The world of cricket

It has emerged that Zimbabwe’s cricket players have signed new contracts, ending speculation over their feud with the government-appointed Zimbabwe Cricket interim board.

Media reports had said that the players had gone back on strike again, but Cricinfo has been told that about 16 players sealed the deals after a meeting with representatives of the interim committee, adding to the six who had already signed late last year.

It had become clear that the players would be compelled to sign after most of them were said to be broke and were too weary of the row to have the energy to go into a prolonged legal battle with the interim board.

The decision to end the strike now leaves the remaining cricketers in a tricky situation. Either they have to comply with the board or they walk away in an event of another dispute. ZC’s decision to refuse to recognise Clive Field, their representative, means they have no-one to fight their collective corner in the instance of another conflict.

It is not clear what was proposed with regards to the outstanding sums totalling over $200,000 owed to players

© Cricinfo

Ricky Ponting is determined not to be remembered as the Australian captain who lost the Ashes, and is fully confident the urn will be heading back Down Under when the 2006-07 contest begins in ten months’ time.

Speaking to Cricinfo after a day spent on board the ABN AMRO ONE yacht in Port Phillip Harbour, Melbourne, Ponting warned that Australia were fit and hungry for further success, as they draw to the end of a home summer that has been adorned with victories over the World XI, West Indies and South Africa. (more…)

Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s captain, who missed the series-clinching win at Karachi, has said that he will pick and choose his matches from now on to protect his back.

Inzamam, 35, stood down from the Test and also missed much of the previous match at Faisalabad with back trouble.

“It is not a career threatening problem but it does become a nuisance if not taken proper care of,” Inzamam said. “In future, I will try to sit out on matches where possible.

“I plan to sit out Test and one-day matches where nothing much is at stake. Then I can take a rest in order to preserve myself for the more important games. If we have won a series, I can rest in the final games and it gives us a chance to blood young players.”

Doctors have already advised him not to take long flights.

India’s Test series defeat at the hands of neighbours Pakistan has cost them more than just local bragging rights; it has also dropped them down one place in the latest LG ICC Test Championship table.

The 1-0 loss, confirmed by the side’s defeat in Karachi on Wednesday, has cut India’s rating from 115 points to 111 and so dropped them into third place below England, who have 113 points.

It means Michael Vaughan’s side are once again the closest rivals to table-topping Australia who are way ahead of the field with 129 rating points.

India had held second spot in the LG ICC Test Championship table for just over a month, having assumed that position in late December thanks to a 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka, coupled with England’s 2-0 loss in Pakistan.

India’s only consolation is that they will not have long to wait for their opportunity to regain second place. They will go head-to-head with England in March and that spot will be up for grabs to add spice to what is already a much-anticipated series. (more…)

A fired up Brett Lee claimed 4-27 as Australia thrashed South Africa by 80 runs in their VB Series clash at Melbourne, leaving the door ajar for Sri Lanka to sneak into the finals. (more…)

Four Test players made their way for the one-day specialists even as the Indian team tried to come to terms with the shocking defeat in the series-deciding third Test against Pakistan on Wednesday.

Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Parthiv Patel and Wasim Jaffer had already left for Mumbai while Sourav Ganguly would depart on Friday for Delhi on his way to Kolkata, assistant team manager K Baladitya said yesterday.

Those joining the team in Peshawar today for the five-match one-day series would be Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Murali Kartik and S Sreesanth, Baladitya said.

The rest of the squad would leave for Peshawar, venue of the firs one-dayer on February 6, at 2.30pm (3.00pm IST) today by air.

Team manager Raj Singh Dungarpur said the team has taken the 341-run loss in the third and final Test “in their stride”.

The players had not sat together for the post-mortem so far, that would be probably done in Peshawar soon after landing, Baladitya said.

See also India vs Pakistan, 2006.

MOHD KAIF’S message –The Ranji Trophy win will boost youngsters’ confidence—seems to have generated quite a response.

“It was really a hurricane task for UP to get Bengal out. But, Kaif bhai made it possible,” says young cricketer Abid, who compares him with Jhonty.”

Sujal Tripathi, Tariq, Abhishek Segla, Puneet Singh and many more young trainees have taken Kaif’s words so seriously. “It’s a golden period of UP cricket as five State players i.e. Kaif, Suresh Raina, Rudra Pratap Singh, Ravikant Shukla and Piyush Chawla already donning the India colours at the senior and junior levels,” says Abhishek.

The presence of young cricketers inside the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium during the finals already speaks the volumes. (more…)

The last six months have been particularly demanding on the left-handed Kolkatan, who lost his captaincy to Rahul Dravid, was engaged in a very public spat with coach Greg Chappell, lost and then reclaimed his Test place, and is no longer a prominent force in the one-day scheme of things.

Two years back, Sourav Ganguly returned from Pakistan a triumphant captain, having played his part in India’s 3-2 victory in the one-day series and their 2-1 victory in the Test series. This time, the 33-year-old has made an early departure from this country, not considered for selection to the limited-overs side for a third series in a row.

The last six months have been particularly demanding on the left-handed Kolkatan, who lost his captaincy to Rahul Dravid, was engaged in a very public spat with coach Greg Chappell, lost and then reclaimed his Test place, and is no longer a prominent force in the one-day scheme of things. Despite the vagaries of selection, Ganguly maintains a positive outlook. His remodelled approach to batting has seen him bat with assurance and composure, though as he told Deccan Herald, he would have been happiest building on his 34 and 37 in the final Test against Pakistan.

