Tamim fights but West Indies still favourites

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Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Bravo added 143 in 29.4 overs•AFP

On the most productive day of this Test series, aggression as well as restraint with the bat were in plentiful supply from both teams but they differed significantly in their timing of those approaches. West Indies got it right, subdued at the start of the day and attacking after lunch to amass a massive lead, the only downside being the sight of Darren Bravo lying flat on the ground ruing a missed double-century. Bangladesh did the opposite; they motored along at the start of an improbable chase, not having learnt much from their top-order capitulation in the first innings, and lost early wickets. Though Tamim Iqbal steadied them, after belatedly realising the need for caution, West Indies remain favourites to take the Test with seven wickets to grab on a full day’s play.Attacking batting makes for entertaining cricket and the Bangladesh line-up is packed with attractive stroke-makers. If there was anything to be learnt from their performance in the first innings, though, it was that sustaining aggression for an extended period of time is a major challenge in Test cricket. The opening seamers Fidel Edwards and Kemar Roach bowled too short often but, despite their poor lengths, the Bangladesh batsmen were only too happy to keep them interested.The pitch looked far from threatening and showed no major signs of wear and tear – Devendra Bishoo and Marlon Samuels got the odd delivery to turn and bounce sharply but not with enough frequency to send tremors within the Bangladesh camp. Also encouraging for the hosts will be the trend of high scores in the fourth innings at the venue – two scores of over 200 have been chased down with few wickets lost and Bangladesh once scored 413 in a losing cause. Whether Tamim and the middle order can summon the determination to save the game will have many doubters, and remains to be seen.Sensing early that leaving deliveries outside off wasn’t part of the top-order’s plan, as he’d done early in the first innings where he bagged a five-for, Fidel Edwards persisted with an off-stump line. The presence of two slips and a gully should have prompted circumspection, instead the openers kept those fielders that much more vigilant. Off the first ball of Fidel Edwards’ second over, Tamim slapped one to point where Samuels dropped a straightforward chance. There was hope again when Imrul Kayes crashed him through the covers four balls later. The next ball was in the channel outside off and Kayes couldn’t help pushing at it, and offered a low catch to Kirk Edwards at slip.The temptation to dole out short stuff continued when Shahriar Nafees upper-cut Fidel Edwards over the slips; Roach was dealt the same way by Tamim, who also survived an inside-edge while pushing away from his body. The introduction of Darren Sammy brought about a change in lengths and Nafees, overcome by an instinct to drive the ball, played a pitched-up delivery straight back to the bowler, who showed sharp reflexes in bending down quickly to take a tough catch.The arrival of Raqibul Hasan brought with it a semblance of stability to the innings. He shunned aggression, held out one end assuredly, defended well against Sammy who stuck to a tight line and pinched singles off the spinners, working them around the in-field. The solidity rubbed off on Tamim, who toned down considerably and was fortunate to have Raqibul caution him when he appeared to display an incorrigible urge to break free.Tamim stepped out to Bishoo to launch him over his head for a four and a six, and almost offered a catch to mid-on on the third attempt before a polite reprimand from the other end restored some sense. It was ironic then that Raqibul was almost caught while trying to late-cut a delivery with a slip in place, and was dismissed the very next ball poking at a quicker delivery from Samuels that spun in a hint.At 124 for 3 with close to an hour left, there was more room for damage but some fluent, and assured, batting from Mushfiqur Rahim together with a much-tempered Tamim saw Bangladesh through to the close. The pair punched gloves in satisfaction at stumps but another daunting day remained ahead of them.The West Indies batsmen didn’t want any hiccups in the morning and progressed slowly to keep wickets in store for a blast after lunch. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who eased to a half-century, triggered the acceleration with three fours in a Nasir Hossain over before the break, and Bravo smashed a straight six off the same bowler when play resumed. As he moved closer to a double-ton, Bravo launched Suhrawadi Shuvo into the stands to reach 195. An attempt to get to the landmark with a slog-sweep the next ball ended in failure, personal disappointment and a declaration, as he top-edged a catch to Mushfiqur.

