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Subject: Cricket News
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royal28 23.06.10 - 03:14pm
Captain Shahid Afridi blasted 124 off 60 ba11s to lead Pakistan to their highest one-day international score of 385 and a 139-run consolation victory over Bangladesh in the Asia Cup at Dambulla on Monday.
Afridi stole the show, flaying the hapless Bangladesh bowlers all over the park for 17 fours and four sixes.
It was the sixth fastest one-day hundred and the quickest in an Asia Cup match.
Man-of-the-match Afridi also set a record for the highest number of sixes in a career taking his total to 272 to surpass Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya's 270.
An opening stand of 81 off 75 ba11s between Imran Farhat and Shahzaib Hasan set Pakistan on course for their score of 385 for seven wickets, which beat the team's previous best total of 371 for nine set against Sri Lanka in 1996.
Shahzaib scored 50 off 38 ba11s and Farhat 66 off 77. Umar Akmal also joined the run spree with a fifty.
A demoralised Bangladesh made 246 for five in reply with with Imrul Kayes scoring 66 and Junaid Siddique missing out on a century when he was dismissed for 97 by Shoaib Akhtar.
Neither team can reach the final of the tournament which will be contested by Sri Lanka and India on Thursday *
royal28 2.07.10 - 07:19am
Aussies snap hosts winning run
LONDON: Michael Clarkes unbeaten 99 helped Australia win the fourth One-day International by 78 runs at The Oval here on Wednesday and reduce Englands lead to 3-1 in the five-match series.
Vice-captain Clarke and captain Ricky Ponting, 92, shared a third wicket stand of 155 as world champions Australia made 290 for five. England, chasing a ninth straight ODI win, saw swing bowler Ryan Harris take five of their wickets for 32 runs.
The man-of-the-match did the damage in a spell of five for 18 in 23 ba11s as Englands series lead was reduced to 3-1 after they were bowled out for 212 with 44 ba11s to spare.
Mike Yardy made a career-best 57, his first ODI fifty, but it was too late to make a difference.
I have a smile on my face at last, said Ponting. Our batting today was at the level it needed to be.
Meanwhile, England captain Strauss said of his team: The batting reverted back to old habits. We lost too many wickets too early. But we have to put this in the context of the series. Weve had a lot of good days.
England opener Craig Kieswetter was bowled by Harris and Kevin Pietersen, walking well across his stumps, fell lbw to an inswinger for eight the 15th successive ODI innings where hed failed to make fifty.
Strauss, fresh from his 87 in Sundays one-wicket win at Old Trafford, looked in superb touch as he stroked five fours in making 37. But fast bowler Shaun Tait, from around the wicket, got a full length ball to curve away and left-hander Strauss was caught behind to leave England in trouble at 61 for three.
Eoin Morgans first scoring shot was a straight six off James Hopes and he later struck the medium-pacer for two in as many ba11s. But, flashing outside off stump, he was caught behind off Harris for 47.
Come the last 10 overs, England needed 93 to win with four wickets standing. Soon afterwards, though, Tim Bresnan holed out to long-on to give Harris his fourth wicket. Harris ended the match by dismissing Stuart Broad for his third five-wicket ODI haul.
*
royal28 2.07.10 - 07:32am
Cricket
Bollinger says whitewash would be devastating Bollinger says whitewash would be devastating LONDON: During his off-duty hours on England tours, Australia all-rounder Shane Watson explores the London blues clubs and fuels his passion for 1960s British rock.
Informed that John Mayall, the grandfather of British blues, was playing a gig at the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town during Australias brief mid-summer tour this year, Watson was elated.
Then he checked the team schedule.
Were in Southampton, he said, shaking his head. Mate, I really wish you hadnt told me that.
At first glance Watson, a strapping Queenslander with the build and long, blond hair of a dedicated surfer, is an improbable blues aficionado.
First glances deceive. Since his test debut in Sydney five years ago, Watsons outwardly robust physique has proved alarmingly fragile.
Watsons frame was so brittle it threatened to break him. He refused to give up; not through recurrences of back stress fractures, hamstring strains, calf problems, hip complaints, a dislocated shoulder or a suspected heart attack that turned out to be food poisoning, says his profile on the cricinfo.com website.
Watson turned to music, and the blues in particular, during the long, soul-destroying hours spent in recovery and rehabilitation. There were many who doubted he would ever fulfil his abundant potential, others who openly questioned his temperament.
ROLE CHANGE
During some of the crazy things during my cricket career, music has been the thing that has taken me away, Watson explained to reporters at an Australian media day in London.
It was something that really kept me going during the times I had some injuries, and kept getting injuries. My guitar and music was the thing that really kept me going, kept me sane I think as well.
A change of role in the middle of last years unsuccessful Ashes campaign transformed his career.
Until then Watson, who turned 29 this month, had been used as a bowling all-rounder who batted at seven or eight in the order in test and one-day cricket.
Although he was a fine athlete and routinely brilliant in the field, Watsons medium-fast deliveries have always seemed laboured and his action somewhat manufactured. By contrast, he is a naturally clean, exciting striker of the ball but one with apparently little chance of winning promotion in a strong Australian middle order.
After Phillip Hughess technical deficiencies had been exposed by the England pace bowlers in the first two Ashes tests last year, the Australian selectors cast around for a replacement opener. Watson, they decided, despite an average of 4.7 when opening for his state, was their man.
The move was an instant success with Watsons essentially sound technique proving equal to the challenges posed by the new ball. He scored 62 and 53 at Edgbaston, 51 at Old Trafford followed by 34 and 40 when Australia surrendered the Ashes at the Oval. In his first eight tests at the top of the order he tallied seven 50s and a century.
