All posts by csb10.top

New Zealand Cricket has confirmed its national selection panel of Sir Richard Hadlee (chairman), Ross Dykes and Brian McKechnie have had their contracts extended until the end of May 2003.This will take the selection panel through the World Cup in South Africa during February and March 2003, and the tour of Sri Lanka in April and May 2003.The contracts were originally due to expire on July 1, 2002. The previous practice has been to offer contracts for a two-year period.New Zealand Cricket operations manager John Reid said the extension of the current contract was designed so that in future contract cycles would fall into the middle of the period between World Cups.”In terms of supporting the TelstraClear Black Caps’ World Cup planning and strategy there is obviously sound reasoning behind wanting to ensure the opportunity for change is at a time reasonably spaced between World Cups.”The selection panel is one of the key ingredients in the strategic approach to World Cups and New Zealand Cricket believes this change to their contract period will benefit future planning,” Reid said.

A new cricketing centre has recently been opened at Writhlington School in North Somerset, that will help the development of the game in that part of the county.Somerset Cricket Development Officer Andrew Moulding told me: "Writhlington School at Radstock needed a new sports hall, and contacted me to say that they were keen to promote cricket."He continued: "Chief Executive Peter Anderson and myself went up to the school and we could see the potential for establishing a top class cricketing centre in the north of the county."Mr Moulding went on: " At the same time Bath CC were also keen to try and establish a cricket centre as part of their new pavilion so we invited both parties to come along and make a presentation to the full Somerset Cricket Board, who after considerable deliberation opted for the Writhlington facility."He continued: "Writhlington applied for National Lottery funding but were turned down. We were all devastated, but their headteacher Marie Getheridge was determined not to be beaten, and thankfully she managed to get the money from other sources, including Bath and North East Somerset and Somerset CCC."The new Writhlington School cricket centre facility boasts a four lane cricket hall which has just been completed, which is exclusively for cricket use in the evenings and at weekends.Meanwhile Bath CC are still trying to get the go ahead to establish an indoor cricket facility, and it now seems likely that this will be done in conjunction with Bath University.Andrew Moulding concluded: "We see Writhlington School as a grass roots development and Bath CC as a Centre of Cricketing Excellence, which is all very good news for the youngsters in the Bath and North East Somerset area of the county."

Still reeling from unexpected defeat by Mashonaland in last week’s four-day Logan Cup game, Manicaland have a week off from cricket as all games have been postponed for the Presidential elections. Their next game will be the league cup final against Old Georgians on Sunday 17 March. Confidence will be low considering the manner of defeat – asking Mashonaland to follow on 287 runs behind and losing by 73 – but their one-day form has been good this season and home-ground advantage should help.Things that can be righted should be fixed without delay. The fielding was disastrous and in the absence of a full-time coach the captain should be assuming responsibility and burning flesh. The body language of the Manica fielders going into the fourth day was dangerously complacent – as though the game was almost won. Senior pro Whittall could be heard exhorting and criticizing as Mashonaland’s lead grew bigger and the misfields more frequent. Having scored 247 in Manicaland’s first innings and taken eight for 118 off 47 overs during a long hot match, his frustration was easy to understand. Not enough Manicaland players were prepared to die for the cause – a fact sensed by Evans, Campbell and Mackay (who batted low in the order) and exploited with relish as 340 runs were plundered between them, turning survival into advantage.Needing 219 off 46 overs for victory, Manicaland plunged to 146 all out in an absorbing finish with Coulson and Lewis unable to last the final three overs to safety.Whittall aside, positives included the batting of 16-year-old Tino Mawoyo (averaging 35 in the game), Neil Ferreira (averaging 55), Richie Sims’ first-innings 75 and the assured first-innings 34 from 17-year-old Adeil Kugotsi. Manicaland caved from number five downward with Went, Taylor,Lewis, Coulson and both Somas collectively averaging 4.4 per innings. Lewis, with two for 119 off 30 overs, was disappointing considering his early-season form, whilst Leon Soma with six for 117 off 37.2 overs provided the only verifiable support for Whittall’s lone heroics. The team in general looked ill at ease in the longer form of the game.For a game of such quality containing two personal-best double centuries (Whittall 247, Craig Evans 210), fluctuating fortunes and a tense finish, surprisingly few spectators attended. Evans – who carried on to destroy Manicaland with 16-5-37-6 – was everyone’s man of the match.

