All posts by csb10.top

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has said it was tremendous beating South Africa on their home soil, especially so with a relatively young and inexperienced side. “It was really pleasing to see how we operated under pressure,” Gayle told the . “We just have to try and keep on improving and maintaining the discipline.”Gayle said West Indies now have to focus on improving on their performance in Port Elizabeth where they won their first away Test against a sizeable opposition since June 2000 when they beat England in Birmingham. “This is a different challenge. We usually win Test matches at the end of the series when it’s already lost. Now, we are one-up at the start of a series so we’ll see how we cope with it for the next couple of days. We know what we’re here for so we’re not going to be complacent.”Though he admitted that leadership was important, Gayle insisted that every player must be given the chance to prove himself. “Sometimes too much is expected of them too soon. You have to give them time to develop as persons and as cricketers as well.”Of his own style of captaincy, Gayle said he tells it like it is. “I’m not going to lie or anything like that. It’s not for you to take what I say personally, whatever the situation, but to understand and look into yourself to see where improvements can be made.”Looking forward to the second Test, Gayle said West Indies expected South Africa to come back strong and hard at them. “We’ll be prepared for it,” he countered. “We’re looking for the fight. Challenges are what we expect, so we’ll try to cope with it. Cape Town is always a good wicket so hopefully we can put up an even better performance there than we did in this game.”Graeme Smith, the South African captain, said South Africa were better individually and as a team than they had shown the four days in Port Elizabeth and promised they would rebound in the next Test. He said the three days of rain preceding the match had hampered South Africa’s preparations but refused to use it as an excuse for the defeat.The second Test will start on January 2, followed by the third and final one in Durban on January 10.

John Dyson will be back on March 1 to continue his role as the coach of the Sri Lankan team before their Test tour to New Zealand in April. Mohan de Silva, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), said that Dyson had agreed to return to Sri Lanka and complete his contract which ends on March 31 and prepare the team for the two Tests against New Zealand.Dyson angered a section of the SLC top brass when he back to Sydney straight after the cancellation of the New Zealand tour, following the tsunami disaster, without informing them. The SLC’s ExCo was divided on whether they should retain Dyson and give him a fresh contract or look for someone else to replace him.However the issue appears to have thinned out following Dyson’s talks with de Silva and Duleep Mendis in Australia recently. de Silva said that SLC have offered new terms in the contract which Dyson hopes to discuss with SLC officials when he is here. Depending on the outcome of the discussions Dyson’s contract could be extended to anything from one year to until the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.Dyson, the former Australian opener, had succeeded Dav Whatmore after signing a 19-month contract in September 1, 2003. Within that period of time Sri Lanka improved their rankings in both forms of the game, moving from seventh to fifth in Tests and leaped from seventh to second place in the one-dayers.Sri Lanka are due to play New Zealand in two Tests at Napier and Wellington, apart from a three-day warm-up game from March 26. The national cricket selectors named a pool of 24 players for training from which the final squad will be selected. These players will be involved in SLC’s provincial tournament which gets underway tomorrow and ends with the final at Dambulla on March 6.

