Liam Norwell claimed five wickets as Gloucestershire moved off the bottom of the County Championship table with a 207-run victory inside three days against Northamptonshire at Bristol.

06-Sep-2012
ScorecardLiam Norwell claimed five wickets as Gloucestershire moved off the bottom of the County Championship table with a 207-run victory inside three days against Northamptonshire at Bristol.Norwell followed up his 3 for 23 in the first innings with 5for 51 in a Northamptonshire second-innings total of 224 that featured half-centuries from David Sales and Andrew Hall. The visitors were set an unlikely target of 432 after bowling Gloucestershire out for 311 in the morning session from an overnight 286 for 6. Will Gidman failed to add to his 52 as Hall finished with 5 for 50.Gloucestershire took 20 points from their third Championship win of the season and have one game left to further improve their position, while Northamptonshire had to settle for three in their final fixture.The pitch had aided the seamers all through the game and that continued to be the case as Gloucestershire added only 25 to their score for the loss of their last four wickets. Hall claimed the last three after David Willey had removed Will Gidman, but it was too late to prevent Northamptonshire facing a near impossible task.Opener Stephen Peters fell lbw to the fourth ball of his side’s second innings, leg before to Will Gidman without a run on the board, and it was 51 for 2 when Niall O’Brien edged Norwell to wicketkeeper Jon Batty. Just before lunch Kyle Coetzer was bowled by Norwell and, although Sales batted effortlessly for his 55, he too had his stumps disturbed by the same bowler to make it 80 for 4.A stubborn partnership of 78 between Hall and Rob Newton, who made 44, ended when the latter pulled a short ball from Norwell straight to Ian Cockbain at midwicket. James Middlebrook and David Murphy went cheaply to Benny Howell and Norwell respectively and by tea the result was all but decided with the visitors on 184 for 7.Hall fell for 56 straight after the break without a run added, bowled by Howell, who finished with 2 for 37 having made a handy contribution with his medium pace to a Gloucestershire side lacking a specialist spinner.Jack Brooks was taken in the slips off James Fuller for 22 after a defiant stand of 39 with Wiley and the game ended when Luke Evans was out for a duck, caught by Cockbain off Anthony Ireland.Norwell took six wickets in an innings on debut against Derbyshire at the start of last season, but was then plagued by back trouble. He recently claimed 6 for 52 in a Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Leicestershire at Grace Road and Gloucestershire will hope for more of the same next summer.

Although Brad Haddin was named Man of the Match after Sydney Sixers’ thrashing of Yorkshire, the demolition was inspired by their gang of young quicks

