Makhaya Ntini has been named Cricket South Africa’s first cricket development ambassador

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2011Makhaya Ntini has been named Cricket South Africa’s first cricket development ambassador. Ntini, who played 101 Tests and took 390 wickets and was the first black, African player to represent South Africa, retired from international cricket in November 2010 but had vowed to remain involved in developing the game in rural areas.The announcement was made at the unveiling of GB Molefe hostel at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape, where CSA runs an academy. Mfuneko Ngam, another former South African fast bowler, heads the project, which gives promising players from previously disadvantaged backgrounds an opportunity to study as well as play cricket through a bursary scheme.Ntini will be involved in the academy as well as other ventures that will assist the unearthing of talent in the area. His responsibilities will include identifying areas where developmental structures must be put in place and being a talent scout in the Eastern Cape. Ntini hails from the province, which is widely considered rich in cricketing talent, but suffers from severe poverty and lack of facilities in parts.”Makhaya is a true ambassador of the sport, he has done more for the game of cricket than anybody in promoting the game,” CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said. “We at CSA decided that, when Makhaya Ntini retires, he can not be gone completely from the world of cricket because many players still need to learn from his experience.”

The BCCI has denied permission to the 12 Indian cricketers who wanted to participate in the Sri Lanka Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2011The BCCI has denied permission to the 12 Indian cricketers who wanted to participate in the Sri Lanka Premier League. The decision was made after the players had asked the BCCI for No-Objection Certificates to play in the two-week long Twenty20 competition, starting on July 19. The SLPL will be run by a Singapore-based private company, Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which will issue the player contracts, something the Indian board believes could lead to complications for the players should disputes arise.The decision, the BCCI said, was taken to protect the players from finding themselves in a tricky situation. “In the IPL the players are contracted by the BCCI, but the SLPL is offering contracts with the event management company,” a BCCI official, who attended the tours and fixtures committee meeting on Saturday at which the decision was taken, added. “So, if there is any goof-up, Sri Lanka Cricket cannot be held accountable. As a result, the board [BCCI] would not like to take any chances.””We took the decision at an informal meeting of 18-20 members held yesterday that no Indian cricketer will be given permission to take part in the league as it is being organised by a private party based in Singapore,” the BCCI president Shashank Manohar told on Sunday. “The board’s policy is not to allow players to take part in private party-organised tournaments.”Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey and Paul Valthaty, reportedly, are the 12 Indians who had shown interest in playing the SLPL. The BCCI had earlier stated it had no problems with the proposed league and that Indian players are free to take part, as long as there is no conflict with India’s international or domestic schedule.The BCCI official also said the decision to prevent Indian participation in the league had nothing to do with the pressure applied by the SLC and the Sri Lankan Sports ministry in April and May to recall top Sri Lankan players participating in the IPL, ahead of Sri Lanka’s England tour.Reportedly, the SLC top brass were caught unawares by the Indian board’s decision and called for an emergency committee meeting to discuss it. No SLC official was available for comment.The SLPL will be played between July 19 and August 4 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Several foreign players including Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi, Daniel Vettori, Kevin O’Brien and Herschelle Gibbs have already been signed for the tournament.

Canada have announced their squad for the upcoming ICC America’s T20 tournament in Florida

