Gloucestershire has lost the services of William Porterfield, the Ireland opening batsman

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Oct-2010William Porterfield, the Ireland opening batsman, has left Gloucestershire after signing a three-year deal with Warwickshire. Gloucester have also lost medium-pacer Gemaal Hussain who too is likely to move up to Division One if he joins county champions Nottinghamshire.Gloucester had a disappointing 2009 season, being placed fifth in Division Two after losing nine and winning only six of their matches. Porterfield and Hussain’s departures come in the wake of Steve Kirby and Anthony Ireland’s exits from the county.The county were unhappy with Hussain’s decision but the bowler said he had to make the move if he wanted to improve his chances of playing for England. “I feel I need to challenge myself by playing Division One cricket,” Hussain told the county’s website. Tom Richardson, Gloucestershire’s chief executive, said he didn’t agree with Hussain’s view. “It’s very disappointing as you’ve got this guy who came to us last year from nowhere,” Richardson told . Hussain was the division’s leading wicket-taker with 67 at 22.34 from 15 matches.Porterfield will join his Ireland team-mate Boyd Rankin at Warwickshire. Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s director of cricket, was pleased with the season’s signings which include Pakistan batsman Younis Khan. “Will has proved his potential at international and domestic level and I believe he has a great deal more to offer.”

Kevin Pietersen has branded John Buchanan, the former Australia coach and occasional advisor to the ECB, as ‘a nobody’

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2010Kevin Pietersen has branded John Buchanan, the former Australia coach and occasional advisor to the ECB, as ‘a nobody’ following comments that Pietersen could be a divisive factor during the Ashes tour.In a recent magazine interview Buchanan, who was brought in by the ECB to offer insight on the Australians before the Ashes, said Pietersen could be “individualist and fragmentary” if his form didn’t improve. Andy Flower, the England coach, responded to the comments by predicting great things from Pietersen during the Ashes and saying that Buchanan wasn’t part of England’s inner circle but the man himself was even more dismissive.”I didn’t react to it because it was strange that he made headlines,” Pietersen said. “I’m not interested in what he has to say. Who is he? He’s a nobody.”He had the best team to coach in the history of cricket. Anyone could have coached that team. He has done nothing else solid so I won’t even take it with a pinch of salt.”Still, Pietersen is under pressure heading into the tour after a lean period where he has only hit one hundred at any level since March 2009. In a quest to regain some touch before facing Australia he arranged to join the Dolphins in South Africa but his short stint was restricted to two innings where he made 36 and 0, so the three warm-up games in Australia are looming as crucial in Pietersen’s preparation.Despite only getting two hits in South Africa, Pietersen believes the time spent with Graham Ford – the Dolphins coach and a long-time mentor – will prove invaluable. “Graham Ford was brilliant for my confidence. He knows how to get the best out of me,” he said at the launch of his latest Brylcreem product in London. “I did some amazing work with him and absolutely loved it. I rekindled some shots out of my old style of play.”I’m really looking forward to the series and I’ll be full of confidence that I’ll do well. I am going to go out there and get some runs. I’d love to post a big score in the first Test. I’ve done it before so why not again? I love playing Australia.”However, Pietersen has admitted being one of the players unhappy with Flower’s decision to ban WAGs for the first five weeks of the tour. The players’ wives and girlfriends will only be allowed to join the trip following the second Test and Pietersen, who has talked in the past about not wanting to be away from his wife and young child, made his opposition clear.”I didn’t react too well to it but it’s not something I’m prepared to get involved in,” he said. “I respect Andy Flower’s decision. I have to respect it.”

Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan spun a web around Zimbabwe, and their batsmen ensured it didn’t unravel to level the five-match ODI series 1-1 in Mirpur

The Bulletin by Abhishek Purohit03-Dec-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAbdur Razzak took 5 for 30 as Bangladesh bowled Zimbabwe out for 191•Associated Press

