All posts by csb10.top

India have agreed to clear their biggest superstars to play in Australia’s domestic Twenty20 competition as Cricket Australia considers an IPL-like franchise system for the tournament. The revamped event would likely start in 2009-10 as Cricket Australia aims to make the most of Twenty20’s growing popularity.Australia’s six-state Twenty20 competition is going ahead this season but from the following year the tournament could look completely different as Australia investigate options for how to structure the series. The state teams could remain but another possibility is to adapt the hugely successful IPL model, in which teams were owned privately and signed international players.”The franchise model is one that is being looked at very, very closely,” Cricket Australia’s public affairs manager Peter Young told . “We are narrowing the options, but the way it will look is still to be determined.”Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and BCCI vice-president, said India would have no problem allowing its players to take part. “They [Cricket Australia] have asked us already if we would release our players for that and we said yes,” Modi said in the . “They have been gracious enough to release their players for us.”Young confirmed Cricket Australia had discussed the possibility of international stars competing in Australia’s Twenty20 tournament, an idea that he said had “consumer appeal”. “But it’s still important the core focus is on state-level players,” Young said.While the 2009-10 start date has not been set in stone, Australia are confident the existing KFC Twenty20 structure will look very different within two years. Cricket Australia’s project group developing the idea is being headed by the CEO James Sutherland and the board hopes to have decided on a model within the next few months.”Getting the domestic Twenty20 right is going to be one of the single most important focuses for Cricket Australia,” Young said. “It’s possibly the single biggest issue for Australian cricket management to formalise and finalise in the next 12 months.”In the meantime, the six states will compete in this summer’s more familiar version of the KFC Twenty20, with extra incentive as the two top teams will qualify for next year’s Champions League. Victoria and Western Australia made the cut this year and will face domestic teams from England, India, South Africa and Pakistan at the inaugural Champions League, which will be held in India this December.

India’s selectors have picked Sourav Ganguly in a 15-man squad for the first two Tests against Australia. He is expected to join India A in Chennai for a Test against New Zealand A beginning on October 3 because he isn’t part of the ongoing camp in Bangalore. There were also call-ups for Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath and Haryana legspinner Amit Mishra, who played three one-day internationals in 2003.The squad consists of seven batsmen, one wicketkeeper, four fast bowlers and three spinners. The six batting slots are filled by Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and VVS Laxman, with Mahendra Singh Dhoni as wicketkeeper. The two wicketkeepers used in Sri Lanka after Dhoni opted out, Dinesh Karthik and Parthiv Patel, have been excluded.Despite the intense speculation on Ganguly’s future leading up to the selection meeting, the new selectors apparently felt that he had the three qualities essential for a series against Australia. “[He has] experience, character and resilience,” said a national selector. “Besides, whatever his scores may have been in Sri Lanka, we could not ignore the fact that he has scored in the last 10 Tests.”Ganguly had reportedly considered quitting cricket after being overlooked for the Irani Cup match between the Rest of India and Delhi but India’s new selection panel, headed by Kris Srikkanth, has valued his experience over youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.Ganguly has struggled against Australia, averaging just 31.73 in 20 Tests compared to an overall average of 41.74 in 109 Tests. Since his recall in December 2006 and till the end of the home series against South Africa earlier this year, Ganguly scored 1571 runs at 50.67, including a maiden double-century. However, he managed only 96 runs in six innings during India’s 2-1 series defeat in Sri Lanka this summer.

After being called in as a substitute fielder during the home series against Pakistan late last year, Badrinath had a spell in the cold till he was named as Tendulkar’s replacement for the Sri Lanka ODIs, and played three games. Dhoni, his captain for the ODIs, publicly expressed his satisfaction at Badrinath’s attitude during the series. He managed only 92 runs in the recent A team series against Australia and New Zealand and had a poor Irani Cup but the selectors have clearly indicated that he is the future.”I am really happy to be selected to play against Australia,” Badrinath said. “I was expecting this call. I will take tomorrow’s match as serious practice. It will give me some experience against them.”Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma will lead the bowling attack along with Munaf Patel and RP Singh. Anil Kumble, India’s captain, Harbhajan Singh and Mishra, 25, make up the spin quotient. Mishra, who has 289 first-class wickets at 25.21, had a fine domestic season (38 wickets in the Ranji Trophy) and has also staked a claim through his good IPL performances (11 wickets at 12.55).Mishra, a neat and organised spinner, was included in India’s Test squad to face West Indies in 2002 but did not get a game then. He subsequently made his ODI debut against South Africa in Dhaka in 2003 but fell out of national reckoning since. He has now pipped left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who was in the Test side for Sri Lanka and played in the ODI series. Piyush Chawla, the Uttar Pradesh legspinner, was the other name doing the rounds but he too has been overlooked.Mishra said his stint with the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL – during which he claimed a hat-trick against Deccan Chargers – transformed his career.”It all started from the IPL. It gave me the platform to interact with greats like Shane Warne,” Mishra said. “I specifically worked on my loop and top spin. I am very happy after hearing the news. I feel great as I’ve been expecting the call over the last year.”Before the selection meeting, the selectors were “briefed” by Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president. Manohar, apparently, delivered a “convincing and forceful talk” on the need to plan for the team’s future, given that the senior players are on the last leg of their careers. He also reminded the selectors of the board’s guidelines for the committee, including curbs on media assignments.The first Test starts in Bangalore on October 9. The second is in Mohali from October 17-21. The squad for the remaining fixtures, in Delhi and Nagpur, will be named after the second Test.