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2011Canada have announced their squad for the upcoming ICC America’s Twenty20 tournament in Florida. Jimmy Hansra will captain the side for the competition in Fort Lauderdale, which starts July 17, after Ashish Bagai resigned as captain following the World Cup. Many of the first-choice players are resting, in preparation for the upcoming Intercontinental Cup game against Afghanistan.Rizwan Cheema, Hiral Patel, Ruvindu Gunasekera, and Parth Desai head the list of players staying in Canada to prepare for Afghanistan while Harvir Baidwan and Khurram Chohan are completing successful stints in England.Vimal Hardat, vice-president of the Canadian board, said he was confident the team would put up a strong showing in the America’s tournament. “Having already qualified for the T20 Cricket World Cup Qualifier [in 2012] we saw this as a good chance to have some of our prospects test themselves as well as to give our more senior players a chance to get ready for Afghanistan,” Hardat said. The four-day match against Afghanistan will be played in Ontario from August 2.Squad: Jimmy Hansra – BC (Captain), Waleed Ahmed (Manitoba), Trevin Bastiampillai (Ontario), Grant Broadhurst (Alberta), Satsimranjit Singh Dhindsa (Ontario), Zahid Hussain(Ontario), Usman Limbada (Ontario), Deepak Pabla (Quebec), Cecil Pervez (Ontario), Parveen Saroye (Alberta), Jason Sandher (BC), Jonathan Snow (BC), Hamza Tariq (Alberta), Khusroo Wadia (Ontario).

It has been a disappointing season for both these sides, who began as co-favourites for the Championship but will be happy enough now to steer clear of relegation

Jon Culley at Trent Bridge14-Jul-2011
Scorecard
It has been a disappointing season for both these sides, who began as co-favourites for the Championship but will be happy enough now to steer clear of relegation. The safety of mid-table seems an attractive proposition, which may explain why a match that had notable highlights in the shape of three high-quality centuries ended in a very tame draw.There could have been an interesting finish. When Somerset’s lead, 91 overnight, reached 250, there were around 50 overs left in the match and Marcus Trescothick might have pulled out and invited Nottinghamshire to have a go. But if temptation did show itself, it was only to be passed up. He invited the home side instead to bowl his team out.Thanks largely to Andre Adams and Samit Patel, whose left-arm spin took four wickets, Notts took up the invitation successfully. But by the time they did so only 34 overs remained and the target of 321 was purely academic. There was little reluctance to shake hands and go home when five o’clock arrived.Appropriately enough, the significant innings of a forgettable day was a forgettable hundred from Nick Compton, whose growing penchant is for solid, dependable displays unadorned with flights of fancy, which is forgivable given that he still struggles to recapture the productive form of his early Middlesex days.It would not have been his grandfather’s idea of fun but it is getting the job done. This season, bolstered considerably by his epic nine-hour unbeaten 254 against Durham at The Riverside, threatens to be his best since 2003, when his first full season at Middlesex yielded 1315 first-class runs, including six centuries.He ground out 115 here over six and a half hours before a splendid diving catch by Riki Wessels at short extra cover gave Steven Mullaney his wicket. He struck 14 boundaries but probably turned down as many, preferring not to take the risk.There was good support for him, first from Chris Jones, a 20-year-old Devonian who has played first-class matches for Durham University but was batting for the first time in the Championship. He appeared against Lancashire last season as a nominated replacement for Craig Kieswetter but did not bat or bowl.He earned his call-up for this match after hitting 149 for Somerset 2nds last week and showed sound technique in a tidy 55 and had just despatched Patel through the covers for his 10th boundary when the left-armer found a little extra bounce to have him caught at slip.James Hildreth, whose first-innings 137 had been one of the highlights, hit 39 in rapid time before slicing Luke Fletcher to backward point. Kieswetter, who had shared a 290-run partnership with Hildreth in scoring 164 in the first innings, fell for 21 this time, one of two leg-before victims in the space of three overs for Adams, whose dismissal of Peter Trego at 361 for 6 might have prompted the declaration had Trescothick been interested.Instead, the Somerset skipper allowed the tailenders to swing the bat, which the seam bowler Adam Dibble did with some success on his first-class debut, crashing 39 not out off only 35 balls, including a four and two sixes in the same over off Mullaney. The others were picked off by Patel, who finished with 4 for 70.Stuart Broad’s bowling was again a mixed bag as he sought to regain his form ahead of the opening Test against India. He found a couple of snorters for Kieswetter but nine overs on the day yielded no wickets, although they did take his contribution to the two innings to 53.4 overs, which is the largest number he has sent down in a single match, curiously enough. Given that he has been bowling with his left heel padded and his right ankle strapped, this might seem an odd preparation.Notts faced 15 overs in the end, during which Wessels was caught behind and Alex Hales followed his brilliant 184 with a rather more ordinary 18 before giving a return catch to Arul Suppiah.But it was all fairly meaningless and Mick Newell, the Notts director of cricket, signalled his satisfaction with the outcome by declining the chance to criticise Trescothick’s caution. His side, after all, had lost four times in a row before this match.”We will take 11 points for the draw,” he said. “It was important that we stopped losing and got some batting points on the board.”

