All posts by csb10.top

Usman Afzaal has been released by Nottinghamshire at the end of a season in which he played only seven Championship matches. He had one year of his contract remaining.Two years ago Afzaal was playing for England, and at the start of this season was quoted as saying that he was “awesome, dangerous and ready for an England recall”. But his form dipped and in 13 Championship innings he scored 264 runs at 20.30 with only one fifty. He did, however, score 161 not out against India A, and had an extended run in the National League where he scored 338 runs at 28.16.Afzaal’s departure was widely predicted as part of a general clear-out by Nottinghamshire following their relegation from Division One. Guy Welton and Stephen Randall were released earlier in the month and seam bowler David Lucas was yesterday told that he could leave if he could find another county.It is also expected that Kevin Pietersen will join the exodus. Although he has a year remaining on his contract – which Nottinghamshire have said they “expect him to fulfill” – he is thought to be wanted by Somerset and Northamptonshire and has made no secret of his desire to move on.Notts fight to keep Pietersen

In the context of the last time these two teams met, it is bound to be an anti-climax. India and Australia last clashed in the final of the 2003 World Cup, but the one-day international at Gwalior will be an entirely different ballgame. Both sides are racked by injuries but Australia are distinctly worse off, and their bowling attack has an A-Team look about it. India, meanwhile, are at home, and will fancy their chances somewhat more than they might have done at Johannesburg in March. Australia are ripe for the taking, and with a tough tour to Australia in prospect, India need to build up their self-belief for the task ahead.Sourav Ganguly might be absent, but the Indian batting line-up is formidable – especially in home conditions. Sachin Tendulkar appeared determined, in his last game, to bat through the innings, and that is an ominous sign for Australia. Virender Sehwag, and VVS Laxman were also in fine nick, carrying on from where they left off in the Test series against New Zealand. Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif are all fine finishers, and Ajit Agarkar has never been a Bombay Duck in home ODIs.Australia’s batting is as solid as ever – the absence of the indisposed Darren Lehman gives Michael Clarke a notional opportunity, but does that really matter when your top six reads Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Martyn, Bevan, Symonds? Ian Harvey, Andy Bichel and Brad Hogg can also bat a bit, and if the pitch turns out to be a batting paradise, there should be some fairly mighty biffing on view.Australia’s bowling will be the weak link that India will look to exploit. The McGrath-Gillespie-Lee-Warne quartet is absent, and even Stuart MacGill isn’t available. Bichel, Hogg, Michael Kasprowicz, Brad Williams and Nathan Bracken make up an attack that lacks both experience and match practice, and if India’s top order get off to a good start, there could be a heavy price to pay.Ricky Ponting wasn’t worried about his missing men, though. Speaking to reporters, he said, “We see the entire thing as a team effort. We don’t win because of our bowlers or batsmen. We win because of our team effort. Even during the World Cup we didn’t have a couple of key players. But we have always found someone to do the job.”

Close New South Wales 408 for 5 (Katich 171, S Waugh 157) v Tasmania
Scorecard

The spring run-scoring spree of NSW captain Steve Waugh and Simon Katich continued with a hard-hitting 270-run partnership against Tasmania at Bellerive Oval.The blistering Blues were 408 for 5 at stumps on the first day of the Pura Cup match thanks to the third wicket stand between Katich and Waugh on a pitch dubbed the “Bellerive belter”.An in-form Katich amassed 171 runs with 22 fours and two sixes before coming unstuck in the 73rd over. Dabbing the ball to the off side and racing through for a single, he was run out when left-arm quick Andrew Downton returned to Tigers captain Dan Marsh at the bowler’s end. Katich had earlier delivered his ton with two consecutive boundaries, also propelling the Blues beyond the 200-mark.Waugh was caught at mid-on by Michael Di Venuto for 157 off a ball from Tasmanian paceman Damien Wright, who finished the day with 3-72. Mark Waugh was unbeaten on 20 at stumps, with Brad Haddin on 18.

