Somerset will be heartened by the news that they will have the services of their two England contract players Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick for the championship match against Surrey that starts at The Oval on Friday.Earlier today chief executive Peter Anderson told me: "We have received confirmation from Duncan Fletcher that both of our England players are available for the Surrey match."The chief continued: "Clearly with the injury to Richard Johnson this will come as a boost to us, especially as Steffan Jones will also be making his comeback in the same match."He went on: "From an England perspective this makes sense because this is a top fixture with class players in it played on a test match ground."Regarding the teams performances so far this season he told me: "One of the joys of cricket is that nothing is ever certain, and whereas Somerset are playing well in county championship, our one day form has been very very poor."He continued: "The amazing thing about this is that the coach and the players have really analysed what made us such a success last year and knowing that we haven’t been able to put it into practice on the field this year. This is as much of a mystery to the players as it is to the coach."The chief concluded: "My own guess would be that it is all to do with confidence. Cricket more than any other is game of confidence, and you can’t coach confidence."
Leicestershire captain Vince Wells is 50-50 for the Frizzell County Championship match against Warwickshire starting at Edgbaston on Wednesday.Wells did not play in Sunday’s abandoned Norwich Union League game at Oakham School when only three overs were possible because of rain.He was left out because of a sore shoulder, but said that it was a “precautionary measure” ahead of the game against Warwickshire.Leicestershire are top of the Championship First Division table and Wells said: “It is a very important match and I want to play in it if I possibly can. There was no point in risking aggravating the shoulder and I’m hopeful that I will be fine by Wednesday. At the moment I would rate my chances at 50-50.”Rob Cunliffe and Charles Dagnall will both be seeing specialits this week in a bid to sort out their respective injury concerns.Cunliffe is still having problems with a finger he fractured a few weeks ago, and Dagnall’s troublesome hip has flared up again following a club match at the weekend.
A battered and bruised Pakistan side, still nursing the wounds of the disastrous second Test defeat, face the prospect of another mauling from Australia when the two teams clash here Saturday in the third and final Test at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.With the series already clinched the cock-a-hoop Australians, who prefer to do the talking on the field rather than off it, are determined to complete the second successive clean sweep against a demoralised squad further weakened by the latest withdrawal of their ‘cry baby’ Shoaib Akhtar, declared unfit after complaining of a minor back niggle.It is now a common ploy by self acclaimed world’s best bowler to get himself ruled out by unseen injuries when things do not go his way. As usual Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to dance to his tune deciding not to risk him but declaring he would be fit to undertake next month’s tour of Zimbabwe and followed by visit to South Africa.Shoaib and the already sidelined Abdul Razzaq, if one believes in the working of the PCB are scheduled to leave for Pakistan early Saturday.Another Australian victory here which cannot be ruled out considering the form and fortune of the two sides will make it sixth successive Test triumph and further plunge Pakistan cricket into crisis, self inflicted by the antics of Pakistan cricket management for whom everything is satisfactory.As for the match itself the current form of Pakistan team carrying players whose fitness are in doubt, including skipper Waqar Younis and wicket-keeper Rashid Latif, makes it easy to predict anything but another facile victory for the Aussies who have no injury problems and are expected to field the same eleven that was brutally cruel in the second Test.Pakistan, on the other hand, are likely to throw in the den possibly middle-order batsman Hasan Raza and rookie all-rounder Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan besides Shahid Afridi, who was flown in as replacement for the out-of-action Razzaq.The men likely to get the axe are Imran Nazir and Misbah-ul-Haq, both on present form are not Test material. One other change could be return of either of the two fast bowlers Mohammad Sami or Mohammad Zahid in place of leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, a