McLaren ready to fill bowling role

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With Jacques Kallis’ fitness for the opening Test against England at Centurion still uncertain, Mickey Arthur believes uncapped allrounder Ryan McLaren can play an important role with the ball

Cricinfo staff02-Dec-2009With Jacques Kallis’ fitness for the opening Test against England at Centurion still uncertain, Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, believes uncapped allrounder Ryan McLaren can play an important role with the ball, as South Africa strive to balance their side.Kallis was included in the 15-man Test squad despite missing the entire one-day series with a broken rib. It is uncertain whether he will be fit to bowl but could play as a specialist batsman, which could mean that McLaren, formerly with Kent, might play as a back-up seamer.”We’ve spent the last month or so having a look at potential allrounders – the one area we felt we were a little bit light on – and Ryan was the one guy that fitted the bill,” said Arthur. “We need a bowler to be able to really come on and do a holding job – and we think Ryan could do that.”Though McLaren has bowled with pace – touching 90mph – in the one-day series so far, he has taken just one wicket and conceded 102 runs from his 19 overs. He’s also struggled with that bat, collecting five runs from his three outings in the series.It emphasises the problem South Africa face because there is no alternative who could bat in the top six and provide quality back-up bowling. Arthur admitted replacing Kallis is difficult and opens up questions about the balance of the side.”You don’t replace him every day of the week, with 10,000 Test runs and [almost] 300 wickets. But obviously we’ve got Jacques’ injury, so we’ve gone for some cover in terms of giving ourselves options,” he said.”Not having him, you would have the dilemma of whether you went with five batsmen and an allrounder or still with the six batsmen. We’re having a look at making sure we’ve got every option. But he’s on track, he’s making good progress [and] we’re still hoping he’ll be fine.”Meanwhile the hosts are confident that Dale Steyn will be fit for the Test series, after he was withdrawn from the final ODI match, at Durban on Friday, with a hamstring strain. Though South Africa trail England 2-1 in the series, Steyn sits out as a precaution.

Injured Nazmul Hossain out of tri-series

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Bangladesh fast bowler Nazmul Hossain has been ruled out of the upcoming home tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka because of an injury

Cricinfo staff02-Jan-2010Bangladesh fast bowler Nazmul Hossain has been ruled out of the upcoming home tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka because of an injury. He has been replaced by Shahadat Hossain in the Bangladesh Squad.Nazmul injured his right quadriceps muscle during practice and is likely to be out of action for two weeks. The tri-series begins on January 4 with Bangladesh taking on Sri Lanka at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur.

Injured Laxman out of Bangladesh series

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VVS Laxman will be returning to India from the two-Test series in Bangladesh after injuring his finger while dropping a catch in the first Test in Chittagong

Cricinfo staff21-Jan-2010VVS Laxman will be returning to India from the tour of Bangladesh after injuring his finger while dropping a catch in the first Test in Chittagong. But MS Dhoni, who missed the first Test due to a back strain, and Harbhajan Singh, who sat out due to a stiff neck, have recovered completely and are fit for the next game in Mirpur on January 24.”Laxman is returning home tomorrow. There will be no replacements,” Arshad Ayub, India’s team manager, said. Laxman dropped Bangladesh top-order batsman Shahriar Nafees on the fourth day and showed signs of pain when he tried to stop an outside edge that fell just short of him a few balls later. Laxman needed ten stitches on his left hand, and with India taking a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series, the decision to send him back home was taken.However, India will be boosted by the recovery of Harbhajan and Dhoni. Harbhajan bowled a long spell to Rahul Dravid on the center pitch immediately after the game ended, and Dhoni, who looks likely to take over the reins from stand-in captain Virender Sehwag, has been batting in the nets from yesterday.Sreesanth, too, sustained an injury on the final day of the Test, straining his hamstring, and was forced to walk off the field in the middle of an over to get some medical attention. “Sreesanth has a light strain on the hamstring. It’s too early to say the damage,” Ayub said.

