All posts by csb10.top

In common with the Barmy Army and thousands of less vocal England supporters, I love watching the national team play well. Day one at Adelaide, like day two at Brisbane, was a joy. But when Michael Vaughan fell in that last over to the cunningly introduced Andy Bichel, I doubt if I was the only one to utter an expletive. Beautifully though Vaughan had batted, phlegmatically though he had ridden his luck, my overriding sense was one of trepidation as to what might happen the following day.When Australia are the opponents, England supporters derive double satisfaction from a day on top. They need to, because the suspicion, not to say the knowledge, is that there will not be another one for a while. This is not to belittle England’s efforts. Apart from Vaughan, Steve Harmison, Craig White and Richard Dawson in particular showed big hearts as Australia chiselled out another chilling total. But nothing alters the perception that this is an average team attempting to grapple with a titanic one.Five of Australia’s players – Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath – would walk into a world XI. Although on current form Vaughan would at least be in with a shout, no other England player is. Indeed if you picked a best of the rest team to meet Australia, they would still be tough nuts to crack.As with the West Indies 15 to 20 years ago, Australia’s strength in depth is the envy of every other cricketing nation. Like his two predecessors, Steve Waugh is a great captain, but like Viv Richards, he also had the good fortune to inherit a world-beating team. The fact that they have missed around 20 chances in their last five Tests (all of which they have won) simply emphasises their supremacy.Can any comfort be drawn from England’s predicament? After this series it is nearly three years until the Ashes blaze again, by which time several of the giants in the present Australian team may have been replaced. Waugh certainly, while McGrath and Warne will both be nearer 40 than 30. Like Allan Border’s team in the 1985 series, England have players young enough to learn from their present plight, and hopefully proud enough to thirst for revenge. They need to learn every available lesson, pick up every single trick, from their rampant opponents.Waugh himself said recently that the wheel will turn, and that he does not want to be playing when it happens. He need not worry. But here is a sobering question – where else in the world would a 28-year-old batsman score two double centuries against the same touring team, yet fail to command a Test place?England are taking a hiding, the like of which has left other decent sides sore in the recent past. Ask Shaun Pollock. Ask Waqar Younis. Admittedly Pakistan were below strength for their three-nil annihilation, but the manner of it still looked portentous at the time. Nasser Hussain’s words at the start of the tour – that there would be nowhere to hide, that England needed everything to go right off the field as well as on it – are haunting now.England’s plague of injuries is the stuff of nightmares, and can hardly have enhanced morale. With hindsight Andy Flintoff’s double hernia operation should have been carried out sooner, and the gamble on Darren Gough proved misguided. For the rest the tourists have had bad luck by the bucketful. But catches are not necessarily about luck, and as in England last year, too many have been missed.The year before, England and their supporters derived special pleasure from beating the West Indies at last, winning back the Wisden Trophy that had eluded them for 31 years. It was a triumph that 15 years earlier had seemed almost unimaginable. It even fostered hope that they could give the old enemy a run for their money again. A forlorn hope, repeatedly crushed by a mighty juggernaut.One day, for sure, England will regain the Ashes. Not this time it seems, not this decade perhaps. But it will happen. I just hope I’m around to see it.

