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A thrilling final day at the Racecourse ended with Derbyshire securing a second successive win of the season to take them out of the relegation zone

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Derby23-Aug-2013
ScorecardMark Footitt claimed four second-innings wickets•Getty ImagesA thrilling final day at the Racecourse ended with Derbyshire securing a second successive win of the season to take them out of the relegation zone and dent the hopes of yet another title challenger. After excelling at Hove, an unchanged XI followed three days of disciplined cricket with a dogged fourth to bowl out Middlesex for 240, as fans left wide-eyed wondering if they were now Championship contenders by proxy.A combination of relentlessly tight bowling and some smart field-placing from Derbyshire skipper Wayne Madsen saw them overcome any jitters to give them a fighting chance of survival. Few expected them to be in control of their destiny, but head coach Karl Krikken, cock-a-hoop at the finale, could not have looked prouder, as he shook hands with supporters, celebratory beer in hand.He spent the start of the day patrolling the boundary, resembling a football manager, pacing around their technical area. He even had the lingo – describing the upcoming encounters with fellow relegation candidates Somerset and Surrey as “48-pointers”.At one point he even stepped onto the field to pass on a message to Matt Higginbottom at fine leg, while seemingly gesticulating for a 90th minute penalty. “I’m just really pushing and prodding from the side,” he said, smiling. .”We’ve got a very good captain and a good young side so it’s just about trying to get your ideas on the field. You just walk round and say, ‘Why are you bowling with one slip and two drive-men when most of the catches have been dropped at second slip?’ I can’t just sit and watch, I need to get out there and get my hands dirty.”A combination of early season sheepishness and five lost tosses in seamer-friendly conditions resulted in four defeats, most notably when these teams met earlier in the season at Lord’s; Krikken noting that some of the players seemed overawed by the surroundings, particularly those who had never played there before.But a return to the core values that got them promoted has helped them regain their identity and thrive under their underdogs tag. In isolation, their victories against Sussex and Middlesex were about as perfect as first-class wins go. Their application on the field today spoke volumes.Tim Groenewald showed no signs of the ankle complaint that saw him leave the field last night, returning to the attack at the City End, for the fifth over of the day. And it was he, Derbyshire’s leading wicket-taker, who began the morning procession with a ball that seamed in to hit Sam Robson’s off stump.Eoin Morgan looked horribly out of touch and, following a trio of uppish shots just out of the reach of fielders, played on for just 9 when Mark Footitt tempted him with a wide one. A darling of the England side, his run of only three half centuries in 52 innings is embarrassing for a man of his talents. Middlesex fans have voiced concerns over his priorities, and this failure when they needed him most will only rile them further.Two balls later, Neil Dexter was following him back as Footitt speared a full, swinging delivery into middle and off stump to leave the visiting captain powerless.Peter Burgoyne then put the gloss on a fantastic session for Derbyshire with the important wickets of Adam Voges – caught brilliantly by a diving Chesney Hughes at slip – and John Simpson, who failed to stop himself going through with a square shot through the off-side – ball stopping in the pitch, meaning he could only guide it to the grateful hands of Madsen at short cover. The dismissal signalled the end of the morning session, with Simpson unmoved, rueful and shell-shocked.Gareth Berg and Ollie Rayner put their top order to shame – Adam Voges aside – with an eighth-wicket stand of 85 off 113 balls that made Derbyshire fret for the first time in this match.Berg’s season’s best of 71 contained some lovely wrist-work, as he guided balls outside of off stump expertly through the mid-on and midwicket for boundaries. Rayner’s scoring areas were more orthodox, but just as valuable, as they reduced the arrears to double figures. But when Berg failed to get enough bat on a ball he wanted to guide to third man, instead finding the cupped hands of Hughes at a wide third slip, relief swept around the ground.Toby Roland-Jones was adjudged strangled down the leg side – a harsh call agreed the Derbyshire players after the game – to give Footitt his fourth wicket of the match, before Burgoyne brought Tim Murtagh forward and turned the ball into his outside edge to give Hughes his third catch of the innings to seal a momentous victory.For Middlesex, defeat is compounded by an ominously easy Yorkshire win over Nottinghamshire inside three days. Even taking into account Yorkshire’s 10-wicket triumph at Lord’s earlier this summer, the gulf between the two has never seemed wider. Even if Middlesex managed to stay within touching distance of their title rivals in the next three games, they will need to find something special – something they’ve not shown so far – to triumph at Headingley in their last game of the season.Chris Rogers is set to return against Somerset next week – almost certainly retaking the four-day captaincy from Dexter – with overseas stand-in Adam Voges finishing his stint with the county on 383 runs at 54.71.But that’s just replacing one form batsman with another – one who will be fatigued by the rigours of five Ashes Tests. Both Rogers and Sam Robson carried Middlesex at the beginning of the season, and now it’s time for others to share the burden. If not, they may find their title challenge has run its course.

