All posts by csb10.top

Glenn McGrath used to do this when coming back from injury. He’d look awful enough for the obituaries of an outstanding career to begin. Brett Lee has learned a lot from his team-mate, who spoke to the side as he passed through Worcester this week, and copied his effectiveness by taking 5 for 53 against the England Lions.Not only did he prove he wasn’t headed for the fast-bowling knackery after his fifth ankle operation last January, he demonstrated perfectly how to deliver searing reverse-swing in preparation for what the Australians expect will be similar conditions in Cardiff. “Without giving too much away, the plan was to scuff the ball up as quickly as possible when the ball goes flat in the middle overs,” Lee said.”In a meeting before the game we tried to work out ways that we would bowl effectively in Cardiff, with the ball being scuffed up on that type of wicket. It took about four or five overs to get it going and they threw me the ball. That’s when I feel at my deadliest.”The spell of sustained late movement, which included being on a hat-trick after he bowled Joe Denly and had Ian Bell lbw, reminded Lee’s team-mates of his performance in Antigua last year when he took 5 for 59. “When the ball is tailing in, it’s pretty hard to get the ball out of my hand,” Lee said. “You always feel like you’re in the game as a fast bowler. It did take me back to playing against West Indies, so it was fun times.”While Lee was limping through his recovery from surgery he was being overtaken by Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle in the team rankings. For a bowler with 310 wickets it was a worrying feeling and entering the final tour match before the Ashes his spot was not sealed. It is now. “I haven’t trained for 25 weeks to sit on the sidelines,” he said.Now he sees himself as a bowler with two roles. “My job is to try to get early wickets and then to come back with the older ball,” he said.Dennis Lillee had to slow his pace late in his career to extend his playing days, focussing on swing, seam and guile. As Lee walked back to his mark in the third session he swished sweat from his forehead with a finger, just like Lillee did, but he achieved this success without reducing his speed.”The key ingredient really is for him to bowl at 93mph,” Stephen Moore said after his 120 held up the Australians and took his side to 302 for 6 at stumps on the second day. “Even Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark, bowling in the late 80s, weren’t getting it to drift in as much as that. Having chatted to some guys who know their stuff, it seems the extra three miles per hour makes a lot of difference.”Moore knows he is well back in England’s plans but was pleased to have registered a solid century against elite opponents. “There are some very good guys there keen and raring to go [above me],” he said. “I’ve got full faith in those guys, but you never know what happens. If anything untoward happens I’m going to make sure I’m there and ready.”

Match facts

Saturday, June 6, 2009
Start time 10.00 (09.00 GMT)Daniel Vettori: “We do not want to be the team who slips up against an Associate team”•AFP

Big Picture

The sides have been playing warm-up matches for the past week and realistically this should be little more than another training run for New Zealand. Scotland have never beaten a Test-playing nation in either an ODI or a Twenty20 international and that is unlikely to change at this tournament, if their recent form is any indication.They nearly lost their ODI status in the World Cup Qualifiers, failed to beat Netherlands in a warm-up and then lost one of their most experienced fast men, John Blain, after he had a serious argument with the captain Gavin Hamilton. The only positive was a competitive, though ultimately fruitless, showing in their practice match against England.For New Zealand the result should be a formality. They have a strong batting line-up based around Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor, and have a good chance of featuring in the final stages of the tournament. However, their coach Andy Moles is wary and said the Scotland game could be “a potential banana-skin”.

Form guide (last five Twenty20s, most recent first)

New Zealand WWLWT
Scotland WLWLN

Watch out for

Brendon McCullum launched last year’s IPL with a spectacular 158 not out and against a relatively weak attack he could light up the opening stages of this event. His IPL form this year was patchy with flashes of his best and the other teams won’t thank Scotland if they bowl him back into touch.Comfortably Scotland’s best batsman, Gavin Hamilton has taken over the captaincy and will be keen to lead by example. Much of Scotland’s fate will rest on how he performs at the top of the order.

