All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardCentral Province made a nightmare start just before the close in reply to North Central Province’s 314: they lost three wickets for six runs on the first day at the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. Nandika Ranjith took two wickets, and Omesh Wijesiriwardene picked up the other to leave Central with much work to do as they head into the second day.All of North Central’s top order made decent starts, but their real stars were the middle order batsmen Jeevantha Kulatunga (93) and Janaka Gunaratne. The rest of the tail fell away, but it didn’t matter as North Central posted 314 and soon had Central in trouble.
Scorecard Western Province blew Southern Province away for 134, then rattled up 120 for 5 before the close of play to leave them in a strong position on the end of the first day at Khettarama, Colombo. They now trail by just 14 runs with five wickets heading into the second day of four.Thilan Thushara was the star bowler for Western, taking 4 for 46, with only Harsha Vithana (46) offering any resistance for Southern before he fell victim to Thushara’s left-arm pace. In their reply, Ian Daniel struck a solid 40 to lift Western to a firm position by the close.

St Thomas College 22 for 2 trail Royal College 294 for 6 dec (Edussuriya 140*, Ratnayake 49) by 272 runs
ScorecardThe Sri Lanka-Australia Test at Galle might be attracting all the international attention, but the 125th annual Royal-Thomian match – the famed three-day “Battle of the Blues” – at the Sinhalese Sports Club was all the talk in Colombo. And a superb hundred by Dhanushka Edussuriya, which gave Royal College the edge at the end of the first day, was sure to generate headlines tomorrow.Edussuriya came to the crease with his side struggling on 60 for 4 after they had lost the toss and been inserted by St Thomas College. He added 101 for the fifth wicket with Ganganath Ratnayake (49) and then 134 for the sixth wicket in 30 overs with Manoj Morawake (45*).In front of a decent crowd, including a fair number of politicians and corporate big-wigs, the morning session belonged to St Thomas as their seamers exploited the early moisture to rip through Royal’s top-order.But St Thomas’s bowlers, bereft of Chathuranga Somapala who failed a late fitness test, lacked the penetration to press home their advantage, and Edussuriya’s took charge. His innings was a masterpiece of timing and control – he reached his fifty in an hour-and-a-half, his hundred in three hours, and never allowed the bowlers to settle. His stand with Morawake left St Thomas’s wilting, and enabled Royal to declare and give themselves 45 minutes to have a go at St Thomas.The tactic worked, as both openers were dismissed in the nine overs before the close.

ScorecardAn unbeaten 65 from Sean Ervine helped Zimbabwe A seal the five-match one-day series against Bangladesh A with a five-wicket win in the decider. Needing 198 to win the decider at Bulawayo, the Zimbabweans romped home with 16 balls to spare.Bangladesh A won the toss and opted to bat, but were in early trouble, losing both their openers with only six on the board. Tushar Imran and Shamshur Rahman steadied the innings somewhat with a 38-run stand, but wickets fell steadily thereafter, reducing the Bangladesh side to 132 for 8. An unbeaten 49 by Waseluddin, batting at No. 9, propped up the team to a reasonably respectable total.Zimbabwe’s run-chase was characterised by useful partnerships all the way through, but it lacked the one big stand which would have sealed the win early. Justice Chibhabha, the opener, made 58 to lend some solidity at the top of the order, before Ervine came in to settle the issue.

Bangladesh are planning to stage a one-day tournament in December in a bid to improve their one-day ranking. At the moment, Bangladesh are 11th in the ICC’s rankings, but this will improve to 10th in the coming weeks as some of Kenya’s wins are expunged from the calculations.Under the ICC’s new rules for Champions Trophy qualification, Bangladesh need to be in the top 10 to be part of the play-off between countries ranked from No. 7 to 10 to decide one of two places in the competition.To help do this, Ali Ashgar Lobi, the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s president, told reporters that the board would be looking to stage a triangular one-day series involving Kenya and Zimbabwe, two sides immediately above them in the rankings. Although sources in Kenya indicated that this series would take place in the second week of November, Lobi said that it would be in December or January.Lobi hinted that Chittagong might get the chance of hosting the tournament as there will be no venue in Dhaka at that time.

