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Kemar Roach said he was pleased with his efforts after his 5 for 60 helped West Indies win the first Test against New Zealand at North Sound

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2012Kemar Roach has credited the team gameplan and the bowlers’ resolution on a batting pitch for West Indies bowling out New Zealand for a gettable target to win the first Test on Sunday. Roach took 5 for 60 to help West Indies win their first Test since October 2011.”The plan today was to bowl on one side of the wicket and look to build pressure,” Roach said after the match. “We believed that would lead to the wickets. They didn’t score many runs in the first session [but] we took our opportunities after lunch. It was a good team plan and it worked out very well today for us.”Roach dismissed New Zealand captain Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson in successive overs in the morning session, sparking New Zealand’s collapse. Seven wickets fell for 73 runs and New Zealand were eventually dismissed for 272, ending their chances of saving the Test.”The pitch was good for batting throughout the match but we were banking on Sunny (Sunil Narine) to get the bulk of the wickets today and win the match for us. He bowled extremely well in the match and was great in both innings, but today was my day and I seized the moment.”Taylor was the first to go, trapped lbw by a ball that angled in, and Williamson was bowled for a duck. Roach later dismissed Neil Wagner and Kruger van Wyk to end with match figures of 7 for 115, the second best in his career. In April, he had taken 10 for 146 against Australia in Trinidad, a track he said was better to bowl on than North Sound.”It was tough work in Trinidad, but here the pitch was just flat and quite good for the batsmen. The key was to get it straight and keep it straight. As the ball got older and softer I noticed the batsmen found it harder to score so I just stayed on top of off stump.”Roach is the fourth-highest Test wicket-taker this year, with 34 wickets at 22.47, and ranks tenth in the ICC Test rankings. Roach said he was pleased his efforts here bore fruit.”It was hard work out there, very hard work, but I am thrilled I put my hand up for the team and delivered a good victory.”The second Test begins in Kingston on August 2.

Australia’s batsmen did enough to secure victory in the first ODI in Sharjah on Tuesday, but they know they will need to find a more convincing way to handle Saeed Ajmal throughout the rest of the tour

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2012Australia’s batsmen did enough to secure victory in the first ODI in Sharjah on Tuesday, but they know they will need to find a more convincing way to handle Saeed Ajmal throughout the rest of the tour. Ajmal struck with his first ball of the match and again in his second over, which left Australia in trouble at 67 for 4 chasing 199, and he finished with 3 for 30 from his ten overs.George Bailey came to the crease after Ajmal’s first two wickets and helped put Australia back on target with steady half-century, but at no point did any of the batsmen really get on top of Ajmal. He conceded only one boundary and Bailey said Australia would need to find a way to score more freely off Ajmal in the remaining matches to avoid getting bogged down.”We could probably see him off a little better,” Bailey told reporters after the match. “We knew he was going to be a key bowler and I think that’s one of the real focuses we’ll have going in to Abu Dhabi is how we play him, and try to milk him a little bit better and try not to give him his wickets.”His control is good and we know he’s a key bowler. Certainly towards the back end, after he’d taken his wickets, the key was just to see him out. If we scored runs off him that was great, if we didn’t, that’s okay, we’ll just try to target the other bowlers. It’s nice to have faced Ajmal a little more, get a better feel of how to play him. And it was nice to face all the bowlers who we haven’t faced.”Mohammad Hafeez also proved a difficult customer for the Australian batsmen and having taken the new ball, it took him less than two overs to get rid of David Warner, who was bowled trying to slog across the line. Neither Warner nor his opening partner Matthew Wade had any real impact with the bat and Bailey said top-order partnerships would be important for Australia to win the series.”With opening the batting there’s responsibility,” Bailey said. “We want Matty Wade and Davey Warner to be scoring hundreds for us. But we also know that their ball-striking can get us off to a flyer too. So there’s a balance to be found there.”The big thing that we’ll take as a team is partnerships, particularly in the top order. If you look at teams that have had success over here the big partnerships and big scores come from the top order. That’s a real focus for us.”The Australians were helped by the fact that their bowlers put in such a strong performance after Pakistan chose to bat, dismissing them for 198. Bailey said James Pattinson was almost the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 19, although it was Mitchell Starc who ended up with the best figures of 5 for 42. Starc said he was pleased with the results given that the conditions didn’t offer much for the fast men.”It’s not helpful. There’s not much seam movement out there,” Starc said. “We’re sticking to our plans. We’re talking about it as a bowling group. I think we’re all bowling really well as a group. I was lucky to get the wickets today but James Pattinson got 3 for 19 and bowled magnificently well as well. As a group I think we’re doing well and then tonight with the bat we backed it up and got the job done in the end.”The three-match ODI series moves on to Abu Dhabi for the remaining two matches on Friday and Monday, before the three-match T20 series begins.

