All posts by n8rngtd.top

The County Championship looks set to be curtailed so that more emphasis can be placed on the limited-overs game with the ECB having agreed in principle to cut the number of games played by each team a season

George Dobell19-May-2015The County Championship looks set to be curtailed so that more emphasis can be placed on the limited-overs game with the ECB having agreed in principle to cut the number of games played by each team a season.Emphasis will be placed instead on the financial potential of Twenty20 cricket and the desire to promote the 50-over game ahead of England’s staging of the 2019 World Cup.In a bid to ease fixture congestion and improve the value of the domestic T20 tournament, in particular, the ECB is attempting to devise a schedule where counties play just 12 Championship matches per season. At present they play 16.The last time such a move was proposed – as part of David Morgan’s report in 2011-12 – a backlash from county members prompted a last-minute rethink. But this time there appears to be something close to a consensus within the counties and no intention of further consultation with county members or other spectators.Key to the changes is an attempt to maximise revenues from T20 cricket. While the 2015 season is likely to see record attendances for the NatWest Blast competition – for the first time, over one million tickets could be sold – the ECB still believes further progress is possible and necessary.The exact shape of a future T20 competition remains unclear, with discussions ongoing, but it currently appears likely that attempts to introduce franchise cricket will be resisted and that the tournament will be played in two leagues, with a system of promotion and relegation as yet open to debate.Such a solution would see the top league gain nearly all the TV coverage and the salary cap might be relaxed for the competition to allow the recruitment of more big-name overseas players. It is also likely to be played in an eight to 10 week window in the school holidays.The availability of England players for at least a sizeable portion of the tournament remains under debate.The ECB also hopes to change the schedule for 50-over cricket. With a view to the next Champions Trophy and World Cup – both scheduled to be played in England in relatively early season, in 2017 and 2019 respectively – the aim is to play more 50-over cricket in the first couple of months of the season (the competition currently starts on July 25) and make room for a showpiece Lord’s final in July or August.But it is the changes to the County Championship that will prove most controversial. While the Professional Cricketers’ Association favours a conference system to arrive at a 12-game season, others favour one division of 10 (with teams not necessarily playing each other twice) and another of eight.There are also suggestions of adding three teams to create a 21-team, three-division tournament. An additional three teams could be drawn either from the Associate nations or the leading minor counties, with the chairman, Colin Graves, eager at least to explore the end of the 18-team closed shop. It is understood, however, that Cricket Scotland have yet to be approached about such a possibility and may be reluctant to compromise their international status and the prospect of playing Test cricket.While many of these alterations have been mooted for years, this time the ECB is determined to drive them through. Change appears inevitable and the County Championship looks certain to bear the brunt.

Life is suddenly a whole lot less certain for Ed Cowan. For the past 18 months he has answered to the title of Test opening batsman, but Chris Rogers’ promotion to join Shane Watson atop the order against England means Cowan must now scrap for another com