Justice Ahmed Ebrahim , the Zimbabwe Cricket vice-chairman, said Wednesday’s follow-up crisis meeting should find a lasting resolution to the meltdown blighting the game in the country.”When you have a crisis situation, you have to take action, and those are the sort of decisions we may have to make,” Ebrahim said. “I am very worried about what is happening. That is one of the reasons I called for this crisis meeting. Since the first meeting was held on Monday some circumstances have changed. So we are meeting tomorrow for these issues to be discussed and decisions to be taken on what the board should do.”I am concerned about our international well-being, and the very least of what came out of the Monday meeting is a significant commitment from the players to serve the country. I regard the players as the core product in our effort to have the game survive in this country. I am very much confident that the quality we have in these players is very much good enough to compete on the international stage.”Justice Ebrahim’s comments comes in the wake of Zimbabwe’s national team players making a resolution at the Monday meeting that they still had their hearts behind Zimbabwe cricket. “I am very pleased to indicate that that the national team captain [Tatenda Taibu] and the players’ representatives indicated their total commitment, and recognition of their responsibilities to the game of cricket in this country. The players that are present in the country would participate in squad training in preparation for our future commitments.”Ebrahim, a retired Supreme Court judge, also spoke of the departure of Taibu to play domestic cricket in Bangladesh, saying it was a positive move for the former national skipper. “I think it’s very good that Tatenda has been given an opportunity to play in Bangladesh,” he said. “He is one of our national heroes, but he also has a tremendous following in the international arena, especially in Bangladesh, where he scored his maiden Test century.”The stakeholders meetings, which were called partly because of the 11th-hour cancellation of the board meeting which was due to be held last Saturday, also tasked Ebrahim to resolve the problems existing in the provinces, especially the infighting in Mashonaland that has impacted heavily on the national set-up in Zimbabwe.

Gerald de Kock was one peeved communications officer. A prominent local newspaper had published a picture of Graeme Smith’s girlfriend with a caption. The problem was, she wasn’t his girlfriend, but his manager. It was a rare error by an Indian media obsessed with the wives and girlfriends of the South African squad, but it had to be fixed. It was another day in the life of de Kock.de Kock was involved in South African sport for 17 years as a radio broadcaster. Then, one day, after years of being a regular at Wimbledon, Roland Garros, cricket World Cups and numerous Olympics, the opportunity to be the media liaison for the South African cricket team arose.Every day, he monitors anything and everything said and written about South African cricket around the globe. “During the game I have to gauge the pulse of the media box and, based on the chief talk of the day, I warn the players about certain points. I don’t tell them what to say, I just need to let them be aware of things.”For instance, a big match-fixing ring was busted recently, and a gang of six bookies was charged with the intention of fixing the first Test at Kanpur. The players had no clue about it. de Kock silenced all rumours by stating, “It was news to us when we saw the story in the newspapers. As far as we are concerned it is a matter being handled by the local authorities and we have nothing to do with it.” Clear, precise communication to cut down speculation.de Kock laments the lack of trust between the players and the media. He feels that when South Africa returned to international cricket in 1991 there was mutual trust between the players and the media. “Both could trust each other – the player could talk off the record and still trust the journalist.” But not too long afterwards, intense competition between media men resulted in that trust being breached, making the players more cautious.”In each country the relationship between the player and the media is different. Some are close while [in other places] there is a gulf which can’t develop that trust. The trust has steadily dissipated,” de Kock says, “as there is a lot of competition now.”He understands and agrees that both sides need each other. “The media needs the game to keep their jobs, and the game needs the media to get the money.”de Kock has toured every Test-playing nation, apart from Australia, with the team. Of the lot, he says, England had the best media set-up, which made his job as a media manager easier. But when Smith hit two double-hundreds on the trot in 2003, the job was anything but easy. “Graeme Smith had scored those back-to-back double-centuries at Edgbaston and Lord’s and there was this barrage of media requests every minute. I had lost my privacy.” There were dozens of calls at all times of the day, and sleep suddenly became a rare commodity.Having played as an amateur in the Birmingham leagues, de Kock says that watching the game becomes monotonous at times, but the same cannot be said about his job. “Every day is a new one.” Especially during home series, where he needs to make sure that the media are catered for. “During the home series I am not just a media manager, I have to look after the media and make sure that they are satisfied not only with their reporting requests but [are also kept] happy by providing them with good facilities.”His experience in the media has helped him deal with it in this new role. But he has to maintain a very fine balance, and find the middle ground. “I am always in the middle where the media sees you as the enormously high barrier, whereas players feel you are a low barrier. I am not there to keep anyone happy but to facilitate, to make sure that there is access and communication on both sides.”Still, how did he handle the error about Smith’s girlfriend? Were there frayed tempers, shredded newsprint, or anything dramatic? “I spoke to both Graeme and Minki and both of them are fine. They laughed off the report.” An anticlimactic outcome, but one a media manager could count as a minor success.