The reliable and the not-so-reliable clicked together at the same time for Bangladesh. Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan spun a web around Zimbabwe, and their batsmen ensured it didn’t unravel to level the five-match ODI series 1-1 in Mirpur. The left-arm spin duo took nine wickets between them as Zimbabwe lurched to 191, after which the batsmen led by Raqibul Hasan – playing in place of Mohammad Ashraful – and Junaid Siddique took charge as Bangladesh breezed to a six-wicket victory.The spinners did what they have become increasingly adept at, putting the squeeze on Zimbabwe’s batsmen on a typically slow Mirpur surface that did not turn much, and Razzak finished them off with a late hat-trick. Except for a brief period when 57 runs came in eight overs during a seventh-wicket stand between Craig Ervine and Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwe struggled for direction. The Bangladesh batsmen then did what they failed to two days ago, making important, if not substantial contributions, in what proved to be a comfortable chase.Ervine and Utseya showed the way to stuttering top and middle-order batsmen, who had thrown away several starts to leave Zimbabwe on 132 for 6 in 37 overs. However, Razzak returned to remove Utseya with the last ball of the 45th over, and then trapped Ray Price and Chris Mpofu leg before with the first two deliveries of the 47th, ensuring Zimbabwe failed to bat out 50 overs. Ervine, playing with an urgency that had eluded the batsmen preceding him, was left stranded on 42.Ervine had given direction to an innings that was going nowhere, driving and working the spinners around with purpose. Meanwhile, Utseya targeted the vacant deep midwicket region, repeatedly swinging the left-arm spinners against the turn. At 189 for 6 with more than five overs to go, including four of the batting Powerplay, Zimbabwe were targeting a total in excess of 225, which could have proved difficult to chase. However, Razzak and Shakib orchestrated the late collapse, ensuring Bangladesh would chase under 200.Zimbabwe had struggled in the middle overs against the spinners, with Keith Dabengwa and Tatenda Taibu using 104 deliveries for a 48-run fourth-wicket stand. Both batsmen’s dismissals highlighted their frustration at being unable to score: Dabengwa spooned a full toss back to Shakib, while Taibu was given out lbw after missing an attempted reverse sweep for the umpteenth time. Four overs later, Elton Chigumbura swung wildly at Shakib and was bowled as Zimbabwe slid to 132 for 6.The start hadn’t been as bleak for Zimbabwe as Brendan Taylor and Regis Chakabva took them to 50 for 1 by the tenth over. However, the introduction of spin as early as the seventh over soon brought results and Taylor and Chakabva fell quickly.Bangladesh’s start mirrored Zimbabwe’s. Tamim started quickly when they came out to bat before lunch. Prosper Utseya opened for Zimbabwe with offspin, and was greeted with a six and a four over mid-off. At the other end, Chris Mpofu surprised Imrul Kayes with sharp bounce to induce an edge to Taibu. Mpofu could have had another one in the same over, but Elton Chigumbura dropped a sitter as Siddique hit airily to mid-off.Undeterred, Tamim glanced consecutive deliveries past short fine leg for boundaries. When Siddique too got going with a perfect back-foot punch through cover, it seemed Bangladesh had learned from the disaster chase two days ago. Old habits came back to haunt them, though, when Tamim holed out to Mpofu off Ray Price, after having hit the previous delivery for six.Bangladesh slowed down a touch after Tamim’s dismissal, with Price being miserly. But unlike the Bangladesh spinners, who had kept up the pressure from both ends, Utseya continued to leak runs. Siddique made Zimbabwe pay for the drop with his first half-century in eight innings and shared a 72-run partnership with Raqibul. Siddique had a brain fade soon after reaching his half-century, giving Price a blind charge, and Taibu did the rest. Raqibul took over, sweeping and cutting Price for three boundaries in an over. A six over deep midwicket off Utesya brought up his half-century before he became the third Bangladesh batsman to dance down and throw his wicket away, getting stumped off Dabengwa. But Bangladesh were almost home by then.

An insipid performance from India’s bowlers on the fourth day had broken their aspirations of a maiden Test series victory in South Africa but, on the fifth, the batsmen ensured they achieved at least a draw for the first time in the country

The Bulletin by George Binoy06-Jan-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Gautam Gambhir’s 64-run vigil led India’s resistance as they batted out the fifth day at Newlands and earned a 1-1 series draw•AFP

