All posts by csb10.top

No DRS until it becomes 'foolproof' – Manohar

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, has closed the door on the Decision Review System (DRS), saying that unless the system became “foolproof”, India’s stance would remain unchanged. Responding to questions from the public on BCCI’s Facebook account, Manohar said that India’s sole issue with DRS concerned lbw decisions. Manohar pointed out that he had raised this issue even during his first stint as BCCI president, between 2008 and 2011.”Actually telling you the truth, the BCCI was never against the DRS system right from the time of my earlier tenure,” Manohar said. “We had issues only regarding the leg before decisions to be decided by the DRS system. For everything else we were accepting the DRS system.”Manohar said that in his previous tenure as BCCI president, the ICC had asked India to accept DRS as a whole, which the board rejected.”At the ICC meeting, it was decided that either we accept the DRS system as a whole or we don’t accept a DRS system. We were not willing. And today also we are not willing to accept the DRS system for leg-before system because when you shoot it from a distance, a parallax develops and then you are not able to give the exact direction of the delivery.”Secondly, instead of the umpire imagining the bounce and the direction of the trajectory, it is the person sitting behind the camera who is going into the DRS. He is going to have his imagination put in the place of the umpire’s imagination with regard to the bounce.”According to Manohar, he had posed the same question concerning lbw decisions to the DRS manufacturers at an ICC executive board meeting back in 2011.”Even the person who has evolved this DRS system was not able to answer me and was not able to satisfy all the members of the ICC,” Manohar said. “And as you know, there are lot problems even in the DRS systems which are raised by various countries. Therefore unless and until the DRS system is foolproof with regards to leg-before decisions the BCCI will not accept it.”The BCCI has never favoured the DRS ever since its inception. Manohar’s reasoning is similar to his successor N Srinivasan, who served as BCCI president till 2013. Srinivasan consistently opposed the DRS, calling the referrals system “faulty” as there was a lot of luck involved, which he did not support.Manohar’s remarks are bound to hurt the ICC, which has remained optimistic. After the ICC’s annual conference in Barbados in June, Dave Richardson, the ICC’s CEO was confident that the “modern player was more amenable to new ideas and innovation.”A couple of those modern Indian players, including the country’s Test captain Virat Kohli and lead spinner R Ashwin, have expressed openness to the DRS without offering any in-depth view. Kohli had said that he would like to discuss the DRS with his team, while Ashwin had pointed out that he would not mind the DRS minus the predictive element.

Stokes progress leaves England in good heart

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Not a lot can be gleaned from a light training session only hours after the flight has touched down on a new tour, but one sight at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom gave England an immediate warm glow.It was the hulking presence of Ben Stokes, bowling pain-free again, continuing his rehabilitation from a collarbone injury in optimistic vein.Stokes’ departure from the field, clutching his displaced right shoulder, in in Sharjah six weeks ago invited the worst fears. Not only did it leave England a bowler short as Pakistan completed a 2-0 win in the series, it smacked of a long-term lay-off.But Stokes, according to England’s coach Trevor Bayliss, has been gradually stepping up his bowling for a few weeks now and confidence abounds that the two warm-up matches before the Boxing Day Test in Durban will be enough to get him back in trim.”I’m pretty confident he will be fine,” Bayliss said at England’s arrival media conference. “He is not as guy who complains too much. He has been bowling now for a few weeks so we just have to get a few overs out of him in competition and a few hours with his batting.”With Steven Finn also enhancing his prospects of a belated call-up to the Test tour of South Africa with a hostile three-wicket comeback performance for England Lions in Dubai, things are looking up for England.Bayliss sought to dampen down the excitement over Finn, who is recovering from a foot injury suffered in the UAE, careful not to encourage speculation that he might be summoned to the senior party sooner rather than later.”We are preparing for this tour by planning without him,” he said. “If he proves his fitness in the UAE and we do decide to bring him out here that will be an absolute bonus. There are one or two small hurdles but if he can get through and be bowling well I would expect to see him here at some stage.”That leaves the onus on Mark Footitt, Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes to contest the final pace bowling place.Add the potential fallout of South Africa’s recent trouncing in India and, if the Test series has shifted at all in the last few weeks, it has moved in England’s direction, even if South Africa remain strong favourites with the bookmakers.”To win away from home is very difficult,” Bayliss said. “The simple fact is we are playing the best team at home. We are under no illusions it will be a difficult tour.”Bayliss indicated that England are predisposed towards retaining Jonny Bairstow as Test wicketkeeper, despite the thrilling manner win which Jos Buttler put a demoralising run of form behind him when he recorded England’s fastest ODI century in the UAE, and that Alex Hales will make his Test debut at opener. Hales would become Cook’s eighth opening partner since Andrew Strauss’ retirementThat leaves Nick Compton and Gary Ballance to contest the No. 3 spot available because of the absence of Ian Bell. “I have a little bit of a thought who it might be but we have two practice matches before that first Test which could go a long way towards finalising that position, Bayliss said.