Liam Brickhill at Newlands16-Oct-2012Although Brad Haddin was named Man of the Match after Sydney Sixers’ thrashing of Yorkshire at Newlands on Tuesday afternoon, the demolition was inspired by their gang of young quicks. Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood combined to take 6 for 44 in 12 overs, with Hazlewood proving miserly in giving away just nine runs in his spell.”The beauty with the group we’ve got at the moment is they’re all so different, and if they get it right they’re definitely hard to score off in this form of the game,” Haddin said. “They all bowl well together. There are no egos with them, they’re happy to bowl when they’re asked to. We’ve got a good crop there.”Haddin was particularly effusive in his praise for the 21-year-old Hazlewood, who drew extra lift and carry off the pitch from the start of his spell to keep Yorkshire’s batsmen on the back foot. “I thought Josh was outstanding,” he said. “The big fella was very hard to play out there today, with the lengths he’s hitting.”Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale admitted that Hazlewood had adjusted very quickly to what he thought was a slightly green, spongy wicket. “Hazlewood came on and he adapted straight away, hit the pitch hard back of a length,” he said. “I thought the pitch was a bit spongy. It was quite hard to pick up the pace of the pitch early on, and he exploited that.”Haddin, on the other hand, insisted that the pitch had very little to do with his bowlers’ success. “It was a very good wicket today. These fast bowlers make the wicket look a lot different to other teams. Everything’s got to go to our bowlers, they did a very good job to put us in the position we got into today.”That position hadn’t looked too healthy when Starc’s radar went awry and he leaked 13 runs from his first over. Yorkshire will have seen a lot of Starc, who was their overseas player this season, and Gale suggested he would have been a welcome addition to their squad for this tournament.”His first over went for 13 and I thought we were going to take him down,” Gale said. “He’s a great lad, a great talent and he should’ve been at the top of his run bowling for us today, not them.”Gale also tipped Starc, who made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gabba last December but has only nailed down a permanent spot in Australia’s limited-overs sides, for major honours in the future. “He’s one to look out for in the future. It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes all the way to be a world No.1 bowler in the short and the long formats of the game.”Hazlewood played a solitary ODI aged just 19, while Starc and Cummins have shared the new ball for Australia in a handful of Twenty20 Internationals. They’re all tall and quick, but ply their trade in subtly different ways and could well form the backbone of a potent Test attack in years to come. That is, if they’re all fit at the same time.”It’s very exciting,” Hazlewood said. “We had a little joke about it, that we’re all fit at the same time. It hadn’t happened yet, but it’s good now that we’re all together and we’re all fit and firing. This is only the second game I’ve played with Cummo [Cummins]. With all three of us in the same team, it was pretty good fun.”Haddin was quick to draw the focus from potential future Test pairings to the task at hand in this tournament. He was happy enough that the order had not come from Cricket Australia to rest any of his young quicks or, even worse, to get on a plane back to Australia as Shane Watson has been told to do.”I hadn’t even thought about that. We might have to turn our phones off,” Haddin joked. “I think we’d know by now. But I’m not resting the quicks. They can rest tomorrow.”It’s obviously a very good attack, and they all complement each other very well. What we’ve got to remember with these guys is that they’re still very young, and they’ve got a lot of cricket left in them. At the moment, they just want to learn. They want to keep getting better. These guys are challenging each other at training, and trying to get better and better.”

James Pattinson, the Australia fast bowler, may have broken down again with serious injury after he complained of side pain when taking the second new ball on the third morning of the second Test against South Africa in Adelaide

Daniel Brettig at Adelaide Oval24-Nov-2012James Pattinson, the Australia fast bowler, has broken down again with a serious injury after he complained of side pain when taking the second new ball on the third morning of the second Test against South Africa in Adelaide.Having bowled the first ball of the 84th over, Pattinson, 22, spoke to his captain Michael Clarke and walked off the ground. After speaking with the team physio Alex Kountouris it emerged that he was troubled by pain in his left side. Pattinson left the ground to have scans which confirmed a left side injury, though its exact severity is yet to be known.To that point Pattinson had bowled only nine overs out of the first 83, as Clarke sought to preserve him in the Adelaide heat on a largely unhelpful pitch.The most hostile and aggressive of Australia’s crop of young fast bowlers, Pattinson has battled a succession of injuries since he first toured for the national side in India in 2010. A brilliant start to his Test career last summer was curtailed by a foot injury during the Sydney Test against India in January.It was later revealed that Australia’s selectors chose to play Pattinson in the SCG Test despite medical evidence that he was at high risk of suffering an injury due to his bowling workload up to that point. They preferred to keep him in the team due to his strong bowling form, and he duly suffered from a stress injury in Sydney.Pattinson then returned to action during the West Indies tour, but while playing in the Trinidad Test suffered a back injury while throwing off balance from the outfield and was sent home. His lead-in to this summer’s home Tests was carefully managed, affording him a quartet of Sheffield Shield matches and no Twenty20 cricket.Before the match, Pattinson said he did not want to be rested, as his body felt free of niggles. “At the moment I’ve got no soreness in my body, so I want to keep playing, I don’t want to get rested,” he said. “But I suppose there’ll come a time when I’ll have a high workload and it’ll look like I’m going to get rested as we’ve spoken about.”I’m happy for that, I put the faith in the medical staff’s hands and if they think it’s a good idea for me to get rested one Test then so be it. We’ve got to want what’s best for the team and if that’s best for the team then so be it.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the first Test between Bangladesh and West Indies in Mirpur

The Preview by Mohammad Isam12-Nov-2012

Match facts

November 13-17, Mirpur
Start time 0930 (0330 GMT)Bangladesh will have to dribble past Chris Gayle first•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Big Picture