An insipid performance from India’s bowlers on the fourth day had broken their aspirations of a maiden Test series victory in South Africa but, on the fifth, the batsmen ensured they achieved at least a draw for the first time in the country. In an anticlimactic end to an enthralling contest, Gautam Gambhir was at the forefront of the Indian resistance, Rahul Dravid blocked lots of balls, and South Africa’s bowlers toiled 82 overs for three wickets, when they needed ten.South Africa fell behind early in their pursuit of victory and eventually took only one wicket in each session. The key to their chances lay in how many they dismissed with the new ball, and India won a decisive battle by surviving the first 11 overs without damage. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel weren’t as hostile as they were in the first innings but still bowled aggressively in the morning. Once that threat passed, India’s passage was easier. They survived one more flutter of anxiety, soon after Dravid fell late in the second session, when AB de Villiers failed to catch an extremely tough chance off Gambhir. The game was called off with umpteen fielders waiting for catches that never came, and South Africa were still winless in a series at home since Bangladesh’s visit in November 2008.India did not try to win this deciding Test on its final morning – the target of 340 was always out of reach – but because they focused on survival and scored at about two runs an over, Graeme Smith was able to place as many close catchers as he pleased. Steyn got the ball to seam and swing away, though he wasn’t as terrific as he was on the third day. Morkel posed the greater threat, targeting the bodies of both openers with balls that jagged into them from short of a length. One screamer from round the wicket rose so steeply that even Gambhir’s best efforts to avoid it failed. The ball thudded painfully into his left arm, just below the elbow. It was the same injured arm that kept him off the field during South Africa’s second innings and has ruled him out of the ODI series. Gambhir got it treated, and took guard again.It made sense for Gambhir to try and face Steyn, while Sehwag countered Morkel. Steyn’s swing into the left-hander’s pads made it easier for Gambhir to face him. Sehwag, however, struggled against Morkel, getting hustled by deliveries that homed in at his body and beaten by others that straightened.South Africa’s first chance came when Lonwabo Tsotsobe replaced Steyn in the 11th over and Sehwag slashed him. The ball flew towards JP Duminy, standing deeper at point, and burst through his hands as he mistimed his jump. The let-off cost South Africa only a few deliveries, though, for in the next over Sehwag hung his bat out and edged Morkel to Boucher. Umpire Ian Gould asked the third umpire to check if Morkel had overstepped. He hadn’t, by the smallest of margins. Sehwag’s dismal tour was over; 144 runs in six innings was all he got.The pressure eased when Tsotsobe and Harris were operating. Gambhir and Dravid blocked, left, and blocked some more. Dravid was careful to play Harris with bat in front of pad, ensuring nothing would pop up to the close catchers. The ball was turning, and it was seaming, but it was doing both slowly. India passed 50 when Gambhir jumped down the pitch and drove Harris to the cover boundary, but runs were of little consequence.On either side of the lunch break, Smith brought himself on to bowl offbreaks and a couple spun sharply. He changed his bowlers frequently but for the majority of the second session Gambhir and Dravid were untroubled and they collected easy runs by exploiting unprotected boundaries. Gambhir slashed and cut Steyn through point twice and reached a valuable half-century. Dravid simply used up deliveries and scored when he could, scoring three soft fours in a Smith over. Before those boundaries he had played 89 balls for 18 runs.In the 44th over, just when the Test seemed to be entering a phase of defensive torpor, Harris began to make things happen off the pitch. He ripped and bounced one sharply across Dravid and later in the over struck him low on the back foot in front of middle stump. The ball hit pad before bat but Gould said not out. Dravid played only 15 more balls, though, before edging Tsotsobe off the front foot to the cordon.The opportunity to dismiss Gambhir, on 62 off 146 balls, came soon after, when a leading edge flew quickly to de Villiers at silly point. He grabbed repeatedly at the sharp chance but spilled the ball and Harris held his head. Gambhir played 37 more balls. Tendulkar was solid for 91 deliveries and he remained unbeaten, walking off Newlands with the series shared. VVS Laxman too couldn’t be budged, after Gambhir had gloved Steyn’s short ball down the leg side for 64. It was Boucher’s 499th catch.Steyn and Morkel’s spells after tea were South Africa’s last chance. They returned for one final attempt, an over each with the second new ball. Both were fruitless. India scored only 166 runs today and saved the series.

