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ESPNcricinfo previews the Champions League Twenty20 qualifier between Auckland and Somerset in Hyderabad

The Preview by Nitin Sundar19-Sep-2011

Match facts

Auckland v Somerset, September 20
Start time 20.00 (14.30 GMT)
Auckland faced heartbreak in their first game, but their opponents on Tuesday are the ones really having the blues•AFP

Big Picture

Auckland have less than 24 hours to bounce back from their utterly deflating loss to Kolkata Knight Riders. Twenty20 games are rarely lost from 60 for 1 in the ninth over while chasing 122 for a win, but somehow Auckland managed to stuff it on Monday. Victory won’t guarantee anything, but another defeat will shut the door on their chances of taking home anything between an extra $200,000 and $2.5 million. That’s a lot of money for a New Zealand-based side to pass up, sitting as they do in a world far from the commercial hub of cricket.Their joust with Kolkata proved that Auckland have the team to pull off a win, and would have also given them pointers on how to tackle the slow-and-low conditions in Hyderabad. Their chances are considerably brightened by the circumstances in which their opponents have turned up for the event. Only three days ago, Somerset were in a different time-zone, shuddering to another defeat in a final, leaving them with a fifth runner’s-up spot across formats in two years of domestic cricket. In addition to being demoralised and bleary-eyed, they have arrived without their captain, Marcus Trescothick, while Kieron Pollard has chosen to play for Mumbai Indians. It gets worse – Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler are unavailable for the qualifier on account of England duty. Both teams are clearly saddled with varying degrees of adversity – who will stay afloat on Tuesday night?

Team news

In Trescothick’s absence, Alfonso Thomas will lead Somerset, and his IPL experience with Pune Warriors will come in handy. The absence of several key players makes predicting their top order a bit of a lottery. The side is also endowed with more than its share of slow spinners.

Auckland may want to stick to their XI, though they will be concerned with Colin Munro’s inability to score quickly in the middle overs.

Watch out for …

Martin Guptill faced the ignominy of getting dismissed before facing a ball against Kolkata, and will be eager to make amends against Somerset. He was one of the top run-getters in the Friends Life t20, with 476 runs in 14 innings for Derbyshire, and will want to extend that run in the Champions League.Murali Kartik has fashioned a reputation for himself in Twenty20 circles, and it is largely founded upon his county exploits. This time, he is likely to be the designated leader of the attack, and Somerset will rely heavily on his local expertise.

Key contest

Peter Trego is known to hit a long ball against the spinners, as Amit Mishra would testify. Ronnie Hira is a left-arm spinner who is unafraid to toss it up even if batsmen try to go after him. Sparks could fly when they go head to head.

Stats & trivia

• Arul Suppiah had the best individual figures – 6 for 5 – by any bowler in the Friends Life t20
• James Hildreth, with 346 runs, was the second-highest run-getter for Somerset in that tournament
  

  Quotes

  “We always thought scoring against the new ball is crucial in these conditions.”

On a pitch that seemed to have roughed up and become vicious, Sri Lanka came out of a testing session-and-a-half with the loss of just one wicket

