Tasmania gained a chance to push for their fourth domestic one-day trophy

Cricinfo staff17-Feb-2010Tasmania 5 for 234 (Birt 93*, Paine 57, North 3-38) beat Western Australia 7 for 231 (Ronchi 55, Doherty 4-32) by 5 wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsXavier Doherty’s four wickets set up Tasmania’s victory•Getty Images

Tasmania gained a chance to push for their fourth domestic one-day trophy after their penultimate-ball victory over Western Australia earned them a place in the FR Cup final. The Tigers had Travis Birt to thank for being first into the decider after his 93 off 99 took them past the Warriors’ 7 for 231 with five wickets in hand.They will face the winner of Saturday’s clash between Queensland and Victoria, who are pushing for hosting duties on February 28. Tasmania were hoping for a comfortable chase but they couldn’t produce the major innings until Birt started to flex.Tim Paine, the opener, benefited from three dropped chances to move to 57 as he guided the pursuit until his departure left the side at a nervous 4 for 145. Paine fell trying to sweep Aaron Heal, the left-arm spinner, and left Birt to take over.Tasmania’s situation remained tight but Birt, who hit eight fours and two sixes, was able to provide important surges. He thumped two boundaries through the off-side in consecutive balls off Brad Knowles and followed up in his next over with a six on to the roof of the members’. Birt and Jason Krejza (22 not out) took the Powerplay in the 46th over, picking up 15 from the first six balls to ease some more pressure, and then were relieved when Mitchell Marsh dropped his second catch of the innings when Birt top edged.Sixteen were needed off two overs and Birt swivelled two legside fours off Michael Hogan, leaving five required from the last six balls. Three singles off Nathan Coulter-Nile made it two off two and Birt sealed the result with a pull to the midwicket boundary.Marcus North had given his side a chance after starting his spell by removing Ed Cowan to a soft drive while the captain George Bailey slipped against the offspinner when attempting a pull. North repeated his first-delivery trick in the 41st over when Dan Marsh cut to backward point on 7 and the offspinner collected 3 for 38 during a day for the slow bowlers.Xavier Doherty’s 4 for 32 was responsible for many of Western Australia’s difficulties after the hosts won the toss. The Warriors suffered regular losses to be 5 for 118 when Mitchell Marsh left with a breezy 42 off 36, but the lower order chipped in with some important contributions.Luke Ronchi led the recovery by shelving his aggressive instincts to post 55 off 85 and his 75-run partnership with Matt Johnston (39) was important in getting them so far. The total would have been smaller if Dan Marsh had taken any of the three chances he missed off Doherty, but the locals copied the generosity in the field.After Doherty was used at crucial times in the win over Queensland on Saturday, Bailey gave the left-arm spinner more responsibility. Doherty came on at first-change and picked up Liam Davis lbw and returned in his second spell to have Luke Pomersbach (18) caught at cover. He was called in the batting Powerplay to take care of Ronchi and Johnston to complete an impressive performance.

Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh’s coach, hopes that England’s complacent team selection will “bite them on the bum” in the one-day series

