All posts by csb10.top

Jason Gillespie says he was “not totally shocked” by Shaun Tait’s decision to take a break from cricket but he is certain Tait has not walked away for good. Gillespie said he had spotted several signs that Tait was struggling to handle the physical stress from his unusual bowling action.”Being a fast bowler and a pretty good mate, you pick up little things, and I could tell he was hurting for a while,” Gillespie told the . “Seeing his warm-ups, seeing him getting strapped and preparing for games, even walking back to his mark, there were some little signs there.”This has stemmed from physical pain. He has had trouble getting past some ailments and mentally that has got on top of him a bit. What he has done is a really brave thing. He could have kept going through the motions but that would not have helped anyone.”Gillespie said Tait had given indications during South Australia’s one-day game in Traralgon on Sunday, following his Test return in Perth, that he was not enjoying his cricket. “I knew things were bugging him a bit,” Gillespie said. “There were a couple of comments in the huddle or at drinks breaks that made my ears prick up. I certainly didn’t expect him to give the game away, but I wasn’t totally shocked, either.”I can absolutely guarantee he will be back. He is 24, he went from playing cricket in the hills to playing professional cricket very quickly. It takes some time for your body and mind to adjust to that. It has got on top of him, but I am very confident he will be back. I have had a couple of messages from him saying ‘I’ll be fine’ and he will be. He just needs to take a bit of time away.”Another of Tait’s South Australia colleagues, the now-retired Darren Lehmann, who is also the Australian Cricketers’ Association president, said Australia needed to be aware of the pressures on young cricketers. “We have to make sure we have mechanisms to ensure these young cricketers develop as people and not succumb to a vicious circle of homesickness,” Lehmann said in the . “It is great representing your country but behind the glamour there are the empty times and heartache of missing friends and family at home.”

Mike Procter, the match referee, has delayed Harbhajan Singh’s code-of-conduct hearing, originally scheduled for Saturday, until after the conclusion of the ongoing Test in Sydney on Sunday. Harbhajan was charged with a level-three offence under the ICC Code of Conduct following his on-field altercation with Andrew Symonds on day three of the second Test.”At the request of the India team manager and under the circumstances I have exercised my discretionary powers to postpone the code-of-conduct hearing until the conclusion of this Test match,” Procter said. “I am satisfied that with a further 24 hours India will have time to sufficiently prepare for this hearing.”The possibility of lawyers getting involved cannot be ruled out. The charge was laid by match umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor after the close of play after they received a complaint from the Australia captain Ricky Ponting.”They reported to me that there was a breach of conduct, reported to them by Ponting,” Procter said while talking to . “It’s a level three, which is pretty serious. The umpires didn’t hear anything, they didn’t know anything about it. I’m the adjudicator at the hearing, there will be witnesses called. The end result is what I want to achieve. To answer your question, yes lawyers could be involved.”The incident occurred while Harbhajan was batting and Matthew Hayden walked past Harbhajan after his confrontation with Symonds but did not reveal any details of the accusations or the conversation. “We believe we have a very strong case,” Hayden said at the close of the fourth day.”It’s a scenario none of us want to be in, we love the game and we hope we can move forward. Andrew’s a very strong character who had a great, tough upbringing in Charters Towers [in north Queensland] and we all love him and Australia love him.”Meanwhile, the ICC have asked British barrister Nigel Peters QC to advise Procter during the hearing. Talking to PTI, an ICC spokesperson said that Peters, who is also an elected committee member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, had assisted them in the past.If found guilty, Harbhajan could face a ban of between two and four Tests or four and eight one-day internationals. The hearing will take place after the conclusion of play on Sunday.

