All posts by n8rngtd.top

Former Pakistan captains have questioned the manner in which Umar Akmal was omitted from the second ODI against New Zealand

Cricinfo staff07-Nov-2009Former Pakistan players have questioned the manner in which Umar Akmal was omitted from the second ODI against New Zealand,
which Pakistan lost to leave the series tied at 1-1. Akmal’s name was a surprising omission from the team sheet at the toss – Shoaib Malik took his place – and Younis Khan’s explanation for the change was not entirely clear.Akmal, 19, has had an excellent start to his international career, scoring his maiden ODI century in just his third game and averages 49.83 in the format.”It can be very discouraging for a young man like Umar since he has been very impressive in recent games for Pakistan and is raring to go against the Kiwis,” said Waqar Younis, commentating on the series in the UAE. “It is bound to shake his confidence in the coming games.”Rameez Raja questioned whether the decision was down to Pakistan’s rotation policy or something else entirely. “I would like to know the logic behind this and whose decision was it to omit Umar from this game,” he said. “This will only hurt Pakistan.”Abqul Qadir, the former Pakistan legspinner and selector, also expressed his surprise. “How can you drop a batsman when he has impressed all around the world with his brilliant temperament? It will only shatter his confidence and we might lose such a talented player if he continuously gets such treatment in the team.”Qadir, who was chief selector for eight months till June this year, said that he had advised the Pakistan board to focus on younger players during his stint, advice which the board ignored. “I had told the PCB that senior players should only play Test matches and we should find fresh legs from our own domestic ODI and Twenty20 tournament, but the cricket board did not listen to my advice.”Salahuddin Ahmed, another former national selector, was also critical of the decision to drop an in-form player like Akmal. “I think the ouster will hurt the confidence of Umar to a large extent. This should have not been done with him at this moment,” he told the Karachi-based . “I will also not support the decision of dropping Shoaib Malik from the first ODI, since he is one of the best allrounders for this version of the game. Pakistan should have gone with Kamran Akmal with any of the regular openers to make room for both Shoaib and Umar for all these matches.”

Chris Jordan and Ajmal Shahzad claimed three wickets apiece as the England Performance Programme continued their impressive run of results with a 75-run victory over the Northern Titans at Pretoria

Cricinfo staff11-Dec-2009England Performance Programme 425 for 9 (Denly 217, Tredwell 70) and 155 for 4 dec beat Titans 235 (du Plessis 124*) and 270 by 75 runs


ScorecardChris Jordan and Ajmal Shahzad claimed three wickets apiece as the England Performance Programme continued their impressive run of results with a 75-run victory over the Northern Titans at Pretoria. Following a declaration set up by Michael Carberry’s quickfire 76, the Titans were left chasing a nominal 346 for victory, but were bundled out for 270 inside 60 overs.Having secured a first-innings lead of 190, EPP resumed on 44 for 1 in their second innings, and though the Yorkshire pair of Joe Sayers and Andrew Gale fell quickly in the morning session, Carberry received solid support in an 83-run stand for the fourth wicket with Rory Hamilton-Brown, who made 38 not out. The innings came to an end on the stroke of Carberry’s dismissal.In reply, Titans fared considerably better than they had done first-time around, when each of their top three was extracted without scoring, with Hendrik van der Dussen and Tumelo Bodibe adding 44 for the first wicket inside ten overs. But Shahzad struck the first blow when Bodibe fell for 18, and five balls later Steven Finn bagged K Pienaar for 1.Faf du Plessis, who knows his opponents well from his time with Lancashire, counterattacked in spectacular style with a 30-ball 42, but Jordan trapped him lbw before Sajid Mahmood removed van der Dussen for the same score.Thereafter, the Titans innings slipped away. Jaco Booysen made 26 before falling lbw to Shahzad; while Christiaan Schoeman and Graham van Buuren both succumbed in sight of their fifties. The spinner, James Tredwell, pitched in with two late wickets to hasten the defeat, before Shahzad bowled the No. 11, D van Onslem for 10 to seal the victory.