USA pick 42-year-old captain, two in 50s for WC qualifier

The USA Cricket Association has announced a 14-player squad for next month’s Women’s World Cup Qualifier that features a 42-year-old captain, Doris Francis, and two players in their 50s: Joan Alexander-Serrano (50) and Grace Chadderton-Richards (54), who are both older than the team’s new coach, Robin Singh.The selection process for the tournament, to be held in Bangladesh, was affected by a dispute over tour stipends. Six players from the preliminary 18-player squad, who signed a letter to USACA asking for an increased stipend, were left out of the final roster. Also missing was Indomatie Goordial-John, the leading scorer and most economical bowler at last year’s ICC Americas Women’s Challenge Series in Toronto.Among the players included at the expense of those who protested the tour stipend is another 42-year-old, Durga Das. The new captain, Francis, is a former West Indies Test cricketer and was the 2011 USACA Women’s National Tournament MVP.The final squad named sees nine omissions from the original 18-player squad USACA picked in July. According to a source, Sanuja Dabade was injured at the squad’s 10-day camp in Barbados in August. The other eight players were all part of the champion Tri-State Lynx squad, which won the 2011 USACA Women’s Tournament this summer. They are Goordial-John, Candacy Atkins, Monique Mathee, Karen Bayles, Shondell Ward, Triholder Marshall, Shinead Emerson and Melissa Sandy. All eight of those Lynx players are in their 20s.The Lynx team is coached by Linden Fraser, who was also the USA Women’s coach up until October 10 when he was replaced by Singh , the former India allrounder. At this year’s USACA Women’s National Tournament, the Lynx won one 50-over match by 509 runs after racking up a score of 552 for 7.Mathee, who was USA’s first-choice wicketkeeper, scored 70 not out in a nine-wicket win over Canada during the ICC Americas Women’s Challenge series in 2010 that clinched USA’s spot at next month’s qualifier. Mathee’s score was the second highest individual score at the event behind Goordial-John’s 83. Ward was USA’s leading wicket-taker at that same event, finishing with eight scalps in three games including a best of 5 for 20. The next best bowler for USA, Francis, took three in three games.The USA Women’s squad is scheduled to leave New York for Bangladesh on November 5. USA’s first match is against South Africa on November 15. USA is also scheduled to play the Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in Group A.Former Pakistan batsman Asif Mujtaba will be assisting Robin during the series, while former West Indies Women’s Test captain Louise Browne-Jackson will serve as team manager.Squad: Doris Francis (captain), Joan Alexander-Serrano, Anahita Arora, Claudine Beckford, Ritu Bhargava, Shebani Bhaskar, Grace Chadderton-Richards, Durga Das, Sara Farooq, Nadia Gruny, Akshatha Rao, Samantha Ramautar, Erica Rendler, Delkash Shahriarian.

Netherlands down Kenya in close finish

ScorecardSeren Waters on his way to Kenya’s top score of 71•International Cricket Council

Netherlands sneaked home by two wickets in a rain-hit encounter against Kenya in Voorburg, to register their first points in Intercontinental Cup.Batting first, Kenya were anchored by Seren Waters’ 71 off 100 balls, while the rest of the batting line-up looked to play around him. Debutant and former Cranleigh School team-mate Duncan Allan added 65 with Waters for the second wicket off 16.3 overs to set the platform for the innings. Peter Seelaar then pegged Kenya back with a triple-strike, as 96 for 1 became 127 for 4 by the 34th over. Tanmay Mishra (22) and Irfan Karim (32) – also making his debut – fought back hard to lift their side to 208.A rain interruption during the innings break meant Netherlands’ target was reduced to 196 off 43 overs. The chase got off to a poor start, with Kenya’s opening bowlers Lameck Onyango and Lucas Oluoch picking up a wicket apiece to reduce Netherlands to 14 for 2. Michael Swart and Tim Gruijters resisted, but both perished in the 30s to allow Kenya a look at the middle and lower orders.At 123 for 6, Netherlands were falling behind, but Peter Borren counter-attacked effectively to revive their hopes. He added 53 with Mudassar Bukhari for the seventh wicket, leaving Netherlands needing 20 off 19 balls. Bukhari, who slammed three fours and two sixes in his frenetic 37, hauled his side home with an over to spare.