poor man’s Shane Warne.Unlike the second Test when the temperature soared to 51 Celsius the weather is expected to be more amiable and offer comfort to the players.Reuters adds: The form of the Waugh brothers is not a concern as long as Australia keep winning, captain Steve Waugh said Friday.Pakistan coach Richard Pybus provoked a row by suggesting that Waugh and his 37-year-old twin Mark might be reaching the end of their Test careers after failing to notch a century between them in 11 Tests since last year’s tour of England.”I want to score runs and we want to win every Test we play and that’s the goal,” said Waugh.”I think when you see Australia play, you see a result and that’s not happened everywhere. It’s a very successful side and time will be the judge. We guys can still raise our side.”Steve has scored 31, 0 and 0 in this series while Mark has made 55, 0 and two but, more importantly to the Australia skipper, Australia have won seven, drawn three and lost just one of the tests since a Waugh last hit a hundred.”Both of us got runs in the first innings for first Test in Colombo and then Shoaib turned the match for a while. We won the match in the end and that’s what counts,” he added. “We want to win every match we play. That’s our thinking.”We want to win the series 3-0. But the job will be a lot harder this time as I am sure Pakistan must have worked out some game plan of staging a comeback.”Pakistan would surely welcome two such experienced Test batsmen as the Waughs into their side after collapsing to their lowest scores of 59 and 53 in losing the second Test by an innings and 198 runs.To add to his problems, Waqar will take to the field with a weakened bowling attack. “What has happened in the past can’t be reversed, but we are looking for a much improved performance in this Test,” said Waqar.”The wicket is slow and we have an extra option with the inclusion of Shahid Afridi in the team. The loss of Shoaib Akhtar is a big blow, but then there is nothing we could do about it.” “We are not concerned about the bowling department, but our batting has been pretty vulnerable.”Waugh said the one-sided nature of the second Test was not just caused by Pakistan’s weakness, which augured well for the Ashes series against England starting next month.”We played outstanding cricket (in the series) so you got to give credit the way we played and not concentrate on how badly Pakistan played,” Waugh said. “We played excellent cricket and pressurised Pakistan batsmen into making mistakes and took our opportunities. We are ready for this Test and ready for the England contest.”Teams:Pakistan (from): Taufiq Umar, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Rashid Latif, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis (captain), Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Zahid, Misbah-ul-Haq, Imran Nazir, Danish Kaneira, Imran Farhat.Australia (probable): Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh (captain), Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Glenn McGrath.Umpires: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India).TV umpire: Asad Rauf (Pakistan).Match referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies).
The Western Australian cricket selectors have named a 13-man squad for the Pura Cup match against Victoria starting at the WACA Ground on Thursday.Australian Test stars Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer and Damien Martyn have all been named in the provisional squad.Gilchrist will captain the Warriors for the first time this season. Langer is vice-captain, after the Test opener led the team in last month’s RE/MAX Cup game against England.World renowned leg-spinner Shane Warne will lead the Bushrangers.Fast bowler Paul Wilson has been chosen to make his first-class debut for the Warriors. Wilson joined the Warriors in July after a distinguished career with South Australia.Wilson, 30 next month, earned his call-up following outstanding form with club side Melville. He has taken 16 wickets at an average of only 8.44, in three matches, including two five wicket hauls of 5-29.The Warriors squad is:Adam Gilchrist (captain), Justin Langer (vice-captain), Jo Angel, Ryan Campbell, Michael Clark, Murray Goodwin, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Shaun Marsh, Damien Martyn, Matthew Nicholson, Chris Rogers and Paul Wilson.
In the midst of one of the worst-ever periods in their crickethistory, India toured England in 1959 only to end up with thekind of record team members see in their nightmares. Out of 33first-class matches, the Indians won only six and lost 11 whilenot all of the remaining 16 were honourably drawn.