Neil McCallum, the Scotland batsman, has announced he will retire from international cricket after a one-day game against Hampshire on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2011Neil McCallum, the Scotland batsman, will retire from international cricket after the one-day game against Hampshire on Sunday. McCallum, who held a full-time job in teaching through his career, said he could no longer devote sufficient time for the game.He first represented Scotland in 2000 but became a regular only around 2006 and played in a national record 43 ODIs and 11 Twenty20 internationals. The 2007 World Cup and the first two World Twenty20s were among the global tournaments he took part in.McCallum, 33, averaged over 44 in 14 first-class matches, including a career-best 181 against Netherlands in 2007, the third-highest score for Scotland in first-class cricket. Another highlight was the Intercontinental Cup final last year, when his unbeaten 104 helped Scotland take the first-innings lead.”It has not been an easy decision to retire this weekend, but I believe the time is right,” McCallum said. “These days Scotland are training and competing all year round. It was becoming harder to dedicate the correct amount of time to perform and train at an international level. I have been trying to juggle work and family, on top of school, club and regional cricket, as well as the demands of training and competing at the elite level.”Peter Steindl, Scotland’s coach, who worked with McCallum for four seasons praised his attitude. “His dedication and enthusiasm both on and off the pitch has always been a major factor in his success and has been the benchmark for other players to follow,” Steindl said. “He never shirked from putting in the hours preparing, improving his skills and getting fitter.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the CLT20 match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset in Hyderabad

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo24-Sep-2011

Match facts

Kolkata Knight Riders v Somerset, September 24
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Ryan ten Doeschate helped Knight Riders qualify for the main draw with his 46 against Somerset in the qualifiers•AFP

Big Picture

Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset will meet for the second time in five days. During the qualifying stage, they were involved in a strange game where despite Somerset winning by 11 runs it was Knight Riders celebrating at the end. They had qualified, along with Somerset, as the best second-placed team from the two qualifying groups.Given the nature of Twenty20 cricket that win might mean little when the teams met again, but Knight Riders will be increasingly aware that their top order is consuming far too many balls to produce too few runs. Even Yusuf Pathan, on paper their most dangerous player, has struck at less than a run-a-ball in his two scores of 12 in the qualifying round.Somerset came to this tournament without three key batsmen and would have felt a little bitter that their 21-year-old star Jos Buttler did not even get a bat for England in the first Twenty20 against West Indies. Craig Kieswetter’s aggressive half-century in the same match, though, would have reminded them of what they can achieve once the two join them. Their bid to qualify for the main draw was helped by some tight bowling and outstanding fielding, with Roelof van der Merwe seeming to pop up everywhere with athletic stops or catches.These are the two weaker teams in their group, which also contains South Australia, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Warriors, so a loss for either would leave them with an uphill climb to reach the semi-finals.

Watch out for …

Ryan ten Doeschate came to Knight Riders with a big reputation after having done well in Twenty20 competitions in England and New Zealand, and having scored a century against England in the World Cup. He only had three innings in the previous IPL, but showed he can play the role of a finisher when he helped Kolkata qualify with a quick 46 against Somerset.Roelof van der Merwe is a player perfectly suited to the Twenty20 format. He bats aggressively, bowls flat left-arm spin that is hard to take for runs and saves 10-15 runs every innings in the outfield. Without Marcus Trescothick, Kieswetter and Buttler, van der Merwe has occupied the No. 3 spot during the tournament and may need to play a longer innings than he is used to in order to help his team.

