All posts by csb10.top

A spell of 3-3 in 14 balls from Robert Croft put Glamorgan in a promising position onthe opening day of their match against India A at Swansea, as the tourists slumped to 149-6in the 53rd over. However, Glamorgan`s hopes of making further inroads were thwarted bypersistant rain which swept in from the Mumbles and prevented any further play after 2.35pm.The Welsh county had earlier reduced the tourists to 26-2 after a disciplined openingspell by David Harrison, with the young seamer dismissing both openers, Shiv Sunder Dasand Satyajit Parab, at a cost of just 4 runs in 28 balls.The tourists then recovered from being 26-2 in the 12th over, thanks to a watchful partnership of116 in 35 overs by Sridharan Sriram and Rohan Gavaskar before both were dismissed by Robert Croftafter scoring 62 and 61 apiece. Gavaskar was well caught by a diving Owen Parkin at shortthird man as the Indian miscued an attempted drive after striking 8 fours and a pull for6 off a short ball from Darren Thomas.Sriram quickly lost his new partners Vijay Bharadwaj, who was leg before to Parkin for1 and then Hemang Badani was adjudged leg before for 0 as he padded up to Robert Croft.Then Sriram was caught at first slip by Mike Powell off Croft, after striking 6 foursin his patient innings.Sriram`s departure meant that the Indians had lost four wickets for just 7 runs in thespace of 5.2 overs, but heavy drizzle, followed by more persistant and heavy rain meant thatno further play was possible.

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Saturday 30th August…‘POP CONCERT’Artist’s appearing…BLUE (2003 Brit Award Winners as ‘Best British Group’)DARIUSSINEAD QUINND’SIDE3SL’ROSE BOWL SHOWCASE’ New talent section of the show.Other artist’s TBASunday 31st August…CLASSICAL CONCERTArtist’s appearing…ROYAL PHILHARMONIC CONCERT ORCHESTRAALED JONES to host the eveningOther ‘Guest Artist’s’ TBA’ROSE BOWL SHOWCASE’ New talent section…Fireworks, BIG bangs…Theme of the event ‘Last Night at the Proms’Saturday 30th…Gates open @ 3.00pm, Show starts @ 5.00pmSunday 31st…Gates open @ 5.00pm. Show starts 7.30pmPARKING: Limited ‘on site’ parking available @ £10.00 per car. Tickets purchased in advance via the Rose Bowl Ticket Hotline…0870.2430291. Park & Ride tickets also available via the Rose Bowl Ticket Hotline