A Test series between the seventh and ninth-ranked teams shouldn’t attract much attention when four of the top sides are locking horns at almost the same time. But when the higher-ranked team among the two commands a new-found respect for winning a world title with its rising stars and its opposition is an erratic but talented bunch playing in front of excitable home crowds, attention towards Mirpur is expected. Contests such as these come without any guarantees but for those who enjoy a bottom-of-the-table scrap, this is it. To keep it a contest, though, Bangladesh will have to up their game and have the will to fight.West Indies are looking up and have been moving towards a goal – a rise up the Test rankings, though this series will not take them past Sri Lanka, even if the latter concede their series to New Zealand. What West Indies can do is move further ahead of New Zealand and Bangladesh and, more importantly, take their cricket to a higher plane, a level they have been seeking for the past 15 years. Captain Darren Sammy wouldn’t want a slip-up against a team they have beaten in all but one series, the one where none of their top players turned up.As ammunition he has Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and Fidel Edwards, while for the likes of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Darren Bravo and newcomer Veerasammy Permaul there is much to play for. It is now a team that has more and more places that are being contested, a phenomenon which is an important aspect of an improving cricket team, coupled with the stability which West Indies have began to develop in some areas of their Test team.Bangladesh are seeking both competition for places and stability but as of now, only some places in the middle order are held firm and the spot for the second spinner is up for grabs. The national selectors had to call up a 22-man preliminary squad a week before the first Test only because they didn’t have enough opportunities to see how some of these players have been performing. The washout of the three-day practice match in BKSP was as much a blow to West Indies as it was to some of the batsmen who could have furthered their cases. It will be those who were there last year who get preference. Captain Mushfiqur Rahim will need Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan at their best from Tuesday if his team has to have any chance of taking the game to the opposition. Bangladesh will, realistically, want to push the game to the fifth day but for that to happen, much will depend on how they handle the first session, with bat or in the field.

Form guide

Bangladesh: LLLDL (Completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies: WWDLL

Players to watch

It has been a quiet build-up to the Test series for Shakib Al Hasan, but Bangladesh’s most celebrated cricketer likes it this way. Come the first Test, much would depend on his bowling though it is still uncertain how confident he is with it in the longer format. With the bat, he has stopped many a slide of the top and middle order but if he gets more time to develop a long innings, Shakib could be a threat even when he has to maneuver the Bangladesh tail.Though not as influential with the ball as Shakib, Marlon Samuels is as effective, if not more, with the bat. Having returned to the Test fold in England, he has been the team’s second-highest scorer in the format this year behind Chanderpaul. He has ambitions to hit three centuries in this short series, not too unlikely given how he dominated the Bangladesh attack in the ODIs last year. The pace at which he will bat will also help the likes of Darren Bravo or any of the younger lot who bat with him in the middle order.

Pitch and conditions

Though the Mirpur wicket has long been considered slow with nothing more than hip-high bounce, this season has seen at least two of the pitches here being friendlier towards the fast bowlers to much surprise. The first-class matches have seen more pace and bounce than ever before, though when the West Indies High Performance team played here earlier in the season, spinners found a lot of assistance with turn late in the day. The outfield has been patchy, despite a very expensive relay job undertaken by the BCB.

Team news

If continuity is what Mushfiqur, interim coach Shane Jurgensen and the selectors are seeking, Nazimuddin and Elias Sunny will play ahead of Junaid Siddique and the uncapped Sohag Gazi. But given the confusion that has developed due to a 11-month gap since their last Test, and the lack of individual performances in between, the Bangladesh team management will have to go with the tried and tested, at least for the first Test. Junaid could force it after a good showing in the National Cricket League but it is increasingly likely that Sunny will be preferred ahead of Gazi.Bangladesh (possible): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique, 3 Shahriar Nafees, 4 Naeem Islam, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Mahmudullah (vice-capt), 8 Nasir Hossain, 9 Elias Sunny, 10 Shahadat Hossain, 11 Rubel HossainWest Indies have success behind them – the series win over New Zealand in almost similar conditions at home – so they wouldn’t want to tinker with the line-up. Permaul could debut, especially after picking up 24 wickets on tour with the High Performance Centre side to Bangladesh only a few months ago, while Fidel Edwards is also likely to return.West Indies (possible): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Assad Fudadin, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Narsingh Deonarine, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Fidel Edwards, 11 Veerasammy Permaul/Tino Best

