Lancashire Lightning extended their unbeaten run in the Friends Life t20 north group to three games

05-Jun-2011
ScorecardLancashire Lightning extended their unbeaten run in the Friends Life t20 north group to three games with an emphatic five-wicket win over Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road. Opener Tom Smith hit a sparkling 75 as Lancashire made light work of chasing down a target of 174, cruising to victory with 11 balls to spare.Josh Cobb top-scored for the Foxes with a competition-best innings of 60 to help them post what looked a challenging total of 173 for 2 after being put in to bat. But it proved to be nowhere near enough as Smith and Stephen Moore shared a quick-fire half-century opening partnership for Lancashire in the first four overs.The Foxes’ attack was unable to contain them and the boundaries flowed until Moore, having made 25 off 13 balls, skied a catch to mid-on off Matthew Hoggard. But Steven Croft joined Smith in another brisk stand of 48 in five overs, hitting six fours in his impressive 33 before holing out to long-on as he mistimed a shot against left-arm spinner Claude Henderson.Although the Foxes managed to pick up two more wickets in the next five overs, they could not remove danger man Smith, and he struck two glorious sixes plus seven other boundaries in his 45-ball knock. When he was finally bowled by a yorker from Harry Gurney in the 17th over, Lightning needed only nine more runs to win, and an edged four by Luke Proctor off the same bowler saw them safely to victory.Cobb and Andrew McDonald gave the Foxes a solid start to their innings, putting on 79 in 10 overs. Cobb dominated the stand, showing his intentions with a six off the first ball of the match from Smith. The young opener cleared the ropes three more times and struck three fours before finally being bowled by Gary Keedy in the 10th over.McDonald reached his half-century off 45 balls, but struck only two boundaries while his innings included 34 singles. Will Jefferson stepped on the accelerator as they shared a third-wicket stand of 65 in five overs, hitting 42 off 19 balls with two sixes and four other boundaries.However, in the end it was still not enough to prevent Lancashire picking up their second win in three games, with their other result a tied match.

A defiant century by Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale carried his side to safety against County Championship leaders Durham as the rain-shortened match was shortened at Chester-le-Street

21-Jun-2011
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A defiant century by Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale carried his side to safety against County Championship leaders Durham as the rain-shortened match was shortened at Chester-le-Street.Gale’s second century of the season came off 192 balls and he was unbeaten on 101 at the close of play with Yorkshire 57 ahead on 280 for 4. But they took only two bonus points from the match, compared with Durham’s maximum of eight, and slipped to next to bottom courtesy of Worcestershire’s win against Hampshire.Adam Lyth made his season’s best score of 69 and the third left-hander, Gary Ballance, contributed 53 to an unbroken stand of 120. The only chance given by either of the fifth-wicket pair came with Ballance on 23, when Gordon Muchall was unable to hang on to a sharp head-high chance just to his left at first slip off Callum Thorp.Gale was very composed in an innings which spanned almost four hours, looking solid in defence while also hitting 15 fours. Durham were not helped by the absence of Paul Collingwood who was ruled out with a groin injury picked up while making a century yesterday.Steve Harmison also looked out of sorts in two wayward six-over spells on a pitch which had lost most of its early life. With a day and a half lost to rain, there was not enough wear in the surface for the spinners to play a big part, although Ian Blackwell did have Lyth stumped to end a stand of 95 with Gale.When Jonny Bairstow was run out two overs later Yorkshire were 160 for four in early afternoon, still 63 adrift. But Durham were flagging by tea, when the visitors were nine runs ahead. Only eight minutes play were lost to a light shower at 11.30 and shortly after the resumption Durham took two wickets.Lyth put on 50 for the first wicket with Joe Root, who made 28 before he fell lbw to a shooter from Graham Onions. Anthony McGrath’s struggles continued when he departed for a duck, following a leg-side ball from Harmison and providing Phil Mustard with a catch.But the only other wobble came with the loss of Lyth and Bairstow in quick succession. Lyth reached 50 off 100 balls, with six fours, by driving Blackwell through extra cover for three. But after adding five to his previous best this season of 64 he stretched forward and was smartly stumped by Mustard.Bairstow’s run out came when he played the ball to mid-wicket and set off before hesitating when Gale was committed. Dale Benkenstein whipped the ball in to beat Bairstow to the non-striker’s end.