Team news

New Zealand will be without Kyle Mills after he was ruled out due to a back injury, although he was responding well to treatment. “His condition will be monitored over the next few days before a decision is made on whether he plays in the game against South Africa on Tuesday,” the coach Andy Moles said. Ryder was battling a niggling groin injury in the lead-up but he is expected to play.New Zealand squad Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan, Kyle Mills, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.Scotland squad Gavin Hamilton (capt), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Kyle Coetzer, Gordon Drummond, Majid Haq, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith (wk), Jan Stander, Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts, Craig Wright.

Pitch and conditions

Daniel Vettori should enjoy a surface expected to suit the slow bowlers. There could be light rain in London on Saturday with a forecast top of 17C.

Stats and Trivia

• Scotland have never beaten a Test-playing nation in an ODI or Twenty20 international
• They have never met New Zealand in a Twenty20 and the two ODIs between the sides resulted in enormously one-sided wins to New Zealand
• Scotland is the home of the “Mac” surname but they are outnumbered by New Zealand – McCallum and MacLeod compared to McCullum, McCullum and McGlashan

Quotes

“It is probably the most nerve-racking game we can have first up. We do not want to be the team who slips up against an Associate team. We have seen it happen at World Cups in the past.”
“We wanted to play decent cricket but we were miles off the mark.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outDeccan Chargers lost their way after Herschelle Gibbs was dismissed for 58•AFP

The Kingsmead crowd was witness to a hard-fought contest between two evenly-matched teams and, after several twists and turns, Deccan Chargers, winners of last year’s wooden spoon, clinched a tense battle against Mumbai Indians. Deccan overcame several setbacks – a middle-order collapse, an assault from Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy, and a spirited push towards the target from Mumbai’s tail – to secure their third straight victory of the tournament.Deccan’s success was set up by valuable contributions from their overseas players, whose failure to fire in unison was a large part of their disappointment last season, and a terrific spell from left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.Herschelle Gibbs, who top-scored with 58, Adam Gilchrist and Dwayne Smith provided a high-octane start, one which ensured that Deccan achieved with a defendable target despite an extremely poor finish to the innings. Mumbai, though, were well on course to victory, needing only 85 runs off the last ten overs with nine wickets in hand, before Ojha struck thrice in successive overs to derail the chase. Fidel Edwards, who had bowled a fiery first spell, returned to bowl a crucial penultimate over, conceding only four runs, which left Mumbai with too many to get in the last.The turning point of the game came in the first over after the tactical time-out in Mumbai’s chase. Tendulkar and Duminy had flipped into attack mode after a slow start and plundered 72 runs off the preceding seven overs before the break to put Mumbai on top. However Tendulkar, who had expressed his reservations about the seven-and-a-half minute interruption, mis-hit an inside-out shot off Ojha straight to Gibbs in the 11th over and gave Deccan an opening. Ojha widened that opening in his next two overs. He bowled Shikhar Dhawan as he swung across the line and had Duminy caught at deep midwicket by Smith, who covered lots of ground to take a well-judged catch on the run.Mumbai had slipped from 86 for 1 to 92 for 4 but they weren’t giving up. In Abhishek Nayar and Dwayne Bravo, they had two clean strikers and both made crisp starts before they were dismissed by Edwards, effectively ending Mumbai’s challenge.Deccan needed their bowlers’ to raise their performance because their batsmen had fallen several runs short of the total that was in sight when Gilchrist and Gibbs got going. Gilchrist took four balls to get his eye in against Lasith Malinga before lofting the fast bowler over the long-on boundary. He hit two more sixes, one an outside edge over third-man off Zaheer Khan and the other a thunderous hit over deep midwicket off Bravo. Gibbs showed good touch by charging Zaheer and clubbing him past mid-off. He allowed Gilchrist to take the risks and after the left-hander was caught behind off Bravo for 35 off 20 balls, Deccan sent Smith in at No. 3 to keep the momentum going.Deccan were 88 for 1 after 10 overs and the acceleration came two overs later when Dhawal Kulkarni was introduced into the attack. Gibbs smashed him for six over square leg and sliced him behind point while Smith launched him over midwicket to take 18 runs of the over. Jayasuriya, however, made the vital breakthrough, dismissing Smith for 35 off 22 balls, and began Mumbai’s fightback.Mumbai’s experienced bowling attack seized the opportunity – Malinga picked up 3 for 19 with searing yorkers – and ensured that Deccan managed only 43 runs off the last seven overs for the loss of seven wickets. However, Deccan had already given their bowlers a target which they were able to defend.

