Muttiah Muralitharan has flown out of South Africa directly to Australia to undergo an operation for Hernia. All arrangements for his surgery is handled by Dr. Quintus De Zylva, the BCCSL representative in Australia.Muralitharan will not be available for the ODI Series against South Africa. His availability for the Australia Tour will depend on his speed of recovery after surgery.
ADELAIDE, Oct 18 AAP – Victoria lost four wickets in the opening session today to crumble to the verge of outright defeat at 6-185 at lunch on the final day of its Pura Cup cricket match against South Australia at Adelaide Oval.The Bushrangers started the day at 2-94 in their second innings, needing an impossible target of 512 for victory, but more realistically aiming to survive until stumps.But that also quickly became an unlikely result, when Brad Hodge (22), Graeme Rummans (48), Nick Jewell (30) and Cameron White (0) all fell in the morning session.Darren Berry, on six, and Ian Harvey, on nine, were unbeaten at lunch and needed a long partnership to give Victoria any chance of holding out for a draw, with only tailenders to come.Former Victorian off-spinner John Davison, playing his first game for SA, had the figures of 4-80, including the wickets of Hodge and Jewell today, while Ryan Harris took the other two wickets to fall.
Averages are often frowned upon when it comes to player ratings. One thing they do not do is lie about the form and consistency of cricket players. The South African players playing cricket in the County Championships on English soil have not sent any statistician scrambling for the record books.Division 1 of the Championship does not see a South African name in the top 30 of either the batting or bowling averages, with Nic Pothas filling the forth spot with 15 dismissals in the fielding list. An improvement in the Division 2 averages with Gauteng reject Sven Koenig filling the seventh batting spot with an average of 56.8 and 284 runs, nearly 400 runs behind top of the averages Michael Hussy from Australia. Greg Smith is third in the bowling averages at 15.85 and 20 wickets.The past weekend saw Warwickshire Shaun Pollock scoring 16 and 37 and returning bowling figures of 4/37 and 0/25 before leaving the field of play on hearing about the tragic death of his friend Hansie Cronje. In the same drawn match Neil Johnson scored 33 and returned figures of 0/34 and 1/17 for Hampshire. Nic Pothas managed one with the bat.Mark Davis in a loss for Sussex against Kent scored 24 not out and 18 while getting only 1/66 in the second innings.Derbyshire, top of the Division 2 table, won against Glamorgan where Andrew Gait scored 35 and four not out in their four wicket win.Sven Koenig, 29 and four, with Middlesex and second in the Division 2 table drawing with Durham.Nottinghamshire had a bye over the weekend.Allan Donald is to make his season debut for Worcestershire and then together with Pollock will return to South Africa to be at Cronje’s funeral service in Bloemfontein. Both players are expected back in England on Thursday morning.In the Lancaster league over the weekend Jacques Rudolph continued his improvement with a 62 and a 40 added to a 3/34 spell of bowling. Con de Lange also doing well with another fine batting performance of 68.For the rest Pierre Joubert got 36 and 1/20 and Paul Adams at last got into the double figures with 39 from the bat and 2/43 with the ball.Failures from Martin van Jaarsveld (2) and Kevin Pieterson on loan from Nottinghamshire (7) while Andre Seymore and Andrew Hall did not get a chance to bat. Andrew Hall is also on loan to Minor County Suffolk.