Ruhuna win dramatically, left with outside chance

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How they were outDinesh Chandimal’s second fifty in two games kept Ruhuna’s hopes alive•AFP

Leicestershire and Ruhuna jostled, pulled, tugged, stepped on each other’s toes to try to make it to the train first, but both might have just missed it. Both teams came in looking for their first win, hoping to make it big enough to spoil the party for Kolkata Knight Riders and Somerset, who won their first games and were due to face each other later in the evening. Leicestershire needed to chase down 161 in 13.2 overs to ensure automatic qualification, Ruhuna needed to keep them down to 140. As it turned out, led by Abdul Razzaq, one of the cleanest straight hitters of our time, Leicestershire threatened the improbable automatic qualification, but the Ruhuna spinners kept pulling them back. Razzaq perished in one final push for the run-rate boost, and the spinners then choked the lower order to fashion a dramatic win, allowing only 28 runs in the last six overs.Leicestershire were knocked out, but Ruhuna now had two points, level with Kolkata and Somerset, their net run-rate of -0.28 lagging behind Kolkata’s 0.1 and Somerset’s 0.05. With only two teams out of the four to go through, Ruhuna were expected to stay back and watch in hope that the final qualifier is one-sided enough to push one of the sides’ net run-rate down.Amid all this number-crunching, it was easy to overlook important good innings on a slow track. Before Razzaq’s smashing 68 off 46 came Dinesh Chandimal’s fighting 62 off 51 to help Ruhuna recover from 17 for 2 and 67 for 4. Recalled today to represent Sri Lanka in Tests against Pakistan, Chandimal found himself in early with Harry Gurney’s slower balls causing a big dent with the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Udawatte.Chandimal batted intelligently, not taking many risks, hitting the big ones mainly down the ground, adding 44 and 41 with Milinda Siriwardana and Shalika Karunanayake. The stand with Siriwardana helped them recover after they had lost the first four inside 10 overs, the one with Karunanayake provided Ruhuna the final thrust. Karunanayake scored 28 off those 41, off just 15 balls. Forty-seven came off those last four overs, and Ruhuna had elbowed just past Leicestershire with the train approaching.Razzaq had played an important role in keeping Ruhuna down early on. The second wicket he took was his 100th in Twenty20s. While he played the support role with the ball, he knew he would have to do it all off his own bat. He countered the slowness of the track by simply refusing to play square. Sixty-one of his runs came in front of square, 32 of them down the ground. With his grip high on the bat, he just stood and waited to hit down the ground through the leverage of the long handle. Once he left the crease to smash Jayasuriya into the second tier behind long-on.Ruhuna, though, kept cutting off Razzaq’a support. Arosh Janoda got Joshua Cobb for 15 off six balls and Asanka Silva took out Andrew McDonald, captain in the injured Matthew Hoggard’s absence, for 24 off 15. When Will Jefferson got a rough lbw call to make it 81 for 3 in 9.1 overs, it was clear 13.2 overs would come and go. They came and went. Razzaq, though, wanted as big a run-rate gain as possible, and started trying to hit six off every delivery from the 12th over onwards. Thirty-three came in three overs, but Razzaq finally holed out after escaping two drops.With 33 required off 36, Leicestershire lost the plot for a bit. Paul Nixon and Wayne White fell playing big shots in the next two overs, and suddenly Ruhuna were the favourites to win. The tail could only manage singles as the noose got tighter and tighter. Then again they played out the 20 overs, reducing the margin to just four runs, which left Ruhuna with a minimum run-rate boost.By the time Ruhuna got rid of Leicestershire, the train was about to leave the station.