Daniel Brettig in Worcester02-Jul-2013Life is suddenly a whole lot less certain for Ed Cowan. For the past 18 months he has answered to the title of Test opening batsman, but Chris Rogers’ promotion to join Shane Watson atop the order against England means Cowan must now scrap for another commission.While he met the news with good grace, Cowan has responded by vowing to fight for a place elsewhere in the order, citing obstinate efforts in India as proof he will be capable of tackling more varied challenges. Day one of the tour match against Worcestershire will be the first day of the rest of his life.At New Road Cowan is set to bat at No. 3, after Watson and Rogers walk out to face the new ball as the coach Darren Lehmann’s favoured opening combination. But Cowan said he was now very much in the contest for other batting positions, saying he had received “good communication” about where Lehmann and the captain Michael Clarke saw him fitting in.”If you’ve got Clarke in there somewhere, there’s three other spots I need to be fighting it out for,” Cowan said. “I’ve always said if you can open the batting you can bat anywhere. And particularly now having been through four Tests in India, if I was to come in in the middle order against spin then I feel really comfortable doing that. I don’t know if I could have said that having not been through that.”So if you can open the batting against the new ball, you can certainly come in against the older ball. It’s hard to go the other way. I started my career at six for New South Wales, I obviously bat at No.3 in one day cricket for Tasmania and five if Ricky, last season, was playing. So I’ve had some experience, if selected and I’m not opening the batting, then that will be the biggest challenge.”Finding a way to distract yourself until it’s time to bat because one thing about opening the batting is you start preparing when they’re eight or nine down, you’ve got 10 minutes to put your pads on and out you go. If it’s in the middle order, do you relax, do you stay up? All those little things and that will be a challenge but it’s something I’m just going to have to deal with.”If Cowan’s determination to succeed in India could not be questioned, given that he faced 706 balls across the series to be second only to the aggregate-topper M Vijay, a lack of centuries since the first match of the home summer against South Africa in Brisbane did not help his cause.At Taunton Cowan was unfortunate in the first innings, given out caught behind though the ball appeared to brush clothing rather than bat, but in the second wasted a fluent start with an edged cut shot. Other such lapses against Sri Lanka at home prevented Cowan from establishing the sort of record that would have made him harder to dispense with.”I think if you break it down I’m only really interested in being judged on what I do in Test cricket,” Cowan said. “So you can look at all the first-class games, but for me, what happens in Test cricket, I think that was a really positive series for me.”A few things happened in the Sri Lankan series I wasn’t happy with and India was hard work but I felt I had my head above water by then in that series. This is a huge series, I feel playing against good fast bowling, when the ball swings is right up my alley I guess in terms of my strengths and I know if I get in this series I’ll be making it count.”Knowledge gleaned from starting this northern summer with Nottinghamshire might count in Cowan’s favour as a middle-order option, given that the first Test will be played at Trent Bridge. He is also aware of the quirky rhythms of an English day’s cricket, as demonstrated on day one against Somerset when a batsmen’s day was turned on its head by the second new ball.”I think aggressive in England doesn’t necessarily mean playing big shots,” he said. “It means showing intent and looking to score but understanding if conditions dictate the other way you can still be full of intent but not necessarily rocking along on the scoreboard.”At Trent Bridge there is quite a bit of swing, there is a little bit of natural variation in the wicket, a few little quirks like little sight screens at the members end and the members sit in front. Those little things I now know of and have dealt with, so I can just feel at home and go for my life I guess.”

Punjab Kings break the bank for Liam Livingstone as teams plug holes on second day of the auction

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-202210:57

Kumble: For a change, it was bowlers’ auction

Jofra Archer is not expected to be available for IPL 2022 as he recovers from surgery on his right elbow, but that did not stop Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, as well as Sunrisers Hyderabad, briefly, from bidding frenetically for him on the second day of the mega auction in Bengaluru. Archer was finally sold to Mumbai for INR 8 crore (USD 1.06 million), not making him the most expensive buy of the day but certainly a surprise one.The most expensive player on the day, and the day’s first millionaire, was Liam Livingstone, who at INR 11.5 crore (USD 1.53 million) also became the most expensive overseas buy of the auction when Punjab Kings beat off bids from Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers to get their hands on the hard-hitting England batting allrounder. He was also, overall, the fourth-highest earner in the auction, behind Ishan Kishan, Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer, in that order.ALSO READ: How the ten teams stack upMumbai, in fact, started the day slowly, barely getting involved in the first couple of hours, but when they did, they did so aggressively. After Archer, they went toe-to-toe with a desperate-looking Knight Riders to get hold of Tim David, and won the race at INR 8.25 crore (USD 1.1 million) from a base price of INR 40 lakh.”It [Mumbai] has been a franchise that was really close to my heart and I always wanted to play for them as long as I could have remembered watching IPL cricket,” Archer said in a message. “I’m so glad that I’ve finally got the opportunity to represent such an amazing franchise. I’m also going to get the chance to play with some of the biggest stars in the world so I’m really looking forward to starting a new chapter.”

