Cricket World: 2013

Saturday, 29 June 2013

Final England-New Zealand T20 Match Abandoned

Final England-New Zealand T20 Match AbandonedJust two balls were bowled at The Oval

England 2-1 v New Zealand - match abandoned
Second Twenty20 International, The Oval

The second and final Twenty20 International between England and New Zealand at The Oval was abandoned due to rain after just two balls were bowled.

In those two balls before the rain set in, Michael Lumb was brilliantly caught by Brendon McCullum off Mitchell McClenaghan but no further play handed New Zealand a 1-0 series win.

Lumb (2) had flicked the first ball into the leg-side and although the match was due to get underway later on as a six overs affair, the rain played spoilsport.

A broken finger suffered by Eoin Morgan during the Champions Trophy and exacerbated during New Zealand's five-run win two days ago meant James Tredwell led the side for what must be one of the briefest stints as an international skipper in any sport.

His only contribution was to lose the toss and under gloomy skies, McCullum had little hesitation in choosing to bat first.

New Zealand's success in the curtailed series brings to an end a mixed tour of England. They were outplayed for the majority of the Test series, which they lost 2-0, won the ODI series 2-1 and then failed to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, losing to England along the way.

While New Zealand were unchanged, Kevin Pietersen was named in England's side for this game but his big return will have to wait.

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Video - Butt Admits Spot-Fixing, Apologises

Video - Butt Admits Spot-Fixing, ApologisesSalman Butt has admitted his involvement in spot-fixing and apologised in Lahore

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has admitted to spot-fixing and publicly apologised for his involvement in the corruption that has seemingly ended his career.

He was handed a five-year ban from cricket with five years suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and also served a custodial sentence in England following a conviction for his part in a scheme to bowl no balls to order in 2010.

Fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were also detained and banned and while Amir admitted to his part in the plot, Asif and Butt took their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which rejected their claims in April.

"I want to say that I also accept the ban imposed on me by the ICC tribunal," Butt said.

"Secondly, I have also said to the nation and the people and also the cricket lovers in the world, If they felt hurt over what I have done in the past I really apologise to all of them. And if the cricket reputation is damaged by me - then I apologise."

He added that he hoped young cricketers would stay away from corruption and that he maintains the belief that he can one day return to playing cricket.

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West Indies To Play 5 ODIs, 2 T20s Against Pakistan

West Indies To Play 5 ODIs, 2 T20s Against PakistanThe West Indies Cricket Board are hoping that fans will come out in their numbers as international cricket returns to Guyana

West Indies will host Pakistan for a series of five One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 Internationals in Guyana, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent in July.

The series begins with the first of two ODIs in Guyana on 14th July before the two sides move on to Saint Lucia to conclude the ODIs and then Saint Vincent for both Twenty20 Internationals on 27th and 28th July.

The series marks a return to Guyana following an absence from the international calendar of one year.

"The seven-match series involving Pakistan will give fans, especially cricket-starved fans in Guygna, more international cricket action to rally behind the West Indies team," Imran Khan, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Corporate Communications Officer, said.

"We look forward to the fans in Guyana, St. Lucia and St. Vincent turning out in their massive numbers," he added.

West Indies v Pakistan schedule

11th July: Pakistan warm-up 50-over game (opposition to be confirmed)

14th July: 1st ODI, Guyana
16th July: 2nd ODI, Guyana
19th July: 3rd ODI, Saint Lucia
21st July: 4th ODI, Saint Lucia
24th July: 5th ODI, Saint Lucia

27th July: 1st T20I, Saint Vincent
28th July: 2nd T20I, Saint Vincent

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County Cricket Round-Up - 28th June 2013

County Cricket Round-Up - 28th June 2013Twenty20 specialist Chris Liddle's two wickets weren't enough to help Sussex beat Surrey at Hove.

There were wins for Derbyshire, Surrey, Lancashire, Glamorgan, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire as the Friends Life t20 spluttered into life around the country amid the showers. The pick of the day’s matches was arguably Derbyshire’s tense two-wicket win at Headingley, with Jonathan Clare their batting star.

Lancashire got their Friends Life t20 campaign off to a winning start by beating a Durham side fielding three debutants by nine runs at Chester-le-Street. Stephen Moore was the linchpin in their total of 165 for three and hit 75 off 58 balls. His opening partnership with Ashwell Prince (32 off 29 balls) was worth 77, while his stand with Simon Katich (43 not out off 25) yielded 68 off 43 balls. Durham then got off to a good start in their run chase courtesy of a 17-ball 33 from Yorkshire Bank 40 captain Mark Stoneman. However, only one other man passed 30 as Mitchell McClenaghan took three for 35 and there were a brace of wickets for Glen Chapple.