New Zealand umpire Brent ‘Billy’ Bowden has joined the list of people wanting to see the players’ dispute resolved as soon as possible.Just back from South Africa, where he was an International Cricket Council (ICC) appointment to the three South Africa-Bangladesh One-Day Internationals, Bowden was looking to a week of activity at New Zealand Cricket’s (NZC) High Performance Centre at Lincoln University to build his preparation for the summer next week.However, he learned from New Zealand exchange umpire to South Africa this year Gary Baxter when he met him in South Africa, that the players had withdrawn their services until their dispute with NZC had been resolved.”I hope it is going to be settled soon. It doesn’t only affect the players, but sponsors, umpires, the whole package.”It is unfortunate but standing in cricket games is important to umpires. I always like to stand in club cricket because that is where it all starts, but in order to get extra time in the middle I am standing in some school games.”The Academy programme at Lincoln University is always good for getting your eye in and also to have a look at some of the newer players on the scene and who is coming up.”The best part of umpiring is umpiring out in the middle,” he said.Should things not be resolved sooner rather than later, then Bowden would be looking at overseas opportunities just to get some time in the middle.”I would have to talk to Brian Aldridge [the national umpiring manager] about that,” he said.Bowden, who is on the ICC international panel of umpires, the level below the elite group, enjoyed his experience in South Africa, mainly because it reinforced his desire to keep trying for a position on the elite panel.”It was a good start, I learnt a lot. There is always something you can learn and I wanted to see how I felt about being away from home in unfamiliar conditions and how I coped with the pressures.”It confirmed for me that this is what I want to do,” he said.Bowden stood in matches at Potchefstroom, Benoni and Kimberley. He enjoyed all three grounds although he said Potchefstroom was the most enjoyable because of the facilities, outfield and outlook there.Benoni, which is being used for World Cup games, would be a high-scoring venue with its short boundaries while Kimberley had been another enjoyable experience especially for the manner of its grass banks around the ground.The one-day series had been one-way traffic for the South Africans with the Bangladeshis struggling to make an impact. But he said the international cricket new boys needed the exposure to improve.”South Africa played hard cricket, but not to their full potential. They were sorting out players for the World Cup.”Herschelle Gibbs was in fantastic form and if he gets going, especially during the first 15 overs of games if South Africa bat first in their World Cup games, he will cause some real problems.”Shaun Pollock was there and abouts with his bowling while Mark Boucher was another key man. Those three are critical for South Africa in the World Cup. They have to fire for South Africa,” he said.Bowden said that Lance Klusener was clearly suffering in the confidence department and was possibly a victim of sides having worked him out.”He likes the ball coming onto the bat, but they [Bangladesh] cramped him up, and added to that he didn’t have a lot of time in the middle. He had no chance to really fire,” he said.Bowden said the atmosphere was building in South Africa for the Cup and he was in no doubt it would be a fantastic tournament.”The grounds are all prepared and there will be no problems with the weather. It is a big event for them and they won’t be letting this one slip,” he said.Meanwhile, the appointments for India’s tour of New Zealand have been made. Asoka de Silva of Sri Lanka and Daryl Harper of Australia will stand in both Test matches. De Silva will stand in the first four ODIs, once with Bowden and three times with Doug Cowie while Harper will stand in the last three, twice with Bowden and once with Cowie.The full appointments are:December 4: Super Max International at Jade Stadium, Christchurch – Dave Quested, Evan Watkin, Gary Baxter (TV umpire); Dec 6-8: Tour match v Central Districts at McLean Park, Napier – Brent Bowden, Doug Cowie; Dec 12-16: 1st Test at Basin Reserve, Wellington – Asoka de Silva, Daryl Harper, Brent Bowden (TV); Dec 19-23: 2nd Test at WestpacTrust Park, Hamilton – Asoka de Silva, Daryl Harper, Doug Cowie (TV); Dec 26: 1st ODI at Eden Park, Auckland – Brent Bowden, Asoka de Silva, Doug Cowie (TV); Dec 29: 2nd ODI at McLean Park, Napier – Doug Cowie, Asoka de Silva, Brent Bowden (TV); January 1: 3rd ODI at Jade Stadium, Christchurch – Doug Cowie, Asoka de Silva, AL Hill (TV); Jan 4: 4th ODI at John Davies Oval, Queenstown – Doug Cowie, Asoka de Silva, AL Hill (TV); Jan 8: 5th ODI at WestpacTrust Stadium, Wellington – Brent Bowden, Daryl Harper, Doug Cowie (TV); Jan 11: 6th ODI at Eden Park, Auckland – Brent Bowden, Daryl Harper, Tony Hill (TV); Jan 14: 7th ODI at WestpacTrust Park, Hamilton – Doug Cowie, Daryl Harper, Brent Bowden (TV).