All posts by csb10.top

The 17th Munchee Glucofit Cricket Sixes, conducted by the Old Wesleyites Sports Club, will include the ‘free hit’ for the first time, in addition to the four-run penalty for bowling a no-ball.The tournament, sanctioned by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) which is to be held at Campbell Park on October 16, 17 and 18, will have six combined school teams from outstation districts among the total of 36 participants.The only schools cricket sixes of its kind has had an uninterrupted run for the past 16years and according to the chairman of the organising committee, Naveen deSilva, two women’s teams will also feature in an exhibition match to add moreglamour. “We have done all the possible things to preserve the value of thetournament,” he said.In order to promote the tournament to new heights, a painting competition, namely ‘Munchee Glucofit Cricart’ will take place on the second and final daysof the competition, featuring young artists from Wesley College. This isbeing done to evoke interest and bring more students to the venue.According to the organisers, the competition will be open to other schoolsfrom next year.In addition to the two main awards, which are the Munchee Glucofit ChampionsTrophy for the winner and the Old Wesleyites Trophy for the runners-up, a new trophy will be presented to the most well-disciplined team on and off the field. Eight members each from the winning and runner-upteams will receive individual trophies.Lakshman de Silva, the group managing director of Ceylon Biscuits Limited,stressed his concern on attracting spectators for a school sixes tournamentof this magnitude. “The only drawback I see about this tournament is theinability to draw schoolboys to come and witness the matches. In the pastfew years, we have noticed that as sponsors and we are concerned this year ofattracting more spectators to the venue.”The defending champions, Prince of Wales, could expect tough competitionfrom other school teams participating as 36 teams will be allotted on afirst come first serve basis. From the 36 teams, nine will representUnder-19 cricketers who will play in a combined district team. These teamswill represent the districts of Polonnaruwa, Nuwara Eliya and Bandarawela,Badulla and Moneragala, Ampara and Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna,Anuradhapura, Hambantota and Vavuniya.Two leading international schools have also been invited to take part thisyear. All teams will compete with branded coloured clothing provided by thesponsor. For the first time in their history, Cricinfo, the premier cricketwebsite, will provide live ball-by-ball updates of all thematches. The draw of the tournament will take place on September 29 at theWesley College main hall. In addition, the newly re-laid turf wicket atCampbell Park, sponsored by Sri Lanka Cricket, will be declared open on thefinal day of the tournament.

ScorecardRizwan Cheema scored an unbeaten 76 off 38 balls•Eddie Norfolk

It was a no-contest at the Maple Leaf North-West Ground as Kenya were dismissed by the hosts for 113 and lost by nine wickets in a match which lasted just 49.3 overs. Khurram Chohan, the right-arm seamer, took four early wickets to reduce the visitors to 37 for 5, a position from which they never recovered. Rizwan Cheema then hit a blazing 76 off 38 balls to seal the win in 16.2 overs.Chohan got into the act in the sixth over of the Kenya innings when he sent back Alex Obanda and Steve Tikolo in the space of three balls. He then dismissed Seren Waters and Collins Obuya to reduce the visitors to 37 for 5 in the 12th over. Maurice Ouma resisted with an unbeaten 43 but it turned out to be a solo act as he ran out of partners in the 34th over.Canada lost the early wicket of Hiral Patel, before Cheema and Abdool Samad batted in fifth gear. Samad finished with an unbeaten 30 while Cheema, who smashed ten fours, sealed the win with his fourth six.

Wayne Parnell, the 20-year-old left-arm fast bowler, will return from South Africa to play for Kent on Twenty20 finals day at Edgbaston.Cricket South Africa has given him clearance to play on August 15 even though he will return home after the County Championship match, against Derbyshire, at Canterbury.”This is great news for the club,” said Graham Ford, Kent’s director of cricket. “We are delighted to be able to bring Wayne back because he made such a big impact in our quarter-final win over Durham. I would like to thank Mickey Arthur, and the South Africa board, for allowing him to return. I’m sure that he will play a key role at finals day.”Parnell took two wickets in the quarter-final against Durham, dismissing both their opening batsmen.