Dawid Malan hit splendid 96 off 88 balls to revive his own dismal form and keep Middlesex’s hopes alive in the Yorkshire Bank 40 with a six-wicket win over Yorkshire at Radlett.

27-May-2013
ScorecardDawid Malan led Middlesex’s chase with 96•Getty ImagesDawid Malan hit splendid 96 off 88 balls to revive his own dismal form and keep Middlesex’s hopes alive in the Yorkshire Bank 40 as Eoin Morgan made a golden duck on his return to county cricket in a six-wicket win over Yorkshire at Radlett.Yorkshire’s third defeat in four games, which probably ended their hopes of achieving the knockout stage, featured a pugnacious 81 from Phil Jaques but cheap top-order wickets left the total well short of daunting on a sound pitch and slick cambered outfield.Thanks to Malan and wicketkeeper Adam Rossington, with his first one-day half-century, Middlesex passed Yorkshire’s total of 236 with more than four overs to spare. Their fourth-wicket stand of 135 at more than seven runs an over destroyed the Yorkshire back-up bowling.Defeat for Middlesex would have ended any chance of success in this year’s competition after two defeats in their two earlier games. So it was an exciting way to mark a first competitive appearance at their new training base in Hertfordshire, on Watling Street a few miles north of London.Yorkshire owed much to Jaques’s 86-ball knock and a late flurry from Adil Rashid, who made 46 not out from 36 balls, but Malan’s fierce driving put the home side in charge after a shaky start.Malan had endured a barren season in the County Championship, averaging 14.25 in eight innings, and had made little impact on the one-day format until his exhuberant strokeplay at Radlett.Middlesex started shakily in their pursuit of victory as Iain Wardlaw unsettled Paul Stirling with a slow looping full toss with the first ball of the innings and then blasted out off and middle stumps with the second ball.Joe Denly followed after a breezy 38, bowled pushing forward to Richard Pyrah, and then came what might have been the defining moment – the dismissal of Eoin Morgan first ball.Morgan, Middlesex’s most potent threat, had returned fresh from the Indian Premier League and a recent glut of exotic locations and flamboyant shots must have affected his judgement because he tried an instant reverse sweep to leg-spinner Rashid and was given out lbw.Morgan claimed afterwards that he had made contact with the bat but an orthodox stroke should have sufficed with less risk.His blunder seemed to swing the pendulum towards Yorkshire, but fortunately Malan and Rossington seized the initiative with sensible aggression, keeping the percentages firmly in their favour.Malan snicked Tim Bresnan just short of a well-deserved century with the match all but won but Rossington, a heavy scorer on this ground in Middlesex second-team games, continued in style and finished undefeated with 79 off 72 balls.