The Report by Sidharth Monga28-Oct-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outOn a pitch that seemed to have roughed up and become vicious, Sri Lanka came out of a testing session-and-a-half with the loss of just one wicket after they had fallen behind by 164 in the first innings. The 45 overs of Sri Lanka’s innings was edgy stuff with almost every ball from the spinners misbehaving. It was one of those spells of play where it was just a matter of time before the one with your name showed up. Tharanga Paranavitana and Kumar Sangakkara, left-hand batsmen both, kept trying their best to negate the rough outside their off stumps, and were yet to meet the one with their name on it.In comparison the first half of the day, important in its own right, seemed to be on sedatives. The ball hardly did anything for Sri Lanka except for some manageable reverse swing for Dhammika Prasad, and despite the early loss of Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq and Adnan Akmal built towards a crucial lead. Shafiq showed he had learned his lesson from the first-Test go-slow, and batted purposefully along with Akmal.Before Shafiq and Akmal, the day’s play was definitely a morning walk. Misbah’s early dismissal and the presence of a nightwatchman left Pakistan crawling as 11 runs came in the first half hour, including four byes, and 18 in the next half. Around this time Angelo Mathews at gully accepted a second offering from Ajmal, after which Shafiq and Akmal got busy.Even as Chanaka Welegedara strung together a tight spell, Shafiq welcomed Suranga Lakmal with a pull and Rangana Herath with a six over long-on. At the opposite end, Akmal drove Welegedara for back-to-back boundaries either side of cover. The shots were played slightly away from the body and on the up. If you had just tuned in, you could tell his last name just from those two drives. Shafiq joined in the fun with a fore-handed four through covers to make it 14 off that over. Welegedara had bowled his previous eight for 15.After that over it was down to accumulating almost in ODI-style, the absence of which they were criticised for in the first Test. The lunch break broke the flow a bit a bit, and when Shafiq tried to use Prasad’s pace, he ended up steering straight to gully. After that the innings lost direction. The wickets kept falling, and Akmal didn’t try a single big shot. When Tillakaratne Dilshan took the last wicket, he ended a period of nine runs in 11 overs.Dilshan chose to play no further part in the day’s play barring a top-order collapse. The beleaguered regulation openers came out to face the music. The first ball from Umar Gul shaped to swing into the left-hand Paranavitana, and then seamed away, just missing the edge. That set the template for the rest of Paranivatana’s effort. He kept playing and missing, but he didn’t play a release shot. If he got beaten in the flight, he somehow managed to avoid the edge; the bat-pads didn’t make it to the fielders; and even when he ran poorly he somehow survived.When Misbah introduced Mohammad Hafeez as early as the sixth over, it seemed inexplicable. The fast bowlers had given him good starts almost every time, they were causing trouble now too, and Junaid Khan wasn’t injured either. Soon, though, the ball started turning and kicking. Abdur Rehman joined him from the other end. They kept firing the ball in the rough, the orthodox flighted delivery became a change-up. Hafeez soon bowled one with Lahiru Thirimanne’s name on it: a flat offbreak that pitched middle and took off, past a forward-defensive from the batsman.For 31.5 following overs, Sangakkara and Paranavitana had to face a similar test of variable turn and bounce. As the turn kept missing the edge, or the odd big explosion beat the keeper too with the batsman stranded, you could see Pakistan begin to feel edgy too. They have to bat last on this pitch, although it can be argued the Sri Lanka bowlers don’t boast similar pedigree.There were occasions when Pakistan came even closer. In the 20th over, with the score on 35, Pakistan felt they had Sangakkara caught down the leg side. The replays seemed inconclusive after the umpire had ruled in the batsman’s favour. Four overs later there was no debate on the edge, but it didn’t carry to gully. Paranavitana benefitted from the absence of short leg, forward first and backward on a later occasion. In the 32nd over he was caught ball-watching as Misbah dived at cover-point. The throw from substitute Shoaib Malik, though, came in wide. Still, if an anxious Ajmal had collected it Paranavitana would have been caught short.”To survive, perchance to score” remained the policy until the faster bowlers came back. Between them the three spinners bowled 32 overs for 52 runs. An exceptionally testing spell of 10 overs in the middle of the final session brought just eight runs. Still, the batsmen refused to play rash shots, and will come back to fight on the fourth day.

West Indies’ top four made half-centuries for only the third time in Tests to quell fears over how the young batting line-up would fare in the absence of the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran22-Nov-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kirk Edwards’ driving down the ground was exceptional, as he went on to complete a brisk half-century•Associated Press

West Indies’ top four made half-centuries for only the third time in Tests, to quell fears over how the young batting line-up would fare in the absence of the injured Shivnarine Chanderpaul, their most experienced and reliable batsman.Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite gave West Indies their best start in five years, before R Ashwin briefly buoyed India’s spirits by sending back both openers bat-pad in the course of a testing spell before tea. Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo, though, added a century stand of their own to emphatically make it West Indies’ day at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a pancake flat track but India made it even harder for their bowlers by shelling a couple of catches.After losing the toss, MS Dhoni had hoped moisture in the pitch would help his quick bowlers early on, but both Ishant Sharma and debutant Varun Aaron – taking the place of the rested Umesh Yadav – got little sideways movement. Both bowlers consistently hit the 140kph mark, and though there were a couple of plays-and-misses, West Indies’ young openers had few serious alarms.Spin was introduced as early as the ninth over of the match, with Pragyan Ojha trying to exploit the West Indies’ well-documented trouble against the turning ball. He got some extra bounce, and a few deliveries to spin, though not enough to impede West Indies’ serene progress.Both Barath and Brathwaite showcased a tight defence, and there were few flamboyant strokes, with the pair preferring to score mainly by guiding the loose deliveries on offer. The first caution-to-the-wind shot came from the usually stoic Brathwaite, who charged out and swatted Ashwin’s second delivery over midwicket for four in the 19th over. Barath also caned Ashwin for a couple of boundaries a few overs before lunch, but he had been mostly measured in the rest of the session.India’s bowlers were tight early on in the second session, without managing a breakthrough. Ashwin induced an inside-edge from Brathwaite towards VVS Laxman at backward short leg, but the ball flew just wide of the fielder. Ishant steamed in and beat the bat without finding the edge, while Aaron followed up a sharp bouncer with an inviting fuller ball that Barath wafted at and nearly nicked. Barath chided himself for attempting that footwork-free drive, and on the other occasions when there was a momentary lapse of concentration, he and Brathwaite had a mid-pitch conference to egg each other on.

