All posts by csb10.top

On May 2, Taesongsan Park in Pyongyang will be the host venue for the first ever formal cricket matches in North Korea.Two teams from Shanghai and the newly-formed Pyongyang Cricket Club will take part in a triangular Twenty20 tournament with the winners receiving the inaugural DHL Pyongyang Cricket Friendship Cup. This landmark event will take cricket into one of the last countries left where it has neither been played nor witnessed in the hope that it may start one of the most unlikely development programmes the game has ever seen.An trio comprising a Scotsman and South African both living in Shanghai and a North Korean enthusiast from Angola have been the driving force behind an initiative that has been eight months in the planning and which will feature players from ten nations, including one 14-year-old schoolboy.In recent years there has been a rapid expansion of the game in China where the 2010 Asian Games will include cricket for the first time. The Shanghai Cricket Club has played a key role in the game’s expansion in the country.

It was easy to forget that a Test match was being played out at the National Stadium in Karachi today, a crucial one at that. And it was easier to forget that, as the day dawned, it was still a closely-run affair. Mohammad Yousuf dwarfed most of what happened on the field; a neat second Test century from Mohammad Hafeez was overshadowed and even the fact that the game, and the series, had truly run away from West Indies.Brian Lara is a sharper man than most and despite the celebratory feel of the day – standing ovations were as regular as Yousuf’s centuries this year – he was fully aware of the grave situation his side find themselves in now. “The situation resembles the one we faced against India at St Lucia earlier this year,” he told reporters. “We got out of that though and we have recognized batsmen to follow after me and Ramnaresh Sarwan. We just have to stay out there and fight it out through the whole day.”Had they taken all the chances that have come their way – Yousuf has been dropped six times in this series – they would not find themselves in the position they are now, in the Test or the series. Catches were shelled this afternoon, two more from Yousuf though Lara insisted it did not matter for the now. “That part of our game is over. We have to concentrate on tomorrow. It has hurt us, yes, but our next Test is in May. We have to work on it and the catching will affect us more in the ODI game.”If the Test now rests greatly on Lara’s magic, it will also rely, in part, on a surface that has apparently improved as the Test has progressed, confounding all pre-Test worries of chronic deterioration on the fourth and fifth days. Lara said, “It’s a tough pitch for anyone and it hasn’t lived up to expectations. But we needed to bat better in our first innings and build up a lead to put them under pressure. We bowled really well and I can’t fault our bowlers at all for their effort.”The pitch was also on Yousuf’s mind and despite becoming only the sixth Pakistani to make two hundreds in a Test, he was adamant that it wasn’t up to standard. “It isn’t easy to bat on. And it is definitely not a Test wicket.”But in the blizzard of all of Yousuf’s landmarks, a significant one awaiting Lara has been all but forgotten. Seventy-eight more runs and he will become the first man to make 12,000 Test runs though understandably, as a priority, it finds itself low. “It’s not on my mind at all. I just need to bat out the entire day. That is my number one aim. Sarwan and I need to do it and if needed others do as well.”Three delicious boundaries in Lara’s unbeaten 18 were evidence of form and would be enough to spark some trepidation in most sides. West Indies need 405 runs from 90 overs and improbable as it appears, betting against Lara is rarely the clever option. Yousuf admitted, “We are in a strong position, but Lara’s wicket is the key tomorrow.”Lara himself would not be drawn into predictions. “The total is not on our mind. We just want to bat out the entire day. That is our aim. We will take it hour by hour and hope that our batsmen will play their natural game,” he reasoned.It can be argued that if Lara does bat the entire day, then few targets are safe. If so, then it may make for a truly spectacular farewell Test appearance in Pakistan. And it is possibly the only achievement that could eclipse the feats of Yousuf.

Have you had problems getting tickets – or even getting through to the website – or have you found everything as smooth as silk. Click here to send us your views on the sale of Ashes tickets