Some prominent players to go unsold

Suresh Raina, Eoin Morgan, Amit Mishra, Colin Munro, Shakib Al Hasan, Aaron Finch, Steven Smith, Moises Henriques, David Wiese, Kane Richardson, Martin Guptill, Andrew Tye, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma, Marnus Labuschagne, Dawid Malan, Imran Tahir, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Adil Rashid

“Jofra is a player Mahela (Jayawardene, the head coach) gave his first professional debut to. So happy to have gotten them together,” Akash Ambani, the Mumbai owner, said on the official broadcast. “Although it is going to be in next year, but very happy to have a lethal combination. Tymal (Mills, who was also bought by the franchise) has been a lethal death bowler; Mahela coaches him in the Hundred and he has managed to stay injury-free.”Tim David is going to partner (Kieron) Pollard at No. 6. We have been tracking Tim and he has got success at RCB last year. Looking forward to seeing him and Pollard finishing innings for us.”Then, later, on to the final round, after the ten teams submitted their wishlists, with not much money left but some key slots left to fill. At least a couple of teams were still without a first-choice wicketkeeper.Titans started with a relatively big purse, and snapped up David Miller for INR 3 crore (USD 400,000), Wriddhiman Saha for INR 1.9 crore (USD 252,000) and Matthew Wade for INR 2.4 crore (USD 319,000) very quickly.Liam Livingstone was the biggest earner on the second day of the auction•Getty Images

Knight Riders, meanwhile, added Sam Billings as possibly their primary wicketkeeper for INR 2 crore (USD 265,000), while Chris Jordan went to Super Kings for INR 3.6 crore (USD 478,000).Some other prominent names also found teams late in the script, among them Lungi Ngidi and Tim Seifert (Capitals), Glenn Phillips and Fazalhaq Farooqi (Sunrisers), Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav and Alex Hales (Knight Riders), Evin Lewis (Super Giants), Nathan Ellis (Kings) and Karun Nair and James Neesham (Royals).Earlier, Aiden Markram, the first name to go under the hammer on the second day, invited a cautious bidding battle between Kings and Sunrisers, with Mumbai entering the fray too, before Sunrisers took him home for INR 2.6 crore (USD 346,000). Ajinkya Rahane, a well-travelled player in the IPL who has also led the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant/s and Royals in the past, went to Knight Riders for his base price of INR 1 crore (USD 132,700).Among the other players to attract interest from more than one team, and therefore earn a big payday, were Odean Smith, Marco Jansen, Shivam Dube, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Romario Shepherd and Rovman Powell.Anil Kumble, the Kings’ head coach, was pleased with how the franchise – one of the more aggressive bidders – had gone at the auction. “To get some great players in the lineup like Rabada, (Jonny) Bairstow and Dhawan along with Mayank (Agarwal),” he said. “Young players like (Rahul) Chahar, (Harpreet) Brar, Arshdeep (Singh)… now Livingstone and Odean, really exciting talent, is really good. To get back Shahrukh (Khan) is wonderful. Obviously, we wanted to have a few more who played for us.”Smith, much-talked-about in recent times for his all-round skills in white-ball cricket, was a net bowler at Knight Riders last season. However, the team didn’t enter the race for Smith at all, but Kings, Super Giants, Sunrisers and Royals did, before Kings got him for INR 6 crore (USD 796,000). Jansen, with Mumbai last season, was taken away by Sunrisers for INR 4.2 crore (USD 557,000). Dube went to Super Kings for INR 4 crore (USD 531,000), while Khaleel was Capitals’ first buy of the day for INR 5.25 crore (USD 697,000), and Sakariya, one of the stories of the IPL in 2020, joined fellow left-arm quick Khaleel for INR 4.2 crore (USD 557,000).Mumbai Indians were slow movers on the second morning, but got cracking in the afternoon•BCCI

