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Just as a good marksman doesn’t need a lot of shots to hit the target, South Africa don’t need to over-train to be effective

Firdose Moonda in Kolkata14-Mar-2011Just as a good marksman doesn’t need a lot of shots to hit the target, South Africa don’t need to over-train to be effective. After a mentally and physically draining match against India on Saturday and travelling from Nagpur to Kolkata via Mumbai on Sunday, the squad was allowed a day’s rest before their match against Ireland on Tuesday.”Just because we are not training, doesn’t mean we are not prepared,” Corrie van Zyl, South Africa coach said. “This is part of our preparation.” It may seem strange that not actively doing something will have value when getting ready for an activity, like sport, that will require a lot of doing. “We don’t need to train just for the sake of it,” van Zyl said, indicating that the mental aspect was taking precedence this time around.The win over India was a mental leap for South Africa, because they were able to come on top of a tense and pressured situation without much panic. The effect it had was evident when Robin Peterson hit the winning runs and charged around the field, possessed. Graeme Smith described it as “raw emotion” and that’s exactly what it was. Joy exposed, ecstasy laid bare.To come down from that high, and they’ve had to come down because that wasn’t the final, might have felt like a crash, and that’s why picking themselves up again is going to be tricky. “There is a danger of that [not being able to get up quickly enough],” van Zyl said. “But it’s how you approach the danger that’s important. We’ve got guys like Henning Gericke to help with that.” Gericke is the team psychologist and will play an instrumental role in readying their minds for the next game.It’s not often that Corrie van Zyl cracks jokes at a press conference•AFPAlthough they have not trained and will only see Eden Gardens on match day, van Zyl said they’ve made sure the venue is not foreign to them. “We’ve looked at all the grounds and all the stats and we know exactly what to expect from a day-night game here.” South Africa have played at the ground just a year ago, a Test match against India which they lost.This time the opposition is ranked much lower but South Africa are promising the same intensity they showed against Netherlands. Injury concerns will definitely keep Imran Tahir out of the match, as he still recovers from a fractured thumb. AB de Villiers strained a muscle in his left thigh during the match against India and although scans revealed that there was no tear, he is a doubtful starter.That could open the door for the untested Colin Ingram to have a go, if South Africa still want to go in with seven batsman, which they may choose to do on a pitch with specks of green. The same surface could merit including an extra bowler. Having bowled out all four sides they have faced so far, South Africa are unlikely to change the bowling combination. “The bowlers have been disciplined and stuck to game plans, which is why they’ve been successful,” van Zyl said.They’ve also shown a remarkable calm under pressure, like when India were tearing into them on Saturday. It’s that composed approach that they may have spent the day working on. van Zyl showed definite signs of having relaxed at his press conference when the microphone didn’t work, simply because he hadn’t pressed the button to switch it on. He blushed a little when he was shown the right switch but immediately turned the situation around into a laugh. “We don’t have buttons in Bloemfontein,” he said and the whole room brightened. It was the first time many had seen van Zyl crack a joke in a press conference and the easy manner with which he did may well be a reflection on the mood in the camp as a whole.

Chris van Noordwtk’s contract at the Titans has not been renewed for the 2011-12 season

Firdose Moonda21-Apr-2011The Titans franchise will not be renewing the contract of head coach Chris van Noorwdyk for the upcoming season. van Noordwyk was in charge for two seasons, during which the Titans failed to win any silverware.van Noordwyk succeeded former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus, who enjoyed a succesful five-year stint with the Titans. Under Pybus, the Titans won seven trophies, including three SuperSport Series, two MTN domestic titles and two Pro20s. Pybus quit in July 2009, which gave van Noordwyk, who was then his assistant, to move up to coach at the franchise level.”During his tenure as coach of the Northern Cricket Union Amateur team and Titans assistant coach, Chris had the unique ability to identify players who came through the system to play at a higher level,” Andy O’Connor, chairman of the Easterns Titans board said. “We appreciate the contributions that Chris has made and wish him well in the future.”van Noordwyk, who was born in Durban, has done all his administrative work at the Titans. Before he was appointed coach, he was the Titans’ cricket coordinator and was responsible for identifying and developing talent. Youngsters like Roelof van der Merwe and Farhaan Berhardien came through at that time. While youth flourished, when van Noordwyk took over as coach, the Titans lost some of their key players such as Dale Steyn, who moved to the Cobras, Imran Tahir, who went to the Dolphins and Paul Harris, who joined the Lions.