Troy Cooley believes the diversity of Australia’s fast bowling line-up parallels England’s revered attack of four years ago. Cooley’s role in guiding England to Ashes glory in 2005 has been well documented, and the bowling coach, who has since joined the Australian staff, is hopeful of reaching similar heights this summer with his country of origin.England’s attack of 2005 has been rated by many as Test cricket’s finest fast bowling quartet since the West Indians of the 1980s. The reverse swing of Simon Jones, the conventional swing of Matthew Hoggard, the bounce and seam movement of Steve Harmison and the complete package offered by Andrew Flintoff afforded Australia’s quality batting line-up little respite, and set the platform for a famous 2-1 series win.The Australians have yet to finalise their pace attack for the first Test in Cardiff, but appear to be leaning towards a line-up of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Brett Lee and Stuart Clark. All four offer vastly different skill-sets – from the left-arm pace and swing of Johnson to the height, accuracy and seam movement of the right-arm Clark – imbuing Cooley with confidence that his line-up is capable of adapting to all conditions.Asked whether he noticed similarities in the flexibility of his current attack and that of England four years ago, Cooley was emphatic. “Exactly,” he said. “If you get all those fast bowlers putting the ball in the right area, you have got a really good mix, and that’s what we are trying to do now. We are working constantly on all that sort of stuff, they are getting up their skills and they are doing pretty well at the moment.”As talented as Australia’s pace line-up is, Cooley is under no illusions as to the difficulty of the task ahead this summer. His two most experienced pacemen, Lee and Clark, are returning from surgery and yet to rediscover the rhythm that, barely 12 months ago, saw them rated among the best new-ball combinations in international cricket. Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus, meanwhile, are just beginning their international careers and have limited experience in English conditions. At least one, and possibly two, of the aforementioned foursome will miss selection in Cardiff, and managing bruised egos could prove as important a coaching assignment as guiding those in the starting XI.”Of course it’s going to be hard,” Cooley said. “Everyone wants to play but you can only get eleven out on the park. There is a really good feel in this group, they get on really well together. Sure the ones that miss out will be disappointed, but they will be patting the next one on the back to go out and do the job. They will be working extra hard to try and get in the team if there is an opportunity available.”For me it’s all about getting every bowler up and ready. It’s quite exciting to have them all back and … giving the selectors a bit of a hard time in choosing which ones to start on July 8.”The recent spell of hot and dry weather in England has prompted Kevin Pietersen to predict that reverse swing could prove as important a factor this season as it did four years ago. Cooley’s work in grooming Jones and Flintoff into an old-ball force was lauded at the time, and the bowling coach is confident his current crop Australian quicks will prove adept at reversing the ball when conditions suit.”It’s not rocket science,” he said. “You have to get the seam in the right spot, and if you have got an arm action that does that and you have got the speed and the ball condition, you’re laughing. They know that. It’s just a matter of them being able to execute that and practice it. They have got the know-how, they have just got to make sure they work it and get the best out of themselves to be able to produce reverse when its available.”Lee, for one, believes Cooley’s input has been instrumental in improving Australia’s reverse swing capabilities. “It will be a massive weapon for us,” Lee said. “I’ve been watching replays of 2005 and picking Cooley’s brain. It’s important as a bowler – whether you’ve played for 10 years or not – to keep experimenting”In 2005, the ball was swinging back in and we couldn’t get the ball swinging as effectively as the England bowlers did. Now we prepare with the brand new ball, and older balls as well. Troy is with us now, and he was instrumental in 2005.”