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A generally young team was again sent on the tour.But unlike in 1952 when the wicket and weather conditions wereagainst them, this time the sun, out in all its glory, seemed tobe in their favour. However, the batsmen again found the pace ofFreddie Trueman and Brian Statham too hot to handle. |
All five Tests were lost, this being the first time that Indiasuffered such a whitewash. Incidentally, it was only the thirdtime in Test history that a team had lost all five matches. Therecord was even more unpalatable considering the fact that it wasone of the best English summers for years and that the home teamthemselves were not very confident having just been thrashed inAustralia during the winter.In fact, they commenced their rebuilding process by trying outmany new players and even then they were good enough to swampIndia. Three of the matches were lost by an innings, two defeatswere sustained inside three days and two more matches must surelyhave been concluded with two days to spare but for interferencefrom the weather.A generally young team was again sent on the tour. But unlike in1952 when the wicket and weather conditions were against them,this time the sun, out in all its glory, seemed to be in theirfavour. However, the batsmen again found the pace of FreddieTrueman and Brian Statham too hot to handle. What was even moredisconcerting was the fact that the batsmen surrendered theirwickets tamely even to lesser-known new ball bowlers like AlanMoss and rookie Harold Rhodes and also to spin bowlers like BrianClose, Tom Greenhough and Ray Illingworth.The selection of the team was made in the wake of thedisappointing five-match home series against the West Indies thatwas lost badly. For various reasons, Ghulam Ahmed, Vinoo Mankad,Gulabrai Ramchand and Dattu Phadkar were not selected and therewas a new captain in Dattajirao Gaekwad. Pankaj Roy was hisdeputy and it was obvious that the batting would revolve aroundthese two, Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, Chandu Borde, NariContractor and Bapu Nadkarni. The bowling, meanwhile, was tohinge mainly on Subash Gupte, making his long awaited first tourof England, the medium pacers Ramakant Desai and RamanSurrendranath and the two all rounders Borde and Nadkarni.It was, then, the collective failure of both the batsmen and thebowlers that led to the rout in the Tests. The fact that onlyContractor (233) and Umrigar (230) topped the 200-run aggregatemark symbolises the batting failures. Despite arriving after hisclassic batting display against the West Indies, which saw himget 109 and 96 against Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist in the finalTest at New Delhi, Borde was a failure getting only 140 runs inseven innings.Roy improved upon his dismal record of seven years before butstill proved to be easy meat for the pacemen, as evidenced by hismeagre return of 179 runs from ten innings. Gaekwad never reallygot going and India were further handicapped by Manjrekar playingin only the first two Tests before a knee problem ruled him outfor the rest of the tour.Fortunately, Abbas Ali Baig, a 20-year-old freshman at OxfordUniversity, proved to be a worthy replacement. At Manchester, hescored a century in his first Test, becoming the first Indian tohit a century on debut abroad. Moreover, the fact that he did soon the same ground at which Ranji had achieved a similar featagainst Australia back in 1896 added a touch of colour.Umrigar was the only other century maker in the series. He scored118 at Manchester in what proved to be his last Test innings inEngland, hooking and pulling his old adversary Trueman withgusto. But perhaps the most courageous knock was played byContractor at Lord’s when he carried on to make 81 in over fourhours despite having one of his ribs broken by a ball from BrianStatham early in the innings.The bowling failed to rise to the occasion. Gupte no doubt tookthe most number of wickets in the series – 17 – but these cost34.64 apiece. Desai was harshly treated, his 12 wickets beingobtained at an average of 50.16. The best bowler wasSurendranath. Relishing the conditions that aided his swingbowling, he finished at the top of the averages with 16 wicketsat 26.62 apiece. Nadkarni with his left-arm spinners was at beststeady while the English batsmen negotiated Borde’s leg-spinnerscomfortably.On the tour, Umrigar was again the most commanding batsman. Hegot five centuries, three of them double hundreds – one knock of252 not out against Cambridge University being the then highestscore abroad by an Indian. He ended the tour with 1826 runs andbut for a hand injury that ruled him out of the last few matcheson the tour, would surely have crossed the 2000-run mark.Gaekwad (1174), Roy (1207), Borde (1060) and Contractor (1183)were the others to cross the 1000-run mark, though given a fulltour it is safe to assume that both Manjrekar (755) and Baig(673) would have made the four-figure mark too.As far as the bowling was concerned, Gupte with 95 wicketsfinished top of the heap but considering his reputation, thefigure fell below expectations. Surendranath, given a lot of workhad 79 wickets while Borde (72) and Nadkarni (55) did reasonablywell. Desai, however, was a bit of a letdown finishing with 45rather expensive wickets.As only to be expected in a one-sided series, England had thingstheir own way. Peter May, Colin Cowdrey, Mike Smith and new boyGeoff Pullar got hundreds while Ken Barrington was a model ofconsistency. The old firm of Statham and Trueman mowed down theIndian batting repeatedly and even Greenhough’s leg spinnerscaused the visitors some trouble. Ultimately, it was bothtechnical difficulties and a lack of fighting spirit that sawIndia go down tamely.
