All posts by csb10.top

Mumbai v Saurashtra

Mumbai have been by far the dominant team in the competition, winning six out of eight matches. However, their opponents Saurashtra were the only side that came close to beating them in the league stages. Saurashra were also responsible for Mumbai’s exit from last year’s Ranji Trophy by way of a first-innings lead.

Mumbai

Batting
The focus will be on Sachin Tendulkar – who returns for this match – but it is Ajinkya Rahane and Wasim Jaffer who have ensured Mumbai’s domination in his absence. They are the highest run-getters in the tournament, and partner each other well – with four century and two half-century stands, the duo average 149.57 when batting together.However, what their performance overshadows is their weak opening combination, with the six pairs used thus far averaging 28.79 in 14 innings. Sahil Kukreja has been successful, averaging 51.25 in five games, but Vinayak Mane and Vinayak Samant, the wicketkeeper, have struggled to impress. Amol Muzumdar’s form has also been a matter of concern for Mumbai, while Rohit Sharma has done well in the middle order, averaging 62.Bowling
Not content with securing a first-innings lead – on an average, they gain a 189-run advantage – Mumbai’s bowlers have managed to convert strong positions into victories. Medium-pacer Dhawal Kulkarni and offspinner Ramesh Powar have been their main performers, taking 61 wickets between them at an average of 21.08. They have proven more effective in the first innings, taking 35 wickets, including four out of their five five-wicket hauls, and have been ably supported in the second by Ajit Agarkar and Usman Malvi. Ten out of Agarkar’s 13 wickets have come in the second innings, including a five-wicket haul against Himachal Pradesh, while Malvi has taken eight out of his 15 in the second. Legspinner Sairaj Bahutule has been the major bowling worry for Mumbai, with his nine wickets costing 48 apiece.

Saurashtra

Batting
Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Shitanshu Kotak have done most of the scoring for Saurashta. Pujara is the third-highest run-getter in the competition, with 867 runs at 86.70, including three consecutive centuries – one of them a triple – and a match-winning effort against Karnataka in the quarter-final. Pujara put on 420 with Ravindra Jadeja – fifth on the run-scoring charts – in Saurashtra’s innings win against Orissa, and averages 148 in five innings with him. Kotak and Pujara have been more prolific: the two have added 724 in seven innings at 103.42, including three century stands.However, their batting, despite a superb Pujara-inspired run-chase against Karnataka, has experienced a blip. After three consecutive scores of 600, and an average first-innings lead of 315 in those games, Saurashtra have been bowled out for under 300 in five out of their next seven innings. The trio of Pujara, Kotak, and Jadeja had managed only a century and a fifty between them in six innings before each of them played a significant part in helping their team chase down 325 against Karnataka.Bowling
Saurashtra’s bowling has improved during the course of the season. Ravindra Jadeja, the tournament’s best allrounder, has taken 25 of his 39 wickets in Saurashtra’s last four games, and has been supported well by Sandeep Jobanputra, Jayesh Odedra, Kamlesh Makvana and Balkrishna Jadeja. Saurashtra have conceded 21.57 runs per wicket in their last four games, as opposed to 37.17 in the first four.

Tamil Nadu v Uttar Pradesh

Tamil Nadu’s most clinical performance in the league phase came against Uttar Pradesh – they trounced them by an innings. Their superior record and ability to emerge winners from difficult positions gives them the edge, but UP have also managed their way through tough situations.

Tamil Nadu

Batting
Tamil Nadu have gained the first-innings lead -an average of 195 – in five out of seven games, and on the two occasions they fell short – against Baroda and Bengal – they came back strongly in the second innings to emerge victors.Opener Abhinav Mukund has been their highest run-getter this tournament, with 756 runs at 84, including a triple-century in his team’s first game against Maharashtra. Mukund added 462 with M Vijay for the first wicket in that game, but has not found similar support in their next six – the average for the opening wicket has slipped to 36.22. The middle order, however, has stepped up, with S Badrinath, S Vidyut and Dinesh Karthik averaging 61.41 between them. An important aspect of TN’s batting has been their scoring rate. In ten innings, they have scored at an average of 3.6 runs-an-over, allowing the rate to fall under three only once.Bowling
L Balaji has been their spearhead with 31 wickets at 16.64. Twenty-four of those have come in Tamil Nadu’s three wins; he has taken five-wicket hauls in the second innings of those games. His 6 for 24 against Bengal swung the match in Tamil Nadu’s favour , and his five-for against Baroda helped his team win after they were bowled out for 117 in their first innings. Tamil Nadu’s seamers, Balaji, C Ganapathy and P Amarnath, have taken 55.37% of the wickets – 67 out of 121 – with 46 of those coming in matches won by their team.