It was a memorable day for some of India’s 2022 Under-19 World Cup champions. Allrounder Raj Bawa, Player of the Match in the final against England, found a lot of interest. Sunrisers and Mumbai entered and left the race, leaving Kings to sign him for INR 2 crore (USD 265,430). Quick bowler Rajvardhan Hangargekar, meanwhile, went to Super Kings for INR 1.5 crore (USD 200,000). Their captain Yash Dhull went to Capitals for INR 50 lakh (USD 66,360) and Vicky Ostwal joined him there after being bought for INR 20 lakh (USD 26,000).Others to find teams in the pre-lunch session were Dominic Drakes, Jayant Yadav and Vijay Shankar (Titans), K Gowtham, Dushmantha Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem and Manan Vohra (Super Giants), Jaydev Unadkat and Mayank Markande (Mumbai), Sandeep Sharma (Kings), Navdeep Saini (Royals) and Maheesh Theekshana (Super Kings).”See, we wanted someone like a Quinton (de Kock), because we wanted to free KL (Rahul) up from his keeping responsibilities. Sometimes, being a keeper, captain and opening batsman can be strenuous,” Gautam Gambhir, the Super Giants team mentor, said on the official broadcast. “Then we wanted (Marcus) Stoinis, a batting allrounder, and then we went for a bowling allrounder in Jason Holder to split between them.Jofra Archer was bought by Mumbai Indians even though he isn’t expected to play this season•Getty Images

“Then we took Manish Pandey. Deepak Hooda can chip in with a few overs. (K) Gowtham clearly from a perspective that Hooda is a batting allrounder, Gowtham is a bowling allrounder. And we are using only three-four stadiums, so wickets may turn later in the season. Plus we always wanted pace. Imagine if you have Mark Wood and Avesh Khan bowling at 140-145, that will always be a luxury.”Broadcaster Charu Sharma, who had stepped in for the indisposed Hugh Edmeades as the auctioneer on the opening day of the auction, continued to conduct the proceedings. Edmeades sent a video message, which was shown on the official broadcast, saying that he was “absolutely fine” but not in a position to “give a 100% performance” and had therefore chosen to stay away. Right at the end of the day, though, Edmeades returned to the rostrum to complete the job he had started.On the first day of the auction, almost all the teams – Kings the exception, but only just – bought at least one player for a price of INR 10 crore (USD 1.13 million) or more. Ishan Kishan, the old Mumbai hand, went back to the franchise for INR 15.25 crore (USD 2.03 million), making him the most expensive buy of the day. Super Kings splurged on Deepak Chahar, and Knight Riders on Shreyas Iyer, who could well become their new captain. Three overseas players earned similarly big bucks: Wanindu Hasaranga (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Lockie Ferguson (Gujarat Titans) and Nicholas Pooran (Sunrisers). Prasidh Krishna (Royals), Harshal Patel (Royal Challengers), Avesh Khan (Lucknow Super Giants) and Shardul Thakur (Delhi Capitals) also joined the big-leaguers.Every auction sees at least a few lesser-known players, uncapped at the international level, earn big too, and this time that list included Shahrukh Khan, who went to Kings for INR 9 crore (USD 1.2 million), Rahul Tripathi, bought by Sunrisers for INR 8.5 crore (USD 1.13 million), and Rahul Tewatia, who was picked up by Titans for INR 9 crore (USD 1.12 million).