Ehsanul Haq has slammed another blasting half-century today in BNS while Mohammedan thrashed Young Pegasus, the weakest among the six clubs, by 4 wickets at BNS today. In fact the match ended as soon as Pegasus were bundled out for a mare 130 in 42.4 overs. Mohammedan reached the target in 27.3 overs with 4 wickets to spare.Mohammedan set off for onslaught from the starting and Ehsanul Haq, who is rather prominent for playing copybook shots, came out off his conventional mode for today. He took punitive measures on the Pegasus bowlers and slammed the ball to all parts of the field. His 65 off just 45 deliveries included 10 fours and a six (Good enough to be adjudged for the man-of-the-match).With Habibul Bashar, in the second wicket, Ehsanul ran up 75 runs. Bashar was keeping himself off from playing ambitious shots (His favorite ones too) and faced 57 balls to manage his unbeaten 25.Vice captain Sanwar Hossain won the toss and sent Pegasus to bat first in a slightly damp wicket. The spinners trio Rafique, Shabbir Khan and Steve Tikolo took the advantage and restricted the team to 130 only. Hasanuzzaman top scored 34 where opener Humayun managed 31. Their Pakistani recruit Majid Jafri scored 23 before Tikolo trapped him lbw.Steve Tikolo claimed 3 for 18 where Shabbir took 2 for 36.
On a day that finished early because of rain and bad light, England had made hay while the clouds rolled by earlier in the day to lay the foundations for another very healthy total after winning the toss. Whether they can top five hundred as they have in their last two innings against Sri Lanka remains to be seen, but their overall dominance of the attack suggests that it is not out of the question.It was a good toss to win from the outset, with Nasser Hussain having no hesitation in batting first. The decision was made to look even better when Eric Upashantha encountered the first set of problems on what was to become a progressively more difficult day that only improved when he bowled with a wet ball late in the day.Only a short distance to the west stands another Old Trafford where, in recent memory, the fans would often chant the name of Eric. However, Cantona could scarcely have suffered such a miserable day on the football field as Upashantha endured here. He bowled five no balls in his first spell of four overs and was taken off having conceded 24 from his four overs. Having said that, Muttiah Muralitharan fared little, if any, better. His first spell was of three overs that cost 22 runs.Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan were feasting on a glut of half volleys and long hops. Vaughan in particular was striking the ball cleanly but yet another innings full of immense promise was cut short when he was deceived by a slower ball from Dilhara Fernando who was the pick of the Sri Lankan attack with his pace and bounce. Vaughan simply chipped his intended push through the covers to Chaminda Vaas at mid-off.Trescothick and Mark Butcher proceeded to share a partnership that was to realise 126 runs in 35 overs. Both were batting with style and Butcher launched into the return of Upashantha by taking three more boundaries off his next one-over spell.The only alarms they experienced came when Trescothick was dropped twice in the space of two balls from Fernando. He failed to get on top of a cut to send a stinging chance towards Hashan Tillakeratne at backward point that the fielder parried but could not catch, even at the second attempt as it fell behind him. Next ball, Trescothick top-edged a hook that went in a gentle arc toward backward square. Fernando had to abort his premature celebrations when the luckless Upashantha spilled the sort of chance that most club cricketers would snaffle. There is no truth in the rumour that he put his head in his hands – and dropped that as well.Trescothick added 17 to his total after those escapes before he pushed forward to Muralitharan and edged to Mahela Jayawardene at slip very low down. He had gathered 14 boundaries in his 152-ball innings and undoubtedly had his eyes set on a century.Hussain came in and immediately tried to impose himself on the bowling. He has been in princely form of late, but whether it was prudent to set off at such a tempo was a matter for him to determine. Having charged Muralitharan, making more use of his pad than bat, he then tucked in to the last over before tea from Fernando to help himself to three fours and a two. Fernando had been warned for running onto the pitch earlier, and while concentrating on going wide, dropped the ball horribly short.It was the bowler who retained the initiative, though, when he drew Hussain into an expansive drive after tea, only for the England captain to find that it was another well-disguised slower ball that he reached outside off-stump to play with his weight back on one knee and head in the air. That position would have allowed him to follow the trajectory of the ball to mid-off where Muralitharan took the catch.The first of two all-Surrey partnerships saw Graham Thorpe join Butcher. They were together when the players left the field during the start of the first rain break, but not for long when play resumed. It was still gloomy and the rain must have eased only marginally, but in these difficult conditions Upashantha suddenly found the control he had been so elusive earlier. Thorpe made contact with a feint inside edge to the ‘keeper and the bowler’s relief and joy was totally understandable.He could have had another wicket when the new batsman, Alec Stewart, slashed at a short ball outside the off stump to see a flying effort from Jayawardene at backward point go down, and Stewart stayed with Butcher until the rain returned again to send the players from the field for the last time. Equalling the England appearance record in this match, Stewart will want to make an impression on a favourite ground, while Butcher, who just missed out on a century at Edgbaston, will not want to do so here. There is no reason why he should not go on well past three figures.