Andrew Miller in Dhaka26-Feb-2010Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh’s coach, hopes that England’s complacent team selection will “bite them on the bum” in the three-match one-day series that gets underway in Mirpur on Sunday, and believes that the decision to rest Andrew Strauss, coupled with the prospect of a slow and low spin-friendly surface, will help his young side claim the scalp of the one international team to have eluded them in their ten years as a top-flight nation.It’s a remarkable statistic, given England’s haphazard attitude towards one-day cricket, but nobody else in the world can boast a 100% record in all international fixtures against Bangladesh. Since their first meeting at Nairobi in October 2000, England have racked up four Test victories and eight in ODIs, but Siddons is confident that, after a 12-month period of steady consolation, his players are ready to complete the set this week.”At the start of this year, we knew we had to play the better teams in the world, and I think we’ve fared pretty well,” said Siddons. “In our conditions we play really well, we’re a developing team and growing in confidence. England need to be at their best to beat us, but they’ve left a couple of key players behind. I’m thinking that could be the difference, but we’ll have to wait and see.”Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s captain, offered a respectful “no comment” when quizzed on the thorny issue of Strauss’s absence from this tour, but his coach was unapologetically forthright. “People have their own choices to make, and organisations have their choices to make, about whether they come here or not,” he said. “But my thoughts are that I hope it bites them on the bum at the end of the series. And that we can say ‘don’t come here next time as well’.”Regardless of Siddons’ optimism, England remain favourites for the series after a rare run of success in ODIs, encompassing a maiden series win in South Africa, following on from a semi-final appearance in the Champions Trophy. Nevertheless, Alastair Cook is virtually untested as a leader, while the positive attitude that he displayed in the two warm-up matches in Fatullah cannot disguise the fact that he has not opened in a 50-over international since November 2008.”I hope that the opener that they’ve brought in isn’t good enough, and that they fail at that part of the game,” added Siddons. It wasn’t entirely clear whether he was referring to Cook or his probable batting partner Craig Kieswetter, who warmed up for his debut with a hard-hitting 143 on Tuesday, but the sentiment could easily have been applied to both.”We know very little about Kieswetter, apart from what we’ve seen this week,” said Siddons. “We don’t know a lot, but we’re hoping the conditions out here will bring him undone. Our strength is our strength, so we’re not worried about the opposition. We’ll bowl and bat as well as we can, and see what the outcome can be.”Whatever transpires, Siddons is certain that his team is on an upward trajectory after far too many years of languishing near the foot of the world rankings. In July 2009, they won their first Test series against a senior Test nation, albeit an unrecognisable West Indies side in the throes of an industrial dispute, while more recently they competed hard in a tri-series against India and Sri Lanka before suffering a set-back on their tour of New Zealand. But even that trip had its notable moments, as Bangladesh posted 408 in their first innings thanks to a maiden century from Mahmudullah, before Shakib’s second-innings 100 took them improbably close in their run-chase.”In every game, I don’t look for wins, I look for performances and achievements from our players and I’m getting that more and more with every series,” said Siddons. “Most of the guys will say we had a bad series in New Zealand. But I look at the three hundreds we scored and the two five-fors we took, and the way we played out the fifth day of the Test. With one good session, we’d have won the game, and if we’d taken our chances, we might even have won one or maybe two ODIs.”The achievements every day are what I look for, and that’s why I love this job,” he added. “Turning up every day, I’m waiting for someone to perform and do something we’ve been working on. Our boys are 22-23 years old, and you look around the world, most good players at that age are in and out of a team and not performing. I’ve got a team full of those types of player, and I can see England coming here when they are 26, and people saying you haven’t got a chance. Unless they improve a lot.”Before succeeding Dav Whatmore in the summer of 2007, Siddons spent three years in the Australian set-up including a spell as assistant coach to John Buchanan, but the challenge of fine-tuning a team of world-beaters offered nothing like the same job satisfaction as his current role.”It’s a lot tougher in that you go to the games and you’re not sure how you’ll perform, but it’s what makes me turn up to work every day,” he said. “I love that part of the game, and that part of coaching, developing players. And [a developing team] is what this team still is. I wouldn’t say we are improving every series – we’re still a team of 22-23 years old so we’re still quite capable of a little slip in a session, or a 5-10 over block where teams exploit us – but we’re getting better at not having those bad patches.”With Tamim Iqbal emerging as a fully fledged talent, alongside the maturing Mahmudullah and Shakib, whom Siddons referred to as the “second-best spinner in the world, and the best allrounder”, Bangladesh have a side with the raw materials to cause an upset. But one man who won’t be taking part is Mohammad Ashraful, who mustered 62 runs in six innings in New Zealand, and has requested – and been granted – a break from the front line.”I spoke to Ash at the end of the New Zealand series,” said Siddons. “He said he wanted a rest and I thought I’d talked him out of it, so I’m not sure what’s happened in last three or four days. But he’s made his decision and I respect it, but I’d love to have him at 3 and 4 in our Test and ODI teams. He’s the little diamond in the rough we are looking for, that we need to step up along with Tamim, Mushfiq [Rahim] and Shakib. Those guys have really stepped up, so if Ash can fill the gap, we’re a formidable batting team.”Sunday’s first ODI could also see a return to the fray for Bangladesh’s leading fast bowler, Mashrafe Mortaza, who has been out of action since July following knee surgery. He got through eight overs in England’s second warm-up in Fatullah, and Siddons is ready to put his faith in the medical bulletins, and his own observations from Friday’s nets session.”I saw him running, I wouldn’t say he’s 100% fit but he’s pretty close,” he said. “He was bowling beautifully, and saw a little footage of him from the other day and he looked quite good with the new ball. My only concern is how he comes back in the middle overs, but he’s a key part of our side when he’s fit. So we’ll probably roll the dice a bit and give him a game, and hope he comes up trumps with the new ball.”

