All posts by csb10.top

On Pakistan’s bowling problems in the ODIs and the first Test
We have had some problems with our bowling and we haven’t bowled well thus far. The discipline continues to be a bit weak. We improved on the second day considerably and I thought we were unlucky. The fielding has been poor in this game. A long bowl will help us in a way, because it gave the bowlers a chance to get their rhythm back. The Indians stuck to a line and length and they bowled well.On the pitch
We want to play on positive, sporting pitches. These types of wickets do not suit us or help us to play positive cricket. Our attack consists of pace bowlers, not seamers, so we would like hard and bouncy pitches. There was communication between the team management and the curator as regards the pitch, but that type of wicket obviously couldn’t be produced.On the need for a bowling coach
If spinners don’t bowl well, do we then need a spinning coach as well? How many coaches do we need? If a team doesn’t perform well once or twice, it doesn’t suddenly mean that we need all sorts of coaches.On saving the match
It is difficult but if we continue to bat as we did today, when we were attacking, we can do it. There is still a lot of life in the match. Our batting has been good throughout the series and we performed well today – 364 for 6 isn’t such a bad score, it just seems small against a score of nearly 700. Razzaq, who batted well, is still there and Saqlain and Sami can bat. We need 111 runs to save the follow-on and if we bat like this tomorrow, I am confident we can save the match.On Yasir Hameed and the nervous nineties
If he keeps getting nineties all the time, I won’t be too displeased. He played well today, but maybe he gets nervous when he gets close to the century. If so, then he needs to work on that.On debatable dismissals … like his and Yousuf Youhana’s
All the batsmen were well set when they got out, so it was very disappointing. I can’t say anything about the dismissals, but you have all seen the TV replays so it is up to you to decide whether or not they were debatable.On Saqlain’s poor performance, and an extra spinner
He has been out for some time but he tried very hard on a very flat pitch. Let’s see what happens in the remainder of the match. An extra spinner would not have made much of a difference on what is a batting paradise.On not congratulating Sehwag, and Tendulkar’s near-miss
All the players did congratulate Sehwag on his effort, but I will do it now officially: Congratulations Virender Sehwag, on your magnificent triple-hundred! [Referring to Tendulkar:] Every team plays to its own plans. If someone was so close in my team, I would let them bat on for the double-century.

Sri Lankan cricket authorities have confirmed that they have written to the ICC expressing concern over the conduct of Chris Broad, the match referee for the recent series against Australia.According to the state-run Sunday Observer, Broad was allegedly found “boozing with Australian cricketers during the February-March series, which Sri Lanka Cricket claimed is gross misconduct in breach of the ICC rules”.Broad, the former England opener, was in charge for the series and reported Muttiah Muralitharan’s action to the ICC, claiming that it was suspect.Mohan de Silva, the board president, insisted that the letter was an informal way of making the ICC aware of its feelings on the matter. “We have brought to the notice of the ICC his [Broad’s] general conduct,” de Silva said on Sunday. “It is not a formal protest or a complaint, but a letter to keep the ICC informed. We feel it is part of our responsibility.”Meanwhile, Bruce Elliott’s biomechanics team at the University of Western Australia has concluded that Muralitharan should be allowed to continue using his doosra until the completion of further biomechanical research into slow bowling.

Ryan Hinds, who struck a patient 48 in the first innings of the opening Test against South Africa, has been ruled out of the second game due to a viral illness. His bowling, though largely unincisive – his only wicket came late in the game – was economical.The selectors called up Donovan Pagon, who played the first Test and was released from the side when Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle and Brian Lara chose to return.The second Test begins on April 8.

Shane Warne became the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets when he had Marcus Trescothick caught behind on the first day of the third Test at Old Trafford. He reached the landmark in his 126th Test when, in his fifth over, Trescothick attempted a sweep and was caught behind off the back of the bat by Adam Gilchrist.Warne made his Test debut against India at Sydney in 1991-92, but he made his name at Old Trafford 12 years ago when, with his first ball in Test cricket against England, he bowled Mike Gatting with a viciously turning legbreak that pitched outside the batsman’s pads and clipped the top of off-stump.In the second Test at Edgbaston Warne, who returned figures of 10 for 162, became the first bowler to take 100 Test wickets in a single foreign country. Before this match, Warne had taken 16 wickets in the first two Tests of the series at an average of 15.31 with a best of 6 for 46 in the second innings at Edgbaston.The table below shows the major staging posts on the road to the world record.

