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BCCI president Shashank Manohar has said that the Indian board cannot be blamed for the Eden Gardens fiasco

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Jan-2011BCCI president Shashank Manohar has said that the Indian board cannot be blamed for the events that led to the shifting of the World Cup match between India and England at Eden Gardens. The responsibility for organising the World Cup, Manohar said, lay with the ICC. “According to me this (World Cup) is an ICC event,” Manohar told ESPNcricinfo. “The venues were selected by ICC. The inspection was made by ICC. The board [BCCI] was not at all involved in this.”Manohar said that the ICC had only informed the BCCI about its decision on Thursday afternoon. “I was informed about the news through an e-mail today afternoon. So finally now that the ICC has told us that the venue is not ready we will give the alternate venue,” Manohar said. But was there any kind of assurance the BCCI was offering the thousands of fans, many of whom had finalised their travel and match tickets months in advance? “The game would be played in India,” was all Manohar said.It is understood that the final decision to move the match was arrived at after a conference call between the ICC top brass and Ratnakar Shetty, the World Cup director who was in India. The biggest fear was the supposed casualness of officials at Cricket Association of Bengal [CAB], the host association. An ICC source revealed that the CAB officials “hoped” that the ground could be ready by February 24. “And that, too, they said hopefully. How can one allow that two days before a World Cup match,” the official wondered.According to him the CAB officials displayed a high-handed approach when the ICC team was checking for specifics on match operations, tickets and hospitality. “Their only interest was to know if they were going to be given the nod to host the matches,” the official said. When the CAB was informed that the inspection team did not have the right to take a final call, it did not sit well with the local officials.Some of the things the ICC panel was interested in knowing was the location of the corporate boxes for the event sponsors and the ICC officials and guests. That was a big concern because sponsors get a certain number of tickets as part of their contractual obligations with the ICC.According to one event organising committee member, whenever the ICC conducts an event it normally signs a contract with regards to tickets and related matters with the member board. But this time the BCCI has allowed the staging associations at the eight Indian venues to deal with the issue which is proving to be a hurdle.The other question about whether Kolkata would remain the host for the rest of the three group matches involving South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Kenya and Netherlands still hangs in balance. “The ICC will inspect the venue on January 31 and take a decision by February 1 as to whether it would be possible to host the other three games,” Manohar said. “Otherwise three alternate venues will need to be found.”Earlier in the day the ICC decided to strip Kolkata as the venue for the February 27 match between India and England, one of the few marquee contests during the month-long group stage. The decision came as a surprise to many because only a couple of days ago, Shetty had asserted that there were no concerns with regards to any of the 13 venues. Shetty was addressing the media after the final inspection of the Eden Gardens on January 25.But ICC sources have indicated that the six-man ICC panel – comprising Eugene Vanvueren (ICC stadium consultant) , Campbell Jameson (ICC general manager, commercial), Chris Tetley (ICC event manager), Suru Nayak (tournament director, India), Dhiraj Malhotra (ICC tournament director) and Shetty – had expressed disappointment about the progress of the stadium’s readiness.Meanwhile there was no clarity yet on the tickets that have been sold. According to Manohar it is the ICC which needs to decide on the matter. However, the ICC is far from finding a solution at the moment. “The tournament director is trying to work out a strategy on the tickets issue,” the tournament official said. “We are not sure if refunds should be granted or tickets that have been already bought can be allowed to swap at the new venue.”According to Shirley Rattray, manager of Cricket Logistics, the ICC’s official tour partner, the most pressing issue is for a rapid decision to be reached on the new venue, so that flights and accommodation can be rebooked for the thousands of spectators who are planning their itineraries around the fixture.”England v India is the biggest game of all the group games,” Rattray told ESPNcricinfo. “It was the most popular because Eden Gardens is such an iconic venue to watch cricket. A match there is regarded as one of the sporting things to do before you die, so it’s a big shame that the game has had to be moved.”Reallocating the tickets is one thing, but moving the flights and accommodation is another,” Rattray added. “But as soon as we know what venue we’ve got, then we can get our ground handlers on the case to put it into place. It’s never easy when things like this happen, but it will get done. That’s the way things work in India, things can be turned around at the last minute very quickly.”For those fans travelling independently, however, their money may already be down the drain. “This is the only match I’d actually bought tickets for in advance, because the interest is so high,” said Emily Crick, an England supporter who has made five previous tours of India. “I’ve also bought a flight from Kolkata down to Chennai so I doubt I’ll get a refund on that, and whatever venue they choose, it will only be half the capacity, so most of the people who booked won’t be able to get seats anyway.”Additional reporting by Andrew Miller