Uttar Pradesh

BattingTanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif have starred with the bat for UP – they are team’s highest run-scorers – and have batted extremely well together, averaging 143.6 per partnership. Two performances stand out: they added 122 for the fourth wicket against Baroda after UP were in a precarious position at 9 for 3 and laid the foundation for a first-innings lead, and put on 247 for the third in a crucial game against Karnataka while pursuing 567 for a first-innings lead, helping their team go through to the quarter-finals.BowlingUttar Pradesh have the least wins among the semi-finalists. However, their bowlers have provided them the advantage, bowling out sides for gettable scores after fielding first, or being able to restrict the opposition to lower scores when the batsmen have failed to put on a sizeable total.In the four matches UP has fielded first, they have managed to gain a lead, after conceding 329 runs on an average. When batting first, they average 267, and have succeeded in gaining the lead on two out of three occasions.Fast bowlers have been more effective in helping them gain the early advantage, taking 23 of the 40 wickets to fall when fielding first, and 19 of the 30 when defending a first-innings score. Bhuvneshwar Kumar tops the bowling list for UP with 23 wickets at 22.21 – legspinner Piyush Chawla has as many wickets, but at a higher average of 30.95. Bhuvneshwar has been supported well by new-ball partner Praveen Kumar – three of their four five-wicket hauls have come in the first innings.

Chaminda Vaas’s exclusion from Sri Lanka’s one-day squad is the only surprise in the 15-man parties announced by the selectors for their upcoming tour of Bangladesh. Sanath Jayasuriya, rested for the recent Zimbabwe ODIs, returns to the one-day set-up while Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Fernando, part of the Zimbabwe tour party, make the Test squad after missing the team’s last Test series, at home against India, due to injuries.Vaas, however, has been included in the squad for the two-Test series. There is also no limited-overs recall for Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was dropped for the five ODIs in Zimbabwe, but he retains his Test spot.Sri Lanka will play two Tests and a tri-nation tournament, also involving Zimbabwe, in Bangladesh. The tour begins with a three-day warm-up game on December 21, followed by the Tests.Jayasuriya’s return, in place of Mahela Udawatte, will be a handy boost for Sri Lanka, who surprisingly struggled in Zimbabwe. Openers Upul Tharanga and Udawatte both averaged below 20, and Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, opened in the final game instead of Udawatte, who scored 60 in four innings. Jayawardene too did not have a great time in Zimbabwe, with 19 runs in four innings, including two ducks.Nuwan Kulasekara, whose three late strikes denied Zimbabwe a win in the fifth ODI, keeps his ODI spot but is replaced by Fernando in the Test squad. Newcomers Angelo Mathews, an allrounder, and batsman Thilina Kandamby have been retained in the ODI squad. Both teams have five fast bowlers, with Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis the two spinners.Sri Lanka Cricket also announced a new manager for the tour. Continuing with the policy of having different managers for tours, Nishantha Ranatunga, who went to Canada and Zimbabwe, has been replaced by Jayantha Paranathala, a former Sri Lanka cricketer and manager who’s now a policeman.Sri Lanka Test squad: Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chaminda Vaas, Muthiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Dammika Prasad, Chamara Kapugedera, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Thilan Thushara.ODI squad: Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby, Muthiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekera, Farveez Maharoof, Dammika Prasad, Thilan Thushara, Angelo Mathews.

Graeme Hick, the former England and Worcestershire batsman, has joined the Indian Cricket League. He will be a part of the Chandigarh Lions and will play their remaining matches this season.Hick had ended his 25-year county career two months ago at the end of the 2008 season. He is the second highest run-scorer in all cricket (first-class and limited-overs combined), with more than 64,000 runs, and his tally of 136 hundreds is eighth on the all-time list.”I am greatly honoured to be associated with the ICL and hope to do my best for them,” Hick said. He played 37 Twenty20 matches in his county career, and scored two hundreds and ten half-centuries.Chandigarh lost two of their key players earlier this week when their regular captain Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia were suspended on disciplinary grounds. Chandigarh are currently in fifth place with three matches to go in the round-robin phase.

England’s players have been told that the Stanford 20/20 for 20 match will go ahead, despite yesterday’s ruling against the West Indies Cricket Board.While there have been doubts over the future of the US$20 million game, Digicel, the board’s sponsor, and the Stanford organisers are believed to be in talks to resolve the stand-off over commercial rights for the match.The BBC website reported that Stanford was certain that the game would happen but sources close to Digicel told Cricinfo that there were several issues to be overcome and that while it was in the interests of both parties to find a solution, nothing could be taken for granted.The England players, meanwhile, were given reassurance by the Professional Cricketers’ Association that the match was going ahead.”It’s a matter between the West Indies Cricket Board and Digicel and I’m sure that everybody is seeking to find a sensible solution to enable this very dramatic and extremely exciting game of cricket to go ahead,” Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said.