Fine innings from Umar Abrahams (91) and Riaan Jeggels led Eastern Province to declare at 336 for 6 on the second day of their match against Boland. In reply, Boland lost Warren Hayward for nought and stumbled to 10 for 3 when Dawid Malan was trapped lbw by Lonwabo Tsotsobe. They hold a slender lead of 51 with six wickets remaining going into day three.Gauteng ended day two on top against North West after bowling out their opponents for 252. Johnson Mafa took 4 for 56 but only Thando Bula (68) reached fifty for North West. Gauteng raced to 184 without loss in reply, and lead by 129 runs; William Motaung (77*) and Jean Symes (93*) crashed 22 boundaries in their positive response.

Dwayne Smith has been ruled out of West Indies’ first Test against England, which starts on Thursday in Jamaica. Smith dislocated a finger in his right hand while fielding in the nets.”It was a most unfortunate development for the young man,” Ricky Skerritt, the team manager, said. “But Dwayne has the right attitude towards situations likethis and there is no doubt he’ll be back stronger than ever.”The West Indian selectors have decided against naming a replacement for Smith, which means that Ricardo Powell or Ryan Hinds will take the No. 6 spot in the line-up. Dave Bernard has been added to the squad as an emergency fielder.

Luke Williams, the captain of the Adelaide Buffalos, has won the 2006 Bradman Medal for South Australian grade cricketer of the year.Williams, 26, polled 30 votes, seven clear of Mark Higgs from Northern Districts. He had an outstanding season for Adelaide scoring 820 runs at 117. Two members of the South Australian squad, Matthew Weeks and Gary Putland, both earned 22 votes, with Ben Johnson, the 2005 winner, getting 21.Sturt won the team award, which goes to the side that polled the most player votes in the Bradman Medal count, while the Fred Godson Medal for XXXX Gold Cup player of the series went to Daniel Harris, the Woodville captain, ahead of Dean Waugh.Full awards list
Bradman Medal – Luke Williams
Team Award – Sturt
Fred Godson Medal – Daniel Harris (Woodville)
C.W. Walker Memorial Trophy (outstanding wicketkeeper) – Todd Ferguson (Sturt)
Talbot Smith Fielding Trophy – Matthew Heffernan (Glenelg)
Coach of the Year – Bob Lisle (South Districts)
Women’s player of the Year – Karen Rolton (Scorpions)
Vince Copley Medal (indigenous medal) – Shaun McLennan (Koonibba) and Ken Karpany (Gerard)
Team of the Year – Luke Williams (Adelaide), Glenn Ashmead (Sturt), Shane Deitz (Southern District), Todd Ferguson (Sturt), Jason Borgas (Sturt), Chris Slattery (University), Nathan Adcock (University, capt), Mark Barber (Kensington), Ben Johnson (Adelaide), Nick Roberts (University), Mark Higgs (Northern Districts), Jamie Panelli (Kensington)

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.

Michael Hussey will have to think twice about taking sharp singles in the near future, with dark plans afoot in his team to bring his phenomenal one-day average down. His unbeaten 88 during Saturday’s match against New Zealand lifted his mark from 129 to 151, a world record for any player in his first 15 one-day innings.The next best is England’s Kevin Pietersen, who reached 87.33 after 15 innings, which came up in his 24th match. In 21 games and 15 innings Hussey has scored 604 runs and been dismissed only four times. “A few of the boys are talking about running him out, actually,” Ricky Ponting joked after his side’s two-wicket loss at Christchurch.The highest batting average for any player to have played 30 games or more is 53.58, which is held by Michael Bevan. “I’m copping a bit of stick about it from the boys,” Hussey said. “But I can assure you I’m doing everything I can at the end to try and get out, but at the moment it seems to be going my way.”It’s amazing really, I can’t really understand it. But I guess batting where I do [No. 7] there are going to be opportunities to get the big not out at the end of the innings.”Rather than batting cautiously to build up his average, Hussey has racked up the runs in rapid style with his 88 against New Zealand coming off 56 balls. He has now returned to Australia for the first Test against South Africa starting on Friday. And his average from six Test match innings? It is 120.33.