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Ricky Ponting has given up the Australian captaincy and offered the warmest endorsement for Michael Clarke

Daniel Brettig29-Mar-2011Ricky Ponting departed from the Australian captaincy with the warmest of endorsements for his heir-apparent Michael Clarke, and a concerted plea for the selectors to retain an ageing trio of Test batsmen.Short of an extraordinary about-turn by Cricket Australia, 29-year-old Clarke will be named as captain of the team to tour Bangladesh, which will be announced on Wednesday, and Ponting will be on the brief trip as the senior pro.His resignation was addressed with typical frankness in front of a vast assembly of media at the SCG, the same place Ponting’s two Test captains, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, had announced their retirements.Ponting has differed from them, and Allan Border, by deciding to go on as a player, but he had no hesitation whatsoever in pushing Clarke as the new leader.”Absolutely, I totally think that’s the way it will go, for the sheer fact that he’s done a terrific job in almost every game that he’s had the chance to captain for Australia, starting with the Twenty20 team – I thought he did a great job there,” said Ponting.”What he did with the one day team in my absence, not only through the summer but in other tours was absolutely first-class, and I think he’s certainly growing into those leadership roles every day, so I would totally endorse Michael Clarke as the next captain.”Clarke was first among Ponting’s list of players and coaches whom he contacted when he finally deciding to relinquish the captaincy, a decision he reached late on Monday night after two days of introspection following an unsuccessful World Cup defence.”I think Michael was quite surprised at the decision I’d made; he actually said he’d wished he’d known this a little bit earlier so he might’ve been able to help out in a few different ways if he could’ve throughout the World Cup campaign,” said Ponting.”But I’ve had a really good chat to him and he’s probably reasonably excited [about] the fact I’m doing what I’m doing today.”Excited but also intimidated by what lies ahead. Beyond Bangladesh sit series against Sri Lanka, South Africa, New Zealand and India, only one of which this transitional Australian team would be widely expected to emerge from victorious. This schedule was chief among Ponting’s thoughts when he chose the path of a swift resignation between tours.

Ponting was forthright in his belief that he, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich must be dealt with carefully over the next 12 months. Arguing that their experience was pivotal to the development of what has so far been a faltering next generation, Ponting also said care must be taken to ensure they do not all retire at once

“I felt the timing was absolutely perfect,” he said. “When you think about what we’ve got coming up, we’ve got Bangladesh obviously, Sri Lanka will be a tough Test match tour for us and one-day tour for that matter, and so will South Africa, so I wanted to make sure the person coming in had as much time as they possibly could to get themselves prepared and get their direction and their focus on where they see the team going as much in place as possible.”With the thinking I’ve had to do, the conversations I’ve had to have, the fact a Bangladesh touring squad is going to be announced tomorrow, I needed to get on top of it with the selectors; it’s all been pretty rushed, but I’m very happy with the decision I’ve made and it will give the next captain a great opportunity to put his fingerprints on the Australian cricket team.”Ponting was forthright in his belief that he, Michael Hussey and Simon Katich must be dealt with carefully over the next 12 months. Arguing that their experience was pivotal to the development of what has so far been a faltering next generation, Ponting also said care must be taken to ensure they do not all retire at once.”I think it’s important for Australian cricket now that those guys are around,” he said. “What I think you don’t and you can’t afford to ever have in a team is a mass exodus of all those sorts of players at once.”I think we’ve seen that in the last couple of years when we had all the greats (Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Justin Langer) move at one time, it left us very bare and it’s been hard for us to rebuild and get it back to where we want to as a result of that.”So I think it’s important the selectors take that on board [for] the next little period of time and make sure we don’t have myself, Huss, Kato and those guys all leaving together because that would leave some incredibly big holes in the team.”