Smart stats

• The 137-run stand between Adrian Barath and Kraigg Brathwaite is eighth on the list of highest opening stands for West Indies against India. It is also the fifth-highest opening stand for West Indies in India.

• The century opening partnership is the fourth for West Indies in Tests since December 2009. Between November 2006 and December 2009, they did not have a single century opening stand.

• This is the third time in Tests that the top four batsmen in the West Indian batting order have scored over fifty. The previous occasion was at Leeds in 1976. It is also the 11th time that a team has managed the above feat against India.

• The century stand for the third wicket is the 14th for West Indies in Tests against India and the first since 2002.

• Darren Bravo, who scored his fourth fifty-plus score against India, has now scored two centuries and seven fifties in 13 matches at an average of 49.90.

• Kirk Edwards, who scored a century on debut against India earlier this year, has now scored two centuries and three fifties in his first six matches at an average of 61.88.

The runs weren’t exactly coming in a torrent, but as the partnership stretched past 100, and past midway through the day, West Indies were completely in control. It was in the 51st over that India started clambering back into the game as Ashwin conjured some spin and bounce on the track. Brathwaite was put down by Laxman at backward short leg, and survived a big shout for lbw off the next ball, not offering a stroke to a ball turning in. In his next over, Ashwin struck, getting the ball to jump from a length, forcing an inside-edge from Barath on to the thigh pad that ended up as a simple catch for Dhoni. Soon after, Brathwaite followed, though his dismissal wasn’t as clear cut – there might have been some glove as the ball spun past the bat and popped off the pad to short leg.If there were worries in the West Indian camp that those two quick wickets were the harbinger of another familiar collapse, Edwards and Bravo eased the concerns. They provided a sample of their forceful strokeplay in the short period they were in the middle before tea, and continued their cavalier scoring after the interval as well. It’s still early days in their career but their performances so far point towards an exciting long-term middle-order pairing for West Indies.Ashwin continued to harry the batsmen with his variations, getting the odd delivery to jump sharply, but it was the other two spinners who produced India’s chances in the final session. Virender Sehwag got an edge down the leg side off Edwards but Dhoni couldn’t hang on to a tough chance, while Ojha was denied a wicket as Rahul Dravid put down a Bravo catch at first slip.With the quicks not finding any reverse-swing, they were easy to handle with the old ball. Edwards’ driving down the ground was exceptional, while Bravo relentlessly pinged the cover boundary as they went on to complete brisk half-centuries. On Wednesday, both will look to hurt India even more by kicking on to their hundreds.

Jimmy Adams, the former West Indies all rounder, has been appointed the new head coach at Kent. The county have been without a head coach since Paul Farbrace left the county in September.

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jan-2012Jimmy Adams, the former West Indies batsman, has been appointed the new head coach at Kent. The county have been without a head coach since Paul Farbrace left in September.Adams, 43, was West Indies’ Under-19 manager before being appointed technical director of Jamaica. He played for 10 years in international cricket, retiring in 2001 having scored 3,012 Test runs at 41.26 and took 27 wickets with his slow left-arm. He also captained his country in 14 Tests.”I am delighted to be given this opportunity,” said Adams. “Kent are a county with a proud history and tradition. I look forward to working towards further success in the year to come and can’t wait to get started.”Kent chairman Graham Johnson said “He has a strong desire to see young players develop. He also has a tremendous amount of experience from his time in international cricket – particularly as captain. We welcome Jimmy and wish him the very best of luck.”Kent have made changes to their squad, with Joe Denly departing for Middlesex and Martin van Jaarsveld retiring, having initially signed a deal with Leicestershire. Batsmen Michael Powell has joined from Glamorgan and Ben Harmison signed from Durham.They begin begin their 2012 season against Yorkshire at Headingley on April 5.