South African left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotosbe is many things. To some, he was a surprising pick for the national team who has finally lived up to his promise, to others he is a surprising wicket-taker who often snags the biggest of names by sheer persist

Firdose Moonda in Chennai11-Feb-2011South African left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe is many things. To some, he was a surprising pick for the national team who has finally lived up to his promise, to others he is a surprising wicket-taker who often snags the biggest of names by sheer persistence and accuracy, to his team-mates he is the self-proclaimed fashion king of the squad with the best dress sense. One thing he is not, is Makhaya Ntini.”I am not trying to get people saying that I am,” Tsotsobe said in Chennai, where the South African team are preparing for the World Cup. In front of a crowd of, mostly foreign journalists, it was a statement that was met with stifled giggles. You can’t really blame them, because of the face of it, Tsotsobe is a direct replacement for Ntini for two obvious reasons – he is the only black African in the side and he is a bowler.Behind the face, Tsotsobe explains why he is not like Ntini. “I am a totally different bowler to Makhaya,” he said. Exactly right, especially since Tsotsobe himself regards his slower ball, that delivery that Ntini could never quite master, as his biggest asset. Personality wise, they are two different characters with Tsotsobe a soft spoken, gentle man compared with Ntini’s larger-than-life personality.Tsotsobe can’t change the fact that, like Ntini, he is the face of black, African cricket in the team and he recognises that Ntini “did a lot for cricket in the Eastern Cape and the black community,” but now he is ready to build his own legacy. Starting at this World Cup.Tsotsobe went from being a bowler no-one expected to move the world, to being the one that rocks South Africa’s world now. He has been a surprisingly consistent wicket-taker, despite not getting above 135 kilometres per hour too often. “I can’t hide away from critics,” Tsotsobe said. “All I can do is turn what they say into something positive and use it to push myself harder.”After ending the series against Pakistan as the second highest wicket-taker and highest wicket-taker in the series against India, Tsotsobe’s pushing has been working, although he says he has not made too many adjustments to the way he usually does things. “I haven’t changed anything too much, just been working hard.”The most important element he brings to the South African attack is variation. “He shapes the ball away,” Morne Morkel said of his fellow paceman. “It means we know have another different style of seamer, since I get bounce and Dale gets swing.”The trio will form a powerful three-pronged attack for South Africa, and Morkel believes they can have an impact, despite subcontinental conditions favouring the spinners. “Even though the spinners can play a striking role here, it’s still important for us to keep up the pressure upfront and hopefully the ball will do the talking.”Tsotsobe echoed Morkel’s words, that even though spinners are likely to benefit most from the tracks in India, the quicks will still have an important role to play. For Tsotsobe, part of that role may be showing how unlike Ntini he is, so the comparisons can fade over the course of the next few weeks.

Misbah-ul-Haq’s supremely paced innings and Sohail Tanvir’s nerveless hitting took Pakistan to a tense win in Napier that puts them 2-1 up

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran01-Feb-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan played riskfree cricket in the middle overs to set up Pakistan’s victory•Getty Images