Rain ruins West Indies' chance

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West Indies had their best performance of the series cut short by the weather

The Bulletin by Peter English12-Feb-2010Match abandoned West Indies 0 for 6 v Australia 225 (Clarke 46, Hussey 44, Rampaul 4-61)

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRavi Rampaul was the star for West Indies with four wickets before a damp night at the SCG•Getty Images

West Indies had their best performance of the series cut short by the weather as they were allowed six balls in their chase before the third ODI was washed out. The desperate tourists, who now have to win the final two matches to level the five-game contest, were hopeful of victory after Ravi Rampaul’s 4 for 61 restricted Australia to 225.They had scored six runs when the rain came for a two-hour delay and it refused to leave for long enough to ensure a result. Play resumed at 9.20pm local time with West Indies facing a target of 151 off 24 overs, but the weather closed in again after one delivery. The sides will head to Brisbane for the fourth fixture on Sunday, when Australia will attempt to wrap up the series and Chris Gayle’s men will try to hold on.Gayle gambled by bowling first at the SCG after losing Kemar Roach to injury, but his back-up men stood up in hot and humid conditions at the start and windy ones towards the end of the innings. Australia experienced a testing opening to be 2 for 30 and the batsmen were unable to find fluency while West Indies’ medium pacers enjoyed a pitch offering seam and some inconsistent bounce.Rampaul led the attack well in the absence of Roach – he didn’t deserve a late thrashing from Ryan Harris – while Dwayne Smith, the stand-in opener, had 3 for 45 as they regularly threatened the locals. Australia relied on late contributions from Michael Hussey, who struck 44 off 53, and Harris (21 off nine) as they built on Michael Clarke’s 46 to post what should have been a challenging total.Hussey, who came in just before a 20-minute rain break, worked hard while James Hopes chipped in with a valuable 30 before Harris arrived with some grunt. He hit Rampaul for three fours and a six in the 50th over before finding Kieron Pollard at long on as Australia were dismissed with a ball to go.Australia had already lost four wickets in the Powerplay, which was taken in the 45th over, starting when Smith bowled Hussey. Rampaul watched Hopes chip him to midwicket and then got one through Nathan Hauritz, while Mitchell Johnson was taken by a clever catch by Pollard off Smith.With Roach missing, Smith opened with gentle outswingers that caused trouble while Rampaul was also potent. Darren Sammy, who replaced Roach in the XI, did his job with 2 for 46 and gained the crucial dismissals of Clarke and Ricky Ponting (22), who inside-edged on to his stumps aiming a drive.Clarke worked the ball around, running 34 singles and managing only one four, but was unable to force the big shots and grew frustrated into a charge at Sammy. The swipe to the legside ended in a catch behind and he left with the score at a wobbly 5 for 144.Nikita Miller, the left-arm spinner, was tidy in giving up three-and-a-half runs an over while Pollard (1 for 26) was also tight and gained Cameron White’s edge on 17. The only real problem for the bowlers was their generosity in giving away 12 wides over the first half of the innings. At the time Australia needed all the extra runs.Australia made four changes and employed a new opening combination with Tim Paine and Adam Voges coming in for the rested Shane Watson and Shaun Marsh, who pulled out with a back injury shortly before the toss. Rampaul’s inswinger bowled Paine on 16 as he tried to hit to leg and in the next over Smith’s full toss trapped Voges (8) attempting a similar shot. West Indies continued to cause problems and while chasing under lights would have been tough, they would have loved an opportunity to inflict Australia’s first defeat of the season.