Auckland coach Mark O’Donnell could not be more aware of the differences between his home of 17 years in South Africa, and his new home in New Zealand.For a start there’s the rain. Auckland welcomed him with 12 days in a row, which was only a fraction of the true amount the Queen City endured.But that rain highlighted one adaptation O’Donnell, 40 and originally from Christchurch, is going to have to make.Most of his pre-season work with the Auckland side is going to have to be done indoors.The days of doing all the winter and pre-season training outdoors on grass pitches in South Africa are gone.O’Donnell meets with the Auckland squad for the first time this evening, although he has met with most of the individuals who made up the inaugural winners of the State Championship last season, on a one-on-one basis.His return to New Zealand completes a cycle which saw him move to Eastern Province where fellow New Zealander David Trist had taken on a coaching role. O’Donnell, who played cricket for Burnside West in the Christchurch competition, had gone to England the winter before and had met up with Trist in the Netherlands.Trist encouraged him to try his luck in South Africa, and having done that, O’Donnell married a South African and ended up staying, initially with Eastern Province but latterly for Gauteng.His experiences have been mixed.From the earliest years he was there, South Africa was still in isolation due to the apartheid policies of the National Government. Because of that he was able to witness and experience the incredible strength of club and first-class cricket.International players playing at those levels was a rarity in the rest of the cricket world, and since the re-entry into the normal realm of things in 1992, it has also become a rarity in South Africa.However, normalisation in sport has brought its own problems and it has been especially severe on the administration of the game.O’Donnell reflected on how easily a very strong structure in Gauteng had fallen apart as the results of inefficiencies in administration and pressures of advancement of black players had taken their toll.Gauteng had won the South African championship in 2000 in spite of the administrative collapse the side endured. Six of the side departed, only one of them – Ken Rutherford – to retirement, before the start of the next season.O’Donnell said there was a problem that was symptomatic with the next generation of South African players. Because so many of them now hold European Union passports they are transferring their playing allegiances to Europe, in the same way that rugby players have done.”They are getting out because they can earn more money and they are out of the political problems,” he said.Maintaining the strength of the side of the moment is going to be the real challenge for South Africa, he said.The transformation process would work eventually in South Africa, but it would take time, he said.Bowlers would come through the system quicker, and that has already been seen, but it would be tougher for batsmen to emerge and they would take longer.The situation was not helped by the system at the moment which has lowered the standard of first-class cricket by promoting players of colour ahead of players who are better skilled. It was difficult all round because the players knew themselves there were better players, while it was some of these players in the second-tier of the game who were seeking their opportunities elsewhere.”I am looking forward to working with Auckland. I can concentrate on actual cricket decisions. I wasn’t able to have a balanced side over the last five years,” he said.O’Donnell, who was last in Auckland in 1981, couldn’t help but notice the changes in the city, even at Eden Park where the only familiar sight was the terracing at the eastern end of the ground.”But it has been useful being here at this time because I attended a Level III coaching workshop in Christchurch and met quite of a few of the guys and was able to make some observations, and there has been a coaching programme in Auckland this week.”The competition involves about the same amount of cricket as South Africa, although the difference here is that it is squeezed into a much tighter time frame.”That puts demands on strength and skills of players in the squad and those just beneath them because you are only as good as your support players,” he said.”There are some very talented cricketers here and the talent is similar to South Africa although the average age of players is younger here. Clearly it is a lot harder to live on earnings as a first-class cricketer here,” he said.Each of the 11 first-class sides in South Africa has 17 contracted players.The latest phase of his coaching career will provide different challenges for O’Donnell. The lack of hard, fast tracks in the early part of the summer requires different thinking while there is that concentration of play which can be just as demanding organisation-wise as the playing out in the middle.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), today announced that there has been a change of venues for the two Tests between West Indies and Bangladesh, beginning next month. According to Michael Hall, Chief Cricket Operations Officer at the WICB, “The change became necessary to accommodate Victory Day celebrations in Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital, on December 16.”The change therefore means that Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Stadium will now host the first Test from December 8 to 12, while Chittagong’s M.A. Aziz Stadium will stage the second and final Test from December 16 to 20.Victory Day is the way Bangladesh celebrates the anniversary of the end of its nine-month war with Pakistan that led to the country’s independence in 1971.The rest of the itinerary remains unchanged. The West Indies are expected to play in two Tests and three limited overs internationals beginning on November 29.
Somerset skipper Jamie Cox will return to England next month in a hungry mood after his state side Tasmania failed to win the Pura Cup.Jamie, who has enjoyed a record breaking season down under during the winter, was dismissed for 19 as the Tasmanian team lost to Queensland in the Pura Cup final at Brisbane earlier this week.This morning Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me: “Before the game we sent Jamie a message of good luck, so we are naturally disappointed to hear that Tasmania were unsuccessful in their challenge for the cup.””Of course the rub off from that could be to our advantage, because when he returns to England next month he will be ever more determined for success.”At least Jamie can take some comfort from the fact that when he returns to Taunton he will have somewhere to live with his new wife Helen and their baby son Lachlan.As reported on the Somerset website and also in the local newspapers, a week ago Jamie was looking like being homeless on his return to the west country after his summer housing arrangements had fallen through at the last moment.However, glad to say somebody read about the Somerset skipper’s predicament and made contact with the club, as a result of which Jamie now has a house in the Taunton area to move into with his family upon his return.Somerset Executive Assistant Sally Donoghue told me: “We are delighted and relieved that we have at last found somewhere for Jamie and his family to live. We are very grateful to the person who has made the house available, and now all we need to do is to make sure that it is equipped with a cot and a high chair!”