Steve Harmison has admitted that he was worried he wasn’t Test ready even though he took six wickets for the Lions in South Africa. He said it was only his three wickets in the second innings against the Cobras that made him feel happier and somewhere towards being ready to return to England’s attack for the first time since the summer.’It was like chalk and cheese,” he told of the two innings. “Two different bowlers. ‘Six for kicks’ looks great but it wasn’t very good and I felt I had a huge amount to do before I could consider playing Test cricket in the near future.”My action was all over the oche and that dented my confidence a bit. There was no rhythm or momentum. Not much felt right at all, in fact. Inside I knew that if my bowling didn’t improve and fast I’d be struggling and there just might not be enough time to get things right.”Harmison is playing in South Africa in a bid to get match fit ahead of England’s Test series in Sri Lanka.”Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I love playing for England and I’m desperate to do so as soon as possible. I’m the one who instigated coming out here in the first place because I wanted to give myself the best chance of being fit and ready.’But there is no way I would jeopardise England’s cause or my reputation by pleading with them to pick me if I’m not anywhere near ready to play Test cricket. My thinking was that if the bowling didn’t get better I would tell them I wasn’t ready.”However, he was soon boosted by taking 3 for 46 from 16 overs in the second innings – albeit after a wonky start. “When the first over of the second innings took 10 balls, I thought: “Here we go again”. But after that things just clicked.”He gave credit to England’s bowling coach, Ottis Gibson. “Thanks to the work I had done with Ottis, my wrist position was much better and the ball was coming out straight. After the way I had felt before it was a helluva relief.”

Michael Clarke will give Australia a view of the future when he leads the team in the Twenty20 international against New Zealand on Tuesday. Clarke, who is tipped to be the next Test captain, will step in for Ricky Ponting, who will miss the Perth match to allow the younger players to be on show.Clarke, 26, leap-frogged Adam Gilchrist and Michael Hussey – the move is sure to disappoint the local supporters – and he will be in charge of a squad including Adam Voges, Ashley Noffke and Shaun Tait. Gilchrist remained the vice-captain while Matthew Hayden was not picked.”It’s any young kid’s dream to captain their country, I’m stoked,” Clarke said at the SCG. Thoughts of being the new leader were the last things on Clarke’s mind when he heard the chief selector Andrew Hilditch, nicknamed Digger, wanted to speak to him.”When Digger gives you a call over the phone it’s normally for bad news,” Clarke said. “I thought ‘please tell me I’m not going to get dropped’. It certainly was a shock to me, I was a little bit speechless.”Hilditch said the appointment was made “to enhance the leadership skills of Michael Clarke to assure the long history of strong leadership of Australian cricket is continued into the future”. Hilditch also said the squad marked the start of preparations for the 2009 World Twenty20 in England. “It represents a clear indication that we will at all times be picking Twenty20 sides which will be specific to this form of the game,” he said.Voges, who made his ODI debut in February, came in as reward for his strong domestic form – he struck 180 in the current match in Hobart – while Noffke deserved his call after taking 24 Pura Cup wickets and scoring 490 runs. There was no spot for Ben Hilfenhaus, the out-of-form Tasmanian, but Tait was given a chance to continue his rehabilitation from a serious elbow problem.Clarke’s maturity since returning to the Test arena in 2006 impressed those around the team and he was Hussey’s deputy during last season’s Chappell-Hadlee Series until withdrawing with a hip injury. John Buchanan, the former coach, believes Clarke will be Australia’s next Test leader, Ponting has said he was the “obvious choice” and there were even predictions before his debut that he would captain his country.”This is a great opportunity, but there is no doubt Ricky is our leader and will be for a lot longer yet, but I’m certainly proud and honoured to be given this opportunity,” Clarke said. “For me it’s about trying to grab it with both hands and really enjoying every minute of it. I’ve spent a lot of time standing beside Ricky throughout my short career for Australia so I think I’ve learned a lot.”Clarke said he had consulted Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ian Chappell since coming into the Australian team. “Any young player would be silly not to.” Next Tuesday it will be him giving the instructions.Australia squad Adam Gilchrist (wk), Brad Hodge, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Adam Voges, Brett Lee, Ashley Noffke, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait.