Redmond ton keeps game level

by csb10.top Uncategorized


Scorecard

Aaron Redmond’s ton saved New Zealanders from further problems at The Rose Bowl © Getty Images
 

Aaron Redmond gave the New Zealanders a timely batting tonic with a grafting century on the second day against England Lions at The Rose Bowl, although they still face a deficit after a late collapse. The visitors stumbled to 47 for 3 against the new ball, but Redmond batted throughout the day for a career-best 139. Chris Tremlett was the pick of the Lions attack, generating awkward bounce for his three wickets to remind the selectors of his presence.At 28, Redmond is being given a late crack at breaking into the Test arena after transforming himself from a legspinner to an opener. He has made a good impression early in the tour, more with his fighting qualities than weight of runs, and registered New Zealand’s second century of the trip to follow James Marshall’s 128 against Essex. It came in similar circumstances, too, after a familiar struggle for other members of the top order other than a sparkling 43-ball 47 by Brendon McCullum.Redmond isn’t a particularly expansive batsman, but concentrates hard and plays within his own constraints. He wasn’t always convincing against the quicks – taking a blow on the head from Tremlett – and was dropped on 97 by Graeme Swann at first slip after edging an outswinger from Graham Onions. He added 77 with McCullum and 72 with Jacob Oram, bringing up his hundred off 217 balls by pulling a long-hop from Adil Rashid.The only blemish on his innings was the mix-up that brought end of McCullum’s exciting knock when he sent him back and Michael Carberry’s bullet-arm caught McCullum short. He’d struck seven strong boundaries to steady the innings with the sort of power that will make England’s bowlers wary next week and he couldn’t hide his frustration after the mix-up.Matthew Hoggard didn’t do much to boost his chances of a Test recall and had to wait 18 overs for his first wicket before a late surge added some gloss to his figures. He is fighting for a place alongside James Anderson, who took a timely five-wicket haul as Lancashire wrapped up victory against Durham and Andrew Flintoff. He has been in the wickets for Yorkshire, including a six-wicket bag against Nottinghamshire, but suffered a frustrating day with regular edges going down to third man and a lack of swing.Onions struck the opening blow with his second delivery when Jamie How was given out lbw even though the ball struck very high on the pad. Onions remained the better of the opening bowlers, finding some swing on a warm morning to make life hard work for Redmond and Marshall. Tremlett replaced Hoggard after a six-over burst and the batsmen didn’t enjoy his extra bounce and Marshall turned a short ball straight to Luke Wright at short leg. It was a soft dismissal and not a great sign with Lord’s likely to offer good bounce for the quick bowlers.Ross Taylor hasn’t settled since arriving from the IPL and failed twice against Essex. He is the one class-act in the top five likely to have a sustained Test career and has a key role to play if New Zealand are to be competitive over the next month. But his habit of chasing the ball early in the innings makes him a loose starter and he fell to Tremlett, pushing away from his body to give Matt Prior a simple catch.After McCullum and Redmond stopped an immediate collapse Daniel Flynn occupied the crease without ever dominating. He is known as a strokemaker back in New Zealand, but here and at Chelmsford has appeared uncertain whether to attack or defend. However, the preference for him over Peter Fulton for the warm-up matches shows the way the New Zealand selectors are thinking and he, like Redmond, can look forward to a Test debut at headquarters. Onions ended Flynn’s 77-ball stay, trapping him half forward, due reward for a wholehearted display from Onions who also out-bowled Hoggard.Oram formed another useful stand of 72 with until falling to Tremlett’s second delivery with the second new ball, gloving down the leg side. Hoggard then gave his day a late boost when Jeetan Patel edged to second slip, added Tim Southee with another nice outswinger and trapped Iain O’Brein lbw, but it shouldn’t mask a below-par display.The same could be said about Redmond’s innings and New Zealand’s batting. He scored more than half the team’s total and they need their batting to fire as a unit come next week. But at least he will start with some confidence, and when your debut is at Lord’s that’s a decent way to begin.

