A Different Stroke

Pietersen confident of England one-day glory

2010-07-15T03:38:00.000-07:00

England has a good enough one-day side to win the World Cup in 2011, according to experienced batsman Kevin Pietersen.

The 30-year-old has seen England improve dramatically in the shorter form of the game in the last 12 months.

They were thumped 6-1 at home by Australia last summer, but since then they have made it to the Champions Trophy semi-finals, won the ICC World Twenty20 tournament and beaten both Australia and Bangladesh this summer.

England will head to the ICC World Cup in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka full of confidence, especially as they have exciting and powerful batsman such as Eoin Morgan and Craig Kieswetter who can both make match winning knocks.

Pietersen has admitted England could be at a disadvantage as they must beat "subcontinent teams on the subcontinent", which is going to be a massive challenge but the players are positive and that has led to the recent impressive results.

The international cricket odds suggest the side could struggle in unfamiliar conditions, and Pietersen is aware of this.

He said: "That's going to be our biggest worry, along with playing spin there, but with the mindset the guys have from winning a trophy away from England, we can take that across to India and I do think that we have a very good chance of winning it."

England have been drawn in Group B for the World Cup 2011 which means they face India, South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands.

However, before the competition gets underway there is the small matter of a tour of Australia. The Ashes cricket odds make England underdogs, but they will be looking to improve in the longer form of the game ahead of the clash.

England 'still not Ashes favourites'

2010-07-01T03:12:00.000-07:00

England's recent dominance over Australia in the short forms of cricket does not make them favourites to successfully defend the Ashes this winter, according to one legend.

England beat Australia in the final of the World Twenty20 tournament and now they lead their old enemy 3-1 in their five-game one-day series. But Andrew Flintoff, who was part of two Ashes-winning sides, doesn't think the side should get carried away.

England are on the hunt for a comprehensive win over Ricky Ponting's side and this has led to real belief they could hold an advantage mentally over Australia by the time the Ashes series gets underway later in the year.

Flintoff told Press Association that England fans should keep their feet on the ground despite recent success as Australia's one day and Test sides are "very different". Indeed, the Ashes cricket odds still make Australia favourites.

Both sides face Test series' against Pakistan before they clash this winter, and the 32-year-old reckons the performances in these games will be more of an indicator for who goes into the series as favourites.

"With the two different forms of the game, we can take a bit of confidence from it, but I don't think it plays a major part," Flintoff said.

"The one thing over the next few months will be to see how Australia and England play against Pakistan - the two series are both in England, so let's see how the Test sides have progressed."

One England man brimming with confidence currently due to his success against Australia is spinner Graeme Swann.

He took four wickets in England's latest win at Old Trafford and he has claimed that Andrew Strauss's men could now be regarded as the "golden generation" of English cricket.

Meanwhile, Brazil and Spain continue to contest favouritism in the World Cup 2010 betting ahead of the first quarter final clashes.

The two sides are still on course to meet in the final after winning their groups.

What Sport Will Get More Attention in England for Next Few Weeks? Cricket or Football?

2010-06-24T23:54:00.001-07:00

England soccer team qualified for the World Cup 2010 Knockout Stages, which will draw a significant attention towards the game of football among English sports fan. This might well disrupt the interest for ongoing cricket series between Australia and England.

England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, all cricket playing nations featured in this years soccer world cup. However only England got qualified for the knockout stages while host South Africa along with New Zealand and Australia failed to make it further beyond the first round itself.

Finn 'will be a Test star'

2010-06-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

Steve Finn is a quality bowler who possesses all the attributes to trouble Australia during the winter Ashes series, according to one of his England colleagues.

Stuart Broad was recently given time off from playing to go on a period of "intensive strengthening", and now Finn, a newcomer to the Test arena, is also going to be sent on a similar period of work in the gym.

The duo bowled together in Test matches against Bangladesh earlier this year and could also take to the field when England play a series against Pakistan at the end of July.

England also play a series of Twenty20 and One-Day games against the same opposition throughout the summer and early autumn before they fly out to Australia in November to prepare for an Ashes winter. The Ashes cricket betting suggests England will struggle on tour, so the player will need to be fully fit.

Both Broad's and Finn's period of strengthening were designed to help ensure they will be in top shape to face Australia, and the former said you need to be in "really good physical shape" for Test cricket so it is a "good move" to send Finn to the camp.

"He is a talented bowler with all the attributes to be a great success in international cricket," Broad said.

"It is a great opportunity for him to go away and do that and then come back strongly against Pakistan in the Test match series."

While Finn has come in and taken Test cricket by storm, one man he could potentially face in the Ashes is looking to rekindle his form to ensure he does not miss out.

Peter Siddle is recovering from back stress fractures and is due to play in the Indian Champions Twenty20 League to try and impress the selectors and get into the Australia team.

Meanwhile, in other sports news, the World Cup betting odds no longer make Spain favourites for the tournament.

They were replaced by Brazil after the European Champion's lost to Switzerland in their opening game.

Official theme song of Football World Cup 2010

2010-06-05T05:11:00.000-07:00

The officla theme song of FIFA Fottball World Cup 2010 is now released. I'm sure most of the cricket fans will welcome the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa as an event to celebrate. Here are the lyrics, MP3 Download link for the official theme song of FIFA World Cup 2010.

The official theme song of FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa is sung by K’naan. The song is titled “Wavin Flag”. There is an English version as well as the Spanish version of the song. A link to download the MP3 of official theme song of FIFA World Cup 2010 will follow the lyrics of the official theme song.

The Lyrics

When i get older, they'll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.

[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it's my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say

[Chorus]

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that's what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn't hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we'll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It's not far away, but for now we say,

[Chorus] 2x

(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)

[Chorus] 2x

When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag

Below is the link to Download the MP3 of Official FIFA World Cup 2010 Theme Song.

Click Here to Download MP3 of K’naan’s Waving Flag

If you are looking for the ring tone of Wavin' Flag, you can download it here.

Bresnan fears for Ashes

2010-06-03T04:52:00.000-07:00

There is some concern that bowler Tim Bresnan could miss England's battles to retain the Ashes in Australia this winter.

It has been confirmed the Yorkshire star will not play in the second and final Test against Bangladesh at Old Trafford – and Ryan Sidebottom has replaced him in the squad for that match.

Bresnan suffered a stress fracture in his foot during the first match of the series at Lord's, and his performance in the match was also criticised by England coach Andy Flower.

After the clash the coach claimed that Bresnan had picked up some bad habits playing the shorter forms of the game, and some of them "were not great" for Test match cricket, something which showed against Bangladesh.

However, Flower also had some words of encouragement for the Yorkshireman.

The coach said: "It is a real pity he has picked up this injury as I was looking forward to seeing him in Manchester and how quickly he could adapt back into being a Test bowler."

Meanwhile, England cricket legend Ian Botham has predicted that Steve Finn will be a key figure for Flower's side in Australia this winter. The Ashes cricket odds suggest England will struggle to retain the urn, but Botham thinks the Middlesex man can do a job.

He told the Mirror that he believes Finn has emerged as a Test match cricketer at "just the right time" but it could be interesting to see if Flower will pick both Finn and Stuart Broad in the Ashes matches.

Meanwhile, England remain third favourites in the World Cup 2010 betting, ahead of the big kick off.

The squad have now arrived in South Africa and are preparing to face USA in just over a week's time.

Flower to rest key England players

2010-05-20T03:21:00.000-07:00

England international cricket coach Andy Flower may rest some of his key players as they face a hectic schedule over the rest of 2010.

The team are still celebrating after their impressive victory in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, but they are due to play a Test series against Bangladesh in the coming weeks.

England are also scheduled to play Pakistan in a series of ODIs, Tests and Twenty20 matches before their Ashes winter.

Flower has seen England Test captain Andrew Strauss take a break and sit out the Twenty20 matches, but he will return for the Bangladesh Tests, while the likes of Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood and Graeme Swann have all played pretty much non-stop over the last 12 months.

England's cricket odds suggest they should make short work of Bangladesh, and it could be that some fresh faces are brought in for those games.

The coach claims it could be hard to fit "strength and conditioning" training into an already busy schedule, so he may consider rotating his squad and giving some players a bit of a rest.

"We have a very busy 12 months ahead of us and we are going to have to rest players at various times," said Flower.

"In certain situations it is possible that we will have to rest some players either for emotional reasons such as stress and sometimes it will be for strength and conditioning reasons."

Flower has also moved to stop England players getting too carried away about their Twenty20 triumph by warning that the national team is about all forms of cricket and there is still "huge scope for improvement" in some areas of their game.

Meanwhile, the England football team's World Cup 2010 betting odds makes them third favourites for this year's tournament.

They will be looking to emulate their cricket counterpart's trophy winning efforts when they travel to South Africa next month.

South Africa appoint former Test stars

2010-05-07T03:41:00.000-07:00

South Africa have announced that former Test player Andrew Hudson is to take the role of convenor of selectors.

The 45-year-old will replace Gerald Majola who had been doing the job on a temporary basis, combining it as his role of chief executive with Cricket South Africa.

Hudson played 35 Tests for South Africa over a six-year period ending in 1998 and he will be joined on the selection panel by another former international star in Shafiek Abrahams, who has been added as a new member.

South Africa are currently bidding for glory in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, and the cricket betting odds suggest they are in with a good chance of winning the tournament.

Hudson is likely to face the first task of his new reign when the Test squad to face the West Indies in June is named.

Speaking about the appointment, Hudson said: "I am looking forward to getting involved with the Proteas again. They have done well recently and I am confident that we also have the emerging talent to take our team forward."

It was recently announced that South Africa is to host the Champions League Twenty20 tournament during September.

Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi confirmed the staging of the competition and said that South Africa was an "ideal host" due to their recent staging of big cricket competitions.

Meanwhile, in football news, South Africa is preparing to host the World Cup.
However, sadly for the Bafana Bafana the World Cup 2010 odds makes them huge outsiders of the tournament.

Soccer World Cup 2010 Theme Song

2010-05-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

The officla Soccer World Cup 2010 Theme Song is now released. I'm sure most of the cricket fans will welcome the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2010 in South Africa as an event to celebrate. Here are the lyrics, MP3 Download link for the Soccer World Cup 2010 Official Theme Song.

The official theme song of FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa is sung by K’naan. The song is titled “Wavin Flag”. There is an English version as well as the Spanish version of the song. A link to download the MP3 of official theme song of FIFA World Cup 2010 will follow the lyrics of the official theme song.

The Lyrics

When i get older, they'll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.

[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it's my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say

[Chorus]

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that's what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn't hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we'll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It's not far away, but for now we say,

[Chorus] 2x

(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)

[Chorus] 2x

When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag

Below is the link to Download the MP3 of Official FIFA World Cup 2010 Theme Song.

Click Here to Download MP3 of K’naan’s Waving Flag

If you are looking for the ring tone of Wavin' Flag, you can download it here.

India dealt T20 blow

2010-04-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

India's hopes of success in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament have been dealt a real blow as batsman Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the competition.

Their vice-captain has been in top form in the Indian Premier League but a shoulder injury has ruled him out of the Caribbean tournament.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has confirmed that he needs to rest the injured joint for four weeks and will be replaced in the squad for the ICC World Twenty20 by Murali Vijay.

Gautam Gambhir will take over as vice-captain to Mahendra Singh Dhoni as India look to repeat their success in the 2007 competition.

They are have been drawn with South Africa and Afghanistan in Group C and play their first game against the later in St Lucia on May 1st.

India fans will be looking for Vijay to repeat the form he has shown in the IPL, where he scored 417 runs for the Chennai Super Kings, to help the side through to the Super Eights stage.

However, even without the talismanic Sehwag the cricket betting makes India favourites to win the World Twenty20.

The captain of Group C rivals South Africa, Graeme Smith, recently said that Afghanistan could be a surprise package who could cause problems for both his side and India.

He warned they have some "talented cricketers" who have nothing to lose in the Caribbean, something which will make them "dangerous" opponents.

Meanwhile, in football news, England remain third favourites in the World Cup online betting ahead of this year's tournament in South Africa.

Ponting backs bowler for Twenty20 success

2010-04-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

Veteran Australian bowler Brett Lee has been backed to play a major role in helping Australia win the World Twenty20 tournament by his captain.

The 33-year-old pace bowler has retired from Test cricket due to a consistent elbow problem that required surgery at the back end of 2009, but has played a few games in the Indian Premier League to get some match practice.

Lee was surprisingly named in Australia's 15-man for the World Twenty20 which takes place in the West Indies in May, but his inclusion has received the backing of captain Ricky Ponting, as the pair have played a vast amount of cricket together over the years.

Ponting claims the veteran's bowling has "looked good" during what he has seen of the IPL and the presence of Lee around the camp will be "really good" for Australia and their prospects.

"He hasn't played a lot of cricket for a few months but it's great to see him back on the park now," said the captain.

"It's a good sign to have someone of that class and calibre in the team going into a big tournament."

Australia could be entering the World Twenty20 high on confidence after they beat New Zealand 2-0 in the recent Test series between the two nations, and indeed the cricket odds make them favourites for the tournament.

Meanwhile, in football news, many people have decided to make Argentina their World Cup 2010 tips after Lionel Messi put in a masterful performance in last night's Champions League clash between Barcelona and Arsenal.

What Will be Sanath’s Result in Upcoming Election?

2010-04-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sanath Jayasuriya is virtually out from the Mumbai Indians team for the IPL 2010 season, while he had been busy running around organizing his election campaign for the Sri Lanka General Election.

Meanwhile he is now confirmed as an opener for Sri Lanka’s next T-20 World Cup squad. In Sri Lanka, some people suggest this as a pure political move. However, the 40 years old master blaster does have some more fire power left to deliver goods for Sri Lanka Cricket.

But, people await fingers crossed what would be the results of Sri Lanka General Election 2010. Because, this results holds Sanath’s Cricketing career, as if he lose; he will not get anymore political backing up to get selected for the team.

Harris a first Test doubt for Australia

2010-03-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Australia might have to go into the first Test against New Zealand without their pace bowler Ryan Harris due to injury.

The match starts on Thursday in Wellington and is the first of a two match series before Australia head off to the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, a competition the cricket betting makes them joint thirds favourites for.

Harris had complained of feeling sore on the left hand side of his body and as a result is considered doubtful to face New Zealand, which means the selectors have called up Peter George as cover for the fast bowler.

Alex Kountouris, physiotherapist for Australia, said Harris felt the injury after the fourth one-day match against New Zealand, a series which ultimately the home team won 3-2.

"Since then he has improved significantly and has bowled at low intensity for the last two training days," the medical expert said.

"However, due to the inclement weather he was unable to bowl outdoors as planned today (Wednesday) and therefore it is not clear if he will be available for the first Test match."

Harris has signed to be the overseas player for Yorkshire for the 2010 season but the county has admitted the bowlers impressive displays for Australia means he may play more for his country than expected over the duration of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Australia's footballers are gearing up for this year's World Cup.

However, despite an impressive qualifying campaign the Socceroos are unlikely to prove a good World Cup bet this time around.

Indian Premier League 2010 Schedule, Fixtures and Teams

2010-03-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

DLF Indian Premier League 2010 Schedule and Fixtures: The 2010 Indian Premier League season (IPL 3) the third season of the Indian Premier League will start on March 12 and end on April 25, 2010.

IPL has been a revolution to the cricketing world. The eight teams in the IPL have fought like warriors fight in a war. At the end, one emerged victorious. In 2008, it was Rajasthan Royals, whereas this year it was Deccan Chargers. Irrespective of the winner, these 8 teams promised a great show of cricket. The teams were Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The franchises of these 8 teams were sold at a whooping price of $723.59 million

IPL 2010 Schedule and Venue

Sr	Day	IST	Match	IPL 2010 Venue
March 2010
1)	Friday 12	20:00	Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Navi Mumbai
2)	Saturday 13	15:00	Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals	Mumbai
3)	Saturday 13	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab	Mohali
4)	Sunday 14	16:00	Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Kolkata
5)	Sunday 14	20:00	Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers	Chennai
6)	Monday 15	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals	Ahmedabad
7)	Tuesday 16	16:00	Royal Challengers vs Kings XI Punjab	Bangalore
8)	Tuesday 16	20:00	Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Kolkata
9)	Wednesday 17	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians	Delhi
10)	Thursday 18	20:00	Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals	Bangalore
11)	Friday 19	16:00	Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils	Delhi
12)	Friday 19	20:00	Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab	Cuttack
13)	Saturday 20	16:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals	Ahmedabad
14)	Saturday 20	20:00	Royal Challengers vs Mumbai Indians	Mumbai
15)	Sunday 21	16:00	Deccan Chargers vs Delhi Daredevils	Cuttack
16)	Sunday 21	20:00	Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab	Chennai
17)	Monday 22	20:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians	Mumbai
18)	Tuesday 23	20:00	Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings	Bangalore
19)	Wednesday 24	20:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals	Mohali
20)	Friday 25	20:00	Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians	Mumbai
21)	Friday 26	20:00	Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals	Ahmedabad
22)	Saturday 27	16:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Mohali
23)	Saturday 27	20:00	Royal Challengers vs Delhi Daredevils	Bangalore
24)	Sunday 28	16:00	Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals	Ahmedabad
25)	Sunday 28	20:00	Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians	Navi Mumbai
26)	Monday 29	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Delhi
27)	Tuesday 30	20:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians	Mumbai
28)	Wednesday 31	16:00	Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings	Chennai
29)	Wednesday 31	20:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils	Delhi
April 2010
30)	Thursday 01	20:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers	Kolkata
31)	Friday 02	20:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Royal Challengers	Mohali
32)	Saturday 03	16:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings	Chennai
33)	Saturday 03	20:00	Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers	Mumbai
34)	Sunday 04	16:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab	Kolkata
35)	Sunday 04	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers	Delhi
36)	Monday 05	20:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers	Nagpur
37)	Tuesday 06	20:00	Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings	Chennai
38)	Wednesday 07	16:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab	Jaipur
39)	Wednesday 07	20:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils	Kolkata
40)	Thursday 08	20:00	Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers	Bangalore
41)	Friday 09	20:00	Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab	Mohali
42)	Saturday 10	16:00	Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings	Nagpur
43)	Saturday 10	20:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers	Bangalore
44)	Sunday 11	16:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils	Delhi
45)	Sunday 11	20:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians	Jaipur
46)	Monday 12	20:00	Deccan Chargers vs Royal Challengers	Nagpur
47)	Wednesday 13	16:00	Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils	Mumbai
48)	Tuesday 13	20:00	Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings	Chennai
49)	Thursday 14	20:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers	Jaipur
50)	Friday 15	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings	Chennai
51)	Thursday 16	20:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers	Dharamshala
52)	Saturday 17	16:00	Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers	Bangalore
53)	Saturday 17	20:00	Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Kolkata
54)	Sunday 18	16:00	Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings	Dharamsala
55)	Sunday 18	20:00	Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers	Delhi
56)	Monday 19	20:00	Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders	Kolkata
57)	Wednesday 21	20:00	1st Semi Final Match Team 1 vs Team 2	Bangalore
58)	Thursday 22	20:00	2nd Semi Final Match Team 3 vs Team 4	Bangalore
59)	Saturday 24	20:00	Play-off for 3rd Place Team A vs Team B	Navi Mumbai
60)	Sunday 25	20:00	Final Match of IPL 2010 Team 1 vs Team 2	Navi Mumbai

***********************************

IPL Mumbai – Mumbai Indians

Batsmen
Jean-Paul Duminy
Mohammed Ashraful
Shikhar Dhawan
Sachin Tendulkar(Captain)
Saurabh Tiwary
Ajinkya Rahane
Jaydev Shah

All Rounders
Sanath Jayasuriya
Ryan McLaren
Dwayne Bravo
Graham Napier
Kyle Mills
Abhishek Nayar

Wicket Keepers
Luke Ronchi
Pinal Shah
Yogesh Takawale

Bowlers
Dilhara Fernando
Harbhajan Singh
Dhaval Kulkarni
Rohan Raje
Zaheer Khan
Lasith Malinga
Chetanya Nanda
Rahil Sheikh

Coaches
Head Coach: Lalchand Rajput
Assistant Head Coach: Sameer Dighe
Bowling Coach: Subroto Banerjee
Physiotherapist: Dr. Nitin Patel

***********************************

IPL Bangalore – Royal Challengers

Batsmen
Rahul Dravid
Robin Uthappa
Ross Taylor
Kevin Pietersen
Jesse Ryder
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Wasim Jaffer
Jagadeesh Arunkumar
Bharat Chipli
K.P. Appanna
Gaurav Dhiman