Colin Snedden, 93, a former New Zealand cricketer and sports broadcaster, has died in his sleep

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2011Colin Snedden, a former New Zealand cricketer and sports broadcaster, has died in his sleep at the age of 93. Auckland-born Snedden hailed from a family of cricketers – his father Nessie, uncle Cyril and brother Warwick were first-class players, while his nephew Martin played Test and ODI cricket. He was an offspinner and represented New Zealand in one Test in March 1947 against England in Christchurch.Snedden’s first-class career was interrupted by World War II, restricting it to nine matches played between 1938 and 1949. He took 31 wickets at 25.41 apiece in those nine games. After retirement, Snedden took up cricket and rugby radio commentary, and was subsequently named a life member of the New Zealand Sports Journalists Awards in 2007.

Warwickshire made a fine start to their County Championship clash with Durham, only for the hosts to hit back with three late wickets at the Riverside

26-Apr-2011
ScorecardWarwickshire made a fine start to their County Championship clash with Durham, only for the hosts to hit back with three late wickets at the Riverside. Each one went to Durham’s promising paceman Ruel Brathwaite, following up his five-wicket haul against Sussex on Saturday, to leave the visitors on 345 for 7 at the close.Warwickshire skipper Jim Troughton capitalised on winning the toss by making a disciplined 76, allowing first William Porterfield then Rikki Clarke to dominate. Both pulled Graham Onions for two sixes, although the second of Porterfield’s resulted from a top edge over the wicketkeeper.Onions bowled only three overs with the second new ball before Brathwaite came on and took 3 for 11 in four overs. Porterfield was dropped on 1 and went on make 87, while Clarke departed for 49, made off 52 balls, when he pushed forward and edged Brathwaite to first slip.Echoes of Tim Ambrose’s struggles last season followed as he waved a crooked bat at the next ball, well wide of off stump, and edged to the wicketkeeper. Then, in the penultimate over, Troughton was surprised by extra bounce and gloved to the wicketkeeper to become Brathwaite’s fourth victim of the innings.The England-qualified West Indian had earlier persuaded Varun Chopra, fresh from two double hundreds, to chip a leg-stump half volley to mwicket. With Ant Botha suffering from a knee injury, Warwickshire handed a Championship debut to 20-year-old left-arm spinner Paul Best, while Durham were again without four-day skipper Phil Mustard.His inflamed toe flared up after his return against Scotland on Sunday and it was his deputy, Michael Richardson, who dropped Porterfield off Callum Thorp. The batsman might also have gone on 25, when he edged Ben Stokes just wide of Gordon Muchall’s left hand at first slip.That was off the second ball of Stokes’ second spell, his two overs before lunch having cost 22 runs. It got no better as the edged four re-opened the floodgates and in his next over Porterfield hit four successive fours. He reached 50 off 75 balls, compared with 108 for Troughton, who then slowed down even further in his determination to overcome old failings.Durham used Onions sparingly in his encouraging comeback at Headingley then rested him in last week’s defeat by Sussex. This time he had already bowled 17 overs when he came back to take the new ball. He twice beat Troughton on 57 but remained out of luck, the wicket of fellow Test player Mohammad Yousuf being his sole success.Like Ian Westwood before him, Yousuf did not appear to like the decision by umpire John Steele when he was given out caught behind. There was a clear deflection, however, and he played away from his body.Westwood dominated an opening stand of 71 with Chopra by making 46, while Porterfield and Troughton put on 131 for the fourth wicket before Scott Borthwick’s googly turned just enough to have Porterfield lbw on the front foot.