Wisden Asia CricketBrian Close (England, 1976)
So much for respecting your elders. With England about to front up to West Indies’ all-new four-pronged pace attack, there was only one man to call – the masochistic Yorkshireman, Close, who was still up for a bit of rough and tumble at 45. Nine years after his last Test appearance, and a staggering 27 after his first, Close took one hell of a beating as Michael Holding, Andy Roberts and Co got stuck in. It would’ve been sickening if Close didn’t seem to be relishing it so much: he took to chesting short balls down like a centre-back. One gruesome evening at Old Trafford in particular, the Windies quicks painted Close’s body all the colours of the rainbow. And black.Wayne Larkins (England, 1989-90)
No more than a decent, if occasionally devastating, county batsman to most, Larkins had not played for England for over eight years and 85 Tests when Graham Gooch hand-picked him on his first tour as captain, to play against West Indies in their prime. In a rich, pre-Atherton era of duff England openers, it was still a major surprise: Ned Flanders seemed to have as good a chance as Larkins. Gooch said it was because Larkins had always been impressive against his county, Essex; closer inspection showed that Larkins had hardly scored a run against them. No matter, it worked: Larkins hit the winning runs in England’s historic victory in the first Test – their first against the West Indies in 16 yearsColin Cowdrey (England, 1974-75)
At the age of 42, and after 109 Tests of outstanding service, Cowdrey had earned the right to put his feet up. But when English fingers starting snapping and crackling like Rice Krispies in Australia, Cowdrey was flown down in an emergency. Four days later he was facing Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson at their most rampant on the Perth trampoline. Cowdrey couldn’t turn a tide that was already swimming violently against England – they were battered 4-1 – but as always he got in line and hung around, courageous to the last.Younis Ahmed (Pakistan, 1986-87)
Nobody has missed more consecutive Tests between appearances: 104, over a whopping 17 years spent serving a ban for touring South Africa. At 39, Younis came back into the hottest kitchen of all – Pakistan against India, in India. He lasted only two Tests. During the second, at Ahmedabad, he complained of back trouble, but instead of resting made his way to a discotheque. Imran Khan, the captain, made sure that it was his last game.Cyril Washbrook (England, 1956)
It was just another day at the office. But then Cyril Washbrook’s fellow England selectors asked him to leave the room. When Washbrook, aged 41 and out of Test cricket for over five years, returned, they asked him to return to the side for the third Test against Australia at Headingley following England’s defeat at Lord’s. He did, and coming to the crease at 17 for 3, struck a splendid 98, with England going on to an innings-victory.Bob Simpson (Australia, 1977-78)
At the age of 41, 10 years after his last Test appearance and nine years after he had retired from first-class cricket, Simpson was invited to captain, coach and cajole a young, Packer-gutted Australian side against India and West Indies. He thwacked 176 in his second Test back, and played spin as imperiously as ever, though his team went down in the Caribbean. Being a father figure to a group of young Aussies was good practice for Simpson: 10 years later he coached them to World Cup glory on the subcontinent.Carl Hooper (West Indies, 2000-2001)
Unlikely on any number of counts. First, that he’d quit international cricket two years earlier on the eve of the World Cup, when he was roundly castigated for leaving his country in the lurch. Second, that this most laconic, laissez-faire of men, once seemingly the antithesis of a team player, should return as captain. Yet for a time it worked: it was under Hooper that West Indies first saw light at the end of the tunnel. And it was telling that such an eternal underachiever should average 46 as captain as against 34 when not. Fate had another card left to play, however: the 2003 World Cup campaign, in which Hooper did very little wrong apart from lose the odd toss and fail to control the weather, turned out to be his last.Simon O’Donnell (Australia, 1988-89)
Most comebacks are dependent on selectorial whim. For O’Donnell, it was more serious than that. As a hard-hitting batsman and hard-to-hit death bowler he was a key member of Australia’s 1987 World Cup-winning squad. But after the tournament O’Donnell, in his mid-20s and in peak physical condition – he had earlier been offered professional terms to play Australian Rules football – was diagnosed with a cancerous lump on his ribs. Yet within a year he was back under the Baggy Green, and soon carting 74 off 29 balls in an Austral-Asia Cup semi-final. The cliché of the brave innings never seemed quite the same again.Fred Titmus (England, 1974-75)
Many cricketers have got down on one knee to slog-sweep; quite a few have played on one leg. But one toe? Titmus did. Aged 42, and seven years after he lost four toes in a sickening boating accident in the Caribbean – his left foot got stuck in a propeller – Titmus was recalled for his third Ashes tour. And though his offspin wasn’t especially successful, he stood up to Lillee and Thomson and crashed England’s highest score, 61, on the same Perth flyer that greeted Cowdrey, in his first Test back.Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India, 1982-83)
Dumped after the series against Australia in 1979-80, having gone nearly a decade without a Test five-for, it was a major surprise when Venkat returned, at 37, for a trip to the West Indies, partnering bowlers (Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Maninder Singh) who hadn’t even been born when he made his Test debut. Venkat’s last five-for had been in the Caribbean, in 1970-71; this time around he offered control, as always, but struggled for penetration. The following winter he drifted off towards a successful umpiring career.Aasif Karim (Kenya, 2002-03)
Karim retired after captaining Kenya in their disappointing 1999 World Cup campaign, and as his insurance business took off he hardly touched a bat or ball for four years. But he was whistled up, Roger Milla-style, for the 2003 World Cup to give Kenya a bit of experience, and despite a portly, balding figure that was a picture of innocuousness, gave the otherwise omnipotent Australians the heebie-jeebies with a surreal spell of 3 for 7 off 8.2 overs in the Super Six match at Durban. They were the last wickets of his career; as Verbal Kint said of Keyser Soze, “Like that, he’s gone”. But Karim had had his 50 balls of fame, and when the romance of the World Cup is on the agenda, he will not be forgotten.The ExtrasBob Taylor (England, 1986)
Having retired from first-class cricket two years earlier Taylor was at Lord’s for the first Test against New Zealand, as host for the sponsors Cornhill. On the second day, however, he found himself keeping wicket at the age of 45 as a substitute for the injured Bruce French.Ian Bishop (West Indies, 1992-93 & 1995)
It got him in the end – ending a career of ridiculous promise at 30 – but Bishop overcame serious back trouble to come back twice, each time with a serious bang, first in the crunch series Down Under in 1992-93 and then in England in 1995.

