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Essex have dropped South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe from their squad to face Surrey at Whitgift School this week

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2011Essex have dropped South Africa fast bowler Lonwabo Tsotsobe from their squad to face Surrey at Whitgift School this week. Tsotsobe has taken just five wickets at 77.60 runs in three Championship games and Essex, who have one win from their five opening matches, have decided he must pay the price for his poor form.”Quite simply, he’s just not bowling well enough,” said Essex first team coach Paul Grayson. “We haven’t seen enough from him in Championship cricket and the decision comes down purely to form. Whether or not you are an overseas player, it doesn’t really matter. If you are not performing then we have to make some changes.”With Tsotsobe sitting out, Graham Napier is set to play his first senior four-day match since sustaining a back injury in the match against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl last June. Michael Comber has also been named but Ravi Bopara is missing due to his involvement with the England Lions against Sri Lanka.”Maurice Chambers has done pretty well in the second team in the last couple of games and is ready to play and Graham Napier is also back from injury. I thought Chris Wright bowled well last week along with David Masters at Derby, while we also have Michael Comber waiting for his opportunity so we have options.”We are not scared of making decisions. Tsotsobe’s done alright in the one-dayers so far but he’s had three Championship games and has not performed to the standard we require in four-day cricket. He has not been good enough.”Surrey have also had to tweak their squad after Jade Dernbach’s Lions call-up, but will be able to call upon both Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett, while Mark Ramprakash will also return to a strong 12-man squad after missing the weekend’s Clydesdale Bank 40 victory against Scotland.”With Kevin Pietersen being made available by the ECB for this game, once again we have had to shuffle our batting order,” said Surrey Professional Cricket Manager Chris Adams. “This means Jason Roy misses out and Tom Maynard will get the opportunity to open the innings. Whilst it is always preferable to have a settled batting order, in this instance it is a nice problem to have.”

Alviro Petersen was the toast of Wales after an unbeaten 178 off 289 balls helped Glamorgan to a mammoth 352 for 4 on the opening day of their County Championship clash with Surrey at the Oval

24-May-2011
ScorecardAlviro Petersen was the toast of Wales after an unbeaten 178 off 289 balls helped Glamorgan to a mammoth 352 for 4 on the opening day of their County Championship clash with Surrey at the Oval.The Glamorgan skipper’s first hundred for the visitors was complemented by Michael Powell’s 99 from 178 deliveries in a 225-run third-wicket stand in 57 overs, a new Glamorgan record against Surrey.After winning the toss and electing to bat on a well-grassed pitch the visitors raced to fifty inside 11 overs and at lunch had reached 111 for 2. The Welshmen were fortunate to see off the new ball for the loss of just one wicket – that of Gareth Rees, who was trapped on the crease by Jade Dernbach in the fifth over.In the first hour, limited foot movement coupled with a policy of presenting the bat to anything remotely loose also prompted a number of appeals for catches behind the wicket – and even one at second slip – but umpire Steve O’Shaugnessy’s hands remained firmly behind his back.At one stage Will Bragg cut Dernbach over backward point for six and the opening session would have belonged exclusively to the visitors had Bragg not fallen to Zander de Bruyn shortly before lunch. Despite needing treatment to his back, Petersen was still there at the break, on 48. The Glamorgan captain duly moved to his fifty, off 84 balls, in the fourth over after lunch.Petersen nearly perished on 67 when Chris Jordan, running in from deep fine leg, could only get a hand to a top-edged hook off Dernbach. But for much of Petersen and Powell’s third-wicket alliance, the ball scarcely beat the outside edge.Gareth Batty’s first over brought a sweep from Petersen that sailed over the square leg boundary for six, though not before the South African had driven Tim Linley majestically straight down the ground for four.In the 55th over, Petersen went to three figures, from 163 deliveries, when a single to long-on off Batty had four overthrows added to it. His century featured 10 fours, a six, that five and a bizarre seven when a push for three to long-on was returned wildly to the third man boundary by Dernbach.Powell took an immediate liking to Chris Schofield, pulling his first ball for four and repeating the dose from his fifth and again from the first delivery of Schofield’s next over, taking Powell to a 102-ball half-century just before tea.In the 78th over, Petersen cover drove Batty to bring up his 150, in 227 deliveries, and take his side past the 300-mark. Five overs later, Powell was within touching distance of a hundred when a bottom edge trickled agonisingly onto his stumps. Shortly before the close Ben Wright was caught at second slip for a 23-ball duck, giving Dernbach a second scalp to celebrate on the day he was awarded his Surrey cap.

Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga has turned down offers to play Twenty20 cricket in South Africa and Australia to focus on his national assignments

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2011Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga has turned down offers to play Twenty20 cricket in South Africa and Australia – including the Big Bash League – in order to focus on his upcoming national limited-overs assignments.”It would have been great fun to play in the new Big Bash,” Malinga said, “but representing Sri Lanka remains my priority in the year ahead and I want to make sure I am as fit as possible.” Malinga recently retired from Test cricket because of a long-standing knee problem. Four Australian and two South African franchises had reportedly expressed interest in signing on Malinga, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL.Australia tour Sri Lanka in August-September this year, where they will play two T20s and five ODIs ahead of the Test series. Sri Lanka then travel to South Africa where they play five ODIs in January next year before heading to Australia for the Commonwealth Bank series. The BBL is scheduled to begin in the middle of December.”Lasith’s had several expressions of interest to play T20 cricket for franchises in Australia and South Africa,” Charlie Austin, Malinga’s manager said, “but he wants to manage his workload carefully ahead of a busy winter for Sri Lanka including tours to South Africa and Australia.”If he played in Australia he would be playing non-stop from mid-December to mid-March and that would be a risk given his degenerative knee condition.Sri Lanka are currently touring England, where, after the completion of the ongoing Test series, they are scheduled to play five ODIs and one Twenty20 game. They then head to Scotland to play two ODIs againsts the hosts and Ireland

Kiran More has said the decision to recall 38-year-old Rahul Dravid to the limited-overs side for the England tour reflected poor planning by the current selection committee

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2011Former chairman of selectors Kiran More has said the decision to recall 38-year-old Rahul Dravid to the limited-overs side for the England tour reflected poor planning by the current selection committee.”I think they have made a lot of changes recently,” More told . “And the changes they have done are not looking ahead. I don’t know what their thinking is but I know things have not gone very correctly.”More said that while the decision to recall Dravid was because a batsman of his calibre was needed to hold the batting together in tough conditions, it wasn’t a forward-thinking decision. Dravid scored two centuries in the first two Tests in England but last played an ODI for India in September 2009, during the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Dravid, who was surprised at his recall, said he would retire from ODIs after the England series.”They needed an experienced batsman, looking at some of the players who have been exposed on this tour. In English conditions you need to have a batsman who can carry the innings and that’s the reason he [Dravid] has been picked.”After the World Cup they (selectors) should have taken a call and thought about building a team for the next World Cup also,” More said. “To win another World Cup or dominate world cricket, there needs to be proper planning but that’s not happening. It’s been a little haywire.”India’s pace attack for the limited-overs leg of the England tour comprised Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel and Vinay Kumar. Zaheer was subsequently ruled out of the series and left-arm seamer RP Singh was named his replacement. The selectors – led by chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth – left out fast bowler Sreesanth, who is part of the Test squad, from the 16-man limited-overs squad and More said such decisions would send out wrong signals to the players.”The players are also confused. Now Sreesanth is not part of the one-day team though he is bowling well. I don’t know what confidence you are giving to Sreesanth. He was part of the World Cup team but he is not part of the [current] one-day team. Yusuf Pathan could have played a few games … he’s not a bad player. They are not sending proper signals to the players.”