The match against India brought out every possible emotion from a Pakistani cricket fan – absolute jubilation during Pakistan’s batting to utter despair at the end of the game. Their performance, similar to the emotions experienced by the fans, was a mixed bag. The bowling, which has been our source of pride for so long, let us down at the crunch time.However, I shall put my hand up and acknowledge the brilliance of Sachin Tendulkar’s knock. The world has rarely seen such an innings played under immense pressure, and the beauty of it lay in the fact that it was an array of classical strokes, not mindless slogging. The Indian team looked a side with a mission, playing like a unit and their huddles at the fall of each Pakistani wicket, proved how committed they were.The Pakistani team did not lack commitment either, but there was a lack of common sense. The fans in Pakistan should not be over critical of the team’s performance it was almost as if they were too passionately involved to think logically. As far as I am concerned the team gave it their best shot and fought in a manner they have not in the recent past. We simply have to acknowledge the fact that the better side won at the end of the day.Pakistan’s batting was far above anyone’s expectations. Pakistan won the toss, made the right move to bat first, and piled up a total that on other days would have been easily safe. Saeed Anwar returned to form in brilliant fashion answering all his critics in grand style. He showed tremendous composure during his innings, and kept his concentration despite being highly fatigued during the latter half of his knock. Inzamam’s body language when he walked out to the center was outstanding, and the “slumbering giant” looked more pumped up than I have ever seen him since the World Cup in 1992. His run-out was a tragedy, but such things are part and parcel of the game. Younis Khan looked very good, thoroughly warranting his inclusion, while Youhana looked in terrific touch as well. At the end of the day 273 was a tremendous score keeping our recent form in mind, and only a very harsh critic would find faults with the batting performance.The performance on the field, commenced awkwardly when Rashid Latif could not make it onto the field after he had been hit a blow on his helmet while batting, leaving Taufeeq Umar with the huge task under immense pressure. Taufeeq Umar deserves tremendous praise for his effort, with the bat and the gloves, as he pulled of some saves that professional keepers would have been proud of. Keeping wicket to an erratic pace attack is no easy task, and I really feel that Taufeeq Umar should be groomed for this task after the World Cup. If he can put in a bit of effort and practice, he can be a useful wicket keeper in ODI’s and would lend tremendous balance to the team.The Pakistani bowlers, touted as the best pace attack in the world were smashed to all corners of the park by Tendulkar, who played like a man possessed. While the bowling at him may have been a bit of a mixed bag, he played some unbelievable strokes. Fortune favoured him when Razzaq got his fingertips to a catch offered early on, but failed to latch on. The Pakistan plan of blasting out the opposition backfired badly, as they tried to knock over the stumps on each ball, rather than looking to peg away on a line and length and frustrate the opposition. The bowling was governed more by the heart than mind, and although Waqar got early wickets, he was one of the culprits too.Shoaib Akhtar’s performance is hard to describe, where he bowled a couple of beauties along with a majority of highly wayward deliveries. The idea of giving him the new ball has brought little for Pakistan, and its time to get him back to first change, even after the World Cup. The new ball deserves to be taken by bowlers who can genuinely swing it, and Waqar, Akram and Sami fit that bill.The game was always going to drift away after the swashbuckling start by India, and Pakistan managed to make a good fist of it anyway. Full marks to the fielders for putting in great effort though the overthrows were disappointing. To summarise the fielding effort, it was good to see the Pakistanis throw themselves around for a change, and produce some direct hits, which were unfortunately of no use in the end.At the end of the day, it leaves a nation in misery and a cricket team that has slim chances of progressing to the next round. England will have to lose to the Aussies, and Pakistan win by a huge margin against Zimbabwe, but even if they do manage to progress to the Super Six (which will be nothing short of a miracle), the Pakistan cricket fans will not be satisfied at heart. I would strongly urge Pakistani fans to refrain from over-reacting to this loss and not resort to ugly demonstration of their disappointment. The team fought bravely and that was the maximum they could offer. Someone had to lose, and fate had Pakistan on the losing end.This may be the last occasion we get to see the greats like Akram, Waqar and Anwar clash against India, and it is sad that it had to end this way.Ed: If readers wish to correspond with the author, please email Taha Noor

Dareen Veness, the Head of Injury Prevention at Somerset County Cricket Club, and Fitness Instructor Andy Hurry were busy at the Academy Fitness Centre at the County Ground this morning, “Plotting the next set of fitness tasks for the Somerset players” they said.Darren told me, “The idea is to get the players stronger, but not bigger -we’re not after beach lifeguards. We want stronger joints and muscles, and to get that we need a power lifting programme for them.”He continued, “Some of the players are heading towards this already, like Steffan Jones and Joe Tucker. Steffan is really good, he’s not afraid of trying anything if it’s going to help him. Matt Bulbeck and Carl Gazzard are both a couple of weeks ahead of all of the others and have been like “guinea pigs” for us.”Fitness instructor Andy Hurry, a former Royal Marine who joined the club at the start of last season told me that he was going to introduce some yoga exercises, “To help with relaxation and flexibility in the players.” Darren added ,”The more pressure that we put on them the more that they need relaxation.””All of the players have had a few days off for Christmas, but they will all be back in next week,” they told me.In fact several of the players have been into the Academy over the Christmas break, including Marcus Trescothick who was in training on Christmas Eve, and as we spoke veteran Graham Rose was hard at work on one of the fitness machines.Both Darren and Andy told me how impressed they were with the attitude that the players had towards their fitness routines.Andy said, “The main aim is to change their lifestyle. Look at someone like Mike Burns, he’s a natural athlete and incredibly fit, and Peter Bowler, who is thirty eight is as fit as a twenty five year oldhe was a revelation to some of the youngsters and a great example for them to follow.”Darren concluded, “Most counties would struggle to integrate it like we have been able to, and a lot of it has been due to the more senior players like Peter Bowler, Graham Rose and Mike Burns who have led from the front, and helped us to drip feed it in.”As I left the Academy Fitness Centre the pair continued with their plotting and planning, all of which will help to make the Somerset players even fitter and stronger than they were in 2001, and hopefully lead them onto even greater things on the field in 2002.