A predatory mauling that lasted for most of Chennai Super Kings’ innings set up a mammoth 77-run for the visitors, who ruined Sunrisers Hyderabad’s perfect home record and placed themselves on the very brink of another playoffs berth

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando08-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA predatory mauling that lasted for most of Chennai Super Kings’ innings set up a mammoth 77-run for the visitors, who ruined Sunrisers Hyderabad’s perfect home record and placed themselves on the very brink of another playoffs berth. Michael Hussey’s 42-ball 67 fanned the sparks of a bright start into a roaring middle-over onslaught, before Suresh Raina acquired the bellows and set the stadium ablaze. At the close of the innings, he was one run short of a deserved hundred, having struck at over 190, and with the aid of a brief late burst from Ravindra Jadeja and a woeful Sunrisers attack, he had lifted his side to 223 for 3.Sunrisers rarely looked capable of challenging that total during their response, and finished eventually on 146 for 8, now facing a steep climb into the playoffs, as their net run rate (-0.228) suffered due to the big defeat.At the toss MS Dhoni said he had instructed his side to drive their 60-run loss to Mumbai Indians from their minds, and it is difficult to imagine how his side could have been more emphatically obedient. The same top order that succumbed to 40 for 6 in their last match appeared in supreme collective form in Hyderabad, and though their opponents were lacklustre at best, Super Kings’ batsmen not only exacted a heavy toll from the bad balls, they heaped pressure on the bowling by creating their own space and blasting even good deliveries to the fence.Ishant Sharma began the rot for Sunrisers on his way to figures of 0 for 66 in his four overs – the worst ever spell in the history of the tournament. Dale Steyn, who conceded only 17 in contrast, had begun the match with a maiden to Hussey, but the batsman quickly amended his strike-rate against Ishant, before his opening partner M Vijay exploited the poor bowling even more brutally in Ishant’s next over, by hitting him for three consecutive on side sixes.Hussey’s knock was drenched in class. Running hard as always, and finding gaps with uncanny precision, Hussey moved smoothly through the gears after his slow start, and before long, Super Kings were hitting 10 runs or more an over as a matter of routine. The spinners were treated little different from the errant quicks – Hussey launched both Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma into the stands – before Raina came quickly up to speed and had eclipsed his senior partner before Hussey’s dismissal.Sunrisers continued to stray, though it must be said the flat pitch offered little wiggle room for bowlers, and Raina, moving particularly swiftly around the crease, rarely seemed to be breaking a sweat as he hit ball after ball to the fence. He tortured a broken Ishant in his final over, hitting four pretty fours and a slogged six, plundering 23 from that over for himself, though two wides added a couple more to the team tally.Sunrisers failed to rally at any point after Super Kings had set off, and though Parthiv Patel gave the hosts a sliver of hope, as he set off quickly in their reply, the clatter of wickets at the other end snuffed that chance, and left them still outside the top four on the table. Super Kings consolidated their position at the top with 20 points, with three league games to play.

Warwickshire have named Dougie Brown, their assistant coach and Academy director, as the successor to Ashley Giles as their new director of cricket

George Dobell31-Jan-2013Warwickshire have named Dougie Brown, their assistant coach and Academy director, as the permanent successor to Ashley Giles as their new director of cricket.Brown has fought off other leading candidates for the job such as Graeme Welch, his former Warwickshire team-mate and the county’s bowling coach, and the West Indies coach Ottis Gibson, who has also been discussing the details of a promised new contract with the national side. Welch, meanwhile, has been given the compensation of promotion to assistant coach.Brown, who worked in close association with Giles as Warwickshire won the Championship last summer, and also reached the final of the CB40, is a former England and Scotland allrounder who can be sure to bring a passionate approach to the role. He is also a former PCA chairman.”We wanted to test the external market but also be sure that we stuck with what has brought the club success,” Colin Povey, the Warwickshire chief executive, said. “In the end we had many high-quality candidates – a testament to the strength of the team and the club – and concluded that Dougie was the ideal man for the job.””Dougie has been an integral part of the club’s success over many years and there really isn’t anyone more committed to the club than him. It is hard to define exactly what ‘a Bear’ is, but whatever it is, he epitomises it. No-one has more passion for Warwickshire and no-one understands the culture of the club and the current squad better.”Much the same could be said for Graeme Welch. He has done an exceptional job and we value him enormously. To reflect that, he is being promoted to the position of assistant coach and, while he will naturally be disappointed at missing out on the main job, I’m sure he will continue to support Dougie and the team as well as ever.”In the end, we felt that Dougie’s background beyond cricket – his media work, his experience as chairman of the PCA and his experience with budget management – made him our ideal candidate.”Other candidates for the Warwickshire role included David Parsons, the ECB performance director, David Hemp, former Glamorgan and Bermuda captain and now coaching at Solihull School and Andy Moles, the former Scotland, Kenya and New Zealand coach, who was discounted before the interview stage.