Surrey’s hopes of reaching the finals of the inaugural Emirates Airline Twenty20 festival in Dubai were dealt a huge blow when they suffered a 46-run defeat to an emerging side representing the Cape Cobras

Mark Pennell in Dubai19-Mar-2010
ScorecardSurrey’s hopes of reaching the finals of the inaugural Emirates Airline Twenty20 festival in Dubai were dealt a huge blow when they suffered a 46-run defeat to an emerging side representing the Cape Cobras.A Surrey team that included former England Test players Gareth Batty, Usman Afzaal and Chris Schofield were skittled for 88 by a Cobras outfit that boasted an average age of 20 and included only two players with first-team contractsBatting first, the Cobras rookies cantered to 134 for 5, easily the best of the three totals so far on the opening day of this two-day event. Their captain Omphile Ramela (14) and keeper Derek Brand (39) set the tone for their innings in posting 49 for the first wicket inside seven overs.Surrey fought back through Schofield’s two wickes, but the Cobras rallied again as Mohammad Vallie (20) and Romano Ramoo (21*) combined to set a testing asking rate of 6.8 an over for victory.Surrey’s pursuit tottered early when captain Rory Hamilton-Brown missed an expansive drive in the second over and, six deliveries later, Usman Afzaal toe-ended a catch to the keeper to make it 15 for 2. Michael Brown attempted to rebuild with a straight six against Kirk Wernars, but his stay for a top score of 26 ended when he missed an attempted dab to third man to be bowled by Dane Piedt.It was one-way traffic thereafter as Ramela bagged three for two in 13 balls to secure the Cobras their giant-killing with 17 deliveries to spare.

Jack Brooks hit a timely first half-century in County Championship cricket to put Northamptonshire in a strong position on the second day at Bristol

16-Apr-2010
ScorecardJack Brooks’ half century extended Northamptonshire’s lead to daunting proportions•PA Photos

Jack Brooks hit a timely first half-century in County Championship cricket to put Northamptonshire in a strong position on the second day at Bristol. Gloucestershire looked to be back in the game after the action-packed opening day when reducing their opponents to 134 for 8 in their second innings, a lead of 234.But Brooks (53) was joined by Paul Harrison (44) in a ninth-wicket stand of 82 and Northamptonshire were eventually bowled out for 243, leaving Gloucestershire a daunting 344 for victory on a pitch still offering plenty of assistance to the seamers.The home side closed on 85 for 2 and will need to bat a lot better than in their first innings to amass the 259 still required. ECB pitch inspector Jack Birkenshaw decided not to recommend any points deduction for Gloucestershire, having deferred his decision after seeing 23 wickets fall on the first day.Admitting it was a borderline decision, Birkenshaw took into account some poor batting and the fact that the surface played better as the game progressed. Northamptonshire began on 34 for 3 and progressed to 75 before nightwatchman David Lucas drove a catch to mid-off, having made a valuable 31.Gemaal Hussain made the breakthrough on his way to returning four for 62 and match figures of nine for 98 on only his second Championship appearance. First-innings hero Rob White fell for ten to a fine catch by Chris Taylor at backward point off Hussain, but Northamptonshire went into lunch at 124 for 5, with their lead 224.The match swung again as Andy Hall (19), Nicky Boje (four) and David Sales (39) were dismissed in the space of 12 balls, Jon Lewis claiming two of the wickets. But Brooks and Harrison then played with freedom and increasing confidence, both profiting from a dropped chance in recording their highest Championship scores.Harrison’s 54-ball innings featured four fours and a six. By the time he was bowled by James Franklin the lead was beyond 300 and Brooks went on to reach his fifty off 85 balls, with six fours. The 25-year-old former Oxfordshire player, who joined the Northamptonshire staff for last season, was last man out having put his side in a winning position.Gloucestershire soon lost opener Jonathan Batty, caught behind for six, but Championship debutant Chris Dent (23) helped Abdul-Kadeer Ali add 44 for the second wicket before being caught at short-leg off Boje.