England have called up Liam Plunkett, the Durham pace bowler, into their injury-hit one-day squad although he will only arrive in Australia from the Lions tour of West Indies in time for the final match at Perth on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2011Ajmal Shahzad and Chris Tremlett are due to fly back to the UK on Thursday afternoon, instead of undertaking the four-hour flight to Perth ahead of the seventh and final ODI against Australia, as England take stock of their injury situation in the lead-up to the forthcoming World Cup. Liam Plunkett, the Durham pace bowler, has been called up as a replacement and is already in Perth ahead of Sunday’s match, having flown in from the Lions tour of West Indies.The visitors were left with the bare bones of a pace attack after Tremlett was ruled out of Sunday’s fifth one-day international in Brisbane with a side strain, then Shazhad limped off after eight overs of the same game with a hamstring injury. Both players underwent scans on Tuesday with Shahzad the more serious concern as he is part of England’s World Cup squad.The ECB confirmed that Shahzad’s injury is a minor hamstring tear, and though Tremlett’s scan showed no significant damage, it was decided that the best scenario for both players was to get back to England as soon as possible for one continuous period of rehab, rather than undertake four days in Perth before a long-haul flight back to England.Even before the latest brace of injuries England had been badly hit during the one-day series with Tim Bresnan (calf) and Graeme Swann (back) flying home, while Stuart Broad remains on the sidelines as he recovers from his abdominal injury. It means there are concerns over more than half England’s first-choice World Cup attack, although the news on Broad appears more positive with the allrounder making good progress ahead of the team’s arrival in Bangladesh on February 13.Even so, with the ICC confirming that non-squad members will not be permitted to take part in the World Cup warm-up matches against Canada and Pakistan in Dhaka on February 16 and 18, Shahzad’s place on the bench could come under scrutiny if he is unable to prove his fitness in the coming fortnight. Chris Woakes, who has impressed since his debut in the Australia Twenty20 series, is the likeliest replacement in the 15-man party.Plunkett, meanwhile, played the most recent of his 28 one-day internationals last year against Bangladesh, at Chittagong, and has undergone an arduous trip around the world for a match he may not play before returning to the Caribbean where the Lions are taking part in the local first-class tournament. Plunkett, 25, has taken has taken 37 ODI wickets at 34.37 and was part of England’s 2007 World Cup squad.”Liam Plunkett has been part of the England performance programme and England Lions squad this winter so we are confident that he will be ready to play a role for England should the need arise,” Andy Flower, the England team director, said.”With our preparations for the World Cup starting in less than a fortnight we need to prioritise getting our World Cup squad members fit and ready for the start of the tournament.”

The England hierarchy has moved to dismiss rumours over the future of its senior players as the team desperately try to recover their World Cup campaign after defeat to Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2011The England hierarchy has moved to dismiss rumours over the future of its senior players as the team desperately try to recover their World Cup campaign after defeat to Bangladesh.England’s erratic campaign has left them needing to beat West Indies to be sure of qualification to the quarter-finals, but the ECB had to insist on Sunday that suggestions Andrew Strauss would retire from one-day cricket at the end of the tournament were unfounded.”I can say, categorically, that Andrew and I have not had that conversation [about retirement]. It’s purely speculation,” the ECB managing director Hugh Morris told BBC Sport. “At the end of each winter series we have a robust debrief and Andrew will be involved, but at this stage we’ve had no discussions. I’ve had no discussions with Kevin [Pietersen], Andrew or any players.”Meanwhile, England’s Twenty20 captain, Paul Collingwood, had to make similar rebuttals about his own future after his decline in form led to him batting No. 8 in the recent two-wicket loss to Bangladesh. He insisted his only concern is the next game against West Indies and feels England’s sluggish start to the tournament is similar to their experience at the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean. There, they ended as champions despite some scrappy showings in the early stages.”One reason I retired from Test cricket was to prolong the one-day side of things and I still feel I have major contributions to make,” Collingwood said. “I’m still Twenty20 captain. I want to continue that as well. It’s not in my mind to even think about things like [my future].”I see things developing very much how the Twenty20 did last year in the West Indies. We scraped through the group stages, but once we did we really put our performances together and went on to win it. We really need to focus on getting this complete game. You put the whole thing together, and we’re a formidable team. We want to do that against the West Indies.”After a marathon winter that started when they left for Australia at the end of October, England’s cricketers have looked bedraggled of late. They conceded 23 wides in the defeat to Bangladesh but despite admitting the scheduling has been tough, Collingwood said there was no excuse for their showing so far.”It’s not ideal having two huge series or tournaments together, it’s like having two Olympics in the same winter. But we can’t make that as an excuse. We’re focused on knowing if we win those four games we win the World Cup and there aren’t many times in your career where you can say that.”