Australia showed all the fire and passion that has made them the powerhouse of women’s world cricket by taking out the World Series of Women’s Cricket by beating New Zealand by 109 runs at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at New Zealand’s High Performance Centre

Lynn McConnell25-Dec-2009Australia showed all the fire and passion that has made them the powerhouse of women’s world cricket by taking out the World Series of Women’s Cricket by beating New Zealand by 109 runs at Bert Sutcliffe Oval at New Zealand’s High Performance Centre at Lincoln University today.The margin of success was embarrassing for New Zealand but it still wasn’t sufficient to wipe out the stigma of the World Cup defeat three summers ago, and that issue won’t be decided until 2005 in South Africa. Evidence would suggest that Australia are further down the track in preparation for that event than are New Zealand.It is a fact of sporting success that innovation can often be a key virtue, but so often new things are tried in team sports, before they have been tried out in a competitive atmosphere in the recent history of the side.New Zealand fell into that trap when trying to rearrange their batting order in an effort to curtail the threat of Australian fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick. The move didn’t work, and possibly even rebounded on the home team who capitulated in disappointing fashion for a side who still are the reigning world champions.The record books were given something of a working over, mainly by Australian captain Belinda Clark. She ended her innings of 80 as the highest scorer in women’s One-Day Internationals, supplanting New Zealand legend Debbie Hockley when she passed her record of 4064 runs. Clark now sits on 4077.The effort started when she scored her third run of the day to be only the second woman to pass 4000 ODI runs.New Zealand’s wicket-keeper Rebecca Rolls also got in on the act when ending the innings on 80 dismissals in ODI to equal the record of England’s Jane Cassar. But in New Zealand’s innings Julia Price ended up on 79 dismissals.New Zealand had done a sound job in dismissing the Australians for 214. It is a rare feat and was all the more notable after Clark’s innings had looked to steal the initiative well and truly away from New Zealand.But by bowling with a degree of control, they made life difficult for Clark and she was rarely allowed to strike out for boundaries and the latter part of her innings was spent attempting to lift a run rate that had fallen below what Australian should have expected.The ploy of opening with 18-year-old left-arm spinner Rebecca Steele, who took one for 38 when bowling through, could be said to have been effective, but at the same time it had to be wondered if bowling her through had been the best option.The air of mystery that was developed when she opened evaporated when it was clear she was going to bowl through.Aimee Mason was also effective in bowling 10 overs of off spin to end with one for 34.New Zealand captain Emily Drumm said she was delighted between innings that the bowlers had done the job that allowed the batsmen a reasonable chase.”It was our best bowling performance of the series in terms of the consistency they achieved,” she said.Drumm explained that the change in the batting order had been intended to deny Australia early wickets because in the two earlier games New Zealand had been rocked.”But that is three games in a row now that we have collapsed.”I’ve never known Cathryn Fitzpatrick to be so intimidating in a series as she has been here,” she said.Drumm, who was set up by the Australians in each of her innings against them this year, said she never felt it necessary to use a helmet against her because she backed her judgment to get something up to defend herself.However, she said it was interesting to see on television coverage the involuntary action she was taking in attempting to deal with Fitzpatrick because she didn’t realise she was backing off a little.She said she respected Fitzpatrick immensely and would have to deal with her as best she could and she left the feeling that a good deal of thought would be going into their next meeting, probably next summer in the annual Rose Bowl series.Drumm said it was always the same Australian players, Clark, Karen Rolton and Fitzpatrick who turned up firing when New Zealand was their opponent.”Today they lifted their game against us again, because they know that we can threaten them and it is often that fear of losing that drives you to win,” she said.Clark said she knew it would be a good game when they reached the halfway point because Australia had wanted to score 220-plus.After Fitzpatrick’s performance today Clark thought the English team who start the Ashes series next Saturday would be more than a little nervous.The ploy of changing the batting order had caused the Australians to think a little more about what they were doing.And she admitted the Australians did lift themselves against New Zealand, but the New Zealanders did the same against them.”Today was an important day for us. We came here to win the tournament and we have managed to produce the goods when it counted,” she said.Clark said she learned last night that the statistical milestones she achieved were on the horizon but her attitude was that it was more important that she scored well for the team today.

The uncapped fast bowler Trent Copeland could be in line for his state debut after New South Wales chose him in a 12-man squad for the Sheffield Shield game against Queensland at the SCG starting on Friday