Derbyshire won a low-scoring game over Yorkshire at Headingley. It was Jonathan Clare’s unbeaten 29-ball 35 that proved the difference between the sides as he helped the Falcons chase down their target of 120 with three balls to spare. Chesney Hughes had begun the run chase with 36, but Jack Brooks took four wickets to decimate the middle-order. Mark Footitt (three for 22) and Albie Morkel (two for nine) had earlier shared five wickets as Yorkshire had been held to 119 for eight in spite of a valiant 44 from Gary Ballance.

Leicestershire’s bowlers were put to the sword by Michael Lumb and the rest of the Nottinghamshire batting line-up as they lost by seven wickets at Trent Bridge. The Foxes posted a strong total of 183 for eight themselves thanks to contributions from Niall O’Brien (47 off 45 balls), Shakib Al Hasan (31 off 14) and Robert Taylor (28 off 14). However, Lumb hit 50 off only 29 balls and added 37 in little more than three overs with opening partner Alex Hales (24 off 13). James Taylor and David Hussey then added an unbroken 84 in 49 balls to see the Outlaws home with 14 balls to spare.

Glamorgan powered to 159 for four in a Midlands/West/Wales group match that was reduced to 14 overs aside at New Road. Chris Cooke dazzled with 57 off 27 balls and built on an opening stand of 42 in four overs between Jim Allenby (37 off 24 balls) and Mark Wallace (33 off 15). That total proved more than enough for Worcestershire as they ended well short on 102 for nine as Graham Wagg took five for 14 from just three overs and spinners Nathan McCullum and Dean Cosker helped themselves to a brace of wickets each.

Northamptonshire comfortably beat Gloucestershire by 41 runs in a 12-over game at Wantage Road. Kyle Coetzer hit a crisp 39 off 25 balls, while Alex Wakely added some late momentum with 36 off 19 as the Steelbacks posted an imposing 124 for four. Graeme White then derailed the Gloucestershire run chase with his left-arm spin. He removed set batsmen Dan Christian (13 off 10 balls) and Michael Klinger (27 off 25) with successive deliveries on his way to figures of four for 14. Mohammad Azharullah was also impressive and ended with three for 23 as the visitors finished on 83 for nine.

Surrey bounced back from defeat two nights ago to Hampshire to beat Sussex in the South group. Jade Dernbach was their star with the ball, taking three for 15 from his four overs, as Sussex could manage only 147 for seven in reply to Surrey’s 157 for six. Jason Roy got their innings off to a good start with a 33-ball 42, with Gary Wilson (31 off 20 balls) and Azhar Mahmood (23 not out off 13) contributing useful cameos. Chris Liddle, Dwayne Smith and Chris Jordan each took a brace of wickets.

Only 13 balls were bowled at Chelmsford as the rain finally won out. The match was originally reduced to 11 overs aside and then 10 but only 2.1 overs were possible, with Essex reaching 18 for one against Hampshire.

Adam Rossington hit a six in the final over to help Middlesex win a stop-start affair over Kent at Canterbury. The visitors found themselves 27 for four in reply to Kent's 129 for five at one point in their run chase as Vernon Philander returned remarkable figures of four for eight from three overs. However, young gloveman Rossington hit 41 not out off only 20 balls and added 37 in 17 balls with Josh Davey (13 off eight balls) to see his side home in their slightly reduced run chase of 111 in 12 overs.

Tomorrow’s Fixtures:
North Group, FLt20, Leicestershire v Derbyshire at Grace Road (1440 BST start)
The Foxes have named the same 14 that were on duty tonight against Nottinghamshire.

Leicestershire squad: Josh Cobb (captain), Niall O’Brien, Greg Smith, Joe Burns, Shakib Al Hasan, Matthew Boyce, Shiv Thakor, Rob Taylor, Jigar Naik, Nathan Buck, Anthony Ireland, Robbie Williams, Ned Eckersley, Michael Thornely.

day four, Tour Match, Somerset v Australians at Taunton

Weather Forecast: Tomorrow will be mostly dry although mostly cloudy with only occasional sunny spells. Temperatures should peak at between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius.

County Cricket News In Brief:
Left-arm spinner Chris Metters is set to play the Friends Life t20 for Warwickshire this season after making a quicker than expected recovery from his shoulder injury.