Somerset fast bowler Richard Johnson, who has been missing from the scene for several weeks through injury,is looking well set to make his first team return for the county in their next NUL Division One National League match against Warwickshire on Sunday June 9th.When I spoke to Richard at the County Ground he told me: "I’m very hopeful for the game at Edgbaston on June 9th, and the way that my recovery programme is progressing I can’t see any reason why I won’t be playing."The former Middlesex man, who was the leading county championship wicket taker for the Cidermen in 2001 continued: "I’m bowling two times everyday in the nets and now I am incorporating some longer spells. Everything is geared up for me to return at Edgbaston.Meanwhile Somerset chief executive Peter Anderson has confirmed that Somerset will play Hampshire in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy on Wednesday June 19th at the County Ground.The Somerset boss told me earlier today: "We were relieved to win our match against the Yorkshire Board XI, which was a potential banana skin for us, to earn a home tie with Hampshire in the next round which will be played on June 19th. Lets hope that what happened at this stage of the competition in 2001 happens again this year and that we can get back to our winning one day form."
Former cricketer Ajay Jadeja today made a foray into Bollywood withthe muhurat of his debut film at a studio in Mumbai, though he saidcricket will always be his first love.”Cricket has been my first love and will always be so”, Jadeja toldreporters at Subhash Ghai’s Audeus Studios.The former Indian middle order batsman, who is challenging the banimposed by the BCCI for his alleged involvement in the betting andmatch-fixing scandal, said he was fighting the ban and in no way wasbidding goodbye to cricket.Speaking about the film, Jadeja said, “I am playing a character whobehaves and talks the way I do in real life though I had to learnquite a bit while preparing for the role”.”Most of the people who are coming to films have undergone actingclasses or some sort of professional training, but in my case I haveto start from the beginning and have a lot to learn”, Jadeja said andadded that though he had done ad-films, a movie was something verydifferent.”Since it is my debut film, I wanted to make sure I get a good roleand was very careful while choosing this movie to be directed by YusufKhan, his first directorial venture, and produced by Pammi Sandhu”,Jadeja added.The film also has Sunil Shetty while the heroine is yet to be decided.
BCCI technical committee member not in favour of graded systemA member of the technical committee and Punjab Cricket Association secretary MP Pandove on Sunday said in Mohali said that the graded system of payment linked with seniority of players is not feasible and has ‘certain complications’. PTI quotes Pandove as saying that “this system which is likely to be implemented after thorough deliberations at the next meeting of the board would force players to declare themselves professionals.” He added “No player would like to declare himself professional due to the obvious reason of taxation,” he said.Pandove also felt that this system would lower the morale of the young players and this would ultimately would affect team spirit. “I personally think that this system cannot be effective in this part of the world.” Five Indian players last week pressed the BCCI to have a contract system for greater security and graded system of payment linked to seniority and performance.PCA launches coaching scheme for upcoming playersThe Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) on Sunday launched a coaching scheme for upcoming youngsters across the state. Briefing newsmen after the executive meeting of the PCA in Mohali, PCA secretary MP Pandove said under the scheme six regional coaching centres of the PCA would be created in Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Patiala, Amritsar, Mohali and Jalandhar for providing training.Pandove added that the PCA would provide 12 dozen cricket balls each, aid for installing an irrigation system and 50 per cent reimbursement of coaching fee at these centres. The PCA had approved a budget of Rs 25 lakh to create these coaching centres, he said adding that from such centres a total of 20 players below the age of 19 would be selected. The chosen players would be brought to the PCA for advanced training under psychologists, doctors and super speciality video-tape guidance, he said. He said that the executive has decided to rewardsuitably one cricketer each under the age group of 14, 16, 19 and a senior cricketer each year.The PCA had also decided to honour Test cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Navjot Singh, besides four players who represented the victorious Indian Under-19 team in Sri Lanka, Yuvraj Singh, Reetinder Sodhi, Ravneet Ricky and Munish Sharma. Pandove said the PCA would host the first Test match between England and India during the 2001-2002 season.Assam Assn. to start academyThe Assam Cricket Association will soon open an academy at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. The venue will be shifted to the proposed new stadium at Hengrabari when the stadium gets ready. The decision was taken at the governing body meeting of the ACA last week. The academy will start functioning from June 1 with a trial camp for the U-14 cricketers of the State for 21 days, according to ACA secretary Nandan Bezbaruah. Thereafter, a trial camp of the same duration will be held for U-16 and U-19 players. At least three camps would be held in a year and the State U-14, U-16 and U-19 teams would be selected as aresult.For the inaugural camp at the Academy, 25 players from all over the state would be selected. In this regard, the ACA has instructed all the affiliated districts to send two players from their district to the Nehru Stadium. After four days of training by Manoj Bhagawati and Mukut Das, 25 players will be selected for the training camp. To run this academy, a committee has been set up comprising the president, secretary and treasurer. Apart from this, one representative from six zones of the State will be included in the committee. Four coaches have been selected for conducting the camp at the academy. The chief coach is Kamal Das.Another important decision taken at the meeting was to have an advanced training session for coaches. In this regard, two coaches from each district will be asked to attend the session.Laloo Prasad elected BCA president unopposedThe former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav on Sunday was elected unopposed as the president of the Bihar Cricket Association in Jamshedpur. The formal announcement was made yesterday as he was the lone candidate for the post.Ajay Narain Sharma was elected the secretary while Ravi Shankar Prasad, Satish Singh and Ram Kumar were elected as members of the executive committee.