Given the deep pockets of their respective IPL franchises, and the compelling talent at their disposal, it is surprising that neither Mumbai nor Delhi have managed to win the IPL yet

The Preview by Nitin Sundar09-Apr-2011

Match facts

These two men are now team-mates. It happens only in the IPL!•Getty Images

Sunday, April 10
Start time 1600 (1030 GMT)

Big picture

It’s the clash between the two biggest cities in India, and arguably the biggest cricketing centres in the country. Given the deep pockets of their respective IPL franchises, and the compelling talent at their disposal, it is surprising that neither side has managed to win the IPL yet. Mumbai endured a forgettable first two seasons before sparking into life last year. Yet, they were pipped at the final hurdle by a Chennai side with better big-match temperament. Delhi muscled their way to the semi-finals in 2008 and 2009 before choking in the knockouts. Last year was even worse, as they stuttered at the end of the league stage and missed out on the semi-finals.If anything, Delhi will find the going even tougher this year. The addition of two new franchises and the churn at the auctions have resulted in a massive drain of talent from their side. AB de Villiers, Daniel Vettori, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dirk Nannes and Paul Collingwood have all moved away – names big enough to form a new IPL team, may be the Delhi Exodus Eleven?Yet, Delhi have managed to retain their biggest player. Virender Sehwag plays Test cricket at one-day pace and ODIs at Twenty20 pace. It leaves him in a quandary while playing the shortest form of the game – there’s no higher gear left for him to find in Twenty20s, and he succumbs attempting outrageous shots. This year, he will want to temper his aggression, given that he has David Warner and Aaron Finch in his side, two of the most exciting Australian Twenty20 talents. Morne Morkel is an impressive addition to the bowling attack, but unless Irfan Pathan steps up, Delhi will struggle to contain good batting line-ups.Mumbai once again look great on paper. They lost Zaheer Khan and Saurabh Tiwary in the auction, but have held on to their remaining game-breakers. In addition, they have pulled in Rohit Sharma, who walks on water every IPL season before inexplicably slipping into laziness for the rest of the year. Sachin Tendulkar, as always, holds the key, but all eyes will be on old buddies Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. On the international stage, they could barely stand each other’s presence, but the beauty of franchise cricket is that it has managed to bring them together and might even spark off an interesting friendship. Mumbai will hope Munaf Patel can plug at least a part of the Zaheer-shaped void in the side.

Team talk

Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga are automatic overseas picks for Mumbai, barring injury worries. Davy Jacobs and Dilhara Fernando will hope to take the other two spots, unless Mumbai choose to go the Kolkata way and go in with fewer than four foreign players. Aditya Tare is a specialist wicketkeeper, but Ambati Rayudu was preferred last year. Jacobs is also capable of doing the job behind the stumps.Delhi’s fate will hinge on how quickly Irfan Pathan can rediscover his swing. And on whether Ajit Agarkar can, at long last, find a way to bowl economically. Given the absence of big names, this could be their season for team efforts. Warner is expected to open, while Andrew McDonald and Morkel are shoo-ins for the starting XI. Naman Ojha may be pushed down the order, though he is likely to keep wicket if he plays.

In the spotlight

Davy Jacobs took over leadership of the floundering Warriors franchise, and turned things around with his inspiring presence, guiding them to the final of the 2010 Champions League. Though Mumbai did not play Warriors in that tournament, Tendulkar would have noted Jacobs’ exploits at the top. Jacobs’ batting technique is founded upon an ability to jump back deep in the crease and plunder anything marginally outside off stump, with a powerful uncocking of the wrists. Will Tendulkar nominate Jacobs as his opening partner?The portly, bespectacled, gum-popping Aaron Finch was the other batting hero of the Champions League. He has the ability to pace an innings perfectly, and murder spinners when they err in length. R Ashwin found this out the hard way when Chennai lost to Victoria in a group game in the Champions League. Will Harbhajan Singh have better plans in place?

Prime numbers

Shahid Afridi and Darren Sammy called on their batsmen to step up, though the concerns for West Indies are greater