Pakistan continued to show they are masters of making mountains out of molehills, but Misbah-ul-Haq’s supremely paced innings and Sohail Tanvir’s nerveless hitting took them to a tense win in Napier that puts them 2-1 up. New Zealand had earlier showed the benefits of stacking their side with allrounders as they recovered from an all-too-familiar top-order collapse to post a respectable total but it didn’t prove enough.On a pancake-flat track and with McLean Park’s short boundaries and a quick outfield to assist them, Pakistan looked to be gliding towards victory when Misbah and Younis Khan played safety-first cricket to take them to 173 for 3 in 37 overs. With the batting Powerplay in hand, two set batsmen at the crease and a host of heavy-hitters to follow, New Zealand seemed down and out.The first blip was the run-out of Younis who slipped when attempting to regain his ground after tipping the ball to point. The new batsman, Umar Akmal, meandered to 10 when the Powerplay was taken. As has been the case in recent matches, the Powerplay resulted in immediate wickets: Umar holed out to extra cover and Shahid Afridi was trapped in front. With Pakistan at 198 for 6, New Zealand were back in it.The match swung again in the next over as Abdul Razzaq clubbed a mighty six, and Misbah calmly picked off two effortless, wristy boundaries as Tim Southee went for 17. New Zealand clawed back again when Hamish Bennett had Razzaq skying a catch to Vettori in the 47th over.Twenty-four needed off the final three overs – enough time for more twists. Misbah, yet again, seemed to have sealed it when he slammed Scott Styris beyond midwicket off the first ball of the 48th, and then followed it up with a punch past mid-on for four. No. 10 Wahab Riaz then decided to go for glory instead of turning over the strike to Misbah, and his swipe ballooned to the keeper.Only two wickets remained, and there was a genuine threat of Pakistan being bowled out. Tanvir then showed that though his bowling isn’t at the level it was before his back injury, his hitting retains the ferocity of old. He forehanded three fours in the penultimate over from Southee to sew up the victory with six balls remaining.Tanvir may have applied the finishing touches but it was Misbah who had done the grunt work earlier on. When Pakistan were wobbling at 84 for 3, Misbah and Younis stroked the ball into the gaps for singles to keep the required rate in check. Their 89-run partnership had put Pakistan in charge, before the slew of wickets led to an exciting denouement.It was Misbah’s finest one-day effort, and his first significant contribution in the format in a long time. With 18 days to go for the World Cup, Pakistan are still without a captain, and this series hasn’t made the decision easier for the selectors. Afridi was panned after the heavy defeat in the first match, then praised after his electric half-century in the Christchurch victory, and Misbah has now pushed his case with this match-winning innings.New Zealand continue to desperately seek someone who can provide Misbah-like calmness to their famously fragile top order. Today, their stuttering batting unit squandered another chance to hit form on a placid track, with shot-selection that will leave John Wright fuming. Martin Guptill flicked to midwicket after impressing early on, Jamie How pulled imperiously but straight to deep square leg, Ross Taylor’s expansive drive ended in first slip’s hands, and Kane Williamson chipped the ball to long-on.The home side had tumbled to 79 for 5 before Brendon McCullum jumpstarted the innings with a typically energetic cameo. James Franklin then led the rescue with his third half-century in four innings; after a watchful start, he cut loose in the Powerplay reeling off four boundaries in two overs. Afridi handcuffed him with a legstump line in the 44th over and had him holing out to deep fine leg.The batting recovery was completed by Nathan McCullum, who blasted his way to his maiden one-day half-century. The highlights of his innings were a couple of high-risk paddles for four against the quicks and a murderous carve over cover for six in the penultimate over.Franklin and the McCullum brothers helped New Zealand put on 170 in the second half of the innings despite the top-order collapse, but even that proved insufficient as Misbah continued his prolific tour.

England captain Andrew Strauss admitted to being shocked and disappointed at his side’s three-wicket defeat to Ireland in Bangalore

Liam Brickhill in Bangalore02-Mar-2011England captain Andrew Strauss admitted to being shocked and disappointed at his side’s three-wicket defeat to Ireland in Bangalore, as Kevin O’Brien’s record-breaking hundred highlighted lapses in the field and a worrying lack of penetration with the ball. Strauss backed his side to bounce back from the loss, however, and insisted “we’re not out of the World Cup by any means”.”It was a bit of a shock for us if I’m honest, and bitterly disappointing because we did a lot of things badly in the field again,” said Strauss. “We could have taken our catches. I dropped him and we dropped three other catches as well, which in the end cost us the game, there’s no doubt about it.”Our bowling could’ve been better, certainly in the Powerplay,” Strauss added. “I think we got a bit taken by surprise there. And we just can’t afford to give away that many chances on these sorts of wickets. It’s very hard to get people out on very flat wickets, and if you’re dropping four of them then you’re asking for trouble.”England appeared to be cruising to victory after Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell all fired with the bat to boost their side to 327 for 8, and the bowlers followed that up by dismissing half of Ireland’s line-up with just over 100 runs on the board. Then came O’Brien’s no-holds-barred innings, which utterly changed the complexion of the match the longer it went on.”I thought we were in a great position to win the game, absolutely,” said Strauss. “We knew they had some dangerous hitters in the back end of their batting order but with the rate climbing as much as it was, it seemed that if we just kept very patient then wickets would fall, but O’Brien had other ideas. It was an outstanding innings. Just the gall he showed to take the game to us in that situation. They took the Powerplay and [he] struck the ball beautifully. He rescued them from a perilous position to one where they were up with the rate and just had to keep their heads at the end.”England were bewildered by their shortcomings in Bangalore•Getty Images