In one of two opening matches of the 2003 edition of the Deodhar Trophy, East Zone comprehensively dominated West Zone to win their tie at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, by nine wickets.Winning the toss, West Zone opted to take first strike, but they could not maximise the advantage. Apart from Vinayak Mane, who came in at number three, no batsman could really get going, and Mane’s 43 (67b, 3×4) was consequently the highest score of the innings.For East Zone, veteran spinner Utpal Chatterjee took three wickets from nine tight overs that conceded only 25 runs. He was well backed up by Rohan Gavaskar and Pravanjan Mullick, who took two wickets apiece.Bowled out for 173, West Zone did not have the runs to defend, but even if they did, Debang Gandhi may well have chased those down too. Gandhi was in good form, hitting a sparkling 109 off just 112 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes. He was given good support by opener MS Dhoni (55, 97b, 1×4, 1×6), and the pair took East Zone to a nine-wicket win in 35 overs.

New Zealand’s cricketers are going to have to have their calculators in their pockets while playing in the State Shield one-day series this summer.Bonus points have become a reality of the January domestic one-day fest, and they will take some getting used to.If a team achieves a run rate of 1.25 more than the opposition, whether batting first or chasing, it will receive a bonus point.However, there are fish hooks in the system. The calculation of 25% is based on the target of the team batting second.And when the Duckworth/Lewis system becomes involved school certificate maths are not likely to be enough to work out the requirements for bonus points.In order to make the worth of the bonus point more manageable, four points will be awarded for a win. A tie or no result will be worth two points.In the State Championship, teams could also find themselves going out to bat in wet weather, after having left the field for rain.An addition to Law 3.8 states: “If conditions during a rain stoppage improve and the rain is reduced to drizzle, the umpires must consider if they would have suspended play in the first place under similar conditions.”If both on-field umpires agree that the current drizzle would not have caused a stoppage, then play shall resume immediately.”Shadows on pitches from the stadium or permanent objects will be disregarded by umpires in the future.New Zealand Cricket umpiring panels this year are:International: Brent Bowden, Doug Cowie, Steve Dunne, Tony Hill, Dave Quested, Evan Watkin.NZC A Panel: Robert Anderson, Gary Baxter, Mike George, Barry Frost.NZC Reserve Panel: Jeremy Busby, Kathy Cross, Dave Ellwood, Glenn Holdem, Rob Kinsey, Wayne Knights, Kevin Manley, Craig Morris, Ross Murdoch, Dave Paterson, Tim Parlane, Ian Shine, Mel Spencer-Smith, Graham Wilkinson, Peter Wright.Code of Conduct Commissioners are:National: Nic Davidson (Christchurch).Auckland: Fred Thorpe, Andrew Gilchrist, Greg Jones, Rhys Harrison QC.Canterbury: Judge Graham Noble, Peter Doody, Lee Robinson, Robert Vincent (Timaru), Keith Hales (Rangiora), Tony Sullivan (Greymouth).Central Districts: Jock Sutherland (Nelson), Blair Robinson (Napier), Gary Spooner (Wanganui), Terry Killalea (Waikanae), Mike Ryan (Palmerston North), Jock Blathwayt (Carterton), Stephen Harrop (New Plymouth), Chris Clark (Marlborough), Roger Downey (Horowhenua).Northern Districts: Gerald Bailey (Hamilton), David Wilson QC (Hamilton), Graeme Mathias (Whangarei), Dean Clarke (Cambridge), Peter Lewis (Rotorua), Wayne Callaghan (Gisborne), Alan Vale (Taupo), David Small (Tauranga), Richard Blackwood (Pukekohe).Otago: Jim Barrie (Clyde), Ted Tempero (Oamaru), Ian Folster (Invercargill), John Henderson (Dunedin).Wellington: Tim Castle, Ross Crotty, Robert Armstrong, Wayne Chapman, Mike Gould.

Jonty Rhodes, who will be joining the South African one-day squad in Australia in the New Year, took 65 off the Eastern Province Jumbos to steer the KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins towards a four-wicket victory in the Standard Bank Cup on Wednesday night. At SuperSport Park, Northerns Titans beat Free State by five wickets.Rhodes shared in a 78-run third wicket stand with Ahmed Amla (39), as the Dolphins made light work of a Jumbos’ total of 180 all out in just 43.4 overs. The victory takes the Dolphins to the top of the Standard Bank Cup log.At SuperSport Park, Martin van Jaarsveld’s unbeaten 73 enabled the Titans to overcome amid-innings wobble to cruise to victory over the Free State Eagles with more than three overs to spare.