Wayne Parnell, the left-arm fast bowler, has become the youngest player to be handed a national contract by Cricket South Africa (CSA). Parnell led the Under-19 team to the final of the World Cup in Malaysia last year and was fast-tracked to the national team during the one-day portion of the tour of Australia this season.Parnell is the 17th player to be handed a central contract – which runs till April 30, 2010 – by the board. Fellow left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe was also contracted when CSA announced its list of 16 players last month.”Wayne has come through the CSA structures since he played Bakers Mini Cricket as a 10-year-old, and has always shown that he is capable of converting his considerable talent into results,” Gerald Majola, CSA’s chief executive, said. “He has continued to impress since being included in the Proteas’ ranks this season. His fast left-arm swing bowling, very useful lower-order batting and excellent temperament will make him a Proteas’ asset for years to come.”Parnell has played one ODI and two Twenty20 internationals for South Africa. In five SuperSport Series matches for the Warriors this season he has taken ten wickets. He said he was delighted with his rapid rise.”I was still at school 15 months ago and, although I have always had ambitions of playing for South Africa somewhere down the line, I never imagined that it could happen so quickly,” Parnell said. “I am deeply indebted to Ashwell Prince and Robbie [Robin] Peterson for the help they have given me at the Warriors to get my professional career off to a sound start. Since I have been part of the Proteas squad, Vinnie Barnes has also helped me a lot with my bowling.”

Brett Lee is on target for a quick return from injury after being fast-tracked into Australia’s one-day squad for the series against Pakistan later this month. Lee had an ankle and foot operation in January and initially eyed a comeback through the Indian Premier League, but his plans changed when he convinced the selectors and support staff of his improving health.Andrew Symonds is also part of the squad for the engagements in the UAE following his Cricket Australia clearance for a string of off-field issues. Shane Watson, who is recovering from back stress fractures, is in the 14-man outfit that will be led by Michael Clarke. Ricky Ponting will rest ahead of the World Twenty20 and the Ashes along with Mitchell Johnson and Michael Hussey.The appearances of Lee and Shaun Marsh (hamstring) are subject to fitness while Watson has been called as a specialist batsman, although he may take the ball later in the tour. “Brett’s return to bowling at full pace will be monitored carefully and will be reviewed closer to the date of the commencement of the tour,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. “He’ll need to get cricket under his belt and we’ll need to look at how we do that, but at the moment it’s step-by-step. He’s got to get back to bowling full pace before we can make any decisions.”An extra player was chosen to support Lee, with Nathan Bracken, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brett Geeves and Ben Laughlin rounding out the pace attack. Peter Siddle has been left out but remains in Hilditch’s plans for the major series in England, starting with the World Twenty20 in June. “He is seen as a potentially key member of our squad for our defence of the Ashes,” Hilditch said.Symonds and Lee last played for Australia in the Boxing Day Test before heading for surgery. Lee, who flew to South Africa this week in a bid to train with the one-day team, struggled through the international summer before a stress fracture in his foot flared in Melbourne. He was also found to have a problem in his ankle and both issues were fixed during surgery.”Whether he’s passed fit or not is outside my hands,” Hilditch told AAP. “But he’s got a fair bit to go, basically I think he’s bowling at 80% at the moment, so he’s going to have to be bowling at full pace, off a full run pretty shortly. It’s going to be touch and go but if we can get him around the squad sooner rather than later he’ll be better off.”In eight Tests in 2008-09 Lee managed 21 wickets at 47.80 and also battled for fitness following a bout of giardia during the trip to India. He has not played a limited-overs match since the tour to the West Indies last July and his selection means his time with the Kings XI Punjab will be limited to two weeks at the most.Symonds had a minor knee complaint and was back for Queensland in January, but he was suspended from the South Africa tour due to behavioural problems. Despite showing no batting form, he was picked last week in the 30-man preliminary outfit for the World Twenty20 and his heavy hitting and useful bowling have kept him in Australia’s thoughts.”At his best Andrew is a dynamic one-day player with an outstanding record for Australia,” Hilditch said. “It will now be up to him to seize this opportunity.”Australia squad Michael Clarke (capt), Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Bracken, Callum Ferguson, Brett Geeves, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, James Hopes, David Hussey, Ben Laughlin, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Queensland 8 for 257 (Watson 114*, Hastings 3-37) v Victoria
Scorecard
Points table