Wicket Keepers
Mark Boucher
Shreevats Goswami
Devraj Patil

All Rounders
Jacques Kallis
Virat Kohli
Praveen Kumar
Cameron White
Sunil Joshi
Balachandra Akhil

Bowlers
Pankaj Singh
Dale Steyn
Anil Kumble
Nathan Bracken
Ranganath Vinay Kumar
Abdur Razzak
N.S.C. Aiyappa
Dillon du Preez

Coaches
Head Coach: Ray Jennings
Assistant Head Coach: Vijay Bharadwaj
Bowling Coach: Venkatesh Prasad
Physiotherapist: TBA

**************************************************

IPL Delhi – Daredevils

Batsmen
Owais Shah
David Warner
Gautam Gambhir
Manoj Tiwary

All Rounders
Andrew McDonald
Daniel Vettori
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Paul Collingwood
Farveez Maharoof
Rajat Bhatia
Virender Sehwag(Captain)
Mithun Manhas
AB de Villiers

Wicket Keepers
Dinesh Karthik

Bowlers
Glenn McGrath
Dirk Nannes
Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh
Ashish Nehra
Amit Mishra
Pradeep Sangwan

Coaches
Head Coach: Greg Shipperd
Assistant Head Coach: David Saker
Bowling Consultant: Dennis Lillee
Physiotherapist: Justin Steer

**************************************************

IPL Hyderabad – Deccan Chargers

Batsmen
Chamara Silva
Herschelle Gibbs
V.V.S.Laxman
Arjun Yadav
Venugopal Rao
Rohit Sharma
D.B.Ravi Teja
T.Suman
Abhinav Kumar

All Rounders
Dwayne Smith
Scott Styris
Andrew Symonds
Ryan Harris

Wicket Keepers
Adam Gilchrist
Halhadar Das
M.S.Bisla

Bowlers
R. P. Singh
Fidel Edwards
Chaminda Vaas
Nuwan Zoysa
D.Kalyankrishna
Pragyan Ojha
M Sarveesh Kumar
H.S.Bansal
Jaskarandeep Singh
P. Vijay Kumar

Support Staff
Head Coach: Darren Lehmann
Assistant Coaches: Kanwaljit Singh
Assistant Coaches: Mike Young
Physiotherapist: Dr Sean Slattery
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Steve Smith

*********************************** ***************

IPL Jaipur – Rajasthan Royals

Batsmen
Robert Quiney
Graeme Smith
Mohammad Kaif
Niraj Patel
Swapnil Asnodkar
Taruwar Kohli
Raiphi Vincent Gomez

Wicket Keepers
Naman Ojha
Mahesh Rawat

All Rounders
Lee Carseldine
Dimitri Mascarenhas
Shane Watson
Tyron Henderson
Yusuf Pathan
Ravindra Jadeja

Bowlers
Shane Warne (captain)
Shane Harwood
Morne Morkel
Shaun Tait
Mohammad Kamran Khan
Munaf Patel
Siddharth Trivedi

Coaches
Head Coach: Shane Warne
Assistant Head Coach: Harish Joshi
High Performance Coach: Jeremy Snape
Physiotherapist: John Gloster
Performance Analyst: Mohsin Sheikh
Director Of Coaching: Darren Berry

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IPL Kolkata – Knight Riders

Batsmen
Brad Hodge
Aakash Chopra
Debabrata Das
Cheteshwar Pujara

Wicket Keepers
Brendon McCullum
Wriddhiman Saha

Bowlers
Ashok Dinda
Murali Kartik
Ishant Sharma
Ajantha Mendis
Mohnish Parmar

All Rounders
David Hussey
Moises Henriques
Chris Gayle
Mashrafe Mortaza
Angelo Mathews
Sourav Ganguly(C)
Laxmi Ratan Shukla
Ajit Agarkar
Iqbal Abdullah
Sachin Rana

Coaches
Head Coach: John Buchanan
Assistant Head Coach: Matthew Mott
Physiotherapist: Andrew Leipus
Physical Trainer: Adrian Le Roux
Physical Trainer: Michael Buchanan

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IPL Mohali – Kings XI Punjab

Batsmen
Shaun Marsh
Mahela Jayawardene
Simon Katich
Luke Pomersbach
Sunny Sohal
Karan Goel
Tanmay Srivastava
Sahil Kukreja
Yash Gandhi

All Rounders
Ravi Bopara
James Hopes
Yuvraj Singh(Captain)
Wilkin Mota
Ramesh Powar
Irfan Pathan
Ryan Ninan
Piyush Chawla

Wicker Keepers
Kumar Sangakkara
Uday Kaul

Bowlers
Brett Lee
Jerome Taylor
Burt Cockley

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New Pakistan coach identifies areas for improvement

2010-03-04T02:31:00.000-08:00

The new head coach of Pakistan wants to make the team a more attacking outfit to get them out of the doldrums.

Waqar Younis was appointed earlier this week and has immediately identified areas in which the players need to improve on their recent poor results against Australia.

They were unable to win either a Test or one day international match during the tour and Younis will be looking for strides to be made ahead of the World Twenty20 competition in April - a tournament they won last time - before the side embarks on a tour of England.

Younis told the BBC Asian Network he wanted to remove divisions within the Pakistan dressing room and create "unity" among the ranks.

"My first target is to get the guys to play a little more aggressively," said the coach.

"It's a young side and the England tour is going to be a real tough one. It's a challenge and I'm really ready to take it."

The appointment of Younis as head coach follows hot on the heels of the announcement that Mohsin Khan would be the new chief selector of the Pakistan national team.

Former selector Iqbal Qasim quit the role after the tour of Australia and Khan's first job will be choosing the squad for the World Twenty20.

The cricket betting makes Pakistan 6/1 shots to defend their title, so they could struggle in the competition.

Meanwhile, in football news, Spain have secured their position as favourites in the World Cup betting markets with a convincing win over France.

International career could be over for Australian paceman

2010-02-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

Australia could be forced to do without pace bowler Brett Lee permanently with the veteran struggling to overcome a long-standing elbow problem.

The cricketer had surgery on the joint at the end of 2009 after injury meant he missed the entire summer period for Australia.

Lee has not played a Test for Australia since 2008 but has continued to be a key man in their one-day squad, however he has said now that his time playing for his country could be over as he is struggling to recover from the surgery.

The pace bowler has been a key part of Australia's attack, taking 310 wickets in 76 Test appearances, but injuries have hampered his career and this latest problem could be the final straw.

Lee told the Herald Sun that "anything is possible" but there is a high likelihood his international career for Australia could now be over.

"I may never bowl another ball and if that's the case, I'm so satisfied with my career and my longevity. I'm not saying it's definitely over," he said.

"I will see how the arm pulls up because I can't achieve any aspirations in cricket unless my body is functional."

Australia are managing to succeed without Lee in their one-day team at the moment and they recently defeated West Indies in the fourth ODI to secure victory in a five-match series.

The highlight of the latest win was the 324-7 recorded by Australia, the highest one-day score ever achieved at the Gabba.

Australia are set to face the West Indies again on Friday and the cricket odds suggest the home side should win the final game of the series.

The international cricket betting also indicates Australia should regain the Ashes when England visit next winter.

It's Official. Sanath Jayasuriya Will Enter Politics

2010-02-16T23:35:00.000-08:00

In a media briefing held a short while ago, minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene confirmed that Sanath Jayasuriya will contest the upcoming Sri Lanka parliamentary election 2010 from Matara district.

This confirms our earlier reports that Sanath will possibly contest the election.

Sanath Jayasuriya to Contest Sri Lanka Parliamentary Election

2010-02-14T23:57:00.000-08:00

Sri Lanka's #1 online newspaper Daily Mirror today reported that Sanath Jayasuriya is officially invited by ruling UPFA (United People's Freedom Alliance) to contest their nomination list for Matara District, in the upcoming Sri Lanka General Election 2010.

Sanath Jayasuriya, who's home town is Matara is a prominent social figure in the small down south urban community. It is said that what Sanath Jayasuriya means for people of Matara is somewhat simmilar to what Sachin Tendulkar is for Mumbai, and what Brian Lara is for Trinidad. There are occassions on which people of Matara switching off their TV's onece Sanath Jayasuriya get out early in cricket matches.

If Sanath contest the nomination from Matara district, that will boost the strengths for UPFA in that district, who have recorded 4th highest majority votes in the recently concluded presidential election.

Sri Lankan Cricketers to Contest Parliamentary Elections?

2010-02-10T04:58:00.000-08:00

Cricketers entering politics is not a new thing in South Asia. Arjuna Ranatunga and Imran Khan, two world cup winning captains from the region are the best examples. With the Sri Lanka General Election 2010 is scheduled for 8th April 2010, there are speculations that some of the prominent cricketers will enter politics scene this time around too.

During the presidential election held in January, prominent Sri Lankan cricketers like Sanath Jayasuriya and Muththaia Muralitharan appeared in TV commercials supporting president Mahinda Rajapakshe. Sanath Jayasuriya went on stage in several election rallies in the south of the country, where his home town is located. There were speculations those days that Sanath Jayasuriya will contest the upcoming Parliamentary Election in Sri Lanka. But those were all unconfirmed rumors. Pramodaya Wickramasinghe, who was a fast bowler in his time will most probably contest for the http://general-election-2010.yahaluwo.com/ from the Matara District.

With about two weeks to go for nominations, let's keep our fingers crossed!

Stand-in England captain given backed by coach

2010-01-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

Alistair Cook has been given the full backing of head coach Andy Flower as he prepares to take on his role as stand-in England captain.

It was revealed this week that Andrew Strauss is to take a break from international cricket, which means Cook will lead the England Test side on the forthcoming tours of the UAE and Bangladesh.

The 25-year-old will have some pressure taken off him as Paul Collingwood has been named as the captain for the Twenty20 games against Pakistan before the England side fly to Bangladesh for a tour which involves three one-day games and two Tests.

Flower has admitted that Cook may lack some of the experience needed to captain a national Test side, but added he was a "tough young man" who can handle himself impeccably.

"He's done a superb job with the bat in his hand - and you can see some of the qualities like resilience, toughness, determination and also his love of the game," said Flowers.

"He will use those qualities in his captaincy. In my judgment, he is a natural leader."

While Bangladesh are no longer the whipping boys they once were, cricket betting markets still make England strong favourites for the Test series despite the absence of Strauss.

Flower has also confirmed that he is confident that Kevin Pietersen will regain his form with the bat on the tour of Bangladesh.

He told the BBC he expects the batsman to regain confidence and improve technically as he continues his comeback from surgery.

Pietersen, along with most of England's batman, had a patchy tour of South Africa and in two of the four Tests it took a gutsy performance from tail-ender Graeme Onions to defy the cricket odds and secure a draw.

India call on Tyagi for Bangladesh Tests

2010-01-06T02:43:00.000-08:00

India have sprung something of a surprise by calling up uncapped seam bowler Sudeep Tyagi for the forthcoming Test series against Bangladesh.

The 22-year-old has impressed many with his performances in the Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super King and he made his one-day international debt against Sri Lanka last month, in a match that was abandoned so his selection is far from a cricket gamble.

He could be in line for his first Test cap after being named by India in their sixteen-man squad for the two-Test series that commences in Chittagong on January 17th, with the second game taking place in Dhaka a week later.

The inclusion of Tyagi means India now have four seamers in their bowling attack along with three spinners. Their batting options have been supplemented by a recall for wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik at the expense of Subramaniam Badrinath, who has been dropped by selectors.

India are currently ranked the number one side in Test cricket after their recent series victory over Sri Lanka and will also be boosted by the return of the world's leading run scorer Sachin Tendulkar.

He has returned to the side, according to the Indian Cricket Board, after opting not to play in the tri-series tournament in Dhaka. Given this strength, cricket betting experts will not be forecasting an upset in the series against Bangladesh.

Tri-nation series in Bangladesh begins...

2010-01-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

Tri-nation series in Bangladesh

Bangladesh , Sri Lanka and India Tri-Nation series will begin on 4th January ,Monday in 2010. We are going to publish the match schedule as follow.

Jan 4th Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Mirpur (d/n)

Jan 5th India v Sri Lanka, Mirpur (d/n)

Jan 7th Bangladesh v India, Mirpur (d/n)

Jan 8th Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, Mirpur (d/n)

Jan 10th India v Sri Lanka, Mirpur (d/n)

Jan 11th Bangladesh v India, Mirpur (d/n)

Jan 13th Final, Mirpur (d/n)

All games will be played in Mirpur and will be day night affairs.

Murali speaks out...

2010-01-02T14:43:00.000-08:00

Murali speaks out

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
2009 has not been a good year for the game’s greatest spin bowler Muthiah Muralitharan who at age of 37 is feeling the strain of being his country’s main spearhead for the past 18 years. In a frank interview with The Nation, Muralitharan talks about Sri Lanka’s 2011 World Cup chances, why Sri Lanka, once a feared team in one-day cricket is struggling to regain that status, about the politics that is affecting the game, and about his future.

Q: Our ODI performances since the 2007 World Cup have not been very encouraging why?
MM: This is a transitional period. After 2003 World Cup we had senior and capable players who stayed till the 2007 World Cup. Now the transitional period has come. I am not young, neither is Sanath (Jaysuriya). Vaasy (Chaminda Vaas) is gone. Three major players are virtually out of the side. I didn’t have a great 2009 because I had so many injuries. I played 16 ODI matches and took 22 wickets at 4.7 an over which is according to international standards a very good effort. But in Test cricket I played only 8 and got 26 wickets at an average of 45. My career average is 22 and it has dropped because I played on so many flat tracks. It’s not a great effort from me, my performances have gone down. That is one factor. Secondly, Sanath is not the same batsman he was. He is not upto the mark and not scoring as he should be. Vaas has climbed down a bit. From 2003-2007 these three players’ contribution to the team was a major one. With Mahela (Jayawardene) and Sanga (Kumar Sangakkara) there were five key players in the side. Now somebody has to fill in our shoes and it takes time. You have to wait patiently you cannot fill in quickly. The main thing is we are not patient enough.

Q: Do you think we have players to replace the ‘big three’ for the 2011 World Cup?
MM: In 2006 when we went to India under Marvan’s captaincy we got thrashed 2-0 in the Tests and 6-1 in the ODIs. We went to Australia and New Zealand and we didn’t do well. We started performing well in the VB series and in 2007 we built a strong team. The same thing can happen again if everyone is patient. If you try to do drastic changes to the team it won’t happen. The selectors have to be patient and the media has to support the team. We are playing the World Cup at home. The last time we played at home we won. All encouragement should be given to the players within this one year and we will be able to find the right combination for the World Cup. We have plenty of matches and you have to give the players the confidence.

We are in the process of team building looking towards the World Cup. Our objective is to win but at the same time the selectors have decided to try out a few youngsters to see whether they can cope up with international pressure. You’ve got to have the blend right - youngsters and experienced players. We have found a few so we have to continue and support the captain and the selectors and encourage them. Definitely we’ll have positive results.

Q: What’s happened to our fielding, why has it dropped down so drastically in the last few years?
MM: In the 2007 World Cup team we had good fielders like Upul Tharanga, Sanath, Mahela, Sanga as wicket-keeper, Chamara Silva and Russel Arnold. In the bowling department me, Vaasy and (Lasith) Malinga were safe fielders. We had a good fielding unit. Now if you take the team it is the other way around. Thilan (Samaraweera) and (Thilina) Kandamby are not very athletic. They are safe fielders but not brilliant and they are very good batsmen. Because of their fielding you can’t keep them out. Likewise, a few bowlers are not good athletes. That’s what’s happened to our fielding. They train and do everything but speed is something you cannot get. You have to be born with it. So we have to manage with what we have and somehow try to be a safe fielding side. We need to score runs and get wickets and try to win matches. We are not going to be the brilliant fielding side by 2011. If someone is saying we will be, they are not being honest to themselves. Today you cannot find a brilliant fielder who is also a batsman or a bowler. It will take generations of time to find one.

Q: Your thoughts on Kumar Sangakkara as captain, is he doing a good job?
MM: Unreasonable criticism has been made of his captaincy. Fair criticism is accepted. When Mahela captained against India and Pakistan and we lost and he was not scoring runs, the media put too much pressure on him. He was a wonderful captain for the two years he led the country. At the end of the day what happened? He said thank you and quit the captaincy. Luckily we had Sangakkara who can be a very good captain. Now the same criticism has started against him saying his decisions are not good. That’s very unfair. No sooner he took over he brought the team to the final of the T20 World Cup with a young side, won the one-day series in Pakistan, the Idea Cup final, won the Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand and we lost to India. It is too early for anyone to start criticising about his captaincy. He is a capable person but now he is being put under pressure. Once you put a lot of pressure on someone however strong he maybe, he will start thinking why should I take all this criticism when I can be in the team as a player. If Sanga goes who is going to captain? At the end of the day it’s the players who make the captain if they don’t perform the captain alone can’t win a match. I have played for about 20 years and I know.

Sanga took over at a crucial time when Mahela stepped down. He’s had a good three months but he has his ups and downs in his captaincy which is usual. He’s had a tough Indian tour. He also must have the confidence on the players who play under him. At the moment he is trying out different players to get the right combination and juggling around with them. Until he gets it right we’ll start losing matches. At the end of the day if we can get 2-3 players set for the World Cup then we have a good chance. Until then you have to be patient with him and give him the confidence rather than put his confidence down.

Q: Have you enjoyed your role as vice-captain to Sangakkara?
MM: I took the job because at the time there wasn’t anybody to do it. Nobody was certain of a place so I agreed to take it. If somebody is there to take over the vice-captaincy I am glad to hand it over to him. I just want to be a player, support the team and win. Even before the 2011 World Cup if there is someone better than me I don’t mind giving my place to him. I enjoy cricket as a player, vice-captaincy is not something that I’ve really given serious thought to. I concentrate more on my game.

Q: Your views on ODI cricket is it going forwards or backwards?
MM: ODI cricket has changed a lot because of the power play. Our bowlers have not adjusted to it properly. They have to work out how to contain especially in the power play. Because the wickets are so good in India the bowlers suffered a little bit than in any other part of the world. Teams keep the batting power play till the end to maximise a lot and sometimes it backfires. It is left to the two batsmen in the middle to decide when to take the power play. They are in the best position to know how the situation of the game is.

Q: What chances have Sri Lanka of winning World Cup 2011?
MM: We have a very good chance. We have to get into the quarter-finals which we can. After that it is a knockout. The best way of qualifying is not to clash with India then all the quarters and semis will be played in Sri Lanka. The only thing is the officials have to prepare wickets a little bit drier and suitable for spin and batting then we have a good chance. Our spin attack is good so we can win.
We don’t know who is going to play in the World Cup. There are opportunities for a player like Chamara Silva who is a brilliant fielder but he has to get runs. We have to wait and see and pick the right combination at the right time. We should not panic. At the last World Cup India panicked and they kept on changing their team. They couldn’t even qualify for the next stage. We shouldn’t do the same thing.

Q: What has happened to Ajantha Mendis he is no longer the potent force in world cricket?
MM: You can’t judge a bowler in one or two years you have to give him a span of 4-5 years and allow him to mature. Nobody picked Ajantha at the beginning and he bamboozled everyone. He came into the limelight very early. When I came on the scene no one knew me. It was only after 200 Test wickets and six years of international cricket that people started talking about me. During my time there wasn’t so much exposure to the media that way I was not pushed into the limelight too early I was able to learn quietly. For Ajantha the learning curve is going to be difficult because the pressure on him is also high. He has done so much in so little time that expectations are very high. When that happens it is too much pressure to take and it is very difficult to perform. That’s what’s happened to him. Whenever he comes to bowl they expect him to take wickets. It is affecting him. We have to handle him very carefully. You have to treat him as a normal bowler where he takes wickets on and off and on his day he takes big wickets, then he will come good. Technically you can’t teach him because he bowls in so many different ways. He can get advice from many people but at the end of the day he has to realise what went wrong and how to improve to get better. He is not a bad bowler but he has dropped his form. He is only 24 or 25 and he will come good if we persist with him and handle him carefully.

Q: Your future plans?
MM: My plan is to play in the two Tests against West Indies and take 800 wickets. Even if I don’t achieve it, it doesn’t matter because I have already made up my mind. One-day cricket I want to play till the 2011 World Cup but I must see how things go. How important I am going to be for the team I don’t want to be selfish and want to play. If they think I can still deliver I will play otherwise I am happy to quit because I have plenty of offers to play from counties and from Chennai. I must see how my body can take it. My body cannot afford Test cricket anymore because I have bowled thousands of overs and I can feel it. I just can’t force myself to play. T20 is four overs and I am not playing for my country, one-day cricket you bowl only 10 overs so I can manage.