It may have been guarding Sri Lanka’s southern coastline for the best part of 400 years, but the old Dutch fort at Galle can rarely have witnessed a more magnificent backs-to-the-ramparts effort than England’s tailenders produced to save last week’s first Test. From a position of apparent hopelessness at lunch on the final day, England rallied sufficiently to cling to their positions until nightfall, before being airlifted to Kandy on Sunday in a military helicopter, with their spirits at a higher ebb than at any other stage this winter.It was a match in which an English defeat ought to have been a formality, especially after losing the toss at Muttiah Muralitharan’s most prolific hunting-ground. Instead, they held out, and for all the brave words being uttered publicly by the Sri Lankan players and officials, their failure to break through England’s defences has been a shattering disappointment. On a local radio phone-in on Sunday afternoon, the presenter referred bleakly to “Sri Lanka’s defeat” on more than half-a-dozen occasions, and not one single caller felt the need to correct him.By escaping with a draw, England are already in a stronger position in this series than they were two years ago, when Kandy was the venue for one of the most explosive Test encounters in recent years. England eventually won a nailbiter by just three wickets, although the result said nothing of the main incidents of the match – dodgy umpiring that brought even the mild-mannered Sanath Jaysuriya to the brink of apoplexy, a finger-jabbing face-off between Kumar Sangakkara and the rarely ruffled Mike Atherton, and most crucially of all for England, a hard-fought (if fortunate) century by Nasser Hussain, which brought an end to the most desperate run of form of his career.Two years on, and Hussain is once again at the centre of England’s thoughts for the match which starts tomorrow (0430 GMT). He withdrew on the morning of the first Test after succumbing to flu-like symptoms, but his return to the side was guaranteed as soon as he had come through a tough two-hour net session on Monday afternoon. “He’s a fighter and he has declared himself fit, so Nasser will play and bat at No. 4,” said Michael Vaughan. It will be Hussain’s 90th Test – 89 more than the man who stood in for him at Galle. But Paul Collingwood capped his debut with a crucial second-innings 35, and may yet retain his place if England opt to go into the Kandy Test with six specialist batsmen.That decision will depend on the management’s assessment of the pitch. “We might go in with six batters,” admitted Vaughan, “But we also have to try to get 20 wickets out there as well. We will just try to work out over the next few days what we think the best formula is.” At the centre of England’s considerations will be Andrew Flintoff, whose hit-the-deck bowling style has traditionally made more impression at Kandy than the approach favoured by, say, James Anderson, who is back in the reckoning after twisting his ankle before the first Test.Despite England’s eagerness not to overburden Flintoff, he was nonetheless the most hard-worked of their seamers at Galle, largely because of the measure of control he was able to exert from his high-kicking length. Flintoff sent down 40 overs in the match – almost twice as many as Richard Johnson – and with two more Tests in the next fortnight, this is bound to be a concern.Ironically, one of the best ways of limiting Flintoff’s workload would be to promote him to the new ball in place of Johnson, and hand the donkey work to the third spinner, Robert Croft. This option was considered but ignored at Galle, and is even less likely to be taken up at Kandy, for the simple reason that Johnson and Matthew Hoggard have overs under their belts and deserve another chance to cement their partnership. But Vaughan expects plenty of assistance for the spinners at Kandy’s Asgiriya Stadium. “This pitch is damper than last time,” he remarked. “It will probably dry out with a couple of days’ sunshine, and be a bit slower than last time and help the spinners more.”For a time on Sunday afternoon, Croft looked as though he might be vying for one of two spinning slots. Ashley Giles, the man who produced the most famous asterisk in Galle since Goscinny and Uderzo, was struggling with a throat infection and rated a doubt for Kandy. But he has since been fed some magic potion, and will resume his partnership with Gareth Batty. Giles missed Monday’s net session, but Vaughan termed his absence as “optional resting”.Sri Lanka’s permutations are equally numerous. Although they have announced an unchanged squad for this second Test, it would be a surprise if they entered the match with the same ill-balanced line-up they settled for at Galle. By anyone’s standards, the selection of five spinners was excessive, and it seems likely that one of these, Kumar Dharmasena, will make way for an extra batsman. The two men in contention are Tillekaratne Dilshan and Michael Vandort, who would open the innings if selected. Given the importance of the match, however, Sri Lanka are more likely to go with Dilshan and retain their tried-and-tested opening partnership of Jayasuriya and Marvan Atapattu.One further change is possible in the bowling department, with Dilhara Fernando fit and ready to resume the new-ball duties at the expense of his namesake Dinusha, who recovered from an ineffectual first innings to bowl a fearsome spell on the final morning at Galle. Muttiah Muralitharan caused a ripple or two when he appeared with his shoulder strapped in ice and failed to bowl during Tuesday’s nets session, but he was rated as a 100% starter by Sri Lanka’s coach, John Dyson.”Our morale is very good,” said Dyson. “On this tour, we gave England a whacking in Dambulla in the one-dayer, and we were the only team that looked like winning at Galle.”All the more galling, then, that they are not 1-0 up with two to play.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Tillekaratne Dilshan, 6 Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Kumar Dharmasena, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.England (probable) 1 Michael Vaughan (capt), 2 Marcus Trescothick, 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Graham Thorpe, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Gareth Batty, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Richard Johnson, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