Robin Uthappa's blitz floors Chennai

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Robin Uthappa’s blitz helped his team recover from a shaky start, after which Bangalore’s bowlers throttled Chennai to move to the top of the points table

The Bulletin by Jamie Alter23-Mar-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outRobin Uthappa’s assault in the 19th over changed the game•Indian Premier League

“I’m just an ordinary cricketer who is working hard,” said Robin Uthappa during the mid-innings break. His 38-ball 68 that rescued Royal Challengers Bangalore’s innings, however, was anything but ordinary. Uthappa’s eleventh-hour blitz helped his team recover from a shaky start and sluggish middle overs, after which Bangalore’s bowlers throttled Chennai Super Kings to move to the top of the points table.Chennai took wickets during the early and middle overs but it was the final 19 deliveries of Bangalore’s innings, where Uthappa blazed away, that made the difference. Dropped on 5 and 25, Uthappa helped Bangalore take 52 runs off them, lifting his team from 119 after 17 overs to 171 for 5, when at one stage 150 looked difficult.It was the speed and power with which Uthappa collected his runs that was dazzling: his last 39 came off ten balls. The over that swung the momentum Bangalore’s way was the penultimate one, in which Uthappa – whose improvisation makes him the ideal Twenty20 batsman – struck three successive sixes off L Balaji to ransack 24 from six balls.Until that explosion, Bangalore had struggled. From the time their talisman opener Jacques Kallis was bowled for 19 in 4.4 overs, ending a splendid run of four unbeaten innings, the home side failed to overcome Chennai’s bowlers. On a juiced-up surface, an eagerly-awaited contest began with Chennai’s new-ball duo wondering just what was needed to make a breakthrough. They thought they had success in the first over, when a peach of a delivery from Albie Morkel appeared to shave the outer edge of Kallis’ bat, but it was not to be.Manish Pandey rode his luck, following up an inside-edged four to fine leg with a top edge that dropped between two fielders, and then Kallis charged Morkel, slashing a thick outside edge that was lost in the lights by L Balaji at third man. Off the very next delivery, Kallis edged Morkel wide of a diving slip for four more.Once Kallis went for 19, missing a straight one from Balaji, Bangalore’s innings lost direction. Pandey continued to live dangerously without imposing himself. Then for the second time a wicket immediately followed a boundary. Rahul Dravid rocked back and dispatched Muttiah Muralitharan’s fifth delivery for four; the sixth was a topspinner that pitched on middle and leg and beat the bat to crash into the stumps.When the strategic time-out rolled around – that’s the pace at which the innings panned out – Chennai had restricted Bangalore to their poorest start yet, 61 for 2. That soon became 63 for 3 when Pandey slogged Murali and was held by Suresh Raina at mid-on. However, Chennai proceeded to reprieve Uthappa and conceded substantial ground.Confident after Uthappa’s heroics, Bangalore began snuffing out the chase. Praveen Kumar has a knack of getting early wickets and troubling left-hand batsman, and he got Parthiv Patel to edge one in the first over. Chennai struggled during the Powerplay, finishing the six-over block on 29 for 1. Matthew Hayden called for the Mongoose immediately after and hit Kallis for three consecutive fours, but he and George Bailey were unable to get Anil Kumble away. Mixing flippers and googlies exceptionally, Kumble kept a check on runs and the pressure resulted in Hayden being run out by Rahul Dravid’s underarm hit.That breakthrough brought another, and R Vinay Kumar’s perfect seam position dismissed Bailey for a woeful 18 from 27 balls. Vinay struck a bigger blow in his next over when he got Suresh Raina to slash to Kallis at third man, and then Kumble sent back M Vijay. The innings never recovered after four wickets had fallen for 17 runs. Vinay went for a few runs but finished with a four-wicket haul to help Bangalore surge ahead of Mumbai Indians in the points table.

Dhoni blasts Chennai to semi-finals

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A pumped-up MS Dhoni again showed why he’s one of the great finishers in the game to make Chennai Super Kings the only team to reach the semi-finals of each IPL so far

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran18-Apr-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
MS Dhoni showed off his finishing skills again•Indian Premier League