Donald praises Zimbabwe seam attack

Allan Donald, the South Africa bowling coach, has praised Zimbabwe’s attack, saying that their performance in the one-off Test against Bangladesh is a testament to the “hard work and time the guys behind the scenes are putting in.”It’s a really good attack and definitely gives them something to work with,” Donald told ESPNcricinfo. Donald coached Zimbabwean franchise, the Mountaineers, last season and was recently in the country with the South Africa A side when they participated in a triangular series also featuring Australia A.Donald made special mention of the new-ball pair of Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis, both of whom impressed in taking five wickets each in the Test. Donald had seen both of them when he was in Zimbabwe and said he spotted their talent early on.”I saw Brian when we played the Southern Rocks, he was playing for their second team and I saw him warming up one morning by himself and wondered why he wasn’t in the first side. He had such good discipline.” Vitori appears to be the most competent left-arm bowler to play for Zimbabwe since Bryan Strang, who last played a decade ago, and his unique angle brought immediate results.Together with Jarvis, Vitori formed a promising partnership, with his swing and Jarvis’ pace the key elements of their pairing. “I am so happy for Kyle, especially because he had such trouble with his back last year,” Donald said, referring to Jarvis’ stress fracture, which kept him out of the game for several months and is said to have cost him a yard or two in pace. “All he did was hang around the grounds and try and learn.”With two such determined characters taking the new ball for Zimbabwe, Donald thinks they may have found the ideal combination, after having been through a fair number of seamers recently. That list includes Shingirai Masakadza, younger brother of Hamilton, who Donald thinks will come back strongly after being dropped for this series, although he was part of Zimbabwe’s World Cup squad. “He gets some serious gas, he’s up there at about 138 or 140 [kph] and is a very good athlete,” Donald said.With the number of young quicks coming through the franchise system, the likes of Chris Mpofu and Elton Chigumbura will have to “improve” significantly to keep pushing for their places, even in the 50-over format. “You need two good guys who will have pace and can knock people over,” Donald said, indicating that he felt Vitori and Jarvis should keep their spots for the five-match ODI series against Bangladesh.”As they saw in the Test match, with Bangladesh, you pick up one or two and that can become three, four and five. They play loose shots although some days they can play serious cricket and beat you all ends up.”