Tim Bresnan, the England allrounder, has undergone elbow surgery but is expected to be fit for the matches against Pakistan in UAE that start in January

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2011Tim Bresnan, the England allrounder, has undergone elbow surgery but is expected to be fit for the start of the Test series against Pakistan in UAE in January.The operation was to remove a bone fragment which had started to cause Bresnan problems during the one-day series against India in October. After initially giving the injury time to settle the decision was taken that surgery was required.Bresnan has become a key part of England’s team in all three formats and was the senior pace bowler on the recent tour of India with Stuart Broad injured and James Anderson rested. Having played a vital role during the Ashes series victory in Australia, Bresnan then lost his place in the Test team due to a torn calf muscle at the start of the English summer.However another injury, this time to Chris Tremlett, opened the door for his return against India, at Trent Bridge, where he responded with a vital allround performance scoring 90 in England’s second innings then taking a career-best 5 for 48 to bowl out the visitors.After 10 Tests, all of which have been England victories, Bresnan is averaging 45.42 with the bat and 23.60 with the ball having claimed 41 wickets.With his ability to extract reverse swing Bresnan will have an important role to play in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but if he suffers a delay in his recovery England have a strong collection of pace bowlers to call upon. Tremlett is hoping to force his way back into the line-up, Steven Finn was the stand-out performer in the one-dayers against India and Graham Onions is on the fringes of the national side again.

ESPNcricinfo previews the only Test between New Zealand and Zimbabwe, in Napier

The Preview by Firdose Moonda25-Jan-2012

Match Facts

January 26-30, Napier
Start time 1030 (2130 GMT on January 25)Brendan Taylor will have a big role to play as most of his team have little experience of conditions in New Zealand•AFP

Big Picture

Two higher profile series leave this one-off Test to play out in the shadows but it promises to be a test of character for both sides. New Zealand and Zimbabwe played one of the Tests of the year in 2011, in Bulawayo, which ended in a thrilling 34-run win for the visitors. Zimbabwe have not played any Test cricket since then and will still be buoyed by how close they came. New Zealand, however, have a bigger cloud to float on – victory over Australia in Hobart.The Zimbabwe series is a curtain raiser to South Africa’s arrival in New Zealand later in the summer and the hosts will want to use what is effectively a warm-up tour to fine-tune their plans. They have question marks over who the best wicketkeeper in the country is, how many allrounders to play and which of their four quick bowlers will edge ahead if they have to pick between them. One Test may not be enough to clarify all of these issues but it will go some way to guiding New Zealand in the immediate future.Zimbabwe have a far more daunting mission to accomplish. For the first time since making their Test comeback in August last year, they will play away from the comfort of Harare or Bulawayo. While still finding their feet in the longest form of the game, they will also have to quickly assess and understand the ground beneath it as they adapt to foreign conditions. Their captain, Brendan Taylor, has already spent time in New Zealand playing in the HRV Cup and his insights will be valuable.Under Alan Butcher, Zimbabwe have formed a close-knit and increasingly confident unit but this match will test those bonds and other aspects of their game. The result matters less for them than the manner in which it is achieved and how they perform in this match will provide a good yardstick for measuring Zimbabwe’s progress.

Form Guide

New Zealand WLWDL (most recent first)
Zimbabwe LLW (Zimbabwe’s results only reflect matches they have played since making their Test comeback in August 2010)

Players to watch …

After just three Test matches in which he has scored three fifties, Dean Brownlie has already earned a promotion up the order. He will bat at No. 5 and will act as the fifth seamer in an attack that will contain four quicks and the spotlight will fall on whether he can convert a start.
Like most of their squad, Zimbabwe’s new-ball pair of Kyle Jarvis and Brian Vitori will experience Test cricket on foreign spoil for the first time. On a pitch in Harare that offered only early assistance for the quicks, the pair took 10 wickets between them and will be able to push themselves on a surface offering more assistance.