Preview of the second Test between New Zealand and England at the the Basin Reserve, Wellington

George Dobell13-Mar-2013Match factsMarch 14, 2013
Start time 10.30am (2130 GMT)Stuart Broad’s batting form has fallen away sharply•PA PhotosBig PictureHad the first Test been decided on a points decision, there is little doubt that most judges would have awarded it to New Zealand. After bowling out England for 167 – their lowest first innings score since 2009 – the hosts replied with 460 to take a first innings lead of 293; their third highest against England in completed innings. While a flat pitch and some determined England batting prevented a repeat in the second innings, it was England who benefited most from the first day having been lost to rain.But the fact is that the match was drawn and, bearing in mind the history of England improving after a faltering start, New Zealand may come to reflect that they have missed their best opportunity to strike a telling blow. Worryingly for New Zealand, this pitch is expected to provide more assistance to the England seamers.It certainly proved that way in 2008. After New Zealand won the opening Test in Hamilton, England struck back at Wellington with Tim Ambrose recording his only Test century and claiming the man of the match award as England leveled the series. They subsequently went on to win it by prevailing in the final Test in Napier.It remains to be seen how much the effort in Dunedin took out of the New Zealand side. While they should have taken confidence from some aspects of their performance, the concern is that their three seamers bowled 114 overs between them in the second innings in their pursuit of victory. With so little time to recover between the games, Wellington will offer a stern test of their stamina. The ability of Steven Finn, who went into the Dunedin Test with few pretensions as a batsman, to resist the New Zealand bowlers for nearly five hours in the second innings might also prove sobering for the hosts.Still, any fears New Zealand had over the potency of England’s seam attack should have been eased by the Dunedin performance. Indeed, in three first-class innings on the tour to date, England have yet to bowl out their opposition with the New Zealand XI in Queenstown declaring in their first innings and completing a testing fourth-innings target with three wickets in hand in their second innings.Form guideNew Zealand DLLWL (Completed matches, most recent first)
England DDWWLIn the spotlightHad Martin Guptill been fit, it is highly likely that Hamish Rutherford would not have played in the first Test in Dunedin. Rutherford seized his chance with some style, though, and in scoring 171 set a new high for an opener on debut against England. Only Mathew Sinclair, who made 214 on debut against West Indies in 1999, has made a higher score on New Zealand Test debut. Rutherford’s excellent start has buoyed home hopes that a line-up containing Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Brendon McCullum and, one day, perhaps, Jesse Ryder, might have the potential to develop into the strongest batting unit in New Zealand’s Test history.Stuart Broad’s form has been the subject of much debate. But while the focus has tended to fall on his bowling – he claimed his first Test wickets since August in Dunedin – his batting has – arguably – fallen away more sharply. Since he last made a half-century – in January 2012 against Pakistan in the UAE – he has had 16 Test innings, passed 20 only four times with a highest score of 37 and averaged only 13.60. Perhaps more remarkably, in that time the average balls he has faced in a completed innings is just under 20. Such statistics do little to support the claim that he can be viewed as an allrounder and suggests that he may be batting too high at No.8.Team newsNew Zealand will be unchanged and England are likely to follow the same route. For New Zealand, Doug Bracewell has not recovered from the foot injury sustained while cleaning up glass after a party while for England Kevin Pietersen is expected to play despite what Andy Flower described as “a little bit of pain in his right knee.” Flower went on to say: “Most of the players play with something sore most of the time. I don’t anticipate it being a huge problem for us at all.”New Zealand 1 Peter Fulton, 2 Hamish Rutherford, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Dean Brownlie, 6 Brendon McCullum (capt), 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Bruce Martin/Ian Butler, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent Boult.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Nick Compton, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Joe Root, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 James Anderson, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Monty Panesar*.Pitch and conditionsThe pitch is expected to have more pace and bounce than Dunedin, with some claiming it is the quickest in New Zealand. The last time England played here, Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson both gained swing movement and claimed five-wicket hauls and it is worth noting that Chris Martin, with 60 wickets in 14 Tests, is the highest Test wicket-taker on the ground. Bowlers capable of generating bounce should enjoy it.New Zealand have not won any of the last six Tests on the ground. The last two – against South Africa in 2012 and Pakistan in 2011 – have been drawn, though the weather played a role on both occasions.Wind may also play a role. Wellington is a notoriously windy city and some bowlers struggle to adapt to the challenge of running into it. Shane Bond, the New Zealand bowling coach, has admitted it is an experience that all three of his side’s leading seamers are unaccustomed to having developed as strike bowlers running in with the wind behind them.Stats and trivia New Zealand and England have played each other in 10 Tests at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. England have won four times and New Zealand only once, in 1978, when an England side captained by Geoff Boycott were bowled out for a paltry 64 chasing 137 for victory. Nick Compton and Alastair Cook are currently averaging 81 per opening partnership. The sample size is small – they have now played five Tests together – but only Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe – who averaged 87.81 in 38 innings – of regular England openers have a better record. New Zealand have won four of their last 33 Tests against England dating back to 1986. The last one of those game seven Test ago, at Hamilton in 2008, James Anderson needs eight wickets to become the fourth England bowler after Fred Trueman, Bob Willis and Ian Botham to take 300 in Tests. He needs five to draw level with Derek Underwood, currently the fourth highest wicket-taker in Tests for England.Quotes”We always knew the guys are fit, and can bowl a lot of volume, we just need to make sure they are fresh and ready to go.”
Shane Bond, the New Zealand bowling coach reflecting on the fitness of his side’s three seamers, Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, who delivered 114 of the 170 overs in England’s second innings in Dunedin.”I’d rather have been batting for 170 overs than fielding, let’s put it that way.”
Matt Prior.*06.40GMT, March 13: The preview had previously listed Graeme Swann in the line-up.