Scorecard

Having won the previous three games at a canter, England would have been the odds-on favourites to chase a modest target of 91 in 23 overs. An economical spell from fast bowler Jhulan Goswami nearly choked the hosts, but Claire Taylor showed her experience to lead her side home with five balls to spare.The Twenty20 game between the two sides in Taunton had been washed out, and Sunday’s 50-over contest at Arundel was reduced with play starting at only 3.45pm. India began steadily after being put in, with the openers adding 27. Despite Jaya Sharma’s dismissal, the visitors seemed to be going along smoothly before they came up against Holly Colvin’s left-arm spin.Colvin took three vital top-order wickets, including those of Sulakshana Naik, who had anchored the innings till then and Mithali Raj, who had scored fifties in the previous two games, to derail the Indian innings. The remaining batsmen panicked in the hunt for quick runs – the other three wickets in the innings were run-outs.Defending 90, India removed the openers early to reduce England to 14 for 2. Taylor and Charlotte Edwards, two of England’s senior-most players, took the score to 60, but the required run-rate was climbing. Medium-pacer Sunetra Paranjpe conceded just 17 off five overs, backing up Goswami’s 1 for 8.Taylor, though, scored at a brisk pace – her 56 came at a strike-rate over 80, and took England past the line along with Lydia Greenway (12) to keep their chances of a series whitewash alive.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s one-day and Twenty20 captain, has been chosen for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country’s highest honour for a sportsperson. He is the second cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar to receive the award. Dhoni led India to victory in the World Twenty20 in South Africa last year and the tri-series in Australia in 2008.”We are very happy. He has represented the country with distinction, and deserves the honour,” Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, said. “His exemplary leadership and demeanour under pressure, especially in the Twenty20 World Cup and the tri-series in Australia, has made him an ideal role model for millions of young Indians who want to make a mark in life.”BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said what impressed him most about Dhoni was the way he conducted himself. “What I like most about him, apart from his cricket, is the way he leads,” Shetty said. “He is a cool customer and never gets agitated. He displays clarity of thought and speaks his mind even if it may not be seen in the right sense.”An official announcement would follow after August 20.

Scorecard

Despite an umpiring error that could have had serious consequences for them, Yorkshire ran up a convincing nine-wicket victory over their southern neighbours Nottinghamshire. This earned them a place in the Twenty20 quarter-finals, their leading performers being legspinner Adil Rashid and their top three batsmen. They were forced to omit Michael Vaughan, who though willing to play was told to rest by the England team management, a decision that caused much criticism.Nottinghamshire decided to bat on winning the toss, and their innings would have been a sorry sight were it not for a commanding innings of 39 off 28 balls from Adam Voges. Even this innings came courtesy of a remarkable blunder from third umpire Mike ‘Pasty’ Harris. There was a monumental mix-up between Voges and Samit Patel concerning a proposed second run, which concluded in the former being run out at the bowler’s end. However, Harris seemed to be the only person to view the slow-motion replay to think that the bowler, the 17-year-old Yorkshire league debutant off-spinner Azim Rafiq, had broken the stumps with his hand before the ball hit them, and Voges was handed an unwarranted reprieve.This was soon after Nottinghamshire lost their openers in quick succession for 32. Voges quickly took advantage, playing a number of powerful drives and adding 44 with Patel, eventually falling for the highest score of the innings. The only other batsman to reach 20 was Chris Read, with 31 off 25 balls, including 15 off the final over bowled by Darren Gough. Otherwise Yorkshire’s death bowling had been superb, only eight runs coming off the four overs before that. So desperate were the home batsmen to score that they succumbed in quick succession to the mesmerizing spin of Rashid, who took a well-deserved 4 for 24.Yorkshire could scarcely have been given a better start, as Andrew Gale and Gerard Brophy shared a superb opening partnership of 99 in 14 overs. They mixed good running with powerful boundaries off the loose balls, yet the home bowlers did manage to keep it from degenerating into a massacre at any point. At 99 Gale unexpectedly chipped a ball from Rob Ferley gently to midwicket, but by then Yorkshire could only win the match unless they threw it away themselves.There was still a little pressure in that more than six runs an over were still required, and 33 off the last five overs. Clearly a couple more wickets could shift the balance. But Brophy reached his 50 off 38 balls, and Anthony McGrath hit some powerful shots, including a high six over extra cover off Ferley, to win the match at a gallop in the end with two overs to spare. They finished unbeaten, respectively, with 57 off 45 balls and 30 off 15.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary
How they were out