Andrew Symonds has stepped up his commitment to Queensland by signing a Twenty20 contract with the state for next summer

Cricinfo staff05-May-2010Andrew Symonds has stepped up his commitment to Queensland by signing a Twenty20 contract with the state for next summer. The Bulls have named their squad for 2010-11 with five players axed from last season’s list, including the batsmen Glen Batticciotto and Nick Kruger, and the fast bowler Grant Sullivan.The inclusion of Symonds on a special Twenty20-only deal followed his appearances for Queensland in the short formats last season, when he chose to play for match payments alone instead of signing a deal. Graham Dixon, the chief executive of Queensland Cricket, said the Bulls would appreciate the experience of Symonds in the Big Bash.”We’ve got a pretty young squad and having players like Andrew along will certainly assist our T20 preparations,” Dixon said. “We were very happy with the contribution he made in developing our Futures League side and with the Bulls during the Big Bash.”He was certainly very keen to continue in that vein when he came into see us after getting back from the IPL. Andrew has been contracted as a Twenty20 player only but no doubt he will provide some valuable advice across the season for the Bulls and QAS squad members.”Queensland were the runners-up in last summer’s Sheffield Shield final and they hope a clean-out of several fringe players will help them go one better. The batsman Chris Lynn, the legspinner Cameron Boyce, the wicketkeeper Ben Dunk and the allrounder Jason Floros have all been upgraded from rookie deals to full contracts.Luke Feldman, the policeman-turned professional fast bowler who won a contract during the season, has also held on to his deal. Gone from the list are Kruger and the legspinner Daniel Doran, who have nominated for the state transfer pool, as well as Batticciotto, Sullivan and the batsman Greg Moller.The batsman Alex Kemp retained his rookie contract, while four new men were added to the rookie list: allrounder Michael Neser, legspinner Jake Hannan and fast bowlers Nicholas Buchanan and Cameron Gannon. The addition of Buchanan, who was part of Australia’s successful Under-19 World Cup side this year, continues the trend at Queensland of blooding sons of former players.Buchanan’s father is the former Queensland player and Australia coach John Buchanan. Other sons of first-class players currently on the Bulls’ list include Ryan Broad, Alister McDermott and Ben Laughlin.Queensland squad Cameron Boyce, Ryan Broad, Lee Carseldine, Ben Cutting, Ben Dunk, Luke Feldman, Jason Floros, Ryan Harris (Cricket Australia contract), Chris Hartley, James Hopes (CA), Ben Laughlin, Chris Lynn, Alister McDermott, Craig Philipson, Nathan Reardon, Nathan Rimmington, Chris Simpson, Chris Swan, Andrew Symonds (Twenty20 only), Wade Townsend, Scott Walter.Rookies Nicholas Buchanan, Cameron Gannon, Jake Hannan, Alex Kemp, Michael Neser.

Northamptonshire moved up to third place in Division Two of the County Championship with a nine-wicket victory over Middlesex on the final day at Lord’s.