Team news

On a seamer-friendly pitch, New Zealand are set to play four quicks with Daniel Vettori coming in at No. 6. That means Brownlie will be promoted a place and Kane Williamson gets an opportunity at No. 3 in Jesse Ryder’s absence. The most debated topic in New Zealand over the past week is the wicketkeeper’s spot which will be taken by BJ Watling, over Kruger van Wyk. Sam Wells, the allrounder who was included in the New Zealand squad at the eleventh hour, is reportedly unlikely to play.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Dean Brownlie, 6 Daniel Vettori, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Chris MartinZimbabwe are without two of their most experienced players. Vusi Sibanda was left out of the touring party after being declared ineligible for the national team following a grade cricket stint and Chris Mpofu suffered a lower back injury. Hamilton Masakadza partnered Tino Mawoyo at the top in the tour match, and will do so again in Test. Forster Mutizwa will bat at No. 3 and Regis Chakabva will bat at No. 6. Zimbabwe will play three allrounders, Malcolm Waller, Graeme Cremer and Shingi Masakadza. Keegan Meth was struck during training and is on crutches. Cremer gets the nod ahead of veteran Ray Price who was ruled out with a groin injury.Zimbabwe: 1 Tino Mawoyo, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Forster Mutizwa, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt), 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Regis Chakabva, 7 Malcolm Waller, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Shingi Masakadza, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Brian Vitori

Pitch and Conditions

Talk in New Zealand is that the hosts have ordered a green top as they look to pick from where they left off in Hobart. Although Napier has traditionally been a batsmen’s pitch, with the last match between New Zealand and Pakistan playing out to a high-scoring draw in 2009. A wetter summer than normal should provide for bowler-friendly conditions. Napier is expected to be mild and sunny with the only possibility of rain forecast for the second afternoon.

Stats and Trivia

• New Zealand have never won a Test match in Napier. Of the nine matches played there, seven have been draws with only England and Sri Lanka registering Test wins at McLean Park.
• New Zealand and Zimbabwe have played against each other 14 times, with New Zealand winning eight and six draws. Three of the victories were by more than an innings.
• Zimbabwe have only won two Tests away from home – in Peshawar against Pakistan in 1998 and in Chittagong against Bangladesh in 2001.

Quotes

“People say it’s easy to change up from Twenty20 to Test cricket. But I disagree. It is a lot harder than you think. It’s more a mindset change than technique.”

“We showed that New Zealand can be beaten. I hope we can take the confidence we gained from that match forward.”