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tasmania will be aiming to land a knockout blow on opponent New South Wales at some time over the next 48 hours after it continued to lay a platform for outright victory on the second day of the teams’ Pura Cup clash here in Hobart today.Resilient New South Wales openers Corey Richards (34*) and Matthew Phelps (29*) sounded a warning to their hosts that a long fight for outright points probably still awaits, joining in a defiant unbroken stand that carried the visitors to a second innings mark of 0/65 by stumps.In that it had earlier delivered a 237-run first innings advantage for the home team, though, this was again a day on which terms were generally dictated by the Tasmanians.Though the latter wasn’t quite at his best, Michael Dighton (84) and Jamie Cox (72) established the impetus for what was to follow by stretching their partnership for the second wicket to a mark of 82 runs upon the resumption.The liaison secured first innings points for Tasmania; featured close to run-a-minute scoring; and gradually seemed to drain spirit from the bowlers.In both context and execution, Dighton’s hand had all the trappings of one of the best-timed innings of the season. His driving was flawless; his placement impeccable; and his rate of scoring brisk.Michael Di Venuto (39) added to the momentum once Cox had fallen to a fine low catch at point, complementing Dighton’s headway with a flurry of boundaries of his own.Though Tasmania’s progress stalled briefly on either side of lunch as Dighton was beaten in slog-sweeping at left arm spinner Michael Clarke (2/25) and Di Venuto swung across the line at Don Nash (2/81), containment remained a difficult art for their opponents.David Saker (40*) and Shane Jurgensen (19) encapsulated this reality in clubbing 44 in a breezy tenth wicket stand that revived memories of their recent 114-run association that acted as the rallying point of Tasmania’s late season renaissance.In the interim, the New South Wales bowlers scratched away in unconvincing manner.A comparative rush of wickets arrived with the second new ball for Stuart Clark (2/99) and Grant Lambert (3/86), but a string of sizeable Tasmanian partnerships made frustration the order of the day for the visitors.Also adding to the Blues’ woes were three missed catches.With his score at 53, the flight of a ball that had been viciously cut by Dighton was misjudged by Phil Jaques at third man to the extent that it carried over his head and dropped inside the line of the boundary rope just behind him. It proved an expensive miss, though not substantially more costly than a later error by the same fieldsman at third slip and another by captain Michael Slater in the gully in the space of one Nathan Bracken (1/85) over to Saker early in his innings.Phelps and Richards kickstarted a much-needed recovery with a plucky association that helped to demystify any complexities in the pitch. Phelps played and missed twice in the opening over of the innings but the pair soon settled, driving expertly through the off side and helping themselves to a diet of runs to leg as the Tasmanian pacemen strayed in line.They were also aided by the absence from the attack of regular new ball bowler Damien Wright, whose ongoing battle with a thigh injury means that he will probably only return to the bowling crease if desperately needed.But the whip hand remained Tasmania’s, and the locals must fancy their chances of securing the six points they require to all but guarantee their passage to next week’s Pura Cup Final.If Phelps had not survived arguably the most beseeching lbw appeal of the summer as Jurgensen (0/16) lured him into padding up to an off cutter in the concluding over of the day, the home team’s advantage would have been even more manifest.