The prospect of floodlit Test cricket may come a step closer this week as the ICC Cricket Committee meet at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff08-May-2011The prospect of floodlit Test cricket may come a step closer this week as the ICC Cricket Committee meets at Lord’s. One of the main items on the agenda is whether sufficient progress has been made in day/night first-class matches to warrant a trial at the top level.MCC, who are represented on the committee by chief executive Keith Bradshaw, have been leading the way in experimenting with floodlit first-class cricket by staging two matches against the Champion County in Abu Dhabi. One of the main issues has been finding a suitable ball for the conditions and this year a new version, developed by Kookaburra, was used for the MCC-Nottinghamshire match.Domestic trials were also carried out by the Pakistan Cricket Board and Cricket Australia with many boards around the world looking at ways to boost dwindling Test match attendance.The committee will also discuss whether any alterations are needed in one-day internationals. Major changes, such as split innings as used in Australian domestic cricket, now appear unlikely after 50-over cricket was shown in a good light at the recent World Cup, but the possible use of two new balls and allowing bowlers more than 10 overs in an innings will be debated.The Decision Review System (DRS) was used at the World Cup and the committee will evaluate its success and decide whether to recommend its use in all one-day internationals. However, currently it still isn’t available in all Test series due to the costs and logistics of getting the required equipment in place.Although not listed as a topic for discussion, the place of Associates at the 2015 World Cup is unlikely to be far away especially with Trent Johnston, the former Ireland captain, as the Associate representative on the committee. ICC will revisit the decision to limit the 2015 event to the ten Full Member nations during their annual conference in Hong Kong from June 26 to 30 after a fierce backlash from the likes of Ireland and Netherlands.

Karl Brown continued his liking for the Sussex attack by top scoring with 88 as Lancashire took control on the first day of the County Championship encounter at Hove

26-Apr-2011
ScorecardPaul Horton helped give Lancashire a solid start against Sussex•Getty ImagesKarl Brown continued his liking for the Sussex attack by top scoring with 88 as Lancashire took control on the first day of the County Championship encounter at Hove.Lancashire won their meeting at Liverpool earlier this month by an innings and today moved into a decent position to continue their unbeaten start to the season as Brown, who made his maiden Championship century in that game, helped his side reached 322 for 6 at stumps.It was a tough day for the Sussex bowlers on a sluggish pitch until Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took two wickets in four balls in the penultimate over. A short boundary on the pavilion side gave the hosts little room for error and, although Monty Panesar again bowled accurately, the seam attack often lacked consistency and also gifted Lancashire 36 runs through 18 no balls – including three in successive deliveries from Naved-ul-Hasan.Openers Paul Horton and Stephen Moore justified skipper Glen Chapple’s decision to bat first by posting a stand of 129 in 36.1 overs – Lancashire’s best opening partnership since September 2008. Their progress before lunch was untroubled apart from a ball in his first over by left-armer Naved Arif which Horton slashed just wide of Ben Brown at second slip.Panesar, who has already taken 11 wickets this season, was introduced into the attack after just 75 minutes by acting captain Murray Goodwin and the left-arm spinner at least brought some control to proceedings.The opening stand was finally broken 20 minutes after lunch when Luke Wright, playing for the first time this season following a knee injury, nipped one back off the seam to trap Moore leg before wicket for 49.Horton followed in the 45th over and would have been furious with a soft dismissal. Having batted for nearly three hours and hit 13 fours in his 78 he mis-timed a pull at Naved-ul-Hasan and the ball looped off the top edge to slip where Ed Joyce took a simple catch.Bat was soon dominating ball again, though, and Sussex needed a great bit of fielding by Ben Brown to prise out Mark Chilton for 32 after he and Brown had added 82 in 22 overs for the third wicket. Chilton was sent back by his partner at the non-striker’s end after pushing the ball to Brown and failed to beat his direct hit from mid-wicket.The persevering Panesar was finally rewarded in his 24th over, but first after switching ends, when Steven Croft’s ill-judged reverse sweep was comfortably taken by Brown for four.At 266 for four there was a glimmer of hope for Sussex, who took the new ball straight away, but Brown added 55 with another 20-year-old, Luke Procter, and was on course for another hundred against Sussex when he was well caught low down at slip by Joyce for 88 off 161 balls, including 11 fours.Nightwatchman Gary Keedy was caught behind three balls later without scoring to give Naved-ul-Hasan his third wicket, but it was Lancashire’s day.