Cricinfo staff27-Jan-2010The uncapped fast bowler Trent Copeland could be in line for his state debut after New South Wales chose him in a 12-man squad for the Sheffield Shield game against Queensland at the SCG starting on Friday. Copeland was called in due to the absence of Josh Hazlewood, who is with the Under-19 World Cup squad, and Nathan Bracken, who is making a steady return from knee surgery.Bracken played in the Blues’ FR Cup loss to South Australia on Tuesday but is being given more time to prepare for a comeback to the more demanding four-day game. It has opened the door for Copeland, 23, to come in from outside the contracted squad having been the leading wicket-taker in the Sydney grade competition this summer.The Blues will also be without Usman Khawaja, their leading run scorer in the Sheffield Shield this season, after he was ruled out with a hairline fracture of the thumb. Khawaja suffered the problem while fielding in a grade match on Saturday and is expected to be out of action for three weeks.Simon Katich, who is set to play his first Sheffield Shield game since November, will take back the captaincy duties from Moises Henriques. Peter Forrest has replaced the omitted Ben Rohrer for a game that gives New South Wales the chance to lift themselves off the bottom of the table.New South Wales squad Phillip Hughes, Phil Jaques, Simon Katich (capt), Steven Smith, Peter Forrest, David Warner, Moises Henriques, Daniel Smith (wk), Grant Lambert, Steve O’Keefe, Mitchell Starc, Trent Copeland.Queensland squad Ryan Broad, Nick Kruger, Wade Townsend, Lee Carseldine, Glen Batticciotto, Chris Simpson (capt), Chris Hartley (wk), Chris Swan, Ben Cutting, Luke Feldman, Cameron Boyce, Scott Walter.

Shaun Tait and David Warner, two of Australia’s Twenty20 specialists, continued the team’s unbeaten summer by setting up a 38-run thrashing of West Indies in Hobart

The Bulletin by Brydon Coverdale21-Feb-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner was entertaining during his 49•Getty Images

Shaun Tait and David Warner, two of Australia’s Twenty20 specialists, continued the team’s unbeaten summer by setting up a 38-run thrashing of West Indies in Hobart. Warner provided the early thrills with a brutal batting display before the Man of the Match Tait destroyed West Indies’ top order as Australia’s plans for the ICC World Twenty20 took a step in the right direction.Warner and Shane Watson lit up Bellerive Oval, which was hosting its first night international, by taking Australia to 0 for 83 in the eighth over and some late fireworks from Brad Haddin pushed them to 8 for 179. It was a good but gettable total, until two wickets in Tait’s first over knocked the life out of the chase.Chris Gayle has failed to spark during the limited-overs portion of the summer and that trend continued when he swung wildly at Tait’s fourth delivery and saw his stumps splayed. The next ball was angled across Narsingh Deonarine, caught the edge and was sharply taken by Watson at first slip.Kieron Pollard survived the hat-trick ball and blasted a couple of boundaries before he became the third of Tait’s victims with an edge behind to a wonderful fast delivery that moved away off the seam. In between, Tait had been part of another breakthrough when Lendl Simmons slashed to him at third man off Dirk Nannes and after four overs, West Indies were 4 for 26.Tait and Nannes proved a difficult combination for Pakistan in the Twenty20 earlier this month and if they remain fit could be a lethal new-ball duo at the world tournament. Mitchell Johnson becomes a backup bowler in their presence and he chipped in with two wickets including Dwayne Smith, superbly caught on the boundary by a jumping Steven Smith.Smith repeated it with another on-the-move boundary catch to give Nannes his third wicket after Runako Morton (40) and Denesh Ramdin (44) added some respectability to West Indies’ scorecard. They were composed in a 73-run stand but never got West Indies back in the match.It was a disappointing result after they showed imagination, by opening with two spin bowlers, and fight, as they dragged the run-rate back following the quick start from Warner and Watson. The slow-bowling move paid off as Deonarine and Nikita Miller kept the first two overs to six runs before Warner began to tee off.The openers took an extraordinary 59 off four overs beginning with the fourth and Warner led the charge with several strikes over the off side. A monstrous six over midwicket off Deonarine forced a change of ball and when Kemar Roach finally came on in the sixth over Warner welcomed him with a six smacked over midwicket and a back-away cut over third man.Watson was slower to get going but equally powerful when he did and struck four sixes, stepping back deep into his crease to allow himself to lift the ball. A pair of sixes off Dwayne Smith were especially impressive but Watson was the first to depart when he skied Gayle and was taken by the wicketkeeper Ramdin for 37 off 19 balls.Warner narrowly missed his third Twenty20 international half-century when he chipped a Smith full toss back to the bowler and was out for 49 from 32 deliveries. Australia’s run-rate at the time was around 10 and it quickly receded after both openers left and the wickets began to flow.Gayle, Pollard and Miller – who was extremely good with 2 for 20 – kept things tight and Australia’s middle order might be one area they can work on before the World Twenty20. Michael Clarke continued to struggle in the format and made 12, Travis Birt compiled a nervy 13 and Cameron White was surprisingly stodgy in his 15 from 20 balls.It was only the 44 from the last three overs, as Haddin raced to 37 from 16, that pushed Australia past a middling total. Tait made 179 look like a mountain.