Barring extended rain or any other unforeseen happening today,Barbados should subject the Windward Islands to their fifth successivedefeat and keep alive their slim hopes of winning the Busta Cup.Set 335 from a minimum of 115 overs after an enterprising, excitingdisplay from Philo Wallace and Sean Armstrong, rock-bottom Windwardsshowed more resilience than they have all season in the 25 overs theyfaced before the close.They reached 67 for two, principally anchored by their solid 18-yearold opening batsman Romel Currency. He batted though until the end inthe company of the Windwards’ most dangerous batsman, Junior Murray.Murray, however, should take been back in the pavilion, but Ryan Hindsmissed an easy chance at extra-cover from a long-hop off leg-spinnerDave Marshall.The Windwards have lost each of the four previous matches and have ahighest score was 257.Barbados owed their commanding position to their healthy first inningsadvantage of 142 and it was impressively built on by a second-wicketstand of 111 between Wallace and Armstrong.Wallace, under the microscope after a string of low scores, was theWallace of old, clobbering the ball with typical power in an inningsof 78.Armstrong, who joined Wallace after Adrian Griffith departed for abreezy 18, was not as forceful, but was just as effective in playingsome scintillating strokes in completing his second half-century ofthe tournament.Most eyes, however, were on Wallace following his first-ball duck inthe first innings. Interestingly enough, he took first strike for thefirst time in the tournament and was immediately into stride.Whenever the Windwards bowlers dropped a trifle short, they weredisdainfully pulled away. Leg-spinner Orlando Jackson was twicedespatched over mid-wicket and onto the big scoreboard.In addition to those two sixes, Wallace also belted eight fours. Somewere pulls, some were extra-cover drives and some were guided over theheads of the slips. Armstrong, in one over from left-arm fast-mediumDeighton Butler, hit three successive boundaries – a cut, a lofted ondrive and a pull. But his most memorable shot was a stylish short-armpull in his unique manner.The No. 3 batsman reached his half-century with eight fours, but soonfell on 53 to a ball from leg-spinner Rawl Lewis that bounced, tookthe glove of the batsman and the wicket-keeper and ended in a juggledcatch to Devon Smith at slip.Wallace followed in the next over. After another of his ferociouspulls, he drove the next delivery down the throat of Smith at extracover.In the brief period before tea, Roland Holder and Courtney Browne werecontent to defend, but both perished soon after the interval whenBarbados were looking to increase the tempo.A few meaty blows from Hendy Bryan, whose unbeaten 29 came off 28balls, allowed Barbados to make the declaration a bit earlier thanmost anticipated. It was made 40 minutes after the break with thetotal 192 for five off 50 overs.There was immediate success for Barbados with Corey Collymore inducingteenager Devon Smith into edging a catch to the keeper from a ballthat bounced nicely.Out came Kirsten Casmir to play the type of strokes he unleashedduring his 63 against the Leeward Islands on debut in the previousround of matches.The little Dominican smacked five boundaries in 28 before gifting hiswicket to an inexcusable cross-batted swing against Ryan Austin’sflighted off-break.By then, Currency was batting as solid as ever. He resumes thismorning on 22 as a key figure in the Windwards’ plans to earn theirfirst point of the tournament. He is so well-organised that it is hardto believe that he has never once converted any of his promisingstarts into a significant contribution. Today is his chance.Murray is another player who could hold up Barbados with hisforthright, aggressive methods. He ended the day on 14, five more thanhe should have gotten, courtesy of Hinds’ miss.Earlier, Barbados polished off the Windwards tail by claiming the lastthree wickets 22 after the visitors resumed on 103 for seven.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Saqlain Sajib have escaped serious injuries after both showed signs of improvement a day after they collided during the opening day of Rajshahi Division’s National Cricket League match against Dhaka Division in Mirpur. The pair, however, didn’t bat in the first innings as Rajshahi declared on 178 after losing eight wickets.The doctors have sent both players home, though Sajib has been ruled out for a ten days as his initial symptoms were cause for concern, according to the BCB’s chief medical officer Dr Debashish Roy.”We didn’t take any risks with Mushfiqur so he didn’t bat today. He could be batting tomorrow (third day). Saqlain is out of danger but since he is still showing signs of disorientation, he will not play this game,” Roy said.”He has had scans but I still think since it was a shock to his system, he doesn’t have the right frame of mind to return to the field. But he will recover and I think he can play from the second round [on November 2].”The pair collided near the fine-leg boundary after Dhaka’s No. 11 Mohammad Shahid top-edged a Farhad Reza bouncer off the last ball of the 45th over.