Mohammad Ashraful, the Bangladesh captain, has denied being the “mastermind” behind 13 players joining the ICL. Ashraful claimed he received an offer of $2.1 million – a claim ICL officials have denied – but refused it once the Bangladesh board told him that accepting the offer would mean he could not play for his country.Habibul Bashar, the former Bangladesh captain, and recent internationals Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Shahriar Nafees, Farhad Reza, Dhiman Ghosh and Mosharraf Hossain were among those who joined the ICL’s Dhaka Warriors. Some of them have reportedly said they were introduced to the recruiting agent by Ashraful.”That is totally wrong. I have never met that agent and only speak to him over phone,” Ashraful told Tigercricket.com. “He is well known to many Bangladesh players and he has arranged sponsors for a number of local players and has helped them in getting club-cricket contracts in England. I believe he contacted them directly.”I have heard also that I am being projected as the mastermind. People who are saying that should remember that the biggest offer came to me and 150 million Taka ($2.1 million), over a three-year period, is not a matter of joke.”Ashraful said he immediately informed the Bangladesh board about the offer made to him and only learnt of the mass exodus while he was on holiday in England. He also agreed with Mashrafe Mortaza that the ICL issue did not affect their performance in Australia.”The coach [Jamie Siddons] told me that there were mutterings that some players could be signing for the ICL,” Ashraful said. “When we asked the players they all denied interest straightaway. I didn’t see the matter having an impact on the tour. Among the players who later joined the ICL, Dhiman’s wicketkeeping was brilliant throughout the ODI series, Farhad Reza bowled beautifully when he got the chance, and Alok (Kapali) looked okay in the lead-up matches.”The Bangladesh board banned the ICL players from international and domestic cricket for a period of ten years but Ashraful believed the board “would do everything to facilitate them” if they wanted to return.

Kenya have named a 16-man squad for their crucial Intercontinental Cup clash against Ireland starting on October 11.Captained by Steve Tikolo, the squad includes a call-up for Seren Waters, the 18-year-old son of David – one of Kenya cricket’s stalwarts and their former chief selector. Waters, a highly talent right-hander educated at Cranleigh School in England, is the youngest member of a team with a good deal of experience.He has represented various Surrey age groups and last summer played his club cricket for Weybridge in Surrey, a side captain by another Kenyan international, Abeed Janmohamed. In July, Waters scored 48 for an XI captained by Janmohamed against the touring Kenyan team.Despite some dismal performances of late and much criticism, the selectors have resisted the temptation to make widespread changes. They have continued to keep faith in some players who might not unfairly be thought to have had more than their fair share of opportunities. Tony Suji, with only two scores over fifty in 26 first-class matches and a career average of 15.10 keeps his place.The winners will face Namibia, who Ireland defeated last week, in the final to be played in South Africa.

Scorecard

India failed to carry their form from the win over MCC to the first ODI against England, falling to an eight-wicket defeat in Bath. Jenny Gunn and Isa Guha took three wickets each as India were bowled out for 124, a total that England overhauled in 36 overs to clinch their ninth successive win.Guha removed the top order and Gunn took care of the lower order as seven Indian batsmen fell for less than 10 – three for ducks. England dominated from the start; Guha took two in two balls, trapping Jaya Sharma and Asha Rawat lbw, to leave India stuttering at 4 for 2.It became 6 for 3 when Katherine Brunt had Sulakshana Naik caught for five, before Amita Sharma and Mithali Raj pumped some life into the innings with a 48-run partnership. After Sharma was caught off Guha, Hemlata Kala provided some stoical support to Raj, batting 49 minutes for her 10. Kala’s dismissal triggered a further collapse – five wickets falling for six runs.England lost opener Sarah Taylor early but Caroline Atkins, who averaged 62 in the three ODIs against South Africa, scored 45 off 96 balls and added 70 with Claire Taylor, before being run out with England needing 18 more to win.Taylor and Charlotte Edwards quickly wrapped up the chase to give England a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The teams will now head to Taunton for the second ODI on Monday.

