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Ponting sees no weak links in developing squad

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Australia’s 2009-10 won’t go down in history as one of the great summers. It didn’t have the hype of an Ashes series, nor the tension of a contest against India, nor the raw combat of a series against South Africa. But don’t be fooled, this was a big season for Ricky Ponting’s men. It was an important two months during which Ponting’s hard work to mould a new-look outfit could have unravelled if the side had sunk into a post-Ashes-loss depression.Instead, his team won five of six Tests, enjoyed a whitewash against Pakistan and most importantly almost all the players made significant personal progress. In a bridging summer in the 18 months between Ashes battles, it was the best Ponting could have hoped for.His eyes are firmly fixed on England’s trip to Australia later this year, so much so that he stayed up on Sunday night to watch their defeat in Johannesburg. Following Australia’s victory against Pakistan in Hobart, he said there were no boxes yet to be ticked ahead of the Ashes in November.”I don’t think there are, to tell you the truth,” Ponting said. “I’m really comfortable with the way a lot of the guys have come on through the summer. If you look at Shane Watson in the opening role, it was probably something that we weren’t entirely sure about, coming in to the summer, but I think he’s put his own stamp on that role particularly well, as he has with his bowling as well.”Nathan Hauritz has certainly stepped up in this series alone to take 18 wickets in this series on two wickets, particularly in Melbourne and Hobart, that didn’t really offer much for him at all. That sort of return for a finger-spinner is a great effort. Those two guys in particular have really stood up and started to learn a lot more about themselves and about the game.”Watson was comfortably Australia’s best and most consistent batsman for the season, with 609 runs at 60.90. The ease with which he adjusted to the Test opening role was a surprise to everyone but the Australian selectors, and 13 wickets at 25.84 with a handy knack for reverse-swing was an added bonus.Hauritz and Mitchell Johnson shared the top bowling honours with 29 victims each but just as impressive was Doug Bollinger, who entered the summer with only one Test to his name and collected 25 at 20.80, bringing extra intensity to Australia’s new-ball efforts. Peter Siddle performed a workhorse role and finally gained some reward with five wickets at Bellerive Oval, which confirmed the attack is on track with Ben Hilfenhaus still to return.In the batting line-up, Ponting atoned for a quiet couple of months with nearly 300 runs for the Hobart Test, Simon Katich provided reliable starts, Michael Clarke built his highest Test score and Michael Hussey saved his career with a summer average of 55.77. Brad Haddin was very good behind the stumps and the only man to struggle was Marcus North, although Ponting defended his No. 6 and hoped he would bounce back on the tour of New Zealand in March.”He’s not a weak link at all,” Ponting said. “It was only a couple of Tests ago that we were saying he was probably our best and most in-form player. Coming in to this week I was in the same boat [out of form] and things change pretty quickly. I don’t see a weak link in our side at the moment. Hopefully everything turns out the way we want it for Marcus and he can go to New Zealand and have a good series there and then there won’t be any speculation about anyone in our line-up.”What has impressed Ponting most about the summer has been the clinical nature of his team’s victories. It began with a three-day mauling of West Indies at the Gabba and finished with a 231-run demolition of Pakistan. In all six Tests, even the draw against West Indies in Adelaide, Australia’s attack took 20 wickets, which was a major achievement given the struggles they had endured trying to knock sides over during the past year.”It’s been a great series for us, it’s been a great summer for us to tell you the truth,” Ponting said. “There was a fair bit of conjecture coming into the summer after the end of the Ashes about where we were going with our Test cricket and I spelled things out pretty clearly to the team about where I thought we were going and I think we have improved a lot through the summer.”You just can’t afford to have half an hour or an hour’s play where the game’s not going anywhere. You can’t afford to let that happen. Someone has continually got to put their hand up and make sure the game is going forward and that’s the way I will keep challenging the team. We certainly can’t be happy with just sitting back and accepting what we’ve done through the summer.”Australia have four Tests, two in New Zealand and two in England against Pakistan, before they set out to regain the urn at home. After their success over the past two months, those four games will be about fine-tuning rather than remodelling.