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2011Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan captain, while elated with the series win over West Indies, has stressed the need for his batsmen to step up. Pakistan took an unassailable 3-0 lead over West Indies in Barbados by chasing down 172, but they had to survive a top-order wobble as the first three wickets fell for 12. Misbah-ul-Haq, the Man of the Match, stabilised the innings and with support from Umar Akmal, Hammad Azam and Wahab Riaz sealed a three-wicket win with 29 balls to spare.”There are still some problems, and I’m sure the management and coaches will come at us hard in the meetings,” Afridi said with a chuckle. “The way the boys delivered in the series was good.”The batsmen need to spend some time [in the middle]. We all know we made mistakes.”
Pakistan’s batting, however, had come good in the first two ODIs where they chased down targets of 221 and 222 with considerable ease.For West Indies, who are rebuilding after three of their senior-most players were left out, the problems with the bat were far more serious. In each of the first two games their batsmen were unable to build on starts, while in the third the middle and lower orders fell apart with the last six wickets falling for 21. The hosts fought hard with the ball, seamer Ravi Rampaul and legspinner Devendra Bishoo sharing seven wickets, but the runs on the board were inadequate.”We as a batting unit, myself included, have to take more responsibility like Bishoo does with the ball,” their captain Darren Sammy said. “It’s about getting the formula right; we have had good starts but we haven’t capitalised on it.”The way forward is to gain experience. This group is not short on talent, we need to play and get more consistency. The selectors will meet now, maybe the team will stay the same [for the remaining matches in the series] but whatever happens we need to do well in the middle phase.”Misbah displayed lots of patience while steering his team out of trouble with an unbeaten 62 off 109 balls. At 148 for 7, the game was still wide open but Riaz, who had picked up three wickets, supported him well, finishing the game with two sixes.”The pitch wasn’t easy for us as there was bit more bounce and pace. I thought I have to bat till the end and we can win,” Misbah said. “The ball gets soft as it gets old and you can handle it easily.”I was telling Wahab to play his normal game. When just 10 runs were required, I told him, you can now go for one or two big hits.”Pakistan are currently ranked No. 6 in the ICC ODI team rankings, and will remain there even if they complete a whitewash. The system offers little rewards for wins against lower-ranked teams, and Afridi was critical of the concept. “I can’t understand this system. There should be some advantage for the visiting sides as winning a series is never easy for them no matter who they’re playing against,” Afridi told before the third ODI got underway. “It’s really difficult to prosper under the current ranking system. I have little clue what it is based on.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the first Test between West Indies and Pakistan at Providence

The Preview by George Binoy11-May-2011

Match Facts

May 12-16, Providence, Guyana

Start time 1000 (1400 GMT)
Misbah-ul-Haq’s tenure as captain has been controversy-free, and he’ll be aiming to achieve what no Pakistan captain before him has done in the West Indies•Associated Press

The Big Picture

We’ve been starved of Test cricket for nearly four months now. Ever since Pakistan drew in Wellington, to win the series against New Zealand, there’s been a glut of limited-over matches – the World Cup, Australia in Bangladesh, the IPL and Pakistan in the West Indies. Re-adjusting attention spans to the pace of five-day cricket might take a while, for both players and us. It is in Guyana, at the other end of the cricket universe from where they last played, that Pakistan resume the Test calendar, in pursuit of a success they’ve never achieved before.Pakistan have never won a Test series in the West Indies. They’ve beaten them at home and at neutral venues (UAE in 2001-02), but in six trips to the Caribbean, Pakistan have lost four series and drawn two. The most memorable of those battles was in 1987-88, when Imran Khan’s team held its own against the champion side Viv Richards inherited from Clive Lloyd in three monumental Tests. One-all it finished. The last two were thrillers. Unfortunately, Pakistan and West Indies have regressed since that watershed tour, and it would be fanciful to expect Misbah-ul-Haq and Darren Sammy’s teams to produce entertainment of comparable quality.Whether Pakistan or West Indies are in greater disorder could make for protracted debate. About ten months ago, it would have been Pakistan. Their captain (Shahid Afridi) jumped ship and retired from Tests, while his successor (Salman Butt) and their two best fast bowlers (Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer) were embroiled in a spot-fixing scandal and then banned by the ICC. From the cold the selectors recalled Misbah and then made him captain. His chalice, however, hasn’t been poisoned and Pakistan have been uncontroversial under his leadership. They also drew against South Africa and won in New Zealand. Pakistan, incredibly, appear well settled.It is West Indies who appear to be in turmoil. Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard turned down board contracts, preferring to remain unshackled to pursue lucrative assignments. And ever since West Indies were eliminated from the World Cup, by Pakistan, there’s been a slanging match between the WICB on one side, and the WIPA and several players on the other, over how cricket is run in the region and how cricketers are treated by administrators. The upshot of the series of events is that West Indies will play the Test series against Pakistan without Gayle and Bravo, two players who would have walked into the starting XIs. Also missing is fast bowler Jerome Taylor, who’s playing in the IPL.West Indies have won only three series since Sri Lanka visited in 2003. Two of those were against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Their only success against a top side was the 1-0 result against England in 2009, a victory that was due to a searing spell from the now-absent Taylor.