Durham’s hopes of booking a Friends Life t20 quarter-final place took a major knock with a four-wicket defeat to Warwickshire off the last ball at Edgbaston

11-Jul-2011
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Durham’s hopes of booking a Friends Life t20 quarter-final place took a major knock with a four-wicket defeat to Warwickshire off the last ball at Edgbaston.Their chances of reaching the knockout stage are now in the balance as they move on to a crucial final north group fixture at home to Northamptonshire on Thursday. The Dynamos suffered a second successive defeat despite a valiant effort by Dale Benkenstein as their one-day captain made an unbeaten 50 from 32 balls in lifting his team to 145 for 5.After failing to reach 140 in their previous three completed innings, Warwickshire may have approached their task with some uncertainty but the recalled Neil Carter injected new confidence at the top of the order.After an early wicket for Liam Plunkett, Carter made 38 from 36 balls and most of the hard work was done while putting on 73 with Darren Maddy. Maddy cut and drove sixes off Paul Collingwood and Plunkett before Carter was leg-before to Scott Borthwick and a first win in seven games was eventually secured after a late wobble against the spinners.Gareth Breese dismissed Maddy (40) and Rikki Clarke during a spell of 2 for 18 and with five wanted off the last over from Borthwick, Jim Troughton (28) and Keith Barker fell to catches on the boundary. However Chris Woakes found a gap on the off side to squeeze the final delivery away to the rope.For a team with so much at stake, the first half of Durham’s innings was a non-event with four wickets down for only 49 runs after a catalogue of errors on a pitch that demanded some caution.The resurgence began in the 12th over as Collingwood and Benkenstein targeted Ant Botha’s left-arm spin with leg-side sixes in a quick-fire stand of 36. It needed a spectacular one-handed catch by Clarke, at full stretch on the mid-wicket boundary, to remove Collingwood for 24, but Breese turned up the heat on Warwickshire with an unbeaten 31 from only 22 balls.The all-rounder took three boundaries – a six followed by two fours – in the final over from Barker and an unbroken partnership of 65 in 51 deliveries with Benkenstein at least gave Durham’s bowlers something to work with.

Jonny Bairstow scored his maiden one-day century in his first innings at Lord’s as bottom-of-the-table Yorkshire beat Middlesex by 22 runs

10-Aug-2011
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Jonny Bairstow scored his maiden one-day century in his first innings at Lord’s as bottom-of-the-table Yorkshire dashed Middlesex’s hopes of moving alongside Sussex at the top of the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A with a 22-run victory. Bairstow made 114 and shared partnerships of 85 in 15 overs with Jacques Rudolph, and 105 in 16 overs with Anthony McGrath, to lead Yorkshire to a total of 275 for 4 after Middlesex had surprisingly put them in to bat on a flat
pitch.The target always looked too big for Middlesex but they made a great fight of it. Paul Stirling, the Ireland batsman, hit 68 off 47 balls, including 10 fours and a six, before he was caught at short cover off the left-arm spin of David Wainwright.Middlesex then slumped to 160 for 7 but Steven Crook hit 61 off 40 balls with five fours and two sixes, Tom Smith (27) joined him in an eighth-wicket stand of 66 in 11 overs, and they were driving Yorkshire to distraction until Smith drove Richard Pyrah to mid-off and Crook sliced Ryan Sidebottom to cover point.The match, which was originally scheduled to be played under floodlights, was only given the go-ahead at 8.30 in the morning with the start brought forward to noon following talks between both sides and the police in the wake of the recent rioting in London. It clearly affected the attendance but there was still a sizeable crowd to see Bairstow take control after Andrew Gale had been caught behind off the fifth ball of the innings from Corey Collymore.Bairstow, the 21-year-old England Lions wicketkeeper-batsman, who had never made more than 46 in his 24 previous one-day matches, was soon driving Tim Murtagh straight back over his head for six on his way to fifty off 47 balls. Brimming with confidence, he went on to complete his hundred with two more sixes off Steven Crook and Murtagh and had accelerated to his 114 off 87 balls with nine fours as well when he was bowled swinging across the line against
Dexter.Rudolph had made 40 off 50 balls when he was caught at extra cover off Crook, McGrath hit 63 off 60 before spooning Murtagh to cover and Gary Ballance weighed in with an unbeaten 34 off 24 balls.