Queensland 7 for 291 (Maher 72, Symonds 77, Hogg 3-56) beatWestern Australia 6 for 280 (North 134*, Goodwin 63) by 11runs
Scorecard

An unbeaten century from Marcus North, which included 13 fours and three sixes, was not quite enough to take Western Australia to victory in their floodlit one-day match against Queensland at Perth. Instead the Bulls maintained their 100% record in the ING Cup – four wins out of four – and lead the table with 19 points. Tasmania, with three wins in three matches, lie second.Queensland piled up 291 in their 50 overs, with handy contributions right down the order. Jimmy Maher, their captain, led the way with 72, which included 11 fours and a six. Andrew Symonds then took over, slamming 77 from as many balls, with three sixes and five fours. On 21, Symonds had a slice of luck after clubbing Brad Hogg towards the boundary as Brett Dorey was unable to hold the rebound from Steve Magoffin who fell back towards the ropes. When he eventually fell – one of three quick wickets for the unorthodox slow left-armer Hogg – Queensland were 7 for 245 in the 45th over, but a rapid 32 not out from Australia’s newest Test cap, Nathan Hauritz, propelled them to 291.WA were soon in trouble, losing Scott Meuleman for a duck and Adam Voges for 2, both to Andy Bichel, but North and Mike Hussey (21) repaired the damage in a stand of 65. Murray Goodwin then stepped in to score a forthright 63. He and North put on 134 for the fourth wicket, and WA were reasonably placed when Ashley Noffke finally dismissed Goodwin in the 40th over (4 for 210). But Ryan Campbell and Kade Harvey followed quickly, and although North stayed there and Hogg biffed 25 not out from 18 balls, they couldn’t quite do enough under the lights. Queensland had bowled 19 wides and still managed to win.

Michael Vaughan, the England captain, has pulled out of England’s three-day practice match against Board President’s XI at Baroda due to the recurrence of soreness in his right knee.Andrew Walpole, the England media manager told , “The soreness was also there during the first warm-up match against CCI XI in Mumbai and he was not comfortable in the nets here. It was decided as a precautionary measure to rule him out of the three-day game. We are hopeful he will be fit for the first Test”.Coincidentally, Vaughan suffered the same injury in Pakistan last year during his side’s second warm-up game, against Pakistan A at Lahore. Vaughan retired hurt after facing just one ball in England’s second innings and subsequently missed the first Test at Multan.It was the recurrence of a long-standing cartilage problem that required surgery ahead of the 2002-03 Ashes tour, and then reoccurred in the nets at Lord’s in May 2004. Vaughan’s absence paved the way for Andrew Strauss to make his debut.

Confusion over the match between India and Pakistan Legends sides, originally revealed by Cricinfo on October 18, appears to have been slightly eased with the announcement at the weekend that the game is set to take place on March 3 at the 60,000-capacity Rogers Centre in Toronto.Ben Sennik, the president of the Canadian Cricket Association, confirmed the game was going ahead at a press conference in Toronto. He said that the event has the full support of the Canadian board and added he anticipated a sell-out crowd. “We should make it a point to be part of this event to show our support for Cricket in Canada,” he concluded.S Madan Lal, the former India Test player who is managing the Indian side, insisted that the game was being taken very seriously and that two well-balanced teams were being brought to Toronto. Players such as Ajay Jadeja, Venkatesh Prasad, Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar were among those who would play.There was, however, no mention of Mohammad Azharuddin who was originally announced as the captain of the Indian side.

Gus Logie has signed a four-year contract extension as the coach of Bermuda.Logie originally took on the role for six months in April, but following Bermuda’s success in qualifying for the World Cup in 2007, the board has offered him a longer deal, which he has accepted. The official start date of the new contract is October 5.Under Logie, Bermuda have also reached the semi-finals of the ICC Intercontinental Cup which will be held in Windhoek, Namibia in October.”We are excited and very pleased,” said Reginald Pearman, the president of Bermuda’s board. “We understand that it is a major change for Gus and his family, but we believe they will be very happy in Bermuda and that Gus will continue to do a great job.”The funding for the contract comes from a number of sources, including the government, the ICC and the Bank of Bermuda Foundation.