Q: How do you want to be remembered?
MM: I think I’ve had the greatest career of any cricketer. Maybe Don Bradman would have had a better one. I have both bowling records in Test and ODIs only Sachin Tendulkar can compare with that in batting. I have taken 67 times five-for and 46 times four-for which means out of 130 Tests I have failed only in a handful maybe 3-5 percent. In one-day cricket I have taken 500 wickets in 320 matches, average 22 and an economy rate of 3.9. I never thought of records it was built in my system - school cricket, club cricket and international cricket. God had given me that gift. The only thing in my character if I have to say something whether it is right or wrong I will say it to the face. I don’t say things behind. Ninety percent of people like me for that and the balance 10 percent don’t. If I realise I was wrong I will say sorry to him. I don’t have any enemies. I want to be remembered as a good person who played very hard and brought a lot of success to the country. I have achieved more than any other cricketer and I like to retire gracefully and enjoy life with my family.

Extracted from

www.nation.lk

Ponting facing race against time for first Test

2009-12-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

Australia captain Ricky Ponting is racing to be fit in time to upset the cricket odds and make the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan after being injured against the West Indies.

He damaged the tendon in his elbow after being struck by a delivery from West Indian bowler Kemar Roach, an injury which forced him to retire hurt.

Ponting has been working hard to ensure he will be ready for the Boxing Day Test, including spending time in a hyperbaric chamber, and has made sure not to put any extra strain on the damaged elbow.

He is scheduled to undergo some more treatment over the next few days as he identifies that Boxing Day is the 'big one' of the cricket calendar and he wants to take part in the first Test of the series against Pakistan.

"I haven't picked up a bat since the second innings the other day and I won't touch one again for the next couple of days to give it the best recovery I can," said the Australian captain.

Philip Hughes has been named in a 13-man squad for Australia for the first Test as cover for Ponting.

Peter Siddle is also in the squad alongside the same XI that won the third Test against the West Indies, while Ben Hilfenhaus is missing with knee problems.

Star hails 'Gooch effect' on England

2009-12-09T05:08:00.000-08:00

Kevin Pietersen reckons Graham Gooch can help England to win their Test series against South Africa.

The former England captain was recently appointed batting coach for the international team and started helping out after the culmination of the one-day matches in preparation for the Test series.

The series starts in Centurion on December 16th and Pietersen claims the help of Gooch can inspire England's batsmen to pile on the runs against South Africa.

He added he was really looking forward to working with the coach in the coming weeks and thinks Gooch can "do wonders" for the England cricket team.

"The way he thinks is pretty similar to the way [England head coach] Andy Flower thinks, and the way I think - how simple batting is, but the hard work you have to put in and the mental side and the concentration," said the South Africa-born batsman. "It all makes sense."

Essex batting coach Gooch has refused to commit to working with England after the first test in South Africa.

He originally agreed to help out on a temporary basis but told BBC 5 Live that he believes a permanent appointment would not be possible at the current point in time.

Vaughan - England should have no problems in tests

2009-11-25T02:09:00.000-08:00

England should have no problems winning their test series against South Africa, according to one former captain.

Michael Vaughan, who captained England in 51 tests over a five-year period, reckons South Africa’s attack should pose no threat to current skipper Andrew Strauss’ side, despite them being the top ranked test team in the world.

The former Yorkshire batsman told Sporting Life that England should not fear the bowling attack from South Africa, but highlighted fast bowler Dale Steyne as one man who could pose problems in the tests.

It seems a safe cricket bet that England can boast real attacking threats to the South Africa team in the form of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Graham Onions if he is fit, stated Vaughan.

He added: “It'll be tough, it always is away from home, but I think we've got it in us to win the key moments because we're mentally pretty strong.”

Both teams will struggle to get 20 wickets, which could see the tour dominated by the batsmen and the series ending 1-0 to either side, he said.

The first test match kicks off in Centurion on December 16th and then the tour rolls on to Durban and Cape Town over Christmas and New Year before culminating in the fourth test at Port Elisabeth on January 14th.

It was confirmed by the International Cricket Council that a new umpire decision reviewing system will be implemented in the test games.

Under the new rules, each side is allowed a maximum of two unsuccessful challenges in any innings.

Australia could benefit from Lee's experience

2009-11-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

Brett Lee can lead the Australian bowling attack for many years to come, starting in the forthcoming tests against the West Indies.

That is the opinion of veteran wicket-taker Glenn McGrath, who himself is pushing for a return to the international scene having revived his career over recent months.

Lee missed the Ashes tests against England through injury but returned to the fold in the one-day series and then showed he is approaching top form in Australia’s Champions League trophy campaign.

McGrath said the 33-year-old can add a lot to the Australian bowling attack and reckons it's a safe cricket bet that he should be in the starting team if he is match fit.

The experience and leadership he can offer to other bowlers can benefit the side, he added.

“Brett's an exceptional cricketer, exceptional sportsman, and he's got that desire to be out there and be successful,” said McGrath.

“I think he adds a lot to the team, apart from just his bowling.”

Australia are facing a hectic schedule over the next few months, with six tests against both the West Indies and Pakistan in the space of only eight weeks.

They are also scheduled to play one-day and Twenty20 matches in that period before embarking on a tour of New Zealand in 2010.

Australia’s campaign begins on November 26th with the first test against the West Indies in Brisbane.

Harmison excited about England's bowlers for South Africa tests

2009-10-29T03:21:00.000-07:00

Steve Harmison has revealed that he is happy to allow the next generation of England bowlers to succeed on the international cricket scene.

The pace bowler has signed an extended four-year contract with Durham following his disappointment at being omitted from England's forthcoming tour of South Africa.

Harmison was quick to dismiss claims he was announcing his retirement from the international game, though expressed his belief that England are blessed with a number of good bowlers which can help him succeed.

“England are going through an exciting time with a group of young fast bowlers in South Africa. The pitches will be helpful for them and I really want them to do well,” said the 31-year-old.

The Durham paceman said he would love the opportunity to play for England in the future, but confessed to having doubts his body would be able to cope with the next Ashes tour in Australia beginning in 2010.

He warned the England squad that the forthcoming international tests with South Africa were going to be “tough” and reclaiming the Ashes in Australia would also be “hard”, but wished the players the best of luck in their quest to upset the international cricket odds in both series.

England follow their winter tests against South Africa with a spring tour of Bangladesh, with captain Andrew Strauss having indicated he may opt of the latter series to give his body a rest.

Vice-captain Alistair Cook has expressed his desire to fill Strauss’ role in Bangladesh, stating it would give him an arena to develop and showcase his skills as a leader in international cricket matches.

Real test starts now for England

2009-09-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

Where on earth have England’s ICC Champions Trophy displays come from???? The big test though for Andrew Strauss’ rejuvenated side is on the horizon.

Pretty much every cricket pundit and fan would have expected England to have crashed out of the group stages, with many predicting that they would not win a single game after their recent struggles.

A 6-1 series defeat to Australia left plenty of questions as to where the ECB selectors were heading, as far as team selection is concerned. But it appears the message has finally got through to the undoubtedly talented squad.

Strauss made it clear before the ICC event in South Africa that many of the squad were drinking in the last-chance saloon of international one-day cricket, amongst them Owais Shah.

The Middlesex man has responded in fine fashion and now looks a world-class one-day player, after looking like a club cricketer during the Australia series.

The captain described the 323-8 scored against the hosts, the second highest total in Champions trophy history, as England’s best-ever batting display.

The cynics though would say that the only reason England have beaten Sri Lanka and South Africa, is that the pressure has been off the players with nobody expecting them to win those matches.

If that has been the case, it will be interesting to see how they perform in the semi-final after the expectation level and cricket betting odds have been cranked up several notches.

But even if England are to crash out in the last four, they will have surpassed many people’s expectations and the squad have shown that, even without Kevin Pietersen, they can still compete with the best in the world.

ICC’s last-ditch Test bid

2009-09-25T03:18:00.000-07:00

The International Cricket Council’s idea to have a world Test championship appears to be the last chance to save international Test cricket, but the plan is set to face some dissenting voices.

The sport’s governing body has been considering a format which will see a series of matches over four years culminating in semi-finals and a final, in the hope that the crowds will be drawn back to the five-day game.

Although several nations are likely to support the idea, the problem facing the ICC is that some cricket boards want to organise their own tours and set firm itineraries well in advance.

The ECB has already expressed some concern even though they like the idea of a Test championship, preferring a different format with either a single Test play-off or a short series to decide the world’s top team.

England officials are worried that a four-year event could devalue series’ such as the Ashes, which always brings full houses in the UK or Australia, and has the best opportunities to place a cricket bet; it could also bring shortened series to accommodate matches against lesser Test nations.

ECB chief executive David Collier said: “The original proposal from ICC, for a two-year cycle with two years of an uncertain fixture programme in regard to the Test Championship, would be detrimental to Test cricket and the ECB's prime consideration is to ensure that Test cricket is at the pinnacle of the world game.”

ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has claimed that the only two nations unhappy are England and India, but the problem for the ICC is that they are the two nations that bring the most money into the sport.

The other problem attached to the long-term tournament would be how to fit it into the calendar, especially with the number of lucrative Twenty20 tournaments popping up around the world.

No way Owais

2009-09-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

As England continue their desperate search for a one-day formula that works, Owais Shah looks set to be a major casualty of the team’s 50-over frustration.

With England looking to salvage the ODI series against Australia, the selectors and Andrew Strauss also have one eye on the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa.

A cull should, and will happen after some below-par performances in recent times, highlighted by the opening two matches in the Australia series – on both occasions England have been in the driving seat and both times they shot themselves in the foot.

Speaking after the 39-run defeat at Lord’s, skipper Strauss admitted: “We can't let chances like this slip through our fingers.”

“We keep talking about the batsmen making a score. We haven't done that in two games, we are aware of it and need to get better.”

Shah is likely to be one of the unfortunate batsmen to lose their position, having endured a torrid time at international level, especially with his running between the wickets.

The 30-year-old got himself run out in the second ODI at Lord’s after a shocking mix-up and that is not an isolated incident – Shah has been run out nine times playing for England, including three occasions at Test level.

The Middlesex man averages 31.00 in 57 innings and has scored just one century in his ODI career – a knock of 107 which came against India two years ago.

In Shah’s defence, a number of batsmen have tried their luck to fill the void left by Kevin Pietersen, but replacing the top one-day player appears a near impossible job.

England can only hope that KP is given the all-clear for the tournament in South Africa, with his presence making them a totally different prospect and increasing their odds of winning the ICC Champions Trophy.

Black Caps could cause an upset

2009-08-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

Many people will be backing the regular one-day favourites for success at the ICC Champions Trophy next month, but New Zealand look capable of causing a surprise and maybe even lifting the trophy.

South Africa, on home turf, will no doubt be expected by the punters to go far in the tournament, while the likes of Australia, India and Sri Lanka are always there or thereabouts.

But with expectation comes immense pressure and the Kiwis have shown in patches that in the limited-overs form of the game, they can live with the best teams in the world.

The New Zealand squad selected for September’s ODI event looks strong, although the selectors will have their fingers crossed over injuries, which have cost them dear in the past.

The Black Caps were looking good at this year’s World Twenty20 tournament, but with key players like Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram either missing or not 100% fit, their bid faded.

Skipper Vettori though will be quietly confident looking at the 14 other players he has at his disposal, both in the bowling and batting options.

The enigmatic Jesse Ryder will provide a hard-hitting start at the top of the order, with the world-class duo of Brendan McCullum and Ross Taylor also likely to provide crucial runs.

The bowling line-up has also been strengthened with the return of paceman Shane Bond, who is back in the international fray following his spell in the ICL. Bond, is on his day arguably the best one-day bowler in the world, will be given solid back up from the likes of Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram, as well as the consistent spin of the skipper.

New Zealand have been drawn in Group B with South Africa, Sri Lanka and England and get their campaign underway with a clash against the hosts at Centurion on September 24.

Fortunate England given a last chance

2009-08-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

Many England fans were left tearing their hair out at the innings and 80 run defeat at Headingley, but on reflection the home side are lucky to be in with a chance of winning back the Ashes.

The fourth Test in Leeds was built up as the home side’s chance to win back the urn, but the cracks that have shown at other times in the series have turned into gaping chasms.

Yes, England have looked good in patches but when you look at the first four Tests so far in detail, the tourists have enjoyed the better of the series to date.

FIRST TEST (Cardiff)

England escape with a draw after looking for long periods like they were going to go 1-0 behind. Four Australian score centuries and only their inability to take wickets helps England hang on.

SECOND TEST (Lord’s)

An excellent first day 196-run partnership between openers Strauss (161) and Cook (95) helped the home side to break their Lord’s-Ashes hoodoo, but they struggled over the line.

But for an inspired five-wicket haul from Andrew Flintoff, Australia may have held on for a draw and the tourists still wracked up 406 in their second innings.

THIRD TEST (Edgbaston)

A Test match badly affected by the weather, Australia came away with the impetus after another solid display from Michael Clarke and the other middle-order batsmen.
England started day five having an outside chance of victory, but ended that Monday by taking just three wickets and thankful that they didn’t have to bat again.

FOURTH TEST (Headingley)

England were completely outplayed with both bat and ball, as Australia claimed victory in two and a half days. Again the tourists are only asked to bat once and they amass over 400 for the third time in the series.

The stats also point to Australia – eight centuries to England’s one, with five of the top six runscorers from the Australian squad.

Despite the struggles of Mitchell Johnson, it’s a similar story with the ball as the top three wicket-takers are Aussies – Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Johnson.

Cricket though, and in particular Ashes history, tells you this series could still go either way as the teams prepare for the final showdown at the Oval – starting on August 20.

Make sure you check out The Oval Test odds before any Fifth Test betting.

The Bell tolls for Bopara

2009-07-28T01:50:00.000-07:00

Two England batsmen will go into the third Ashes Test feeling the pressure of the nation on the shoulders, Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell, and they can help each other get their international careers back on track.

All the focus has been on Warwickshire star Bell in the last few days, after he was announced as the replacement for the enigmatic Kevin Pietersen, and the spotlight is something which he has struggled with in the past.

Even though he has played 46 Tests for his country, the 27-year-old has struggled to establish himself at international level but will be given the chance to play in a third Ashes series.

Bell, who has been handed the number four spot in the batting order, averages 25.10 in 10 Tests against Australia, and the Aussies have known how to get under his skin in the past.

But there is no Warne, McGrath and co this time around and with over 3,000 Test runs to his name, Bell would be forgiven for thinking that he now has the experience to cope with the pressure.

Andrew Strauss believes Bell is now a ‘tougher cricketer’ than in days gone by, but the skipper will be well aware that the pressure on Bell will be lifted if the man ahead of him in the batting smashes a big score.

After a brilliant home series against West Indies, Bopara has scored just 81 runs in four Ashes’ innings and how he needs a decent knock in the Edgbaston Test to calm his nerves.

Either way, this looks like it could be Bell’s last chance to cement a place in the thinking of the England selectors and a competent display is needed to convince the doubters.

It’s also a crucial time for Bopara to deliver the goods on the big stage or, should Australia level the series in Birmingham, he could also find himself out in the cold with Owais Shah and Robert Key standing in the wings.

Ponting claims mental advantage

2009-07-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

Despite England’s confidence-boosting draw in the first Test, Ricky Ponting feels it's Australia that have the psychological advantage going to Lord’s.

The Ashes series started with a thriller in Cardiff, with only last-day batting heroics from Paul Collingwood, James Anderson and Monty Panesar helping the home side avoid a heavy defeat.

The gutsy fifth-day display though seemed to lift the England fans and they can only hope the result had a similar effect on the players, as they prepare for the second Test at the home of cricket.

England’s Ashes record at Lord’s is appalling though, having not beaten Australia there since 1934, and Ponting has been talking his squad up ahead of what looks like a crucial second Test.

When asked whether the impetus had swung in England’s favour, Ponting insisted: "They can be happy with what they have done, only losing seven wickets in 98 overs on the final day, but I am not sure they will look at it like a win.

"They are not 1-0 up and had been outplayed for four days in this Test match. We know what we have done well here.”

The Aussie skipper added: “We did so many things really well and we've got to take the confidence from that down to Lord's and make sure we start there on the same note.”

The main worry for the England selectors is that the bowlers don’t look like taking ten wickets, let alone twenty wickets – with their cause unlikely to be helped by the flat, non-spinning pitch expected at Lord’s.

Ponting though only needs to look back to 2005 before getting overly confident, when after being outplayed in the first Test – at Lord’s – England bounced back to win the series and win back the urn.

If you're looking to make a Lords Test bet, make sure you keep up to date with the Lords Test odds. To get in the mood for some rivalry, check out Betfair's fan v fan site.

England bemoan lack of big-hitters

2009-06-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

Paul Collingwood admitted that England will have to look at their batting line-up for future Twenty20 matches, after seeing his side dumped out of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament at the Super 8 stage by West Indies.

Collingwood and the home fans were left cursing the English weather, as two rain storms left the Windies facing just nine overs and Chris Gayle’s men reached the revised target of 80 to make the semi-finals.

Although England’s performances have been much improved on displays in the same event two years ago, when they won just one of their five matches, there is still a lot more to do before they can think about challenging for the trophy.

In these circumstances people often look for something or someone to blame – this time the finger has to be pointed at the performances with the bat.

Although England surprised many with their win over defending champions India, and also produced a decent display to beat Pakistan in the group stages, their totals often fell well short of what they could and should have been.

England batted first in each of their five matches and their top score (185-5) came against Pakistan, but that was the only time they wracked up over 165 in 20 overs.

The top order batsmen, Ravi Bopara, Luke Wright and Kevin Pietersen, all produced the goods at different stages of the tournament – with top scores of 55, 71 and 58 respectively.

England’s bowlers, especially Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, can also take some praise for the way they performed.

Again, as has been the problem in other forms of the game in recent times, the middle order has been the downfall and, in particular, the lack of big-hitters at the selectors disposal.

The only big-shot player that England bring in for Twenty20 fixtures is Dimitri Mascarenhas, but he fell short again in this tournament. The Hampshire ace still only has a top score of 31 in 13 international Twenty20 innings.

Mascarenhas was not the only player found wanting though and the selectors will be hoping they have found a middle-order solution by the time the next event is staged in 2010 (brought forward as the 2008 Champions Trophy tournament was postponed) in the West Indies.

Ashes bowling fears for Aussies

2009-05-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Australia have revealed concerns over the fitness of Brett Lee as they prepare for this summer’s Ashes cricket action, and are now hoping the England and Wales Cricket Board will help their preparations.

The world’s top Test team have asked for permission to use 12 players in the Ashes warm-up fixtures, as they look to test Lee’s progress after recent ankle surgery.

Ricky Ponting's men are due to play two first-class matches before the opening Test against England, which takes place in Cardiff on July 8, and the selectors are looking for Lee to prove his fitness.

The tourists will play a four-day game against Sussex (June 24-27) at Hove and then face the England Lions at New Road (July 1-4), and they are hoping the ECB will allow them to use 12 players during those two matches.

Both Lee and fellow seamer Stuart Clark are coming back from long-term injuries and Australia are keen for the duo to get some match action under their belts.

Ponting has admitted that Lee’s fitness is still “a bit of an unknown”, although the Aussie skipper has been pleased to see the New South Wales paceman getting through the IPL unscathed.

With regards to Ashes 2009 betting and the absence of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne this summer, the involvement of the 32-year-old could prove crucial to the tourists’ chance of retaining the Urn.

Lee took 20 wickets in both the last Ashes series in 2006-2007 and Australia’s defeat on English soil in 2005, also proving a more than useful figure with the bat down the order.

In a worst case scenario for the tourists, both Lee and Clark may not be fit enough to feature in Cardiff and that would leave an inexperienced pace attack of Mitchell Johnson (21 Tests), Ben Hilfenhaus (3 Tests), Peter Siddle (7 Tests) and Andrew McDonald (4 Tests).

Murali , Again in the Danger Zone ? Schedule of the matches

2007-10-24T23:56:00.001-07:00

With the silent of this blog, I'm going to break it again after a few weeks. Now again , time to live with cricket. The matches will begin in next month.Until then, we have something to talk about. Also, you can see the schedule of Sri Lankan tour in Australia, below.

************************ No doubt, Murali on Top *************

Darell Hair

Some of Murali loving people burning a stunt of Darell Hair to show their openion

Beginning from Arjuna Ranathunga's time, a gap between Murali and Australia has raised. Some times it must be between Shane Warne and Murali, but both of them are not responsible for the matter, it's between some people in both countries like umpire Darrell Hair ,who created this big controversy. Darrell Hair, who called No-Ball action against Murali, before the world cup of 1996, has created many troubles for him after that.But Murali has reached to the world no.1 figure through those rival activities.

