for the seventh wicket amid some sloppy bowling by HP, who conceded 37 extras.Though he got to three figures, Jaffer was slightly disappointed by his dismisssal. “It was a bad shot. I would have scored much more than what I have got today. The wicket has become batsmen friendly,” he told .
ScorecardGujarat squandered their first-day advantage, being bowled out for 117 after restricting Uttar Pradesh to 305. Praveen Kumar took five wickets, and was well supported by fellow medium-pacers Imtiyaz Ahmed and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who shared the remaining wickets between them, to help UP gain a massive 188-run lead. Their batsmen Tanmay Srivastava and Suresh Raina, who were involved in an unbeaten 61-run second-wicket partnership, then stretched that lead to 264 to leave Gujarat staring at a daunting fourth-innings target.Gujarat started the day well, removing Amir Khan early, but shepherded by Parvinder Singh, the UP tail showed some spunk to take their score past 300. Ashraf Makda, the left-arm medium pacer, was Gujarat’s most effective performer, taking 3 for 40.In reply, the Gujarat batsmen capitulated to pace, losing their openers to Praveen for 10. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the next two wickets, including captain Parthiv Patel for 2, before Praveen trapped Bhavik Thaker for a first-ball duck. Imtiyaz removed Mohnish Parmar two runs later to leave Gujarat tottering at 48 for 7, but Timil Patel, who top-scored with an unbeaten 43, and Makda added 34 for the eighth wicket to help take their team towards three figures.
ScorecardKarnataka, buoyed by probing spells of swing bowling, wrested control of their quarter-final from Saurashtra on the second day in Mumbai. Despite possessing a line-up that has scored heavily in the league phase, Saurashtra stuttered in reply to Karnataka’s 305, and ended the day 122 runs adrift with one wicket left. Read the full report here
ScorecardOn an enthralling day, Bengal seized the advantage as Tamil Nadu slipped to 188 for 5, still trailing by 157 runs with the last recognised pair of Suresh Kumar and R Ashwin at the crease. One early wicket tomorrow can open up the semi-final spot for Bengal, and Tamil Nadu will hope against hope that Suresh and Ashwin can stretch their stand of 41 to something really substantial. The pitch still holds no demons but the pressure-cooker situation can prove too much to handle for the batsmen. Read the full report here.

Scotland have named their 15-man squad for April’s ICC World Cup Qualifiers in South Africa.There are few surprises in the side. South African-born Jan Stander is likely to make his debut after completing his four-year residency qualification, while allrounder Moneeb Iqbal returns to the squad six years after his only previous appearance.”We are expecting the toughest of tests in the qualifiers and are under no illusions as to the challenge ahead of us,” Peter Steindl, the head coach, said. “The players have all worked exceptionally hard over the winter and it left the selectors with a difficult task in finalising their choices. Our squad has a good balance between youth and experience and has been selected with the conditions we know we will face in South Africa in mind.”Scotland squad: John Blain (Yorkshire), Kyle Coetzer (Durham), Gordon Goudie (West of Scotland), Gavin Hamilton (East Brierly), Majid Haq (Clydesdale), Moneeb Iqbal (West of Scotland), Neil McCallum (Grange), Calum MacLeod (Warwickshire), Dewald Nel (Greenock), Navdeep Poonia (Warwickshire), Qasim Sheikh (Clydesdale), Colin Smith (Aberdeenshire), Jan Stander (Stoneywood Dyce), Ryan Watson (Forfarshire), Craig Wright (Greenock).Reserves: Gordon Drummond (Carlton), Ross Lyons (Clydesdale), Simon Smith (Grange), Fraser Watts (Carlton).

The Hong Kong Cricket Association has dropped plans to hire a chief executive and downgraded the post to senior sports administrator after board members baulked at the cost.”We are now looking for a senior sports administrator to head up cricket in Hong Kong,” said HKCA chairman Darren Tucker after a board meeting. The decision was a personal blow for Tucker who had been attempting to borrow US$125,000 to fund the move.Some board members found this excessive, particularly during the current global financial crisis, the report said. Tucker said the board decided at an “exciting” monthly meeting on Thursday to hire a sports administrator from within Hong Kong instead.The position will not be readvertised and the new administrator’s salary will be negotiated when applicants are interviewed next week, he added.The deadline for applications closed on Friday, but Tucker refused to confirm whether any had been received.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has decided to allow the current South African Test squad to turn out for their domestic teams between the second and third Tests against Australia. Apart from Graeme Smith and Lonwabo Tsotsobe (injured) and Dale Steyn (rested), the entire 12-man squad will be released for the next round of SuperSport Series matches from next Thursday.Jacques Kallis, who copped a nasty blow on the chin from Mitchell Johnson on day two of the ongoing Test in Durban, will play as a batsman only.The next round of matches includes the Titans playing the Warriors at SuperSport Park, the Highveld Lions up against the Eagles at the Wanderers, and the Dolphins at home to the Cobras.”The suggestion was made to us by national coach Mickey Arthur and national captain Graeme Smith and we, as the selectors, thought it was an excellent idea,” said the selection convener Mike Procter.CSA will announce the squad for the third and final Test against Australia as well as the squad for the two Twenty20 internationals at the end of the Durban affair.