Laxman blasts 'shocking' pitch

by csb10.top Uncategorized

VVS Laxman: “It was not a good pitch for any form of the game” © AFP
 

VVS Laxman has termed the Eden Gardens pitch on which his Deccan Chargers lost their IPL opener against the Kolkata Knight Riders “shocking” and said the power failure towards the end of the match contributed to the defeat as it affected the players’ concentration.”It was not a good pitch for any form of the game. It was a shocking wicket,” said Laxman after Hyderabad were shot out for 110 on a track that provided a lot of assistance to both seamers and spinners. “In the Twenty20 format you expect high scores. Though the match became exciting in the end, it was tough for the batsmen to go for shots.”Ricky Ponting later revealed that the curator had apologised to both the teams at the end of the match. “It was a shocker for all of us,” he said in a television interview, “but the curator apologised to both the teams later. Hopefully it will be a better surface when we’re out here next.”After the first two days of the IPL was dominated by the bat, Eden Gardens provided a bowler-friendly surface. It has everything from extremely variable bounce – the first ball Laxman faced kept low while the third jumped viciously from a length to crash into his gloves – and big turn as Andrew Symonds found out when a Mohammad Hafeez delivery landed well outside off and spun past him down the leg side. Even local boy Sourav Ganguly struggled to come to terms with the pitch, getting hit on the chest from a length ball that took off.Laxman felt that the nature of the Eden Gardens track was changing. “I played here in the Ranji Trophy and also a Test sometime back. The wicket was slow on both occasions. I think you are not getting the wicket we expect at Eden.”Laxman also complained about the floodlight failure as the match was heading towards a tight finish. Kolkata needed 22 from 20 with five wickets in hand when one of the light towers went off, holding play up for about half an hour. When play resumed, David Hussey guided Kolkata to victory with one over to spare. “The interruption definitely affected us. The momentum was towards us. And the bowlers were in great rhythm,” Laxman said. “But having said that, I must say that the bowlers were in great rhythm when play resumed.”Hussey, whose unbeaten 38 fetched him the Man-of-the-Match award, played down the difficult nature of the track and admitted his side were helped by the interruption in play. “It was a good break for us,” he said. “We got to collect our thoughts, have a drink and re-adjust our game plans and that probably worked in our favour.”

The Billy and Asad show, and Gilly's last dismissal

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Sachin Tendulkar’s 13 continued his trend of under-performing in the second innings against Australia © Getty Images
 

Dive for the prize
Behind-the-wicket catching has been a severe problem for Australia over the past month, but there was no issue in the micro-seconds it took Matthew Hayden to leap high to his left and stun Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The batsman had driven hard at Brett Lee and Hayden, standing at second slip, latched on to it like he had a bucket on his hand. It was the Australians’ catch of the series.Another not out
“Now for the hat-trick, Billy,” a spectator in the Bradman Stand shouted after Sourav Ganguly was finally ruled caught from his scoop to Michael Hussey at cover. Mitchell Johnson’s previous delivery to Ganguly looked plumb to viewers behind the wicket, but Billy Bowden, who has spent much of the Test shaking his head to appeals, was not swayed. The hypothetical hat-trick ball was easily covered by VVS Laxman.Foot fault
Sachin Tendulkar arrived in a hurry, driving his first ball hard into the foot and shin of Phil Jaques at bat-pad before it ricocheted to Andrew Symonds at cover. The Australians were confident they had achieved a miracle dismissal, but the replays raised doubt over whether it bounced short of Jaques’ foot and Tendulkar was rightfully reprieved.Jekyll and Hyde
Tendulkar’s 13 continued his trend of under-performing in the second innings against Australia. He managed only 52 runs for the entire series at the second attempts, but he more than made up for it with 440 at 146.67 in the first ones during an unforgettable collection of a couple of hundreds and another two half-centuries. Australians will remember his time here fondly.Gilly’s last dismissal
Adam Gilchrist bid farewell to Tests by making sure Mark Boucher would have just that little bit extra to do when he inevitably regains the world record for dismissals. Gilchrist took a leg-side catch off Brett Lee to dismiss Laxman and in his final session held on to Virender Sehwag’s edge and celebrated wildly. In between the two catches, his last effort in Tests was nearly decided for him when, standing up, Stuart Clark boomed in a bouncer. Agile to the last, he managed to put his gloves in front of his face just in time.Bruised and broken
Brett Lee’s bouncers have been hostile this series and he made Rahul Dravid retire hurt after one got big on the batsman and hit his right middle finger. That was on Dravid’s 15th dot ball of the day, and although he played out one more over he couldn’t grip the bat properly and left the field for an x-ray. It showed a break.The Billy and Asad show
The Test may have been petering out to a draw, but the umpires decided they could still have some fun. As they waited for the teams to arrive back on the pitch for the final session, Bowden and Asad Rauf took the match ball and started practising their slip catching in the middle. They may well have inspired Hayden.