IN Memoriam:To the Campbell family and friends.Andrew Campbell, brother of Sakatchewan Cricket Association former President, Collin Campbell, died in a boating accident last Saturday. Autopsy and other details are still incomplete.Memorial services are scheduled to be held in Fort MacMurray and in Regina, Saskatchewan.Funeral services are scheduled to be held in Mississauga, Ontario on Saturday 9th August, 2003.To the Fakira Family:CCA Senior National Selector and former Director, Teddy Fakira, has received news of the death of a brother in Trinidad & Tobago, due to coronary disease.This is the second death for this family in the past month.We extend our sincere condolences to these families from the Cricket communities in Canada.

Craig McMillan has dismissed fears over his disappointing form on the tour of England so far. Two failures in the seven-wicket defeat at Lord’s, as well as a duck and 12 in the warm-up game at Kent, hasn’t done his confidence much good, but he insisted he is in the right frame of mind to get back in the runs.Talking yesterday at Grace Road, where the New Zealanders are playing Leicestershire, McMillan said, “It was a disappointing Test from my point of view, but I’ve had those before and bounced back so I’m not going to go searching.” He continued, “I felt fine. You can miss out in two knocks easily and it’s not the end of the world. It’s important to stay positive and not change too much, because then things can fall apart.”It’s simple, I missed a straight one then got a little bottom edge. You can over analyse about why those things happened and get down on yourself, but that’s not doing anyone any good.”McMillan was out lbw to Matthew Hoggard in the first innings, and then played a loose sweep shot to Ashley Giles to be caught by Nasser Hussain second ball. At the stage of the match, it wasn’t the most sensible choice of shot.McMillan, 27, averages over 40 in Tests, and he insisted the current match against Leicestershire was important to get him back in some sort of form for the second Test at Headingley next Thursday. “A few of us missed out and we didn’t score the runs we wanted from our middle order. England did, and that’s an area where they outshone us,” he said. “It was a hurt dressing room to be honest. Rightly so, we were pretty confident at the start of the day and thinking 280 was going to be enough to put them under real pressure. We didn’t put them under any real pressure at all. We didn’t bowl as well as we would have liked.”However, McMillan refused to write off their chances in the rest of the series. “Quite often this team performs best when our backs are against the wall. I’m sure the guys will come out swinging, even though it’s not an ideal position.”

