All posts by csb10.top

ScorecardThe rain proved prevented any chance of a Lancashire win•Getty Images

Lancashire’s best efforts to defeat Kent were beaten by the persistent showersat Old Trafford as the County Championship Division One match ended in adraw.Needing an improbable 285 to win, Rob Key’s team had reached 45 for 2 whenthe rain finally closed in and the game was eventually abandoned at 3.45pm.Although only 11.5 overs were possible on the final day, Lancashire’s SajidMahmood still managed to rough up four Kent batsmen and claimed two wickets in ahostile spell either side of lunch.The England fast bowler produced a quick, accurate delivery which burst throughJoe Denly’s loose defence and then found the edge of Geraint Jones’ bat, PaulHorton completing the dismissal with an excellent catch at first slip.In between those successes, Glen Chapple had offered home supporters hope offurther breakthroughs when he extracted plenty of life from the Old Traffordpitch and beat Key on a number of occasions.Indeed, Kent appeared so concerned about the state of the wicket and thedangers posed by Chapple and Mahmood with the new ball that they promoted MattColes up the order as a “lunch-watchman”. The 19-year-old had batted as well as anyone except Darren Stevens in the firstinnings and he enhanced his reputation again by making a composed 10 not out.Earlier, rain had prevented play for 90 minutes in the morning session andChapple immediately declared on Lancashire’s overnight total of 177 for 3once the weather relented.That left Ashwell Prince undefeated on 71, giving the South African anaggregate of 186 for a match in which he had offered further proof of his highclass and excellent temperament. Lancashire took nine points from the game but Kent will only take six after losing one of their seven points due to a slow over rate.

Ireland are targeting victories in their two ODIs against Bangladesh this summer – at Stormont on July 15 and 16 – as a chance to gain valuable ranking points and as an important benchmark for the side as they attempt to assert their readiness to step up to cricket’s top level.”For the last three years or so, we have targeted matches against the lower-ranked full members as the most important means of measuring our progress and determining our readiness to step up to the elite level,” said Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive.”All our players will be aware of the perception that strong results against Test-playing countries create, and will be keen to maximise home advantage to good effect in the year that we are applying to move higher in the international firmament.”Ireland coach Phil Simmons sees the games as a chance to test his side ahead of the World Cup in 2011, where they will meet Bangladesh in the group stage at Dhaka. “It’s great that we have a chance to play them on home soil,” he said. “We lost to them badly in 2008 in Bangladesh but on our home turf I’d be confident of doing well.”We have beaten them in both the 2007 World Cup and in the World Twenty20 last year, so I don’t think there’s much to choose from between the two teams. It’s a great opportunity for us to gain valuable ranking points.”

Adam Ball, the 16-year-old allrounder who played for England at the recent Under-19 World Cup, has been signed by Kent on a three-year professional deal.Ball is a former Kent academy student and member of the ECB Fast Bowling Elite group and was called up as a late replacement for Calum Haggett in the Under-19 World Cup.Paul Farbrace, the Kent team director, said “Adam’s new contract is a tremendous achievement for such a young player. It will provide him with a fabulous chance to develop his game within the first-team squad.”

Scorecard
Afghanistan celebrate their second successive win•International Cricket Council

Afghanistan continued their seemingly inexorable march to the World Twenty20 with a 14-run win over Scotland at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Noor Ali’s blistering 42, when wickets were falling around him, provided the early impetus in Afghanistan’s 131 for 7 and Shapoor Zadran’s remarkable bowling – he conceded just eight runs in four overs – held Scotland at bay to ensure Afghanistan an all but certain passage into the Super Fours.Scotland’s decision to field this morning appeared to have paid dividends when Gordon Drummond picked up Karim Sadiq and Shafiqullah in his first over, but Ali was unperturbed and crashed four fours and a six in his 42. With his partner striking the ball so cleanly, Mohammad Shahzad could afford to play a more sedate innings. His 30 contained just a single boundary, but he rotated the strike well in the 71-run partnership.Kyle Coetzer grabbed three quick wickets – including the hero of yesterday’s game, Mohammad Nabi, first ball – to peg Afghanistan back, and when Samiullah Shenwari picked out Gavin Hamilton off Jan Stander in the 19th over, Afghanistan were struggling at 116 for 7. But a late surge from Raees Ahmadzai and Mirwais Ashraf took the score past 130 and gave Afghanistan’s bowlers a decent total to defend.Scotland would have been hoping for a positive start to their chase, but Navdeep Poonia fell second ball to Ashraf, and Zadran proved almost impossible to get away in his opening spell. When Kyle Coetzer’s painful innings ended on the first ball of the fifth over, he had struggled to two from 15 balls. Hamilton and Neil McCallum clawed their way back with a 66-run partnership for the third wicket, but when they were both dismissed in consecutive balls, Afghanistan had found their opening.Hamid Hassan bowled Jan Stander and Fraser Watts, and when Drummond and Simon Smith fell to Mohammad Nabi in the penultimate over, Scotland’s hopes were extinguished. Hassan shattered Majid Haq’s stumps with the last ball of the innings to seal an emphatic victory, sending Scotland crashing out of contention and Afghanistan almost certainly through to the next round.If they beat the USA and Scotland defeats Ireland, then the USA, Scotland and Ireland will be locked on two points each with net run-rate deciding which team joins Afghanistan in the Super Four stage from Group A.