The first day of cricket’s biggest and most unusual family went as smoothly as many more traditional gatherings, with lengthy delays, grumpy arguments and disappointment about missing out on presents. As Cricket Australia’s locals-only policy for Ashes tickets was opened to the Australian Cricket Family, members of the 128,500 unit were furiously mouse-clicking in the search of the promised seats in stints that lasted the equivalent of three sessions of play.The current slogan for the summer is “It’s definitely on”, but today it should have been changed to “It’s definitely crashed” as computers all over the country – and in England for those with Australian-resident friends – refused to budge on the ticket-selling websites. Seats went on sale at 9am, by which time the server on Cricket Australia’s page had turned off due to overload. The online outlets Ticketmaster, who was selling for the Gabba, the WACA and the MCG, and New South Wales’s Ticketek quickly joined in as pages loaded at a pace that would have made even Chris Tavare yawn. Telephones lines were engaged as workers worried that they would end the day empty-handed.”Our system is currently busy due to a large event on sale,” the Ticketmaster site read. “We apologise for the inconvenience.” Servers spent more time going down than big ships in blockbuster movies, and buyers who were told to rush to avoid missing out were being ordered to be patient.After five group emails and months of signing up members, Cricket Australia and the ticket sellers knew exactly how many people were prepared to purchase and they expected the “unprecedented” surge. Unprecedented has been the favourite word of the publicity campaign – it was the headline of a Cricket Australia email an hour after the release – and can be used again. The delay in getting tickets to a Test was unprecedented.”We understand that due to the volume of interest systems are sometimes slower than expected,” James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said generously. “I would urge all members of the Australian Cricket Family to continue to be patient through this process as the day continues.”Andrew Symonds had surgery this week on a wrist problem that flares during heavy periods of batting. He will be in demand for tips on prevention and cures after the mass development of RSI for users who spent the day trying to refresh the pages – or attempting to get into the main ticket sites. Australian supporters must hope the five-Test campaign is better planned and runs more smoothly than this family affair.

Inzamam-ul-Haq leads Pakistan into a St Patrick’s Day showdown withIreland knowing that there’s no margin for error with a place in the SuperEights at stake. The 54-run loss to West Indies has pushed Pakistan backagainst the wall, and Inzamam and his side will need to use the adversecircumstances to inspire them in front of a large crowd that will mainlybe roaring on the underdog that the Jamaicans have taken to their heartsafter Ireland’s thrilling tie against Zimbabwe.Inzamam called Thursday’s game the “most interesting of the World Cup sofar”, adding that “it reminded the big teams that no team can be takenlightly”. Defeat in the tournament opener was a setback, and a few changesare in the offing. Inzamam said that they wouldn’t decide on an XI untilafter the team meeting on Friday evening, but suggested that either he orMohammad Yousuf could be batting higher up the order.”The batting order will probably change,” he said. “In the previous much,the top order was under pressure and it was the experienced middle orderof myself, Younis Khan and Yousuf that had to try their best tohandle it.”Ireland’s best hopes of an upset lie there, in winning the toss and usingthe moisture in the pitch to make rapid inroads. Trent Johnston, thecaptain, admitted as much, though he added that it would need a Herculeaneffort to get past one of the fancied teams in the competition. “We’llhave to bring our A game in all three departments to even come close, andthey’ll need to have a poor day,” he said. “It would be fantastic to stayon for a few more weeks after the 24th [of March].”After the tie against Zimbabwe, Johnston had said that his team weren’ttoo intimidated by Pakistan’s bowling line-up, even though it was clearlytheir stronger suit against West Indies. Apart from the final five oversthat went for 57, the bowling was disciplined and tidy, and Inzamamindicated that there would be no tinkering even though some would like tosee the out-of-form and out-of-luck Rana Naved-ul-Hasan replaced byMohammad Sami.Inzamam focussed instead on Umar Gul, who took the new ball in the openinggame in the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif. “Gul is our strikebowler as of now,” said Inzamam. “The team depends on him forbreakthroughs. He has the potential to be a world-class bowler, but heneeds to play two years of good cricket.”He also rubbished talk of a rift within the team, saying that suchinnuendo was par for the course when it came to Pakistan cricket. “If suchtalk had not come up after a loss, it would have been better,” he saidbluntly. “In a way, it’s not a surprise and I’m used to this after playingfor 17 years.”