Stats and trivia

• Shakib Al Hasan is four wickets away from becoming only the second Bangladesh bowler to take 100 Test wickets, after Mohammad Rafique
• West Indies’ joint second-highest wicket-taker in Tests this year is batsman Narsingh Deonarine, with 15

Quotes

“Competition for places can only be a good thing for the Bangladesh team. We have some of it happening for some positions, and the more it happens, the team will get better results.””Last year, we came here and came out on top. This year, we are planning to do the same thing. We have to keep believing in ourselves and we will come out on top again.”

South Africa’s new T20 coach Russell Domingo will still use Gary Kirsten’s help despite taking on a senior role

Firdose Moonda20-Dec-2012At a time of change it’s natural to look for a constant. While the South African Twenty20 squad adjusts to its new-look and toys with combinations, it does not have the familiarity of an old faithful. Even Russell Domingo is in his first assignment as an international coach.Domingo is no stranger to top-level cricket. In his five seasons in charge of the Warriors he took them from whipping boys to champions, and oversaw their surprise run at the 2010 Champions League T20, where they reached the final. He has been an assistant to national coach Gary Kirsten since June last year, but as even Domingo acknowledged, “being an assistant is not the same as being a head coach.”The buck, or at least every part of it except the head, will stop at Domingo. Kirsten has retained overall control of all South African national sides so if the unlikely happens and they crash to record defeats, Kirsten can and will still be held responsible. It also means Domingo can and will lean on Kirsten despite having a significant chunk of control himself.”Gary has said to me I should run with the ball but I always touch base with him. He is ultimately the man in charge and I cannot deviate massively from the processes he has put in place,” Domingo said. “But I can do things differently and in my own way. To not tap into Gary’s thought process and his brain will be foolish on my part.”Kirsten, who is currently in the Eastern Cape, will attend one of the team’s practices in East London ahead of the second match against New Zealand on Sunday. He is also likely to be in attendance at the third fixture in Port Elizabeth. Other than that, Domingo will be left to find his feet on his own.Domingo’s primary task is to strengthen his bond with stand-in captain Faf du Plessis. “Faf has captained A sides and schools teams so he has got leadership skills,” Domingo said. “The relationship between us as captain and coach is still in its infancy. We have got a good relationship as assistant coach and player so the relationship will need to develop a lot more. We get on really well and we both have similar thoughts on the game and how it needs to be played and I have been very impressed with what he has offered so far.”Du Plessis is not the permanent leader of the T20 side and is standing in for AB de Villiers who withdrew because of exhaustion. With workload increasingly becoming an issue, especially in de Villiers’ case because of his chronic back injury, this could be a trial run for du Plessis and he will already be tasked with great responsibility. “The captain will decide on which XI he feels comfortable with,” Domingo said.Some of that choice will be limited though. The two most experienced members of the squad, in terms of number of matches played, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel will be rested during the series. Steyn will play in the first match on Friday but is unlikely to feature in the next two, while Morkel will come in for the second match.Domingo has promised that every member of the 15-man squad will get game time as South Africa look to blood new talent and infuse the national culture in each of them. “We are feeding it to them in little drips at the moment,” Domingo said. “We are trying to incorporate what we do with the Test squad while also doing certain things a little bit differently because you have to manage these younger players differently. Guys are buying into the way the Test side operates, with a little bit of a different flair.”

Lions’ key playmakers Quinton de Kock and Imran Tahir have been banned for one match each following disciplinary hearings