Nottinghamshire have approached Glamorgan bowler James Harris over a possible move to Trent Bridge

Jeremy Culley at Trent Bridge27-Aug-2012
ScorecardJames Harris has impressed for England Lions and could move up to Division One with Notts•Getty ImagesNottinghamshire have approached Glamorgan bowler James Harris over a possible move to Trent Bridge as they seek to cover the likely departure of Darren Pattinson. Harris is contracted until 2013 but has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave if Glamorgan are not in Division One of the Championship.”We’ve offered James a contract at Trent Bridge next year,” Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, Mick Newell, said after the washed-out match against Glamorgan at Trent Bridge. “I’m sure we’re not the only ones to have done that but we were aware if Glamorgan don’t get promoted then he has the opportunity to look around.”Glamorgan are keen for an answer so they can make their plans. We’ll just have to see what develops over the next couple of weeks.”Pattinson – who grew up in Australia before moving to England to play for Notts in 2008 – was making what is potentially his last appearance for the county. He will no longer qualify as a home player next year as he has agreed to represent Melbourne Renegades in the 2012-13 Big Bash League as a domestic player.The 33-year-old has not featured for Notts this year in Championship cricket and his contract expires at the end of this season. It is thought unlikely that he will return as an overseas player, but Notts appear to have acted decisively in their pursuit of a replacement and see England Lions bowler Harris – who returned figures of 0 for 60 from eight overs in this match – as a prime target.Pattinson, who infamously earned a single England Test cap against South Africa at Headingley in 2008, sent down just 15 balls against Glamorgan after Alex Hales had earlier fallen six runs short of a century. Glamorgan’s pursuit of a revised 257 from 38 overs lasted only 20 minutes, however, before rain forced an abandonment.Neither side had any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, with the Duckworth-Lewis defeat inflicted by Glamorgan at Swansea earlier in the season proving crucial to Nottinghamshire falling out of contention.After Notts were inserted by Glamorgan captain Mark Wallace, the early stages bore all the hallmarks of an end-of-season dead rubber. The bowling was so wayward that Alex Hales and Neil Edwards – making his first limited-overs appearance of the season – barely broke sweat in compiling an opening partnership of 114.Harris dropped Edwards on 28 and the opener went on to add another 30, reaching only the second one-day half-century of his career. He lofted John Glover over the top for six before perishing next ball attempting to repeat the shot, Harris taking the catch to partially make amends for his earlier miss.Edwards was only in the side to allow Michael Lumb a day off ahead of Notts’ crucial Championship match at Warwickshire, a luxury also afforded to captain Chris Read.Hales accumulated runs with such minimal fuss that it almost seemed he was treating the innings as an extended net session ahead of the game at Edgbaston, which starts tomorrow. He smashed two huge sixes, the second of which struck the windows of the press box in the Radcliffe Road Stand, and shared in a partnership of 80 with James Taylor, captaining Notts in Read’s absence.He seemed to be coasting to three figures but, after taking ten runs from the first two balls of an Andrew Sadler over, missed a straight full toss from the offspinner to be bowled. The dismissal sparked the Dragons into life but a quickfire 27 from Riki Wessels helped Nottinghamshire up to 264.Rain during the interval delayed Glamorgan’s reply before more wet weather permanently ended their chase in the sixth over.