Shahid Afridi made a few appearances for Ireland last year as a guest player and even thoughsuspension rules him out of this game, Inzamam said that his inputs hadbeen useful. “Ireland has some county players,” he said when asked toassess the opposition. “It was good to see them fight till the last ball.”The county player he was referring to was Eoin Morgan of Middlesex, and hesaid that his experience might come in handy against a side that would beexpected to easily outclass the Irish. “I’ve played against AzharMahmood,” Morgan said. “They have a lot of great players, but hopefullythey’ll have their second bad day of the tournament tomorrow.”Adrian Birrell, the coach, accepted that Thursday’s eye-catching resulthad taken away the element of surprise, though he was fairly certain thatPakistan wouldn’t have underestimated his team anyway. “Azhar playedagainst us when we beat Surrey and Afridi played for us in the C&GTrophy,” he said. “They won’t be taking us lightly, and their coach willensure that they come out hard.”While depending on their new-ball bowlers to spring a surprise, Irelandwill also need to put runs on the board themselves. Morgan is tipped asthe star of the future, but once again much will depend on the broadshoulders of Jeremy Bray, the opening bat who made a 137-ball 115 onThursday. “Jeremy’s 33 years young,” said Johnston with a smile. “He’s abit stiff and sore, but we had a light run and there’s a [swimming] poolsession later, so he’ll be fine.”Close to 8,000 tickets have already been sold for the game – only 2011came through the turnstiles for the Zimbabwe match – and Johnston wasexpecting a carnival atmosphere. “It’s something tolook forward to,” he said. “St. Patrick’s Day is a special one forIreland, and we have the opportunity to quality for the next round. Butwe’ve been emphasising that it’s just another game. We can’t put too muchpressure on ourselves.”The result against Zimbabwe was greeted with a six-column front-pagephotograph in the , but according to Birrell, the suddenspurt in interest wouldn’t increase the pressure on the side. “We’rethrilled that we’re getting publicity,” he said. “It’s been a long haul,and it makes us all the more determined.”For Birrell, the secret weapon could be the chats he’s had with his oldfriend, Mickey Arthur, the South African coach. “Mickey and I go back a long way,” said Birrell, who played his first-class cricket in South Africa. “Pakistan toured SouthAfrica recently, and I did pick his brain.”No matter what happens out on the field, most of the Irish will spendSaturday night with their families. Morgan, though, did admit that anothersuccessful outing might just result in “one or two more” Guinness beingdrunk. If they pull off the mother of all World Cup heists, they’ll mostlikely get free Guinness for life. Now, there’s a thought.

The potential of an English Premier League to counter the dominance of its Indian counterpart may be gathering momentum, but already there is a split among the county chief executives.Last week Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, spoke candidly about his vision for the future and insisted that if England are to create a viable competition to the IPL, the 18 first-class counties must merge into six regional sides. Bold though the plan is, the counties are less certain.”My aim is to knock this idea on the head,” Richard Gould, the Somerset chief executive, told the BBC. “We are hugely against regionalising – that would lead, eventually, to the domestic game being reduced to eight regional franchises for all forms of the game.”I don’t have a problem with an EPL, as long as it involves the 18 counties. Otherwise it would drastically reduce the number of English-qualified players available. The Test-match playing grounds might benefit, because they would host the matches but the rest of county cricket would not.”Similarly, Neil Davidson, the Leicestershire chief executive, is concerned that the franchise system might threaten the game’s tradition.”Franchises would be a negative and could turn a lot of people off the game,” Davidson said. “As long as the idea is a revenue generator that favours the game as a whole, I’m in favour. But we need to think about everyone, the minor counties, grassroots cricket and the Test match grounds.”Lancashire’s Jim Cumbes, however, has greater confidence in the idea.”There’s really no need for us to merge, or Yorkshire or a number of other counties, but I think it could work in some areas of the country where the counties are pretty close together,” Cumbes said. “We should be seriously looking at setting up our own Premier League. I could envisage two divisions, with promotion and relegation between the two, like the football Premier League.”And I think it could happen as early as next year, with the top nine teams from our Twenty20 competition this year forming a Premier League.”

Ishant Sharma, the 18-year-old Delhi medium pacer, is likely be sent to South Africa ahead of the final Test at Cape Town.Sharma, currently playing in only his fifth first-class match, is likely to join the squad before the final Test. With Irfan Pathan being sent back to India to play domestic cricket, and Munaf Patel yet to regain full fitness from an ankle injury, Sharma may be asked to step in and fill the breach in the squad, should the need arise, through another injury.When contacted, Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, would neither confirm nor deny the story. “If the need arises for a replacement, and the team management feels the shortcoming, then the selectors will discuss the matter over the telephone and decide on a replacement,” Shah told Cricinfo. Dilip Vengsarkar also echoed his views, telling reporters in Durban that Sharma won’t be joining the team.Rahul Dravid, speaking at the toss ahead of the second Test, said that Munaf was not yet fully fit, but did stress that he was only “two or three days” from where the team wanted him to be, suggesting that he would be fit in time for the next Test.However, it is learnt that the preparations to get Sharma across to South Africa are already under way. “We want him [Sharma] to see what happens at the highest level,” said a senior Indian board official and an unimpeachable source, who did not want to be named for obvious reasons. “We believe it will be good for his development.” Although this goes against the grain of what the board secretary told Cricinfo on the record, it corroborates all the other indications received from the team management and sources in South Africa.Should he go, it is unlikely that Sharma will figure in the playing eleven, but it is believed that he is being sent to South Africa to get a feel of international cricket and the Indian dressing-room and to obtain firsthand guidance from Greg Chappell, the Indian coach, and Ian Fraser, a member of the support staff.Sharma plays for the Rohtak Road Gymkhana Club in Delhi and, though in his debut first-class season, has a couple of Under-19 tours under his belt. He’s currently playing for Delhi against Saurashtra in Rajkot, where he has 3 for 117 from 36 overs; prior to this match he’d picked up 19 wickets from four games, with one five-wicket haul against Baroda. His USP is the ability to extract unnerving bounce, thanks mainly to his build – Sharma is 6’4″ tall and lanky, and is nicknamed Lambu for obvious reasons.Sharma’s cause has probably been helped by the fact that Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, was in Delhi a couple of weeks ago watching him bowl in a Ranji trophy match against Tamil Nadu. On a shirtfront of a Kotla wicket, where the ball barely carried through to the keeper, Sharma put in a good effort.Lalchand Rajput, the coach of the Indian U-19 team, was impressed with Sharma’s bowling, and apart from praising the bowler in the media had also conveyed his thoughts to the BCCI.