Pakistan bowler Wahab Riaz starred with the ball and compatriot Azhar Mahmood excelled with the bat as Kent defeated Gloucestershire by eight wickets

16-Jun-2011Kent 167 for 2 beat Gloucestershire 166 by eight wickets
Scorecard
Pakistan bowler Wahab Riaz starred with the ball and compatriot Azhar Mahmood excelled with the bat as Kent defeated Gloucestershire by eight wickets in their Friends Life t20 South Group game in Beckenham.Left-armer Riaz overcame a case of the jitters to take five wickets in seven balls, including a hat-trick, and Mahmood then clattered an unbeaten 106 from 57 balls to guide Kent to their second win of the campaign with seven balls to spare.Riaz, on his home debut, conceded 13 in his first over and appeared edgy, aborting his run-up twice before sending down his first ball, but his decision to bowl around the wicket for his second over saw an upturn in his fortunes.After electing to bat first, the Gladiators were cruising at 77 without loss and seemingly destined for 200 as openers Kevin O’Brien and Hamish Marshall made hay. Marshall was dropped on 37 at long-on, while Riaz, Mahmood and Geraint Jones all misfielded as the visitors cantered along at 10 an over until the introduction of England offspinner James Tredwell helped stem the flow of runs.Adam Ball broke the opening stand by having O’Brien caught at deep midwicket by Sam Northeast for 34, then visiting top-scorer Marshall went for 47 from 30 balls when he chipped Tredwell to Joe Denly at long-on.Ian Cockbain ran himself out on 20 attempting a single to Darren Stevens and Tredwell claimed his second scalp by having Kane Williamson caught in the deep for 21 by Denly. But it was the re-introduction of Riaz, switching to the Crystal Palace End, which turned the game Kent’s way.Having stalled in his run-up twice more, Riaz eventually found his range by bowling Chris Taylor for 5 as the batsman walked across his stumps aiming an audacious paddle to leg. Ed Young, in looking to run the next ball to third man, edged to wicketkeeper Jones and then Richard Coughtrie lost leg stump when making room to force through the covers. It was Kent’s second hat-trick in the competition following Ryan McLaren’s t20 final treble against the same opponents at Edgbaston in 2007.In his next over Riaz castled Alex Gidman (28) and David Payne, leaving Muttiah Muralitharan to survive the next and deny Riaz a unique double hat-trick. Muralitharan was run out off the final ball of the innings, however, leaving Riaz with figures of 5 for 17 from his three overs and Kent’s first five-wicket haul in competition history.Chasing 167 at 8.35 an over for victory, Kent lost skipper Rob Key for 5 early on when Marshall pulled off a stunning low catch at long leg off the bowling of Payne, but that was the cue for Mahmood to cut loose. As Gloucestershire’s bowlers struggled to cope with a greasy ball, Mahmood teamed up with Denly to add a Spitfires’ competition-best stand of 135 in 13.4 overs that all but assured the win.Denly holed out after a 44-ball 50 but Mahmood careered on to his maiden Twenty20 century from 54 balls with 12 fours and three sixes and hit the winning runs with a driven four through long-on off Ian Saxelby.