Graeme White has had his loan-deal at Northamptonshire extended by his parent club Nottinghamshire to include the Steelbacks’ first three Friends Life t20 group matches.

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Final England-New Zealand T20 Match Abandoned

Final England-New Zealand T20 Match AbandonedJust two balls were bowled at The Oval

England 2-1 v New Zealand - match abandoned
Second Twenty20 International, The Oval

The second and final Twenty20 International between England and New Zealand at The Oval was abandoned due to rain after just two balls were bowled.

In those two balls before the rain set in, Michael Lumb was brilliantly caught by Brendon McCullum off Mitchell McClenaghan but no further play handed New Zealand a 1-0 series win.

Lumb (2) had flicked the first ball into the leg-side and although the match was due to get underway later on as a six overs affair, the rain played spoilsport.

His only contribution was to lose the toss and under gloomy skies, McCullum had little hesitation in choosing to bat first.

While New Zealand were unchanged, Kevin Pietersen was named in England's side for this game but his big return will have to wait.

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Gayle Century Hammers Sri Lanka In Opener

Gayle Century Hammers Sri Lanka In OpenerChris Gayle was in blistering form as he struck an 89-ball century against Sri Lanka in Jamaica

West Indies 209-4 (Gayle 109) beat
Sri Lanka 208 by six wickets
ODI tri-series, Jamaica
Scorecard

Chris Gayle hammered an 89-ball century to set West Indies on course for a comfortable six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the opening game of the One-Day International tri-series in Jamaica.

Gayle's 109 in 100 balls set the home side on their way to 209 for four in just 37.5 overs after Sri Lanka had been bowled out for 208.

The left-hander hit nine fours and seven sixes, delighting his home crowd in making his 21st ODI century, and more than making up for dropping Angelo Mathews earlier in the day.

The Sri Lankan captain had made just seven when he edged Kemar Roach and he would go on to make 55 not out in 77 balls to underpin Sri Lanka's meagre effort.

Mahela Jayawardene (52) also posted a half-century but the tourists struggled to come to terms with the West Indies bowling attack, for whom Sunil Narine took four for 40 including the key wickets of both Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara (17).

Upul Tharanga marked his latest return to the top of the order with 25 and Dinesh Chandimal made 21 but otherwise there was little to cheer as Sri Lanka's final six batsmen failed to reach double figures, cleaned up by Ravi Rampaul (3-38), the accurate and probing Narine, and Dwayne Bravo (2-37).

Gayle then launched into Sri Lanka's attack, outscoring Johnson Charles to the extent that the latter's share in an opening stand of 115 was 29 in 58 balls, at times the pace of his innings more in tune with Test cricket although he did launch two sixes of his own.

Darren Bravo made a more aggressive 27 in 30 balls before Gayle fell to Ajantha Mendis and although Bravo was run out nine runs later and Kieron Pollard (0) was trapped in front by Nuwan Kulasekara to leave the score 191 for four, there were to be no further slip ups as Marlon Samuels (15 not out) and Dwayne Bravo (8 not out) led their side home with plenty in reserve.

West Indies take on India, fresh from their ICC Champions Trophy 2013 victory over England in the second match of the tournament on Sunday (30th June).

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Khawaja, Hughes, Haddin Hit Fifties As Australia Win At Taunton

Khawaja, Hughes, Haddin Hit Fifties As Australia Win At TauntonUsman Khawaja hit a fluent half-century and will be hoping to add to it at Worcester next week.©REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte. Picture Supplied by Action Images

Australians 321-5d & 263-4 (Khawaja 73) beat
Somerset 320 & 260 by 6 wickets
Tour Match, Taunton
Reports: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

The various pieces of the tourists’ jigsaw continued to slot into place as they comfortably wrapped up victory over Somerset on the final day at Taunton.

With Shane Watson having already secured the opening berth with his first innings 90, Nathan Lyon having seen off the threat from Fawad Ahmed and Ashton Agar, and Michael Clarke making a successful return from injury, it just remains to be seen who will form the identity of Australia’s middle-order at Trent Bridge.

Usman Khawaja and Phil Hughes now both look strong contenders after hitting fluent half-centuries in their side’s run chase of 260 today. Khawaja, along with Ed Cowan, were Australia’s unbeaten batsmen at the start of play and the pair were largely untroubled in compiling an opening stand of 86.