The decision to play is a player’s call and no player is forced to represent his club or country, particularly when it’s a case of injury, the IPL chief Sundar Raman has said

Tariq Engineer27-May-2011The decision to play is a player’s call and no player is forced to represent his club or country, particularly when it’s a case of injury, the IPL chief Sundar Raman has said. “I think it has always been up to the player to decide,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Firstly, he has to see whether he is fit or not. And the BCCI physio will take a look at the player and subject to a satisfactory report, he plays.”The player knows his body better than anyone else does and I don’t think I want to sit in judgement on that. If the physio believes that the player is not fit to play a game, he would report that and the player would not play the game.”Nobody is forced to play. Nobody is forced to play for the country. Nobody is forced to play for their club.”Concerns over players playing despite injuries have come to the fore following Gautam Gambhir’s shoulder injury sustained during the World Cup and aggravated during the IPL. Gambhir, who captains Kolkata Knight Riders, played in his team’s eliminator play-off on Wednesday hours after the team physio Andrew Leipus wrote to the BCCI that Gambhir needed four to six weeks’ rest to recover. Gambhir, however, claimed he had not been aware of the seriousness of the injury and had not discussed the matter with Leipus prior to the game.Raman refused to comment on the Gambhir issue. “I am honestly not in a position to comment on the Gambhir situation because the Indian physio has to see Gambhir, submit his report, take a view on whether he was fit not fit so it is too premature for me to say right now.”However, he added: “I don’t think any player would want to carry or feign an injury and continue to go and play. A player knows his body. I believe they are professionals and if the player is injured, if there are any practices or processes that have not been put in place, that is for the administrative part of it to ensure that all of that is taken care of.”The player takes the view of somebody who is an expert in that field and I think that’s the way it is. I am looking at it as what would I have done? I would have listened to my body.”

Canada have announced their squad for the upcoming ICC America’s T20 tournament in Florida

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2011Canada have announced their squad for the upcoming ICC America’s Twenty20 tournament in Florida. Jimmy Hansra will captain the side for the competition in Fort Lauderdale, which starts July 17, after Ashish Bagai resigned as captain following the World Cup. Many of the first-choice players are resting, in preparation for the upcoming Intercontinental Cup game against Afghanistan.Rizwan Cheema, Hiral Patel, Ruvindu Gunasekera, and Parth Desai head the list of players staying in Canada to prepare for Afghanistan while Harvir Baidwan and Khurram Chohan are completing successful stints in England.Vimal Hardat, vice-president of the Canadian board, said he was confident the team would put up a strong showing in the America’s tournament. “Having already qualified for the T20 Cricket World Cup Qualifier [in 2012] we saw this as a good chance to have some of our prospects test themselves as well as to give our more senior players a chance to get ready for Afghanistan,” Hardat said. The four-day match against Afghanistan will be played in Ontario from August 2.Squad: Jimmy Hansra – BC (Captain), Waleed Ahmed (Manitoba), Trevin Bastiampillai (Ontario), Grant Broadhurst (Alberta), Satsimranjit Singh Dhindsa (Ontario), Zahid Hussain(Ontario), Usman Limbada (Ontario), Deepak Pabla (Quebec), Cecil Pervez (Ontario), Parveen Saroye (Alberta), Jason Sandher (BC), Jonathan Snow (BC), Hamza Tariq (Alberta), Khusroo Wadia (Ontario).