Team news

Somerset will have left-arm spinner George Dockrell back for their first match in the main draw, as Ireland have completed their Intercontinental Cup fixtures against Canada. The man he replaces in the squad, legspinner Max Waller, had impressed in the qualifiers, taking 1 for 18 in four overs against Auckland and bagging two wickets against Kolkata. So there will be pressure on the 19-year-old Dockrell to repay Somerset’s faith in him. Wicketkeeper Steve Snell and seamer Lewis Gregory will leave once Kieswetter and Buttler arrive in India, so they will want to make use of this chance in the international limelight.Gautam Gambhir, who suffered a concussion during India’s Test series in England, is expected to play at some stage during the tournament, but whether he will be available for the game against Somerset is not clear. Brad Haddin has arrived from Sri Lanka but ten Doeschate’s performance in the last game and the effectiveness of Shakib Al Hasan’s spin on the slow Hyderabad wicket means he is not guaranteed of a place in the XI.

Stats and trivia

• Kolkata Knight Riders have not reached a score of 180 since the 2010 season of the IPL. The 222 they managed in their first game, in the 2008 IPL, is still the highest total for the franchise.
• Somerset have lost just one of the last eight Twenty20 matches they have played, though that match was the Friends Life t20 final.

Quotes

“It’s frustrating, obviously, but it’s pleasing personally that I did all I could do while I was out here. I knew I wasn’t going to stay for the main event if we qualified, so I wanted to do what I could do and help us qualify.”
Max Waller is disappointed to be going home before the main tournament begins

“I sometimes get a bit tied up against spin. But I have made it a point to watch the ball closely and it has helped. I do like to get after the spinners and I think that is the best way to play them.”
Ryan ten Doeschate gives notice of his intent against the slow bowlers

Dean Brownlie, who made his Test debut for New Zealand today in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, has said he would like to cement a place in the squad ahead the tour of Australia next month

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2011Dean Brownlie, who made his Test debut for New Zealand today in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, has said he is confident his first-class performances would translate into Test cricket. He forced his way into the side by making heaps of runs for Canterbury and New Zealand A during the winter, and believes he is ready for the challenge of Test cricket.”I’ve got lots of advice from the senior players and they’re all telling me not to change anything, to do what I did to get selected,” he said. “I think that’s the key.”I try not to think too much about outside pressures and just try and take it ball by ball, like I always do.”Brownlie was born in Australia and only moved to New Zealand in 2009, qualifying to play for them through his Christchurch-born father, Jim. So he would like nothing more than to cement a place in the squad ahead of the tour of Australia next month.”It would be good, but not just because it’s Australia and I was born there and grew up there,” Brownlie told the . More so my [Perth-based] friends and family can watch me play, and a lot of the coaches I had growing up.”While he is keen to play one-day cricket and has already played two international Twenty20 matches, Brownlie said succeeding in Test cricket was his greatest ambition. “That’s the pinnacle, isn’t it? That’s the hardest test of cricket and of your ability.”A calf injury ruled Jesse Ryder out of the Test and Brownlie could be called upon to bowl a few overs to support the frontline bowlers. He did that in the tour game, picking up the wicket of Malcolm Waller, but didn’t think it would lead his Canterbury coach, Bob Carter, to throw him the ball more often in domestic cricket.”They’ve seen me bowl, and they’re about as unimpressed with it as I am.”