The Bangalore rain continue to mar what’s been, for the most part, an exciting Champions League Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Oct-2011Match abandoned
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The Bangalore rain continued to mar what’s been, for the most part, an exciting Champions League Twenty20. The rain had relented after a downpour the previous night but the toss, won by South Australia who chose to field, took place under overcast conditions. There was a steady drizzle not long before the scheduled start at 4pm and it intensified, leaving puddles on the outfield, ruining any possibility of play and putting the next game due to start at 8pm in jeopardy.Somerset and South Australia gained a point each due to the abandonment. Somerset now have three points with two games in hand. South Australia also have three points but are under greater pressure, given they have just one game remaining.

Ruhuna’s Dinesh Chandimal says the CLT20 is important, keeping in mind the international career he hopes to build

Abhishek Purohit in Hyderabad18-Sep-2011He was talked up as one of Sri Lanka’s future stars even before his debut. He made two centuries in his first six ODIs, including one at Lord’s. Life could not have got better for Dinesh Chandimal at 21. It didn’t, and came crashing down suddenly. He was dropped after only three indifferent outings in the home ODI series against Australia and is now looking at the Champions League Twenty20 qualifier as a potential launching pad for a national comeback.”This tournament is definitely very important for me,” Chandimal said in Hyderabad. “It could help me make the Sri Lankan side more regularly.”His shy smile didn’t disappear, but there was hurt in his eyes when the word ‘dropped’ was mentioned. Twenty-one is not an age when a cricketer becomes adept at diplomacy or eloquence, but Chandimal was. “That’s the selectors’ call,” he said. “I can only focus on my game and can’t do much otherwise.”It wasn’t the low scores but the manner of his dismissals against Australia that was worrying. On all three occasions, he chased and edged deliveries outside the off stump. What went wrong? “You see, my normal position is No. 3 but I came in at No. 5 [twice] against Australia. But I know that I have the potential. I am ready to play for my country at any position whenever I am selected.”Chandimal has been a wicketkeeper from the beginning, but his batting is so highly rated that he has played a majority of the games in his short international career as a specialist batsman. It is as a keeper, though, that he wants to leave a mark. “I have kept wicket all through my career, right from school level through age-group cricket. I like playing as a keeper-batsman. Keeping is good for my batting as well, as I get to observe from up close how the pitch is behaving.”I hope to take over from Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] one day. At the moment, Prasanna Jayawardene is doing very well in Tests, but I would like to keep wicket in Tests as well in the future.”Despite having a first-class average of 58.52, Chandimal’s eagerness to keep wicket could mean that he will have to wait for that Test call-up till a vacancy arises behind the stumps. Lahiru Thirimanne, another promising batsman – one who does not keep wicket – was blooded ahead of Chandimal during the Tests against England. Chandimal is prepared to wait. “I expected to be picked for the Australia Tests, but I have a lot of years ahead of me and my time will come.”