A final call on Sreesanth and the injured VVS Laxman will be taken on Saturday, according to the Indian team manager Arshad Ayub.Laxman was supposed to leave for India on Friday but there has been a change of plan. “We will wait till tomorrow before we decide what to do,” Ayub told Cricinfo. Laxman hurt his left hand on Wednesday when he dropped a catch in third slip and had ten stitches to his hand.India had more injury worries during the first Test as Sreesanth suffered a strain on his thigh while bowling in the second innings. He left the field, unable to complete the over. Ayub said that a MRI scan was taken and that a decision on Sreesanth will only be communicated on Saturday.India have already said that there will not be any replacement even if Laxman is sent back home and it is still not known whether Sreesanth’s injury is serious enough for him to ruled out of the second Test.

Scorecard
Sairaj Bahutule continued to spin a web around Andhra on the final day to ensure that Assam completed a five-wicket victory against Andhra in Guwahati. Resuming 40 runs ahead with five wickets standing, the visitors had no answer to Bahutule’s turn on the last day. He picked four wickets to finish with an innings haul of six and ensure there was no lower-order defiance from Andhra. Chasing a tricky target of 129, Assam suffered a few anxious moments when they were reduced to 67 for 4. But Dhiraj Jadhav followed up his first-innings heroics with a responsible 49 to lead his team to victory . Assam’s win seals a place in next year’s Super League as well as a quarter-final berth this season, where they will encounter Uttar Pradesh. Crucially, Assam will have the home advantage in that match.
Scorecard
Sachin Rana and Ankit Rawat struck hundreds on the last day to ensure that Haryana secured a draw against Tripura in Rohtak. Having conceded the first-innings lead, Tripura needed to enforce an outright win, a possibility that existed at the start of the day with the hosts 260 runs ahead with five wickets remaining. However, their hopes were quashed by contrasting centuries from Rana and Rawat. Rana was the aggressor, hitting 14 fours and a couple of sixes in his unbeaten 163 while Rawat was resolute in defense, batting nearly 400 minutes for his 114 before he was forced to retire hurt. By then, the draw was a formality, a result that pitchforked Haryana into the big league for next year. Before that they will face Mumbai in the quarter-finals at home.

Bilal Shafayat has agreed a new one-year deal with Nottinghamshire, despite a poor season in 2009, in which he scored 485 runs in 13 County Championship matches, with a season-best knock of 69 against Hampshire in August.”Bilal offers competition amongst the batsmen and he’s our back-up wicketkeeper so there’s an important role for him to play in our squad,” said Nottinghamshire director of cricket, Mick Newell.”He had a disappointing season in 2009 and he’s keen to contribute more next year. We’ve had a few discussions and he’s very keen to compete for a place here because it’s his home town club.”We need to see a bit more from him and he’s determined to show that his future lies at Trent Bridge.”Shafayat made his Championship debut six days before his 17th birthday in 2001 to become Nottinghamshire’s youngest ever debutant in the competition. He stroked a confident 72 against Middlesex and followed that up with 104 against Worcestershire in 2002, making him the youngest player to record a century for the county.