Jonny Bairstow has withdrawn from the Yorkshire squad for the Champions League T20 after sustaining a wrist injury during the World Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2012Jonny Bairstow has withdrawn from the Yorkshire squad for the Champions League T20 after sustaining a wrist injury during the World Twenty20.Bairstow has suffered torn cartilage in his right wrist and will seek specialist treatment over the next couple of weeks but hopes to avoid surgery which would put his place on the India Test tour in doubt.It was a difficult tournament for Bairstow in Sri Lanka as he scored 38 runs in five innings batting in variety of positions. In England’s final Super Eights match, against the hosts, he kept wicket for the first time at international level.Despite his problems against spin at the World Twenty20, Bairstow will be hopeful of making the starting XI in India after an impressive return to the Test side against South Africa at Lord’s, where he made 95 and 54. He had been called in as a replacement for Kevin Pietersen, but the progress made towards Pietersen’s return could yet mean Bairstow is pushed back to the sidelines, depending on the balance of England’s team.His absence for Yorkshire, meanwhile, has left them needing to fill a significant gap. Bairstow played a key role in getting them to the Champions League when he struck 68 off 45 balls in the Friends Life t20 semi-final against Sussex, while he is also the first-choice wicketkeeper. His place behind the stumps will go to Dan Hodgson, 22, after Andrew Hodd, who signed on loan during the season and then gained a permanent deal, was refused permission to play in the tournament.”I can’t think of a better way to start my Twenty20 career than playing in the Champions League,” Hodgson told the . “I always thought there might be a chance I’d get a game with Jonny being on England duty, but it does feel a bit surreal now it’s happened.”Yorkshire are also without Tim Bresnan who has been ordered to rest by the ECB ahead of the Test tour to India and will only have David Miller, the South Africa batsman who is one of their overseas signings, available for one of their qualifying matches.Yorkshire face Uva Next, from Sri Lanka, then Trinidad and Tobago in the qualifying section as they try and earn a spot in the main draw. Hampshire, who won the Friends Life t20, are the other county at the event.

A round-up of the seventh round of Ranji Trophy’s Group B matches on December 15, 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2012
ScorecardHaryana’s Mohit Sharma moved one wicket behind leader Sandeep Sharma of Punjab with his third five-for of the season, against Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow. Haryana asked UP to bat and Mohit made the initial breakthroughs, sending back the openers for not much. The allrounder Joginder Sharma marked his return following an accident last year by having Mohammad Kaif caught behind to reduce UP to 63 for 3. Suresh Raina (49) and Parvinder Singh (32) staged a mini-recovery before Harshal Patel dismissed the duo. Mohit cleaned up the tail to finish with 5 for 47 as UP were bowled out for 227. Ankit Rajpoot sent back Abhimanyu Khod in the fourth over of Haryana’s innings which closed on 32 for 1 at stumps.
ScorecardYo Mahesh was another quick bowler who picked up a five-for but Baroda’s last-wicket pair salvaged the innings to some extent against Tamil Nadu. The hosts were sent in to bat on a Moti Bagh pitch which aided seam movement and lost regular wickets to be limping on 128 for 9 at one stage. Ambati Rayudu, the Baroda captain, was the only specialist batsman to make a score of note, his 54 taking Baroda past 100. The Nos 10 and 11, Murtuja Vahora and Bhargav Bhatt, added 63 runs in a stand stretching over 21 overs to take Baroda towards 200.
ScorecardDelhi’s five-man all-seam attack ran through the Maharashtra line-up at the Roshanara Club ground. Sumit Narwal led with three strikes while Pawan Suyal and Pradeep Sangwan picked up two each after Delhi chose to bowl. Ankit Bawne was the only man to get a half-century while Shrikant Mundhe contributed 42 down the order. Samad Fallah produced two beauties to get rid of Unmukt Chand and Mohit Sharma cheaply when Delhi came out to bat after tea. Shikhar Dhawan, the Delhi captain, ran himself out attempting a tight single and it was left to Mithun Manhas and Vaibhav Rawal to carry Delhi to 60 for 3 by stumps.
ScorecardLokesh Rahul, the former India Under-19 batsman, made his maiden first-class century in Mysore as Karnataka posted a commanding 308 for 2 against Vidarbha. The wicketkeeper CM Gautam made the most of a promotion in the order to get a hundred himself. Karnataka shrugged off an indifferent beginning as Rahul and Gautam put on an unbroken 256 for the third wicket. Vidarbha, who used as many as nine bowlers, were left to rue their decision to field. Both batsmen came together after Robin Uthappa and Ganesh Satish fell cheaply. The duo scored at similar rates and put Karnataka on top.