Mark Turner bowled Derbyshire to the verge of a convincing victory after Gloucestershire collapsed again in the Division Two match at Derby

12-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Mark Turner bowled Derbyshire to the verge of a convincing victory after Gloucestershire collapsed again in the Division Two match at Derby. The former Durham and Somerset paceman took four wickets for 79 runs as Gloucestershire lost their last six wickets for 82 to leave the home side a victory target of only 110.Jon Lewis struck twice in the first five overs as Derbyshire struggled to 30 for 2 but they need just 80 more runs and unless there is heavy rain on the last day look certain to complete a win that will see them move up to third in the table.Gloucestershire had threatened to set a more challenging total when they reached 220 for 4 but Turner cut through the lower order to send the visitors sliding to 302 all out. Five Gloucestershire batsmen got to 40 but none of them could play the big innings which would have given their bowlers a chance of winning the game.They started the third day already one wicket down and needing another 186 to avoid an innings defeat but Chris Dent and Kane Williamson raised their hopes of staging a fightback with a stand of 91. The overcast, humid conditions suggested there would be swing for Derbyshire’space attack but it was the offspin of Greg Smith that made the breakthrough.Dent was one run away from a half-century when Smith tempted him into a big drive which he edged to slip, where Wes Durston took a good catch high above his head. Williamson resisted for two hours for 75 but Tony Palladino caught him on the crease before lunch and Gloucestershire suffered another blow when Chris Taylor went early in the afternoon.Taylor had looked in good touch and his 43 included seven fours but Tim Groenewald got a delivery to move away to take the edge and Luke Sutton held an excellent low catch. Ian Cockbain helped skipper Alex Gidman take the score to 220 but Turner had him caught behind for 19 and after a break for bad light, Will Gidman edged to second slip.His brother reached 50 by clipping Turner through midwicket for his eighth four but was then unlucky to be given out lbw when he was struck high above the knee roll by Palladino. Richard Coughtrie played another gutsy innings but no-one could stay with him and Gloucestershire’s only chance of defending a low total was to take early wickets.Lewis obliged when Wayne Madsen, who has now failed to pass 10 in eight of his last nine championship innings, played on and Chesney Hughes skied a pull to deep square leg – but, barring a spectacular collapse, Derbyshire should wrap up victory.

Usman Khawaja’s hundred vindicated his notion that he never felt out of form despite making only 52 runs from four innings on Australia A’s recent tour of Zimbabwe

Daniel Brettig at P Sara Oval26-Aug-2011Usman Khawaja cobbled together only 52 runs from four innings on Australia A’s recent tour of Zimbabwe yet said he never felt out of form. He proved his own notion correct on day two of the Australians’ tour match against Sri Lanka Board XI in Colombo, stroking an attractive and intelligent 101 (retired) in conditions Khawaja admitted were almost entirely foreign to him.The innings gave Khawaja a grand chance of earning selection for the first Test at Galle, where he is likely to encounter a pitch not dissimilar to that at the P Sara Oval.”I never felt like I was out of form because I was hitting the ball pretty well,” Khawaja said. “But I was probably a bit underdone just having time in the middle and just to get out there and feel the conditions. It’s a bit different in Sri Lanka. The wicket there is a lot different to what we get back home, so it was just fun to be out there.”The wicket out there is a day-two wicket and it feels more like a day-four wicket back home; somewhere like the SCG or Adelaide. It’s quite dead out there, surprising for a day-two wicket, and it was tough work at times because the ball sort of lost its air and trying to create power with the old ball just became some tough work.”Accompanied for much of his century by the opener Phil Hughes, Khawaja showed plenty of class, and will have the tour selectors pondering their options for the Galle Test. Khawaja, of course, did not want to look too far ahead.”I think when you’re out there that’s probably far from your mind, you’re concentrating on the ball coming down,” he said. “Those things aren’t in my control and I can just go out there and score runs. That’s all I’m supposed to do as a batsman, just take some catches and make some run outs.”I’d bat anywhere for the Australian team, but it all depends what’s best for the team. I’m happy to bat anywhere from opener, all the way down to the middle and the No. 6 spot is the only one that’s available. So if I’m lucky enough to get that spot … my first two hundreds for NSW were batting at six, I’ve done work there too.”Much is made of the subcontinental flourishes in Khawaja’s technique, his wrists and hands allowing him to play the ball late and find gaps. But in environmental knowledge terms, Khawaja is very much a product of Australian surfaces, forcing a change in approach in his first innings of “red ball cricket” in Sri Lanka.”I’ve never seen rough on day two like that before,” Khawaja said. “Literally I was playing out there like it was a day-four wicket, batting in the second inning. That was the mindset we had out there because it was tough work out there. A lot of the guys mentioned how in patches you cannot score many then suddenly put 20 on in the space of two or three overs. So on the subcontinent from what I’ve heard, that’s just how it is.”Plans change, usually in Australia day two you don’t have as much variable bounce and you can be a bit more confident in your strokeplay and a lot more fluent. But me and Hughesy [Phil Hughes] were playing our first red ball cricket in Sri Lanka conditions and we wanted to make sure we gave ourselves the best chance of getting runs. I think the hard yards need to be done early.”Hard yards in a physical sense also, but a pleasing element of Khawaja’s innings is he did not appear to tire in considerable heat and humidity. For this he thanked the Australian coaching and fitness staff, who have put the tourists through plenty of torturous sessions thus far.”To be honest ‘Alfie’ [Justin] Langer and some of the other guys just nailed us by the time we got here, so out there was a breeze compared to what they had for us,” Khawaja said. “So I think we’re quite used to it now.”