Edwards and Bollinger join Sydney Thunder

Fidel Edwards, the West Indies fast bowler, will join his former captain Chris Gayle at the Sydney Thunder during this summer’s Big Bash League. The Thunder have confirmed Edwards and Doug Bollinger as their newest two signings as they put together a squad based around the star opening duo of Gayle and David Warner.Edwards, 29, recently made his return to the West Indies side after two years out following back surgery. The Thunder general manager John Dyson said Edwards and Bollinger would be a potent new-ball combination.”They are going to create plenty of headaches for batsmen in the KFC T20 Big Bash League,” Dyson said. “Fidel has proven to be a consistent wicket taker, especially in the last series against India, while Doug is one of the premier fast bowlers in Australia and is coming off an excellent IPL series.”The Thunder, who are based at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, will be coached by Shane Duff, a former Sydney club cricketer who has also been Sri Lanka’s strength and conditioning coach. Daniel Smith, the wicketkeeper who recently lost his New South Wales contract, will be both assistant coach and a player.Meanwhile, the Melbourne Stars have secured another player from interstate, the Tasmania allrounder James Faulkner. The Stars scored a coup last week by locking in three current and former captains from other states, including the Tasmania leader George Bailey. The MCG-based Stars have also signed the young Victorian allrounder Alex Keath and the Bushrangers’ left-arm spinner Jon Holland.The Adelaide Strikers have given a new lease of life to Adam Crosthwaite, the former Victoria wicketkeeper, who hasn’t played at the elite level since early 2009. Crosthwaite moved to Sydney when the Bushrangers made it clear Matthew Wade was their No.1 gloveman, but he has not managed to find a way into the New South Wales squad.Crosthwaite will join his former mentor Darren Berry, who was an assistant coach at Victoria and is now in charge of the Strikers and South Australia. The Strikers have also signed Lee Carseldine, the Queensland batsman who lost his state contract this year, and the Tasmania fast bowler Brendan Drew.The South Australia-contracted players Theo Doropoulos and Gary Putland have also become Strikers. Meanwhile, Peter Forrest, the former New South Wales batsman who has signed with Queensland for this summer, will remain north of the border after being named in the Brisbane Heat squad.The squads so far
Adelaide Strikers Aiden Blizzard, Cameron Borgas, Lee Carseldine, Tom Cooper, Adam Crosthwaite, Theo Doropoulos, Brendan Drew, Callum Ferguson, Daniel Harris, Michael Klinger, Nathan Lyon, Aaron O’Brien, Gary Putland, Kane Richardson. Overseas players: Kieron Pollard.
Brisbane Heat Nick Buchanan, Daniel Christian, Ben Cutting, Peter Forrest, Ryan Harris, Nathan Hauritz, James Hopes, Chris Lynn, Michael Neser.
Hobart Hurricanes Travis Birt, Mark Cosgrove, Xavier Doherty, Luke Feldman, Evan Gulbis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hogan, Phil Jaques, Matt Johnston, Jason Krejza, Nick Kruger, Ben Laughlin, Rhett Lockyear, Tim Paine, RIcky Ponting. Overseas players: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Owais Shah.
Melbourne Renegades Ryan Carters, Aaron Finch, Shane Harwood, Aaron Heal, Jayde Herrick, Michael Hill, Brad Hodge, Glenn Maxwell, Andrew McDonald, Brenton McDonald, Dirk Nannes, Nathan Reardon, Will Sheridan, Shaun Tait. Overseas players: Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi.
Melbourne Stars George Bailey, James Faulkner, Jon Holland, David Hussey, Alex Keath, Chris Simpson, Adam Voges, Cameron White.
Perth Scorchers Tom Beaton, Michael Beer, Mark Cameron, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Michael Hussey, Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Luke Pomersbach, Nathan Rimmington, Luke Ronchi. Overseas players: Paul Collingwood, Herschelle Gibbs.
Sydney Sixers Ed Cowan, Moises Henriques, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Ben Rohrer, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc.
Sydney Thunder Doug Bollinger, Tim Cruickshank, Jason Floros, Usman Khawaja, Daniel Smith, David Warner. Overseas players: Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle.

New Zealand reappoint assistant coach Woodhill

New Zealand Cricket has renewed assistant coach Trent Woodhill’s contract until 2012. Woodhill first joined the team for the tri-series in Sri Lanka in August 2010.John Buchanan, New Zealand’s new director of cricket, said in a statement that was he was delighted to have retained the services of Woodhill, in support of coach John Wright. “Trent has forged a strong and successful relationship with John and indeed the entire Blackcaps unit. He has been recognised as a key influence behind the teams remarkable fielding performance at the World Cup. Having his specialist skills to support the Blackcaps is a fantastic step forward for New Zealand Cricket.”Wright was also pleased with the reappointment of Woodhill, saying, “I look forward to working with Trent – he is an important part of our coaching set up.”Woodhill’s next assignment will be with the New Zealand A squad for winter training and the Emerging Players Tournament in Brisbane next month.