This series hasn’t been Chris Gayle’s finest hour. He turned up 48 hours before the first Test, spent a lot of time complaining about the cold and, to cap it all, said he wouldn’t mind if Test cricket didn’t exist. So, in many respects, he got what he deserved as the Wisden Trophy was surrendered back to England after little more than two months.Ever since his now infamous newspaper interview, Gayle has tried to tone down his comments without ever sounding convincing. His latest attempt came with a smile, but that was probably because he can now play one-day cricket for six weeks.”I’m definitely enjoying the captaincy,” he said. “It has done a lot for me as an individual and I can’t be ungrateful and say it hasn’t. I appreciate it and am happy to lead the West Indies whenever and wherever. We have a good bunch of guys here and it’s a learning process for them. For me I’m still enjoying the cricket and if I’m not it wouldn’t make sense to carry on.”What made Gayle’s comments about Test cricket even more disappointing was that he’d put so much effort into securing the series in the Caribbean. He scored two impressive hundreds, bowled and batted with an injured hamstring, and instilled a determination not seen from a West Indies side for a long time. However, like the economy, it is dangerous to talk about green shoots of recovery when it comes to West Indies cricket.”It’s a disappointing result,” he said. “We have ourselves to blame to be honest, it all started from that first Test where we dropped too many catches when we had England on the run. To play catch-up cricket in these conditions was always going to be difficult. But we were here to do a job and we didn’t do it properly.”I’m disappointed to hand back the trophy after a short period of time. This tour wasn’t in place then it came on board so it was something we had to deal with and it we didn’t go about it properly. We struggled in the conditions and it would have been nice to have bat and ball clicking at the same time which didn’t happen.”An away series during the English early season was always going to present a huge challenge for West Indies but, showing that he had one captaincy skill well honed, Gayle tried to look for the positives and hoped his young players would benefit.”This was a chance for us to come and improve our overseas cricket which didn’t happen, but we should use this as a big experience for us. I learned a lot and I’m sure the other guys gained a lot,” he said. “It’s all new for them and it’s an opportunity for them to be part of this team. It’s never going to be easy for them, but it’s good they get a taste of Test cricket and hopefully they can become better.”At least Gayle can now look forward to plenty of one-day cricket, and West Indies shouldn’t be underestimated in the shorter formats even though England recently won 3-2 in the Caribbean. When West Indies toured in 2007 they lost the Test series 3-0 before bouncing back to share the Twenty20s 1-1 and take the one-dayers 2-1.”We have to put this series behind us and look forward to the ODIs,” Gayle said. “We have the guys to do the job. We are representing West Indies so have to give our best.” It certainly can’t go much worse than the last two weeks.

John Blain, the Scotland seamer, has left the squad four days before the start of the ICC World Twenty20 after a serious falling out with captain Gavin Hamilton.The official ICC release stated Blain had left for “personal reasons” and although this isn’t an injury withdrawal the technical committee have allowed Scotland to draft in Calum MacLeod as a replacement.”After a practice match on Saturday there was a team meeting and some harsh words were said,” Roddy Smith, the Cricket Scotland chief executive, told Reuters. “John then decided he wanted to leave the squad. The replacement definitely wasn’t made on medical grounds. The ICC obviously didn’t want us to go into the tournament with only 14 players in our squad instead of 15.”Blain’s departure is the latest in a string of depressing developments for Scotland over the past few months. They entered the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, held in South Africa in April, as one of the favourites and certainly one of the fittest teams on show, but failed to qualify for the 2011 event. They only retained their one-day international status by the skin of their teeth, too, in a disappointing overall performance which included a 42-run defeat to Afghanistan.Much of the criticism at the team’s effort in South Africa was aimed at the captain, Ryan Watson, whose own batting form has slipped with worrying speed in the last two years. Under pressure, Watson quit and handed the reins over to Gavin Hamilton, but at 34-years-old, his appointment smacks of filling the team with short-term ballast rather than looking to the future. Nevertheless, Hamilton remains the side’s most consistent batsman, without whom they almost certainly wouldn’t have retained their ODI status.Furthermore, with no World Cup place in 2011, Scotland lost the ICC’s US$150,000 bounty to prepare for the tournament, and five weeks ago Lloyds TSB pulled their sponsorship of the team, ending a seven-year partnership.Their first warm-up match is on Tuesday when they face England at Trent Bridge and are grouped with South Africa and New Zealand for the first stage.

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, will not guarantee Andrew Symonds a spot in Australia’s plans for the next year after the allrounder’s slip from the Test team. The squad’s national contracts are due to be named in the next fortnight and Symonds’ ranking fell during his troubled 2008-09 season.Symonds was banned from the South Africa tour, where Marcus North stepped into a baggy green at No.6, and returned during the limited-overs series in the United Arab Emirates. He picked up one important half-century but finished with 82 runs in four innings.”It is very much in Andrew Symonds’ hands,” Sutherland told the Sydney Morning Herald. “His future is in his hands; how he performs on the field and off it. He knows that.”We have a duty of care to our employees, to help them in times of need. But at the same time, we’ve got a responsibility to the game itself, and people will always make judgments about whether we’ve gone a step too far either way.”We’re hoping he will repay the people who have worked closely with him with his performances this winter and beyond.” Symonds was picked in the World Twenty20 squad for the tournament in England next month, but is also waiting to learn whether he is in the selectors’ thoughts for the Ashes.Brett Lee is another big-name player with an uncertain future following ankle and foot surgery at the start of the year. Lee is in the Twenty20 squad and the strength of his recovery will determine whether he stays in England for his third Test series there.Damien Fleming, who toured with Lee in 2001, said Lee was looking strong but needed to learn from his previous trips. “If you have two full Ashes series and average around 45 it isn’t good from your perceived No. 1 or No. 2 quick,” Fleming said in the Herald Sun. “There’s something about the conditions, the slower pitches there. He doesn’t get a lot of bounce. He needs to learn from the two Ashes series and get back to his best. We have a fair bit of depth now.”Lee will head for South Africa and the IPL at the end of Australia’s tour of the UAE, but Fleming would have preferred it if the fast man spent time preparing at the Centre of Excellence instead. “I would want him to make sure he can bowl 15 overs per day minimum.”