Form guide

(most recent first)
West Indies: DDDLD
Pakistan: DWDDL

Watch out for…

Two local lads, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Devendra Bishoo. Chanderpaul was dropped from the ODI series against Pakistan, exchanged lengthy letters with the WICB, and is now back for the Tests. He had made unflattering claims about how the team management kept telling him how to bat, even during his innings, and then subjected him to an interrogation afterwards. He’s going to be playing in the same set up, so watch out for men with drinks running frequently to the middle while Chanderpaul is batting. His performances, however, will be critical in an inexperienced batting order.While Chanderpaul has played 129 Tests, Bishoo is yet to play one, and will most certainly make his debut at Providence. He was a refreshing revelation during the World Cup and his legbreaks and googlies were the only thing that brought West Indies wickets (apart from a run-out) in the first two ODIs against Pakistan. He will be the solitary spinner in the XI, so is shouldering a large responsibility for someone so raw.There have been questions over Darren Sammy’s place in the limited-overs team – he’s the third seam-bowling allrounder along with Bravo and Pollard – and whether he would win a spot by merit if he wasn’t captain. Bravo is playing the IPL, so Sammy is the only allrounder in the Test squad, but he will be under pressure to show he belongs in a format that demands greater skills than the shorter versions do. At present, Sammy averages 16.72 with the bat and 31 with the ball, which isn’t really good enough.Azhar Ali is an extremely different batsman compared to Umar Akmal, who has been Pakistan’s next big thing for a while now, but no less valuable in this series. While Akmal oozes aggression and indiscretion, Ali is patient. He’s made six half-centuries in 19 innings and is searching for his maiden hundred. In the absence of Younis Khan, Ali’s responsibility will be to provide stability in the middle order.

Team news

The absence of Gayle will give Lendl Simmons his first shot at Tests since May 2009 at the top of the order. The question, however, is whether West Indies will play six specialist batsman or four specialist bowlers. If they play six batsmen, with Carlton Baugh as wicketkeeper, then Sammy will have to be the fourth bowler, which leaves their attack light. If they play all three quicks – Roach, Rampaul and Edwards – and Bishoo, at the expense of a specialist batsman, then Baugh will have to bat at No. 6, which is a spot too high for him. A stronger bowling side will give them a better chance of winning the Test though.West Indies (probable): 1 Devon Smith, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Brendan Nash, 6 Carlton Baugh (wk), 7 Darren Sammy (capt), 8 Ravi Rampaul, 9 Fidel Edwards, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Devendra Bishoo.Pakistan’s line-up is more balanced than West Indies’ but they have to make up for the absence of Younis, who flew home because of the death of his brother. It gives Akmal another shot at securing a Test spot, after his tendency to self-destruct cost him his middle-order berth.Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Asad Shafiq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Mohammad Salman (wk), 8 Tanvir Ahmed, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Saeed Ajmal.

Pitch and conditions

The Providence Stadium in Guyana has hosted just one Test before this, between West Indies and Sri Lanka in 2008. It finished in a win for the visitors after they batted first. In conditions that have traditionally aided spin, West Indies have gone in with a pace-heavy squad for the first Test, hinting there might be something extra for the seamers. The weather’s a bit of a worry, with scattered thunderstorms forecast.

Stats and trivia

• Since 2007, West Indies have averaged 32 per wicket while batting at home, and taken wickets at 42 apiece while bowling. Pakistan have averaged 27 with the bat in away Tests and 35 with the ball.
• Chanderpaul has scored 2327 runs – the most of West Indies since 2007 – at an average of 68. Misbah has been Pakistan’s best, scoring 1339 at an average of 54.
• Umar Gul is Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker since 2007, with 64 at an average of 37. Edwards is West Indies’ best, with 59 wickets at an average of 34.

Quotes

“I have confidence in Shivnarine Chanderpaul. He has been around cricket for a long time, he has been a professional, and I think he’s gonna go back in there and he’s gonna play the game how he’s supposed to play it.”

Lonwabo Tsotosbe, the South Africa left-arm pace bowler, has been released by Essex a week before the end of his contract