Taufeeq Umar century inspires HBL

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Scorecard
Perhaps the first day’s drama was just a trailer, as another amazing day’s action and a power shift followed at the National Stadium. If Habib Bank Limited (HBL) were down in the dumps at 95 for 7 in reply to Karachi Blues’ first-innings total of 215, Taufeeq Umar’s sparkling hundred on the second day provided the shot in the arm for their bowlers. Having conceded a meagre lead, a disciplined performance with the ball had Karachi in tatters with just the last pair at the crease – the lead of 195 similar to HBL’s first-innings score.Umar began the day unbeaten on 36 and his strokeplay gave the impression that the devils in the pitch on the first day had been exorcised. His fourth hundred in the tournament was laced with 11 boundaries and he teamed up well with the tail to give them hope of a lead. But Mohammad Sami’s twin strikes, meant Umar had carried his bat through as HBL finished short by 20.Buoyed by the opener’s fighting spirit, right-arm fast bowler Sarmad Anwar dealt two crucial blows at the top of the order, sending back openers Shahzaib Hasan and Khalid Latif. Younis Khan did no harm to his credentials as a bowler taking out Ali Asad, before Asad Shafiq and Asim Kamal combined for a fourth-wicket stand of 53 – the highest of the innings.But once Shafiq departed for 45, a slide followed with the next five wickets falling for just 45 runs. The wrecker-in-chief was left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman who finished with tidy figures of 10-2-14-3.Karachi’s hopes now solely lie with Kamal, who was unbeaten on 49, and any additional runs from here on will only make HBL’s chase to the title more daunting. With 12 wickets falling on the second day – 17 on the first – the pitch still looks to be a bowler’s paradise and the champions may well be decided tomorrow.

Kallis ruled out of one-day series

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Jacques Kallis has been ruled out of the one-day series against England with a fractured rib and is also doubtful for the opening Test at Centurion Park on December 16.It is thought Kallis suffered the injury during last month’s Champions League in India but the seriousness of the problem was only revealed in recent days when he underwent a scan after the pain hadn’t disappeared.”He just wasn’t getting better from that injury,” Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, said. “We had him re-scanned this morning and found there is a fracture in the cartilage of the rib – which clearly affects his performances for the next four weeks.His absence is a blow to South Africa and means they will need to adjust the balance of their side to cover for the loss of a batsman and a bowler. Kallis was set to partner Graeme Smith at the top of the order in a reshaped batting line-up but now Hashim Amla will step into in the opening role.For Kallis the aim is now to be fit for the Test series next month although Arthur admitted the opening encounter may be a “grey area”. However, given Kallis’ importance to the top order South Africa will play him purely as a batsman should the injury not recovery sufficiently.”The priority for us is the Test matches, and we need to get him fit and ready for them,” Arthur said. “The balance he brings to our Test side is huge, so he wasn’t going to do a hell of a lot of bowling in the one-dayers anyway.”We would play Jacques as a batter only in Tests if need be. He is among the top five batters in world cricket, so we could certainly do that, ” he added. “We wouldn’t push him to bowl in the first Test if we thought it would impede in matches two, three and four. The injury is affecting his batting at the moment – and what he needs now is four weeks off to get mended.”If he batted then the movements of batting and running between the wickets and stretching would all affect his recovery – so that is why we’re pulling him out of this series.”The opening game of the one-day series at the Wanderers was abandoned without a ball bowled on Friday but the forecast is better for Sunday’s meeting at Centurion.