The inability of his bowlers to stem the flow of runs towards the end of the innings will be a particular worry for Strauss and 62 runs came from the batting Powerplay, effectively bringing Ireland back into the game. Strauss pointed out that bowlers on both sides had struggled, and would continue to do so on wickets tailored to suit batsmen.”The wickets here have been very, very flat wickets. We’ve easily got 300 in two of the three games and chased 290 in the other, so the bowlers have got to expect to go for the odd run here and there. But what we don’t want to be doing is haemorrhaging runs on both sides of the wicket and chasing our tail too much, which potentially we have done in those last three games, and we’re going to have to improve.”It’s hard work, certainly the two wickets we’ve played on here haven’t suited any one particular bowler. All bowlers have suffered at the hands of the wicket. But it’s still a game of cricket, you’ve got to get more runs than the opposition team. You’ve got to handle those conditions better than the opposition team, and if you don’t you’re going to lose the game.”England remain second in their group, with three points, despite the defeat, but Group B has been thrown wide open and their next game, against South Africa on Sunday in Chennai, is sure to provide a stiff challenge.”The game coming up against South Africa is a huge one for us. Generally we’ve bounced back from defeat well in the past, whether it’s in Test cricket or one-day cricket. We’re going to have to do that very quickly and probably be honest with each other and realise where we can improve and make those improvements very quickly. Hopefully it’ll galvanise us as a team. The equation is pretty simple now: we can’t afford any slip-ups and we’re going to have to go out there and deliver.”

Daniel Vettori has said that making the World Cup semi-finals six times is a huge achievement for a small nation like New Zealand

Firdose Moonda in Colombo28-Mar-2011Daniel Vettori would make a bad bridesmaid. He wouldn’t fit the role of the person dressed up to walk down the aisle behind someone more important. He is the important one.At the best of times, Vettori is abrupt – probably not intentionally, but because it’s part of his character. He is a no-nonsense kind of guy who gives a straight answer to most questions. Whether he expected to be sitting in a press conference as the only non-subcontinental team captain at the World Cup semi-finals, he won’t say, but he seems rightly annoyed with being asked if his team is excited to have got this far.”It’s the semi-final of the World Cup, everyone is ecstatic,” he said dryly. Of course they are. New Zealand have proven themselves to be one of the top four teams in the tournament. They beat the odds. After a group stage which saw them record victory over only one major team, Pakistan, and get thumped by two others, Sri Lanka and Australia, they came into the quarter-finals as one of the weaker sides. Very few people expected them to raise their game enough to beat South Africa and even when talking about that victory, very few people say that it was New Zealand who won the game. Most say it was South Africa who lost it.Vettori doesn’t really want to talk about that anymore, because he has more important things on his mind. “We need to move on pretty quickly from the South Africa game. We’re proud of our achievement, but we need to concentrate on the semi-final.” Most people paid him very little attention when he made that point, probably because most don’t expect New Zealand to get past the semi-finals. That’s partly because they are playing a very strong Sri Lanka side and partly because this will be their sixth World Cup semi-final, without having ever made the final.’We’re proud of our achievement [beating South Africa], but we need to concentrate on the semi-final’ – Daniel Vettori•Associated Press

“Everyone wants to talk about our record [of always going out at the semi-final stage], but this is an amazing achievement for a small country,” Vettori said, which hinted that he was satisfied enough with having come this far. He recovered quickly though. “We have our expectations, it’s irrelevant what people say. We reached the Champions Trophy final in 2009, there we went one step further.” New Zealand were horribly outplayed in that match, losing to Australia by six wickets. But, it was an important exercise for them, because they played in a final of an ICC tournament – for the first time since the 2000 Champions Trophy, which they won, beating India – and experienced the pressures of a do-or-die encounter of a different kind.Vettori knows consistency is the key. “When we’ve won well, we’ve followed it up with a poor performance,” he said referring to the group stage. “We’ve got to make sure we have another big performance in the bag because Sri Lanka will be very strong in home conditions.”Sri Lanka have looked the side to beat and on a pitch where they asserted their authority over England, they will be tough to handle. Vettori is toying with the idea of picking three spinners for the match. “The fact that it’s a used wicket may allow us to do that, but Sri Lanka have grown up playing spin.”Getting their combination right for the semi-final will not be the trickiest thing for New Zealand, it will be making sure that that combination works well on the day. Vettori said that they were fortunate to have “one or two batsmen and a bowler or two who could stand up” in the knockouts. “It was Jesse Ryder and Jacob Oram who did it against South Africa. That made the difference and it may have to be someone else who does it now.”Vettori himself, playing in either his penultimate or final match as captain, may be the man to shoulder the responsibility. He knows it’s his last chance, as he is firm in his decision to step down as captain. “I’ve made the decision. You need fresh ideas and people get sick of you.” To leave office as the blushing bride probably doesn’t quite fit his image either, but Vettori would chose to be the bride over the bridesmaid any day.