A round-up of the latest round of matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2012South ZoneBangalore’s Rajinder Singh Institute Ground witnessed an epic chase, as Andhra overhauled Goa‘s 383, incredibly, with eight balls to spare. It was the sixth-highest match aggregate – 768 – in List A history. The match included three centuries – 139 by Goa’s Rohit Asnodkar, and 115 and 104 by the Andhra pair of Venugopal Rao and AG Pradeep respectively.Opting to bat first, Goa were carried by the third-wicket partnership of 144, off 23.2 overs, between Asnodkar and Reagan Pinto. Asnodkar hit 20 fours and a six before he was dismissed by Sneha Kishore. Goa continued scoring at breakneck speed, especially the eighth-wicket pair of Shadab Jakati and Robin D’Souza, who added 77 off the last four overs. Sneha Kishore was the only bowler to return with an economy rate of less than six (he took 1 for 59), while S Srinivas conceded a century – 2 for 103 off his ten overs.The Andhra openers, Prasanth Kumar and Syed Sahabuddin, gave the team the launch pad with a stand of 112 off 11.1 overs. Four quick wickets put the game in Goa’s control, but the stand of 195, off 23.4 overs proved to be a massive shock to the system for Goa. Venugopal and Pradeep scored at over eight an over, and when Pradeep was dismissed, Andhra needed just 44 off 52 balls. Pradeep hit four sixes in his 104, off 69 balls. Venugopal and Bharat Reddy finished things off in the penultimate over. Ganeshraj Narvekar was the only bright spot for Goa’s otherwise sorry bowling effort, finishing with 4 for 56.The other team from the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, wasn’t so lucky though. In another high-scoring game, at the Jain International Residential School Ground, the hosts Karnataka piled on 343 for 7, led by Robin Uthappa’s 120 and Ganesh Satish’s 90. Coincidentally, Uthappa and Satish also added 144 off 23.2 overs, just like Asnodkar and Pinto did in the other match. The Karnataka duo’s second-wicket stand laid the groundwork for a massive score. Satish and Abhimanyu Mithun added a quick 48 for the fourth wicket. Andhra managed only 240 in their reply, because the batsmen couldn’t give their captain Ravi Teja enough support. Teja’s 110 went in vain, and the next-highest score in the innings was BP Sandeep’s 38. Karnataka’s find of the tournament, Ronit More, followed up his six-wicket haul on debut with 5 for 31 to keep Hyderabad to 240.Tamil Nadu recorded their third win in the tournament, beating Kerala by 61 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. S Anirudha’s 82 set the platform for Tamil Nadu to score 284 for 8. KB Arun Karthik hit a quick 56 off 50 balls at No.3, before the lower order, led by K Vasudevadas, took the team to a competitive score. For Kerala, Robert Fernandez hit 86 off 94 balls but the middle order failed to give him enough support. The seam-bowling duo of R Jesuraj and C Ganapathy took four wickets each to give Tamil Nadu a comprehensive win.East ZoneAt Eden Gardens, Jharkhand‘s 280 for 6 was barely enough to test the hosts Bengal, as Laxmi Ratan Shukla plundered 151, off 96 balls, to guide his team to a seven-wicket win with nearly 12 overs to spare. Jharkhand’s Ishank Jaggi, coming in at No.3 as early as the second over, stayed till the end to hit 129, off 144 balls. Shami Ahmed, East Zone’s star in the Duleep Trophy final, took four wickets but conceded a whopping 86 off ten overs. He was supported by Saurabh Tiwary and Kumar Deobrat, who both compiled 40s. Like the Australians found out at Hobart today, a score of 280 wasn’t enough. Shukla smashed eight sixes and 16 fours in his knock before he was bowled by Shahbaz Nadeem in the 31st over. Wriddhiman Saha and Anustup Majumdar then added an unbeaten 74 off 7.4 overs to seal the chase.Orissa recorded a comprehensive 95-run win at the Jadavpur University Complex in Kolkata against Tripura. Biplab Samantray played a captain’s knock for Orissa, top scoring with 78, He was supported by Govind Podder, who made 55, to help push the score to 291. Rana Dutta took four wickets, but leaked 74 off his ten overs. The Tripura batsmen failed to make starts, the highest score being 42 by the opener Samrat Singha. The left-arm spinner Paresh Patel was the best bowler for Orissa, taking 4 for 30.Central Zone
An unbeaten century by Udit Birla helped Madhya Pradesh beat Rajasthan in a tough chase at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur. In their pursuit of 225, MP were struggling at 60 for 4 in the 19th over but Birla stepped up and saw his team through. He struck nine fours in his 129-ball knock, and was supported by Harpreet Singh, who made 33 in a 78-run stand. Then Ankit Sharma assisted Birla, scoring a quick 30 in a stand worth 74 which ultimately won the game for MP. The ton was Birla’s first in List A cricket.In the Rajasthan innings, Jalaj Saxena was the chief wicket-taker, taking 4 for 40, including the wickets of the two half-centurions Robin Bist and Puneet Yadav.Vidarbha sealed a five-wicket win over Uttar Pradesh in Nagpur. A series of steady and useful contributions took UP to 229 for 7 in their 50 overs. Mohammad Kaif made 40, Ali Murtaza made 46 in a slowish innings and captain Piyush Chawla provided the surge in the late overs, smashing 69 in 43 balls, striking five fours and four sixes. However, his effort was in vain.Opener Akshay Kolhar led the way for Vidarbha in the chase, making 73 and put his team on course after the loss of two early wickets. He added 86 with Hemang Badani (40) and though the hosts were reduced to 151 for 5 at one stage, Vidarbha were able to claw their way out of the difficult position. Apoorv Wankhade (48 not out) and Urvesh Patel (30 not out) put together 83 at better than a run-a-ball and saw their team through with 31 balls to spare.North Zone
Delhi continued their good run in the tournament, beating Himachal Pradesh by eight wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla to register their third straight win. A collective bowling effort helped them skittle out HP for 103. Parvinder Awana led the way with three wickets and Pawan Suyal, Pradeep Sangwan and Rajat Bhatia picked up two each. The highest score in the HP innings was 24 by Vikramjeet Malik. HP were reduced to 88 for 8 at one stage but the tail helped them get beyond the 100 mark. The win was secured with ease, opener Shikhar Dhawan making an unbeaten 55 to seal the game in the 26th over.Haryana overcame Services by 52 runs at the Palam B Ground in Delhi, despite an unimposing albeit competitive score. The Haryana innings was littered by steady contributions but they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Persistent strikes meant that Haryana were left struggling at one stage, at 105 for 6, but Kuldeep Hooda rescued them with an unbeaten half-century. He added 54 with Mohit Sharma and found good support from Jayant Yadav, with whom he added an unbeaten 74. That partnership took Haryana to 223, a score they successfully defended.Yadav picked up three wickets in the chase and Hooda and Harshal Patel took two each to rattle Services. The only significant resistance came from Sanjeev Mishra, who scored a half-century but there was little support from the other end. Though opener Tahir Khan, and Narender Singh and Suraj Yadav in the lower order, got starts, the batting couldn’t measure up to what the Haryana bowlers offered. Services were bowled out for 171.Jammu and Kashmir put up a fight but could not overcome Punjab at the Palam A Ground in Delhi. Their bowlers, particularly Ram Dayal and Raman Dutta, had done a good job to bowl out Punjab for 224, picking up three wickets each, but the batsmen failed to scale it down. For Punjab, half-centuries from Chandan Madan and Amitoze Singh proved crucial in taking their team to a competitive score. J&K, in the chase, were very much in it, reaching 109 for 3 in the 28th over but they began to slip from there on. Rajwinder Singh took three wickets and Bipul Sharma chipped in with two; J&K were reduced to 113 for 7. Parvez Rasool kept the team afloat with a half-century at No.9 and a half-century stand with Dutta for the final wicket but all J&K could manage in the end was 205 for 9.