Marsh brothers deliver big win for Warriors

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShaun Marsh recorded his highest List A score•Getty Images

Shaun Marsh posted a century but was almost upstaged by his teenage brother Mitchell as Western Australia gained a bonus point in their 129-run win over New South Wales. The brothers made major contributions to the Warriors’ 3 for 309 and the Blues’ chase fell apart despite the best efforts of Moises Henriques.Stuart Clark’s captaincy debut for New South Wales didn’t go to plan when his decision to send the Warriors in backfired as Shaun Marsh and Wes Robinson combined for a 124-run opening stand. Marsh made David Warner pay for putting down a simple chance at short cover when he hadn’t scored, and was in his typical accumulative mode.Robinson’s 70 ended when he played on to Grant Lambert but there was further carnage to be had from Western Australia’s middle order. Adam Voges added 44 but the real damage came from Mitchell Marsh, 18, who was playing in his fourth FR Cup match.He came in within the final ten overs and hammered the New South Wales bowling to reach 60 from 29 deliveries. His half-century came in 24 balls and he demonstrated his tremendous power several times, including with a brazen flat-batted six over long-on off Clark in the final over.The chase stumbled off track almost immediately as David Warner, Phillip Hughes and Phil Jaques failed to have much impact and before the Blues knew it, they were 5 for 77 in the 20th over. Steve Magoffin picked up two important wickets and it wasn’t until Henriques and Daniel Smith came together that the visitors built a partnership of substance.However, when Smith holed out for 47, Aaron Heal ran through the lower order with a career-best 4 for 58 to confirm Western Australia’s win. It was the Warriors’ second victory of the competition, while the Blues remain in second-last place with only one win.

Bounce India at your own peril

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Siddle finally lands it in the middle
So far in this series, Peter Siddle hasn’t enjoyed starting off his spells. In the first ODI in Vadodara, he started off the innings with five wides and a four off the first legitimate delivery. He then came back for a second spell, in the 27th over, and was hit for four first ball. Then came the legendary start to the third spell, a wide, a single, a six, a four. In Nagpur, again, he started the second over of the innings with a wide. In his subsequent overs, though, he has looked the best bowler on show, especially with his hostile pace today. Finally, in his fifth spell of the series, Siddle blemished his trend of bad starts to spells, bowling a full delivery just outside off to Gautam Gambhir, in the 34th over, which was sliced to third man. Never too late for a good start.Rude welcomes
Gambhir got it from Siddle, MS Dhoni from Ben Hilfenhaus. Gambhir got two bouncers first up, fending the first one, then getting hit on the shoulder. Dhoni’s welcome was worse – he took his eyes off a nasty bouncer which hit him on the back of his head, and luckily at the edge of his helmet. Inches lower, and Dhoni’s innings would have been settled. Both batsmen, though, went on to hurt Australia later.Whose fault is it anyway?
Mitchell Johnson to Dhoni – batsman looks for a quick single, Johnson looks to run back to the stumps to collect, and they meet midway, in a nasty collision. Dhoni fell over, his helmet – again the object of Aussie attention today – came off as he fell. Nobody’s fault, hence nobody could blame the other party with conviction. Just looks were exchanged, filmy style.When not to get out
Dhoni’s plan of late, even in domestic one-dayers, has been to call for the batting Powerplay in the 35th over, after the mandatory ball change. On the last ball of the 34th over, though, Gambhir was run out, delaying the umpire’s helicopter signal. India did make good use of the restrictions when they arrived, five overs later, taking 47 runs.This is how to start
A sight all Ishant Sharma fans have been missing – the ball landing just back of a length outside off, then kicking and holding its line. Shane Watson wasn’t expecting it when Ishant started his spell, and played at a ball he would have been better off leaving alone. Once he saw the bounce, Watson did the best he could, taking the bottom hand off, and edged but the ball had enough on it to carry low to first slip. Here’s to more such Ishant deliveries.

All-round Delhi Daredevils stave off elimination

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outDinesh Karthik really helped Delhi set up a winning total•Associated Press