A pumped-up MS Dhoni showed why he’s one of the great finishers in the game, blasting 30 runs in the final two overs to ensure Chennai Super Kings would contest an IPL semi-final for the third season in a row. Chennai’s chances seemed dim after Shaun Marsh’s sparkling innings had powered Kings XI Punjab to a massive total, but meaty innings from Suresh Raina and S Badrinath set the stage for a Dhoni onslaught during a tense finish.Punjab held the edge for most of the match, and going into the last two overs Chennai needed 29, a tough task even with Dhoni and Albie Morkel at the crease. Juan Theron had been a hero the last time the two teams met, but he couldn’t save Punjab in Dharamsala.The penultimate over, by Theron, started with two murderous hits for four from Dhoni, feasting on the length deliveries offered. He looked to repeat on the third ball, but a thick edge flew high and fast to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, who managed to get a glove on it. Theron kept it to singles for the rest of the over, leaving Chennai needing 16 off the last.Irfan Pathan had bowled the last six deliveries against Chennai at the MA Chidambaram as well, and he had kept them to nine runs to push that match into a Super Over. This time, though, he didn’t have a tailender like R Ashwin to bowl to; it was Dhoni, channeling the buccaneer spirit with which he made his name.The first delivery was almost a yorker, but Dhoni managed to power it wide of long off for four. The next was a slower one that he top-edged, but it landed short of long off and Chennai were two runs closer. The match was effectively sealed off the third delivery: a monstrous hit over wide long on sent the ball out of the ground, reducing the equation to four off three. Dhoni finished it with another thrash over long on, and the famously cool captain let out a roar and then punched the side of the helmet as the adrenaline flowed and his team-mates raced from the dug-out in joy.Chennai’s pursuit got off to a horror start when Ramesh Powar’s classic offspin bowling, tossing the ball up and keeping the pace down in un-Twenty20 fashion, accounted for the dangerous openers Matthew Hayden and M Vijay.From 26 for 2 in the fifth over, it was Raina who ignited the chase in company of Badrinath, promoted ahead of Dhoni. At least 11 runs came off each of the next six overs as Raina waded into the Punjab attack. The sixes kept raining until he was dismissed in the 10th over with a beautifully-timed hit to sweeper cover, similar to his exit in the previous match against Delhi Daredevils.Badrinath has had plenty of questions asked over his ability in limited-overs matches, and they resurfaced when he went scoreless for six deliveries after Raina’s fall. He broke that spell with a clean hit over long-off and a paddle-scoop over fine leg for four. There were a couple of close lbw calls against Piyush Chawla, but he kept the boundaries coming so that by the time he was stumped for 53 in the 17th over, his strike-rate was touching 150. After he fell, it was all about Dhoni, as Punjab’s inability to fire in yorkers hurt them yet again.Punjab had looked set to close out a forgettable season with a consolation win after they had been sent in. Mahela Jayawardene’s blistering cameo gave them a cracking start, and Sangakkara showed again that you could score at Twenty20 rate using orthodox cricketing strokes.Marsh was content to let the Sri Lankan stars make most of the runs in the first half of the innings, but once Chennai hit back with the big wickets of Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh in successive overs, he brought out the clean hitting that got him runs by the wagonload in the inaugural season.He and Irfan amassed 99 runs in the last eight overs, and the Marsh blitz started with two sixes and two fours in six deliveries, during which he galloped from 39 to 58. A slog-sweep out of the stadium followed, and he clubbed Bollinger twice over the ropes in the 19th over.Irfan racked up 15 in the final over but that proved pointless in a match which was characteristic of Kings XI Punjab’s season: their batsmen piled on lots of runs but the limp bowling and awful fielding kept Sangakkara’s men at the foot of the table for almost the entire tournament.

Honours even after day of wickets

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Sixteen wickets fell on a dramatic day at the Brit Oval where Gloucestershire finished 190 runs ahead of Surrey with three-second innings wickets in hand in their County Championship Division Two clash