The world’s No.1 allrounder and bowler, Australia’s Shelley Nitschke, has announced her retirement from international cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2011The world’s No.1 allrounder and bowler, Australia’s Shelley Nitschke, has announced her retirement from international cricket. Nitschke, 34, will bow out after the quadrangular series final against England in Wormsley, and she will leave at the peak of her game, having won the past three Australian Women’s International Player of the Year awards.Her value to Australia’s team cannot be underestimated; as well as being the highest-ranked bowled and allrounder in the world, she is third on the international batting rankings table. A win in the decider against England would be the perfect way to cap off the career of Nitschke, who made her international debut seven years ago.”There are a couple of highlights that really stand out, those being the 2005 World Cup win in India and the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup victory in the West Indies which were are very memorable experiences and were great to be part of,” Nitschke said. “My plan has always been to go out when I was still playing well and on my terms. I’m happy with my career and achievements and the time feels right. I’m certainly not getting any younger.”I have had a tremendous amount of support throughout my career from friends outside the game, coaches, team-mates, my parents and my partner have always been really supportive and I thank them all for their help and advice along the way. I have thoroughly enjoyed representing my country and cherish every moment that I’ve had around the team and I wish them all the best.”I’m now looking forward to getting back into full-time work, perhaps having some time to play other sports as well and having more time to spend with my family and friends.”An opening batsman and left-arm spinner, Nitschke was named the ICC International Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2010. Michael Brown, the acting CEO of Cricket Australia, said Nitschke had been a wonderful ambassador for women’s cricket in Australia and would be sorely missed from the national side.”Shelley Nitschke has been a standout allrounder at world level for quite a few years now and her abilities with both bat and ball have greatly contributed to the success of the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars,” Brown said. “Her service for women’s cricket in Australia has been outstanding both as a player and an advocate for the game.”She has dedicated herself to cricket in the most professional way and her record at international level speaks for itself. She will certainly be sorely missed.”In 79 ODIs prior to the quadrangular final, Nitschke has scored 2032 runs at 34.44 and has taken 97 wickets at 21.88, making her Australia’s all-time third leading wicket taker behind Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Lisa Sthalekar. She has also played six Tests and 36 Twenty20 internationals, and is the world’s leading T20I wicket-taker and Australia’s top run-scorer.

Will Gidman and Yasir Arafat played starring roles for their respective teamson a fiercely-contested opening day of the County Championship match betweenGloucestershire and Surrey at Cheltenham

27-Jul-2011
ScorecardWill Gidman and Yasir Arafat played starring roles for their respective teamson a fiercely-contested opening day of the County Championship match betweenGloucestershire and Surrey at Cheltenham.Gidman rescued the home side from a precarious 117 for 5 after winning thetoss by continuing his fine season with 85, sharing half-century stands withRichard Coughtrie (15) and Jack Taylor (39) as the home side reached 286 allout.But Arafat ensured Surrey were also rewarded for their labours by taking 5for 86 from 24 overs, testing all the batsman with swing and pace off the pitch.Tim Linley also bowled well without much luck to return four for 59. The visitors were left with an awkward three overs to bat at the end of the day and closed on 13 without loss.It was a day of see-sawing fortunes. Gloucestershire began well as HamishMarshall and Chris Dent put on 41 before Marshall edged Arafat to Gareth Battyat first slip. Dent departed for 12 with no further addition, also pouched by Batty at firstslip off Jade Dernbach (1 for 51), but Chris Taylor then hit 17 in helpingKane Williamson take the total to 102.Their stand ended when Chris Taylor, who had survived a couple of chances,edged a back-foot defensive shot off Arafat to wicketkeeper Steve Davies, whoalso accounted for Alex Gidman (13) off the same bowler to make it 116 forfour.When Williamson, on 39, gave Batty his third slip catch, opening the faceagainst Arafat, Surrey were right on top. But Will Gidman has been getting runsand wickets in his first season after moving from Durham and the left-handeragain proved resolute.Coughtrie was content to play a support role as the pair took the score to 176and was furious with himself for cutting a short ball from Linley straight toJason Roy at backward point. Jack Taylor then played positively, hitting seven crisp boundaries as Gloucestershire progressed from 176 for 6 at tea.He fell to the first overwith the second new ball, caught behind off Arafat in similar fashion tonamesake Chris earlier. Will Gidman reached his fifty off 117 balls, with seven fours, and would surely have made a century had he not run out of partners. Jon Lewis scored nine in astand of 36 before being caught at point off Linley, who had beaten the bat onnumerous occasions through the day.Ian Saxelby was quickly caught at second slip and Gidman was forced to hit out,sacrificing his wicket to a boundary catch off Linley with last man David Payneat the other end. He had faced 160 balls and hit 13 fours.