Somerset Board Eleven manager Peter Robinson has named a strong side to play against Somerset at the County Ground on Tuesday.The Board XI includes several players who could themselves force their way into the Somerset first team so both sides will very fiercely contest the game.Captained by Kevin Parsons from Taunton St Andrew’s the side named is: Luke Stokes (Millfield School), Tom Webley (Bournemouth CC), Michael Coles (Bridgwater CC), wicket-keeper Tim Burt and Rob Travers (both Glastonbury CC), Kevin Sedgebeer (Taunton St Andrew’s), Russell Jones (Taunton CC) and Arul Suppiah who also played for Taunton CC last year. Two young fast bowlers from the Somerset staff will complete the Board XI team.The game gets under way at 11am and will be forty-five overs each side.Admission to the ground is free, and the bar will be open all day and will serve refreshments and light lunches as usual.

Jamaica have won the inaugural Busta International Shield Final after their four-day match against Guyana at Sabina Park, Kingston, ended in a draw today.Jamaica were declared the winners by virtue of claiming a first innings lead. Guyana were dismissed for 290 on Tuesday morning after Jamaica completed their first innings on Saturday with a total of 375. Ninth-wicket pair Neil McGarrell (52) and Colin Stuart (33) extended the Guyanese innings for more than an hour into this morning’s session.With an outright result for either side now out of the question, the remainder of Monday’s play revolved around academic matters, such as whether Chris Gayle could get the 106 needed to give him 1000 runs for the season, or whether Jimmy Adams would avoid a king pair. The answers, respectively, were no and yes.Gayle reached his half-century from 80 deliveries including eight boundaries, but only added one more run to his total before hitting a Mahendra Nagamootoo googly straight to Seonarine Chattergoon at deep mid-off. Leon Garrick (11) and Marlon Samuels (21) both failed for the second time in the match, but the Jamaican captain Adams did avoid the humiliation of a second duck of the final. He remained unbeaten on 28 when play was called off after two overs of the final hour. Keith Hibbert (44) was the other major contributor to the Jamaican second innings. With his dismissal, at the hands of part-time bowler Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the match was called off, Jamaica’s score being 161 for 4.Chris Gayle was named man of the match, while Jamaican captain Jimmy Adams claimed the Busta International Shield on behalf of his team, which received $US10,000 as first prize.

Essex will need a further 332 runs if they are to beat county champions Surrey when play resumes tomorrow although they do have all their second innings wickets intact.The home side had declared at tea on 206-5 to set their opponents an unlikely target of 405 runs for victory although Paul Prichard and Paul Grayson batted sensibly through the 32 overs of the evening session to reach 73 without loss at the close.There was some surprise when Alec Stewart decided not to enforce the follow-on after his side had mopped up the last three Essex first innings wickets in the first hour of play for the addition of 35 runs to the overnight score.Stuart Law guided his side to their third batting point as he reached 150 that included 21 boundaries but with his score on 153, he became one of two wickets for leg-spinner Ian Salisbury as the home side gained a first innings lead of 198 runs.Opting for further runs, Surrey lost Ian Ward for 3 when the opener had his middle stump knocked back by Andrew McGarry but Mark Butcher and Mark Ramprakash added 100 for the second wicket before Peter Such took a firm control on proceedings for Essex.The off-spinner bowled unchanged from the pavilion end throughout the afternoon session and was rewarded with four wickets.Butcher, having completed a second half-century in the match, was well caught at deep mid-on before the wily 36 year-old bowler lured Ramprakash – who had just reached his fifty – and Ali Brown down the wicket to be stumped by the impressive James Foster.Ben Holliaoke was another Such scalp, edging indecisively forward to give Foster another victim. That gave the bowler wicket to wicket figures of 4-36 before Stewart declared at tea.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA low-scoring one-sided game on Saturday was followed by a high-scoring thriller in the Challenger Trophy in Rajkot. An unbeaten 158 by Cheteshwar Pujara, who kept India B in the hunt for their target of 336 through planned batting, went in vain as they lost by four runs. Racing to reach the target at the death, the duo of Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja needed 23 runs off 12 deliveries to pull off a win, but an economical seven-run penultimate over, including Jadeja’s wicket, by the left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla pegged them back. The next over saw four singles off the first four deliveries, followed by a spilled chance by Ajinkya Rahane at deep midwicket that fell over the boundary for a six. But that didn’t matter as Pujara could only drive the last delivery towards long-off for a single.India B had started the chase well with the openers S Anirudha and Murali Vijay starting positively by going at nearly six per-over. After Vijay got out in the eighth over, Anirudha put on 80 runs with No. 3 Pujara, and ended up with seven boundaries and two sixes in his knock of 63. Pujara was guiding the chase well, combining with the middle order to effect crucial partnerships. Robin Bist, fresh from a century in the Irani Cup, scored 38, and Baba Aparajith and Ravindra Jadeja also gave him support to help India B get closer to the target. Towards the death, Pujara and Jadeja accelerated the scoring, adding 76 in seven overs but it wasn’t enough to see them through. This knock was Pujara’s second big score in two games – he had scored 78 in the Irani Cup.Another player registered two big scores in two games. Shikhar Dhawan followed up his unbeaten 99 against Bengal with 152 to guide his team to 335 for 4. The opening stand with Robin Uthappa, who scored 67, laid the foundation for a tall score as the duo were separated when India A had scored 146 in the 27th over. Smartly, the batsmen utilized the platform by scoring heavily at the death, courtesy Dhawan, and Dinesh Karthik, who scored 66 off 40 deliveries. The two added 94 runs in nine overs to push India A way past the 300-run mark.Parvinder Awana was the highest wicket-taker across both teams with three wickets, including two of India B’s openers. Umesh Yadav and Abhimanyu Mithun bowled 11 overs each from either team, as per the new rules in domestic one-day matches which allow one bowler to bowl a maximum of 12 overs.India B would have to come back fresh from the defeat to take on Bengal, who were comprehensively beaten by India A earlier, on Monday.