Junaid Khan came good for the Pakistanis, claiming four wickets, as the two-day tour game in Bulawayo ended in a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Junaid Khan came good for the Pakistanis, claiming four wickets, as the two-day tour game in Bulawayo ended in a draw. The Zimbabwe XI managed only a three-run first innings lead after a lower-order collapse, following which the Pakistanis put on 72 for 1 in 24 overs before the match ended.Resuming on 30 for no loss, the Zimbabwe XI were jolted early by left-armer Junaid who trapped both Tino Mawoyo and Regis Chakabva lbw, the latter for a duck. Greg Lamb managed to provide overnight batsman Chamu Chibhabha – who top scored with 70 – with a bit of support and the pair put on 71. But legspinner Yasir Shah dismissed both in quick succession, Zimbabwe XI faltering at 132 for 4. Another period of brief resistance was followed by a slide, as the hosts lost their last six wickets for 43 runs. Offspinner Saeed Ajmal also picked up two wickets for the Pakistanis in a tidy spell.Mohammad Hafeez was positive when his side came out to bat, stroking 39 off 48 balls before succumbing to the left-arm spin of Cephas Zhuwao. Taufeeq Umar and Misbah-ul-Haq then safely negotiated till the end of play.Pakistan take on Zimbabwe in a lone Test from September 1 in Bulawayo.

Lancashire staged an excellent fight back to reach 337 for 7 against Hampshire with half-centuries for Glen Chapple and Tom Smith

Andrew McGlashan at Liverpool07-Sep-2011
ScorecardGlen Chapple picked a good moment to score his first half-century of the season to help Lancashire out of trouble•Getty ImagesEverywhere you look at the end of this County Championship season there is intrigue. The pennant will go to one of three sides, while the same number are battling relegation with at least three teams fighting to replace them. Even a seemingly dead encounter, between Kent and Glamorgan next week, has been spiced up by being made a floodlit match with pink balls. Championship cricket certainly isn’t dull.At Aigburth it is business at both ends of Division One that is the focus of attention. Lancashire, despite being humbled for 80 by Worcestershire last week, are still very much in the title fight as they aim for their first outright Championship since 1934. Hampshire, meanwhile, are clinging to the hope of avoiding the drop following their victory against Somerset. Both teams, though, also have a close eye on events elsewhere; Edgbaston and Headingley.The opening day in Liverpool, which has become Lancashire’s second home for the season as redevelopment work continues at Old Trafford, but wasn’t due to host this match until a late switch due to concerns over the relaid wickets, was exciting nip-and-tuck cricket in blustery, chilly conditions. The pitch was well-grassed which no doubt influenced Jimmy Adams’s decision to bowl (Lancashire have lost all eight home tosses). But the home side picked two spinners and would have batted and the ball didn’t move extravagantly.Lancashire’s final total of 337 for 7 was a terrific effort after being 125 for 5 midway through the afternoon as Glen Chapple, with his first half-century of the season, and Kyle Hogg added an unbeaten 99 for the eighth wicket. Hampshire let their chance slip away and the attack lacked a cutting edge as they shipped 145 runs off 25 overs in a shortened final session.Tom Smith, a very resourceful allrounder, was dropped on 7 when Michael Bates palmed an edge over the slips and was also central to the recovery with 63. No Lancashire batsman has passed 1000 runs for the season – and with one game remaining the landmark could remain elusive – yet their lower-order strength, so often a part of the club’s history, may prove a crucial factor.”I’ve been due some runs, I’ve wanted to score reasonably heavily and felt like I owed the team a bit,” Chapple said. “It’s a good pitch, I think it will wear and turn as the game goes on. There’s some life with the new ball and we are a good bowling until so we’ll back ourselves.”Having put Lancashire into bat, Hampshire will have expected more than two wickets in the first session and may have hoped for some New Road scars among the hosts. However, after their rapid demise Lancashire got away from cricket for a couple of days before reconvening and watching footage of their successful Championship matches – which have been more frequent than their failures. A bit of positive reinforcement.”Performances like that can be disappointing, but it was as heavy as it looked,” Chapple said. “We got hammered, but that happens. If you have any sense you’ll throw that away and that’s what we’ve tried to do.”Stephen Moore was absent from the collapse against Worcestershire after his wife went into labour – or, rather, he was on the motorway back after the birth of his baby girl when he was told not to bother – and was the first to fall when he pushed at a ball slanting across him from Chris Wood. Karl Brown was then the victim of miscommunication when he wanted a second run but Paul Horton wasn’t interested.After the interval Lancashire found themselves back in trouble. Horton is the team’s leading Championship scorer this season but hasn’t reached a hundred which suggests plenty of middling scores. He made another, here, when he was adjudged caught down the leg side off Sean Ervine but didn’t appear best pleased with the decision. Horton had barely had time to chunter in the dressing room when Ervine made his next delivery bounce at Steven Croft who deflected it into the stumps. At 98 for 4 bad memories could have resurfaced.Luke Procter, a 23-year-old preferred in the team to former captain Mark Chilton, was impressive for two hours before he, too, played on against James Tomlimson but the allrounders staged a stirring fightback. Gareth Cross played a typically punchy innings in a stand of 58 with Smith before flashing at Wood but the momentum swung Lancashire’s way as they gained a first batting point.Smith’s fifty came off 83 deliveries before he became Ervine’s third scalp, top edging a hook to long leg, yet the innings did anything but die away as Chapple and Hogg produced their rollicking partnership which knocked the wind out of Hampshire. Hogg stood tall to drive and cut while Chapple didn’t hold anything back as he took the attack to some tiring bowlers including a six off Wood in an over that cost 17.Chapple raised his half-century with a square cut as he and Hogg added runs at more than five-an-over. Hogg was given a life on 43 when Liam Dawson couldn’t gather a swirling top-edged pull that flew towards square cover and the second new ball didn’t do anything to quell Lancashire’s advances. Only the bad light, which arrived with seven overs remaining, followed by rain, did that.