UAE 231 for 9 dec and 162 for 3 (Arshad Ali 74*) lead Malaysia 173 (Selvaratnam 53, Mohammad Tauqir 4-34) by 220 runs
ScorecardOn the second day of the Intercontinental Cup match at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur, an astonishing collapse by Malaysia’s lower order, in which seven wickets tumbled for 48, handed the initiative back to the United Arab Emirates. The main destroyers on day two were Ali Asad and Khuram Khan, the former UAE captain, who took five wickets between them. The UAE finished the day on 162 for 3 in their second innings, an overall lead of 220.Three wickets fell in three overs this morning, as the UAE came out swinging. Suresh Navaratnam was the first to go, trapped lbw without adding to his overnight score by Asad. Ariffin Ramly and Sarath Jayawardene then followed in quick succession, and after Rohan Suppiah and Shankar Retinam put on 27, the tail was quickly skittled. Khan wrapped up the innings when Retinam, who had played a defiant innings in the middle order as the batting fell to pieces, was caught behind by Mohammad Taskeen, the wicketkeeper.The UAE lost Ramveer Rai in the second over for just a single, but Arshad Ali kept the advantage gained by the bowlers with an unbeaten 74. With a more-than-useful lead already gained, the UAE now stand a good chance of gaining the maximum points necessary to take them through to the semi-final against Canada.

Shane Warne’s bowling in Colombo during Australia’s 40-run victory over Pakistan has clearly presented him with the chance of relieving Courtney Walsh of his world record for wickets in Tests within the next 12 months, or possibly sooner.Warne, 32, after his 102nd Test, has taken 461 Test wickets, at an average of 26.29.Walsh, who played 132 Tests for the West Indies took 519 wickets at 24.44.The most important aspect of his race for the record, with Muttiah Muralitharan, 30, his only serious rival on 430 wickets, is the news that he has recovered his flipper.It was the ball he used to break through the Pakistan resistance when trapping Younis Khan leg before wicket for 51, and setting in train the Pakistan collapse which gave Australia victory.While age might normally be a problem for a faster bowler, although in the case of Walsh, Kapil Dev and Richard Hadlee, it wasn’t that much of a concern during their latter years, Warne could rightfully claim to be in the prime years of his life.Should he maintain the fitness that has seen him pick up his sixth 10-wicket bag in Tests and his 22nd five-wicket haul, Warne could even expect to be able to possibly claim the prize during next year’s series in the West Indies.There are two more Tests against Pakistan in this series. They will be played in Sharjah where he might normally expect some assistance, especially over five days.Then follows the Ashes series with five Tests at home and then four Tests in the West Indies.Are 11 Tests sufficient for Warne to take 58 wickets?Throughout his career the Victorian leggie has averaged 4.5 wickets a Test match and at that rate he could finish the 11 Tests with just on 50 wickets.But in his last 10 Tests he has taken 54 wickets which is 5.4 a Test which would net him 59.Should he not be able to get among the English and the West Indians, then there is the prospect of two matches to be played against Bangladesh in Darwin and Cairns in July.By comparison, Muralitharan has reached something of a stop in his Test match play. The Sri Lankans have two Tests against South Africa next month. They then host New Zealand for three Tests in May and have two Tests in the West Indies in June/July next year.That is likely to deny the crafty Sri Lankan the chance to put the pressure on Warne, although that statement is always presuming injury doesn’t become a factor for him.Of the other bowlers on the list of top performers, Glenn McGrath is closest to breaking through the 400 barrier.He ended the Colombo Test with 393 wickets from his 85 Tests, Pakistan’s Waqar Younis is on 357 while India’s Anil Kumble goes into the series against the West Indies on 333 wickets from 73 Tests.The next highest bowler on the list who is still playing is South Africa’s Shaun Pollock on 261 and with his average on 20.72, it is the best of all the bowlers in front of him. But it will be interesting to see how his figures look at the completion of the series against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. On his home soil there is every prospect of a significant drop.Javagal Srinath has now returned to Test cricket, and he sits on 232 wickets. The next highest active players on the list are England’s pair of Darren Gough (228) and Andrew Caddick (214) and after them, is Chris Cairns on 197 looking to break through in the forthcoming series against India.Meanwhile, one interesting milestone looms in the batting stakes. Australian Test captain Steve Waugh, after 149 Tests, is 369 runs from becoming the third player, after Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, to break the 10,000 runs barrier.Closest to him is Sachin Tendulkar on 8405 runs with an average of 57.96 which is second only to Don Bradman (99.94) and Walter Hammond (58.45) among those to have scored more than Bradman’s 6996 runs.