Cowan’s dismissal to Gemaal Hussain was the sole low point in the day for the tourists and he will be hoping that his knock was enough to earn him another chance to impress against Worcestershire. Khawaja, meanwhile, looked much-improved from his first innings struggles and hit 10 boundaries on his way to 73 off 116 balls.

Khawaja was caught off left-arm spinner George Dockrell, with the Irishman then giving Somerset a glimmer of hope by removing Hughes (50) and Clarke (26) in successive overs with 56 still needed. However, Brad Haddin dominated an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership with James Faulkner, belting 52 off only 40 deliveries to continue his good form on the tour, which began with a century whilst leading the ‘A’ side against Scotland.

The Australians’ final tour game is at New Road, Worcester and begins on Tuesday ahead of the first Test which commences eight days later. Worcestershire, of course, will have Nick Compton playing for them after an arrangement was reached between them, his parent club Somerset and the ECB to allow him more first-class cricket before the Ashes in case he is needed following an injury to one of England’s first choice line-up.

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County Cricket Round-Up - 29th June 2013

County Cricket Round-Up - 29th June 2013Leicestershire skipper Josh Cobb put in a good all-round display for his side but they still couldn't beat Derbyshire at Grace Road.

Derbyshire made it two wins out of two to move to the top of the North Group in the Friends Life t20. They benefited from a Leicestershire batting collapse of seven for 30 to win by 24 runs at Grace Road and condemn the home side to a second defeat.

Josh Cobb got the Foxes’ pursuit of Derbyshire’s 173 for three off to a brisk start with a rapid 47 off 26 balls, while overseas player Joe Burns made 36 off 25 balls. However, there was little else of note as the Derbyshire spinners strangled the scoring rate and blew away the middle-order. David Wainwright began the stream of wickets by catching Shakib Al Hasan spectacularly at mid-off and then picked up three for 24 with his flighted left-arm spin. Off-spinners Wes Durston and Dan Redfern returned combined figures of 6-0-41-3 to keep up the pressure, with the match ended by a comical run-out of number 11 Robbie Williams.

Durston had earlier hit 83 off only 62 balls at the top of the order for the Falcons to lead them to a strong total after they had been invited to bat. He and Chesney Hughes (34 off 20 balls) added 48 in little more than five overs for the first-wicket, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul supported Durston well in making 38 off 29 balls.

Tomorrow’s Fixtures: (start times in brackets, BST)
North Group, Yorkshire v Durham at Scarborough (1440)
The Vikings have two absentees from the squad that took on Derbyshire last night. Jonny Bairstow has joined up with his England team-mates, while Iain Wardlaw will play for Scotland tomorrow against Kenya.

Yorkshire squad: Andrew Gale (captain), Adam Lyth, Dan Hodgson, Gary Ballance, Alex Lees, Adil Rashid, Richard Pyrah, Azeem Rafiq, Liam Plunkett, Ryan Sidebottom, Jack Brooks, Andrew Hodd, Joe Sayers.

Durham have Michael Richardson and Gareth Breese included, with Calum Thorp and Jamie Harrison sitting out from the 13 that lost to Lancashire.

Durham squad: Mark Stoneman, Phil Mustard, Scott Borthwick, Paul Collingwood (captain), Ben Stokes, Gordon Muchall, Michael Richardson, Gareth Breese, Mark Wood, Chris Rushworth, Max Morley, Ryan Pringle, Will Smith.

Mid/Wales/West, Gloucestershire v Worcestershire at Bristol (1430)
South, Kent v Surrey at Canterbury (1500)
South, Middlesex v Sussex at Lord’s (1430)
The home side are unchanged following their thrilling Adam Rossington-inspired win over Kent yesterday evening, with Ravi Patel and Toby Roland-Jones hoping to break into the eleven on this occasion.

Middlesex squad: Paul Stirling, Dawid Malan, Joe Denly, Adam Voges, Adam Rossington, Neil Dexter (captain), Gareth Berg, Josh Davey, Ollie Rayner, Kyle Mills, Tim Murtagh, Toby Roland-Jones, Ravi Patel.

day one, LV=CC, Essex v England at Chelmsford (1100)
Kevin Pietersen will make his return to England’s Test line-up for the four-day LV= County Challenge match against Essex. England’s management may decide to rest a couple of their seam-bowlers and have included Boyd Rankin and Graham Onions in a 14-man squad.

England squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Graham Onions, Boyd Rankin.

Weather Forecast: Tomorrow should be mostly dry with plenty of sunshine in the south and east. The west may see a few showers in the afternoon. Temperatures will peak at between 16 and 24 degrees Celsius.

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