Kohli banks on batting to deliver expectations

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Virat Kohli is confident over India’s chances at the Under-19 World Cup © Martin Williamson
 

Virat Kohli, the captain of India’s Under-19 squad for the World Cup, may still be in his teens but he’s already aware of the kind of spotlight an Indian cricketer faces when playing on the international stage. As the team prepared to depart for Malaysia, Kohli said India were “expected to be favourites” and hoped to fulfill those expectations – backed by a strong batting line-up and a bolstered attack – during the 15-day tournament.The squad spent the last week at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, fine-tuning their preparations under the guidance of Dav Whatmore, who will be their coach for the tournament. Kohli said the team had worked hard on their fielding skills, which he felt needed to be improved, during the camp and the time spent together had helped build team-spirit.India have had a successful run in the lead-up to Malaysia. They won a Youth Test series in South Africa 1-0 as well as a triangular limited-overs tournament involving South Africa, who are grouped with India in the World Cup, and Bangladesh. The batsmen performed impressively in the tri-series, with Kohli, Saurav Tiwary, Tanmay Srivatsava and Manish Pandey all averaging above 50.”We have a deep batting line-up and most often our No.7 and No.8 batsmen have not had a chance to bat on the last two or three tours. So batting is a big strength,” Kohli said. “The fast bowling was lacking on the last tour so we’ve got more fast bowlers to strengthen that area.”India’s group also includes West Indies and Papua New Guinea and their practice-matches before the main tournament kicks off will be against two teams Kohli considered among the toughest in the competition – New Zealand and England.”We know most of the England team and the New Zealand team, which are the difficult teams. We don’t know much about Pakistan because I think the team has changed. But we’ve seen South Africa, England and New Zealand which are the strongest teams, so we know about them.”For most of the team, the World Cup will be their first experience of playing in front of a television audience. Kohli, however, said that thinking about factors such as television would only add to the pressure. “You don’t have to think about it much,” Kohli said. “We just have to play like we have been playing on the last four or five tours. We’ve been winning all the tours so we would like to keep up the winning streak.”While Kohli and his team-mates are thinking of the immediate future, and how it could be the launching pad for future international careers, their coach is able to look at the larger picture. The challenge, Whatmore said, was to “create the right pathways and competitions for the youngsters to come through.”

TN eye full points after Abhinav ton

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Abhinav Mukund’s 25th first-class century, and half-centuries from B Indrajith and Dinesh Karthik gave Tamil Nadu a 244-run first-innings lead over Baroda on the second day of their 2016-17 Ranji Trophy fixture in Raipur. Tamil Nadu’s bowlers had backed Abhinav’s decision to put Baroda in by knocking them over for 93 on the opening day. They ended the day on 79 for 1, with Abhinav on 40 and Indrajith not out on 18.Abhinav scored an even 100 off 165 balls, while Indrajith struck a more sedate 68, off 166 balls. The duo, who came together at 32 for 1, extended their partnership to 147. Karthik then struck a brisk 65, before new-ball bowler Munaf Patel wiped out the lower order in quick time to finish with 4 for 91 and wrap up Tamil Nadu’s innings for 337. Baroda made a more assured start to their second essay, ending the day on 44 for no loss, trailing by 200 runs.In Hyderabad, Punjab responded strongly after dismissing Uttar Pradesh for 335, finishing on 243 for 3. UP had ended the opening day on 300 for 6 with Kuldeep Yadav on 62 and Saurabh Kumar batting on 39. UP added 35 more for their last four wickets. Kuldeep was dismissed for 71 and Saurabh made 52. Sandeep Sharma took 5 for 85 for Punjab, while Shubek Gill, the right-arm medium pacer, took 3 for 57.Punjab were buoyed by their opening batsmen, Manan Vohra and Jiwanjot Singh, who both struck half-centuries and shared a 117-run partnership. Uday Kaul struck 33 and played second fiddle in a 96-run third-wicket stand with captain Yuvraj Singh, who was unbeaten on 72. Punjab are behind by 92 runs.It was a slow day at the SDNR Wadeyar Stadium in Mysore where only 177 runs were scored in 88.2 overs on the second day. Mumbai, who resumed on 244 for 5, put up 345 in their first innings, before reducing Railways to 76 for 3.Suryakumar Yadav, who began the day on 60, compiled 110 – his 11th first-class century. Legspinner Karn Sharma added two lower-order wickets to his tally to finish with 5 for 81. Railways’ top-three took their time and got off to starts, but none could stay on. Left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil took two wickets and Tushar Deshpande, the right-arm medium pacer, took one as Railways went into stumps trailing Mumbai by 269 runs.The Bengal-Gujarat match in Delhi, meanwhile, was called off due to smoggy conditions.