Patrick Cummins, Australia’s 19-year-old fast bowler, was credited with putting his team in a winning position after their victory in the opening T20 against South Africa at Newlands

Firdose Moonda at Newlands13-Oct-2011Patrick Cummins, Australia’s 18-year-old fast bowler, was credited with putting his team in a winning position after their victory in the opening T20 against South Africa at Newlands. His captain, Cameron White, said Cummins’ three wickets on debut in the 19th over swung the advantage Australia’s way.”It was the difference between chasing 160 and what we did chase [147],” White said. “It doesn’t seem like much but when the game is getting close those few runs make a difference.” White added that Cummins, who was Australia’s second youngest debutant, bowled like “a seasoned pro” and his performance in his first match gave further evidence of a bright future.The Man of the Match, Shane Watson, who is also Cummins’ team-mate at New South Wales, was another full of praise. After talking Cummins up earlier in the week, Watson believed that he had lived up to his billing and that he will be careful to nurture his skills and not let any ego get it the way.”There’s no way he will let it get to his head,” Watson said. “Deep down he knows that it’s a really special gift that he’s got, to bowl that fast at such a young age.”While Cummins grabbed the biggest haul, Australia’s bowling was an all-round effort and White said the conditions had something to do with it. “They probably really appreciated the conditions. It was nice to see the ball swinging and bouncing.”One of the other debutants, Doug Bollinger, who was, somewhat surprisingly, playing in his first international T20 despite his success at the IPL, also impressed as he swung the new ball and was economical. “Doug has been doing well in Twenty20s for the last couple of years,” Watson said. “He has been consistent and bowled with good pace, bounce and swing. When he is bowling well, it’s hard to line him up more than anything,”He claimed the scalp of Graeme Smith, lending weight to the theory that Smith has not dealt with his technical issues against left-armers although Watson wasn’t reading too much into Smith’s duck. “I think it’s just luck. Whether you’re right-handed or left-handed batsmen, you don’t come across too many left handed bowlers,” he said. “Left-armers have given batsmen a lot of trouble, not just Graeme, but having two left-armers does give us an advantage.”Watson also played his part with the ball but it was his swashbuckling 52 that took the game away from South Africa. After a lean run in the Champions League, Watson felt he was due some runs. “I had been feeling good in the nets so I knew I was not far away,” he said. He was dropped on 2, by Smith in at first slip, and admitted that he needed a bit of luck but was pleased to capitalise on it.South Africa didn’t help themselves by the lapses in the field and had been put on the back foot early when Smith fell in the first over and Amla was run out coming back for a third. Colin Ingram and JP Duminy put them back on track with a third-wicket partnership of 58 and although it didn’t prove to be matchwinning stand, Amla said it was one of the biggest positives of their defeat.”That’s what the selectors were hoping for, that the young batsmen would perform,” he said. “JP’s innings was a serious highlight for us. Some of his shots were unbelievable.”With the pair at the crease, South Africa looked on track to reach an above-par total but White said he never felt as though the score was getting beyond his control. “I didn’t think it was drifting away from us,” he said. “They always had to push on towards the back end and then we got a breakthrough and were really able to restrict them. The run rate was always around six.”While White said winning was a good start he added “it will be better to win the next one.” Amla, meanwhile, was looking for aspects he can build on as South Africa attempt to level the series in Johannesburg. “In the batting department, we should look to score a bit more so that it gives the guys at the bottom a little more leeway,” he said. “And, in the field we did show signs of not being at 100%.”

Reactions from former players and officials on the sentences after the spot-fixing trial

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2011
Michael Vaughan: “More can be done to try and catch more than just the three we’ve seen in court”•Getty Images