Firdose Moonda25-May-2011Lonwabo Tsotosbe, the South Africa left-arm pace bowler, has been released by Essex a week before the end of his contract. Tsotsobe’s poor form during his stint with the Division Two county side and an outburst on social networking site, Twitter, are the two major reasons for his early departure.”They [Essex] were not happy with his form,” Arthur Turner, Tsotsobe’s agent told ESPNcricinfo. “They expected more from him.” Tsotsobe signed a short-term deal with Essex and joined them last month. In three first-class matches, he took five wickets at an average of 77.60, which prompted Essex to drop him from the first XI last week . He also played in five limited-overs matches and his eight wickets came at average of 30.25 while he had a bloated economy rate of 6.28.Tsotosbe expressed his feelings about being dropped on Twitter on Monday when he posted. “Ive never felt like ths eva. Ths is the worst two mnths of my life. And u know wen u start regretin urself it aint gud.”Friends from back home replied to him with messages of encouragement, with many telling him to hang in and see the contract out. He replied to one by saying, “i think i shudhave stayed at home and work on my strength,” and another with, “talent is over rated,its the hard work u put wt talent that gets u places. And its just impossible to work in ths environment.”His reaction stunned Essex management, who told the BBC that their hospitality to visiting players had not come under such attack in the past. “Everyone who comes into our dressing room, one of the first things they say to me is what a great place it is to play cricket, because they like the great environment,” Paul Grayson, the Essex coach said. “So to hear that he said some things about the dressing room is very annoying.”Grayson also said there was no reason for him to stay around for their next fixture against Gloucestershire, which starts on Sunday. “He is not going to play next week at Bristol so he might as well go back to South Africa,” Grayson said. “It’s really disappointing. He has got to look at himself. We gave him a great chance to come and play some county cricket and he has not made the most of it.”Grayson added that Essex would put their feelings in a letter to Cricket South Africa. He did not go into detail about the content of the communication that Essex want to have with officials in South Africa, but it will likely deal with the public comments about the club, which Grayson reacted called “downright rude.”Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association said that “there is a social networking policy in place and the guys are well aware that there are dangers.” Irish could not comment further on Tsotsobe’s case in particular but said that if any player is found to have contravened the code, “they will be disciplined.” Gerald Majola, the chief executive of CSA, also did not have the exact details: “If Essex want to put it all in writing I will take it up with them or with Lonwabo himself,” he said.This was Tsotsbe’s first stint at a county, having previously only played club cricket in England. He was Essex’s third choice overseas recruit after attempts to sign Peter Siddle and Tim Southee failed. Turner said that he “struggled with his lengths,” as is the case with many bowlers when they first travel to the UK. Tsotsobe has also been in regular contact with South Africa assistant coach Vincent Barnes who said that Tsotsobe felt he was “getting better,” although he had battled to adjust to the conditions, including the weather.

Neil D’Costa, Michael Clarke’s mentor and coach, has said Australia’s growing preference for Twenty20 could lead to Test cricket getting sidelined in the country

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2011Neil D’Costa, Michael Clarke’s mentor and coach, has said Australia’s growing preference for Twenty20 could lead to Test cricket getting sidelined in a country already struggling to rebuild a team which has slipped to No. 5 in the rankings. ”A lot of junior state cricket in Australia is now Twenty20 cricket and that could kill Test cricket in this country,” D’Costa told the .D’Costa has been Clarke’s mentor since he was seven and has been coaching state-level juniors in India for some years now. He contrasted Australia’s preference with the relative lack of Twenty20 cricket in India at the junior level, which he says allows young players to learn the basics of the game better.”In India, it’s very different. There is no Twenty20 in the junior state programs. We don’t train for it, don’t play it, don’t promote it and the players have nothing to do with it. It’s only at the higher levels, where there are players who have learnt their game and can make improvisations, that Twenty20 is introduced. The job of all junior coaches in India is to teach players the fundamentals of batting.”The energy that’s being put in, the planning that’s going into the development of Indian cricketers, is amazing. At the same time, Australia’s spending time and money just trying to work out our problems.”D’Costa said he was surprised when he met several of his young Australian students who just wanted to score faster and hit the ball harder. ”It’s a real concern because everything in Australian cricket at the moment seems to be about Twenty20. It’s all about the Big Bash, how we can get more people to the games, how we can make money out of India. It’s not really about how we can make better cricketers.”D’Costa also raised concerns about the direction of the Centre of Excellence program, saying more players were being taught to become ”clones” instead of their individual needs being attended to. D’Costa cited the example of Phil Hughes who started his career with twin centuries in his second Test only to have his technique questioned, especially against the short ball.”The stuff that he was told was not in sync with how he’d made runs all his life,” D’Costa said. ”The fact that he scored a couple of centuries early on showed there were some skills there. He had to refine them within his way of doing it. But the information given to him didn’t take into account his way of preparing and playing.”You don’t coach a Premier League soccer player how to kick a ball. And you don’t get a landscape artist to paint portraits. They are coaching our most talented players with the same principles as you should coach a junior. These guys are past all that. It’s as though they’re trying to create clones. They’re not coaching players according to what they specifically need.”