ScorecardTom Fell remained unbeaten during the short amount of play possible•Getty Images

Worcestershire teenager Tom Fell again blunted Kent’s hopes of continuing their recent improvement in the LV= County Championship in two small passages of play on a rain-ruined third day at New Road.The 19-year-old batsman advanced his career-best score to 75 not out as the home side moved to 241 for seven in their first innings – still trailing by 83 runs – after adding 28 in 7.4 overs after tea.Following downpours in the morning, play was delayed until 4.45pm and the players were back in the pavilion within 20 minutes after more rain. On their return they stayed out for only a couple more overs before umpires Rob Bailey and Michael Gough quickly called off proceedings for the day when more rain rolled in from the Malvern Hills.Fell has so far hit 11 boundaries in an impressively composed innings and his eighth-wicket partner, Jack Shantry, looked a more than a capable batsman in reaching 30 in an undefeated stand of 83 in 28 overs.Worcestershire were in danger of following on when those two players linked up on Saturday and now they are only nine runs short of a second batting bowling point.Fell, a student at Oxford Brookes, played two first-class matches for Oxford MCCU early in the season and met with mixed fortunes on breaking into the county team last month. Dismissed for a duck on his Championship debut against Glamorgan, he made the most of a second opportunity with scoring 62 not out against Australia.Other than playing for more bonus points – Kent still need two wickets – this game now looks set to be a victim of the weather which wrecked two meetings when the teams were last together in the same division.In 2007 the game at Worcester was a complete washout as the ground failed to recover from a summer flood and play was possible on only one of the four days in the return fixture.Kent, who are unbeaten in their last six Championship games, are looking to climb away from the bottom two of the Division Two standings while Worcestershire are in mid-table.

Gareth Batty will miss Friends Life t20 Finals Day after being handed a two-match suspension for “appalling” behaviour following the on-pitch spat with Peter Trego during Surrey’s quarter-final against Somerset at The Oval.Batty, the Surrey captain, was found guilty of two level two breaches of the ECB’s code of conduction relating to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact” and “using language or a gesture that is obscene or of a serious insulting nature”.It means Surrey will be without their captain and frontline one-day spinner for Finals Day on August 17 at Edgbaston, where they have been drawn to face the holders, Hampshire, in the semi-finals. Batty was already fulfilling the captaincy role on an interim basis following the injury that ruled Graeme Smith out for the season and Surrey will now have to scour the team for another leader. Steven Davies and Vikram Solanki are likely to be the leading candidates.The incident in the quarter-final occurred when Trego was bowled by Batty and began walking back to the pavilion, which took him towards Surrey’s celebrating players. Batty was then seen to shove Trego while also mouthing obscenities towards him.Gerard Elias QC, the chairman of the cricket discipline commission (CDC), described Batty’s behaviour as “appalling” and said he did consider whether further action should be taken along with the immediate suspension but decided not to refer the matter to a disciplinary panel.Elias said: “This was a high profile televised match with much at stake for both sides. In these circumstances, the Cricket Discipline Commission expects players to have regard to the image of the game and their place as role models, and to control their emotions accordingly.”Gareth Batty was not merely a player but was the Surrey captain. His conduct as such was appalling. Not only was he involved in deliberately and inappropriately physically confronting a batsman he had just dismissed, he subsequently engaged in a foul-mouthed tirade at the batsman.”Plainly, he acted contrary to the spirit of the game and in a way which brings cricket into disrepute and failed to set the leadership example expected.”The ECB statement continued: “The CDC takes this opportunity to remind players and captains of their duties and responsibilities as ambassadors for the game. So called ‘high pressure’ matches will not be regarded as any excuse for playing the game other than in accordance with the discipline regulations and in the proper spirit.”The penalty for a first level two offence is three points and the penalty for a second level two offence within 24 months is six points. Batty has therefore received a total of nine penalty points, triggering an automatic suspension for a period of two matches. This penalty will remain on his record for a period of two years.