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2013The Lions have been dealt a major blow in their quest for the first-class title. Key playmakers Quinton de Kock and Imran Tahir have been banned for one match each following disciplinary hearings.Both players pleaded guilty to Level 2 offences which result in a ban of one first-class or two limited-overs game in accordance with CSA’s code of conduct.De Kock was involved in an on-field scuffle with Cape Cobras’ Alistair Gray last week. After the umpires asked for the ball to be changed because of suspected tampering, the Lions pair at the crease chose a ball the Cobras were unhappy with and Gray and de Kock exchanged words before de Kock pushed Gray.The day after the story hit local media, de Kock tweeted an apology for “embarrassing” his team and pledged to “do everything I can to make up for it.” His contriteness was noted by the disciplinary commissioner.”I find Mr de Kock guilty of a breach of clause 6.3.1 (c) and (f) of the Code of Conduct in that he inappropriately and deliberately had physical contact with a player in the course of play; and used language that is seriously obscene, offensive or insulting towards another participant,” disciplinary commissioner Rian Cloete said in a statement.”Mr de Kock has a clean disciplinary record and has never been charged with an offence in cricket. Mr de Kock further apologised to umpires George and Jerling for his behaviour. “Even though the bans apply to the next matches a player will feature in, de Kock who is currently playing for South Africa in the ODI series against New Zealand will be able to continue representing the national side. Instead, he will miss the Lions’ match against the Knights in two weeks’ time.Tahir’s offence came in a match against the Knights late last year in Potchefstroom. After an interchange of angry words between the Knights’ bowlers and Tahir, the legspinner issued some choice words from the dressing room for all to hear before going on to score his fourth first-class fifty. Tahir, who offered apology in writing, was charged with the breach of clause 6.3.1 (f) as well.Tahir will miss this week’s match between the Lions and the Titans in Benoni which could prove an important one for the Lions as they try to catch the leaders. The Lions are third on the points table, 13 points behind the Cobras but they have a game in hand. De Kock will miss this fixture because he is part of the national squad

A pair of notable reinforcements made little difference to the England Lions as they were pummelled once more by Australia A in Hobart, this time by 122 runs

Daniel Brettig18-Feb-2013
ScorecardJoe Burns anchored Australia A with a measured innings•Getty Images

A pair of notable reinforcements made little difference to the England Lions as they were pummelled once more by Australia A in Hobart, this time by 122 runs.Alex Hales and Stuart Meaker were called into the team having played for England during the northern winter, but neither was able to make much impression on the hosts, who glided to a strong total after being sent in thanks to Joe Burns’ century and a neat 74 by Callum Ferguson.James Taylor provided the only semblance of resistance for the Lions in their chase, which petered out in the face of a consistent display that had John Hastings, Alister McDermott, Cameron Boyce and the captain Aaron Finch all claiming two wickets apiece.The visitors were notably sloppy with the ball, conceding no fewer than 28 wides, as opposed to the six delivered by the hosts. Australia A’s only concern was a second injury to emerge from the series, Nathan Coulter-Nile diagnosed with an adductor strain and sent home to Perth to recover.Setting off in pursuit of their distant target, the visitors had a touch of good fortune when Alex Hales was turfed by Hastings in the slips, but Richardson soon had the wicket in any event, coaxing another edge that was held by Tim Paine behind.Varun Chopra and James Taylor prospered for a time, but Chopra was deceived by a faster ball from Finch and bowled, before Ben Foakes failed to take advantage of being grassed first ball by Paine when he was run out, Taylor failing to respond to the striker’s call.From there the innings slipped away meekly, Boyce gaining some useful turn for his two wickets while Hastings was accurate and McDermott sealed the win with consecutive yorkers.The Lions’ XI had been bolstered by the inclusions of Hales and Meaker, both England representatives during the southern summer, and the latter struck with the third ball of the match, squaring up Finch and drawing an edge to Chopra in the slips.It was a rare delivery of the requisite new-ball precision however, as Burns and Alex Doolan made merry on a warm Hobart morning. They feasted on a steady diet of balls directed at leg stump or wide outside off, and they seemed in little danger of being separated until Doolan called Burns through for a single to short fine leg and was run out by Craig Overton’s direct hit.Ferguson, recovered from a groin strain that kept him out of game one, joined Burns for a busy partnership that reaped 128 runs, again with a minimum of risk though Foakes appeared to grass a pair of half-chances standing up to the stumps.Burns reached his maiden century in limited overs matches, a strong display after walking to the wicket early in the day, and his departure signalled the start of late innings festivities that would reap 104 runs from the final 10 overs. Ben Cutting struck the most telling blow, swinging a Meaker slower ball over square leg and clean out of the ground. It was to be a neat summary of the result.