The hard-hitting batter has played age-group cricket alongside his Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2022Who is Aman Khan?
Aman Khan, 25, is a big-hitting batter who can also bowl useful medium pace. At the mega IPL auction earlier this year, Kolkata Knight Riders signed him for INR 20 lakh (USD 26,000 approx).He grew up in Mumbai and took up the game after watching his father play at the local level. He has played a lot of his age-group cricket alongside Shreyas Iyer, who happens to be his captain at Knight Riders.Early days
According to , Aman’s father wanted him to be a fast bowler, which meant he rarely got a chance to bat in his formative years. The turning point came when he had a road accident in which he injured his thigh and toe, but still played the next day and scored 60 in a local Under-14 tournament. That was enough to impress his coach Pravin Amre, who promoted him to No. 4 in the next match. Soon, he was opening the innings.Aman’s impressive performances for Mumbai U-19 earned him a call-up in the Cooch Behar Trophy (India’s national age-group tournament) but a ligament tear ruled him out of the tournament.Selection for Mumbai’s senior team
Aman made his debut in the senior Mumbai side in the quarter-final of the 2020-21 Vijay Hazare Trophy (the domestic List A tournament). He neither batted nor bowled in that game against Saurashtra, but he struck 25 off 18 balls from No. 6 in the semi-final against Karnataka. Three days later, he was part of the side that lifted the trophy by beating Uttar Pradesh by six wickets, though his two overs went for 22 and he didn’t get to bat.During the 2021-22 season, Aman also made his T20 debut, playing five matches in the domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He batted mostly in the lower-middle order and scored 40 runs at a strike rate of 148.14.Auditioning for IPL
Aman had been appearing for trials for various IPL franchises for six years before finally breaking through. In 2018, he had hit 85 off 47 balls, including six fours and as many sixes, in the T20 Mumbai League. During that knock, he was involved in a 127-run stand with Iyer.

Melbourne Renegades, with captain Sophie Molineux carrying an injury, fell in a heap

Andrew McGlashan25-Nov-2021Talk about peaking at the right time. For the second night running Adelaide Strikers produced a display of utter dominance to book a place in the WBBL grand final against Perth Scorchers.Where it was Amanda-Jade Wellington who stole the show on Tuesday, this victory was set-up by the seamers – notably the superb Darcie Brown – although Wellington certainly played her part with the ball and in the field.Everything that could go wrong for Renegades did. They lost Josie Dooley first ball to a huge Megan Schutt inswinger, Courtney Webb was run out backing up and captain Sophie Molineux did not bat having been in a moonboot with a foot injury ahead of the game.After Schutt’s first-ball strike, Brown then made a mark in her first over when Carly Leeson clubbed to mid-on where Wellington almost misjudged the catch before diving forward.Jemimah Rodrigues briefly responded with three boundaries off Schutt’s second over but fell to a well-executed plan when she upper cut a short ball from Brown to third. Brown would finish her four overs with 18 dot balls in another agenda-setting performance.The wheels well and truly came off for Renegades when Jess Duffin crunched Wellington to mid-on, Player of the Tournament Harmanpreet Kaur played across a straight one against Tahlia McGrath and Webb was run out for a diamond duck when a straight drive clipped Wellington’s fingers.Eve Jones planted Wellington down the ground for a straight six before being run out by Sarah Coyte’s direct hit having more than made amends for a misfield.By now it was clear that there was a problem with Molineux as she continued to slip down the order and coach Simon Helmet confirmed to the host broadcaster that she was playing through pain and they hoped she wouldn’t have to bat. Molineux, who was tentative in her delivery stride, was taken for 22 runs off her two overs.The lower order managed to see how the 20 overs but there was never any damage done to Strikers who sent down 68 dot balls.The chase was always likely to be a formality and the only major alarm came through an injury scare when Dane van Niekerk took a blow on the glove attempting a reverse sweep. She responded with two boundaries and then a six to allay too many concerns.Katie Mack, in the form of her life, took her tournament tally past 500 runs as she again remained unbeaten.

“It was always going to be useful to give our bowlers more time to get Zimbabwe bowled out”