Mumbai took control of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group final, pegging Tamil Nadu back to 102 for 3 after setting them an improbable victory target of 377. Mumbai now need seven more wickets to win, while Tamil Nadu need a further 274 runs. Of all probable results, a draw looks the least likely.Tamil Nadu took an overly cautious approach at the beginning of their chase and suffered in the process. Sadagoppan Ramesh (6) drove Ajit Agarkar on the up to Wasim Jaffer in the fifth over of the innings. Sridharan Sriram, at his dour best, played out 48 balls for 5 before being trapped plumb in frontby Sairaj Bahutule.With Ramesh and Sriram gone, Tamil Nadu were down in the dumps. Their postion deteriorated further when S Suresh, after playing some authoritative drives in an innings of 44, lost his off stump to a careless shot. At 62 for 3 in the 24th over, Tamil Nadu had a long way to go.Hemang Badani (23 not out) and S Badrinath (12 not out) realised this and took their team to stumps without further damage. The final day will be a long, hard one for Tamil Nadu, as Mumbai hold all the aces.Mumbai had begun the fourth day reasonably placed, although they had lost three quick wickets yesterday evening to slip from 210 for 3 to 228 for 4. Amol Mazumdar (7) was snapped up by Suresh early on and this meant that Bhavin Thakkar had to bolster the batting in the company of Bahutule. Thakkar began nervously, playing and missing, but settled into a solid groove.Bahutule (27) helped add 48 runs for the sixth wicket before he was unluckily run out. Thakkar’s straight drive was defelected into the stumps by MR Shrinivas, the bowler, with Bahutule stranded short of his crease.Thakkar more than made up for the part he played in Bahutule’s run out, batting stoically for 66 before retiring hurt with cramps. In their search for quick runs, Mumbai lost Agarkar early. Ramesh Powar then used the long-handle to good effect, clouting 53 off just 64 balls to take Mumbai to a healthy 387 for seven declared.

The third day’s play at Bloemfontein has seen the Indian bowlers putup a much-improved display. Javagal Srinath, in particular, wasimpressive, but with South Africa having gained a handsome lead, Indiawill have to fight the good fight if they are to get on top again.Many of India’s woes stem from the fact that the Indian captain andhis bowlers were unimaginative on a placid wicket on Sunday. After aheroic and magnificent innings from Sachin Tendulkar and VirenderSehwag, I had expected the Indian bowlers, who have usually done wellabroad, to rise to the occasion. But Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan, twoof the four frontline bowlers, disappointed hugely.Srinath, in contrast, bowled a good line and length, but then again, Icould not understand why he did not come round the wicket whilebowling to Gary Kirsten. After putting 379 on the board, Indiarequired quick breakthroughs, but Srinath’s hesitancy to come roundthe wicket meant that Kirsten batted with minimum fuss. The seniorSouth African opener went on to play another of his efficient inningsbefore throwing his wicket away to an uncharacteristically loose shot.

Herschelle Gibbs, for his part, was at his belligerent best. The youngSouth African opener has great hand-eye co-ordination and is one ofthe finest of natural stroke-players around today. If Sachin lent thesparkle on Saturday, it was Gibbs who shone on Sunday.A century partnership at the top of the order is always a huge boostto any team, and the fact that Gibbs and Kirsten have put on threecentury partnerships in the last three Tests has definitely helpedtheir side in posting huge totals. I cannot help but speculate howmuch it would help India to have a opening pair like theirs.With the regular Indian bowling proving to be bland, I was surprisedto see Sourav Ganguly take a long time before finally introducingSachin. The little champion is a minor magician with the ball and, asthe tri-series final at Durban proved, the South Africans also havegreat difficulty in reading him. On Sunday too they had theirproblems, handling the little champion’s brand of leg-spin. I onlyhope that Sourav shows greater faith in Sachin during the rest of thematch, for it might prove crucial on a pitch that is expected toassist the slower bowlers during the last two days.Talking about slower bowlers, India definitely misses Harbhajan Singha great deal. He was one bowler who could have taken the mickey out ofthe South Africans. The home team batsmen haven’t read him at all, and amazing bag of tricks and variations of flight wouldhave made a world of difference to the Indian attack.