How can India stop an opposition as strong as England with a bowling attack that appears feeble? In the absence of strike bowler, an experienced spinner and a specialist death bowler like Jade Dernbach, India clearly appear to be at a disadvantage

Nagraj Gollapudi at the Rose Bowl07-Sep-2011How can India stop an opposition as strong as England with a bowling attack that appears feeble by comparison? In the absence of a strike bowler, an experienced spinner and a specialist death bowler like Jade Dernbach, India clearly appear to be at a disadvantage.It would not be wrong to define the Indian fast bowling line-up that featured at the Rose Bowl as a one-dimensional attack: they all bowl at the same pace, deploying mostly the same approach. Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel and Vinay Kumar all bowl in the 78-80mph pace bracket, which is barely threatening. Both Praveen and Vinay rely on swing while Munaf combines accuracy with bounce and a cunning change of pace to buy his wickets.But on Wednesday evening, on a wet surface the Indian fast bowling trio failed miserably. Their lack of success exposed not only R Ashwin, the lone specialist spinner, but also the second line of attack of Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli, who combined to do the fifth bowler’s duties.In the face of such modest pace, against which they could not only pick the balls but also the areas they wanted to hit to, the England opening pair of Craig Kieswetter and Alistair Cook rushed off the block confidently. So unafraid was Kieswetter that he started advancing down the track audaciously virtually every ball. There were a few false starts initially, but then unlike Usain Bolt, Kieswetter had a second chance.England haven’t had much trouble with India’s attack•Getty ImagesEngland had dashed to 56 for 0 at the end of five overs; India took the bowling Powerplay immediately, but the England pair added another 19 runs in the next two overs. By the tenth over the hosts had pretty much sealed the match. MS Dhoni, India’s captain, agreed when he highlighted India’s fast bowling weakness.”It became a difficult once the ball got wet,” Dhoni said, searching for reasons more than excuses. “None of our fast bowlers are really genuinely quick. They look to swing the ball and when it does not swing as it is wet it becomes difficult.” The wet ball, Dhoni pointed out, only carried on to the bat nicely, allowing the batsman to counter them easily.As Kieswetter and Cook overwhelmed the Indians with their explosive batting, Dhoni used every means to try and stop them. He thought introducing Ashwin inside the first five overs could at least slow down the England run rate. But the offspinner was clobbered by Kieswetter for 16 runs in his first over, including two massive sixes.”Once Vinay Kumar and Praveen Kumar went for runs I thought it would good to give the offspinner a chance, thinking that would make the difference but even he went for quite a few runs,” Dhoni said. “In the first five overs nothing worked for us.”The absence of Yuvraj Singh, who performed the duties of the fifth bowler during the World Cup so successfully, has hurt India severely. Yuvraj’s canny change of pace and an aggressive line of attack not only restricted the batsmen from scoring freely but also fetched key wickets. Dhoni said that was the difference in the two defeats, first in the Twenty20 at Old Trafford and now at Rose Bowl.But with Yuvraj out of the series due to injury, and a part-timer like Ravindra Jadeja missing today’s match due to visa issues that delayed his arrival, India have been forced to rely on Raina and Kohli for some overs. Today their four overs cost 35 runs and Dhoni was satisfied with that considering the assault the England openers meted out in the first ten overs.”It is not about the players who are not part of the side,” Dhoni said. “It is very important that the five bowlers that we have got and the two spinners make a real difference in the series.”He now expects Jadeja to fill in the breach left by Yuvraj. “When you have the fifth bowler you can manoeuvre the bowlers. But with Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina it is becoming difficult to manoeuvre the bowling. Those are the four overs where you do not want to give away too many runs. But if your first four bowlers are going for too many runs it becomes more difficult.”The Indian selectors never explain their reasoning to the public, so no one will ever know why they did not think of Jadeja as the fifth option when they picked the ODI squad. It makes them appear precious, and such an attitude is only hurting Indian cricket.