Grant Bradburn, the Northern Districts coach, says he will try and help Tim Southee improve his form

Firdose Moonda16-Mar-2012Of all the people in New Zealand unhappy to see Tim Southee dropped from the national squad, Grant Bradburn, his coach at Northern Districts, is perhaps the most disappointed. Southee was cut from the ongoing second Test against South Africa after a poor performance in Dunedin and was sent back to play first-class cricket to rediscover confidence and work on his action.”He [Southee] is disappointed that he has been dropped and we’re gutted for him too,” Bradburn told ESPNcricinfo. “We push them out of our environment and we take it personally when players come back. Our mission is to get them through our team, equip them with all the skills to go play international cricket and we don’t want to see them back.”Southee admitted he was rushing through his bowling action and told New Zealand radio station that it had caused the ball to go along the wicket, and not into it, making it easier for batsmen to play him. To rectify that Southee will concentrate on getting his front arm higher up for longer in the Plunket Shield. Bradburn said the best way to get Southee bowling like he used to was to remind him of how he was able to succeed in the past. Southee took 7 for 37 in a match against Wellington in November 2011 and that may be what Bradburn will ask him to remember.”We’ll be taking Tim back to the times where he has bowled well for us and just opening his eyes to remembering those key things that he does,” Bradburn said. “There are three or four key things that all key players do when they are playing well. In our environment, we’re really big on analysing more so when they are playing well than when they are not playing well. Too many top-class sportsmen over analyse things when they are not going good, instead of understanding why they perform well and what makes them tick at that level. Those are things we like to highlight for them.”Southee could also get some tough love from his Northern Districts team-mates and the management, something Bradburn believes may do the trick. “Tim will be knocked down into shape,” Bradburn said. “He will probably get the worst job in the team. He’ll be on rubbish duty, which is housekeeping, or he’ll be on the pooch, which is carrying the computer bag around, so he’ll get the worst job. When he comes back into our environment, he just gets treated like everyone else. He doesn’t get any special treatment. The guys will bring him down to earth and put him in his place.”Northern Districts are due to play Auckland in a Plunket Shield game from March 18.

On the ground where Denis Compton enjoyed such success, his grandson Nick provided another reminder of his considerable qualities with another century in what is already turning into a remarkable season.

George Dobell at Trent Bridge21-Apr-2012
Scorecard
Nick Compton has now scored over 600 runs this season•PA Photos