Brendon McCullum has been appointed New Zealand’s captain in all three formats after Ross Taylor declined an offer to stay on as leader of the Test side in a split-captaincy scenario

Brydon Coverdale06-Dec-2012Brendon McCullum has been appointed New Zealand’s captain in all three formats after Ross Taylor declined an offer to stay on as leader of the Test side in a split-captaincy scenario. Taylor has also chosen to make himself unavailable for the upcoming tour of South Africa, although New Zealand are hopeful he will be back in the side for the home series against England early next year.The confirmation of the change came at a press conference in Auckland on Friday morning where David White, the New Zealand Cricket CEO, said he regretted the way the captaincy debate had played out in the public spotlight. McCullum, who has previously led New Zealand in eight ODIs and 12 Twenty20s, will become the country’s 28th Test captain when the series against South Africa begins on January 2 in Cape Town.There had been much speculation this week about the future of Taylor since the squad returned from Sri Lanka despite their impressive series-leveling victory in Colombo. In that match Taylor, who took over as captain in 2011 after being preferred to McCullum for the role, scored 142 in the first innings, but it was one of few highlights in a disappointing year for New Zealand, whose only other victory came in the first Test of the year against Zimbabwe.They lost Test series against South Africa, West Indies and India before the draw in Sri Lanka while they have slipped to ninth in the one-day rankings below Bangladesh. They were also knocked out in the Super Eights of the World Twenty20. It was after the review of that tournament, as well as the tours of India and Sri Lanka, that the coach Mike Hesson recommended splitting the captaincy.”Mike Hesson proposed a split captaincy that was endorsed by me as CEO and agreed by the board,” White said. “The original recommendation was for Ross Taylor to be retained as Test captain and Brendon McCullum to be short-form captain. We regret that Ross Taylor has declined the opportunity, therefore Brendon McCullum has been appointed as Black Caps captain for all three forms of the game.”I met with Ross … for about three hours yesterday and we considered a number of different options. One of them was … for him to go to South Africa and even just play the Test matches if he wanted to do that. But he thought about it long and hard and he said that he would like a break and to spend time with his family and we’ve agreed with that and we respect that. It’s not ideal and we would be a stronger team with Ross Taylor in it.”Despite the change in captaincy, White said he did not believe Taylor had lost the support of his players. “I don’t believe he lost the dressing room,” White said. “He is well respected.”Hesson, who took over from John Wright as New Zealand’s coach in July, said he wanted Taylor to stay on as Test captain and his main concern was that the leadership in all three formats was a lot for anyone to take on. Hesson said split captaincy had worked for other countries and he believed McCullum would have been the best man for the job in the shorter formats.”Brendon certainly reads the one-day game well and is very adaptable and changes quickly,” Hesson said. “The one-day game and the T20 game move very quickly. I think Brendon McCullum has attributes to really add value to our team in that area.”Split captaincy is something that works and with the high volume of cricket around the world at the moment, for one person to take on all three forms of the game is an extremely difficult task. It’s very difficult for anybody to be up to that.”We play ten months of the year. In terms of planning from series to series it’s extremely difficult, to look after your own game and worry about that of the team. Therefore my recommendation was for Ross to stay on as Test captain and focus on that, and also focus on his batting in all three forms, and for Brendon to come in as leader of the one-day and T20 squads.”

Mitchell Starc is edging closer to a place in the XI for the second Test in Adelaide starting from Thursday, his speed, swing and height augmenting the natural variety provided by his left arm