Shane Watson returned to form at the perfect time for Queensland to steer them away from danger with an unbeaten 114 at the MCG. The Bulls face a nervous few days as they try to stay ahead of Tasmania to earn a spot in next week’s final in Melbourne, but Watson eased their early fears after they tripped to 7 for 106.By stumps they were a much more comfortable 8 for 257 as Watson dragged the lower order with him. Watson, who lasted three balls on his return from back stress fractures last week, showed his freedom during a 142-ball display that included 16 fours. On a day when everyone else struggled, Watson operated with ease against Victoria’s impressive but second-string bowling attack.The Bushrangers are missing the injured Shane Harwood, Dirk Nannes and Clint McKay and are hopeful of having them back for the decider. However, all three of their replacements made important contributions as Queensland lost 7 for 55 before Watson took control.Martin Love, who was promoted to open in what could be his last game before retirement, and Ryan Broad added a confident 51 for the first wicket after rain washed out the first session. Things quickly started to go wrong for the visitors when John Hastings bowled Love for 23. Broad (30) and Lee Carseldine (21) also made starts before slipping and Victoria’s high point came with three wickets in two overs before tea.Andrew Symonds (13), Chris Hartley (0) and James Hopes (0) went on the eve of the break and Chris Simpson followed without scoring shortly after it. Darren Pattinson and Steven Gilmour earned two wickets each while Hastings finished with 3 for 37. Victoria lead the competition by 14 points and are aiming for an undefeated season.

Queensland 3 for 152 trail South Australia 6 for 489 dec (Cosgrove 133, Harris 117, Manou 108) by 337 runs
Scorecard
Points table

South Australia held the upper hand against an ailing Queensland as the visitors finished the second day 337 behind. The Redbacks batted into the second session of the second day, hurting the under-manned attack until Graham Manou decided his team had enough and declared at 6 for 489.Manou had already collected 108 after Mark Cosgrove added 30 in the morning before falling for 133. Aaron O’Brien (38) and Cullen Bailey (26) had combined for 43 when Manou called them in. Chris Simpson, the offspinner, delivered 45 overs and returned 2 for 145 but Daniel Doran was entrusted with only 13 overs.Queensland were missing Ryan Harris (foot) and Andrew Symonds (knee) and their problems became even more severe when the opener Nick Kruger chipped to mid-off and the legspinner Cullen Bailey, in his first game of the season, had Martin Love lbw. Half-centuries to Ryan Broad and Lee Carseldine lifted them from 2 for 44, but Carseldine became Peter George’s second wicket and they were 3 for 152 at stumps.Symonds did not spend any time in the field during South Australia’s innings and will bat at No. 7. After the game he will go to Melbourne where his right knee will be reassessed by his surgeon and Australia’s team doctor.

