All posts by csb10.top

South Africa women 239 for 6 (Brits 46) beat Netherlands women 140 for 9 (Rambaldo 34) by 99 runs
ScorecardSouth Africa’s women eased to a comfortable 99-run win over their Dutch counterparts at the VRA Ground in Amstelveen, thanks to a solid batting performance from their top five, and a disciplined bowling effort in which Sunette Loubser, Lonell de Beer and Susan Benade were the pick with two wickets each.After winning the toss and batting first, South Africa never looked back. Having already got the measure of the Netherlands attack during their Test victory in Rotterdam earlier in the week, they racked up a comfortable 239 for 6, with Cri-Zelda Brits top-scoring with 46.In reply, the Netherlands top-order capitulated, with four of the top six making single-figures. Helmien Rambaldo held the innings together with 34 from 69 balls, but South Africa were never in danger of defeat.

Andrew Flintoff has not ruled out bowling in the Champions Trophy even though he is only just coming to the end of his ankle rehabilitation programme.Flintoff was named captain of England’s squad for the tournament in India with a view to him playing as a specialist batsman. He has not played for England since the final Test against Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge in June, and an aborted comeback for Lancashire in July led to ankle surgery.The time frame for his recovery initially appeared to cut things close to the start of the Ashes, but Flintoff says he is right on track. England’s first match in India is on October 15. “My rehabilitation programme was meant to stop in mid-October and that’s when the cricket starts,” he told reporters before a signing session for his new book Freddie My World. “Fingers crossed, if everything goes to plan hopefully I will bowl. But it’s just wait and see.”He is also confident that his ankle will stand up to the stress of the winter, which after the Champions Trophy includes the five-Test Ashes series, VB Series and the World Cup in West Indies. “The operation was a success, and something that was needed, so going into a test series my ankle and my body are as fit as they have been for, probably, ever.”Flintoff has been England’s first-choice captain since the tour of India in March – despite a late bid from Andrew Strauss – when Michael Vaughan was forced home with his knee injury. He says he will try to follow a similar pattern to how Vaughan captained in last summer’s Ashes series, but won’t be afraid to go about leadership in his own style.”The way Michael captained the side and the basic principles that he used, I will be trying to do the same,” he said. “He wanted us to enjoy playing cricket and have no fear of failing and enjoy each other’s company. I will be working down those lines as well, I will probably put my stamp on it as the series goes on.”Flintoff, who is aiming to be the first visiting captain since Richie Richardson in 1992-93 to win a series in Australia, is not daunted by the challenge. Typically, he is motivated by the winter that lies head. “Playing Australia at home, having played against them last year, is tough cricket. We are going to have to play better than we did last time and we realise that. It’s going to be a tough winter. It’s going to be one to be enjoyed, getting the chance to play in the Ashes in Australia and the chance to go to the West Indies, it’s a tough challenge but I think it will be the best winter of our lives.”

Michael Clarke has been named as Australia’s new vice-captain following the retirement of Adam Gilchrist. Clarke, who turns 27 on Wednesday, was handed the role for the upcoming Test and ODI tours of the West Indies and his appointment is a strong indication he will be groomed to eventually take over the top job from Ricky Ponting.Clarke was given captaincy experience in Australia’s two Twenty20 internationals this season, against New Zealand and India, and the team comfortably won both games. The promotion completes an outstanding 18 months for Clarke, who was initially overlooked for the first Ashes Test in 2006-07 until an injury to Shane Watson opened up a middle-order vacancy.It also capped off an exciting few days after Clarke proposed to his model girlfriend Lara Bingle in the United States. “This will be a week I remember for the rest of my life,” Clarke told the . “I only arrived home on Monday and had a fantastic holiday where I had some special times in New York, where we were engaged.”And now I’ve had this news – I’ve been given the chance to become vice-captain of Australia, which is fantastic and something I’m really looking forward to. I think all young players dream of playing for Australia and every kid aspires to one day becoming vice-captain or captain – I certainly did.”The chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said it was an easy decision to make Clarke the deputy to Ponting. “With Adam Gilchrist retiring after a stellar Australian career we have identified the need to look towards the future,” Hilditch said.”While we had some very strong candidates within the current team, including those of the calibre of Michael Hussey, we had no hesitation in recommending Michael Clarke for the position. We were thrilled with his performances as captain during the two Twenty20 international games this summer and believe he has outstanding leadership credentials.”In addition to replacing Gilchrist as vice-captain, Clarke is also one of several options who could be considered as Matthew Hayden’s new opening partner in one-day internationals. However, James Hopes was tested in the role during the CB Series and might be the team’s initial preference, while the Western Australia top-order batsman Shaun Marsh could also be considered having been named for his first ODI tour.

Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, has refused to comment on whether he will play in the Challenger Series which begins on October 10 at Mohali.There have been reports of uncertainty over Ganguly’s participation after he met Dr. Kalyan Mukherjee, an orthopedic surgeon, and got an MRI scan done on his injured right elbow. “I am not going to say anything on the Challenger now,” Ganguly was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.Gautam Dasgupta, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) joint secretary, said that he had not received any information on Ganguly’s unavailability for the series. Chandi Ganguly, Ganguly’s father, also refused to comment on the subject.Ganguly sustained the injury during a practice match on India’s recent tour of Zimbabwe.The Challenger series, which involves India Seniors, India A and India B, will serve as a selection trial for the forthcoming one-day series against Sri Lanka.

Twenty20 cricket is set to become an official part of the ICC international calendar from 2007 onwards – and England could be named as hosts of the inaugural world championship in 2009 – after a deal was struck on the second day of the ICC executive board meeting in Dubai.There had been much scope for disagreement before the meeting, with the powerful Indian board especially sceptical about a form of the game that has drawn massive crowds across the globe since its inception in 2003.But with India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh keen to make a belated submission to host the fifty-over World Cup in 2011, the opportunity arose for a compromise to be reached. As a result, the Asian bloc have been given until April 21 to make their hosting submission for 2011, and England in the meantime have set their sights on hosting the first mandatory Twenty20 tournament in 2009.”There was potential for an impasse on these two issues with several of our members holding strong views,” admitted Ehsan Mani, ICC’s president, “but this approach has allowed us to map out a way forward on these important topics to try and reach consensus. The programme of ICC events from 2007 to 2015 will now be considered again in April.”The deals were put forward as the ICC thrashed out its package of events for 2007 to 2015. Under the new arrangement, there will be a major event every year, with a shorter eight-nation Champions Trophy set to take place on a biennial basis from 2008.An invitational twenty-over tournament has been pencilled in for next year but, as a demonstration of their willingness to host the Twenty20 tournament, and to win over the Asian bloc, England have proposed to withdraw their application to stage the 2015 World Cup, and will instead bid for 2019. Australasia and Asia are now the two regions in the reckoning for the forthcoming World Cups in 2011 and 2015.