************************ Arjuna advised Muralidharan ************

Darell Hair, Murali and Arjuna Ranathunga in the ground when the trouble aroused

In this juncture again, Former Captain Of Sri Lanka, Arjuna Ranatunga has advised Murali, not to play in Australia in the coming series of November.The only solution for him is refrain from face to face action on Australian soil to avoid more controversies, according to the former skipper, who was the giant figure behind Murali when the last trouble era.Murali respect much for him but this time he disclaimed the idea and said,
"I am used to any situation and will accept the way it comes perhaps it may motivate me more to take on the challenge" as a real lion as a replay but he respects the former captain as before.

We can't predict what'll happen for Murali in time to come. Hope nothing trouble in this time avoiding much talked controversy.

********************* Schedule of the matches ****************

October 2007-------------------------------
Sat 27 - Mon 29
10:30 local, 01:00 GMT Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI v Sri Lankans
Adelaide Oval

November 2007-----------------------------
Fri 2 - Sun 4
10:00 local, 00:00 GMT
Queensland v Sri Lankans
Allan Border Field, Brisbane

Thu 8 - Mon 12
10:00 local, 00:00 GMT
1st Test - Australia v Sri Lanka
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

Fri 16 - Tue 20
10:30 local, 23:30 GMT
2nd Test - Australia v Sri Lanka
Bellerive Oval, Hobart

January 2008-------------------------------
Wed 30
10:00 local, 23:00 GMT
Prime Minister’s XI v Sri Lankans
Manuka Oval, Canberra

February 2008------------------------------
Sat 2
10:00 local, 23:00 GMT
Tasmania v Sri Lankans
Bellerive Oval, Hobart

Tue 5
Floodlit Match
13:15 local, 03:15 GMT
India v Sri Lanka
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

Fri 8
Floodlit Match
14:15 local, 03:15GMT
Australia v Sri Lanka
Sydney Cricket Ground

Tue 12
10:00 local, 23:00 GMT
India v Sri Lanka
Manuka Oval, Canberra

Fri 15
Floodlit Match
11:30 local, 02:30 GMT
Australia v Sri Lanka
W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth

Tue 19
Floodlit Match
13:45 local, 03:15 GMT
India v Sri Lanka
Adelaide Oval

Fri 22
Floodlit Match
14:15 local, 03:15 GMT
Australia v Sri Lanka
Melbourne Cricket Ground

Tue 26
10:00 local, 23:00 GMT
India v Sri Lanka
Bellerive Oval, Hobart

Fri 29
Floodlit Match
14:15 local, 03:15 GMT
Australia v Sri Lanka
Melbourne Cricket Ground

March 2008---------------------------------
Sun 2
14:15 local, 03:15 GMT
1st Final - TBC v TBC
Sydney Cricket Ground

Tue 4
Floodlit Match
13:15 local, 03:15 GMT
2nd Final - TBC v TBC
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

Fri 7
Floodlit Match
13:45 local, 03:15 GMT
3rd Final - TBC v TBC
Adelaide Oval
if required

******************************************************
More Cricket Information,
Visit,
http://cricketschedule.blogspot.com

Sanath, Done it again !!! Playing 400 Matches with 300 Wickets

2007-10-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

Sanath Jayasiriya, the unbelievable cricket sports star in our era, has done and proved it again with 400 cricket one day matches. The first cricketer in the history has played 400 one day internationals.

Jayasiriya, who started the career in 1989 , scored more than 12,175 runs with 306 wickets. He has scored 100's in 25 matches with highest score 189. The best bowling figure is 29 runs for six wickets. Got 114 catches and five wickets in 4 times.The batting average for Sanath is 32.79 , for bowling 39.48.

Then, those figures have proved without any argument, The world's best cricketer is Sanath Jayasiriya.The only cricketer in the world's history played more than 400 matches, scored more than 12,175 runs and got more than 306 wickets, we can't expect even Sanath know that.

The Second place , Sachin Tendulkar (India) has started the sports career in 1989 too, has played 398 one day internationals, scored more than 15,450 runs with average 44.11 , 41 centuries, got only 152 wickets with average 43.86, best 5/32, has got 5 wickets in 2 times according to the reports.

The Third Place, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, played 378 one days, scoring 11,739 runs to the average of 39.52 ,10 centuries ,got only 3 wickets had started the career in 1991, finished in 2007 with the "ICC Cricket World Cup - 2007".

Sanath Jayasiriya, at 38 of age, congratulation for the Un-Disputed success in the field.

(
Is there any important information about Sanath Jayasiriya ? Please keep it here as a comment to share the knowledge !)

The New 50-50 One Day rules, Going To Change By Today Onwards..

2007-09-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the 1st of October. From today onwards the ICC is going to introduce some new regulations for one day format of cricket. Those rules are validated for the series Sri Lanka-England. Those are the new rules,

• There’ll be a free hit after if it’s a front-foot No-Ball.

• After the 1st power play, that means during second and third power plays, an additional fielder will be permitted outside the fielding , inner circle.

• If there is a problem, like rain , number of overs have to be reduced. If so number of overs for each power play will be reduced accordingly.

• Minimum distance for boundaries was 140 yards . It’ll change to 150 yards.
The minimum on one side is of 65 yards , straight boundaries 70 yards, previously was 60 yards.

• If one side refused to play the mach for any reason, The match referee has the right to choose the winning team.

• If a new batman not ready to play after 2 minutes with a wicket, umpires can impose Time-Wasting penalties for him.

• A new ball can be used in 35th over onwards, but the decider is the leader of the team, who lost the toss.

( I appreciate your replay if there is any other regulations, I’ve forgotten to mention)

The first Ball

2007-09-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

As an Indian, it feels very nice to start contribution to “A Different Stroke” very close to a day when India lifted the inaugural T-20 world cup. I had started writing this piece just around 30 minutes after this event. Although it is not the first time I am pouring my heart out writing on cricket, but starting as a contributor for the first time, it is like as if I am going to open an innings in an international (20, 50 or infinity notwithstanding) after a few knocks at domestic cricket. Let me come out of this and move along.

Rather than restricting myself to the final and India’s win, I would look back to the whole tournament. I am restricting myself to purely cricket point of view, minus the cheer-girls / boys and related extravaganza that had been brought in to bring more crowds, specially the fast generation (what is it now – Z?). I just mentioned a little bit of my thought when I requested the moderator to consider me as a contributor; quite a few of us cricket-lovers and cricket thinkers are flummoxed by the happenings in the whole tournament. I would like to bring the issues straight out.

At the outset I admit that I have never been so mistaken in my life in any matter related to cricket. But my agony was little bit lessened when I saw the whole world also did so. All people said this is a bigger graveyard for the Bowlers. This statement is repeated even today by Vettori (of all people). The same was said when in mid eighties rules for ODIs were also altered every now and then. But let us think very clearly. I see T-20 is a chance for resurgence of the bowlers. Let us not bother about the figure / statistics in RPO; the benchmark cannot be same (and should not be compared with ODI and tests). This is because in T20- you cannot bat out an opposition. Chris Gayle could not do it. Almost all the T20 matches till now in this World cup, has been won by good bowling, and this is going to stay. Even out of 27 matches, Player of the match award has gone to Bowlers in 11 cases including the final and 3 to all-rounders. The player of the tournament also has gone to Afridi predominantly for his bowling performances, as he conceded himself. The Batsmen have almost reached saturation, unless you take cricket back to the "gulleys" via tennis and badminton courts. Till then, My Dear Bowlers – don’t feel left out. Go and enjoy the sweet smell of grass under the sun. Your expiry date is somewhat far-off.

How The T-20 World Cup Went On... ! What Next ?

2007-09-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Now, the very first Twenty20 cricket world cup is over giving some unexpected entertainment with comparing others. When I was thinking about that, I wanted to know how the matches went on and find out what is Shah Rukh Khan's factor as a behind scene. Then, this is what I'm doing now to share the the information with you.I know many of you'll copy this to PCs.

Groups,
Group A: Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies
Group B: England, Australia, Zimbabwe
Group C: New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Kenya
Group D: India, Pakistan, Scotland

* September 11 South Africa vs West Indies,
(Johannesburg)
South Africa won by eight wickets

* September 12 New Zealand vs Kenya,
(Durban)
New Zealand won by nine wickets

* September 12 Pakistan vs Scotland,
(Durban)
Pakistan beat Scotland by 51 runs

* September 12 Australia vs Zimbabwe,
(Cape Town)
Zimbabwe won by five wickets

* September 13 West Indies vs Bangladesh,
(Johannesburg)
Bangladesh won by six wickets

* September 13 England vs Zimbabwe,
( Cape Town)
England won by 50 runs

* September 13 India vs Scotland,
(Durban)
Match abandoned, rain

* September 14 Sri Lanka vs Kenya ,
(Johannesburg)
Sri Lanka won by 172 runs

* September 14 Australia vs England,
(Cape Town)
Australia won by eight wickets

* September 14 India v Pakistan,
(Durban)
India win bowl-out 3-0 after tie

* September 15 Sri Lanka vs New Zealand,
( Johannesburg)
Sri Lanka won by seven wickets

* September 15 South Africa vs Bangladesh,
( Cape Town)
South Africa won by seven wickets

*********** Super 8 ***********

* September 16 New Zealand vs India,
(Johannesburg)
New Zealand won by 10 runs

* September 16 Australia vs Bangladesh,
(Cape Town)
Australia won by nine wickets

* September 16 South Africa vs England,
(Cape Town)
South Africa won by 19 runs

* September 17 Pakistan vs Sri Lanka,
(Johannesburg)
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs

* September 18 New Zealand vs England,
(Durban)
New Zealand bt England by five runs

* September 18 Australia vs Pakistan,
( Johannesburg)
Pakistan bt Australia by six wickets

* September 18 Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka,
(Johannesburg)
Sri Lanka bt Bangladesh by 64 runs

* September 19 South Africa vs New Zealand,
(Durban)
South Africa won by six wickets

* September 19 England vs India,
(Durban)
India won by 18 runs

* September 20 Australia vs Sri Lanka,
(Cape Town)
Australia won by 10 wickets

* September 20 Bangladesh vs Pakistan,
(Cape Town)
Pakistan won by four wickets

* September 20 South Africa vs India,
(Durban)
India won by 37 runs

*********** Semi Finals ***********
* September 22 1st semi-final: New Zealand vs Pakistan,
(Cape Town)
Pakistan won by six wickets

* September 22 2nd semi-final: India vs Australia,
(Durban)
India won by 15 runs

*********** The Grand Finale ***********
* September 24 Final: Pakistan vs India,
(Johannesburg)
India won by five runs

What Next ?

The Champions Trophy, will be held next year (2008)in the month of September in Pakistan. It'll be over in two weeks.After that in 2010.The only problem is to fix dates to Twenty20 world cup with international calendar scheduled to be held around the world. There will be another ICC World Twenty20 in England in 2009 according to the ICC.their first priority is for the Test, after that for 50 over matches.

Shah Rukh Khan factor :
When I read today's international news papers , I've seen something interested article but on the first page of one of the news papers in India.That tells

"Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif had mentioned earlier that it was SRK’s presence that inspired Dhoni and his men to victory." Because "Chak De! India" film had inspired all of India.

Shah Rukh was there because The BCCI and Sharad Pawar had invited him in last 2 hours.His sun wanted to see the match then.

Rashid Latif also explained "He was the ‘X’ factor that lent that extra edge to the Indian team"

Shah Rukh Khan has said,
"I am glad to be able to contribute through them. But, in this case, I was another Indian among the spectators cheering the boys with my mind, body, heart and soul. Yeah, I was praying fervently as well, but then so was everyone else."

Unexpected expectation, Sri Lanka has been eliminated from 20-20 Cup, AND Australia ! Are they cheaters ?

2007-09-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Unexpected expectation, Sri Lanka has been eliminated

The 1st Twenty20 world cup dream for the Sri Lankan is shattered. That dream never comes true in any case. The runner up for the World Cup was unable goes through
In to the top four countries. Are you going to blame on Jayasuriya ? No, Sanath is not the team. He is in the team. Then, Murali ?We must not mentally ill when Sanath and Murali the both are not there. But, There’s a team. The best eleven players of the country are there. They must play and show the best! The burden mustn’t target only the top players but the whole team.

T-20, Is Sri Lanka ready to play?

Twenty-20 is a new game to the world of cricket. If we say Sri Lanka has lack of experience, for the most of the countries same. With Australia , Sri Lanka lost the 7th wicket before 50 on the score card. That seems lack of knowledge on T-20. There wasn’t a plan to fulfill the dream to reach another round. With Jayasuriya to the duck, other end Upul Tharanga for 4 runs ,created the links for the rest of the team to go out. They haven’t a good plan or they didn’t use the plan. They thought big ones will bring more marks forgetting to be in the ground without giving any more wickets. If any one did that, the result won’t be the same!

England tour!

T-20 is gone. With learning from the past, prepare for the future. England tour will begin from next month. Lot of hard work to do escape from the poor situation now in. In these days England team is not much better as out of the torment so early. Sri Lanka has the chance to get profit from the situation.

If you want to see the England – Sri Lanka matches schedule in October,Or more information regarding cricket or sports,
http://cricketschedule.blogspot.com

Is Australia good enough to be in the TOP of the world.

If we use something unusual to win a game , others tell we are cheaters. So Adam Gilchrist used to have a Golf ball (broken) in his glove, when the last World Cup went on. Is he using it right now again? He has said that ball have given some more power to hit. If it’s real, Some fours come down to 2 or 3 runs. Sixes must be less than six likes four or less than four….
Another thing is some people who head some important positions feel “Open batmen’s of the Australia team are using some drugs, if not so , why anyone else can’t bats like them.”

Then, there are some rumors , Australia isn't good enough to play a genuine game. We can't come to conclusion that is same. Some times excellent people have been blamed by jealous ones, if so, Australia well be get rid of the rumors.

What do you think,
Is Australia team genuine ?

Twenty20 - With Sanath Jayasuriya

2007-09-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

Some times win ! Some times lost ! That's the game of our life !Not always on the TOP ! ,

Now it's the second round of World Twenty20 cricket world cup. The game between Sri Lanka and Pakistan is over with breaking the hearts of all Sri Lankan cricket lovers. For the 1st time , Sri Lanka lost in the T20 world cup.Every one want to see Sanath Jayasuriya's batting than anyone else . Is it a good sign ?

Sanath Jayasuriya Factor,

In 4 overs , Sanath has given them more than 64 runs, so he was unable to make runs to the score. The one who had made the winning of last 2 games , was in a big trouble in bawling and batting.He is a top class cricketer in from any kind of games, like Test, One day or T-20 etc.with unbelievable records. Then, anyone don't have the right to blame him in such a tiny fault with comparing his past.jayasuriya , 38 of age with good fitness to the game , must remain till next Worl cup, that comes after next 3 years. Wait and see what will happen in the next games , Will Jayasuriya be able to keep his reputation ( That'll never last anyway) in next Twenty20 matches ?
Only the time tells !

CSA Charge Bosman

2007-09-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

Cricket South Africa seems set on supplementing their potential income over the next few weeks by fining their players. With just days to go before the opening match of the T20 World Cup between South Africa and the West Indies there seems to be no end in sight to the battle between the players and administrators in the game in South Africa.

Following on from the Jacques Kallis saga, which lead to Mark Boucher being fined half his match fee from every game he plays in the forthcoming competition for speaking out against the omission of Kallis, to Andrew Hall making himself unavailable for South Africa and rumours of him signing up for the ICL, comes the news that Loots Bosman has been charged by CSA for breaching CSA's rules and conduct.

Bosman, the South African opening batsman, was withdrawn from the T20 squad on the basis of a back injury he sustained when he crashed into an advertising board in Zimbabwe. Bosman responded to his withdrawal in a newspaper article which appeared in the Beeld on Wednesday where he said

"I am fine, ask my physiotherapist in Bloemfontein who treated me last week. I am very, very, disappointed. Mickey [Arthur] tells too many lies."

Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, responded to Bosmans claims that the CSA's medical advice was suspect in the same article, saying

"It is understandable that he would be disappointed," said Arthur, "but his reactions are very immature and I am disappointed how he has handled this."

Bosman has been one of the leading Pro20 batsman in South African domestic franchise cricket with an impressive average of 32,33 in 23 matches at a strike rate of 147,93 including a top score of 104 and 3 fifties. His international T20 record is as impressive with an average of 38,5 in 3 matches and a top score of 53 not out. As one of the most experienced 20/20 players in South African cricket Bosman was expected to play a major role in the upcoming tournament for the host nation. He has been replaced in the squad by fast bowler Andre Nel.

The replacement of a batsman by a fast bowler is suspect given the nature of things between CSA and the players. While many had been hoping that Jacques Kallis would be the man called up to replace Bosman, the more obvious and warranted choice would have been Morne van Wky. The Eagles batsman, and franchise team mate of Bosman, has been the domestic limited over and Pro20 batsman of the season over the last few seasons, and was unlucky not to be included in the initial squad. Following South Africa's warm up series in Zimbabwe it was decided that the the bowling lacked an edge and the opportunity to call up Nel was taken at the earliest opportunity.

Another view on the Nel call up could be that he has been included to ensure he does not follow in the footsteps of Andrew Hall who resigned from the national team following his exclusion from the T20 squad. Nel and Hall were South Africa's best bowlers at the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year.

There is clearly problems in South African cricket, with mistrust and lack of communication between the players and administrators causing new problems each week. The South African cricket team will have to come together in spite of this if they are to win the T20 World Cup in the coming weeks, and unite the team and country, and forget about their problems - for a couple of weeks at least.

Hall Quits - Joins ICL?

2007-09-03T04:23:00.000-07:00

IN the latest episode of the soap opera that is Cricket South Africa Andrew Hall, the Proteas all rounder, has quit international cricket, and is expected to sign with the rebel Indian Cricket League.

Following on from the drama of the Jacques Kallis exclusion from the T20 squad, and his resignation as vice captain following the announcement, and the subsequent fine imposed on Mark Boucher for speaking out against the Kallis omission, these are turbulent times at CSA.

While it seems Hall's decision is impetuous, a reaction, like Kallis, to be left out of the T20 squad (and Abdul Razzaq of Pakistan who also retired on being left out of their squad) the recent spat of events suggests more than just the players bruised ego's and perhaps a cricket board that does not have the players trust or respect. In Halls case he was called back early from his stint at Kent in County Cricket to prepare for the T20 World Cup, and was then left out of the squad and sent on an SA "A" tour to Zimbabwe. In a recent TV interview following the squad announcement and the Kallis saga Joubert Strydom, the new convener of selectors, said that the team had been decided almost a month before the announcement, and the decision to "rest" Kallis had been made then. If this is the case then why was Hall called back from Kent if they already knew he wouldn't be in the squad? Even if he were to be standby for the squad, should someone fall out, surely playing County Cricket would be more beneficial to him and SA then a couple of four day games against Zimbabwe?

This seems to be another case of ill treatment to a player who has always given his all for his country. Hall had become the new Boeta Dippenaar of South African squad, in and out of the team irrespective of performance, and never sure of his place, no matter how much he merited it. In all Hall played 21 Test matches and 88 ODI's for South Africa. In both Tests and ODI's he batted almost everywhere in the order, from opening the innings to number 9 or 10, and had his best results as an opening batsman. his top scores of 81 against Sri Lanka in ODI's and 165 in Tests against India were both made at the top of the order. Initially a batting allrounder in the ODI team, Hall has become more of a bowling allrounder in the last few seasons, and has established himself as one of the best death bowlers in world cricket. Hall picked up 45 Test and 95 ODI wickets.

Hall looks set to join former team mates Nicky Boje and Lance Klusner in signing up for the ICL, but while they had both been retired from international cricket for some time, Hall becomes the first player to actively retire to join the rebel league. This would reinforce the suggestion of his disillusionment with CSA. The Titans franchise team are looking into recruiting hall for the forthcoming domestic season.

Proteas Beat Zimbabwe

2007-08-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

South Africa laboured to a 5 wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the first of three ODI matches being used as a warm up to next T20 World Cup.

Although South African never looked like doing anything but winning this match, the manner in which they did told of a side that hadn’t played much cricket in months. The bowling was solid, the fielding very good, and the batting did the job required, but it all lacked inspiration. Although many will argue that the laboured performance was worrying, it was actually exactly what these matches in Zimbabwe were pencilled in for - to rid the team of any cob webs, allowing them to be ready for the T20 show piece.