07-Jun-2010

ScorecardNorthamptonshire moved up to third place in Division Two of the County Championship with a nine-wicket victory over Middlesex on the final day at Lord’s.After the home side were bowled out for 285 in their second innings, Northamptonshire scored the 52 runs they needed to win with more than 12 overs to spare. Andrew Hall, the Northamptonshire captain, took bowling figures of 4 for 44 and Lee Daggett 3 for 49, while Nicky Boje claimed the key wicket when he had Owais Shah well caught by Daggett at long-off for 77.Middlesex had resumed at 48 for one, still needing 186 to make Northamptonshire bat again, and there were no immediate alarms as Sam Robson and Shah took their second-wicket partnership to 75 in 24 overs. Robson was then well caught at second slip by Stephen Peters off Daggett after hitting seven fours in his 42 but Shah found an even more positive partner in Dawid Malan.They had put on 63 in 14 overs, with Malan making 44 runs from 43 balls with nine fours before he lost his middle stump when driving at Hall. Shah was batting well, but when he and Neil Dexter had added another 54 he tried to hoist Boje back over his head and Daggett circled round to take the catch above his head.Shah had scored 77 from 163 balls with 10 fours, but it was not enough for Middlesex who lost their fifth wicket when Dexter tried to sweep Boje from outside off stump and top-edged a catch to wicketkeeper David Murphy.Hall then struck twice in the space of four overs, having Gareth Berg caught at second slip as he tried to drive and trapping Shaun Udal leg before. John Simpson made sure that Northamptonshire would have to bat again by on-driving Hall sweetly for four and went on to make 32 before he got a good ball from Daggett and edged to slip.There was more dogged resistance from Tim Murtagh before he was lbw to Daggett, and from Danny Evans who was left unbeaten on 19 when Pedro Collins slashed at Hall and was caught at slip.There were still 20 overs remaining when Northamptonshire went in again and although Stephen Peters, who made 199 in the first innings, was leg before to Collins in the second over, Rob White soon put the issue beyond doubt by hitting 31 off 23 balls with a six and four fours. Northamptonshire took 23 points to Middlesex’s four.

The nomination of John Howard, the former Australian Prime Minister, for the ICC’s vice-presidency has taken another hit with Sri Lanka saying it would not support his candidature

Sa'adi Thawfeeq27-May-2010The nomination of John Howard, the former Australian Prime Minister, for the ICC’s vice-presidency has taken another hit with Sri Lanka saying it would not support his candidature. As first reported by Cricinfo, South Africa and Zimbabwe are leading a move to prevent Howard from being nominated to a post from where he will, in two years’ time, graduate to heading the ICC.Howard is the nominee of Australia and New Zealand and, under the ICC’s region-based nomination system, his entry into the ICC would normally have been a formality. However, the signs of trouble have been evident since the last ICC meeting in Dubai about two months ago where, Cricinfo understands, South Africa and Sri Lanka voiced their opposition to his nomination. Howard needs seven votes from the ten Test-playing countries to be accepted and, with three countries already opposing him, one more negative vote would rule him out.Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee chairman Somachandra de Silva told Cricinfo that on principle his board would not support Howard’s candidature because he lacks a cricketing background.”On principle it is the wrong thing to do to bring someone from outside for the vice-presidency,” de Silva said.”We would support any of the directors from Australia and New Zealand who are representatives of the ICC, but not anyone from outside.”At the last ICC meeting in Dubai about two months ago, it was mentioned that Howard’s name was being put forward for the vice-president’s post, and I was of the opinion that it was wrong. Anyone coming forward for ICC posts should be currently involved in cricket and not be a total outsider. In that respect we would not be supporting the candidature of Howard for the vice-presidency,” de Silva said.As prime minister, Howard had, in 2004, attracted heavy criticism in Sri Lanka when he questioned the bowling action of Muttiah Muralitharan. He made the comments twice, once at a function organized by his Liberal Party, and then, several days later, on a radio programme when he was questioned on his statement. The comments came before Sri Lanka were scheduled to tour Australia – a Test series that Murali eventually skipped.When news of the nomination became public last March, Murali said he had forgiven Howard for his comments but added that, should his nomination succeed, he would have to convince the sub-continent of his intentions.