Maybe it is genetics, maybe it is coincidence, maybe it is simply a respect for the timeless values of cricket, but the Compton family seems to like batting at Trent Bridge.Here, on the ground where Denis enjoyed such success, his grandson Nick provided another reminder of his considerable qualities with the third century – and second double-century – of what is already turning into a remarkable season. With more than a week to go to the start of May, Compton has already amassed 685 first-class runs at an average of 137. Few are seriously suggesting changes in England’s top-order but here is an interesting (and rhetorical) question to ponder: who, given equal opportunity, would score more Test runs this summer, Andrew Strauss or Nick Compton?Denis Compton’s record at Trent Bridge is remarkable. In seven Tests, he accumulated 955 runs at an average of 95.50, with five centuries and a top score of 278 against Pakistan in 1954. While Nick Compton will surely never reach such heights, his record this season is still impressive: after 236 against Cardiff MCCU, he scored 99 against Middlesex, 133 against Warwickshire and now this innings against Nottinghamshire. In 1947, the year when Denis scored 3,816 first-class runs, it took until June 2 to reach 700 runs. There again, Denis did not start quite so early…Compton was not alone in filling his boots against a strangely off-colour attack. Arul Suppiah and James Hildreth also recorded centuries, with Hildreth – who now has 411 – the second-highest run-scorer this season. It meant that, on a pitch where only one Nottinghamshire batsman could score more than ten, their bowlers were unable to claim even a single bowling point. Somerset, treating the bowling with a level of contempt rarely witnessed at this level, lost just two wickets in claiming all five batting points and declaring with a lead of 283.There are mitigating factors for Nottinghamshire. As a result of losing the toss, they batted in tricky conditions and bowled when they had eased. In surviving a testing 12 over spell before stumps, their openers also demonstrated some backbone in trying circumstances.But they would do well not to blame misfortune. They have also played some remarkably poor cricket so far in this match and they are not the only team missing a top performer. Too many of the batsmen, the blameless Chris Read apart, squandered their wickets, the bowlers failed to adhere to the basic principles of line and length and their fielding was wretched.Wretched is a strong word, but when every tight single is reached with ease, when every boundary save fails and when catches are put down like the sort that Paul Franks, at third man, dropped to reprieve Hildreth on 70, then no other word will suffice. While other counties have raised their levels of fitness and agility to new levels, Nottinghamshire were stuck in a 1970s time warp where bowlers and all-rounders were content with perfunctory dives. Most counties have to hide a player or two in the field; Nottinghamshire had to hide half the side. There is not a top division attack in the country that is so poorly supported in the field.But the most disappoint aspect of Nottinghamshire’s cricket iwa that the real difference between them and Somerset has been application. While the hosts lacked patience and flirted outside off stump, Somerset’s batsmen left well and took the time to play themselves in. And while Somerset’s bowlers kept asking questions of the batsmen on and around off stump, Nottinghamshire’s fed the cut and the pull and, in the crucial first session, simply failed to make the batsmen play. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Andre Adams, missing this game with flu, has masked holes in this side for too long.Perhaps most disappointing of all was Samit Patel. While the pitch offered him little, he was unable to stem the flow of runs; an ability an international class bowler simply has to possess. Somerset’s batsmen did not just milk him: they churned him up and turned him into yogurt.Franks, at least, could celebrate the 500th first-class wicket of a career that, when it started in 1996, perhaps promised even more. But this was a day when Compton and co. showed that the basics of cricket – play straight, play compact and play yourself in – are as true now as they have ever been. They did all the simple things better than Nottinghamshire and have a great chance to press for success on day four.Somerset’s success should also give them confidence to deal with the absence of Marcus Trescothick. It is, in the words of Somerset’s director of cricket, Brian Rose, “pretty certain” that Trescothick will not play any more cricket for the “next couple of weeks at least.” Trescothick suffered a recurrence of an old ankle ligament injury in the field on Friday, was taken for scans in Derby and will see a specialist in Exeter on Monday.

Azhar Mahmood, the former Pakistan allrounder, has been granted an Indian visa and will arrive on Saturday to play for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL

Nagraj Gollapudi13-Apr-2012Azhar Mahmood, the former Pakistan allrounder, has been granted an Indian visa for the IPL but ESPNcricinfo understands it is valid only for Chandigarh and Delhi. Mahmood will arrive on Saturday to play for Kings XI Punjab but will be available only for five games in Chandigarh, at their home ground in Mohali, and one match against Delhi Daredevils in Delhi.Mahmood, who is now a British citizen and plays for Kent, was bought by the franchise at the auction last February for $200,000. He was expected to be available for selection from the beginning of the IPL season but visa delays led him to miss Kings XI’s first three matches.However, his arrival will boost Kings XI, who suffered a setback when England allrounder Stuart Broad was ruled out of the entire IPL season due to a calf strain.Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI captain, had announced Mahmood’s imminent arrival at the media briefing in Mohali after the game against Pune Warriors India on Thursday. Mahmood, who is the only player in this IPL to have played for Pakistan, tweeted to confirm the development.
Kings XI suffered successive defeats in their first two matches, both away games. Back then Gilchrist had made public his disappointment about not having Mahmood at his disposal, saying Kings XI were missing out on a “class” player.A consistent allrounder in Twenty20 cricket, Mahmood has been one of the top performers for Kent. He was player of the season for Kent in the County Championship last year and finished as the county’s highest run-getter in the domestic T20 tournament, with 485 runs, including a century, from 15 games at a strike-rate of 143.91.