Australia’s hopes at the Wanderers – and potentially for their home summer – took a major blow in the first session of the match when Shane Watson left the field with an injury to his right hamstring

Brydon Coverdale in Johannesburg17-Nov-2011Australia’s hopes at the Wanderers – and potentially for their home summer – took a major blow in the first session of the match when Shane Watson left the field with an injury to his right hamstring. The loss of Watson followed Australia’s decision to send the fast bowler Ryan Harris home due to a hip problem, which will place him in doubt for the first Test against New Zealand.Arguably Australia’s most important player, Watson left the field after bowling the fifth ball of his fourth over, having already made a breakthrough when he had Jacques Rudolph caught behind. It was not immediately clear how serious the injury was, but Watson’s history with hamstring complaints meant it was unlikely the Australians would risk him doing any further damage by bowling again in the match.Watson returned to the field later in the day and stood at first slip – he didn’t bowl again – and at the end of the day he was padded up ready to open the innings. However, the ICC’s new law forbidding runners means that Watson’s impact could be limited by how quickly he can make it to the other end of the pitch.While Watson is key to Australia’s setup due to his all-round abilities, the team is also without Harris, the best bowler in the side. Harris was ruled out of the Test, allowing the 18-year-old Pat Cummins to make his debut, and he was set to return to Australia immediately.”Ryan Harris had some right hip pain after the first Test in Cape Town,” Australia’s physio, Alex Kountouris, said. “He was still experiencing pain bowling during the team training session on Wednesday and has therefore been ruled out of the second Test.”He has had a number of investigations since arriving in Johannesburg that have at this stage excluded serious injury, however he will need to return to Australia for further assessment and to commence his recovery. His return to cricket will be guided by the improvement we see over the next week.”That timeframe does not bode well for his availability for the New Zealand series, which begins at the Gabba in a fortnight. Harris, 32, has been Australia’s best bowler since he made his Test debut in New Zealand early last year, easily topping the frontline bowling averages during that period with 35 victims at 21.37.However, Australia’s concern is that Harris has played only half the Tests during that time. He was sent home from the Pakistan series in England last year with a knee injury that required surgery, he suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle during the Boxing Day Ashes Test last year and again needed an operation, and he missed the final Test in Sri Lanka in September due to a hamstring strain.Three Tests is the most he has strung together in a row. The injuries to Harris and Watson leave Australia with some serious concerns ahead of the New Zealand series and the four-Test series against India that follows.Harris was to be accompanied on the plane home from South Africa by the left-arm spinner Michael Beer, who the selectors felt would benefit from match-time back home. Trent Copeland and David Warner have remained with the squad but with an Australia A match against New Zealand set to begin next Thursday, it is not out of the question that one of them could be sent to take part in that match.

Fifteen wickets tumbled on the second day at the MCG, to better the 13 on the first, and at the end of it all Tasmania were in a commanding position against Victoria

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2011
Scorecard
Fifteen wickets tumbled on the second day at the MCG, to better the 13 on the first, and at the end of it all Tasmania were in a commanding position, leading Victoria by 337 runs with two second-innings wickets intact. Their advantage was built by a strong bowling performance led by Jackson Bird, who took 5 for 35, as Victoria were routed for 94 in their first innings, conceding a lead of 123.Victoria began the day on 3 for 18, with Bird having taken three wickets in four balls on the first evening. He went on to scalp two more – both David Hussey and Cameron White were caught behind – to reduce the hosts to 5 for 55. Xavier Doherty then dismissed Rob Quiney, whose 33 was Victoria’s only double-figure score until then, without another run being added to the total.Andrew McDonald contributed 26 but the tail didn’t fight, and Victoria were dismissed before lunch for their lowest Sheffield Shield total since the 91 against New South Wales in 2004-05.Tasmania’s attempt to build on their lead did not have a happy beginning, though, and they were 46 for 4 after Evan Gulbis was dismissed for his fourth consecutive duck. James Faulkner, however, resisted with a half-century and he put on 65 for the sixth wicket with Mark Cosgrove, who made 36 off 34 balls and helped wrest the momentum. Both of them were dismissed in quick time but wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt scored 46 off 40 balls to lead Tasmania to 8 for 214.Jayde Herrick took 4 for 68 for Victoria, boosting his season tally to 26 to overtake Ben Cutting (23) as the season’s top wicket-taker.