Hampshire have been handed a two-point pitch penalty after the produced for the Friends Provident t20 match against Somerset, at The Rose Bowl, was deemed to be “poor” by an ECB pitch panel

Cricinfo staff15-Jun-2010Hampshire have been handed a two-point pitch penalty after the pitch produced for the Friends Provident t20 match against Somerset, at The Rose Bowl, was deemed to be “poor” by an ECB pitch panel.The club will be docked those points from the 2011 competition so it won’t effect their chances of reaching the knockout stages this year.The pitch in question produced a low-scoring, tight match where Somerset managed to defend 104 as Hampshire suffered an extraordinary late collapse as they lost six wickets for four runs. Batting was a tough prospect throughout with uneven bounce being the main concern on a relaid wicket.After considering the pitch reports of the umpires and after interviewing them, the captain and coach of both teams and the Hampshire head groundsman, the panel upheld the umpires’ decision that the pitch had demonstrated excessive unevenness and should therefore be rated “poor”.

Trinidad has turned out to be a nightmare for the organisers with yet another match – the second – to be abandoned without a ball being bowled

Cricinfo staff29-Jul-2010 – Match abandonedTrinidad has turned out to be a nightmare for the organisers with yet another match – the second – to be abandoned without a ball being bowled. The afternoons haven’t been kind to the players and spectators with the weather dictating terms. After yesterday’s game between Canada and Leeward Islands was washed out, today it was the turn of Barbados and Guyana to share points. Trinidad & Tobago will now play Guyana in the first semi-final while Barbados will take on Guyana in the other.
now
The rain still puts a question mark on the chances of playing the second game of the evening, the inconsequential one between Windward Islands and Combined Campuses and Colleges. However, yesterday’s late-evening game between T&T and Jamaica went ahead despite the first game being washed out.

England have made the almost unprecedented move of naming their final XI for the third Test against Pakistan at The Oval three days before the match

Andrew McGlashan15-Aug-2010England have made the almost unprecedented move of naming their final XI for the third Test against Pakistan at The Oval three days before the match after selecting an unchanged unit for the third game in a row.As expected Alastair Cook was retained at the top of the order despite his lean run this season, while Tim Bresnan will leave Yorkshire’s Championship match against Durham on Tuesday to act as bowling cover, before rejoining his county on Wednesday if there are no last-minute alarms for England. Ajmal Shahzad, who was originally named in the squad for the first Test at Trent Bridge, was left in Championship action again, with Yorkshire to allow him to work on his game.It is normal practice for Andrew Strauss to keep his XI under wraps until shortly before the toss, but such is the confidence in the side after six consecutive Test victories that they haven’t felt the need to even keep Pakistan guessing, although there were never likely to be any changes.”We were delighted with the way the team performed at Edgbaston in the second Test,” Geoff Miller, the national selector said. “To put together dominant performances in back-to-back Test matches is a credit to the team’s hard work but the key remains consistency throughout the duration of the series.”The one major concern that currently surrounds the squad is the form of Cook, who has made just 41 runs in four innings during this series. However, the selectors are keen to show loyalty to their key players and Cook has credit in the bank from how he performed in South Africa and Bangladesh during the winter.”We back Alastair to come through this tough patch he is having,” Miller told Sky Sports News. “It is a challenging time for him. But we know what he is like as a character – he is a battler and will battle his way through it.”He scored runs in Bangladesh – that is not so long ago – and we know full well how hard he will try and how determined he is to cross this bridge. He will do it, I am sure.”Cook turned out for Essex on Friends Provident t20 finals day at The Rose Bowl and hit 38 off 22 balls in the semi-final, but now faces a vital two weeks with Tests at The Oval and Lord’s on what are expected to be better batting surfaces than the ones at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston. If Cook fails to turn his form around, he would then have only the end of the season with Essex to find some form so that he could board the plane for Australia with confidence.