An inept batting performance by the Zimbabwe top and middle order saw them at 72-7 and in danger of losing the match before lunch. But a spirited lower orde fightback by Chigumbura and Brent helped them past 200, and a degree of respectability. The innings began with some impressive stroke play by Sibanda, but like the rest of the top order he got out just when he started to look like he would give the South Africans something to think about. He edged a ball from Pollock to Smith, who took a brilliant catch low to his right. After that the wickets fell regularly, with an alarming 5 run outs, much to do with the Zimbabwean indecision as with the South African fielding. Taibu, on his return to Zimbabwean cricket, offered a brief glimmer of hope, but that was snuffed out as he fell for 22 to the impressive Morne Morkel, making his South African ODI debut. It was left to Chigumbura and Brent to rescue the Zimbabwe innings, and each batted carefully at first and then opened up a bit, both reaching half centuries, Brent being undefeated as the innings closed on 206. Chigumbura, who batted well in the Afro Asia series, has shown enough to suggest that he needs to move up the order if Zimbabwe are to be competitive in the future. He is able to grind out runs as well as find the boundary, and it is with him that the Zimbabwe future lies.

For South Africa, Pollock was his steady self, and nothing less can be expected of the old pro, finishing with 1/25 in 8 overs. However it was the bowling of debutant Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, playing his third ODI, that will have pleased the selectors the most. Morkel, bowling at first change, has the type of controlled aggression that usually comes with experience. He is able to bowl quick while remaining economical at the same time. A weapon that will surely be utilised much more in the future. Giving South Africa a strike bowler who does not leak runs. Philander, who impressed in his first two games against Ireland and India in May, and who was named player of the tournament at the emerging players tournament in Australia recently, topping both the batting and bowling tables, continued to suggest he may be a leading player for South Africa in the present and not just the future. He picked up 2 early wickets in his spell, and was bowling when Zimbabwe slipped from 67-2 to 72-7. His economical bowling saw his figures after his first spell read 2/4 from 6 overs. He returned to bowl at the death where he conceded 11 runs in 2 overs.

On the batting side, there were half centuries from Smith, debutant Bodi, and de Villiers, who slipped down the order to four. Smith rarely looked comfortable, seeming to be under the weather, yet still managed to score his 50 off just 57 balls. Bodi, although far from the fluid, boundary hitting, batsman of domestic cricket, played some elegant flicks and lofted shots, and will be pleased with his debut performance. De Villiers looked the most comfortable at the crease and until he ran himself out never looked in any trouble against the Zimbabwean attack. It was left to Pollock and Philander to see South Africa home, winning with 2 boundaries in succession from Philander with 22 balls and 5 wickets to spare.

Although the performances of Morkel, Philander, Bodi and de Villiers will have pleased the South Africans, there is much they need to do to improve, to reach the higher standard that they aim for, and build momentum to next months tournament. They have two more matches this weekend to iron out any kinks and to give time out in the middle to their squad. For Zimbabwe, they’ll just be hoping to remain competitive.

Boucher In Trouble

2007-08-16T03:45:00.001-07:00

Mark Boucher, the South African wicket keeper, is set to appear before a disciplinary board after recent remarks he made in a newspaper article regarding the exclusion of Jaques Kallis from the T20 squad. Upon his exclusion Kallis resigned as vice captain and questioned his future in the national team.

Bouchers remarks in the Business Day allude to non cricketing reasons behind Kallis omission from the squad.

"

It is either those who have an issue with him, and have a chip on their shoulders, or those who have ulterior motives."

"He's the best allrounder we've ever had and he's saved more [limited overs] games than anyone realises - and he is a far better one-day player than he is given credit for."

Boucher will appear at a hearing on Friday.

Taking into account the reasoning by the selectors, at least in public anyway, for Kallis omission, that they want him rested for the long, tough, season ahead, it is worth considering a few points. Firstly Pakistan, India and New Zealand have not included their best Test batsmen either. Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Mohammed Yusuf and Stephen Fleming have all been left out of their squads and been given an extended break in order to get more from them in Test and ODI cricket in the coming season. There is also a case for Flemings exclusion on the basis that it allows a more comfortable transition of the captaincy to Vettori. Yet none of these other players have put up a fuss (Pakistans Abul Razzaq criticized his omission but it appears that he is being dropped and not rested.) If Kallis is being rested due to the heavy workload he carries within the test and ODI teams, then why aren't Pollock and Ntini being afforded the same break? Clearly Kallis wanted to be involved so its not a case of a player opting out or being happy with a few more weeks of golf. If the argument was that Kallis is not suited to T20 cricket then what of Ntini? He doesn't offer anything with that bat and has bowled 30 balls in international T20 games and gone for 65 runs without taking a wicket. A record that suggests that he shouldn't be in the squad. Ntini has carried the Test and ODI attack for a couple of seasons now and perhaps his lack of form at the World Cup was because of to much cricket. Perhaps he to should have been rested. While it may be seen to most as a childish reaction by Kallis, and perhaps it is, it's still not a bad thing to have a player so upset about being left out, even when assured he isn't be dropped. A player who has scored over 8000 Test runs, over 9000 ODI runs and has taken over 200 wickets in Test and ODI cricket who has nothing to prove to anyone yet still gets this upset about not being selected for the least serious, least important form of the game? Surely that cant be the worst thing.

By all accounts Kallis lead the team in Ireland admirably, especially with his dealing with the young players, Philander, Duminy and Tshabalala, both on and off the field, so there is a strong desire to retain him as vice captain. Lets hope that happens.

Kallis Quits as Vice Captain

2007-08-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

Following his omission from the South African T20 squad Jacues Kallis has stepped down as vice captain of the ODI and Test teams, raising doubts about his future.

Kallis, one of the finest all rounders in history, expressed his disappointment at being left out of the T20 squad when issuing his vice captaincy resignation.

"I have resigned as vice-captain and I'm considering my options with regard to the rest of my career," Kallis said. "I have been thinking long and hard over the weekend and there is still a lot of emotion involved because I am extremely disappointed. I was very excited about the tournament and hoping to make a huge contribution.

"I feel I have a lot of good cricket left and my best years might even be ahead of me. Ideally I would like to play many more years for my country but this weekend caused me to question my future for the first time."

The timing of this suggests that Kallis made the decision based on emotion rather then thought, and it is hoped that he changes his mind, particularly by CSA chief executive Gerald Majola.

While there is no doubting his class and ability there has long been debate amongst South African fans about Kallis position in the ODI team, when some regarding his run scoring on the slow side. However, with cricket in general moving towards a more aggressive approach to batting, Kallis has upped his strike rate considerably over the last season or so, and has maintained his position as the linchpin in the Proteas batting line up.

While Kallis has shown a more aggressive streak in ODI's he still tends to take a few over to play himself in before cutting loose. With this in mind, and the fact that you have less time to play yourself in in T20 cricket, the feeling is that Kallis best role would be opening the innings. Here he could take an over or two to gain a feel for the pitch and bowling, before opening up. However with Graeme Smith, Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers and Gulam Bodi already competing for the two openers births (one really with Smith guaranteed one of the positions) the likelihood of this happening were slim. While Kallis has played 6 T20 games, both internationally and domestically, the likes of Bosman and Bodi have played over 20, giving them far more experience and expertise in this form of the game.

New chairman of selectors, Joubert Strydom, has put forward the taxing schedule over the next 18 months as the reason for Kallis being rested, and not dropped. Over this period South Africa travel to Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, England and Australia, and with this in mind the selectors felt it prudent to give Kallis a longer rest so as to come back refreshed and able to better handle the rigours of being am all rounder and the batting back bone of the team.

Kallis decision, though brash and immature (in terms of timing and not his person) clearly outlines the disappointment he feels at missing out on this inaugural tournament, being hosted by his country. While this can be understood and sympathised with, the rest that he will gain will benefit the test and ODI team, and Kallis himself, bringing a rested, focused and driven Kallis to the field for a tough season ahead. One that ends with a series against Australia. Kallis omission may be the best thing for his game, and the hopes of South Africa's team in the long run.

Concentration

2007-08-11T13:55:00.001-07:00

A study of concentration. Zaheer Khan has been one of the stars of the recent test series. Confidence, competitiveness and success can be a very heady mixture and it will be interesting to see if it carries over into the maelstrom of the one day game.

Kallis Left Out

2007-08-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

South Africa announced their 15 man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, to be held in South Africa, in September. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the exclusion of Jacques Kallis, who had been named as vice caption when the 30 man provisional squad was announced last month.

While Australia chose to send the basically the same team that had done duty for them in the Caribbean World Cup, with the exception of the now retired Glenn Mcgrath, the South African team sees 7 players included who did not make the trip to the West Indies. While Australia have gone the root of seeing limited over players as limited over players, be it in a 50 over game or 20 over game, the South Africans have chosen a squad geared towards the shortest form of the game. This would explain the exclusion of Kallis, one of the finest all rounders in the history of the game, who's game is perhaps least suited to T20 cricket. Kallis has in the past shown that he is capable of playing an aggressive innings, as he did against the West Indies in the World Cup, but he still needs a few overs to play himself in, a luxury that is not available as much in T20 cricket. So Kallis will have a longer rest to gear him up for a long season that begins with a tough tour to Pakistan almost immediately after the tournament ends.

In Golam Bodi, JP Duminy, Johan van der Wath, Albie and Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Thandi Tshabalala, all of whom did not go to the World Cup, the Proteas have chosen players to give them more options, and fire power, players suited and tested in the quick smash and grab game. Bodi, an attacking opening batsman, has been rewarded for his domestic performances in Pro 20 cricket over the last few seasons, and should be given his chance at some stage of the 2 week tournament. Duminy, a stylish, stroke playing middle order batsman, has played ODI's for South Africa, and gives them the option of spin as well. In van der Wath, Albie Morkel and Vernon Philander South Africa have some hard hitting batsman, capable of clearing the boundaries at will, as well as seam and swing bowling options. All three should play apart with bat and ball for the Proteas. Morne Morkel, the tall fast bowler, gives the attack the raw pace and aggression, that can complement Pollocks perfect line and length, while having the added bonus of being pretty economical as well. Morkel should find himself in the South African Test and ODI squads soon.

Andre Nel, Charl Langeveld, Ashwell Prince, Andrew Hall, Robin Peterson, Roger Telemachus miss out from the team that left for the West Indies in March. Andrew Hall can perhaps count himself unlucky as his economic death bowling could have been an advantage, however in Pollock, Ntini, van der Wath, Morne Morkel, Albie Morkel, and Philander the selectors probably feel they have enough variation and options in the pace bowling department. Another player who can count himself unlucky not to make the team is Morne van Wyk, who has been the outstanding domestic batsman in Pro 20 cricket over the last few years, and did well against India and Ireland in May, when deputising for the injured Smith. Again the numbers where not in his favour this time as the batting line up looks particularity imposing, with Smith, de Villiers, Bosman, and Bodi all competing for the openers birth.

The squad has met the racial targets set out by CSA, of 7 from 15 non white players, and has not been weakened at all. All the players there are selected on merit, and any 11 chosen from these 15 will be hard to beat. South Africa will go into the tournament confident of winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.

Sri Lanka Cricket hits back at Bedi

2007-08-09T20:25:00.001-07:00

Media manager hints at possible legal action against the former Indian skipper for his outburst

Sri Lanka Cricket officials yesterday hit back former Indian test captain Bishan Singh Bedi over his alleged comment that Sri Lanka’s champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is a “monster” setting wrong precedent to youngsters.

Sri Lanka Cricket’s media manager Samantha Algama said that they are “greatly disappointed and concerned” by the statements made by Bedi and added that Sri Lanka Cricket sincerely believes that appropriate action should be taken by the authorities to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Hinting at possible legal action by the spinner, Algama said “Sri Lanka Cricket will support any and all efforts by Muralitharan to take corrective action in the matter” in a written statement sent to “Daily Mirror”, referring to our lead story yesterday, where Bedi was quoted.“While SLC respects the right of individuals to form their own opinion regarding the matter of illegal bowling actions; we feel that Mr.Bedi's comments are defamatory and are intended to cause harm to Mr.Muralitharan's reputation, his achievements and also disparages the ICC's ruling on the said matter.” Algama added.

Explaining the matter further, Algama stated “Mr.Muralitharan's bowling action has been scrutinized time and again by bowling experts, bio-mechanical experts and medical experts and has been found to be within the laws of the game. Furthermore, the ICC has also set in place procedures that deal with suspected illegal actions. Mr. Bedi should be aware of these procedures and processes.”

“It is irresponsible for a person of Mr.Bedi's stature in the game to make such public comments where he has clearly attacked the personal integrity of Mr.Muralitharan and the technical competency of the ICC. Mr.Bedi has needlessly, unfairly and deliberately targeted Mr.Muralitharan in his vituperative outburst.” Algama’s statement added.

Murali will take legal action against Bedi says manager

Muttiah Muralitharan’s manager Kushil Gunasekara in a statement to “Daily Mirror” yesterday said that the champion spinner will take legal action against Bedi’s comments shortly. Following is Gunasekara’s statement.

I refer to the media publication that appeared in the Daily Mirror of 9th August 2007 pertaining to the repulsive comments made by Mr Bishan Singh Bedi which is of a very serious defamatory nature to bring disrepute and tarnish the impressive image of Mr Muttiah Muralidaran.

It is no surprise that the ugly behaviour and unjustified allegations made by Mr Bishan Singh Bedi depicting more of a personal attack coincides with Murali’s attempt to achieve the highest number of test wickets by any bowler in the history of the game in the not too distant future.

The legal team of Mr Muttiah Muralidaran will shortly institute legal action against Mr Bishan Singh Bedi in view of the sordid and ghastly manner in which he has condemned by way of a severe character assassination to undermine Mr Muttiah Muralidaran’s magical art of spin bowling.

Strong SA A Team for Zimbabwe

2007-08-09T02:33:00.001-07:00

Boeta Dippenaar will lead a strong South Africa A team in two 4 day games in Zimbabwe over the next 2 weeks.

The squad contains a host of players with international experience and seems to be a combination of fringe and current full squad members.

The inclusion of Andre Nel, Charl Langeveld, Andrew Hall. Ashwell Prince, Paul Harris and Hashim Amla, all usually members of the Test squad, seems to suggest that they wont be part of the Twenty20 World Cup squad due to be announced in Cape Town on Saturday. If they were part of that squad then surely they would be in Cape Town this weekend and not playing in Zimbabwe?

So if we can guess that those picked for these matches will almost certainly miss out on selection for the Twenty20 squad then Morne van Wyk can count himself very unlucky to be in Zimbabwe. While his inclusion may indicate that he is in the minds of the selectors for Test selection, the fact that he has been the outstanding batsman in domestic Pro 20 should have surely guaranteed his selection for Septembers show piece. At the same time the exclusion of Vernon Philander seems to suggest that he will make Saturdays squad selection.He should be a very exciting, useful option during the tournament.

While noting that the likes of Nel, Hall, Amla, Prince, Harris and Langeveld have been included to get their season off to a start, with a series to Pakistan following directly after the Twenty20, another interesting observation is the spin options in the 14 man squad. Paul Harris, who played in the last Test series against India, in joined by Johan Botha as well as spin options from Imran Khan and Justin Ontong. So while the selectors must be applauded for attempting to rectify South Africas well known spin problem we have to ask why Thandi Tshabalala has not been included? If he is seen as the future of South African spin bowlers then surely he needs as much exposure as possible before being included in the Test squad? This is what A team's are for.

The selectors have also stated that Neil Mckenzie was not selected as they feel his stint with Somerset in County Cricket would benefit him more. Thus allaying any fears that Mckenzie was once again over looked and is not in their plans.

The full squad is: Boeta Dippenaar (capt), Yusuf Abdullah, Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Imran Khan, Charl Langeveldt, Andrè Nel, Justin Ontong, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Thami Tsolekile (wk), Mornè van Wyk.

Sri Lankan players too approached to play in the ICL

2007-08-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

A wealthy rebel league in India seems set to take Sri Lankan cricket by storm as several top players have been approached to join the lucrative series, sources said yesterday.
The Indian Cricket League promoted by Zee Telefilms, the country's largest lmedia group, features six teams that will play Twenty20 matches across India. Each team in the league, which has not been recognized by the International Cricket Council or the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will have four international players, two Indian stars and eight up-and-coming players.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources said several players were privately approached by agents during a series here with Bangladesh, but that the SLC would not allow any contracted players to join the rebel league.

"If they go ahead and join the league, the result would be similar to the 1982 rebel tour to South Africa," an SLC source said. Fourteen Sri Lankan cricketers led by Bandula Warnapura were banned for 25 years in 1982 for playing in the South African series.

But press reports here said that retired Russel Arnold has accepted the offer and is negotiating with the new league. Arnold was not available for comment. At least two other Sri Lankan star players have been offered contracts ranging from US$500,000 to US$600,000 for each of the three years in the playing contract.

Indian Cricket League in contact with 60 international players

2007-08-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Former England captain Tony Greig and Indian Cricket League representative claimed recently that the breakaway league was in contact with 60 international players.

With the likes of West Indian Brian Lara already signing for the Twenty20 competition and ex-Australian Glenn McGrath already expressing his desire to be a part of the competition, there seems to be a plan to rope in several star cricketers.
ICL is offering up to $2.3million for a three-year contract to certain stars with the original contracts known to include a loyalty payment, and anybody who hesitates will find their payments reduced if they try to get back on board later, a FOX Sports report added.
The powerful Indian cricket board has made it clear that it will impose life bans on any of its international players or youngsters who are associated with the ICL. The board is determined to spoil the breakaway competition.

Racial Targets to be Met

2007-08-08T03:48:00.000-07:00

Cricket South Africa has stated that racial targets will have to be met for the fast approaching Twenty20 World Cup, which South Africa will host, in September.

What this means is that, just as in the World Cup in the Caribbean, 7 of the 15 members of the World Cup squad will have to be non-white. While the rest of the world may not share the same problem, South African cricket has to take into account the injustices of its countries history and attempts to bring parity to the playing fields, to have a team that represents the people of the country. That is a fact that South Africans have to come to terms with and stop quibbling about. While I have always maintained that quota's, or targets, should be used at domestic level and not at international level, the reality is that the system is here to stay - for now at least.

What South African, and world fans in general, must not mistake is the quality of the players selected. The non-white players, although meeting targets, are not of a sub standard to their white team mates. Ntini has lead the bowling attack in both limited and test cricket for a number of years now, Prince has been the most consistent Test batsman of the last 2 years, and Hashim Amla's run scoring at domestic level over the last few years has demanded a place in the test team. Saying that the non white players are in the team based on colour is an insult to them and the system.

The problem arises however in the strict meeting of those targets. By saying that we have to have 7 rather than we would like to have 7 the selectors are harming the game at this level. In the recent World Cup the target was met, with Roger Telemachus being the 7th player. Telemachus is good enough to play at this level, and can do a job for the team, however he did not play a single game at the event. That isn't the problem, Australia didn't utilise every member of their squad, as most other teams did, but the problem comes with the players left behind. Johan van der Wath is good enough to make the first eleven never mind the touring 15, yet when he is continuously left behind because he is fighting for 8 places and not 15, he must begin to think of his future. Continuously being overlooked must make Kolpak a very appealing avenue. Morne van Wyk was given a chance on South Africa's recent tour to Ireland, where he showed he was ready for international cricket. If he subsequently gets over looked after that, not to mention him being the outstanding domestic batsman of recent seasons in all forms, he too will begin to think of a future in England. The flaws in the system mean that if South Africa continue to overlook their talent they will lose them, and the England team in a few years could be all South African.

The signs that the system are working, and don't need to be rushed, are there. At the recent Emerging players tournament in Australia, which was won by South Africa, Vernon Philander topped both the batting and bowling tables, JP Duminy and Alviro Pieterson featured highly on the batting side, and Yusuf Abdullah on the bowling. So if the talent coming through is a representative mixture of white and non white then surely in a few years the full team will be too, irrespective of targets? There is only danger in rushing through such a sensitive system. The players want to believe that they are the best, and not that they are numbers in a target game. That sort of thinking set back the career of a promising player like Justin Ontong, and although he is beginning to fulfill his undoubted potential, can not be allowed to happen again.

South Africa is in the unenviable position of having to marry sport and politics, a combination that does not go together well. If the country and people are to move forward, if they are to be the best, they must hold on to their pool of talent. Targets should be a goal and not set in stone. The best players will come through the system and targets will be met - they should not be forced.

Philander Stakes a Claim

2007-08-03T04:33:00.000-07:00

The South African Emerging team successfully defended the title they won last year by defeating New Zealand in this years final in a competition that also included emerging teams from India and the hosts, Australia.

While the South African team can be pleased with their performances, and the experience gained by some of its younger players, the most pleasing aspect of the tour was the prolific form of all rounder Vernon Philander.