Scorecard
How they were out

England’s hopes of securing a face-saving draw they scarcely deserve have been boosted after torrential rain washed out the final two sessions on the fourth day at Galle. The players left the field shortly before lunch and, despite occasional brighter spells, monsoonal rains soon enclosed the ground. During the morning England showed more fight after yesterday’s feeble effort as Alastair Cook’s half century guided them to 102 for 1 following an opening stand of 67 with Michael Vaughan.The forecast for the final day is not too encouraging so the series is threatening to fizzle towards a damp end. At least Cook’s unbeaten 53 has begun to restore England’s pride, but if the weather relents and a sustained period of play is possible on Saturday they still face an uphill battle with a mammoth 316 runs between the sides.There was slightly less venom from Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga with the new ball than their destructive burst on Thursday. Cook benefited from a couple of edges that fell short of the slips and his tendency to play away from his body kept the quick bowlers interested. Boundaries flowed as the openers soon managed to perform better than the first six wickets in the first innings.Welegedera has impressed on his debut with a languid action and good control of line. He troubled Vaughan with swing, nearly bringing a repeat of the first-innings dismissal when Vaughan left a ball which bounced over the top of middle stump. While that leave was too close for comfort, the drive which brought his downfall was far too wide to be chasing given England’s dire situation. The edge flew quickly to second slip, but Mahela Jayawardene swallowed it with ease moving to his left.Muttiah Muralitharan was made to wait while Tillakaratne Dilshan was thrown the ball first for a few exploratory of his offspin. One delivery spun square past Cook’s edge to bring startled looks from the batsman and grins from the fielders. Muralitharan eventually settled into his first major spell of the match and was played with relative comfort as Cook and Ian Bell took England past their shameful 81. Cook reached his third half century of the series off 103 balls and Bell eased into his innings with a classy punch off the back foot against Vaas.Dark clouds began to mass behind the pavilion and the two batsmen were clearly keeping an eye on the weather. Sri Lanka were not impressed by their time wasting, but steady drizzle forced the umpires to call for the covers. Briefly it looked as though the rain would pass, but then torrential downpours soaked the ground. Sri Lanka have played so dominantly that they deserve the chance to wrap up the series in style, but even another day of rain won’t kid anyone over who has ruled the roost during the past three weeks.

Rahul DravidOn sealing the series 4-0
I am really happy for the team and the whole squad, the management. We have been a great group over the last ten days, and we are winning a series at home after a long time. It feels real nice to sew up a series with three matches to go. The youngsters showed today what they can do. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina’s was a fantastic partnership, two young boys doing the job in a pressure situation. It showed that our batting future is quite bright. It is great for Indian cricket that we have so many options.On whether he thought the series would have been wrapped up so early
I was confident that if we played good cricket, we could win. I knew we would have to play well and honestly, we have played really well. You can’t take credit away from the Indian team, it isn’t as if the Lankans have played badly.On whether it was a gamble to play Suresh Raina late in the order
We thought since he hadn’t played in a while, since Murali was bowling and since Irfan had played Murali in Nagpur, we would keep Suresh for later. But as he showed, we needn’t have done that at all. He played a superb innings under great pressure, but yes, it was a bit of a gamble. It gives the team great confidence when, two games in a row, you successfullychase 250-plus against the side that is probably the second best team in the world. It also tells us that some of the things which we are doing are working.Ajit AgarkarOn how this five-for compares with his 6 for 42 against Australia
I’d rate this higher than my career-best (6-42) against Australia inMelbourne last year, because this has come in a winning cause. It won usthe match, and we won the series as well today. Nothing can be moresatisfying.On the pitch
It was a good wicket to bowl on in the morning, there was a little moreassistance than you get in Indian tracks for one-day cricket. Even so, youhad to get the ball in the right areas. I got two key wickets first-up,and that definitely helped.On whether he had cemented his place in the one-day side
I would like to hope so. [Laughs] But I honestly don’t look at it thatway at all. The idea is to always give 100% when you areselected to play for the country. Today was my day, everything worked outwell. The bottom line, however, is that we won the series 4-0.Tom MoodyOn the series loss
It is not an ideal situation to be in, but India played very well. We have to accept that, and we will have to continue to make improvements like we have done over the last two games. I thought we were about 15-20 runs light after having recovered so well from being exposed to the conditions in the morning. We should have got 280-290, which would have made the game a lot more interesting. Also, a couple of our bowlers have struggled with the conditions here. India is a very tough country for fast bowlers, it is a graveyard for the quicks, and in a way, it is therefore awonderful opportunity for some of the younger guys to be exposed to bowling in India. They will grow and improve as cricketers in time to come.On dropping catches against batsmen like Virender Sehwag
Against a batsman like Sehwag, against India in India when they are on a run as they are now, you must take every opportunity that comes your way. If we had taken Sehwag the first time, it would have been 50 for three, and a different game altogether. I thought we let ourselves down with our catching.On the mood in the team
We are very disappointed, no team likes to lose a match, let alone a series. We need to focus on the areas where we need to improve. The batting is falling into place, but we have to improve our bowling, and the fielding isn’t sharp enough. Over the next three games, we will be playingnot merely for pride but also to get something out of the experience of playing in India. We have made mistakes in all departments, and India have played exceptionally well. They have come out punching from the first game, and taken us on. They have played their shots, taken their chancesand that has been their downfall at times, like Tendulkar’s off-stump being uprooted today after an uncharacteristic shot. But they have done most things right, many of their gambles have paid off, and we must give them credit for that.