Pakistan will not take it easy says Waqar

Pakistan will not experiment much against Ireland in the second game of the two-ODI series on Monday in Belfast, coach Waqar Younis has said. Pakistan lead the series 1-0, after a clinical seven-wicket win over the hosts in the rain-affected encounter on Saturday.”We are not going to throw all the youngsters in and say, ‘because it is Ireland we can take it easy’,” Waqar said. “This is international cricket and you do have to give your youngsters a chance. It doesn’t matter if it is England or it is Ireland.”But you have to bring on your young players when it is required. It’s not that you throw them in because you are playing Ireland. We have to make sure we win and that we are playing good cricket. That’s exactly what we are going to do.”Monday’s match presents Ireland another chance to prove they can consistently compete against the big teams, with the ICC scheduled to decide on Associate participation in the 2015 World Cup next month. So, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq expects a sterner test.”We know they are going to give us a tough time,” Misbah said. “They have been making it tough for other teams and even beating good teams. So it’s a good competition, it is international-level competition.”

PCB sets up committee to look into Haider issue

The PCB has set up a disciplinary committee to look into Zulqarnain Haider’s response to a letter the board sent the wicketkeeper on December 6, 2010 asking him to explain why he fled the team in UAE and sought asylum in England.The committee comprising Sultan Rana, Wasim Ahmed and Mohammad Awais, will be assisted by the board’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi. It will begin to function after the Pakistan team and officials return from the tour of Ireland later this month.Haider had gone missing from the Pakistan team’s hotel in Dubai on the morning of the fifth and final ODI against South Africa on November 8, and later said he had received death threats from unidentified people seeking to draw him into match-fixing. He fled to the UK to seek protection and filed an application for asylum that hinged on the nature of the information he was able to divulge, as the extraordinary nature of his case appeared to fall outside the usual conditions required of a person seeking refugee status.In the aftermath of his flight, Haider announced his international retirement and his contract with the PCB was suspended. A fact-finding committee subsequently set-up by the board to look into the affair failed to find any clear motives behind his actions.In April 2011, five and a half months after fleeing to London, Haider returned to Pakistan, having secured security assurances from the government about his safety and that of his family.

Warne critical of Mumbai's pitch complaint

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne has criticised Mumbai Indians’ decision to lodge an official complaint about the pitch in Jaipur after their seven-wicket loss on April 29. On a slow surface Mumbai were restricted to 94 for 8 in 20 overs and slumped to their second defeat of the season.”I thought it was really disappointing,” Warne said of the decision. “I have seen the Kolkata wicket and I have seen a few wickets during the competition. There have been some poor wickets but nobody complains, everyone just gets on with the conditions. I am not having a go at Sachin or anyone, but [for] Mumbai in general, to come here and get outplayed like they did, I think they are using that as an excuse. We suddenly have a pitch inspector here and I thought that was totally out of order and unnecessary.”IPL pitch inspector Venkat Sundaram was present at the Sawai Mansingh stadium on Sunday ahead of Rajasthan’s match against Pune Warriors because of Mumbai’s complaint, which Warne said put “pressure” on the hosts. “I am sticking for Topash [the curator] and everyone at the Rajasthan Cricket Association because what they are doing is a very good job. When you get outplayed, you should just say you got outplayed.”After the loss to Rajasthan, Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar said the conditions were “different” to those in Mumbai. “[It was a] tough pitch, different to what we played on in Mumbai. Don’t want to take the credit away from Rajasthan, who bowled and fielded well. It was two-paced, the ball kept low. We lost early wickets, were not able to rotate strike. A score of 130 would have been a challenging total. We were not able to accelerate in the middle overs.”While Warne said that wicket was “slow”, he did not agree it was as bad as Mumbai’s performance indicated. “I think the wicket was a little bit slow but it wasn’t a 90-wicket, it was 130 wicket. Twenty20 is a about a contest between bat and ball. No one wants to see 50-yard boundaries and the batsmen dominating and the bowler having no chance. I think the crowd and everyone wants to see a fair contest between bat and ball. And what you get here are good batsmen who will get runs and good bowlers who will get wickets.”There’s no disgrace in losing, you should not look for excuses when you get outplayed; you should just give credit to the opposition. I was very disappointed.”

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