They say the true measure of an all rounder, a genuine all rounder, is if he is able to hold his place in the team as both a batsman and a bowler, and not a batsman who bowls a bit or a bowler who can bat, as is the case of many of the “all rounders” in cricket today. Philander, who made his international debut in South Africa’s recent short series in Ireland, provided his credentials as an all rounder by topping both the batting and bowling tables at the tournament. In 6 matches Philander bowled 48 overs and 5 balls, taking 13 wickets at an average of 9,15. He topped the wickets taken, best average, and best economy tables. His economy rate of 2,43 was by far the best and showed that he was able to stem the run rate as well as take wickets when called upon to bowl his fast medium seamers. In the 6 matches Philander, batting in the middle order, was called upon to bat 4 times, and ended not out on 2 occasions. He scored 141 runs at an average of 70,50, the best average of the tournament, and a strike rate of exactly 100.

Philanders all round ability, and the experience he is not getting, is a shining light for South African cricket. It has been suggested that Philadner is one of the players who is seen as a potential replacement for Shaun Pollock, when the great Polly calls it a day, but on current form there is no reason that he should not be in the team with Pollock right now. It can do his young, growing, career no harm to be taken under the wings of Pollock and Kallis at this stage of his development. With bat or ball in hand, Vernon Philander, and South African crickets, future looks b

South Africa Name 30 Man Twenty20 Squad

2007-07-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

South Africa have named their 30 man provisional squad for Septembers inaugural 20/20 World Cup, a tournament that they will play host to.

The squad, which will be trimmed to 15 next month, contains no real surprises. Graeme Smith, who missed the recent trip to Ireland, returns as captain, with Jacques Kallis stepping down to his usual role as vice captain.

After much has been made of South Africa's lack of variation in the Caribbean World Cup the selectors have included 8 players who could offer a spin option in the 30 man squad. Robin Peterson, who was the only front line spinner in the world cup squad, is included after being dropped for the Irish tour. Thandi Tshabalala, who travelled to Ireland is also included, as is Johan Botha, who is currently captaining an Emerging Players team in Australia, a team that also includes Gulam Bodi, JP Duminy, Morne Morkel, Justin Ontong, Alviro Peterson, Vernon Philander and Tshabalala.

Hard hitting all rounder Johan van der Wath makes a deserved recall to the squad, but whether or not the selectors pick him for the final 15 only they know. A player of his all round ability and talent should be in all South African squads, however if they past few selections have been anything to go by the selectors may not pick him. Lets hope they are brave enough to realise they have been wrong in not selecting van der Wath and pick him this time, giving him an extended run to cement a place in the future ODI team. With Justin Kemp seemingly playing as a batsman and not the all rounder role that he has been picked for it is time that van der Wath and Vernon Philander are given a run in the team.

With this being South Africa there is more to any national selection that purely picking the best available players. There are 14 players of colour in the 30 man squad, all of whom are there by merit and not simply for the colour of their skin, and this should placate any political interference.

While the squad may be the initial 30 man selection, and will be halved next month, it is encouraging to note the Neil Mckenzie has been included. Mckenzie has been out of the national fold for some time now, and despite strong domestic performances has been over looked time and time again, with the selectors seemingly discarding him to the past. He has now been rewarded with selection, but lets hope that they intend to give him a fair chance at making the 15 man team, and any future ODI and Test squads, and that this is not just a transparent attempt to quieten their detractors.

The full squad is: Graeme Smith (capt), Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, Loots Bosman, Gulam Bodi, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Paul Harris, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Neil McKenzie, Albie Morkel, Mornè Morkel, Andrè Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn, Roger Telemachus, Alfonso Thomas, Thandi Tshabalala, Johan van der Wath, Mornè van Wyk

Rhodes Still A Protea

2007-07-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

After speculation linking him with both England and Sri Lanka, Jonty Rhodes is to stay on as fielding coach for South Africa.

Rhodes, regarded by many as the best fielder in the world during his playing days with South Africa, had only been contracted by Cricket South Africa until the Cricket World Cup in March/April. Since then
many online sports betting interests have been speculating as to whether or not he would be retained by the South African cricket team, with Jonty himself saying that much owed to what his family thought of him spending time away touring with the team. After the arrival of his ex team mate, and close friend, Alan Donald, to the England coaching set up, it was believed that Jonty could follow, becoming England's
permanent fielding coach, a position they have not filled since Trevor Penney left to assist Tom Moody in Sri Lanka in 2005. There was also talk of Sri Lanka looking to recruit Rhodes as new coach Trevor Bayliss assistant coach. Rhodeshas distanced himself from such rumours by stating

"I can honestly say I have never received any offers from England," Rhodes
toldNews24.com. "Some time ago there was a rumour I was going to coach Sri
Lanka,but I was never approached by them either."

The South African coach, Mickey Arthur, has also reiterated the stance that Jonty will be part of his coaching stuff for the immediate future.

"Jonty has confirmed he's staying with us."and"He is an integral member of our
team and he is committed to staying withthe Proteas," Arthur said. "I don't know
where all these rumours start, butJonty's definitely with us. I hope we can
squash all these rumours"

So,at least with regard to Jonty Rhodes, South Africa will not be allowing one of its prized assets to be lost to a opposition cricket set up.

A Sad Loss

2007-07-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

The sad thing about the increasing number of test players in the world is that we have more heroes to morn.

Dilip Sardesai died this week at the age of 66. During a career spanning 11 years, Sardesai played 30 Tests and scored 2001 runs in 55 innings with an average of 39.23. Sardesai will be remembered for his performance during the tour of the West Indies in 1970-71 in which he scored a double hundred and two centuries to power India to a historic first-ever series victory in the Caribbean.

For every passing hero there are a lot of little boys, now middle aged men, who will have a fond memory of a quality player and their own excitable youth.

A Future Without Pollock

2007-06-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

For South African cricket fans a future without Shaun Pollock is one that fills many with dread. For a decade the red headed open bowler, and lower order batsman, has been the spearhead of the South African attack, as a strike bowler when he first came into the team, and as a miserly economic bowler, as the years have lessened his pace. The reality is that Pollock, as much as many would like to see, can go on forever, and the South African hierarchy have decided that this season will be used to assess Pollocks airs.

Pollock has responded to calls for his retirement time and time again, with wickets, a match winning economic spell, or some wonderful stroke play with the bat, yet even he knows that the time will soon come when he wont be the man called upon with either bat or ball by the South African captain. Pollock, who underwent minor foot surgery recently, has been left out of the squad that is playing in Ireland against the hosts and India. During the recent Afro/Asia series Pollock travelled as a batsman only, not bowling a single ball, and showed enough form and style to suggest that he could fashion a new role for himself in the team, as a batsman who bowls rather then as a bowler who bats. He scored his maiden ODI century and scored another undefeated 50 in the three match series. With Pollock resting back home in Durban, the South African selectors have called upon Cape Cobra's young all rounder Vernon Philander to make his debut in place of Polly. Indeed coach MickeyArthur made no secret of the plans to blood Pollocks successor over the coming season

"We need succession planning in key areas to ensure we have a pool
ofplayers who can play at this level. A guy like Shaun Pollock has given us
yeomanservice, but he needs to be managed through this season and a couple of
othersenior players do too," Arthur said.

"We've identified Vernon Philander as a possible back-up as anall-rounder,
along with Albie Morkel, who played in the Afro/Asia Cup, and RyanMcLaren and
Johan van der Wath, who I've been keeping an eye on in countycricket."

The interesting aspect of these comments is that they see Pollocks replacement as being an all rounder, rather then as an opening bowler. While Pollock is a genuine all rounder, and maybe should have been used higher up the batting order throughout his career, something he would have preferred, his role in the team in both test and ODI cricket has been primarily as an opening bowler. Yet the selectors tend to talk of Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn as the future opening bowlers and Philander, Albie Morkel, McLaren and van der Wath, as Pollocks successor. This clearly shows that although Polly has rarely been used up the order, they realise that his batting brings a balance to the lineup that would be missing if he were to be replaced by a bowler.

The idea to give these all rounders increased exposure so as not to have to start from the beginning when they eventually take over has merit so long as the selectors don't pigeon hole these players as Pollys replacement and exclude them for other jobs. A guy like Johan van der Wath could do a job as an opening bowler or first change, he swings the ball both ways, and as a devastating middle or lower order batsman, and should perhaps be in the team right now, alongside Polly. He is the man who should have come into the side when Klusner was left out and has been over looked for the last year. While there is potential in the other players, having them all compete for one place, and pushing someone like van der Wath down the pecking order, giving him limited exposure as they rotate these players, may be to the detriment of South African cricket.

The fact that, post World Cup, the selectors have an eye on the future, and wont be waiting until their hand is forced, suggests that South African cricket is looking forward, and while this can only benefit the team in the long run, lets hope the Pollock has a few more years left in him yet. South Africa's star all rounder is far from finished.

New Faces in Proteas Squad

2007-06-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

With South Africa embarking on a short ODI series in Ireland, where they will play one match against the hosts and three against India, the selectors having given a few fringe and up and coming players the chance to stake a claim for a place in the squad for the forth coming season. The squad sees Jacques Kallis lead a team without captain Graeme Smith, and all rounder Shaun Pollock, both are being rested, and sees five players called up who did not travel to the Caribbean for the World Cup. The new faces are; Morne Van Wyk, JP Duminy, Vernon Philander, Thandi Tshabalala and Dale Steyn.

A brief introduction follows of the new faces for those unfamiliar with South African cricket.

Morne van Wky

Morne opens the batting for his franchise team, the Eagles, in all forms of the game, but can operate anywhere in the top or middle order. He is a wicket keeper batsman, but whereas Boucher would be classed as a keeper who can bat, van Wyk would be a batsman who can keep. It is likely that, like AB de Villiers, another wicket keeper batsman, he will play as a batsman in this series, and will more than likely open the batting with de Villiers. He has played for South Africa before in an ODI, on the tour of England in 2003 he made his debut in the triangular series final, where South Africa were well beaten by England. Morne has a first class batting average of 39,15 with a top score of 200 not out, and a domestic limited overs average of 41,99 with a top score of 160 not out. van Wyk was recently named MTN Domestic Championship Cricketer of the Year, Standard Bank Pro20 Cricketer of the Year, and Domestic Players Player of the Year and the 2007 Mutual and Federal SA Cricket Awards evening.

JP Duminy

Duminy is a stylish top order batsman who has long been heralded as the future of South African batting. He has played 8 ODI's for South Africa with little success thus far, but much of his initial matches found him batting at number 8 or 9. He has a ODI average of 24 with a top score of 60. He bowls occasional off spin too, and has taken a ODI wicket. His first class record sees him with an impressive average of 50,86 and a top score of 169. Duminy has the potential and class to be a mainstay in the South African batting line up in both ODI and Test teams of the near future. His maturity belies his tender age and many will hope that this is the season when he takes the step up from promising player to established star. Duminy plays his domestic cricket in Cape Town for the Cobras. JP will join an Emerging players team for a series in Australia in July.

Vernon Philander

Duminy's Cape Cobra's team-mate, Vernon Philander, gets his first call up to the South African ODI team. Philander is an all rounder who really came to prominence with some fine displays with both bat and ball in the recent domestic season. Along with Johan van der Wath and Albie Morkel, Philander is seen as one of the potential successors to Shaun Pollock, when the ever green star all rounder decides to pack it in. Philander generally bowls at first change, but can open the bowling, while his batting is particularly effective in the middle order, but would not be out of place in the top order either. He is a particularly effective closer of an innings with the ability to find the boundaries and hit the ball far and hard. He has a first class average of 26,15 with the bat and a top score of 168, while his bowling average is an impressive 24,19 with 5/49 being his best. Philander. Vernon will be part of the Emerging team that heads to Australia in July.

Dale Steyn

Steyn is perhaps the best known of the new faces in the ODI squad due to his test exploits last season. A genuinely quick bowler, Steyn will add variety and aggression to an attack that was seen as predictable during the World Cup. Although far from the finished article the selectors will be hoping that he has the same impact that Malinga and Tait had during the World Cup, with a role as a strike bowler being earmarked, rather than a containing bowler. His job will be to take wickets, to strike early and to break partnerships. Steyn has played 11 Tests for South Africa, but has be unable to force his way into the ODI set up, only playing 4 ODI's. He has been picked for this series for his pace and South Africa will be counting on the added explosiveness to complement their reliable attack. Steyn is currently enjoying a spell at Warwickshire which should help to add to his experience and development. Steyn should be a regular in the Test team for the current and future seasons but will be hoping to break into the ODI team too. Should see the recent performances of Morne Morkel for the African team in the Afro Asia series as a spur to enhance his performances, with Morkel waiting to claim a place too.

Thandi Tshabalala

Tshabalala is the player that the public having been crying out to be included in the national team for over a season now. The young finger spinner is the fresh hope of a nation in need of a spinner for both the long and short version of the game. The public, and even the national team, have had little confidence in the spinners who have tried their luck for SA in the recent past. Tshabalala, although still young and inexperienced, is the player who hopes to change the nations fortunes, in terms of a quality spinner. He first came to the attention of those in South Africa 2 seasons ago in the Pro20 series. In a format that has been pretty severe on spin bowlers Tshabalala excelled, taking his record this season to 31 wickets in 23 games at an average of 14,35 and a strike rate of a wicket every 13,19 balls. His domestic limited over record sees him with an average of 27,42 and an economy rate of 4,65, very respectable figures and the bases for calls for his inclusion. The selectors have been wary to rush him into the tame, with the expectation on such young shoulders the fear is that a few bad performances against world class batsman could hinder his development rather than quicken it. The idea was to give him a few more seasons of domestic cricket to allow him to understand his game more and the role he has to play. The short series in Ireland was seen as an ideal time to give him exposure to international cricket without thrusting to much responsibility his way. As the only spinner in the squad Tshabalala seems guaranteed to make his ODI debut during the series. Tshabalala will join Duminy and Philander in the Emerging players tour to Australia

Fixtures

Sat 23 June Ireland v IndiaSun 24 June Ireland v SATue 26 June SA v IndiaFri 29 June SA v IndiaSun 1 July SA v India

Trevor Bayliss Appointed as New Sri Lanka Cricket Coach

2007-06-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

After a final interview held last evening at the Sri lanka Cricket headquarters in Colombo, the board decided to recruit former New South Wales coach Trevor Bayliss as next cricket coach of Sri Lanka cricket team. Bayliss will become the 5th Australian to coach a Sri Lanka team, after Dave Whatmore, Bruce Yardley, John Dyson and Tom Moody.

"Trevor came before a high powered committee comprising Aravinda de Silva, Sidath Wettimuny, Michael Tissera, Anura Tennekoon and Duleep Mendis, who were very impressed with his presentation," said Mr. Uplai Dharmadasa, the chairman of the interim commitee of Sri Lanka cricket, in a media briefing.

Bayliss was one of the names suggested to SLC for the position by Moody. The others included Terry Oliver, the Queensland coach, who was also a strong contender. He was interviewed a fortnight ago.

Testing un explored talent, was always been the success behind Sri Lanka cricket. When Dave Whatmore became the Sri Lankan coach, his name was never recognized in the Cricketing world. Tom Moody was never a "brilliant" cricketer, through out his career, and hardly secured a place in the team in many occasions. But, he left Sri Lanka with a reputation for being one of the most successful coaches in the world.

That's why, in one of my earlier blog posts I highlighted it's always good for Sri Lanka cricket to look for some new names from Australia, rather than looking for established international coaches like John Wright or Dave Whatmore.

Speaking to a local TV channel, Bayliss said "There's nothing much to change in present Sri Lanka change". How ever he mentioned that, he'll not hesitate to do some changes, if required. According to Sri Lanka Cricket, Bayliss will start working with Sri Lanka team starting from this August.

Ford Says No To India

2007-06-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

In another embarrassing blow to Indian cricket, Graham Ford, the former South African national coach, has turned down the offer of coaching the Indian national team in favour of remaining at Kent. It had been widely reported over the weekend that Ford had accepted the Indian job.

The final decision over who would take on the job was decided last week after presentations by the two candidates, Ford, and Englishman John Emburey, when it was decided that Ford was the man for the job. It is believed that Ford is the man that the players were in favour of, and that they, lead by captain Rahul Dravid, had been involved in getting Fords name high up the BCCI list of candidates. Form, a former coach of the South African national team as well as South African domestic side, the Dolphins, is believed to have come highly respected by former and current players including Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusner, all of whom played under Ford for both the Dolphins and South Africa. Ford was seen as being instrumental in bringing through the young Pollock, Klusner, Neil Johnson and Dale Benkenstein, in his Dolphins days, in a team that also included Rhodes, Andrew Hudson, Errol Stewart and the late Malcolm Marshall. He was in charge of the South African A team, captained by Benkenstein, before being named as Bob Woolmers assistant in the Protea's team. He replaced Woolmer after the '99 World Cup, and went on to win 9 out of 11 Test series during his spell in charge. It is felt in South Africa that there were political rather then cricketing reasons for his axing after a home and away series loss to Australia.

Ford was seen as the ideal replacement to the outspoken, disciplinarian, Greg Chappel, with his calm, understated style. He is widely regarded in both South Africa and England as one of the most astute, tactical coaches in the game, and it is clear to see why he was pursued by the BCCI. Whether they now decide to go with Emburey, or make a short term placement and begin the process again, is yet to be announced. After the reports that Ford had taken the job, and now the news that he has turned it down, the BCCI would like to ensure that this embarrassing situation is not repeated in the future.

"A Different Stroke" Blog Competition - June July 2007

2007-06-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here's your chance to win a copy of "The Official 2007 Cricket World Cup Review (DVD)" absolutely free! All you have to do is take part in "ADS Blog & Win!" competition for June & July.

Next three months, all international cricket teams are in full action after a short break since the world cup, so we got plenty of action from all over the world to talk here!

Let's get straight to the business. This is no joke or no scam. You will never (ever) have to pay anything, or have to buy anything from anyone to redeem the gift. Once you win it, it's all yours!

How to enter the competition?

Register on this site as a contributor, and just keep on blogging. Then you will automatically qualify for the competition, based on the rules mentioned below. (To register as a contrubutor, send an e-mail to cricketbloggers@gmail.com requesting the membership of this site)

Rules for the competition

What Posts are eligible for the competition?

1) Posts made by Administrative Contributors (Site Admins) are not considered for the competition. All the other contributors can take part.

2) Minimum of 10 posts (per contributor) are required, to be qualify for stand in the competition.

3) Posts should be labeled (tagged) as "ADS Competition June/July". (You can add this label, when you post it to the blogger. There's a space for you to tag your posts)

4) Posts should be original work by the author. You are allowed to copy & paste content from other blogs you own. But, you are not allowed to copy & paste content from 3rd party sources (Cricinfo, 3rd party blogs etc). Content will be validated through http://www.copyscape.com/ before announcing the final winner. If found, the winners content are copied from other sources, the next in the line with highest points will be announced as the winner.

How the points are awarded?

5) Two Points will be awarded for each of your posts. More you post, more points you earn.

6) Two Points each will be awarded, for every unique reader (Unique Google/Blogger ID), commenting on your eligible posts, during the period of competition. More the number of people commenting on your posts, more points you earn.

7) One Point each for every comment made on your eligible posts. So encourage your readers to engage in an ongoing conversation. More the number of comments on your posts, more you earn points.

Example: If John Doe make 20 comments on your post, you'll get 2 points for the unique reader John Doe, and 20 points for the comments he made, making it 22 points in total.

8) Ten Points each for referring new contributors to "A Different Stroke". These points will be awarded, only after the person you referred, complete his registration process, and enter at least 2 posts to the site. (You have to recommend new contributors, writing to cricketbloggers@gmail.com (from your registered e-mail with ADS), and copying the same mail to the person whom you are referring)

9) Following conditions are applicable for the points awarded on comments, and unique readers.

a) Only the comments made by a valid Google/Blogger account would be counted as points. Every one got a Google ID these days!

b) No points will be awarded for Anonymous comments. A strict rule

c) Comments made by the author of the original article, and the site Admins are not counted as points.

d) Site admins may dishonor certain comments, if they were found to be "spam" or not related to the topic. Comments similar to "nice post", "good work" etc (not limiting to these 2) will be taken as spam comments and be dishonored by the admins.

Other Terms & Conditions

10) The gift for this competition is ordered through cricshop.com and be delivered to you. Cricshop.com is no way in any kind of sponsorship or affiliation for this competition. The site admins will bare the entire cost of the gifts, and delivery costs.

11) In case, the cricshop.com doesn't have the announced product (gift for the winner) in their stock, (at the time of announcing the winner), the site admins will ask the winner to select an alternative product as the gift from cricshop.com, worth not more than £16.99 (Great Britain Pounds)

12) The competition is valid for posts made from 1st June to 31st July. At the end of July, site administrator(s) will count the points, based on the above competition rules and will decide the winner. Time to time, the latest standings of points table will be announced on the site.