Left-arm fast bowler Ashish Nehra has said he is “deeply hurt” after being left out India’s squad for the first two ODIs against England

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2011Left-arm fast bowler Ashish Nehra has said he is deeply hurt after being left out India’s squad for the first two ODIs against England. Nehra missed the World Cup final with a broken finger, and has been out of action since. However, he has declared himself fit and resumed training, and said that he has submitted the fitness certificate too.”I still don’t know where exactly I’ve gone wrong after being India’s highest wicket-taker in ODIs since my comeback in 2009,” he told . “Also, till the Pakistan match in which I fractured my finger, I didn’t have any major injury issues.”Since his comeback, Nehra has been MS Dhoni’s go-to man during the batting Powerplay overs and when the slog is on in the final few overs. “Please check the records, which India bowler has bowled maximum number of overs at the death in last two years,” Nehra said.Although infamous for his recurring injuries, Nehra enjoyed a fairly consistent run in the team for two years after his comeback, before he injured his finger attempting a low catch from Misbah-ul-Haq in the World Cup semi-final. He did have a rib injury in between, but that only cost him IPL appearances.The World Cup semi-final against Pakistan, in which Nehra bowled 10 overs for 33 runs and two wickets, has turned out to be his last to date. He fractured the bones of his right fingers in five places and subsequently had to have surgery in Australia that required bone grafts – parts of bone were taken from his wrist and grafted onto his fingers.He skipped the IPL due to the injury, and was not picked for the ODIs against England in September. “I had submitted a fitness certificate before the ODI series in England,” he said. “I was ignored even when they summoned RP Singh from a holiday [as a replacement for Zaheer Khan].” Nehra’s fingers are now taped most of the time and the worst of them is bent, but he has been able to bowl at full tilt around four times a week in the last month and a half.He was not named in the squads for the Challenger Trophy, a domestic tournament featuring India’s best one-day talent, which begins on October 10. This, he said, had left him with very little chance of proving form and fitness, and he would rather play limited-overs cricket instead of a full-fledged first-class season, which could take a toll on his body. “You want me to prove my fitness, but then I am not even good enough to be in any of the Challenger Trophy teams.”Now, if I don’t have an option, I might have to pick and choose and play Ranji Trophy. If the board allows it, I can go and play in the Big Bash [Australia’s domestic Twenty20] or Pro-40 [South Africa’s 40-over competition.”