Cricket Australia’s security officials will sit in on a security briefing for ICC officials in Dhaka, on December 28 and 29, in view of the Under-19 World Cup that is scheduled to begin in Bangladesh on January 27. CA have not raised any specific concerns in public yet concerning its junior team’s participation in the tournament; the Australian security officials’ visit could be seen as a precautionary step, given the senior team’s tour to Bangladesh was cancelled in October due to security seasons.CA’s head of security Sean Carroll, who had visited Dhaka in September after the Australian government had issued security alerts for their citizens in Bangladesh, will arrive in Dhaka on Monday. Following that visit, CA had eventually cancelled their tour to Bangladesh due to the increased security risk. In November, Cricket South Africa had also cancelled their women’s team’s tour to Bangladesh.The ICC held meetings in Dhaka in November and December regarding security measures being taken for the U-19 World Cup, which is to be held in eight venues in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar.An ICC spokesman said the briefings on December 28 and 29 would be a follow up to those previous meetings. “The ICC and the BCB are working together to ensure complete safety and security of the event. In relation to this, and as follow up to the meetings held in November and December, the CA and ICC security officials are visiting Dhaka and receive security briefings on Monday and Tuesday,” the spokesman said.BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that a visit similar to CA’s was recently made by the security representative of two other boards, so he sees this as a routine visit. He also said that CA will be directing all its communication towards the ICC, who is the tournament organiser. “Reg [Dickason] came during the last ICC visit, possibly for England and New Zealand,” Chowdhury told ESPNcricinfo. “One part of a board’s inspection team is security. So CA can send anyone as a routine matter.”We don’t directly communicate with the participating boards. They have to communicate with the host [the ICC]. If it was a bilateral series, only then the communication is between the two boards.”Chowdhury reaffirmed that the BCB has made plans to provide the highest security levels for the participants. “As the host nation, our concentration is on making the event successful. The level of security offered for this particular U-19 event is unprecedented. There hasn’t been such measures taken for an U-19 tournament in the past and I doubt if it will be done in the future.”

Jacques Kallis, the South Africa captain, was proud of the way his side came through a testingrun chase against India at Stormont. He anchored the pursuit with a116-ball 91, but received vital support from Vernon Philander in thematch-winning seventh-wicket stand of 55.”I thought it was a competitive score then once we got a good startthat set the base for us,” he said. “The key here is getting throughthe new ball, the openers played pretty well then we just neededsomeone to bat through and guys to bat around him to get close tothem. Vernon did extremely well there at the end to finish it off.”The chase was shaping up well at 99 for 1, but then Rahul Dravidbrought on his spinners which cut through the middle orderand brought India right back into the contest. “It was the nature ofthe wicket – it just got slower and slower as the innings went on,” Kallis said. “We tried to do the same thing towards the back end of our innings [take the pace off] but certainly the spinners did come into play and bowled pretty well to put the pressure on us.”South Africa made two changes from their win over Ireland on Sundaywith the experienced pair of Andrew Hall and Andre Nel coming into theside. However, it was still a relatively inexperienced side andKallis was full of praise for the way they handled the situationdespite the lack of cricket since the World Cup.”We came in very cold and for the guys to play the type of cricketthey did today was very impressive,” said Kallis who was also delightedwith his Man of the Match form. “It was nice to get some runs andwickets again to carry on the form from the World Cup and hopefullythat will continue for the rest of the week.”After excelling with the ball against Ireland with 4 for 12, Philandershowed a level-head with the bat. When he came in South Africa stillneeded 53, but he calmly partnered Kallis to the final-over win.”To come in and perform the way he has shows big character. He’s doneit back home in domestic cricket, finishing off a lot of games for theCape Cobras and today he did it at the highest level. He’ll gain a lotof confidence and he’s setting himself some high standards tomaintain.”India did well to put up such a strong performance considering thevirus which has been running through their camp for the last few days.They managed to field a strong eleven, but some of the players werestill struggling, and Dravid admitted Kallis’ innings was thedifference.”There were aspects of the game we were quite happy with, not leastthe fact that a lot of the guys were still not 100% right,” saidDravid. “They went out there, tried their best and fought really hard.There were some good performances with bat and ball and it was a closegame.”It was just a little frustrating that having played some good cricketwe couldn’t pip them at the post. Kallis was the wicket we needed butwe just couldn’t get it.”South Africa are going to spend a day playing golf on Wednesday whilethe Indians will, no doubt, be dosing up on the cold and flu remedies.The second match of the series takes place on Friday.