13) There should be at least 15 contributors taking part in the competition, and they should have contributed at least 100 posts in total, at the end of competition period. If this condition is not satisfied, the competition will be extended to another month, (for the same gifts) until this condition is satisfied.

The winner will be announced before 15th of August. Site administrator(s) will contact the winners by e-mails, to arrange the delivery of the gift(s).

Few Tips to Take some advantage in the competition

1) Refer as much as new members. More they register with ADS, more points you earn. But please invite those people you personally know very well. No spamming please :-)

2) Invite as many as your friends, to comment on your posts.

3) Comment on the posts of other contributors, and encourage them to do the same on your posts. Though you will not earn any points for the comments you make on your own posts, you will earn points for the comments made by other contributors, on your posts.

4) Make shorter posts (about 500 to 1000 words), with topics encouraging for discussion among others.

Hope this is clear enough. Write to cricketbloggers@gmail.com at any time, to clarify anything unclear.

Depending on the success in responses from you all, the prices will be increased next time, and winners will be selected every month! So, give your 100% to get this going. Who knows, the next price would be a free ticket to watch a live cricket match, at any venue you wish!

Kallis to Captain in Ireland

2007-06-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

Jacques Kallis will captain the South African cricket team on their forthcoming series in Ireland, where they will play one match against the hosts and three against India. There are five players in the 14 man squad who did not travel to the Caribbean for the recently finished World Cup. Captain Graeme Smith and all rounder Shaun Pollock have both been rested after recent surgeries.

The changes to the squad are designed to give some players exposure to International cricket, to assess options, and to increase the pool of international players in the South African set up. There are two new caps in the squad, Eagles young spinner Thandi Tshabalala and Cobra's all rounder Vernon Philander. Cobra's batsman JP Duminy, Eagles wicket keeper/batsman Morne Van Wyk and Titans fast bowler Dale Steyn all return to the ODI team.

Van Wyk, who was the form batsman in the domestic four day, limited over and 20/20 cricket, is likely to play as a batsman rather than as Mark Bouchers deputy behind the stumps. He is able to bat anywhere in the top or middle order but generally opens the batting, particularly in limited over cricket. Van Wyk was the domestic player of the season in both forms of the game and there have been calls for his inclusion for a few years now. JP Duminy is a talented batsman who is held in high regard by many in the South African cricketing community and has played a few ODI games before but has never been given a sustained run in the team. His Cobras team mate, Vernon Philander, has shown good form and potential over the last few seasons with both bat and ball and earns his first call up on these grounds. The selection of the two new bowlers is particularly interesting. Steyn comes in for his raw pace and aggression. While there was a move to pigeon hole a player like Steyn as a Test bowler, with the idea that he may leak runs in ODI cricket with wayward bowling and field settings that would not protect him, the recent World Cup highlighted South Africa's lack of variation as well as the performances of strike bowlers like Shaun Tait for Australia, Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka, and Shane Bond of New Zealand, showed that there is a place for such bolwers in ODI cricket. His performances will be keenly watched. Tshabalala's inclusion is one that has been called for by the South African public for a year or so now. The young off spinner, who's action is modeled on that of Harbajahn Singh's, is seen as the hope and future of South African spin bowling. There is a feeling that although his inclusion will be welcomed for such a series, the selectors don't want to rush him into international cricket until they are certain he is ready for the step up. They are reluctant to rush him into the fold and risk him being found wanting, his confidence taking a dive, and his development a step backward. As he is the sole spinner in the squad it seems certain that he will play rather then just gain experience as a touring member.

There are still no places in the squad for Johan van der Waath and brothers Albie and Morne Morkel, the later two who are currently in India with the African team for the Afro-Asia series.The players who were part of the World Cup squad but have not been included, apart from the rested Smith and Pollock, are Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus and Robin Peterson.

Squad :Jacques Kallis (capt), Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Thandi Tshabalala, Morne van Wyk

First Donald, Now Jonty?

2007-06-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

Following fresh from the news that South African fast bowling legend, Alan Donald, was to be appointed as England's bowling consultant, comes the news that England are to approach another South African cricket legend, Jonty Rhodes, to be their fielding coach.

Donald is to join England on a 5 week consultancy basis, during the remainder of the West Indies series, and will then have his situation reassessed, and could be given the job full time. It now seems that new England coach, Peter Moores, is to move quickly in offering Jonty Rhodes the post as fielding coach. This would see Rhodes join the new coaching team of Moore's, former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower as his number 2, and Alan Donald as the bowling coach. Showing that Moore's wants the best men for the job and not necessarily the best English man.

The first man approached for the job as fielding coach was Trever Penney, who had worked with England in the past, but he turned the job down and took up a position with Western Australia. Rhodes, who had been working with the South African team, was only contracted up until the World Cup, and as he has not been offered, or asked for, a new contract from South Africa, Moores has identified him as the man for England.

Unless South Africa take these reports as a warning and tie down their man to a new contract, they could again lose one of their best assets to another international team. Although always seen as one of the best fielding teams in the world, Rhodes has been credited with lifting the bar again as South Africa have enjoyed fantastic fielding performances during the duration of his work with them.

Aussie crowds embarrass Moody

2007-06-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

Tom Moody, the former Sri Lanka coach, said he was embarrassed by the derogatory reaction and negative attention directed towards Muttiah Muralitharan by Australian crowds. Muralitharan's unorthodox bowling action came under scrutiny in Australia, where he was no-balled for a suspect action on two tours.

The treatment meted out by the crowds in reaction to these on-field episodes prompted him to boycott Sri Lanka's 2004 tour to Australia. John Howard, the Australian prime minister, joined the clamour by labelling Muralitharan a "chucker".

"As an Australian when I have been with the Sri Lankan team in Australia, or playing against them in the World Cup, it's the only situation we find in the whole of the cricketing world where we have this disgraceful slant on a cricketer," Moody told The Australian.

"My take on it, and I hope I'm right, and I've shared this with Murali, is that it's Australia's nature to show that response in a way of respect and acknowledgement of someone who is pretty special and unique".

Moody, who has taken up a coaching role with Western Australia, puts this attitude down to the competition between Muralitharan and Shane Warne, who finished his career as the world's leading wicket-taker with 708 Test victims. Muralitharan is second in the all-time list with 674 dismissals.

"They're protecting their own," Moody said. "Australia has produced the greatest legspinner of all time and Australians are very proud of that. There's that constant comparison between Warne and Murali, but I just think you cannot even begin to try and compare the two."

Muralitharan was first no-balled by Darrell Hair in the 1995 Boxing Day Test and Ross Emerson also called him in an ODI at Adelaide four years later. When the Sri Lankans walked off the field after the second incident, only an intervention by the respective boards and the ICC saved the tour.

Muralitharan's action was subsequently cleared under the ICC's 15-degree rule. He has toured Australia since his 2004 boycott and looks set to visit Australia again in November for a two-Test series.

Ford For India?

2007-06-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

Graham Ford has entered the race to be the next coach of the Indian cricket team. Ford previously coached South Africa, as well as working in South African domestic and English county cricket.

With Dav Whatmore being the only name mentioned it was widely believed that he would be named as coach in the coming weeks, however it has not been suggested that Graham Ford has entered the fray. It is believed that the Indian players initiated communication to try get the best man for the job, and with John Wright and Tim Moody already committed to jobs in Australia, the players began talking to other players and former players within the game. The name of Ford figured at the top of many peoples lists, and he received glowing recommendations from the likes of Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusner and Jonty Rhodes, all of whom worked with Ford at domestic and international level.

Ford gained prominence when he lead a young Natal team to the domestic double in South Africa during the 96-97 season. He helped bring through the likes of Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusner, Dale Benkenstein and Neil Johnson as well as working with Malcolm Marshall and Clive Rice. After leading a couple of South African A tours he was named as assistant to Bob Woolmer for the national team, before taking over the post after the 99 World Cup. South Africa won 9 of the 11 series he was in charge for before is axing after a disastrous tour of Australia, where it was felt that he paid the price for internal power games within South African cricket. Ford is widely acknowledged within the South African game as one of the most knowledgeable and tactically astute coaches in the game.

Woolmer Was Not Murdered?

2007-06-04T02:54:00.000-07:00

In what will be an embarrassing u-turn by Jamaican police authorities reports coming from British newspapers suggest that they will soon announce that Bob Woolmer was not murdered, but died of natural causes.

Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room the day after the Pakistan team he coached had lost to Ireland in a World Cup group match in March, effectively knocking the former World Cup winners out, and allowing the Irish, first timers at the global event, and made up primarily by part timers, to progress through to the Super 8 phase. With rumours of a sinister cause of death leading the front pages of many newspapers, the Jamaican police announced that after a post mortem they were now treating the death as murder. Suggestions that Woolmer was killed by an under ground match fixing mafia, by radical Muslim fans, and even suggestions that his own players were involved began to do the rounds.

With the case stretching for weeks and then months with no new leads the theory that Woolmer had died of natural causes began to gain momentum. An investigation by a UK Home Office pathologist who flew to Jamaica to help seems to have been the route of the change in direction of the case. It now seems that Woolmer died of heart failure caused by chronic ill health and possibly diabetes. Woolmer was not in good health and the stress of the failure of his much hyped team, and the possible reactions and reprecautions, may have played a hand in his death.
The results of a 3rd pathology report should be known soon, but are expected to back up those of the 2nd report, that Woolmer was not murdered, but died of natural causes. The broken bone in his neck, which was behind many suggestions that he had been strangled, is now believed to have been caused by his fall.

While speculation and rumour have lead this case more than any really facts or leads, the news that Woolmer died from natural causes, and not at the hand of any sinister element, must come as a relief to both his family and loved ones, and to the cricketing world in general. However, after all that has gone on before, they will only truly be able to move on once the speculation becomes fact. Hopefully the coming weeks will give them the peace they crave.

Percy Sonn Dies

2007-05-27T05:15:00.000-07:00

The ICC president, Percy Sonn, has died at the age of 57, in Cape Town, South Africa. Sonn had surgery on his colon on Monday and passed away due to complications that arose after the surgery.

Sonn was the former head of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, and became president of the ICC in 2006. He was well known and respected as an administrator in cricket during Apartheid, and played an important role in the integration of cricket in South Africa. He also formed, and headed, the Scorpions, who went after people committing serious economic crimes, drug trafficking, and organized crime.

Sonn is survived by his wife, Sandra, and their three children.

SA to Lose Donald?

2007-05-25T07:23:00.001-07:00

Alan Donald, the former South African fast bowler, is set to take up a role with the England national team, as a bowling coach.

Reports suggest that Donald is set to join the new setup in English cricket under new coach Peter Moores. Moores has already acted swiftly in bringing in former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower as his number two, and an appointment of Donald will prove that the English set up are keen an appointing the best men for the job, irrespective of nationality. Flower and Donald have both had extensive experience in County cricket, as well as international cricket, and so would be well accustomed and knowledgeable of English cricket.

Suggestions coming out of South Africa are that Donald will join the team for the third test against the West Indies, and will stay with them on an initial 5 week deal, rather then permanently. Whatever the case it is surely a call to the South African cricket authorities to be more proactive in using the vast experience and knowledge that they have in their former playing greats, or risk losing them. Jonty Rhodes was employed by Pakistan for a similar 5 week period before being brought into the South African fold as their fielding coach. They improvement in standard was noticeable for all to see and surely they don't want to risk the same impact that a former player of theirs would have on another national team? Rhodes was only contracted up to the end of the World Cup, and if he wants to carry on South Africa must take every set to ensuring it is with them.

Donald, who has ties in England from his county cricket days, is known to want to coach at the highest level, and would love to be involved in the South African set up, but must be growing tired of waiting. If he is to be offered a full time deal by the English, and is thus lost to South Africa, it will be through no fault of his or the English. They have recognised the need for someone like Donald in their setup, especially with the miss firing Harmison, and they must be applauded for making a positive move in rectifying the problem and ensuring that their bowlers have all the help that is needed. A South African attack that has been accused numerous times of not being able to finish off the tail would benefit from someone like Alan Donald. The reluctance of the Proteas setup to involve past players is an aspect that must be addressed. The past players are willing and able but can not sit around waiting forever. The high performance centre is making use of Gary Kirsten and has had Donald involved, but the deals should be set up to ensure that they are looked after so they will not be tempted by other teams. While Donald has enjoyed his time working with young players, he sees his role as working with international players, and not up and coming hopefuls, and they should have been rectified.

People such as Brian Macmillan, Fanie de Villiers, Craig Matthews, Darryl Cullinan and Pat Symcox have something to offer and if South Africa want to be the best then they need the best to help them. By allowing their assets to be used by others, by allowing others to benefit from their resources, while they themselves are in need of help and improvement, is not only foolish, but stubborn to. Donald should not be in a position to be looking for work with England, he should be working with the South African national team - his national team.

Twenty20 Cricket World Cup Match Schedule

2007-05-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

All set for the first ever Twenty Twenty Cricket World Cup. The draw for Septembers inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa has been made and sees a number of intriguing clashes which include England facing the Aussies and India taking on Pakistan.

Sri Lanka will play New Zealand and Kenya in Group C of the tournament.

Cricket South Africa have confirmed the groups for the tournament, which will be held over two weeks in the Republic where Twenty20 cricket is hugely popular.

The opening match will be played on Tuesday, September 11th and the final on Monday, September 24th 2007.

Groups

Group A - South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh
Group B - England, Australia and Zimbabwe
Group C - New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Kenya
Group D - Pakistan, India and Scotland

The top two teams in each group go through to the Super Eight and matches will be played at Newlands in Cape Town, Kingsmead in Durban and the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Venues
Johannesburg - Wanderers
Durban - Kingsmead
Cape Town - Newlands

Match Schedule

Tuesday, September 11th 2007
South Africa v West Indies 1800 - Johannesburg

Wednesday, September 12th 2007
New Zealand v Kenya 1000 - Durban
Pakistan v Scotland 1400 - Durban
Australia v Zimbabwe 1800 - Cape Town

Thursday, September 13th 2007
West Indies v Bangladesh 1000 - Johannesburg
Zimbabwe v England 1400- Cape Town
India v Scotland 1800 - Durban

Friday, September 14th 2007
Sri Lanka v Kenya 1000 - Johannesburg
Australia v England 1400 - Cape Town
India v Pakistan 1800 - Durban

Saturday, September 15th 2007
Sri Lanka v New Zealand 1400 - Johannesburg
South Africa v Bangladesh 1800- Cape Town

Sunday, September 16th 2007
Winner Group C v Runner Up Group D 1000- Johannesburg
Winner Group B v Runner Up Group A 1400- Cape Town
Winner Group A v Runner Up Group B 1800- Cape Town

Monday, September 17th 2007
Winner Group D v Runner Up Group C 1800- Johannesburg

Tuesday, September 18th 2007
Winner Group C v Runner Up Group B
1000 - Durban
Winner Group B v Winner Group D 1400- Johannesburg
Runner Up Group A v Runner Up Group C 1800 -Johannesburg

Wednesday, September 19th 2007
Winner Group A v Winner Group C 1400 -Durban
Runner Up Group B v Runner Up Group D 1800 -Durban

Thursday, September 20th 2007
Winner Group B v Runner Up Group C
- 1000 Cape Town
Runner Up Group A v Winner Group D 1400 - Cape Town
Winner Group A v Runner Up Group D 1800- Durban

Saturday, September 22nd 2007
E2 v F1 1400 - Cape Town
E1 v F2 1800 - Durban

Monday, September 24th 2007
Final TBA Johannesburg

Smith to Miss Ireland Tour?

2007-05-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

With South African captain Graeme Smith having just undergone knee surgery, having injured his knee taking a catch to dismiss Kevin Peterson in the World Cup, there is now a strong suggestion that he miss the trip to Ireland at the end of June for a match against Ireland and three against India.

In a season that includes the 20/20 World Cup, being held in South Africa in September, as well as series against New Zealand, the West Indies, Pakistan and India, it would be seen as vital that Smith's knee be allowed to fully recover before he is rushed into action. With Smith likely to be an important figure in South Africa's 20/20 World Cup hopes, it may be advisable that he miss the short series in Ireland and instead have a much needed rest, and be 100% for the new season.

Should Smith miss out then Jacques Kallis will lead the team against India and Ireland. Kallis has previously led the team when Smith had missed a test match through injury. While South Africa may not have been happy with their world cup performance, it is unlikely that whole sale changes will be made to the team that, apart from the inconsistency shown during the world cup, have had a very successful last few years. The spin bowling option may be one that could see a change, with the likelihood of Johan Botha or Thandi Tshabala, or both, being included in the touring squad, giving the team more options and variety than it has previously had.

Smith will more than likely also not make the team representing Africa in the Afro Asia series in Bangladesh

Feels like England won't ever take another wicket

2007-05-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Matthew Hoggard's injured; Andrew Flintoff still can't bowl; Liam Plunkett was ineffectual; and once rain fell, Test Match Special may as well have been retitled 'the Steve Harmison puzzle'. How the hell are England ever going to win a Test ever again?

As ever, we don't have the answer. James Anderson will probably come in for Matthew Hoggard. Anderson hasn't been in form, but then again neither were any of the batsmen who scored hundreds in this match.

We'd give anything for Steve Harmison to get things right though. The alternative - an England attack of willing fast-medium bowlers - is too horrible to contemplate.

We can see it now: Three or four accurate, yet nondescript, typically English bowlers. There's a big partnership, but no matter how relentlessly they pitch the ball on off stump, the batsmen just don't seem troubled. India, Australia or whoever close on a billion for none.

At least Steve Harmison's bouncy and quick. That's why he plays. We've never seen a bowler top 90mph with such little effort. When all's well, it really is an easy game for Steve Harmison. Unfortunately, all hasn't been well for some time now.

Don't drop him though. The grass isn't greener. It's mend Steve or nothing in our eyes. There are a couple of promising bowlers, but Steve's promise is still greater, no matter what's happened.

Cross-posted at kingcricket.blogspot.com.
New site at kingcricket.co.uk.

Wessels to Reign In Descipline?

2007-05-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

There are rumblings within the South African cricket community suggesting that Kepler Wessels may be installed as the new manager of the national cricket team. In a board meeting last week, held to access the performance of those at the helm of the World Cup team, it was confirmed that both coach Mickey Arthur and captain Graeme Smith would be retained for a further two years. The meeting also outlined the need for the team to create a new role within the set up for a team manager.

There have long been suggestions that there is a clique of players within the South African team who have had a to big influence on the team, having shown a distinct lack of maturity and have had an adverse affect on team discipline. This has been seen as partly to blame for the rumours of team moral taking a hit, as well as the belief that the psychological strength within the team is not strong enough to beat Australia or to win the big games, such as the World Cup semi final loss.

The appointment of Wessels, should it happen, would serve to reign in the disruptive force within the set up, ensure a greater level of team discipline, as well as serve to increase the mindset of the players by increasing their mental strength. While Wessels has had problems with members high up in the South African Cricket Board, it is believed that those fences have been mended, and that his appointment would have the backing of all. Wessels, who captained South Africa from 1992 until his retirement in '94, where Hansie Cronje took over, has been fairly outspoken of issues within South African cricket, and has been particularly critical of their performances against Australia. It remains to be seen whether a working relationship between him and Smith would be successful. However it has been suggested that Smith having to much influence and power within the team was one of the principle reasons put forward when addressing the needs for a team manager.

Wessels is a strong character, who has played for both Australia and South Africa, and may be the tough, no nonsense, figure that South Africa needs in its set up, as they rebuild after the World Cup. Before any announcement is made Wessels will lead a South African emerging players team to Australia where they will compete against similar teams from Australia, New Zealand and India. This role may be an indication of the trust that the UCB now has in Wessels, and should he prove successful the managers job may be his on his return.

Chaminda Vaas Injured in a County Match

2007-05-21T00:14:00.001-07:00

Sri Lankan fast bowler, who was a contracted Middlesex bowler in 2007 English county season, Chaminda Vaas has been released from hospital after colliding with the advertising boards while fielding.

There was a 27-minute delay during Middlesex's nine-wicket defeat to Essex in Sunday's Friends Provident Trophy match after Vaas careered into the hoardings as he tried to take catch England all-rounder Ravi Bopara.

Sri Lanka paceman Vaas, 33, was admitted to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford after leaving the field on a stretcher.

He was assessed by a consultant before being released at around 7.30pm.

Middlesex coach Richard Pybus told BBC Online: "Chaminda unfortunately fell back into the boards and hit his head."He's been taken to do some neurological tests.

"He was conscious and could feel his fingers and feet. You've got to be very careful with an injury like this.''

Source: The Sri Lanka Rounder

Afridi hammers Bandara & Prasanna combination

2007-05-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka Lost the match, but it was a real thrilling batting display by Shahid Afridi after a long time. Despite the fact that, his innings took the match away from Sri Lanka, I really enjoyed his spirit.