The prospect of a league stage line-up without a single Indian IPL team would have been a nightmare for the organisers and television rights holders, but Delhi Daredevils’ merciless showing today went a long way in dispelling those fears. With their backs to the wall, the fear of elimination in front of their home fans drove them to deliver a 50-run walloping against Wayamba and also reverse the trend of low-scoring games at the Kotla.The performance of the Australian pace-bowling duo of Dirk Nannes and Glenn McGrath effectively shut Wayamba out of the game early in the chase but the foundation was laid by a brilliant display of power hitting by Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik. Their 67-run partnership pushed Delhi to a score at least 30 runs above what captains had predicted to be competitive after summing up the conditions over the last three games at this venue.The pitch at the Kotla came under scrutiny after the first couple of games on Friday and again today when New South Wales had to grind it out on a slow and low surface to post 130. Both NSW and Delhi employed strong horizontal bat shots, but the difference was the Delhi pair’s tremendous bat speed that allowed them to collectively hit 15 fours and four sixes. Without taking any credit away from NSW, the duo of Phillip Hughes and Moises Henriques managed only seven fours and three sixes between them.In the context of Delhi’s assault, the first three overs – which yielded just three runs and included an opening-over maiden – were an aberration. The innings opened up in the fourth over when Isuru Udana, whose slower balls and good length deliveries got a little predictable, got hit for three boundaries.There was a lull when two star attractions in Tillakaratne Dilshan and Gautam Gambhir departed in quick succession. Those strikes didn’t deter Sehwag who gave the raucous home crowd plenty to cheer with some powerful strokes off the front foot.Farveez Maharoof was brought in to take the pace off the ball and make run-scoring difficult but Delhi didn’t allow him to settle. Karthik cleverly picked the huge gap at third man, dabbing him past the keeper for two boundaries in an over. His initial strategy was to knock the ball into the gaps and allow Sehwag the strike. The track had given the spinners assistance in the NSW game and the Sehwag and Karthik, perhaps mindful of that, didn’t want them to settle into a comfort zone either. Sehwag slogged Kaushal Lokuarachchi’s first ball over deep midwicket before Karthik too joined in the act, reaching out to drive the bowler past the covers.A frantic call for a single cost Sehwag his wicket but the innings never lost momentum, thanks to Karthik who was already well-set. In the 19th over, Karthik slogged Ajantha Mendis for three consecutive sixes over the leg side, much in the same vein as Justin Ontong’s late assault for the Cape Cobras on Saturday.The match was all but sealed when Nannes and McGrath punched holes into the Wayamba top order to reduce them to a hapless 36 for 5. Mahela Udawatte swung at thin air and lost his middle stump to Nannes while Michael Vandort was bowled by same bowler after making a start with two impressive boundaries. The Powerplay overs yielded an unsatisfactory 31 and the minute Jeevantha Kulatunga tried to force the pace against Amit Mishra, he holed out to sweeper cover. McGrath knocked back Jehan Mubarak’s off stump for a first-ball duck and with it all hopes of a competitive chase.Delhi never showed any signs of slackness in the field even while Wayamba had two capable batsmen in Mahela Jayawardene and Maharoof at the crease. Dilshan set one such example when he sprinted all the way from mid-off to his right and took a tumbling catch to send back Maharoof. Jayawardene, walking in at No.4, helped himself to a half-century which got lost in the collapse. His innings featured two clean strikes over the rope and a reverse sweep for four. He then holed out to long-off to hand Nannes his fourth wicket.In their last ten overs, Delhi slammed 104 runs. Wayamba, in their full quota, managed only 120 runs and there lay the big difference between the teams. Though Jayawardene’s effort came in a lost cause, it could make a difference if the net run rate comes into the picture at the end of the round.