For me, there’s still a lot of questions to be answered because they weren’t exposed by any of the cricketing members; they were exposed by the . I still think the ICC could be doing a lot more than they are doing. Unfortunately, the anti-corruption unit is a pretty toothless tiger. They can’t get into the real depth of it all because they haven’t got the resources available to them. I don’t hold it against them; they’re doing the best job they possibly can. They can’t do sting operations like the , they can’t infiltrate these betting networks. They’ve tried their best.
After this case we can say that we are doing something about it and we don’t tolerate any sort of fixing, be it spot or match-fixing, or cheating. From now on, it is a very good deterrent to players, administrators and people who watch the game and try to manipulate it. I would hate to think that I’ve played in any game that we have won because it was fixed. I would rather hope that we won because we had played better.
This is a sad day for Pakistan cricket, a sad day for the cricketers and their families. I can just imagine what the families are going through. In a society where crime pays… Where this sort of thing goes on, an impressionable young man would have got swayed by it. A message has to go that crime does not pay. I feel sad for the cricketers but I feel that you have to punish crime, so that it becomes a punishment for aspirants of the corruption of cricket that crime does not play.
The real possibility of spending time in prison is a further compelling argument for players to distance themselves from those who seek to profit illegally from the game
I hope it sends a shockwave through the game and I’m delighted with the way it’s been handled. I still believe there are more out there and more can be done to try and catch more than just the three we’ve seen in court over the last few weeks.
The sentences could have been harsher. What saddens me is that the ICC didn’t take a stronger line when they had a chance. When they found these players guilty with their own investigation earlier in the year, they were only banned for five years. I don’t understand that kind of logic. If you get caught doing anything like this you should be banned for life and the ICC should get a wake-up call themselves and be more pro-active in rooting out the problem because it won’t go away without pro-active measures. Players are susceptible when they are young to being lured into this kind of thing so [the ICC] has to get the message through when young.
Absolutely the decision is a hard one for the families of the three cricketers. Justice has been done and you’ve got to get rid of the corrupt elements from the game. The verdict will act as a great deterrent for future aspirants. These big fishes need to be taken to task.
We’ve played quite a bit of cricket against them throughout the last two or three years as well, with Test series in Australia as well as over in England and some one-day series as well. I definitely didn’t suspect anything of what’s come out over the last year or so. Whether it’s jail, whether it’s a life sentence, there’s no doubt the punishments are very severe for doing the wrong thing.

A round-up of the action from the first day of the fifth round of matches from the Ranji Trophy Elite League 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2011

Group B

Sixteen wickets fell on the first day at the Emerald High School Ground in Indore, as Group B toppers Delhi folded for 158 before striking back to reduce Madhya Pradesh to 86 for 6 at the close. Fourteen wickets went to the fast bowlers, who made optimal use of a pitch that had a thin covering of grass. MP’s new-ball pair of TP Sudhindra and Amit Sharma bowled unchanged on either side of lunch, taking seven wickets between them. Only two Delhi batsmen were able to go past 30. Opener Unmukt Chand lived dangerously during his 37. The MP openers began strongly with Naman Ojha, who made 39 from 35 balls, going after the bowling. The pair put on 61 but their dismissals in successive overs sparked a dramatic collapse and six wickets fell for 25 runs. MP are currently third in the table with eight points, two behind Delhi, but have a game in hand.Baroda limped to 194 for 7 on the first day of their match against Gujarat at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Baroda, who were asked to bat, made a steady start, with the openers adding 60 before Anupam Gupta fell for 28, but they were unable to build that partnership. Wickets fell at regular intervals and only Rakesh Solanki, who had a century against Delhi in the previous round, offered resistance with a composed 69, the highest score on the day. Baroda, who are second in Group B, were missing Irfan Pathan, who was included in the India squad for the last two ODIs against West Indies. They need a good result to have a chance of making the quarter-finals. Gujarat are currently second from bottom in the points table, but have a game in hand over Baroda and are only one point behind.K Vasudevadas and Ramaswamy Prasanna added 121 runs to lift Tamil Nadu from 120 for 5 to 261 for 5 against Bengal at Eden Gardens. The pair came together after the fall of India batsman Abhinav Mukund, who had kept one end up during a brisk 83 with 13 fours. Abhinav, who scored a double-century against Haryana and 99 against Delhi, did not let the early fall of the Tamil Nadu top order deter him. In contrast to Mukund, Vasudevadas and Prasanna batted with caution. They settled down soon after some sloppy fielding from Bengal, who missed out on some easy catches. Vasudevadas took 140 balls to make 69, but struck 10 fours and a six. Prasanna was more circumspect, facing 159 balls for 53, but also managed nine fours. “We were definitely struggling after being reduced to 140 for 5. But the partnership between K Vasudevadas and R Prasanna has now given us an upper hand. We can now look to score around 350-400 runs. It will then depend on our bowlers to pitch it right against the Bengal batsman, if we hope to bag some points,” Mukund told .