Dhoni and Harbhajan to undergo fitness tests

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh will undergo fitness tests at the National Cricket Academy on Friday © AFP
 

Harbhajan Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who missed the mandatory fitness tests prior to their inclusion for the first two Tests against South Africa, will undergo the procedure at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore on March 21.Both Harbhajan and Dhoni were included by the selectors in the 14-member squad, and were asked to report to the NCA for fitness tests on March 21. Harbhajan was a doubtful starter for the series since he had been suffering from a hamstring injury, while Dhoni had sprained his finger during the second final against Australia in the CB Series.If Dhoni doesn’t clear the test, Dinesh Karthik will take up the wicketkeeping duties, while Harbhajan’s absence may pave the way for Piyush Chawla to take over the second spinner’s role behind captain Anil Kumble. Fast bowler Ishant Sharma has already been ruled out of the first Test, and his selection for the second is subject to fitness.Sachin Tendulkar is another member of the 14-man squad who has not taken the test. According to new BCCI norms, players who have been out of action for a month need to prove their fitness at the NCA ahead of any series. Although Tendulkar had taken part in the CB Series earlier this month, he had been advised two weeks’ rest by John Gloster, the outgoing team physio. However, Tendulkar later said he was fit to take part in the series.

Gilchrist relieved after emotional day

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Adam Gilchrist: “Today was where it really hit me, that it is all finishing” © Getty Images
 

The outpouring of emotion at the WACA on Friday made Adam Gilchrist realise the end of his record-breaking career was near. Gilchrist, who will retire at the conclusion of CB Series, waved goodbye to his home crowd in Perth with a fine 118 in the 63-run win over Sri Lanka and listened to chants of “Gilly, Gilly” throughout the match.”Today was where it really hit me, that it is all finishing,” he told AFP on Friday night. “Today was always going to be a big day, so I was more nervous than any day, leading into here. I am glad it is done … there was a lot of emotion in there.”Gilchrist did not have much time to enjoy the moment as the Australians flew from Perth to Adelaide on Saturday for Sunday’s match against India. Brett Lee will miss the contest to rest after a busy campaign.”It’s a difficult schedule this one, not playing for four days and then playing back-to-back,” Gilchrist said. “There is a lot of downtime between the Sunday and Friday games and maybe all of us have struggled on the back of an intense Test series.”The victory eased the pressure on Australia, who top the tri-series table, but Gilchrist said there was no room for complacency. “If we drop one,” he said, “we’ll be back in the same position.”

Harmison will consider retiring if not recalled

by csb10.top Uncategorized

Life on the county circuit does not appeal to Steve Harmison © Getty Images
 

Steve Harmison has said he is likely to quit cricket if he fails to win back his England place.Writing in his column in the Mail on Sunday, Harmison said that without the lure of international cricket, he could see no point in continuing.”The prospect of playing for England is what drives me and if I felt my chance of doing that was gone the probability is I’d retire from first-class cricket altogether. This is not an ultimatum or me trying to impose conditions on anyone. But I am 29 now and if I felt my England career was over I would be tempted to say I want to do something different with my life.”I am absolutely determined to show I have something to offer England,” he continued. “I certainly do not believe I am finished. After a terrible year for me on the field with injuries, operations and so little cricket it is ridiculous, my aim is to bowl fast, take wickets and give the selectors something to think about.”I have spoken informally to the skipper, Michael Vaughan, and the coach, Peter Moores, and stressed that I still want to play Test cricket and they were pretty positive that both Matthew [Hoggard] and I remain in their plans.”