SuperSport Series

Ashwell Prince’s 154 was put in the shade by Stephen Cook’s epic•Getty Images

Ashwell Prince would have thought he had done enough to emerge as the top batsman of the week when he scored 154 in the Warriors‘ massive 532 in their match against the Lions in East London. Johan Botha chipped in as well, with a solid 97, his third significant score of the season, but both South African internationals were outdone by Stephen Cook.Cook broke the South African first-class batting record by scoring a superb 390, occupying the crease for almost 14 hours before being trapped leg before by Botha. Lonwabo Tsotosbe showed encouraging form with 3 for 95, accounting for Neil McKenzie, Alviro Petersen and Jonathan Vandiar. Thami Tsolekile announced his return to first-class cricket with a confident 141. Even as the runs piled up, the match petered out to a draw.Matters were more measured in Centurion though, even as the match between Titans and Dolphins ended in a stalemate. The bowlers came to the fore with Johann Louw taking 6 for 50, as the Titans were bowled out for 315 in their first innings. New South African cap Heino Kuhn scored a half-century while Albie Morkel managed a hundred. The Dolphins were reeling at 30 for 3 during the reply when Loots Bosman retired, but he returned to score 45. Dale Steyn took 4 for 30 as the Dolphins ended 27 runs short.Louw ended with a match haul of 10 wickets as Faf du Plessis scored 73 in the Titans’ second innings. They set the Dolphins a target of 291 and even though Bosman scored 53, the Dolphins ran out of time and finished on 209 for 4.

CSA Provincial Three-Day Challenge

Roelof van der Merwe was the star performer for Northerns against Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) in Kingsmead. He top scored with 56 and took just one wicket but his team steamrolled the opposition by an innings and 54 runs. KZN were bowled out for 144 and Northerns’ reply of 271 was enough for a massive victory. Mandla Mashimbyi took 4 for 34 and Sean Nowak picked up three wickets as KZN were bowled out for 73 in the second essay.Doug Watson was in top form for KwaZulu-Natal Inland against Griqualand West in Pietermaritzburg. The veteran batsman scored an unbeaten 103 as Inland declared on 300 for 4. Reeza Hendricks scored a hundred for Griqualand who declared on 223 for 7. Mario Olivier’s century helped Inland finish on 212 for 2 and secure the draw.That was just one of four drawn clashes in the week, with the matches between Eastern Province (EP) and North West, Free State and Boland, and Namibia and Easterns failing to yield results.EP, carrying a slender 24-run lead, set North West a target of 242 in Port Elizabeth. However, North West ended on 108 for 4 with spinner Werner Coetsee ending with nine wickets in the match.Shadley van Schalkwyk scored 86 as Free State took a 18-run lead against Boland in Bloemfontein. Free State had a solid second innings as well, with Divan van Wyk reaching a half-century. Boland could only manage 177 for 2 chasing 290.In Windhoek, Gerhardus Viljoen’s 5 for 54 bowled out Namibia for 219. Easterns may have fancied their chances after Kobus Pienaar scored 154 and they declared on 430 for 8. But Namibia responded with class, as Raymond van Schoor smashed 141 to take the hosts to 418 for 5.Shane Burger was the hero during Gauteng‘s innings-and-18-run demolition of Border in Johannesburg. He scored an unbeaten 101 to take Gauteng to 352 for 7 in the first innings. He then claimed 5 for 13 as Border were bowled out for 124. Asked to follow on, Border collapsed for 210 with Burger taking 4 for 34. The victory took Gauteng to the top of the table.

CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge

In the provincial one-day challenge, rain played spoilsport with two results being decided via the D/L method and no-results in the other two. One of those was between KZN and Northern in Durban. Natal managed just 127 after being put in, and Northerns reached 11 without loss when play was stopped. A similar result followed in the match between KZN-Inland and Griqualand West in Pietermaritzburg. Inland scored 165 for 9 first up, with Charl Pietersen picking up 4 for 24. Griqualand weren’t even able to start their innings as the heavens opened up.Half centuries from Jimmy Kgamadi and Cliffie Deacon lifted North West to 206 for 8 in their match against EP in Port Elizabeth. Vusimusi Mazibuko bagged 6 for 25 as EP limped to 129 for 9 in 26 overs, when rain stopped play and handed North West a revised target of 67. There was a thriller in Bloemfontein where Dean Elgar’s half century took Free State to 208. Omphile Ramela, Uwe Birkenstock and Lenert van Wyk all scored half-centuries as Boland‘s chase looked to be on track but their tail fell apart and they ended on 202 for 8, losing by just six runs.Craig Williams scored 114 as Namibia managed an impressive 242 for 6 against Easterns in Windhoek. The men from Benoni crashed to 166 all out, giving Nambia victory by 76 runs. Gauteng scored 323, the highest total of the round, in Johannesburg as Richard Cameron blasted 114 and Vaughn van Jaarsveld notched up 95. Border were in danger of being bowled out for under 150 at 130 for 7 when the match was called off. Gauteng earned a 100-run victory via the D/L method.Batsman of the week:Stephen Cook’s claim to the South African record earns him the title this week. His 390 broke Daryl Cullinan’s unbeaten 337 for Transvaal against Northern Transvaal in the 1993-94 season. It also eclipsed the highest score by a South African in first-class cricket, which was Barry Richards’ 356 for South Australia against Western Australia in 1970-71. Cook is also the leading run-scorer in the competition so far.Bowler of the week:Even though the Dolphins didn’t win, Johann Louw’s 10-wicket haul was enough to make him the bowler of the week. While he dismantled the Titans’ top order and the tail in the first innings, he proved too fearsome for the middle order the second time around. He is now on the top of the bowling charts with 18 wickets, six ahead of his nearest rival.Special mention:Shane Burger gets a special mention for orchestrating Gauteng’s win over Border with a brilliant all-round performance. He claimed nine wickets and scored a century in a superb display to hand Gauteng the massive victory. Burger is now 14th on the batting rankings and second on the bowling rankings in the CSA Provincial Three-Day Challenge.

For umpire Ahsan Raza, the third ODI between Pakistan and New Zealand held special significance. Raza’s appointment as the reserve official marked his return to duty nine months after being seriously injured in the terror attacks on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore on March 3.Raza had to undergo emergency surgery to repair a collapsed lung and damaged liver after being shot when the umpires’ bus – also carrying on-field officials Simon Taufel and Steve Davis of Australia, television umpire Nadeem Ghouri, and match-referee Chris Broad – came under fire on route to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day’s play.He remained in intensive care for 26 days and needed two-dozen bottles of blood to survive. He admitted he was still haunted by the events of that morning in Lahore and that his memory is often jolted.”I am thrilled and exited to no end,” Raza said about his return to umpiring. “It was a miracle that I survived, because of the prayers of my wife, my daughters and my people. Doctors are surprised that I am now fit to stand in international cricket.I often wake up late in the night because of the March 3 nightmares and every time there is a blast in Pakistan I remember those attacks of Lahore because every terror attack looks the same. Every time I hear of the attacks I pray that my country gets rid of such incidents because every walk of life has been disturbed, including my lovely game of cricket.”Pakistan lost the World Cup matches they were due to host in 2011 and are unlikely to receive any international visits in the near future. However, Raza hopes that one day he will be able to stand as an on-field official in his home country.”It’s my wish that when I make my debut as a field umpire it’s on a ground in Pakistan, we badly need international cricket to return to our country because everyone loves the game. Today I am alive, and making a return to international cricket is very sensational for me and makes my belief in the Almighty stronger.”

Scorecard
Pakistan scored 212 and beat Zimbabwe by 126 runs•Zimbabwe Cricket

Pakistan Under-19 bowled out Zimbabwe Under-19 for 86 to take the first ODI by 126 runs at the Harare Sports Club. Opener Hammad Azam followed up his top score of 39 with 3 for 26 as only three Zimbabwe batsmen reached double figures before folding inside 35 overs.Azam, who made his first-class debut for Rawalpindi last season, hit six boundaries in his 43-ball innings. Rameez Aziz (35), Mohammad Awais (27) and Anop Santosh (35) chipped in with handy contributions to take Pakistan to 212. Offspinner Roy Kaia was the only Zimbabwe player to have a good game as he picked up 5 for 25, including two wickets from two balls.But he was run out for a duck, when opening the Zimbabwe innings, as the side slipped to 4 for 2 in the second over. Gary Chirimuta top scored for them with a 60-ball 22 but received no support from the middle order. Zimbabwe lost four wickets for 18 runs in 10 overs to collapse to 47 for 6 from where they never recovered.The second ODI of the six-match series is scheduled for Sunday.