The IPL’s month long trading window, which began on December 22, expired on Thursday with two trades having taken place. It’s an indication that, in a recession-hit world, franchises have decided to wait until the auction on February 6 – where the players up for grabs could include Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff and Michael Clarke – to make their purchases.The only swaps were between Shikhar Dhawan of Delhi Daredevils and Ashish Nehra of Mumbai, and between Robin Uthappa of Mumbai Indians and Zaheer Khan of Bangalore Royal Challengers, though a few junior players were signed on by the franchises (see sidebar).There were five ways through which a franchise could buy a player: in the auction, through actual trading, signing uncapped players, buying domestic players, and buying replacement players (those who joined a franchise to fill another player’s absence). There was also no limit on spending during the trading window, unlike next month’s auction which has a US$2 million cap. However, times have changed since 2008 – and, as franchise officials pointed out, the process was unfamiliar to most dealing with it.IPL officials, though, appeared pleased with the activity. “What finally ends up in a trade is not necessarily the be-all and end-all of trading,” an IPL source said. “There has been a significant amount of active discussions that took place and multiple strategies were worked out.” The biggest positive, according to him, was the seriousness with which squads have been looked at, and the strategies followed, keeping in mind the nature, integrity and composition of the team, were of the highest order.Franchise officials agreed with that assessment, pointing out that the teams’ focus was more on individual needs, and on specific players. “There is a lot that has happened under the surface, there were a lot of serious discussions,” Joy Bhattacharjya, the team director of the Kolkata Knight Riders, said. There were only two trades, he said, because people were still trying to understand how it would benefit their teams. “For instance no franchise is willing to go to the market and say that I’m trading because I want to make more money,” he said.Amrit Mathur, Delhi’s chief operating officer, agreed the trading was governed by team needs and not money. “[In the] rest of the world, trading is governed by economics whereas here in IPL it is more about team building.”. He did not expect too much movement because each team was clearly regarding what it wanted in terms of team composition. “The need was only to fill certain gaps, so you were targeting a specific type of player,” Mathur said. “The two options were either to do it through trade or wait for the auction.””There were blockbuster trades that got cancelled,” Bhattacharjya said. Kings XI Punjab officials are believed to have discussed getting Harbhajan Singh ($850,000) for Ramesh Powar ($170,000) from Mumbai but were put off by the price. Bangalore Royal Challengers put Dale Steyn on sale initially but withdrew him after he helped South Africa to their first-ever Test series triumph in Australia. Mumbai wanted Rohit Sharma from Deccan Chargers but the price tag of US$750,000 was too high.One popular route of buying new players was signing contracts with uncapped players such as New South Wales batsman David Warner, who joined Delhi Daredevils even before he shot to fame by scoring 89 off 43 balls in a Twenty20 against South Africa. The other signings included Ryan Harris (Queensland allrounder) for Deccan Chargers, Moises Henriques (NSW allrounder) for Kolkata, and Graham Napier (Essex batsman) for Mumbai.Some youngsters on the domestic circuit have also been signed. Deccan snapped up Hyderabad batsman T Suman along with Himachal Pradesh wicketkeeper Manvinder Bisla, while Rajasthan Royals have signed Raiphi Vincent Gomez, a hard-hitting Kerala batsman.Franchises were also unable to sell their Pakistan players because of the lack of buyers following the breakdown in relations between the two countries after the terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. There were no takers for Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi, two popular names in the subcontinent. Bhattacharjya admitted Kolkata’s only option was to buy back Shoaib, who was a replacement player last year, and take the “hit” in the period he is with them.However, Bhattacharjya said the repurchase of two of last year’s replacement players – Ajantha Mendis and Brad Hodge – had “immediately improved the quality of the team drastically”.

Kenya and Zimbabwe are putting the finishing touches to an agreement to stage a five-ODI series in Kenya in late January, with the Zimbabwe squad diverting there in their way home from Bangladesh.The Zimbabweans are due to arrive on January 25 with the first of two ODIs in Mombasa three days later. The teams then head to Nairobi for three more matches before Zimbabwe head back to Harare on February 5.The visit will ensure that Kenya compete their obligation to broadcaster Nimbus to stage a home series featuring a Full Member country in each calendar year.

Jason Dawes, a 20-year-old fast bowler who represented West Indies Under-19s, has been included in Jamaica’s squad for their opening fixture of the season.Dawes and Horace Miller, who was in the West Indies team for the Under-19 World Cup last year, are the only uncapped members of the squad. Jamaica, the title holders, begin their campaign on January 9 against Leeward Islands.The squad doesn’t include Jamaica’s West Indies players currently on tour in New Zealand, but Wavell Hinds returns after he cut short his season last year to play for Derbyshire. Jamaica have yet to announce a captain, but Tamar Lambert is widely expected to be named.Carib Beer announced in December that they had discontinued sponsorship of West Indies’ first-class competition because the “opportunities provided by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) did not fit” with their priorities at the moment. Despite this financial setback, however, the lack of a sponsor might work in West Indies’ favour: for the first time in 40 years of regional cricket, teams will play 12 matches – the most in history.Jamaica squad Donovan Pagon, Brenton Parchment, Wavell Hinds, Danza Hyatt, Horace Miller, Tamar Lambert, David Bernard, Keith Hibbert, Lorenzo Ingram, Odean Brown, Gavin Wallace, Andre Russell, Jason Dawes, Andrew Richardson