Sri Lanka Cricket has sold broadcast rights for the forthcoming three-Test series against India to Sony for $3.25 million – a $1.85 million increase from the bid the board had originally received from Ten Sports. As part of the new deal, SLC advanced the tour by six days, and moved the third Test from Pallekele to the SSC in Colombo, as Kandy was deemed too prone to rain to host a match in late August. Kumar Sangakkara’s farewell Test, meanwhile, was confirmed for the P Sara Oval in Colombo.

India’s schedule in Sri Lanka

Aug 6-8 Warm-up game v SL Chairman’s XI, R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Aug 12-16 1st Test, Galle
Aug 20-24 2nd Test, P Sara Oval, Colombo
Aug 28-Sep 1 3rd Test, SSC, Colombo

The new figure remained well short of what SLC had originally expected, with a three-Test series against India usually worth more than $5 million. However, the increase came as some relief to the board, which has had payments from the ICC in escrow since April, and has additionally begun expensive infrastructure upgrades at Khettarama Stadium.The first Test in Galle had been scheduled to begin on August 18, but has been brought forward to avoid a clash with Sri Lanka’s general elections, which are set for August 17. India are also likely to play a warm-up match in Colombo before the Tests begin.SLC had expressed dismay in the original bid from Ten Sports, its usual broadcaster, before negotiating with other companies for an increase. The board has an ongoing seven-year deal with Ten Sports but this tour was sold separately because it had not appeared as a home series in the Future Tour Programme. These Tests were meant to be played in India, but the previous board had negotiated for them to be brought to Sri Lanka, in exchange for an impromptu five-ODI series in India last year.

Harbhajan Singh has claimed Australia targeted him with “personal and vulgar” words during the second one-day match in India while Andrew Symonds was “disappointed” with the behaviour of Sreesanth. Sreesanth attempted to run-out Symonds in a move even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s captain, initially thought was a joke.After the match Harbhajan was not laughing and said the Australians had shown themselves to be bad losers after their defeat to India in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup. “They clearly did not like that,” Harbhajan said in the Sydney Morning Herald. “They are a very good cricket side, but that does not mean that they can do whatever they want to do.”They say they play the game in the right spirit, but they don’t in reality. There is nothing gentlemanly about the way they play.”After being dismissed by Michael Clarke in the 84-run loss, Harbhajan waited mid-pitch and pointed his bat. “I was responding to a lot of vulgar words that were said to me,” he said. “I don’t have any problem with chitchat on the field, so long as it is about the game. But when it is very personal and vulgar, that is not on. They think you cannot fight back and they do not like it when you do.”The Australians were also upset with the opposition’s actions and Symonds said Gilchrist had spoken to Sreesanth during the match. “[He] tried to explain to him it’s best to try and get on with the game and try not to get tangled up with some of the childish exchanges,” Symonds said in the Australian.Symonds, who hopes to get a mental edge over India before they tour Australia in December, said he was disappointed when Sreesanth attempted to run him out when he was going to speak to Brad Haddin. Dhoni told Sreesanth: “That is not the way you get the batsman out, you get him out some other way.””I went back and made my ground,” Symonds said, “and I just went down to give Brad some support. He was doing his best and failed to make contact with that particular ball, and I didn’t see the need for him to be at Brad like he was. When I go to another sport I like to see confrontation, I’ll admit that, but you don’t want to see ugly confrontation and you don’t want to see confrontation that degrades your sport.”Shane Warne, who is in Melbourne, did not think Sreesanth’s overall behavoiur was “over the top”. “It’s going to add a bit of spice to the summer,” Warne told AAP. “Everyone’s going to be looking for Sreesanth to do his stuff and it shows with a bit of passion. I think it’s going to be good for the summer.”