The passport fraud case involving Thilanga Sumathipala, the president of Sri Lanka Cricket, was further delayed today after Sumathipala’s lawyers claimed their client was about to undergo kidney surgery. Sumathipala, first summoned to appear before a Colombo magistrate’s court on January 8, will now be examined again by a judicial medical officer (JMO) and top urologist to determine whether he is fit enough to attend court. They will report back to the court on January 19.Meanwhile, T.B. Boyagoda, Colombo’s Chief Magistrate, surprised the court with the announcement that he would be pulling out of the complex and high-profile case. The magistrate cited personal reasons and announced that additional magistrate Namal Balalle would take up the case on Monday (January 19).Last Monday, the JMO had handed over a three-page report which had claimed Sumathipala was sufficiently fit enough to attend court. “The pain Mr. Sumathipala had mentioned was not typical of stones in the kidney and it was too small, not needing urgent surgery,” the report said. Boyagoda had said that he would decide whether to issue a warrant for Sumathipala’s arrest on Tuesday.But Sumathipala’s legal team furiously disputed the diagnosis. They claimed that a leading specialist, called Rizvi Sherif, had recommended immediate surgery. Sumathipala was allegedly moved to an operating theatre. The prosecution accused the defence of misleading court, but the magistrate ruled that further analysis was necessary.Sumathipala is accused of an involvement with an underworld character called Dammika Amarasinghe, who allegedly travelled to the 1999 World Cup on a forged passport as a guest of the cricket board, which at the time was headed by Sumathipala.Amarasinghe, held in custody and facing prosecution for a string of contract killings, was killed by an assassin in a Colombo courthouse on Friday morning. The gunman, a former army deserter who was dressed in lawyer’s robes, claimed that it was personal attack of revenge, but police have hinted that it was a contract killing, possibly by a mafia gang based in the south.

Glenn McGrath’s return to competitive cricket has been delayed after a fitness test ruled him out of a 2nd XI game between New South Wales and Tasmania, to be played from February 9-12 in Hobart.NSW team officials decided McGrath had yet to recover from the ankle surgery that had sidelined him from international cricket since October.This development is likely to upset the Australian selectors’ plans, as McGrath was expected to tour Sri Lanka with the national team. Australia are due to arrive in Sri Lanka on February 14, and play the first one-day international at Dambulla on February 20.