Former Australia Women’s captain Belinda Clark has become only the second woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2011Former Australia Women’s captain Belinda Clark has become only the second woman to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. Joining Clark in the Hall of Fame were former Australia allrounder Alan Davidson, former West Indies fast bowler Curtly Ambrose and the late Australia fast bowler Frederick Spofforth.Clark holds the record for the most matches as captain in the women’s game, and led Australia to victory in the 2005 World Cup. Australia lost only 17 of the 101 games under her leadership. She averaged 45.95 in 15 Tests with a top score of 136. Her ODI figures were better, an average of 47.49 in 118 games. The highlight of her batting career was the unbeaten 229 against Denmark in Mumbai in 1997, which made her the first player, male or female, to score a double-century in one-dayers. Since her retirement in 2005, nobody has beaten her record of 4844 ODI runs in the women’s game.”It is a great honour to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and it has been an amazing five years for women’s cricket globally,” Clark said of her induction. “Recognition of female players in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is a great initiative and I am proud to join Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, to become the second female inductee, on a long list of outstanding cricketers.”It means a lot to be recognised by the international organization and I am very proud to be included.”Davidson, Ambrose and Clark will be inducted during the ICC awards in London, while Spofforth will be inducted later next year in a ceremony involving the former fast bowler’s family.

A round-up of the action from the third day of play at the Regional Super50 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2011Both the matches scheduled to be played in Guyana on October 21 were washed out without a ball bowled. Barbados and Windward Islands shared the points, as did Guyana and Sagicor High Performance Centre. Barbados and SHPC are both on four points each, though they have not completed a match yet.

A round-up of the fourth day of the ninth round of Division Two in the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2011Peshawar needed just 25.5 overs on the fourth day to complete their victory over Quetta at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar. Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, who will be Peshawar’s opponents in the December 8-12 final, had won their game on the third day but it is Peshawar who finish the league stage in top spot. Peshawar needed another six wickets on the final day and left-arm seamer Waqar Ahmed ripped through Quetta, finishing with a career-best 8 for 96. Mohibullah scored 70 for Quetta but he was one of only three batsmen to reach double digits in the innings. Waqar’s eight-wicket haul means he finishes the group stage second on the list of wicket-takers, with 51 in nine games.Karachi Whites needed even less time in their game, taking 15.5 overs to bowl out Lahore Shalimar and win at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex in Karachi. Despite a bizarre decision from Karachi not to enforce the follow-on and then declare four overs into their second innings, they started the final day with five wickets needed to win. Babar Rehman did most of the damage on the fourth day and Lahore Shalimar were bowled out for 132. Karachi finish the season in third position while Lahore Shalimar finish second last.For the second season in a row Multan have finished without a single point, after they lost by an innings and 75 runs to Hyderabad at the Bahawal Stadium in Bahawalpur. Last season they went winless in Division One and this season they have not been able to show any improvement despite playing in the second division. Hyderabad needed seven more wickets to beat Multan on the final day and they took 28.3 overs to do it, with seamer Mir Ali taking a five-wicket haul. Multan slumped to 122 for 9 and despite a contribution of 38 from No. 11 Shahbaz Hussain were skittled for 176.