Mohammad Isam10-Jul-2021Najmul Hossain Shanto has said that Bangladesh went for quick runs on the fourth day to give his team’s bowlers ample time to bowl Zimbabwe out in the fourth innings. Shanto and Shadman Islam both struck unbeaten centuries to raise Bangladesh’s lead to 476 runs, before Brendan Taylor’s counterattacking 92 took the hosts to 140 for 3 at stumps.Shanto said that while Bangladesh were still on course for victory, the Harare pitch did not have too many demons for the batters.”It was always going to be useful to give our bowlers more time to get them bowled out,” Shanto said. “That’s why we needed to score quick runs, and it went according to plan. I think we are in a good position. But we have a lot of work to do. The wicket is still quite good. Our bowlers and fielders have their work cut out. We hope to take early wickets, which will make things easy for us.”Shanto’s 117 included six sixes, a new record in Zimbabwe, as he went after the part-time spinners Roy Kaia and Milton Shumba. He added 196 runs with Islam, Bangladesh’s highest second-wicket stand against Zimbabwe.This was Shanto’s second century in three Tests although there have been some low scores in between. “I try to stay in the present, not think about what happened in the last four innings. I can have a bad day, but I always try to score runs.”Shanto said that he and Islam were guiding each other throughout the partnership.”The positive side was that we spoke to each other about what to do and when to do it. We were not thinking about scoring hundreds. We were responding to the match situation, but we finished on two good scores,” he said.Islam dedicated his maiden Test century to his parents. Islam’s father has been working in BCB’s development programme for two decades, specialising in scouting young talent. Both Islam and Shanto have come through this system, although Islam is a late bloomer.”I wanted to play ball-by-ball but I ended up getting a century. I am happy about my achievement. This century came because of my team-mates and coaches. I’d like to dedicate it to my parents,” he said.Islam also said that he felt bad that Saif Hassan, who made 43, missed out on a big score.”Saif was unfortunate to get out in that way. He was batting well today, and we were doing well together. Shanto came and told me that we should continue in the same way. But things changed after lunch, when we decided to up the scoring rate.”

The wicketkeeper Chris Hartley has been named Queensland’s player of the year for 2012-13 while the fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile won Western Australia’s equivalent award after a strong summer

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-2013The wicketkeeper Chris Hartley has been named Queensland’s player of the year for 2012-13 while the fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile won Western Australia’s equivalent award after a strong summer. The state awards period was wrapped up at the weekend with the Queensland titles handed out and Hartley almost swept all categories.He won the Ian Healy Trophy as the state’s player of the year and also picked up the one-day player of the year prize and the players’ player award after a season in which he completed the double of 500 Sheffield Shield runs and 50 dismissals. However, the Shield award was the only honour Hartley did not collect as that went to the captain James Hopes for a season that brought him 473 runs at 31.53 and 32 wickets at 22.75.Hartley was Queensland’s second-leading run scorer in the Shield behind Joe Burns, with 510 runs at 28.33 and he also picked up 51 catches and a stumping. The likelihood is that Matthew Wade and Brad Haddin will be Australia’s two glovemen on the tour of England later this year but all the same, Hartley’s efforts are a reminder to the national selectors in an Ashes year of his consistent output – it was the fourth time he had completed the double of 500 runs and 50 dismissals.In Western Australia, Coulter-Nile had another encouraging summer and will be in contention for the Ashes squad, although fast bowling is not an area in which Australia lack depth. He collected 26 Shield wickets at 27.92 and was the second leading wicket taker in the Ryobi Cup with 16 victims at 23.18.The other four states all named their players of the year last month. James Faulkner won the Ricky Ponting Medal in Tasmania, Chris Rogers took out the Bill Lawry Medal in Victoria, in South Australia Chadd Sayers claimed the Neil Dansie Medal and Gurinder Sandhu won the Steve Waugh Medal in New South Wales.

South Africa enter this tournament with low-key expectations, and will hope to fly under the radar into the business end of the tournament

The Preview by Firdose Moonda04-Jun-2013

Overview

It’s that time of the season South Africa dread: major tournament time. No matter how much they try to convince supporters, the media and themselves, there is no doubt that major ICC events inevitably invoke anxiety. This undoubtedly leads to the same questions: Will they finally win? If not, how will they exit this time? And how bad will the aftermath be?What makes this time different is…. Absolutely nothing. Instead of talking up the current squad as being the one that will change South Africa’s fortunes, Gary Kirsten did not promise anything. He only “hopes” that the team can do better than they have in previous tournaments, and even if they don’t, he said he would leave the job a happy man.That will not lessen the pressure on the fifteen who will travel to England. They know that apart from saying goodbye to Kirsten, they have fans to appease and a point to prove.With no Graeme Smith or Jacques Kallis, they are low on experience and will rely on the more quiet leaders such as Hashim Amla and Robin Peterson, to assist AB de Villiers. Their batting line-up is the less settled of the two departments, which will put extra responsibility on the bowlers. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe have been through enough campaigns to have seen what it takes to win.AB de Villiers has plenty to ponder over the coming few weeks as captain, wicketkeeper and senior batsman•AFP