“I think I am playing well,” Ganguly said, shortly before leaving for India on Friday. “The last three-four months, I have been batting well. I had a couple of good innings here but obviously, if I could have converted them into big knocks, it would have been good.” (more…)

Graeme Smith is a strike bowler in exactly the same way that Glenn McGrath is a half-century maker. Discuss.

It may not have been quite as unlikely a sight as McGrath’s maiden Test 50 against New Zealand in 2004, but there have been few more curious cricket phenomena in recent years than yesterday’s bowling performance by the South African captain at the WACA.

Smith, who had never bowled ten overs in a one day international before yesterday, picked up three key wickets – including the seemingly unstoppable Sanath Jayasuriya – and somehow crashed the Sri Lankan juggernaut by bowling slow spinners which have been charitably described in the cricket press as “gentle.”

That he did this on a Perth wicket which was playing like the centre court at Rod Laver Arena only deepens the mystery.

Before arriving in Australia for the VB Series, Graeme Smith had bowled only 55 overs in his 78-match ODI career, for a grand total of four wickets. That’s one every nineteen games. (more…)

Despite witnessing what he described as the worst batting collapse he had ever seen, Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody still believes his mix of youth and experience can challenge for next year’s World Cup.

Fighting for a place in the VB Series finals, Sri Lanka went from brilliant to blundering in the blink of an eye against South Africa in Perth yesterday, capitulating from 1-137 to 221 all out and handing finals favouritism to the Proteas.

Moody minced few words in lambasting the performance, which leaves Sri Lanka hoping host Australia can register back-to-back victories against South Africa before attempting to beat it in Hobart next week.

“That was a diabolical collapse - probably the worst collapse I have ever experienced and it was unacceptable,” Moody said. (more…)

In one humiliating afternoon, India has returned to the bad old days. The defeat yesterday in Karachi was not so much about Indian batsmen not being good enough. We all know they are.

The very same batsmen gave us Headingley on a greentop, and Brisbane, and Rawalpindi, and Port of Spain, and several others. Even in Melbourne, though it was an Indian loss, the fight was not missing.

So it was not that the Indian batsmen can’t handle conditions helpful to bowlers of swing and seam that led to the debacle. And lasting less than 60 overs when facing the challenge of batting out nearly two days and losing by a monstrous 341 runs is indeed a debacle of the highest order.

So then it must have been the bowling, right? Wrong again. 0-3, a hat trick in the first over, then having the opposition 39-6 on the opening morning of a Test match after winning the toss and inserting them in is a start that captains fantasize about. While it may be true that India gave up a 100 runs too many, by getting over confident after that blistering start, the final score of just less than 250 was one that any captain would have been more than happy to settle for at the start of play. (more…)

If there are two things that can be said to mark an Australian summer, they are the beach and cricket.

But this year, both Aussie iconic pastimes have been marred by a series of racist incidents that have shocked most people and threatened the future of international cricket tours down under.

By far the most serious was also the first. More than 30 people were hurt in early December’s race-related riots and reprisal attacks in and around Cronulla beach in Sydney.

Politicians, including cricket-loving Prime Minister John Howard, were quick to reject accusations the riots showed racism is on the rise in Australia.

Instead, the unrest has essentially been blamed on simmering local tensions. (more…)

After leading Pakistan to a sensational 341-run series-clinching win in the final Test against India, stand-in skipper Younis Khan attributed the victory to his side’s ‘superior’ bowling attack and coach Bob Woolmer’s tips.

Heaping praise on his bowlers, Man of the Series Younis said, “We bowled really well, especially Mohammad Asif. The wicket was pretty good on the first day, which is also why we could bounce back.”

He also revealed the pacers had benefited from coach Woolmer’s advice before going out to bowl to the formidable team India batting line-up.

“Woolmer’s advice also came handy for the bowlers. He told them to hit the deck and bowl wicket to wicket. And it helped them get wickets.”

“In fact, because we bowled stump-to-stump, we got the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar because that ball kept low,” explained Younis. He also opined that his team had a slight advantage over India in the bowling department. (more…)

In a unique gesture aimed at recognising their efforts in fighting bushfires, Cricket Australia (CA) today invited the volunteers of Country Fire Authority (CFA), Victoria, to attend Friday’s VB Series match between the hosts and the South Africans at Telstra Dome free of charge.

‘’Bushfires are one of the biggest threats to lives and properties in this country, and the outstanding efforts of the CFA deserve recognition,'’ CA Chief Executive James Sutherland said in a release.

‘’Cricket is our national summer sport and bushfires are unfortunately one of our summer threats, so this gesture is just a small way in which we can say ‘thank you’ to those who give so much to this cause.'’ An allocation of seating at Telstra Dome will be set aside for CFA members at Friday’s match and it is expected that around 2,000 CFA members will attend the day-night fixture.

See also VB Series, 2006.

Pakistan batted themselves to an invincible position and left India with an uphill task of saving the series-deciding third Test today.

After two days of see-saw battle, the hosts relied on young Faisal Iqbal’s maiden Test ton and a solid display from other top order batsmen to not only take the game away from India but open up a mammoth overall lead of 518 by the end of the third day.

Iqbal was unbeaten on 103 as Pakistan reached 511 for five at stumps on a day which saw runs coming more easily with the track at the National Stadium having eased out considerably.

With two full days of play left, the Indians will have to bat out of their skins in the second innings to prevent the home team from clinching the three-match series 1-0.

The pressure will be on the visitors as no team in the history of the game has ever successfully chased a target of over 425 runs so far. India’s most successful chase has been 403 against West Indies in Port of Spain during the 1971 series when they replied with 406 for four. (more…)