Allen Stanford, the Antigua-based billionaire, has planned a wealth management programme to assist his Superstars team if they win the US$20 million winner-takes-all match against England on November 1. Stanford said he didn’t want to see young players get $1 million and then wind up with nothing in a year from now.”We’re going to work very carefully with them to see that their money is managed properly, that they are not taken advantage of, that they don’t get sports agents that come in and have their own self-interests first and the players’ second,” Stanford told the Barbados-based . “These young kids must have a future beyond cricket in terms of taking that money and living the rest of their lives.”Stanford is investing US$100 million in a series of Twenty20 matches over the next five years – five US$20 million games between England and a Stanford All-Stars XI, drawn from the Caribbean, at his purpose-built ground in Antigua – which could make England and West Indies players among the highest in the game. A 32-member Superstars squad, which includes Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, as well as notable performers from the Stanford Twenty20 domestic tournament, was announced last week.Stanford said it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for young players to make a lot of money and he didn’t want them to lose the opportunity.”A lot of people will be coming out of the woodwork who have all kinds of different ideas about how they must spend that money they have just fallen into.”The parasites that hang onto these guys confuse the intellectual property and the other rights that these athletes have. These young kids don’t have the savvy, experience and maturity to understand what they are doing when they sign on the dotted line. They are taken advantage of. That’s got to stop.”

The dates for the Canada Cup Four Nation Twenty20 tournament in Toronto have been announced, with the competition going ahead after a company, Sports International Marketing, stepped in when the original organisers backed out.The tournament, which was organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to fill up its calendar after the postponement of their home series against Australia, had initially faced problems with the backing out of the primary sponsors, but the board has managed to bring in a Pakistan-based business house to finance the event.The news came from the Bangladesh board, however, as a Cricket Canada spokesperson told Cricinfo that they had not yet received a signed copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) from the sponsors. “We have finalised an MOU with the event sponsors, and the CC is in a position to be able to sign that document,” said the spokesperson. “As of midday July 18 (Toronto time) the CC has not yet received a signed copy of the MOU from the event sponsors. We do understand, however, that the sponsors are in active discussions with the three other participating countries.”The competition will take place over four days from 14 August. Each team will play each other once, meaning three matches, ahead of a final and a third-place play-off, both matches on 17 August. Bangladesh and West Indies will kick off the tournament by facing each other on the morning of 14 August, while the hosts Canada will face Pakistan that afternoon.Packed stadiums are expected for the event, with approximately 12,000 spectators expected for each game.Canada will have already played several Twenty20 matches that month, as they will have travelled to Belfast for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. The tournament, involving the six leading Associate teams – Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, the Netherlands and Scotland – takes place from August 2 to 5.

Najmuddin Khan, the Pakistan sports minister, will be meeting Farooq H Naik, the law minister, in a bid to draft a legislation aimed at bringing all the national sports bodies, including the Pakistan Cricket Board, under the supervision of the federal sports ministry.It was decided at a meeting of the Senate’s Committee on Sports that all sports federations should be answerable to the ministry and that could only be done by getting a legislation passed at the National Assembly.”The sports minister has assured us that he will be meeting the law minister soon in a bid to discuss the proposal of bringing all sports federations under the control of the ministry,” Enver Baig, a member of the committee, told the .The committee is perturbed by the declining standard of sports in Pakistan and is mainly focusing on the three most popular games in the country – cricket, hockey and squash.The committee also wants the PCB to come under the control of the sports ministry as its members believe that such a move will bring more accountability in the board.”A proper check and balance can be kept over PCB and sports federations if they become directly answerable to the sports ministry,” Baig said. “We have to take such concrete steps otherwise the future of Pakistan sports will be dark,” he added.Baig pointed out that sports bodies, with the exception of the PCB, lack proper funds. “We are pushing for more funds for sports.” He said the committee was critical of the PCB, saying that in spite of having massive funds it has failed to lift Pakistan cricket.”The PCB has spent Rs 100 crore [US$14 million approx] to uplift Pakistan cricket in recent times and still our team is flopping miserably and is now almost out of the Asia Cup,” Baig said, referring to Pakistan’s poor performance in the ongoing Asia Cup. At the meeting, the sports minister showed great concern over the decline of Pakistan cricket.A sub-committee that includes Baig and senator Tariq Azeem was formed during the meeting and was given the task to come out with suggestions for the improvement of Pakistan sports. “We will be giving our recommendations for the promotion of sports in Pakistan,” said Baig. “We will apprise the government and the prime minister about the state of our sports.””That land which should be used by our sports persons is being utilised as a parking space for a residential project. It’s a shame,” said Baig. The minister was also asked to take another piece of prime land at Karachi’s MA Jinnah Road that was handed over to the local government.”The sports minister has told us that he is new and needs some time. The committee was generous enough to give him two months to complete the tasks and report back to the committee,” said Baig.