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide20-Nov-2012Like Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc admits his rise to a place in Australia’s Test squad has been spotted with bouts of self-doubt. Unlike Johnson, Starc has a left-arm fast bowling method that has grown increasingly likely to hold up under the stress of that self-doubt reappearing in the cauldron of the series against South Africa.Starc is edging closer to a place in the XI for the second Test in Adelaide starting from Thursday, his speed, swing and height augmenting the natural variety provided by his left arm. Ben Hilfenhaus appears the most probable fast bowler to make way, though the younger James Pattinson is slipping ever closer towards the sorts of prescient workload red flags that suggested he would be a casualty at the SCG last summer.Whoever he replaces, Starc will be doing so as a far more confident and accomplished bowler than the one who strode nervously onto the Test stage at the Gabba against New Zealand a little less than 12 months ago. Despite having played only four Tests, Starc is already spoken of by the coach Mickey Arthur and the national selector John Inverarity as a success, his skills and durability both benefiting from a careful program that has melded development and match-play over the past year.”Still being in one piece is obviously a great thing,” Starc said. “Mickey has said right from the get-go, there’s a plan for everyone, he’s been quite honest. He’s spoken to me a lot about coming in around the team and times when I would go back to state cricket. They have kept me informed and it’s been pretty successful over the past 12 months.”I feel I have improved my game and learnt so much being around the Australian team, then gone away and been left alone a bit as well, to my own devices.”Starc’s education has also factored in his personality, which carries less swagger than Pattinson though occasionally given to bouts of aggression. Gabba spectators once discovered this during a domestic limited-overs appearance for New South Wales, in which Starc gestured upon taking a wicket with triumph and no little anger at a handful who had baited the wiry southerner.In this, Starc shares some ground with Johnson, whose shy and retiring character was sometimes pushed to one side in attempts to play the role of enforcer. This never sat with complete comfort on Johnson’s shoulders, and Starc is glad to have the more demonstrative Pattinson to engage in the verbal battle while he concentrates on keeping his arm and action higher than Johnson’s has ever been.”I’ve had it [white line fever] a few times but I will probably leave it to Patto,” Starc said. “I’m not as verbal as Patto is. I am probably more [about] actions rather than words. Jimmy’s pretty good at it, so I’ll let him keep doing that. I’m probably not going to have a crack at anyone. Hopefully I can do that with the ball.”Through the past two years Starc has built his sense of self-worth, helped by mentors including Wasim Akram and Jason Gillespie to first realise what a talent he had, and then set about making sure it is used for maximum returns. “I’d done a lot of work on that though my time at the academy, I probably didn’t have the greatest self-confidence but I worked through that and I’m probably better off for that now,” Starc said. “At the academy we have sports psychologists and that sort of thing who we have sessions with every week, so they worked for me.”The recurring sight of cartwheeling stumps after another inswinger has curled through a batsman’s defences has no doubt helped Starc’s belief, and even if the formats are wildly different, his success for the Sydney Sixers and the national side in Twenty20 will be an aid of sorts should he take the new ball at Adelaide Oval.Among Starc’s skills is a penchant for subverting his left-armer’s angle by moving round the wicket with the older ball and gaining enough reverse-swing to bend the ball away from right-hand batsmen, when with the new ball they had been wary of it bending