England will name their Test squad to face Pakistan in UAE on Friday as they embark on the challenge of maintaining the No. 1 spot in Test cricket

Andrew McGlashan08-Dec-2011England will name their Test squad to face Pakistan in UAE on Friday as they embark on the challenge of maintaining the No. 1 ranking. In 2011 they played eight Tests, winning six and drawing two, but in 2012 that number swells to 15 so the much-vaunted depth of England’s resources will be tested again.A mark of England’s success in climbing the rankings has been how seamlessly players have slotted in when changes have been made through form or injury, Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan being the stand-out examples. The players who are currently outside a likely first-choice eleven are vital to the make-up of the squad. If the selectors follow the same pattern as for Australia they will favour those players ready to step up to Test level at a moment’s notice rather than those with potential in the future. The England Lions trips of the subcontinent will allow those players on the fringe to play regular cricket in case reinforcements are required.The key position is which spinner (or even spinners) accompanies Graeme Swann in the squad. There needs to be at least one option who, if the worst case scenario struck and Swann was ruled out of a match, could be the frontline spinner in a Test. Currently that man remains Monty Panesar who toured Australia as Swann’s understudy but wasn’t required. Last season he was the highest wicket-taker in Division One of the County Championship in 2011 with 69 victims at 27.24.Scott Borthwick, the Durham legspinner, Hampshire’s Danny Briggs and Simon Kerrigan from Lancashire, who took 9 for 51 against Hampshire last year, are the rising stars so it is shaping as now or never for Panesar, who has spent the last couple of months playing club cricket in Sydney, to resume his Test career.Yet, whether Panesar makes the first eleven will depend on if Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower are willing to move away from the current balance of six batsmen, the keeper and four bowlers – albeit in conditions that haven’t demanded a second spinner, or specialist fifth bowler – unless they opt for the risky strategy of two quicks and two spinners.The prolific form of England’s top five, Matt Prior’s consistency in Test cricket, plus the developing allround skills of Bresnan and Stuart Broad, suggest England could cope with the shift in strategy but don’t be surprised to see the balance remain the same. However, there is no doubt that at some point next year – whether in UAE, Sri Lanka or India – England will need two spinners in the same attack.England’s previous Test team, against India at The Oval in August, was without Jonathan Trott due to injury and Ravi Bopara was in the middle order. Trott, the ICC International Cricketer of the Year, will be back at No. 3 against Pakistan and Eoin Morgan will expect to retain his spot if he completes a successful recovery from the shoulder surgery that ruled him out of the one-day tour of India.At the end of England’s home season Bopara’s stock had risen considerably after a successful one-day series against India, but the return contest on the subcontinent didn’t see further development as he became one of a number of England batsmen to struggle against spin. The other options include promoting James Taylor or even taking Samit Patel to cover a number of bases with his spin bowling.In the pace-bowling department there are plentiful options to choose from. The depth available is highlighted by Tremlett’s situation. He began the year by helping seal the Ashes series then starred in the dramatic victory against Sri Lanka, at Cardiff, before bagging career-best figures of 6 for 48 at The Rose Bowl. Yet, so seamlessly did Bresnan replace him against India after injury struck that he was hardly missed.Now, having lost his place to injury he will need someone to break down – or Bresnan to not recover from his elbow surgery – for a spot to open up. Then there’s Steven Finn who was England’s one bright spot during the one-day series in India. He bowled with pace and hostility having developed his game away from Test cricket and looked primed for another opportunity.The final spot will be a reserve keeper and Steven Davies could fill the same role he did during the Ashes. That would mean only one change – Bopara for Paul Collingwood – from the original 16 that travelled to Australia last year. Davies hasn’t featured for England since the one-day series in Australia, at the start of which he was omitted from the World Cup squad in favour of Prior. He scored 1035 runs at 39.80 in the County Championship for Surrey although another option could be Jonny Bairstow if the selectors want to have a look to the future.Possible squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Chris Tremlett, Steven Finn, Ravi Bopara, Monty Panesar, Steven Davies