Key player

AB de Villiers has been called one of the most talented players of his generation, and was voted the most innovative batsman at the recent IPL. His contributions will be crucial to South Africa’s success. Whether he promotes himself up the order to allow more time to launch an assault, or saves himself for a late burst, de Villiers will set the tone for South Africa’s totals.He will play an equally important role as captain, where his tactical acumen will have to be at its highest in the absence of Smith and Kallis. While not having the senior men around could be a disadvantage, it could also give de Villiers the space he needs to establish his own leadership style, which will be important for South Africa’s development.

Surprise package

Having established himself in the Test team Alviro Petersen earned a recall to the one-day side on county form and reputation. In two championship matches for Somerset, he accumulated 437 runs, but his only notable limited-overs contribution of late was an unbeaten 63 in the Yorkshire Bank 40.Andrew Hudson, convenor of selectors, said Petersen was picked over Henry Davids and Quinton de Kock because of the experience he could add to a line-up missing Smith. “We don’t want to be 10 for 2 upfront, we’d rather have someone who can give us solid starts,” Hudson said. Petersen is not known for his big shots, but is level-headed and can build an innings. With South Africa aiming for safety first, this could be his opportunity to show he belongs in the shorter formats too.

Weakness

Since 1999, South Africa’s biggest challenge in major tournaments has been overcoming themselves and dealing with expectation. So far, they have not been able to get it right. Be it miscalculation of a Duckworth-Lewis target like in 2003, or mind games in 2011. When pressure mounts, South Africa struggle.Any opponent who has done their homework will know the best way to beat them is mentally, although this time they can also exploit an unsettled batting line-up. With a new opening pair, a young No.3, and inexperience running through parts of the squad, South Africa will be vulnerable in this department too.

Champions Trophy history

South Africa have reason to remember this competition with pride because it is the only ICC event they have won. They were the inaugural champions in 1998 when the format was still a knockout, beating West Indies in the final.In the next edition, they broke another common misconception by winning a knockout match in a major event when they beat England in the quarter-finals. They did not defend the title, though, and their results went downhill from there.In 2002 and 2006, they lost in the semi-finals, but the real heartbreak came when they hosted the tournament in 2009. They were set a steep target of 324 to beat England in the group stage and qualify for the next round. Smith scored a century in the cause but was denied a runner by Andrew Strauss, and eventually fell with South Africa too far behind.

Recent form

At fourth place on the ICC’s ODI rankings, South Africa do not go into this tournament as one of the favourites, but that is probably more because of the transition phase they are in, than where they lie on the charts. Their results have not been as consistent of late as Kirsten shifted the focus to Test cricket for the two years of his tenure.Last summer, South Africa lost a home series to New Zealand 2-1 and beat Pakistan 3-2, but it was a hard-fought series that went down to the final fixture. Since Kirsten took over in 2011, South Africa have played 24 ODIs, won 13, lost 10 and had one no-result. Their win percentage has dropped to 54% from around 62% overall.