Gloucestershire Gladiators v Somerset SabresThe floodlit West Country National League showdown at Bristol ended in frustration and disappointment for both teams and a 6,000 crowd.An exciting finish looked in prospect when Somerset posted a useful 223 all out off exactly 45 overs after winning the toss.But before Gloucestershire could start their reply the steady drizzle turned into heavier rain and the skies closed in. With the outfield saturated, umpires Barry Dudleston and Trevor Jesty abandoned the match at just after 9pm.The two points for each side were enough to take Somerset to the top of the First Division on run-rate, with Worcestershire and Gloucestershire also locked on 26 points.But both teams wanted victory to boost their title hopes and Worcestershire now have a game in hand in which to regain top spot.Somerset were marginal favourites when the rain came, although an even bigger score looked likely when Marcus Trescothick and Mark Lathwell put on 80 effortless runs in 16 overs for the first wicket.Lathwell was finally trapped lbw by Gloucestershire captain Mark Alleyne for 37, having shown glimpses of top form.Ian Blackwell’s promotion in the order backfired when he was caught behind off the next ball. But Trescothick displayed the new-found confidence of his England success with a flowing half-century.The powerful left-hander was proving difficult to contain when his wicket was sacrificed in one of three run-outs, which restricted the Somerset total.Calling for a second run to Jeremy Snape running in from the mid-wicket boundary, Trescothick was sent back by skipper Jamie Cox and beaten by a throw to the bowler’s end.When Cox himself was also run-out for 26, attempting a quick leg-bye off Tim Hancock, which was rightly rejected by Peter Bowler, Somerset were 134-4 and had surrendered the initiative.Wickets fell steadily as Alleyne defied a back problem to take 3-36 from his nine overs and it took a patient and sensible innings of 47 from Keith Parsons to ensure a testing target.After a slow start, Parsons blossomed and was aided by an unusually loose finalover from Mike Smith, who was clearly having difficulty in gripping the ball as the drizzle increased.Two no-ball beamers slipped from his grasp, one of which was dispatched for four by Parsons, who then lifted a lower full-toss over mid-wicket for the only six of the innings.He was out to the last ball, caught by Hancock on the square-leg boundary. But by then the over was worth 19 and Somerset had a total they felt confident of defending.Gloucestershire’s fielding was below its normal high standard and two chances went begging, both to the normally safe hands of Martyn Ball, including one off his own bowling.But the pitch was true and easy-paced, indicating that a close contest might have been in prospect had the weather not intervened.

After being ruled out for the entire season with a shoulder injury, Paul Collingwood has been passed fit to play for Durham in their Frizzell County Championship match against Hampshire, starting at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday.Collingwood played a key role for England during the World Cup and had been in line to make his Test debut this summer. But he suffered a dislocated right shoulder on April 16, while playing in a pre-season friendly against Lancashire. It had been feared that he would be ruled out for the entire season, but has made an impressive recovery.Collingwood, 27, has scored 874 runs at 32.37 in 38 ODIs for England, including one century against Sri Lanka. He has also taken 16 wickets with his medium-pacers, with best figures of 4 for 38 against New Zealand at Napier in 2001-02.