Another century by Shivnarine Chanderapaul further undermined Yorkshire’s holdon Division One status and edged Warwickshire closer to the CountyChampionship crown at Edgbaston

01-Sep-2011
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Another century by Shivnarine Chanderapaul further undermined Yorkshire’s holdon Division One status and edged Warwickshire closer to the CountyChampionship crown at Edgbaston.Needing to make 350 to have enough bonus points to overhaul Lancashire afterthe leaders’ early defeat at Worcester, they were just about on course asChanderpaul’s 110 from 182 balls helped level the scores with six wickets downat the end of the second day.Having dismissed Yorkshire for 281 in the morning, when Rikki Clarke mopped upthe last two wickets after signing a new two-year contract, the title-chasingMidlanders did not have things all their own way when they batted. Ryan Sidebottom and fellow-seamers Ajmal Shahzad and Moin Ashraf bowled with purpose to capture the first four wickets for 137, but the in-form Tim Ambrose made an unbeaten 68 and shared in a stand of 135.For the second time in nine days Yorkshire’s bowlers were run ragged byChanderpaul’s powers of concentration and destruction. Having made 193 in 434 minute at Headingley Carnegie last week, the West Indies left hander adopted his familiar pose, crouched over the crease, almost square on to the bowler, and refused to budge for four-and-a-half hours.It has been Yorkshire’s misfortune to run into an exceptional player who istargeting a third county championship after previously winning successive titleswith Durham. His arrival for the last five matches could be the key component instrengthening a batting line-up in which only one of the top-order regulars hasaveraged more than 40.This fragility was evident as Varun Chopra and William Porterfield edgedcatches off Shahzad and Sidebottom, but Ian Westwood found some form as hecomfortably outpaced Chanderpaul in a stand of 67. Seven fours helped the opener to 55 before he was caught at first slip off Sidebottom, and when Jim Troughton followed suit, flashing at a ball from Ashraf, Yorkshire seemed to be in the box seat.However Chanderpaul continued to be the immoveable object, although not withouta delicate touch in finding gaps in the field. Ambrose, with ten fours in hishalf-century, was generally the more forceful until his partner quickened upwith two sixes and six fours after reaching 50.Sidebottom finally gave Yorkshire renewed hope by breaking a stand of 135 whenChanderpaul nicked a catch behind the wicket and the former England bowler alsotrapped nightwatchman Chris Metters lbw in the final over. Somehow the Tykes have to find a way to win this match and then beat Somerset in the final fixture to have a realistic chance of finishing above resurgent rivals Worcestershire and Hampshire.

This was Dhoni’s first series loss as captain. Yet he did not let his emotions get the better of him

Nagraj Gollapudi at Edgbaston13-Aug-2011At the end of it all, MS Dhoni’s smile was intact. India had lost the third Test, their third in three weeks by a massive margin; England had grabbed the No.1 Test ranking by inflicting on India their largest margin of defeat since the turn of the millennium; and Dhoni himself had suffered his first series loss as captain. Yet he kept his emotions in check. With a gentle smile he ventured into the inquest, launched by a media contingent that sounded more concerned than him about India’s drop to No.2 and the threat of slipping further in the event of a loss at The Oval in the next Test.”The series never really went our way,” Dhoni said. “If you see, most of the sessions were won by them. If you divide the Tests into small sessions, more often than not we were outplayed in both the bowling and batting departments.”India have so far won just six sessions: two at Lord’s and four at Trent Bridge. At Edgbaston, the gulf between the two sides was further exposed when the India batsmen failed to total 500 runs in two innings, playing an aggregate of 117.5 overs. Alastair Cook, the Man of the Match, alone played a ball short of 91 overs. If England’s metronomic bowling attack embarrassed the world’s best batting order, India’s tired bowlers struggled miserably, fetching just seven wickets in this Test.”You have to be at your best when you are playing top nations. Our batting department didn’t click the way it should have. We were not able to put par-plus runs on the board,” Dhoni said of the batting failure. He was India’s best batsman in the Test and the only one to score a half-century in each innings. In contrast, England had two centurions and four others who went past the 50-mark.