Group A

Centuries from Ravi Inder Singh and Karan Goel put Punjab in a strong position against Rajasthan at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Rajasthan, the defending champions, have struggled to bowl sides out in the Elite league this season and it was no different today. After Sarul Kanwar fell early, Ravi Inder and Goel set about the bowling, compiling a 219-run partnership to shift the momentum entirely Punjab’s way. Ravi Inder was eventually caught behind of Sumit Mathur for 133, and Deepak Chahar, who has not been able to replicate the form of his debut season, caught and bowled Mandeep Singh for 22 to give Rajasthan some joy at the end of a long day. Goel will return tomorrow on 116 and Punjab on 283 for 3.Rajasthan captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar did not blame his bowlers entirely, but admitted the hosts could have build more pressure early on. “Had we picked up two more wickets, we could have put more pressure on the visitors,” Kanitkar told . “Both [Pankaj Singh and Chahar] of them bowled more than 20 overs each. There is a limit to one’s capacity to bowl. That’s why I had to introduce part-time bowlers like Vinit Saxena and Robin Bist.”Orissa held the advantage over Karnataka after the first day at the East Coast Railway Sports Association in Bhubaneshwar. Karnataka are in second place in Group A, while Orissa are last, but, on a tricky pitch which offered uneven bounce, their bowlers were able to reduce the visitors to 238 for 6. Alok Mangaraj, playing his third first-class game, removed three of the top four batsmen. At 130 for 5, Karnataka were at risk of being bowled out on the first day, but M Gautam and Amit Verma added 85 for the sixth wicket. Gautam was unbeaten on 63 and will return tomorrow with Sunil Raju.Nitin Bille scored his maiden century and Shivakant Shukla fell short of his own by two runs, but four late wickets meant Uttar Pradesh shared the day’s honour’s with Railways at the Mohan Meakins Cricket Stadium in Ghaziabad. Former India spinner Murali Kartik opened the innings with Shukla, and contributed 27 to their partnership of 31. His dismissal brought Bille to the crease and he and Shukla set about accumulating runs. Having batted for over five hours and faced 203 balls, Shukla was caught off India legspinner Piyush Chawla for 98. Chawla then dismissed Sanjay Bangar in the same over for a duck. UP took two more wickets, including that of Bille for 123, to claw their way back into the game.

Virat Kohli has been fined 50% of his match fee after he was seen gesturing to the crowd with his middle finger on the second day

Sidharth Monga at the SCG05-Jan-2012Virat Kohli has been fined 50% of his match fee after he was seen gesturing to the crowd with his middle finger on the second day. The level two charge was laid by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle on the third morning of the SCG Test.Kohli went to the hearing along with manager Shivlal Yadav. He pleaded guilty, India’s media manager GS Walia, said. Walia added that the matter was closed as far as the Indian team was concerned.India had a long second day in the field, with Australia piling up 366 runs for the loss of one wicket. When Kohli was posted on the boundary, he said he had heard abuse worse than he ever had in his life. He posted on Twitter, “i agree cricketers dont have to retaliate. what when the crowd says the worst things about your mother and sister. the worst ive heard”Kohli found a sympathiser in Kevin Pietersen, who replied to his tweet thus: “ha ha ha ha ha!!! Welcome to Australia buddy!!” To which Kohli replied: “never heard crap like that. EVER”Pietersen went on to tell Kohli that the Australian crowds are such that they abuse even their own when they start losing. Kohli began the third day on a more positive Twitter note that said, “New day new beginning! :)”According to a Cricket Australia spokesperson, since CA has kept keeping such records, the second day of this Test was the first time no spectator was evicted during a Test in Australia. There have been no formal complaints about crowd behaviour.