David Collier, the ECB chief executive, has said it will be very hard for England’s top players to take part in future Indian Premier League (IPL) tournaments because of the international schedule. He added that the ECB was preparing to adapt their domestic Twenty20 Cup to attract more leading players and offer an alternative to the IPL.”It is a question of finding periods of the year for this [the IPL] to take place,” he told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek show. “We are one of the few countries who play in June, that is why our competitions are so successful because we can attract the best players in the world. That is why we believe that an English Premier League will be very successful including a broad range of cricketers.”An expanded Twenty20 Cup is on the agenda of the ECB meeting this week and changes could take place as early as this season’s tournament in June. An increase in overseas players is one option on the table with more drastic changes being discussed for the 2009 event.Recently, Kevin Pietersen has said that frustration is growing that England players are unable to take advantage of the money on offer. Dimitri Mascarenhas is the only representative from England, have coming to a deal with Hampshire who will release him for two weeks.There has been talk of the IPL being brought forward so it doesn’t clash with the start of the English domestic season, but there isn’t much room in a congested calendar. “The obvious time for the IPL to play is April and May, but that clashes with the start of our international season,” said Collier.”We play New Zealand on May 15 in England, for our players to take part their schedule has to come forward a few weeks to fit into that calendar. We should also not forget that we go to the West Indies in the spring of next year. The IPL has said that the tours programmes will take precedence, and clearly that will clash with us being in the West Indies.”Collier also said that it will take time to find out how commercially successful the IPL will be and that it will have to operate at a loss for some time. “Certainly if you look over a five-to-10-year period, we can believe the claims that Indian cricket is worth a billion dollars,” he said. “But there are 10 franchises, and every one has a turnover of about eight million dollars, it is being said in India that those franchises will be making a loss for a number of years.”That is not unusual, in the US when franchises start, they make losses for a number of years. But if you are investing in such numbers, you expect a return in the not-too-distant future, and that will happen in India. But it will not be for a while.”

Australia held their nerve to win a humdinger against New Zealand in the TVS Cup. A crucial factor in this was the 70 runs Michael Clarke made. He scored quickly and did not allow the bowlers to dominate. He was especially good against Daniel Vettori, usually New Zealand’s best bowler in the subcontinent. A key factor was his footwork. To every ball, he moved his feet early and well. He looked to come onto the front foot as much as possible and was even happy to dance down the wicket and drive. No wonder then, that he took 20 runs off Vettori coming down the wicket.

Another big performer on the day was Jacob Oram (81). He took New Zealand out of the woods after an early collapse, but could not ensure a win. When Oram came in to bat at number seven, New Zealand were in trouble at 86 for 5. They needed to rebuild, and Oram did just that. To begin with he concentrated on playing straight back down the ground, and hit 19 runs in the `v’ between long-on and long-off. After he got set, he targeted midwicket, and scored 25 runs in the zone – more than anywhere else. Ultimately, though, it was still not enough.

Close
ScorecardEngland ended the second day of this Test holding the edge, but only after another shocking collapse in which they lost their last five wickets for 13 runs from 80 balls to be bowled out for 326. Mashrafe Mortaza took a Test-best 4 for 50 and the clatter of wickets again surrendered a strong position and threw away a good start to the day, this time by Nasser Hussain and Chris Read. Rikki Clarke did put England back on track with two quick wickets, but Bangladesh held out to close on a battling 93 for 4.England’s morning progress was solid rather than spectacular, with 74 runs coming in the first two hours for the loss of only Clarke’s wicket for 55. Read and Hussain carried on untroubled until lunch, with Hussain happy to play second fiddle. Read was the main aggressor, playing positively from the start, hitting six boundaries and taking the attack to the bowlers.However, just like yesterday, England suffered a sever bout of the post-lunch blues as the bowlers turned up the heat and the lower-order melted. Read’s dismissal started the slide when he was caught by Rajin Saleh at short-leg off Enamul Haque jnr for a bright 37 (313 for 6). One over later and Hussain followed, snicking Mortaza to Khaled Mashud, the wicketkeeper, who took a good catch low to his right for 76 (313 for 7). That left the tail horribly exposed, and it offered precious little resistance as Mortaza cashed in on some cheap wickets. The last three batsmen fell for a miserly 13 runs to complete a wretched hour for England.On the flat Chittagong pitch, the new ball was vital, and Richard Johnson and Matthew Hoggard both made early breakthroughs. Johnson continued his healthy knack of taking early wickets when he picked up Javed Omar in his second over. Trying to turn a straight ball through midwicket, Omar instead got a leading edge straight to Michael Vaughan at mid-off (6 for 1). Hoggard then tempted Habibul Bashar into a loose drive with a classic awayswinger which he edged head-high to Mark Butcher at gully (44 for 2).Hannan Sarkar, meanwhile, took the fight to the bowlers and was keen to get forward and drive anything full. For a while, Bangladesh’s scoring rate was more sprightly than it had been all series as Sarkar mixed the odd boundary with quick singles on both sides of the wicket. Hoggard, in particular, banged in the short balls to unsettle the batsmen, but it was the improving Clarke who turned the tide England’s way.Clarke replaced Johnson ahead of Martin Saggers, the debutant, and he was rewarded for another tight spell with two wickets in as many balls. His first victim was the big one of Sarkar for 28, with a bit of help from Asoka de Silva, who did his already dwindling popularity in these parts no favours. Sarkar went right back to a full delivery and was hit on the back pad. The ball was arguably missing leg stump, but de Silva quickly made up his mind and sent Sarkar on his way (61 for 3).