India tour of South Africa

• 18 November: T20 Tour match, India v SA Invitation XI, Potchefstroom (Day/Night)

• 21 November: 1st T20 International, Johannesburg (Day/Night)

• 24 November: 2nd T20 International, Cape Town (Day)

• 27 November: 1st ODI, Durban (Day/Night)

• 30 November: 2nd ODI, Port Elizabeth (Day)

• 3 December: 3rd ODI, East London (Day/Night)

• 6 December: 4th ODI, Centurion (Day/Night)

• 8 December: 5th ODI, Johannesburg (Day)

• 12 December: 6th ODI, Bloemfontein (Day/Night)

• 15 December: 7th ODI, Cape Town (Day)

• 18-19 December: India v SA Invitation XI, Paarl

• 22-23 December: India v SA Invitation XI, Pietermaritzburg

• 26-30 December: 1st Test, Durban

• 2-6 January: 2nd Test, Cape Town

• 15-19 January: 3rd Test, Johannesburg

Australia tour of South Africa

• 5-8 February: Australia v SA Invitation XI, Potchefstroom

• 12-16 February: 1st Test, Centurion

• 20-24 February: 2nd Test, Port Elizabeth

• 1-5 March: 3rd Test, Cape Town

• 9 March: 1st T20 International, Port Elizabeth (Day)

• 12 March: 2nd T20 International, Durban (Day/Night)

• 14 March: 3rd T20 International, Centurion (Day/Night)

The traditional Boxing Day Test returns to South African shores for the 2013-14 season with India scheduled to play the first of three Tests in the home summer. CSA cancelled the fixture last season and opted to play three T20s against New Zealand over the festive period instead in the hope of attracting bigger in-stadium audiences. Although the matches were sell-outs, there was a public outcry about the lack of a Test match and with India visiting this season, the administrators have reinstalled the fixture and handed it back to its usual home, Kingsmead in Durban.But before they can get to that, India will play two T20s and seven ODIs between November 18 and December 15. The matches have been spread around the country with so-called smaller venues like East London and Bloemfontein playing host to ODIs. Newlands Stadium will also host a fifty-over match after not having one last season.After two warm-up matches, India will play three Tests, which are to be held in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg and will conclude the tour. Administrators are hopeful Sachin Tendulkar will bring up another milestone during the second of those games. “The Indian players have always been very popular in South Africa and their maestro, Sachin Tendulkar, has currently played 198 Test matches,” Naasei Appiah, CSA acting CEO said. “It would be wonderful for his 200th Test match to be in front of a packed New Year’s crowd at Newlands. The last time he played a Test match there his battle with Dale Steyn thrilled a global audience.”South Africa’s busy period continues with Australia visiting for three more Tests that take place between mid-February and early March. “Any series between Australia and South Africa in any sporting code always promises a spectacle of note and a contest worthy of some of sport’s most famous moments,” Appiah said. “Australia will be battle-hardened after successive home and away Ashes series against England.”The Australians will kick off their tour with a warm-up fixture in Potchefstroom before Test matches in Centurion, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. St Georges’ Park keeps their Test fixture after successfully hosting New Zealand last year. The venue had not seen the longest format match for five years prior to that. Newlands, by virtue of its significant Test crowds, is the only venue that will host two Tests. Australia’s tour has no ODIs but three T20s, which South Africa hope to use as preparation for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.South Africa’s season begins before these two major tours though. Their limited-overs sides embark on a five ODI and three T20 visit to Sri Lanka at the end of this month for Russell Domingo’s first assignment as head coach. They also visit the UAE to play Pakistan for fixtures that are yet to be decided in October.The main talking point ahead of the series is the fitness of Test captain Graeme Smith, who is recovering from ankle surgery. Smith returned home from Surrey in May when the recurring problem with his ankle flared up again. At the time, he was said to need four to five months of rest. Team manager and doctor Mohammed Moosajee said Smith’s rehabilitation is “progressing well,” and they are hopeful he will be available to play against Pakistan and are determined to have him ready for the home summer.