Hampshire 76 for 4 (Adams 33*, Balcombe 3*) trail Worcestershire 132 (Cork 4-10) by 56 runs
ScorecardDominic Cork claimed four wickets in 11 balls•Getty Images

Dominic Cork has vowed to make Lancashire suffer for shipping him out at the end of last season. Well, that opportunity still awaits but the 37-year-old former England allrounder warmed up nicely for battles ahead by taking four Worcestershire wickets in 11 balls on his Hampshire debut.Cork has never been short of confidence – and he certainly was not going to be put off by failing to take a wicket in his first four overs at the Rose Bowl after coming on as second change. Instead, he kept himself involved by taking a couple of catches, one in the gully and another at second slip, before bursting onto centre stage in typically dramatic fashion as the visitors were knocked over for 132.Worcestershire, back in the championship’s top flight after a season in Division Two, were going reasonably on 101 for 3 and were still capable of making a decent fist of it at 120 for 5 after opting to bat on a green-tinged pitch. But then up bobbed Cork.Making the ball swing, as he almost always has done, and nibble just a little off the seam, Cork won three lbw verdicts in the space of four deliveries – pinning Gareth Batty, Kabir Ali and Chris Whelan in front of their stumps. And it was almost three in three with Whelan surviving one shout after being rapped on the pad before succumbing next up.Cork’s fourth victim, Matt Mason, wafted optimistically outside off stump to be caught behind, and it was odds on a Cork five-fer. Moeen Ali probably thought so as well, swinging determinedly at James Tomlinson but failing to clear wide mid-off. Still, the man of the moment looked happy enough with 4 for 10 from eight overs, and why not.Hampshire’s glee did not last too long, mind you. Within three overs of their reply, and with pitch inspector Tony Pigott watching on, the hosts were 10 for 3. Kabir Ali, following Cork’s lead, had Michael Carberry and Michael Lumb caught behind either side of John Crawley snicking Mason to third slip.Whoops! Pigott appeared in the media centre to announce that he was perfectly happy with the pitch, saying it was a good one for the time of year and pointing out that swing had done most of the damage. And, just to support the view that batting was not impossible, Jimmy Adams and Sean Ervine added 63 – comfortably the biggest stand of the day – before Ervine chipped Whelan to mid-on shortly before the closeThe Rose Bowl is about to undergo a major redevelopment to make it ready for a Test match in 2011. Where cricket is concerned, though, some things never change – like no play before lunch despite pleasant sunshine and a drying breeze.In fairness, a lot of rain fell during the night and a delay of just over two hours was about as good as could be expected. And, although Hampshire’s bowlers had to be patient while the new ball was failing to bring success, two wickets in three overs from first-change David Balcombe meant that home supporters were not kept waiting too much longer for a bit of cheer.Worcestershire’s decision to bat looked bold, but Daryl Mitchell and Stephen Moore kept Chris Tremlett and James Tomlinson at bay without too many heart-in-mouth moments. In fact, the biggest scare for anyone early on came when Tremlett tried to make a diving stop on the fine leg boundary and tweaked an ankle after catching his studs in the lush turf.Given that Tremlett and ‘injury’ have been too closely associated for anyone’s comfort over the years, more than a few folk feared the worst. Happily, this one proved a false alarm and the big lad who has flirted with international cricket without ever managing to crack it was able to continue.It needed Balcombe, however, to start making in-roads with the wickets of Moore and Solanki. And Cork, of course was still to come.