Pietersen makes all-time England XI

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Kevin Pietersen is the only player from almost the past two decades to make it into the all-time England XI chosen by Cricinfo, with Ian Botham the next most-recent star to make the cut.Pietersen’s selection, by a panel of renowned cricket writers, journalists and commentators, confirms the impact he has had on the game since he made his Test debut in 2005, but there are no places for anyone else who contributed to England’s Ashes victories in 2005 and 2009.The opening positions are taken by Jack Hobbs and Len Hutton, two of thetrue legends of the game, and they are followed by Walter Hammond at No. 3 and Ken Barrington at No. 4. Pietersen, who is still in the early part of his career but is already recognised as a match-changing batsman, only just made it to final XI, beating off strong competition from Denis Compton, who captured the hearts and the minds of English fans in the post-war years.Andrew Flintoff and Tony Greig both made it to the shortlist for allrounders,but Botham won that contest hands down. “A proven century-maker, unlike Andrew Flintoff, and capable of bowling either fast like Harold Larwood, or outswing like Fred Trueman,” Scyld Berry, the editor of , wrote about Botham. “Hammond at first slip and Botham at second would make a formidable cordon beside Alan Knott.”Knott was the unanimous choice as the wicketkeeper. Sydney Barnes and Harold Larwood won the premier fast bowler’s positions by an overwhelming majority, but it was a closer contest for Fred Trueman who had stiff competition from Frank Tyson. Bob Willis was the only modern fast bowler who came close to selection.The sole spinner’s position went to Derek Underwood, who beat Jim Laker by a single vote.Last month Cricinfo produced a definitive all-time great Australia team, which didn’t include any members of the current Australian line-up. Over the coming year, the website will turn its eye to all of the top Test-playing nations and round off the deliberations with an all-time World XI.Cricinfo also asked readers to select their all-time XIs and the only two differences were that David Gower was voted into the middle order ahead of Barrington and Laker took the spin position from Underwood.For more details click here.The nomineesOpeners
Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, Mike Brearley, Geoff Boycott, Graham Gooch, Mike Atherton, Michael VaughanMiddle order
Wally Hammond, Ken Barrington, Kevin Pietersen, Colin Cowdrey, Peter May, David Gower, Stanley Jackson, Frank Woolley, Ted Dexter, Denis ComptonAllrounders
Ian Botham, Tony Greig, Andrew FlintoffWicketkeepers
Alan Knott, Bob Taylor, Les Ames, Jack Russell, Alec StewartFast bowlers
Sydney Barnes, Harold Larwood, Fred Trueman, Bob Willis, Alec Bedser, Frank Tyson, John Snow, Darren Gough, Brian StathamSpinners
Hedley Verity, Wilfred Rhodes, Jim Laker, Derek Underwood

Guy released by Yorkshire

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Simon Guy, the 30-year-old wicketkeeper, has been released by Yorkshire after struggling to push for a first-team place.Guy hasn’t played a first-class match for Yorkshire since July 2007, and has found it difficult to battle back into the side following the brain surgery he underwent this February to remove a cerebral abscess. The emergence of Jonathan Bairstow has also hindered any chance of him returning to the first-team this summer.”It was a difficult decision to release Simon after so many years excellent service to the club,” said Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket. “Ultimately it was felt to be in the best interests of the Club and the player to part company as we were not going to be able to give him the opportunities he needs at this stage of his career.”

McDonald to return home temporarily

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Andrew McDonald, the Australian allrounder, has left the squad at Headingley temporarily and will fly home to be with his wife who is expected to give birth to the couple’s first child next week.McDonald will rejoin the squad in England on August 13, in time for Australia’s tour match against Kent, which begins on August 15. McDonald has played four Tests in his career, the last of which was in Cape Town in March, but is yet to be selected in England.

Binny appointed Bengal coach

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Roger Binny, the former India allrounder, has been appointed Bengal’s coach for the upcoming season. Binny will take charge from next month, succeeding Utpal Chatterjee, who was Bengal coach for the 2008-09 season.”Binny has been appointed as the senior Bengal team coach,” said Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya. “He was here few days ago and we had long discussions about the nitty gritties. He has agreed to coach our senior side.”Binny, 53, has worked coach of the Under-19 World Cup winning team in 1999 and as development officer with the Asian Cricket Council. “At present, we have given him one-season contract,” said Dalmiya. “He was with ACC and is perfect for the role. We will seek his help for our junior team as well.”Under Bharat Arun, Chatterjee’s predecessor, Bengal were relegated to the Ranji Trophy Plate League but managed to earn promotion back to the Elite League. Chatterjee’s tenure as coach was a stressful one in terms of relations with the CAB.The contract of Mohinder Amarnath, the former Indian allrounder, who served as a consultant to the CAB, was not renewed due to his television commentary commitments.