Scorecard
Australia’s stroll through the Plate Championship continued as they eased to a nine-wicket win over Papua New Guinea at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium, a result which all-but-guarantees their progress into the semi-finals.Australia won the toss and opted for a quick result rather than quick runs. PNG struggled from the off but battled for 35 overs to reach 83 all out, Vivian Kila top-scoring with a 62-ball 32. Left-armer Josh Mangan was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 31. Set a modest target, Australia were brisk and professional and they completed the win in 18.2 overs for the loss of just one wicket.PNG coach Paul Joseph said that his players would benefit from the experience of facing such strong opposition.”You know that you cannot win a match like this but it will help us in the future,” said Joseph. “It was a good experience for the players and I have no doubt that it will help them improve.”Australia need to beat Nepal on Thursday (February 26) to guarantee their semi-final berth.
Scorecard
Allrounder Moneeb Iqbal scored 62 and took two wickets as Scotland overcame a determined effort from Nepal to record their first victory of the tournament. But it was far closer than Scotland would have liked.Coming into the game on the back of hammerings from India, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, Scotland did not expect to be taken to the wire by Nepal, but the game ended in a tense last-over finish as Sean Weeraratna smacked 34 from 26 balls to thwart Nepal.Scotland won the toss and did well to restrict Nepal to 200 for 9, but then themselves struggled against tight spin bowling and with 15 overs remaining the run-rate was creeping towards eight an over. It took the late onslaught from Weeraratna to get them out of jail with one ball to spare.”It was a very tense win,” said Alistair Scott, Scotland’s team manager. “Our bowlers did very well to put us in a winning position but our batsmen looked nervous and I was very relieved when they made it. We are now in a good position to qualify for the semi-finals and a win against Papua New Guinea should see us through.”

Just when England’s Test heroes thought they could relax after their Caribbean conquest, four of the players on their way back to England had their flight delayed by 24 hours this morning after a passenger suffered a heart-attack.Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, and the two Jones’s – Simon and Geraint were due to arrive at Gatwick this morning. However, the flight which was scheduled to pick them up from Antigua was forced to make an emergency diversion to the Azores after the incident.What’s more, the aircraft was then discovered to have a mechanical fault and was deemed unsafe to carry on its journey. Hence an alternative plane was called from Heathrow to the Azores, where it will collect the waiting passengers and resume the seemingly never-ending journey. The players are now expected to arrive at Gatwick around 9:00 am tomorrow, providing all goes to plan.

Lunch
ScorecardChris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan made good progress for West Indies in reply to Bangladesh’s first innings total of 416 in the third morning of the first Test at Gros Islet. After the early run out of Devon Smith, West Indies reached lunch at 68 for 1.Pedro Collins wrapped up Bangladesh’s innings early on in the day when Mohammad Rafique played on driving outside off for 111. He became only the 13th No. 9 to score a hundred and Bangladesh’s total was their highest ever.Just as West Indies were looking for a commanding start, disaster struck when Smith was run out without scoring. Gayle pushed Tariq Aziz to point and Smith set off for the single, but was then sent back by Gayle. Faisal Hussain swooped and lobbed the ball back to the bowler who broke the stumps with Smith well short of his mark (2 for 1).Sarwan, though, calmed West Indian nerves with a host of sublime drives and cuts. Gayle took his time to get going, and he had two strokes of luck on 24 when he edged Tariz through the slips, and then on 28, he slashed the same bowler to Rajin Saleh at gully, who put down an easy chance.Gayle began to find his feet with two sublime cover-drives in quick succession, but there’s still a long way to go for West Indies.

Bob Woolmer, Pakistan’s newly appointed coach, has offered an olive branch to his angry predecessor Javed Miandad, by asking for his help in carrying the team forward.Miandad was yesterday relieved of his duties, just one year into his third term as Pakistan’s coach, and replaced by Woolmer, who had previously been the ICC’s high-performance director. It was a decision that enraged Miandad, who described the Pakistan Cricket Board’s actions as "unethical".Woolmer, however, is keen to make his peace with a man who remains one of the most powerful figures in Pakistan cricket. “I know Javed is not a happy man at the moment, but I would like his input,” Woolmer told BBC Sport. “He would be very important in guiding me on how to run the show.””I played against Javed, I’ve been to his house in Pakistan for a meal,and he would be very important,” Woolmer added. "It’s his decision, but along with others in the country his advice would be invaluable. It’s up to me to sift through the advice, and bring the whole of Pakistan cricket together.”Miandad has already refused an offer from the PCB to become their national advisor on cricket development, but he has already wished Woolmer all the best in the new job. “He is a foreign coach," said Miandad, "and I wish him the best of luck on his assignment. It is going to be a tough one.”