And with the first ball of his next over, Clarke dismissed Alok Kapali for a golden duck. Kapali tentatively defended a short ball which kicked up and hit the handle of the bat for Butcher to take his second catch at gully (63 for 4). Clarke was on a hat-trick and Bangladesh were threatening to take a leaf out of England’s well-read book on The Art of Collapsing.But no-one can do it quite like they can, as Rajin Saleh and Mushfiqur Rahman defiantly held out for the last 15 overs. But only just. After Rahman creamed a square-drive for four off Saggers and spanked a Clarke slower-ball to the fence, he was dropped on 14 by Marcus Trescothick at first slip off Hoggard. It was hard chance low to Trescothick’s left, but not only did he spill it, he also injured his thumb and had to leave the field immediately to have an X-ray.Ashley Giles wasn’t brought on until the 36th over when the light was fading fast, but he bowled as well as could be expected given his current lack of confidence and was starting to find a rhythm just as the umpires offered the light to the batsmen with four overs of a mixed day for England remaining.

A flaw in the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) player contract has allowed Muttiah Muralitharan to go scot free from being handed out a stern punishment. When the SLC Executive Committee met on Tuesday to take up the issue of whether Muralitharan had flouted his contract by speaking to the media without prior permission, they ran into a snag.It was discovered that the player’s contract did not specifically mention any course of action or warning to the player if he violated its clause. What it said was that a player should first obtain permission from SLC before expressing his views to the media. In this regard SLC were helpless to initiate any course of action against Muralitharan.”We got a lawyer to go through the contract before we took any action. The contract was very vague. So we decided against taking any course of action,” said SLC president Mohan de Silva.De Silva said that SLC would caution Muralitharan and remind him to comply with his commitments with SLC in the future. De Silva said that the necessary amendments would be made to the contracts when they come up for renewal in February next year.Muralitharan is one of ten players contracted with SLC on a yearly basis. He got himself into troubled waters when he aired his views on the International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket committee’s recommended increase of tolerance level to an Australian radio station. The ICC committee decided to raise the level to 15 degrees for all bowlers which automatically allowed Muralitharan to bowl his currently banned ‘doosra’ delivery.The station quoted Muralitharan of accusing Australian fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie as ‘chuckers’, an allegation which the Sri Lankan spinner has denied saying his comments had been misinterpreted.This statement the SLC accepted after Muralitharan had written to them explaining his side of the story. Muralitharan with 532 Test wickets is chasing Shane Warne’s world record of 549 wickets. He is currently in Melbourne with his surgeon Dr David Young who will decide when he can turn his bowling arm over after it had undergone an operation to remove a cyst which was causing him a lot of pain. Muralitharan has been out of cricket since pulling out of the second Test against South Africa at the SSC on August 11. He is hopeful that he can make a come back to international by January next year in time for the second Test against New Zealand. But everything depends on the outcome of his meeting with Dr Young.