There are plenty of signals that the two Malcolms from Australia – Gray and Speed – are preparing to make a move against the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jagmohan Dalmiya. That fact became very apparent during the media briefing at the Taj Samudra in Colombo on Wednesday.Malcolm Speed cleared the air regarding the events that lead to the players’ contract issue, one that almost resulted in leading Indian players boycotting the ICC Champions Trophy.Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, was categorically said that it was not AC Muttiah who signed the controversial ICC contract. Speed also explained that there were essentially three basic contracts, and the one that Muttiah signed on behalf of the BCCI was the Cricket Events Agreement “that locks in the ICC’s agreement with the Global Cricket Corporation and agrees to play in all ICC events for the next seven years and field its best team.””That was the agreement Dr Muttiah signed,” said Speed. “The boards have had the Participating Nations Agreement since December last year. Dr Muttiah was defeated in October last year and was no longer the president of BCCI in December. Dr Muttiah is right; the player terms were not included in the agreement he signed and were included in the agreement signed by his successor.”That successor is none other than Dalmiya, who had earlier tried to pin the blame on Muttiah for having compromised player interests by signing the controversial contract.There were indirect but definite barbs aimed at the Kolkata businessman who is presently at the helm of Indian cricket. In the coming days, Dalmiya will have a handful of issues to deal with, especially with the Indian players.Speed was quick to admit that there was some confusion about the terms, causing a delay in resolving the crisis, and that he sympathised with the Indian team for that. The chief executive of ICC said that during his successful negotiation meeting with the Indian players in London, a few important issues came to the fore.”One of the issues that came up is that the players wish to have a player representative group,” said Speed. “What I have urged the Indian team to do is to go through the correct processes and go to the Board and to seek this group. I would strongly urge the Indian board to give very careful consideration to the players’ request when it comes forward.”Speed explained in detail the dramatic events of the last few days of negotiations between the ICC, BCCI and the Indian players. He said that the ICC put forward the idea of talking to the Indian players to get the issue resolved. It was upon the submission of a written request from the BCCI to the chief executive of the ICC that negotiations with the players were held.Speed quickly added, “Shortly after that, the Indian board then asked that there be no further contact between ICC and the players.”The boards have had the player terms under this agreement since December last year,” added Speed. “They have had it for the last nine months. If there was a serious problem, we would have expected to hear about it. We only heard about it only when we were approaching the deadline for this event”.Speed’s revelations only left one thought at the forefront of one’s mind – whose rights and interests were Dalmiya and the BCCI actually trying to protect through these days of complete uncertainty?To put things in perspective, Speed said that the Indian players have signed the same document with one amendment, the post-tournament contractual obligations being reduced from 30 days to 16 days for the Indian players.
Batsman Country 90s 99sAravinda de Silva SL 8 0Mohammad Azharuddin Ind 7 0Richie Richardson WI 6 1Dean Jones Aus 6 1Martin Crowe NZ 6 0Sachin Tendulkar Ind 6 0Krish Srikkanth Ind 5 1Hansie Cronje SA 5 0Nathan Astle NZ 5 0Allan Lamb Eng 4 1Ijaz Ahmed Pak 4 0Grant Flower Zim 4 0Ajay Jadeja Ind 4 0Saeed Anwar Pak 4 0Inzamam-ul-Haq Pak 4 0Allan Border Aus 4 0Brian Lara WI 4 0
100s Batsman For Season Series/To’ment Mts Inns NO Runs HS Ave 502 Gary Kirsten SA 1995-96 Sharjah Cup 5 5 1 356 115* 89.00 12 Jacques Kallis SA 1998-99 [NZ] 7 6 0 323 100 53.83 22 Nicky Boje SA 2000-01 [NZ] 6 6 2 355 129 88.75 12 HH Gibbs SA 2000-01 [WI] 5 5 0 292 107 58.40 0