On whether he enjoyed his birthday
Bowling 46 overs? [laughter] It’s been a tough day, [Damien] Martyn and [Jason] Gillespie played well, especially Martyn, and we had to do a lot of work to get them out.On the pitch today, and how it was different from the first day
It was slower, and it did not offer so much bounce. I had to pitch it up more than I did in the first innings.On Martyn’s innings, and how it was different from the first innings
He played mostly on the back foot, waited for the ball to come to him, and punished all the loose balls he got. He showed tremendous patience, and that is what is needed on such a pitch.On India’s chase tomorrow
We need a good start. In this match the first session has been good for batting, and we need to capitalise on that. If we reach lunch in a comfortable position, we’ll be well placed to win the match.On Parthiv Patel’s wicketkeeping
Look, a lot has been said about Parthiv, but it is a tough job that he does, especially on these kinds of wickets, where the pitch has these rough patches. It makes it worse that these decisions are shown on television again and again. He’ll get better as the series gets along.On how the Indian batsmen will fare against Shane Warne on the fifth day
He’s a great bowler, but our batsmen play him well. I think 200 is a gettable score.On how he rates his performance in this Test
Quite high. It came against the No. 1 team in the world. We were one down in the series and we needed to win this desperately. Had you told us before the match started that we would be in this situation, we would have taken it.On the bowling support he got
I bowled the whole day. It’s not easy for two spinners to bowl through the day. Zak [Zaheer Khan] really bowled well, and Irfan [Pathan] didn’t get into his rhythm.On whether Pathan is fit, considering he bowled so little in the day
YesOn whether, regarding Pathan not bowling today and Mohammad Kaif’s injury a day before, they were fasting for Ramadan
No

England 391 for 4 (Strauss 152, Collingwood 112*, Trescothick 85) defeated Bangladesh 223 (Ashraful 94, Collingwood 6-31, Tremlett 4-32) by 166 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Paul Collingwood has been described as many things in his time as an international cricketer – the best drinks waiter in the country, the finest point fielder since Jonty Rhodes, England’s best one-day finisher since Graham Thorpe. But comparisons with the great Viv Richards have been few and far between … until today, that is. Because, by clubbing an unbeaten 112 from 86 balls and following up with 6 for 31 from 10 probing overs, Collingwood became the first one-day cricketer to do the double since Sir Viv himself, at Dunedin in 1986-87.His efforts ensured that Bangladesh were brought back to earth with a mighty thud after their heady triumph against Australia on Saturday, although an extraordinary onslaught from Bangladesh’s pocket battleship, Mohammad Ashraful, ensured that the margin of victory was less emphatic than it perhaps ought to have been.It was Ashraful’s century that sealed that famous victory at Cardiff. Today, however, he survived his first delivery in freakish circumstances, when a hat-trick delivery from England’s debutant, Chris Tremlett, landed on the top of his stumps and bounced away to safety. Understandably convinced that his luck was in, Ashraful proceeded to smear all of England’s seamers, not least a bewildered Steve Harmison, to all parts of the ground in a brilliant cameo of 94 from 52 balls.For a while, Michael Vaughan wore the same furrowed brow that had been Ricky Ponting’s preserve in the latter stages of Ashraful’s last innings. But there was one subtle difference. England, through the efforts of Collingwood, Marcus Trescothick and, especially, Andrew Strauss, had rattled along to a massive total of 391 for 4 – the second-highest score in one-day history. Glorious though Ashraful’s efforts were, they were every bit as futile as his brilliant Test hundreds against Sri Lanka in 2001 and India last winter.It wasn’t until Collingwood and his reduced pace entered the attack that England re-established their stranglehold. He bowled Ashraful with a slower ball in his third over and followed up with the wickets of Habibul Bashar and Aftab Ahmed from consecutive deliveries. Javed Omar chopped onto his stumps for a dogged 59 and Khaled Mashud was well caught down the leg-side by Geraint Jones, before Collingwood capped his day by bowling Mohammad Rafique with the final ball of his spell. That completed the best figures by an England bowler in one-day history, and the best allround performance by anyone, ever. Tremlett, who impressed throughout with his pace, bounce and accuracy, swept up the tail for the fine figures of 4 for 32.Ashraful’s intercession aside, it was another emphatic statement of intent from a ruthlessly focused England side. Vaughan produced his fifth correct call out of six to guard against an awkward run-chase in the twilight, but from the moment Trescothick strode out to resume his love-in with Bangladesh’s seam attack, a second upset in four days was never remotely on the cards.