A round-up of the second day of matches in the ICC Africa Region Division One Twenty20 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2011Namibia maintained their unbeaten run in the ICC Africa Region Division One Twenty20, 2011, with another one-sided win, this time a 174-run rout of Ghana at the Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala. Choosing to bat, Namibia piled up 255 for 2. The innings was launched by Craig Williams who tonked 23 off 10 balls. After he departed, the score reading 28 for 1 at the end of two overs, the charge was carried on by the other opener, Louis Petrus van der Westhuizen, who scored 97 off 40 with 14 fours and five sixes. Sarel Burger and Gerrie Snyman did not let up either, smashing 75 off 46 and 52 off 24 respectively. The Namibia bowlers rounded-off the perfect game for their side, strangling the Ghana line-up. Only Obed Harvey and James Vifah – the sole Ghana batsman who scored at a rate in excess of 82 – managed to get into double figures, as their side limped to 81 for 9 in their 20. Burger backed up his performance with the bat with the best bowling figures of the game – 3 for 12 in four overs.Nigeria registered their first win of the tournament, beating Kenya by eight wickets at the Kyambogo Cricket Ground, Kampala. Being asked to bat, Kenya put on 128 for 6. Opener Duncan Allan looked good in his knock of 41 off 31 balls, by was run out. The only other sizeable contribution came from Joseph Ochieng, who pushed the total past 100 with his 27 off 21. Apart from lapses in running, offspinner Ramit Gill did all the damage to the Kenya top-order, claiming 3 for 8 in his four overs. Nigeria made short work of the chase, knocking off the target with 16 balls and eight wickets to spare. The top-order shared the work, with each of the top four producing cameos ranging between 21 and 35 to steer Nigeria to an easy win.Kenya slumped to their second eight-wicket defeat of the day, losing to Namibia at the Lugogo Cricket Oval. Opener Duncan Allan top-scored for Kenya for the third time in three games, making 58 off 49 balls out of a total of 105 for 8. He did not receive any support though, with no other batsmen getting into double digits. Louis Klazinga and Gerrie Snyman ran through the top order with combined figures of 4 for 35 in eight overs, while Louis Petrus van der Westhuizen troubled the lower order with his left-arm spin, claiming 3 for 12. The chase was steered almost single-handedly by opener Craig Williams, who was unbeaten on 70, from 41 deliveries. His innings included five sixes and Namibia romped home with eight wickets and 7.5 overs in hand.Uganda edged past Nigeria by two wickets in a low-scoring game at the Kyambogo Cricket Ground. Choosing to bat Nigeria posted 104 for 6, mainly through a 61-run fifth-wicket stand between Kunle Adegbola and Olajide Bejide. Offspinner Frank Nsubuga was the best of the Uganda bowlers, claiming 2 for 9 in a miserly four-over spell. While most of the Uganda batsmen failed to get going – four were out for ducks – a half-century stand between Arthur Ziraba (who top-scored with 48) and Arthur Kyobe did just enough to get them home. Uganda’s victory came in the 19th over, despite a spirited spell from Adeleke Oyede, in which he took 3 for 9 in 2.1 overs.

Stuart Broad has admitted that his England place was on the line going into the first Test of what proved to be “a very special” Man-of-the-Series performance against India

Andrew Miller23-Aug-2011Stuart Broad has admitted that his England place was on the line going into the first Test of what proved to be “a very special” Man-of-the-Series performance against India, but he believes that a timely return to county cricket transformed his approach and enabled him to revert to being the disciplined bowler that the England management needed him to be.Broad’s personal performance against India was remarkable. He topped the averages with 25 wickets at 13.84, and chipped in with 182 priceless runs as well, including a counterattacking 64 from the depths of 124 for 8 at Trent Bridge that was arguably more valuable than the massive hundreds that England subsequently racked up at Edgbaston and The Oval.However, in the first England series of the summer, against Sri Lanka in May and June, Broad had been limited to eight wickets at 48.75 in three Tests. It had been a scattergun performance, full of wayward lines and lengths, and one that was not helped by the bowling coach, David Saker, referring to him as England’s “enforcer”. The impression was of a bowler trying too hard to be aggressive, and ignoring the basic disciplines that had proven so effective for England in the Ashes.”It has been a big learning curve,” said Broad. “It was the first time this summer in my short career that I have been put under a huge amount of pressure like that. You do start asking questions of yourself, and those questions needed answering. It doesn’t matter what people think outside the changing room, but for me personally I had to work out what type of bowler I wanted to be and what was the best way to take Test wickets and help the side out.”Anyone who had witnessed Broad’s displays against Australia at The Oval in August 2009, or against South Africa at Durban four months later, was in no doubt about the best approach for Broad to take – full and fuller. However, with his confidence at a low ebb in mid-July, he returned to county duty for Nottinghamshire against Somerset at Trent Bridge, and on an unforgiving surface, he sowed his own seeds of revival with a first-innings haul of 5 for 95 in 30.1 overs.It was all the incentive he needed to shelve the overt aggro, and settle into a relentless full length, allied to a dangerous bouncer that he used sparingly but effectively, particularly at India’s tailenders. The returns were instantaneous, as he tore through India’s first innings at Lord’s with 4 for 37 in 22 overs, before crushing their brief revival at Trent Bridge with a career-best 6 for 46 on a tumultuous second evening, including a hat-trick.”To go away and play for Notts, and get a five-for pitching the ball up a week before the Test gave me a lot of confidence,” said Broad. “That was how I wanted to bowl in this series, but then for it to happen straightaway at Lord’s – to pick up four wickets and I could have potentially had more – that length showed me the way to go. I followed that throughout the Test series and I’m not sure of exact stats but 25 wickets at 13 or 14 speak for themselves.”It was about going back into the Notts changing-room and speaking to the likes of Andre Adams and Mick Newell, and realising what I wanted to do,” he added. “My bouncer is a dangerous weapon and always will be for me, but to use that once as a surprise every over makes that fuller ball more dangerous. I think throughout this series it is my fuller ball that has got the wickets, and now we can call Bressy [Tim Bresnan] the enforcer.”It still seems odd that Broad needed quite so much persuasion to play to the strengths that had proved so effective in the past, but that in part comes down to England’s willingness to hunt for their wickets as a pack. During the first Test of the Ashes at Brisbane, before a stomach injury curtailed his involvement, Broad settled into a short length by default to assist James Anderson at the other end, who looked England’s likeliest source of wickets with his fuller swinging approach.It did not work on that occasion, as Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin repelled the threat in a memorable triple-century stand, but with figures of 0 for 72 in 33 overs, Broad at least kept the tempo of their innings in check. This summer, however, it’s been a different story. On England’s more helpful seaming wickets, Broad and his team-mates have hounded their Indian opponents relentlessly, and prevented them from exceeding 300 in any one of their eight innings.’The lads are very proud of that spiky gold thing we have got in the changing room’ – Broad celebrates with Matt Prior•Getty Images