At one point, Sri Lanka was slowly taking control of the match, by strangling the Pakistani run rate, but all of a sudden Afridi came out of his crease repeatedly, and hit 32 runs in a one over by Malinga Bandara. Four off the first ball, followed by another in the second ball. Then Afridi thought fours are not big enough. He jumped out of his crease like a tiger approaching his pray, and hit Malinga Bandara for 4 consecutive sixes off next 4 balls of the over. Just brilliant as that!

Sri Lankan wicket keeper, Prasanna Jayawardena was acting as a dummy behind the wicket. With Afridi aggressively coming out of the crease, it was very predictable he’s going to do it for every next ball. But Prasanna, as the wicket keeper never communicated with the bowler, and formulate a plan to get his out stumped.

Had it been Murali and sangakkara combination, or Warne and Healy (Or Warne and Gilchrist) combination, would they allow a batsman to come out of the crease for 6 or 8 balls in a row like that?

We’ve seen in many occasions, when batsmen coming out of crease so attackingly, Sanga walks into Murali and have a little word. (Or else, scream at Murali in Sinhala “Moo eliyata enawa wedi… Kakula paththen dala balamu”). 99% of the time we see the batsman get out stumped after such a conversation between Murali and Sanga. But Bandara and Prasanna, never worried to coordinate like that.

I know we can’t blame them for that, because experience plays a major roll their. They would have taken this as a learning opportunity. Prasanna will have to keep wicket for Murali in test matches for a foreseeable future, so he has to get his approach to the game corrected as soon as possible. We know in modern day cricket, wicket keepers play a main roll in keeping the momentum of the fielding team, and strategizing the bowling effort. But we never saw that contribution from Prasanna yesterday.

All in all, it was very evident that we missed Murali and Sanga a lot. Loosing 4 player from the World Cup squad, would have affected the Sri Lankan performance, but the whole idea of this tournament was to bring out the young players. So, let’s hope even if we lost the match, young players gathered some experience. But the other thing our players have to keep in mind is, “you promised to win this tournament for Moody”.

All credit to Afridi and Pakistan. It was a great come back after getting out of the world cup so early.

Sri Lanka Cricket look towards John Wright as the next coach.

2007-05-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

This morning The Island reported, "John Wright seems the overwhelming favourite" to be the next coach of Sri Lanka cricket team.

Sri Lanka Cricket, has shortlisted some high profiled names in the field, and according to the SLC sources, ex-New Zealand test cap (Ex Indian coach) John Wright leads the table among others.

"John Wright has done a wonderful job with India and he’ll be our favourite choice," a cricket official told ‘The Island’ yesterday

"We’ll be talking to him and if he’s willing to take over, we will go ahead with John," the official added.

Former Australian opener and coach Geoff Marsh, former South African coach Graham Ford and Greg Shepherd, who is the coach at Victoria, Australia have been other names that have been thought of as suitable replacements, but for the moment the former New Zealand opener looks to be the choice of most top officials.

"John is a proven coach unlike most of the other names that have been thought of. That means his price will be high too compared to some of the others, but nevertheless it’s an investment worth making," the official said.

But I personally have other ideas. It was "non proven" coaches (at international level) who had been succesful with Sri Lanka all the time. Look at Whatmore. Look at Moody. They evolved as top coaches, with Sri Lanka. So, I personally prefer if the board go for some new name, rather than bringing an ex-Indian coach to Sri Lanka.

One of the senior players of the national team told ‘The Island’ before the team’s departure to Abu Dhabi that it’s vital for the board to bring in a coach who will take the team to the next level instead of someone who tries to stamp his authority. "Tom was ideal. He was very methodical and tried to improve every aspect." he said.

Boycotting the Zimbabwe Tour - Right or Wrong?

2007-05-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

For me, this is a real ’sitting on the fence’ argument, because I can see both sides of the story and I think they have equal merit.

On one hand, I think it is the right thing to do to be seen as not supporting a terrible regime in Zimbabwe. If we did go over, then it sends a message that we don’t care about anything else going on in the country, we just want to play cricket and that we condone the atrocious way that the government in power treats its citizens.

On the other hand though, sport has always been a great medium for change in countries. If we did go over, the people who are so oppressed in Zimbabwe would definately get a boost and this may spur on a time of uprising and (hopefully) peaceful protest. I can see how by not going, we are taking away something that the Zimbabwe people have been looking forward to for some time.

All in all however, I think that the government did the right thing in banning the cricket side from going.

What do you think?

Moody will Return to West Australia. Who Will Be the next Sri Lankan Coach?

2007-05-14T00:36:00.000-07:00

Successful Sri Lankan coach, Tom Moody declared his resignation from Sri Lanka Cricket coach position, and said that he will return to West Australia where he started his coaching career. There were speculations that Moody is going to be next English coach, but he decided against it at the end.

Sri Lanka Cricket has made a request to fielding coach Trevor Penney to act as caretaker coach for the side's series against Bangladesh in June-July.

Moody said his family, who lived in England while he worked in Sri Lanka, played a large part in his decision. "It was a very difficult decision to make given the strong relationship that has been built between SLC and myself," he said.

"But at this stage in my life it was important that I made a bigger commitment to my family. However, I will be more than happy to assist in whichever way I possibly can for the continuous success of SLC."
It is expected Moody's advice will play a role in determining who succeeds him.

When Tom Moody was appointed as Sri Lanka coach, many questioned whether it was the right decision. When he leave his possition, he has proven a point that it was a right decision by SLC. We've seen, Dav Whatmore coming out of the blue and doing miracles with 1996, WC winning Sri Lanka team. Moody did the exact same thing. Now, both Whatmore and Moody are highly demanded Cricket coaches in the international level.

So far there's no reports of who would be the next coach of Sri Lanka Cricket team. As at now, the position for "coach" is vacant in all 4 test playing nations in the sub continent, making it more difficult for all 4 boards to attract "quality" coaches, at "reasonable price".

Gilchrist Cleared by MCC "the Guardians of the Laws of Cricket"

2007-05-09T03:10:00.000-07:00

Finally we have a verdict from the law makers.

"MCC’s Laws Sub-Committee has issued a statement in which it concludes that “the incident could not be classed either as contravening the Law or as breaching the Spirit of the Game.”

The debate gone all over the internet to office trains now has to come to an end. There were questionable grey areas in Gilly's act, so no one could possibly say Sri Lankans are "sore losers", for raising this issue. Now, that the "Guardians of the Laws of Cricket" saying that Adam Gilchrist haven't done anything wrong, we have to admit that.

"In this case (Adam Gilchrist in the ICC Cricket World Cup Final), apparently the addendum to the inside of the batting gloves was not for protection from injury, but to improve the way the batsman gripped the bat handle. This should not be considered unfair. Similarly, it has never been considered unfair for batsmen to use two grips on the bat handle."

Did ICC really Changed the Rule Books to Legalize Murali's Action?

2007-05-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

As the "squash ball controversy" is heating up the cricket world phenomenally, some Aussies are rubbing some old wounds by dragging in the Murali-Hair controversy into this. Some Aussies with extraordinary loss of "short & medium term memory", are accusing "ICC changed the rules of throwing, to accommodate Murali's action". And they further accuse, ICC did this under the pressure from Sri Lanka and the Sub Continent.

It's really amazing to see how these people tend to forget the facts so quickly. Some one has to speak up and remind these people the facts they try to forget.

History of The Issue

Let's just go back to the history. At the time of Murali-Hair affair took place in 1995, it was the duty of on-field umpires to judge a delivery as illegal or "thrown" on with visual judgment alone. The accepted way of doing this was, the square leg umpire to watch the bowlers arm and make the judgment. Because the head umpire (standing behind the non-strikers wicket) is assigned with a duty to watching the bowlers front leg for over stepping, at the point of ball leaving the bowlers hand. No human being could watch a bowlers front leg, and the elbow positioning of the bowler, at a same instance when the ball is delivered.

But Australian umpire Darrel Hair did that miracle. He re-written the history book, as the first umpire in the history of cricket, to call a bowler for throwing while standing in the head umpire's position. So, it was very clear that Mr. Hair was deliberate of calling Murali for throwing, and therefore he forgot that "throwing" should be called by the square leg umpire.

This issue was raised before the ICC by the Sri Lanka Cricket Board, and ICC demanded an investigation into Murali's action. In an biomechanical test done with Murali's hand, it was revealed that his elbow had an unusual tilt at his birth. This tilt, would have actually helped Murali in turning the ball, but it was nothing purposely adjusted by Murali.

Biomechanical Test in 2004 ICC Champions Trophy

With the topic of "throwing" becoming a hot topic in Cricket World, during late 90's, ICC conducted a biomechanical test, using sophisticated technology. And, in those tests it was discovered that it is virtually impossible for the human arm to legally "bowl" the ball without any flex of the elbow, more than 15 degrees. The old law allowed to bend the elbow 10 degrees for fast bowlers, 7.5 degrees for medium pacers , and 5 degrees for spin bowlers. Thus according to the old laws, "legal" bowling would be practically impossible for any human being, so some thing had to be done.

After the Muralitharan issue, the ICC carried out a test on all bowlers through video footage during the 2004 Champions Trophy in England. The test brought up some startling results: ninety-nine percent of all bowlers tested were found to flex their elbow to some degree, which was often much greater than the limit set at the time. According to this test, all the Australian bowlers in 2004 Champions Trophy were also chuckers. Looking at some of the old video footages of some great Australian fast bowlers in the past, it was revealed that all of them were chuckers according to this old law.

Change of Rules

It was realized that 99% of the modern day bowlers are chuckers, under the old law of "throwing". So, what can ICC do? Ban all the bowlers? Including Shane Warne, McGrath and Shaun Pollock? The only way forward for ICC was to change the rules.

After a review by an expert panel, the ICC decided to raise the limit to 15 degrees for all bowlers. This limit was chosen as the ICC believed that any flexing of the elbow above 15 degrees would be visibly noticeable.

So, I guess this summarize the whole story. The arguments of some pathetic Australian fans are completely invalid. ICC did not changed the rules to accommodate Murali's action. They did change the rules, after they realized that the old rules were wrong, and it's humanly impossible to be abide by those rules (for 99% of the bowlers, to be precise. Including Shane Warne. Not only Murali).

Dates Fixed for Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan Series in Abu Dhabi

2007-05-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

Last few days the cricket world was so busy discussing the legitimacy of Gilchrist's hidden ball, so the attention was taken away from the future events in the playing field.

I'm now bit (may be a lot) bored about the debate about the squash ball, because the things has moved far away from the core of the problem (Whether it was legal or not?). A simple issue which could have been solved by a single statement from the cricket committee of the ICC, now has moved to a big controversy with some Sri Lankan fans talking about a replay of the finals, and some Australians accusing us "sore losers" who cry for the loss in the WC final. I'm not surprised about the reaction of Australian fans, because it's their way of reacting to things unfavorable for them. They simply make some racist comment about subcontinental players and fans, and move on. (Ask any of the black skinned player about how it feels like to play infront of a big crowd in Sydney or Perth) They describe everything from the angle of winning and losing. Not from the aspect of what is right and wrong. Something fundamentally wrong I guess.

Finally, since the issue is now discussed at the top level of the game (not at few blog posts here and there), I'm bit relieved that we would see an end to the controversy pretty soon.

More importantly, we have some "real cricket" coming up in couple of weeks, as the dates for Sri Lanka Vs Pakistan series in Abu Dhabi has finally fixed.

The first of the three match series will be played on 18th of May, followed by the second match on 20th May and the last match on 22nd May. The sad news is Sri Lanka will be missing Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara who have county commitments in England.

Sri Lanka Cricket to question the legality of Gilly's "Hidden Ball" in next ICC Meeting

2007-05-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

The longest ever cricket world cup took 47 days to conclude with a dramatic final between Australia and Sri Lanka, but yet it's not all over. Adam Gilchrist's "Squashed innings" which scored 149 off just 104 balls, while all the other Australian batsmen were struggling to score more than run a ball is now the hottest topic in the cricket world. This adds as yet another incident to the Australia's long history of "cheating in cricket", which includes the famous "under arm last ball" by Trevor Chapel, under the advice of then captain Greg Chapel, in an ODI against New Zealand.

So far, the legality of Gilly's innings was questioned by only the cricket fans and by few members of the blogging community. There's enough evidence to say that what Gilly did was illegal. A Squash ball cannot be a cricketing equipment, under any law either in Cricket law books or Squash law books. Australian cricket blogger JC, indirectly admitted that "a squash ball won the world cup for their country". All independent analysts (I mean, independent from Australia) agree that the facts raised by churumuri and some of the commenters in that thread, are un deniable. If you are an Australian, it would be hard to swallow most of the facts raised their. It's natural!

But what can a blogging community and fans do about this matter? Nothing but persuading the officials to take some action. I did the exact thing, by writing to some of the leading press and electronic media in Sri Lanka, to build a pressure on Sri Lanka Cricket, to bring this matter up. Then I realized I'm not alone! There were thousands of letters to editors, to some of the leading newspapers in Sri Lanka regarding this issue.

One such cricket fan write to The Island and says "Gilchrist has openly explained that it helped his grip and that means he has used an external substance other than those provided to enhance his batting. We are also perturbed at the Australians’ openly floundering the match rules and getting away. Sri Lanka feel robbed and rightfully so. You may feel that some of this grumbling is due to that"

Now the good news from cricket's point of view is, Australia is not going to get away this time. Sri Lanka Cricket's interim committee official, K. Mathivathan told The Island today that Sri Lanka Cricket will take this as a serious issue, and take the matter to net ICC meeting scheduled to June. He further added "It's unethical for Adam to do that, and laws could be brought to prevent doing such things in the future"

So, the cricket fans around the world now can be assured that Aussies will not be allow to just cheat like this and get away with it easily. But I personally, don't like the argument that the World Cup should be taken away from the Aussies, or the final should be played again. All in all Aussies have now won the world cup (even if it was by cheating), and now it's theirs for another 4 years. So let them posses it, break it or do what ever they want to do with it. What we want as cricket fans is justice. We want a clear statement from ICC that "It is illegal to use squash balls in cricket matches, and what Adam Gilchrist did was similar to what Ben Johnson did in 1988 Olympics"

Did Gilly Cheat? Can a Squash Ball be a permitted Cricketing Equipment under Law 3 (6) (c) (i) of Cricket?

2007-05-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

CRICKET fans on the sub-continent have questioned Adam Gilchrist's match-winning innings in the World Cup final because he had a squash ball inside his batting glove.

I first came across with this question, on one of my blog posts about Gilly's batting glove signal. Then I saw, some one has raised the question on Yahoo Answers.

Most interesting and convincing analysis came from this post titled "How legal was Adam Gilchrist’s hidden ball?" (Of course the title is funny) Here the author refers to the laws of cricket and points..

"In other words, Law 3 (6) (c) (i) specifically prohibits a player from using equipment other than that permitted. And nowhere in cricket’s 42 laws is there a mention of a squash ball as a permitted item."

A very logical question raised by the Sri Lankan cricket fans is "What if Sanath Jayasuriya came with a squash ball hidden inside his glove and score a century? Will the Australian media and Cricket authorities keep silent?"

This question is very logical given the behavior of Australian media and the authorities, when it comes to matters like ball tampering charges against Sri Lanka on a ROCK hard pitch in Perth, and calling Murali for chucking.

I don't think even if Sanath came with a squash ball hidden inside his glove, he couldn't play such a brilliant innings as Gilly that day. There's no debate about the excellence in Gilly's innings. The only question is, whether it is legal to use Squash balls in cricket? How would you differentiate this from Hansi Cronje using a walky talky on the field? Why don't the law allows bowlers to use extra plasters to tighten their grip on ball?

So the topic is wide open. "Did Gilly Cheat? Was it legal to do that?" That's the question. No questioning about the brilliance in his innings. Have your say in the vote caster on the sidebar of this blog. We'll wait how the ICC and other authorities take on this matter.

Australian Dominance in Cricket. Good or Bad?

2007-05-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

It’s being highly debated in the media that “whether Australia’s dominance in modern day cricket is good for the game or not?” I’ve seen many press articles and TV talk shows debating this topic, and I’ve seen so many former players insisting on, it’s bad for the game. Most of these people are in the opinion that “Australia should come down, so that the other countries will have a fair chance of catching them”.

I think this is rubbish. What Australia has achieved in cricket today, is the result of careful planning of their system for years. I believe their planning started on the day they failed to make it to the semi finals of a world cup held at home (1992). That day, they’ve realized there’s something seriously to think about Australian cricket. And, through their prestigious cricket academy, and the highly competitive domestic tournament they started planning to dominate the cricketing world in the next decade. The results started to come during the later part of the 90’s, especially towards 1999. Ever since then, they haven’t looked back. When a one class player get retired, they have 3 players to replace him!. Ricky Ponting, started his career as the “replacement” for David Boon. But today, Ponting has surpassed the fellow Tasmanian by a huge margin. So, what could we expect from the replacement of McGrath or Warne? Definitely not anything in lower quality than them.

So, if the rest of the world remain complaining about “invincibility” of the Australians, and do nothing other than expecting Aussies to come down, that won’t definitely be in the favor of this game. What the rest of the world should do is try to work hard, to get closer to Aussies. Not to expect them to come down.

Business of Cricket

Some one has mentioned in one of my posts, “Aussies take cricket as a business; not as a game”. I 100% agree with this. For Aussies, the game of cricket is not a “game” anymore. It’s a business operation for them. They have adopt all the business management principles into this game. Business management Concepts like “Zero defects” and “Systems Approach” are clearly visible in the Aussies game plan. Each player of the team are like executives. They’ve been assigned a “job to do” (Do they have cubicles too?) and they have to work hard to do the job better every day. There should be “zero defects” in the final product. Extensive usage of technology, and video footages make them perfect “business executives”. It’s said, that Matt Hayden was watching a video footage of Murali, even on his flight to Grenada for the Super 8 match against Sri Lanka. That’s ho the Aussies make them “perfect”.

The rest of the world have to catch up. Soon.

But the unfortunate thing about these recent developments is, it will degrade the natural spirit of this age old game. Some people are trying to compare the current Australian team with the Clive Lloyd’s great West Indian team in the 70’s. I’m totally against that comparison. Windies in 70’s dominated the game with their natural ability, and their innovative approach of playing the game. The rule of “Ball is there to be hit” was the greatest innovation by the Windies those days. And that revolutionized the game of cricket, and inspired such great cricketers like Dulip Mendis, Javed Miandad, Aravinda De Silva, Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam Ul Haq and Sanath Jayasuriya in the sub continent. These are the players who took the “west Indian style of cricket” to rest of the world, and broke the west Indian monopoly in cricket. The current “Australian Style” is no way near the natural spirit of cricket, like that “West Indian style”. The Australian style is a complete mechanism of programming human beings to deliver “results”. Id Clive Llyod’s 70’s Windies team had the facilities that are given to the current Australian team, the result would be incredible.

What ever said and done, the fact remains “Australia is driving the game of cricket at the moment”. The rest of the world will have to catch them soon.

If you look at last 4 world cups, it was Australia who played the India Subcontinent in the finals. Australia secured their place in the finals with their highly professional approach to the game, and India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka reached the finals in these 4 world cups with their natural ability and raw talents, and based on the form at the time the world cup being played. (Especially Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India too, take a “business approach” to the game some times) So what about the other countries? What do them lacking? Natural ability or the professional approach?

ICC have to take a serious look into this, and make sure the countries like Kenya, Ireland and Canada will stay in the game with the hope of winning a World Cup soon.

If the young players in these countries start to think that “No matter how good we play, it’s always going to be Australia and Subcontinent in the final, and Australia winning in the end”, then its not going to be good for the game of cricket anymore. ICC and the national governing bodies of the game, should take serious actions to upgrade the quality of the game in all these countries (Including England and West Indies), and make them competitive against Australia. At the same time, they should make sure that the game is not getting “too much mechanical” as well.

End of My Cricket World Cup Mission on “A Voice in Colombo”

2007-05-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

For last one month and a half, I dedicated my main blog (A Voice in Colombo) completely for Cricket World Cup. During this period, I didn’t blogged about anything else than Cricket, on my blog. And I’ve been able to make few new cricket fan friends, from different parts of the World during this few weeks. Now the World Cup has ended, and I have to say good-bye for all the readers stayed with me throughout the tournament. I have to return to my normal blogging (On “A Voice in Colombo”).

Anyways, I will continue blogging about cricket on a different domain. I’ve started my own Cricket Blog, (“A Different Stroke”) and will be posting any cricket related posts, to this site here onwards.

So, all the readers who came to “A Voice in Colombo” to read me posting about cricket; now can join me on “A Different Stroke” hereafter.