SMART TRAINING
I got the opportunity in the Ashes last year to see how good I could become as a top-order batsman and things have been going really well, said Watson.
So its taken a bit of pressure off my bowling and also my body as well. I dont have to push my body as hard as when I was trying to make it primarily as a bowler.
It has probably reverted to how I have always sort of seen myself to be, as being a batsman who does bowl to give the side balance more than anything. But you do have to take your opportunities and my opportunities as a younger guy were primarily my bowling.
Watson said he had also changed his training routine.
Ive just been very smart about training, I used to over-train a lot, he said. Now I know the most important thing is to be fresh and make sure when you go out to the game youre in a good mental state whereas before I used to be physically tired and drained from the days previously. Im a lot smarter.
At the beginning of the current five-match one-day series against England, Watson had struck 34 sixes in all forms of international cricket this year, more than any other batsman in the world.
This controlled power should serve Australia well when they strive to regain the Ashes at home this year.
One thing I dont like is losing to the Poms, Watson said.
Im always really aggressive, thats the way I play.
*
royal28 3.07.10 - 07:54am
Australia ensured there would be no first one-day whitewash for them with a much improved performance at The Oval as England slipped back into a few bad habits with the series safely in the bag. Both Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower have called for a big effort in the final match to ensure the scoreline finishes in emphatic style: 4-1 looks at lot better than 3-2.
However, the visitors are starting to move through the gears having taken two weeks to shake off the rust from their recent break. With Shaun Tait back in the attack the bowling line-up has a much more threatening look with both Tait and Ryan Harris operating above 90mph, while Doug Bollinger has continued his consistent form. The batting, which let the side down in the first three matches, was anc d by 90s from Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke at The Oval as the two leaders led from the front.
This final outing of the series will be a good test for England to see how deep they can dig now that a whitewash is no longer on the cards. It hasn't often happened that the team has won a series with two games to spare, but they won't want laziness to creep into performances. The batting has been led by Strauss and Eoin Morgan, but it's about time Kevin Pietersen built a substantial innings and Craig Kieswetter needs a score.
And, of course, this is the last meeting between these two sides before a certain encounter in Brisbane on November 25. Both teams will have gained some useful knowledge over the last two weeks, but a lot can change over the next five months. *
royal28 3.07.10 - 07:55am
Pakistan, whose Twenty20 pedigree has rarely been in doubt despite the turbulence in their cricket, continued their successful trip to England as they cruised to a t 66-run win over Ess*x in their Twenty20 tour match at Chelmsford. Such was their dominance, Pakistan did not have to rely on one player to win the game for them as every member contributed, first as the top-order raced to 204 for 4 and then as wickets were shared around by the bowlers as Ess*x's innings finished on 138 for 9.
Shahzaib Hasan launched Pakistan's innings with gusto after Salman b*tt, his opening partner and stand-in captain as Shahid Afridi rests up with a muscle strain, won the toss and decided to have a bat. Chris Wright and Maurice Chambers were taken apart in their opening spells, and though the introduction of spin and medium pace in the form of Tony Palladino and Tim Phillips did stem the flow of runs somewhat, it wasn't until Grant Flower had Shahzaib caught behind for 49, with the score on 84 in the 10th over, that the hosts were given some respite.
Even then, however, the lull was short-lived and after Salman and Kamran Akmal had been dismissed by Danish Kaneria and Phillips, respectively, Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal combined in a 75-run partnership that took up only 31 ba11s and boosted Pakistan's score into the stratosphere.
Kaneria had bowled two good overs against his countrymen before the batsmen went ballistic, launching his third over for 30 as Ess*x resigned themselves to a massive run-chase. Umar took the score to the brink of 200 before he fell to Chambers, but Abdul Razzaq was on hand for a final push as he struck his first ball to the boundary.
Razzaq then knocked the stuffing out of Ess*x's top order to put paid to any hopes of an unlikely run-chase, removing Mark Pettini and Flower in his first over and rattling Matt Walker's stumps in his second as the hosts slipped to 11 for 3. Shoaib Akhtar bowled an economical opening spell from the other end without success, but Wahab Riaz found the edge of John Maunders bat before Malik cut James Fosters' fighting innings short to reduce Ess*x to 40 for 5.
From then on, the match provided little more than bowling practice for the Pakistanis, and as they eased off the pressure a touch Phillips took the opportunity to register his first half-century in Twenty20 cricket. While Pakistan continue to look a confident outfit, his innings was the only bright spot for Ess*x *
royal28 3.07.10 - 07:58am
South Africa have asked the ICC to take disciplinary action against West Indies left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn following his altercation with Dale Steyn during the third Test in Barbados. Steyn was fined his entire match fee for spitting while walking past Benn immediately after his dismissal; this was preceded by an exchange of words between the players in the previous few overs.
Dale Steyn's action was regrettable and he has apologised for it, Mohammad Moosajee, the South African team manager, told reporters upon his team's arrival in Johannesburg from the Caribbean. But it came after lots of provocation and there was also retaliation after the incident.
We have laid a code of conduct charge against Sulieman Benn with the ICC and that must now go through the judicial process.
The fact that Benn, who has been punished for indiscipline before but not penalised this time, had provoked Steyn had also been acknowledged by the match referee Jeff Crowe when he decided to fine the latter. Dale's behaviour was entirely unacceptable and he knows that. The fact that he was provoked by Sulieman during his time at the crease helps to explain his actions but cannot excuse them.
In a separate incident in the same game, fast bowler Kemar Roach was fined 50% of his match fee for an unpleasant altercation with Jacques Kallis. *
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