“It has been a very special summer,” said Broad. “India came here and we were very aware of the talent they had, especially in their batting unit. The bowlers were very clued up and did a lot of work before the series, about where we wanted to bowl at these guys. There is a lot of footage because they have played so much cricket, so we had a meeting before the Lord’s Test about how we wanted to bowl at them, and looking back over the series, those plans worked very well.”A lot of credit goes to the guys who came up with those plans, but also to the bowlers who executed them. When you look at the whole series, the over-riding feeling is a huge amount of pride, for firstly way we have batted and scored the amount of runs we have, and then the way we have backed that up with the ball.”India arrived in England boasting one of the most legendary batting line-ups in the history of Test cricket, with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in the middle order, and Virender Sehwag belatedly joining the tour for the third Test at Edgbaston. However, with the exception of Dravid, who was outstanding in racking up three hundreds in the four Tests, England dominated the remainder of the line-up, with Tendulkar’s 91 on the final day of the series being their only other score of note.”Our job is to get the big players out,” said Broad. “We know there are key players in any Test team – the likes of Ponting, Clarke, Tendulkar and Dravid – and you have got to hunt for them in a pack. If you get them it does have an impact on the whole side. We kept Sachin pretty quiet throughout the series, because we held our plans to him. We did not let him get off to flyers. We did not bowl magic deliveries to him. We just held our nerve and our length to keep to disciplined areas.”England’s ascent to the No. 1 Test side in the world was confirmed after their innings-and-242-run victory at Edgbaston, but the feat was brought home to the players when they were presented with the ICC Test Mace in the aftermath of the series whitewash at The Oval. With that initial challenge now complete, England’s aim is to maintain their status as the best team in the world, but Broad is sure that the players have it in them to remain grounded – just as they did when they regained the Ashes at the same venue two years ago.”The way to do it is to set new goals and refocus your mind,” said Broad. “We will do that as a Test team come January when a whole new journey will take place. We have got to be proud and stay in the moment now with this, because it has been such an achievement to be best in the world and the lads are very proud of that spiky gold thing we have got in the changing room.”You will have noticed over the big series in recent months, that they were described as stepping stones to being the best team in the world,” he said. “Now we are here we need to take a lot of satisfaction from that, and you can tell by the crowds and the reaction we have had that everyone is proud of us. But come January, we will have to set ourselves for another long journey to remain the best in the world.”In the immediate future, Broad’s emphasis is about to switch to the shorter form of the game. After a rest for the trip to Ireland this week, he will resume his tenure as England captain in the one-off Twenty20 against India at Old Trafford on August 31, before fronting up for five ODIs against the current World Champions, who are sure to be a chastened side after their drubbing in the Tests.After their Ashes successes in 2009 and 2010-11, England showed an immediate dropping-off of form for the subsequent one-day series – which, in the latter case, continued into the World Cup. Broad is aware of the dangers of switching formats so soon after a triumph of this magnitude, but believes that this time, the squad will be mentally prepared for the challenge.”It was an After the Lord Mayor’s Show-type of thing and that is something we need to be aware of,” he said. “We need to make sure we are fully focussed on starting afresh, and hitting the ground running because we know how dangerous India are in all formats of the game. They are world champions in the one-day stuff and that is the next challenge for as an England team, to follow this success up with success in one-day cricket.”