It wasn’t so long ago that Tasmania was reputed to possess the best fourth day batting side in the country. The Tigers have surrendered that hard-won reputation in theintervening period but today showed that they might be somewhere on the way back to reclaiming the title with a plucky display on the final day of the drawn PuraCup match against New South Wales here in Sydney.The pitch was ultimately the winner in this match, for it consistently played in favour of the batsmen. Yet the Blues still entered the last day with genuine claims on anoutright victory and, as the action began, the Tasmanians still had a tremendous amount of work ahead of them to stave off that prospect. They quickly lost openerDene Hills (28) to an edged drive at a wide Stuart MacGill (5/125) leg break to confirm that it would not resemble anything short of a struggle.To the Blues’ two other wrist spinners, Mark Higgs (1/26) and Michael Bevan (2/23), the visitors also watched Michael DiVenuto (0) and Shane Watson (14) maketheir exits before lunch. DiVenuto was dismissed inside the first hour of play when brilliantly caught and bowled high and hard to Higgs’ right, and Watson fell on thestroke of lunch when he mysteriously chose to shoulder arms at a conventional Bevan leg break that pitched marginally outside the line of off stump and turned back into him.But another expression from Hills’ opening partner, Jamie Cox (81), of his insatiable appetite for runs served the twin purpose of eating up time and slowly eradicatingthe deficit. Steadfast in defence and stylish in attack, Cox was on the verge of notching up the possibly unprecedented distinction of scoring a century in each of hisfour first-class innings against New South Wales for the summer when he was finally defeated.He fell at the start of a disastrous half hour for the visitors shortly after lunch which looked to have all but killed the Tasmanians’ hopes of staving off a loss. After hehad feathered an attempted cover drive at Nathan Bracken (2/66), the experienced Shaun Young (8) pushed forward meekly at MacGill to offer a bat-pad catch andDaniel Marsh (13) was caught in spectacular reflex fashion at waist level by short leg fieldsman Brett van Deinsen.Such an assessment failed, though, to take account of the steely resistance that was to follow. Two particularly stubborn partnerships – one of fifty runs for the seventhwicket between Scott Kremerskothen (64) and Sean Clingeleffer (7) and another of sixty-three for the last between the belligerent Shannon Tubb (42) and DavidSaker (20*) – reversed the trend and whisked the match away from the Blues’ clutches.A missed catch at mid off by Michael Clarke, as he attempted to hold a Kremerskothen off drive at MacGill when the Tasmanian all-rounder had only thirteen runsalongside his name, probably proved crucial in the final analysis.Despite MacGill’s unstinting efforts on the way to his five wicket haul, some tidy bowling from paceman Bracken and a pair of strikes from Bevan, it all left thehome team ultimately needing a preposterous 146 runs off nine overs to win. For reasons best known to the Blues themselves, they actually decided to attempt it. But,once a lusty endeavour from Don Nash (2) to put the second ball of the innings into Sydney Harbour saw him lose his middle stump, there was little chance that suchaspirations would be entertained much longer. Only thirteen runs were scored in total by the time that the pin was finally pulled.After dominating for large periods of the match, the Blues can arguably consider themselves unlucky to have walked away with no more than their two first inningspoints. It was a particularly cruel result given that they urgently needed six points to put further pressure on second-placed Victoria on the Pura Cup table. With anadvantage of four points and the luxury of a game in hand, the Bushrangers now appear to have close to a decisive break on the New South Welshmen.