South Africa’s preparations for the final one-day international against West Indies has been hampered with the news that Jacques Rudolph is a doubt for the game with a groin strain.Rudolph will undergo a fitness test before tomorrow’s match at the Wanderers. If he fails, either Morne van Wyk or Ashwell Prince will replace him in a game South Africa need to win to seal the series.Having led the side to 3-0 win in the Test series, and to victory in the opening two games of the one-dayers, Graeme Smith, the captain, admitted that he never thought the last match would decide the series.”We backed ourselves to chase down 169 in Durban, but it didn’t happen because of the rain and then we didn’t bowl very well in Pretoria,” he said. “But holding a 2-1 lead with only the last match to come creates a spectacle and gives us the chance to perform well in front of a big crowd.”Shivnarine Chanderpaul led West Indies’ run-chase in the fourth match as they won with a comfortable five overs to spare. “We’ve chatted with the bowlers quite a lot since then,” said Smith. “We spoke about dealing with emotions and pressure. On Sunday we simply gave them too many chances to cut and hook. The guys have to focus on every ball. It’s about bowling to a pattern and going back to the basics.”Smith also suggested that an element of resignation from West Indies may have helped their cause at Pretoria. “I think they’ve reached the point on this tour where they’ve got nothing to lose and probably feel that South Africa has everything to lose," he said. “When you feel like that you can play with such freedom that you either make 350 or you get dismissed for next to nothing.”South Africa Graeme Smith (capt), Mark Boucher (wk0, Boeta Dippenaar, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Lance Klusener, Albie Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Jacques Rudolph, Morne van Wyk.West Indies Brian Lara (capt), Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne Smith, Ryan Hurley, Ian Bradshaw Ricardo Powell, Kurt Wilkinson.

Zimbabwe’s strike bowler Heath Streak will be able to bowl on the third day of their second Test match against New Zealand at Queens Sports Club after missing much of the second day because of a groin injury.Streak was on and off the field throughout the New Zealand innings, and Andy Blignaut fielded for him on all occasions he was off. Streak’s injury, which did not prevent him from taking 2 for 62 off 16 overs, although he would have undoubtedly bowled more had he been fit.His absence prompted Tatenda Taibu not to take the new ball before the close, keeping the old one, which had been used for 100 overs, with spinners Keith Dabengwa and Graeme Cremer doing most of the bowling. If Streak resumes at the start then Taibu will almost certainly take the new ball straight away.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) admitted that the Australian A team’s tour to Pakistan, which ended last week, was at one point under threat after two bomb blasts in Lahore.Shaharyar Khan, chairman PCB, told journalists at a press function in Lahore, “The PCB moved very carefully to persuade the Australians to continue their tour because such bomb blasts are minor incidents and there is nothing serious.”The chairman revealed that the Australians expressed considerable concern over the bomb blasts as they were under the impression that Lahore was among the safest cities in Pakistan.He added, however, that their security was not in doubt and that the board would intensify their security arrangements further. Shaharyar also reiterated that no concerns had been raised by the England and Wales Cricket Board about security for their tour of Pakistan after the bomb blasts.Shaharyar said, “I am going to attend the ICC meetings next month and will have bilateral meetings with English, Indian and Sri Lankan counterparts and I will try to satisfy the England board, if needed, to assure them of their safe stay in Pakistan.”The bomb blast occurred just before the three-match one-day series began and killed six people, injuring a further 30. Australia A eventually won the one-day series 2-1 but lost the two four-day match series 1-0.