Shane Watson has questioned Tillakaratne Dilshan’s chances of forging a captaincy as successful as that of Kumar Sangakkara.

Daniel Brettig05-May-2011Shane Watson has fired an early salvo ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka in August by questioning Tillakaratne Dilshan’s chances of forging a captaincy as successful as that of Kumar Sangakkara, his predecessor. The Australians will have a new captain themselves in the form of Michael Clarke, but his deputy Watson wondered aloud at Dilshan’s chances of emulating the results and the universal respect won by Sangakkara during his time as leader.”Kumar Sangakkara is as impressive a cricketer as there is in the world,” Watson told ESPNcricinfo. “He always handles himself so unbelievably well and he’s a brilliant cricketer also. So it’s going to be very hard for someone like Dilshan to live up to exactly what Kumar is as a person and also how he’s been in the captaincy, it’s going to be a big challenge for him.”Sangakkara gave up the job following the World Cup in order to prolong his playing career, leaving the captaincy in the hands of Dilshan, an undoubted talent but also a somewhat flighty performer at times during his Test career. He is also handicapped by being, at 34, a year older than the man he is replacing.Australia were fruitful in their efforts to unsettle Dilshan during the dual series away and at home in 2004, holding him to an average of 30.11, with one century, across five Tests. He was not selected in the Sri Lankan touring party that lost two matches in Australia in November 2007, instead leading the Sri Lanka A team to Zimbabwe. He has been appointed to lead the Sri Lankans on the tour of England that precedes the Australia series.The Sri Lanka series, Watson acknowledged, will be the first serious test of the new leadership axis after an undemanding first assignment in Bangladesh, where the modest hosts were swept aside 3-0 in as many limited-overs matches. “On our side of things we’ve got a big challenge as well with a new leadership group and us trying to rebuild and create a really exciting era of Australian cricket within our team.”Doubts will surround the composition of the squad as it is the first since the loss of the Ashes at home, and there are plenty of sound reasons for ushering the further regeneration of a squad that stagnated in Ricky Ponting’s final 18 months as captain. Watson, who had said the Ashes defeat would define the careers of several players “on the wrong side”, still felt there would be a selection reckoning for a series punctuated by three innings victories for England.”There’s no doubt the Ashes was there to be a defining moment for people’s careers in certain ways, and for some people it has been and others not so much,” Watson said. “Now there’s a new direction Australian cricket is heading in [and] it’s going to be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so. I really feel it’s going to be an interesting time to be able to start to generate a new era of Australian cricket, and I’m very thankful that I’m now part of the leadership group and want to be a part of creating something very special.”For so long a figure of sympathy and even occasional ridicule due to a seemingly endless string of injuries, Watson is now next in line for the captaincy behind Clarke, and is intent on sharing the hard lessons he learned while struggling over more than six years between his international debut and finally securing a Test spot of his own.”Looking back on things, I am very lucky to have been through the experiences I’ve had that turned me into the person and the cricketer I am now,” he said. “I suppose I’ve got a little bit to help younger guys coming through and improve them not only as people but also to help them make the most of playing the cricket they are as well.”

Not a single ball was bowled in the match between Kent and Somerset due to a wet outfield

10-Jun-2011
Scorecard
Somerset’s Friends Life t20 game against Kent at Taunton was abandoned without a ball bowled.
Umpires Trevor Jesty and Richard Illingworth made the decision after a 6.45pm pitch inspection.
The heavy rain which had fallen during the afternoon had stopped, but the outfield was deemed too wet to play on.