back in. In this he shows the influence of Akram, who was fearsome enough with the new ball from over the wicket but often lethal from round it with the old.”It is sometimes a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing, a change of angle. I like to do it a lot more in limited-overs cricket towards the death,” Starc said. “It doesn’t happen as often in four-day cricket for me. I am sticking to over the wicket and hopefully getting that line across the right hander.”We had it swinging around in the nets yesterday so hopefully we can bring that out into the game, and hopefully get the ball to reverse a bit where it’s more abrasive on the drier track. Hopefully the quicks can make full use of the reverse-swing and the conventional swing. We’ll do as much as we can to get that ball off the straight.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL game between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers in Delhi

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria18-Apr-2012Match factsThursday, April 19, Delhi
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)Daredevils are riding high on their success train•Hindustan TimesBig pictureDelhi Daredevils’ stocks in the tournament have risen higher after their bowlers masterminded a seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians. While other teams have been busy putting up and chasing down totals in excess of 160, Daredevils’ hustling pace has razed three strong batting line-ups to scores below 110. The only game that they lost was to Royal Challengers Bangalore, partially due to the inexperience of their middle order and partially, due to the guile of Muttiah Muralitharan who took three wickets. However, that batting order has been beefed up since then. With the influx of Ross Taylor in the last game, their batting looks as intimidating as their bowling. Daredevils will need to be careful though, as their batting firepower hasn’t been tested yet. In all four games, they have batted second after their bowlers had done the job.Deccan Chargers on the other hand have lost three games in a row – the last two slipped through their fingers. Although such defeats can be disheartening, Kumar Sangakkara could take positives out from the fact that their relatively inexperienced team has had their chances. They have just missed that one last push. Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra will both need to fire in tandem and their fielding needs to inspire.Daredevils test is as hard as it gets for Chargers. It could be a daunting challenge, but it could also kindle the fire inside the big names among Chargers’ ranks. Both teams will hope to win the toss and avoid fielding first in the sun. However, sun or no sun, Daredevils bowlers should be a handful.Players to watchUmesh Yadav has been cranking up the pace in every game and has proven to be a difficult bowler to hit. In his last match, he took out Kieron Pollard and Dinesh Karthik, beating both batsmen for pace. Such was his accuracy that he didn’t give away a single boundary in his four-over spell.Chargers replaced a struggling Cameron White with JP Duminy and his 26-ball 58 pushed the team to 196, which had looked improbable. Duminy, who hit five sixes in his innings, can also hold an innings together if required.2011 head-to-headDaredevils played Chargers twice in 2011. They lost their home game by 16 runs while a Sehwag century helped them win the second by four wickets in Hyderabad.Stats and trivia Sehwag’s 32 against Mumbai Indians came in 36 balls. In all Twenty20 innings where he has scored more than 20, this was his slowest innings. This year, the three most economical spells (four overs) have been bowled by Yadav (2-11), Dale Steyn (3-12) and Irfan Pathan (1-12). Chargers have played the Daredevils nine times in IPL. They have won four and lost five of these games. However, in Delhi, the record is 2-1 in favour of Chargers.Quotes”We would work more on the fielding. We were working on it earlier too but now we would stress on it a bit more.”