A round-up of Logan Cup matches that ended on February 22, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2013
ScorecardTuskers, helped by a defiant century by Bilal Shafayat, held Mountaineers for a draw after following on at Mutare Sports Club. Trailing by 134 runs at the start of the fourth day, Tuskers faced a tough task of saving the match with seven wickets in hand. They lost overnight batsman off the fifth over of the morning, but Shafayat and Sean Williams forged a 143-run partnership that helped the Tuskers clear the deficit. Shafayat carried on after the fall of William’s wicket and completed his second century in as many matches. By the time he was out, he had helped Tuskers use almost the entire quota of the day.Mountaineers had chosen to bat in a bid to get close to Tuskers in the points table and declared their innings after scoring 475 on the second day at a healthy rate of 3.50. Greg Lamb and Timcyen Maruma scored centuries while Kevin Kasuza and Kudzai Sauramba chipped in with half-centuries.It was Shafayat who held together Tuskers in the first innings too with a half-century, but Mountaineers bowlers struck regularly and had reduced Tuskers to 223 for 9. Some late resistance by No. 11 Jason Nyumbu, who scored 65, helped Tuskers to get close to 300. Shingi Masakadza and Maruma shared four wickets each.Tuskers maintained their unbeaten record in the competition and are placed at the top with 35 points, six ahead of Mountaineers.
ScorecardMashonaland Eagles scored over 300 runs on the last day of their match against Southern Rocks, but it was the Rocks who took one point form the drawn match because of their first-innings lead.Once the Eagles chose to bat, opener Keith Kondo anchored the innings, after they lost two quick wickets, with 98. He was accompanied by Stuart Matsikenyeri who made 76. Scores in forties from Sikandar Raza and Forster Mutizwa from the middle order took them past 350 after Tawanda Mupariwa took four wickets.Rocks had a similar innings when they were struggling at 26 for 3 and were steered to safety by opener Matthew Pardoe. After he also got out in the nineties, Richmond Mumtumbami (76), Prince Masvaure (94) and Trevor Garwe (75) made sure they got a first innings lead of 75 runs.With more than a day to spare, Rocks would have fancied a chance of dismissing the Eagles again but six out of their top seven batsmen contributed with useful scores which ended the match in a draw. The Rocks are second from the bottom with 15 points while the Eagles are at the bottom with only one point.

A four-wicket haul by offspinner Nasir Aziz and a fighting half-century from Shaiman Anwar helped UAE secure their second WCL Championship win over Canada in King City

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShaiman Anwar made 57 after his century in the previous match•Eddie Norfolk

A four-wicket haul by offspinner Nasir Aziz and a fighting half-century from Shaiman Anwar helped UAE secure their second WCL Championship win over Canada in King City, Ontario. The victory strengthened UAE’s position at fourth place on the points table, giving them a three-point lead over Afghanistan.UAE’s bowlers, led by Aziz, vindicated their captain Khurram Khan’s decision to bowl first, as Canada’s in-form opener Ruvindu Gunasekera was dismissed by Shadeep Silva for 9. Usman Limbada, who scored a half-century in the last match, was pushed up to No 3 and he stitched together a steady 50-run stand with Hiral Patel, who fell soon after scoring his third List A fifty. The experienced Ashish Bagai joined Limbada at the crease but the pair struggled, adding 33 in 80 balls. Canada’s scoring-rate dropped further after Limbada was bowled by Aziz in his first over, the 30th of the innings. The next six overs produced just 10 runs and Damodar Daesrath succumbed to the pressure in the batting Powerplay, holing out to midwicket to give Aziz his second wicket. Canada managed 11 in the Powerplay and Aziz and Silva struck regularly in the last 10 overs to restrict the hosts to 179 for 9. Aziz, playing his eighth List A match, finished with his best figures of 4 for 20.In reply, UAE raced to 21 in 2.4 overs, but suffered a couple of early jolts as opener Abdul Shakoor and Khurram departed. Swapnil Patil tried to get a partnership going with Arshad Ali but fell to Junaid Siddiqui. A 58-run stand in nearly 19 overs between Arshad and Anwar anchored the chase. However, Rizwan Cheema struck, dismissing Arshad, Rohan Mustafa and Mohammad Azam in consecutive overs to leave UAE stuttering at 137 for 6 in the 37th over. Anwar played a tenacious 93-ball 57, following his unbeaten hundred two days ago, and almost guided UAE home before Cheema removed him in the 45th over. With 14 required and two wickets left, Canada were back in the game. However, Aziz and Silva steered UAE to victory in the 49th over.