South Africa have not won a home series since 2008, one of their most obvious problems being the inability to polish off the opposition tail, leaving them without the results that are expected from a team of their calibre

Firdose Moonda at Centurion14-Dec-2011In the course of a year, a team usually has enough time to try out a new strategy, develop certain aspects of their game and consolidate others. But, when that team has only played three Tests in 11 months, it’s unlikely they have managed to work on any of that. Remarkably, South Africa, who play their fourth Test of 2011 against Sri Lanka in Centurion from Thursday, have already managed two of the three.Despite a shortage of Test cricket, they have introduced an attacking spinner in Imran Tahir, found a third seamer in Vernon Philander, and changed the make-up of their opening partnership to include Jacques Rudolph. In the next 12 months, South Africa will play ten Tests, including tours of New Zealand, England and Australia and so it is the third item, consolidation, that they will be looking for in upcoming contest with Sri Lanka.”Instead of stringing two out of three good sessions together, we should be able to manage three out out of three,” Graeme Smith, South Africa Test captain said. “That’s one reason why we probably haven’t gone on to beat teams recently. Hopefully, we can start stringing a whole day together.”South Africa have not won a home series since 2008, despite coming close against England, India and Australia. One of their most obvious problems has been the inability to polish off the opposition tail, leaving them without the results that are expected from a team of their calibre.”We’ve played some really good Test cricket, especially at home, but we just haven’t really had that killer blow,” Smith said. “We’ve been, in many ways, neither here nor there. We’ve been successful but we haven’t really had enough in terms of getting over the line, so this series is a combination of gaining confidence in our play and playing winning cricket.”Such an introspective approach to a series usually only occurs when the opposition have been written off but Smith was careful to say that South Africa will not treat Sri Lanka with any disrespect. “We’ve all played enough cricket to know that if we don’t give things the right amount of mental attitude and concentration, we can easily slip on that banana,” he said.After a wretched year in Test cricket, Sri Lanka are considered as weaker than have been in the recent past. They are a team in transition and South Africa are unfamiliar with most of their squad. But they still bring some of cricket’s biggest and most feared names, such as Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Ajantha Mendis and Smith said South Africa will target those players. “A lot of their players are unknown but they’ve still got some key players who’ve been around for a long time. How we perform against those players is going to be a key factor in the series,” he said.Two of the facets of South African performance that will come under scrutiny are the opening partnership and the wicket-keeping role. With Jacques Rudolph and Alviro Petersen both in the squad, the selectors have indicated that the duel for the spot is still on. Smith hinted that Rudolph will likely remain in the role but admitted that he is under some pressure to hold on it.”They’ve both got great records, they both understand their games well but Jacques is the man that has the opportunity now,” Smith said. “You want to give him the best chance to make use of that. The one thing that Alviro has done well is that he has kept knocking on the door and that’s what we want.”Mark Boucher also faces a litmus test as he approaches the end of his career. He failed to contribute with the bat against Australia and will have to use the Sri Lanka series to rectify that. Smith said Boucher has prepared well to meet his critics. “He has had a calm focus about him this week. At the Cobras, he has worked hard on his batting. He has looked good in the nets and I hope all the hard work he has put in over the last few weeks will pay off,” he said.Although Boucher is under the most pressure to produce, Smith said the same expectation exists in the rest of the squad. “It’s that stage of the season where everyone is looking for a performance and a bit of confidence.”South Africa’s international season began with a curtailed two-test series against Australia, after which most of the national squad were on a break. Most of them played only a match or two for their franchises in the one-day cup but they have not had any four-day or regular cricket in the lead up to the series. Essentially, their summer starts now.”It’s exciting to get your teeth into a proper Test series,” Smith said. “It’s been a very disjointed season so far for us. For us as a team, we now have the opportunity to get stuck in for a month and a bit and hopefully get some good momentum in the way that we play and get some confidence in our positions.”