05-May-2010

ScorecardSixteen wickets fell on a dramatic day at the Brit Oval where Gloucestershire finished 190 runs ahead of Surrey with three-second innings wickets in hand in their County Championship Division Two clash.Surrey, who started the day at 56 for 1, 173 runs behind, lost nightwatchman Chris Tremlett to the fourth ball from Gemaal Hussain but Arun Harinath and Mark Ramprakash put on 43 in 10 overs before the wickets began to tumble.Ramprakash lost his middle stump pushing forward to Jon Lewis and Harinath, who had been dropped at second slip off Hussain on his way to 51 off 89 balls with eight fours, was caught behind off James Franklin.Rory Hamilton-Brown lost his off stump padding up to his fifth ball from Steve Kirby, who then removed Usman Afzaal’s middle and off stumps as he tried to drive. Chris Schofield and Stuart Meaker were caught behind in successive overs from Lewis and to complete a miserable morning for Surrey Iftikhar Anjum was run out trying to complete a third run in the last over before lunch.Seven wickets had gone down for 42 runs in 16 overs before Jade Dernbach joined Steven Davies in a last-wicket stand of 37 which trimmed Gloucestershire’s lead to 51. Chris Dent and Jonathan Batty extended that by 37 but then the Surrey seamers began to hit back. Meaker claimed Dent leg before and Dernbach had Hamish Marshall caught behind off a lifter.Alex Gidman, the Gloucestershire captain, tried to regain the initiative by hitting four fours and a six in his 24 but he was then leg before playing across the line against Iftikhar. Gloucestershire had lost two wickets in two balls when Batty, desperate to do well against the county that released him last season, was leg before to Chris Tremlett and worse was to come when Meaker, the South Africa-born seamer playing in only his 10th first-class match, took three for two in 14 balls.He had Chris Taylor leg, before, Steven Snell caught behind first ball and Lewis also caught behind to have Gloucestershire reeling at 139 for 7 when bad light stopped play. Meaker had taken four for 29 in 11.2 overs, the best haul of his brief career, and given Surrey the chance to claim their first championship victory of the season and only their second in three years

Chirayu Amin part of failed Pune franchise bid

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Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman, has said he was part of a consortium that bid unsuccessfully for a Pune franchise earlier this year

Cricinfo staff04-Jun-2010Chirayu Amin, the interim IPL chairman, has said he was part of a consortium that bid unsuccessfully for a Pune franchise earlier this year and also said he had kept the BCCI president informed of his role in the auction. Also included in the group as a technical partner was the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), whose president said it was only involved in the bid to try and increase the usage of a stadium being built in Pune.The news comes on a day when ICC president elect Sharad Pawar, his wife and daughter were revealed to have a stake in a company that was allegedly a member of the bidding consortium. Pawar is a senior minister in the federal government and his daughter an MP; both have come under severe criticism through the day for not revealing their stake in the company when the controversy first broke in April.The controversy surrounds the potential for conflict of interest; it has already claimed the job of Pawar’s former cabinet colleague Shashi Tharoor, and questions have been raised over the dual roles of the BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns the Chennai Super Kings franchise.Amin’s statement came in response to a statement by Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL chairman, that Amin had been involved in an attempt to acquire a new IPL franchise. Amin, who was appointed interim chairman on Modi’s suspension, said he would not have invested without the Indian board’s permission had he been successful at the auction.”I was approached by a group of businessmen to join them in the consortium to bid for the Pune franchise,” Amin said. “I agreed to invest upto 10% from one of our associate companies.”Before participating in the bid I wrote a letter to Manohar in this regard and also stated in my letter that further clearance would be taken from BCCI before investing in case the bid was successful. There was therefore total transparency at every step.”The consortium was headed by Aniruddha Deshpande, managing director of City Corporation, a company in which Pawar, his wife, and his daughter Supriya Sule together have a 16% stake. “We received letters of interest from quite a few prospective investors and Glycodin [one of Amin’s companies] was one of them,” Deshpande told Cricinfo. “The letters were merely to ascertain if the investor would be serious in case the bid was successful.”One of the entities that had sent a letter of interest to Deshpande was the MCA. Ajay Shirke, the MCA’s president, explained its involvement in the bid: “We wanted a team for Pune at any cost because we are building a modern stadium which has a huge capital outlay,” he said. “The utilisation of the stadium on a sustainable basis would improve if we had an IPL team .”Mr Deshpande approached us to utilise the MCA stadium which would also help him reduce the costs. We were willing to give it to anyone as long as the person won the bid. In the letter to the City Corporation, we said that the letter was being issued on a non-exclusive basis.”