Why didn’t Dravid opt for a review?
According to Dhoni, Dravid was unaware that the bat hit his shoelace and not the ball. Though Dravid, for a moment, was not sure if he had actually nicked it, he walked off as soon Simon Taufel upheld England’s appeal. “If you see the chain of events that happened, it is very rare that the batsman hits the lace of the boot and it is at the exact time when the ball passes. Rahul wasn’t 100% sure about whether he nicked it or not. Maybe now he thinks he should have taken the review but the fact is he didn’t and it’s gone now,” Dhoni said.

Praveen doubtful for fourth Test
There is no definite word on Praveen Kumar’s right thumb, which was hit by a James Anderson delivery. Praveen, India’s highest wicket-taker in the series so far with 15 victims, was hit off the fourth ball he faced and immediately dropped his bat and backed off screeching in pain. Dhoni said the team would monitor the injury over the next few days. “I haven’t got any update from the physio. He got hit on the thumb, his bowling thumb. I don’t know how critical it is but let’s hope for the best.”

After India had been bundled out for 224 on the first day, Duncan Fletcher said, somewhat surprisingly, he had never witnessed such “swinging and seaming” conditions in England. Eyebrows rolled immediately, and further proof of Fletcher’s remarkable statement was highlighted when Tim Bresnan claimed the conditions were hardly in favour of bowlers unlike in Nottingham during the second Test. If anything, India have failed to withstand the pressure mounted by a bowling attack that has slipped into accuracy mode without any warm-up balls or spells. A perfect example has been James Anderson so often picking up a wicket almost immediately into his opening spells.”I can’t exactly pinpoint the reason like this is what went wrong because if it was so easy then we would have fixed it,” Dhoni said of his batsmen’s woes against swing.Both Dhoni and Fletcher have strongly defended their batsmen, but the view that it’s the right time to blood youngsters in the middle order and look to the future is gaining momentum. Of the top six in the Indian batting order only Rahul Dravid has been consistent and is the lone centurion with determined hundreds in the first two Tests. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman have scored 159 and 156 runs respectively. Suresh Raina excelled in the second innings at Lord’s but has disappointed thereafter. India have not been able to get good starts, their best opening alliance being 63, between Gautam Gambhir and Abhinav Mukund in the first innings at Lord’s.MS Dhoni was part of India’s batting failure in the first two Tests but stepped up at Edgbaston•Getty ImagesAsked if the spotlight was now on the seniors, Dhoni cast aside doubts of benching or forcing any of the big three to retire. “Six months back also they were part of the side. By losing one series we shouldn’t get critical about them,” Dhoni said, reminding the media that the same batsmen were successful till the last Test series India played in South Africa. “What you need is youngsters to come in and score runs and displace someone at the top. I think this is the best team that we had. If you take out the injury aspect, I believe this was the best team selected. And in Test cricket age doesn’t really matter, it’s the performance that matters.”Dhoni also defended his bowling attack, whose inability to take 20 wickets in a match has been questioned time and again in the absence of the injured Zaheer Khan. “The pressure kept mounting on us. Once you start the series and if you are not able to get the opposition out and then you have one bowler less, it keeps mounting as the series progresses. Not to forget England, they are a very good side and throughout the series they have done well.”Moving on, do India now have the resilience to stand up, having been flattened thrice to the mat? “Why not?,” Dhoni shot back. “We are very optimistic about it. We need to forget about the last three games in the sense you know, try to make the most out of the fourth one. Take it as a one-Test series, so that you don’t have the burden of the last three Test matches you have played.”