“He gave me a call and was worried for my injury. But he is now happy seeing me back in action.”
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Graeme Swann’s autobiography has been nominated for two prizes at the British Sports Book Awards

ESPNcricinfo staff11-May-2012Graeme Swann’s autobiography has been nominated for two prizes at the British Sports Book Awards. Swann is nominated in the cricket book and autobiography of the year categories for his tale of drunken exploits, England exile and making offspin cool once again. will be up against Chris Waters’ , which is also nominated in the new writer category, with biographies dominating the field in the cricket award. Simon Wilde’s book on Ian Botham, Leo McKinstry on Jack Hobbs and David Tossell’s reappraisal of Tony Greig’s career make up the rest of the shortlist.There are also nominations for two cricket titles in the illustrated book of the year award. by Chris Arnot and by Laurence Griffiths will compete against Sir Steve Redgrave’s , among others.The awards, which are celebrating their 10th anniversary, will be presented at a black tie ceremony on Monday May 21. The winners of the 10 categories, which include football, rugby and golf, will then be entered into an online public vote to find the overall British Sports Book of the Year.Cricket Book of the Year by Chris Waters (Aurum)
by Simon Wilde (Simon & Schuster)
by Leo McKinstry (Yellow Jersey)
by Graeme Swann (Hodder & Stoughton)
by David Tossell (Pitch Publishing)
Autobiography / Biography of the Year by Ronald Reng (Yellow Jersey)
by Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster)
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Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell will not be considered for selection for New Zealand’s third ODI against South Africa because they broke team protocol after the defeat in Napier

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2012Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell have been dropped for New Zealand’s third ODI against South Africa after they were found to have broken team protocol following the defeat in Napier. Ryder and Bracewell went out to a hotel after the match and became involved in an argument with a patron.In a statement NZC said the players had “compromised their preparation” for the third one-dayer by their actions. “Team protocols dictate that players who are rehabilitating from injury should not consume alcohol and unfortunately both players went to a Napier hotel following the conclusion of the match,” the board said in a release. “Also, while at the hotel both players verbally reacted to taunts from a member for the public.”Bracewell was being treated for a tight hamstring, while Ryder split the webbing of his hand during the Napier match. Ryder had only just returned to the New Zealand squad after recovering from a calf injury, which had kept him out of the team since the tour of Australia in December. He made 52 in the third Twenty20 against South Africa, and 0 and 6 in the first two ODIs.”Further to the issue of breaking team protocols related to their preparation, we are disappointed they [Ryder and Bracewell] become involved in a verbal argument with a patron,” New Zealand team manager Mike Sandle said. “Despite the fact that the players were goaded, and they didn’t allow the situation to escalate past a short exchange of words, we expect players to walk away.”Both players have apologised for their actions and said they fully understood the consequences. They know they have let down fans and team mates alike.”While this is Bracewell’s first such indiscretion on the international circuit, that is not the case for Ryder. In August 2010, Ryder was fined for “intoxicated and rowdy” behaviour at a hotel during an indoor cricket tournament and he said he had feared for his career while NZC were investigating the incident. The most serious of Ryder’s indiscretions was in 2008, when he put his right hand through a glass window during a late-night session at a Christchurch bar. In January 2009, NZC said Ryder had given up alcohol after another incident, which resulted in him missing an ODI against West Indies. Edited by George Binoy