The ECB is to review the manner in which it assesses potential investors following the collapse of its deal with Allen Stanford.After the collapse of Stanford’s financial empire, board executives were roundly criticised for a lack of checks at the time they entered into the multi-million dollar agreement with him.Although the ECB subsequently cancelled all deals with Stanford, its two leading figures – chairman Giles Clarke and chief executive David Collier – were both savaged in the media for their roles in negotiations and the apparent failures of due diligence processes.As a result, Clarke has announced that he would be engaging in talks with the government aimed at tightening the process of “examining whether people and institutions are fit and proper to be involved in the game”. He added that he would be looking to the department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) to help.”In the coming weeks we will engage closely with the DCMS on our plans for taking cricket forward including the framework of our new five-year plan,” Clarke said. “This will include the proposals the board agreed to increase the representation of women in the governance of the game and careful examination of the fit and proper person arrangements we set for those who wish to invest in cricket or have ownership interest in our counties.”I also plan to discuss with the secretary of state suitable arrangements for securing independent verification and input into the next five-year plan and how his department can assist in the complex financial arrangements that may be needed in examining whether people and institutions are fit and proper to be involved in the game.”At the same time as Clarke was issuing his statement, it was revealed that Stanford had refused to help the authorities investigating the alleged multi-billion dollar fraud involving his companies.In a statement to the court, Stanford said that he would “decline to testify or provide an accounting, and will continue to decline to testify, provide an accounting or produce any documents” in the case.

David Boon, the selector travelling with Australia’s squad in SouthAfrica, believes his panel must show faith in a core group of playersduring Australia’s rebuilding phase. Boon and his fellow selectorshave a few key decisions to make ahead of Thursday’s first Test inJohannesburg, with the make-up of the attack the major issue at avenue that traditionally suits the fast men.Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger both bowled well in the tour matchbut unless Australia use a four-man pace attack one is likely to missout, while a call also needs to be made on the squad’s spin stocks.Whatever the selectors come up with, Boon wants the four-man selection panel toshow the same sort of backing that he and his fellow players receivedduring the mid 1980s, when a rebuilding phase led to the discovery ofstars like Steve Waugh and Craig McDermott.”The selectors back then were fantastic,” Boon said in Johannesburg.”When we went through that period they said, ‘right we can’t keepchopping and changing.’ They basically picked 16 or 18 guys and hadthem in their minds and for the next three or four years we all playedand we knew if we missed we weren’t going to be flicked.”It gave Billy [McDermott] the chance to improve as a young19-year-old bowler, Steve was very up and down through those formativeyears, but they stuck with him because everybody knew there was talentthere. We stuck together and I think we are going to do the same here.I firmly believe we have young players who are going to step up to themark and do really well as long as we are patient.”His comments came as Australia built up to the Wanderers match, whichwill be the 15th Test in a row in which they have failed to field thesame side in consecutive Tests. Boon said it was not a venue wherespin was likely to play a major role although he felt Bryce McGain’sstruggles in Potchefstroom, where he took 2 for 126 from 19 overs,should not be held against him.”I don’t think you can take one performance into account,” Boon said.”You look at the balance of the team and how we want to approach thisgame. We’ve seen in our domestic cricket that he’s a really finebowler and on that sort of wicket he might have looked a bit ordinary.It didn’t move too far off the straight and narrow for him and the guy[Imran Tahir] who bowled for them as well, our guys played him prettyeasily so I wouldn’t take too much out of that.”However, Boon was impressed by the efforts of the part-time offspinnerMarcus North, who collected a career-best 6 for 69 in the secondinnings when McGain was off the field with a stomach bug. It will bedifficult for the selectors to leave North out of the first Test aftera performance that also included two half-centuries, but they need todecide if he is capable of being a frontline spin option or simply abackup.”He’s handy, we’ve known that for a long time,” Boon said. “He does arole and he does it well and I thought that even though they werebeing aggressive he landed it well so they didn’t get away with it. Aswe saw with a lot of batters, clearing the pickets wasn’t hard and hemade it hard and took those wickets plus a couple of legit ones.”If North plays at No. 6, it’s difficult to see where Andrew McDonaldcould squeeze into the side despite being the incumbent from theSydney Test. The selectors are unlikely to name a starting XI untilWednesday.