Let me then move on to the most pleasant task of talking aboutSachin’s great innings on Saturday. India were in the doldrums whenthe little master launched his brilliant offensive. Even a singlemistake from the great man, and a total of even hundred might havebeen beyond us. But Sachin kept his head, used his imagination,finding boundaries where none existed. It was a clever innings, andonly the genius of the man made it possible. I loved the way in whichhe deliberately kept guiding the ball over slips and to the third-manboundary. If you were to ask me, I would rate this knock as hisfinest, even above his great knock at Perth in February 1992. The factthat it gave India a chance to win the first Test of an away seriesmakes it a very precious knock indeed.I also liked the way in which Sachin guided Virender Sehwag. It wasgood to see him welcome the young man with a smile. Sachin also walkedup to Sehwag at the right moments during the magnificent partnershipbetween the two, and the young man gave his idol an attentive ear.

Sehwag’s hundred proved that he was a worthy entrant to the ‘redhandkerchief club’. The courage and concentration that he showedduring his first innings would have pleased both Jimmy Amarnath andSteve Waugh, founding members of and, indeed, on the board ofdirectors of that exclusive club. Sehwag has a reputation for beingone of the most attacking batsmen in Indian cricket, but the way inwhich he picked and chose the balls to hit showed a maturity andadaptability that was laudable in an young man playing his first Test.When the Indians play their second innings, all the batsmen will haveto show a similar maturity and commitment if we are to make ourelectric performance on the first day count. The South Africans havealready built up a handsome lead and will be hoping to build on it andpile on the pressure. The remaining days are going to test thecharacter of the Indians and their ability to save the Test, if notwin it.

England will need to dig deep into their character reserves to stage anAshes fightback against Australia after crashing to an eight-wicket defeat at Lord’s today.The dropped catches on Saturday were followed by a dramatic batting collapse on Sunday with England’s remaining six wickets falling in 39 minutes and 48 balls, leaving Australia with just 14 runs to gather to claim their second Ashes win in two npower Test matches.When Mark Waugh came on first thing to bowl – a decision prompted by another look at some videos of Alec Stewart which exposed his vulnerability to right arm spin bowling – the omens were good with Stewart and Mark Butcher picking off quick and easy runs in the first five overs.Their efforts raised hopes among the capacity Lord’s crowd that a big second innings total was in the offing and finally, this match would become a more equal contest. But after Stewart and Butcher had put on 42 runs for the fifth wicket, Stewart received a ball from Glenn McGrath that came back and rapped him on the pads.His wicket marked the start of England’s downfall and from 188 for four, they crashed to 227 all out, with only Craig White showing any defiance in the final throes, with an unbeaten 27. Butcher was eventually caught behind for 83, after playing indiscriminately at Gillespie.The mighty Glenn McGrath and impressive Jason Gillespie, who bowled superbly throughout the match, shared the spoils with the South Australian finishing with 5-53 and McGrath picking up three wickets in the hour. Mark Waugh set a new world record for catches in Test cricket when England’s last batsman Darren Gough became his 158th victim.Having completely dominated since the Test series started, the task of making 14 should have gone smoothly without incident but both Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick picked up wickets – one each – when the Australian batsmen proved themselves to be nervous and possibly emotional.Michael Slater and Ricky Ponting were both back in the pavilion before the third over had been completed but Matthew Hayden took his side across the finishing line to complete another emphatic victory.It was a disappointing result, said England skipper Mike Atherton after the game.”We would like to have got a different result here but we didn’t deserve to. Australia played some fine cricket and fully deserve their success.”We had a couple of opportunities yesterday morning and we dropped a few chances so the opportunity went away. If we had taken those chances we could have reduced Australia’s lead to a manageable proportion and set them a total which would have made the game competitive but it was not to be.”We have to revive the memories of the way the team played last summer and during the winter. We have a settled squad and we are all good mates so we shall stick together through this thin time. There is no point getting too despondent and it does not matter what is going on, you still have to give it your all. You cannot fault our effort,” he commented.Graham Thorpe was taken to hospital for an X-ray today after being hit on the finger by Brett Lee on Saturday. The scans were inconclusive and Thorpe will see a specialist tomorrow.