Fast bowling duo joins Indian squad as net bowlers

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Two of India’s promising young quick bowlers, Jaidev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav, will join the national team in Sri Lanka as net bowlers

Cricinfo staff11-Jul-2010Two of India’s promising young quick bowlers, Jaidev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav, will join the national team in Sri Lanka as net bowlers.It has been a heady rise for 18-year-old Unadkat, who caught the eye with a 13-wicket haul on first-class debut against West Indies A in Leicester during India A’s tour last month. He was one of the India’s better performers in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year and followed up with satisfactory outings for Saurashtra in the domestic one-day tournament, which helped him land an IPL contract with Kolkata Knight Riders.Yadav, 22, is a slightly more seasoned performer, having had two solid seasons with Vidarbha. He also has some taste of international cricket, recently touring Zimbabwe with the second-string Indian side led by Suresh Raina. It was a bit of a rough initiation for Yadav, as he managed only one wicket in three ODIs. The breakthrough to the Indian team came on the back of an IPL season, during which he impressed with his pace while playing for Delhi Daredevils.Unadkat flew to Sri Lanka from England on Saturday along with his India A team-mates, Abhimanyu Mithun and Wriddhiman Saha, who are part of the Test side. Yadav was expected to link up with the senior team on Sunday.

Speed slams 'political' boards over Howard

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Malcolm Speed, the former ICC chief executive, has slammed the boards that have blocked John Howard’s nomination as the next ICC vice-president.

Cricinfo staff30-Jun-2010Malcolm Speed, the former ICC chief executive, has slammed the boards that have blocked John Howard’s nomination as the next ICC vice-president. During the ICC annual meeting in Singapore it was confirmed that Howard didn’t have enough support, while Australia and New Zealand have been asked to nominate another candidateSpeed, who was CEO from 2001 until 2008, was scathing in his assessment of what had taken place to undermine Howard’s nomination, which itself was the subject of a compromise between Australia and New Zealand. He said those who didn’t want Howard in the role are politically motivated.”Howard has been rejected because his appointment would provide ICC with strong leadership that would thwart the ambitions of several current administrators to downgrade and devalue the role of the ICC,” Speed wrote in the .”Howard would have stood in their path. The role requires strength of character – a leader, diplomat, statesman and politician. The ICC board is as political as any political party. The countries that voted him down want a compliant figurehead who will do their bidding.”Speed added that Australia and New Zealand have previously accepted nominations despite reservations. He said that they should decline to make another candidate available and instead pass the role onto Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are next in line on the rotation system, then refuse to vote themselves.”In the meantime, they should be banging the table and making their displeasure widely known,” wrote Speed.Speed also questioned whether ICC president-elect Sharad Pawar would have time for cricket in the midst of his political career. “Sharad Pawar, is the Minister for Agriculture in the Indian government – a serious full-time job, feeding 1.2 billion people. He is a good and fair man but he will be working part-time as ICC president and, take it from me, he knows little about cricket administration.”I was present at several ICC board meetings he attended. ICC meetings generally last two days. Pawar attended for one hour and was then replaced by one of the Board of Control for Cricket in India apparatchiks. They were concerned that he was too busy and would be too reasonable,” wrote Speed.Cricket Australia’s chairman Jack Clarke and his New Zealand Cricket counterpart Alan Isaac said in a joint statement they were “deeply disappointed” after supplying “the best possible candidate”. “We jointly nominated Mr Howard as he possesses significant leadership and administrative skills,” they said. “We believe cricket needs to continue to seek excellence and dispassionate independence in the game’s global governance.”We were delighted that the most senior world figure ever considered for this role agreed to accept the nomination. We remain convinced it is reasonable for his nomination to be supported by the ICC executive board and we are deeply disappointed by the position taken.”