Trescothick came into this match with the small matter of 445 runs to his name in three innings against Bangladesh; by the time he was dismissed, heaving Nazmul Hossain high into the covers, he had added a further 85 from 65 balls. He treated all bowlers with equal disdain, but it was the hapless Tapash Baisya who came in for the greatest abuse. His seven overs were smeared for a whopping 87 runs – the worst economy-rate for any spell of five or more overs in one-day history.It was something of a surprise when Trescothick failed to reach his fourth hundred in as many innings, but once he fell with the score already on 141, there was no pussyfooting around from England. Vaughan fell for an eighth-ball duck and Andrew Flintoff holed out to long-off for 17, but Collingwood’s arrival ensured that the early momentum was not lost.Collingwood instantly set about reproducing the sort of scampering, chivvying innings that had rescued England in their Twenty20 victory over Australia last week. In all he clobbered five sixes and ten fours from 86 balls, and by the latter stages of the performance, the big question was whether England could become the first side to top 400. In the event they failed by nine runs, but no-one will be counting the small change after entertainment of this quality.The biggest revelation of the innings, however, was Strauss, who raced along to his highest one-day score of 152 from 128 balls. While Trescothick was blazing away, he seemed utterly pedestrian by comparison but towards the end of the innings, he unveiled an audacious improvisatory streak with a series of superb inside-out clips that flew away for four through fine leg. He was eventually trapped lbw with one ball of the innings remaining, but by then England had laid down an emphatic gauntlet, both to Bangladesh, but more pertinently, to the chastened Australians, whom they now face in a tasty encounter at Durham on Thursday.

Following his phenomenal display in the one-day series in South Africa, Kevin Pietersen has been withdrawn from England A’s forthcoming tour of UAE and Sri Lanka. His place has instead gone to the Essex opener and England Under-19 captain, Alistair Cook.Pietersen had not been an original choice for the South Africa one-dayers, but was called into the squad following the withdrawal of Andrew Flintoff, who flew home after the Test series for an operation on his ankle. His response was a haul of three hundreds and a 75 in six innings, for a series total of 454 runs at 151.33.As a consequence, he has shot straight into the reckoning for the Ashes, and with that in mind – plus a slight concern about a hamstring injury that he sustained towards the end of the series – he has been allowed to put his feet up until the beginning of the English season."We believe that this decision is in Kevin’s and England’s best interests," said David Graveney, England’s chairman of selectors. "He will now undertake pre-season training with his new county, Hampshire. This break will also ensure that he is able to fully recover from a minor hamstring strain before playing further competitive cricket."He will be replaced in the tour party by Alistair Cook and this will give Alistair valuable experience against high quality opposition in the sub-continent."