Batsman Haris Sohail has twisted his left ankle at Pakistan’s ongoing training camp in Lahore, ahead of the India tour, but the injury is not serious

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Dec-2012Batsman Haris Sohail has twisted his left ankle at Pakistan’s ongoing training camp in Lahore, ahead of the India tour, but is not expected to be out of action for too long. Sohail, who is yet to make his international debut, is part of Pakistan’s squad for the one-day leg of the tour.Sohail was taken for an MRI scan that revealed the injury was not serious. He was advised six days rest, which would mean he should be ready to play in time for the India ODI series, which begins on December 30 in Chennai.In June, Sohail had been picked in Pakistan’s squad for the T20s against Sri Lanka, but didn’t make the playing XI. He had been in fine form on the domestic circuit, scoring three hundreds and a half-century in his last four first-class appearances for Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited. He had also scored a rapid, unbeaten fifty in Sialkot Stallions victory over Abbottabad Falcons in the just-concluded Faysal Bank T-20 Cup.

India have retained the squad that took a 2-1 series lead against England for the last two one-dayers in Mohali and Dharamsala

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jan-2013India have retained the squad that took a 2-1 series lead against England for the last two one-dayers in Mohali and Dharamsala. Manoj Tiwary, who said he had recovered from a side strain, was not picked.The matches are on January 23 and 27, and the last ODI clashes with the final of the Ranji Trophy, which runs from January 26 to 30. Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja are the players who could be involved in that game if their domestic teams make it through the semi-finals.After narrowly losing the first ODI, a high-scoring contest in Rajkot, India bounced back to beat England comprehensively in Kochi and Ranchi, by margins of 127 runs and seven wickets respectively.Squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Shami Ahmed.

A collective bowling effort was backed up by a century from Kamran Akmal as Pakistan A clinched the second unofficial ODI against Afghanistan by seven wickets

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2013
ScorecardGulbodin Naib celebrates his century•Hasrat Sadaat/Afghanistan Cricket BoardA collective bowling effort was backed up by an attacking century from wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal as Pakistan A clinched the second unofficial ODI against Afghanistan by seven wickets, and thereby the series 2-0.Afghanistan were behind for most of the game, after their top-order batsmen were dismissed cheaply. Seamers Imran Khan and Wahab Riaz, and spinner Adnan Rasool reduced them to 77 for 6, before 21-year old Gulbodin Naib put on a 93-run partnership with Mirwais Ashraf to help push their score beyond 200.Naib started slowly, but made up for it towards the end of the innings to bring up his hundred in the penultimate over, before falling to Wahab Riaz five balls later. He struck 13 fours and three sixes in his innings.Pakistan, unlike their opponents, were in control of their innings throughout. An opening stand of 94, dominated by Akmal, in 18.4 overs set the base for a comfortable victory. Akmal retired hurt after scoring 104, and by then he had seen his side through to a secure position at 177 for 3.Pakistan had won the first match comfortably as well, by eight wickets.

Cyclone Sandra made its presence felt in the penultimate round of the Ford Trophy, with rain washing out two of the day’s scheduled games and forcing the third to be abandoned

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2013Cyclone Sandra made its presence felt in the penultimate round of the Ford Trophy, with rain washing out two of the day’s scheduled games and forcing the third to be abandoned. All six teams got two points each, which confirmed play-off spots for leaders Auckland, Northern Districts and Canterbury. Although fourth-placed Wellington are ahead of Central Districts by five points, both sides are in contention for the last play-off spot in the final round of games to be played on Wednesday.In this round, the matches between Auckland and Northern Districts in Auckland and Central Districts and Wellington in New Plymouth were washed out without a ball bowled.In Dunedin, Canterbury got to 159 for 4 in 39.5 overs after being put in by Otago. George Worker was unbeaten with 73 at the top of the order while Shanan Stewart had made 38. The pair helped their side recover from 84 for 4 before the rain had its say.

Preview of the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians in Kolkata

The Preview by Nikita Bastian23-Apr-2013Match factsApril 24, 2013
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Happy 40th for Sachin Tendulkar?•BCCIBig PictureKolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians. Defending champions and the most high-profile line-up in the IPL. A third of the way into IPL 2013, they sit at No. 6 and No. 7 on the points table. That in itself might not be too alarming at this stage, given how teams can flit up and down the table in the space of a couple of games; more worrying for the sides would be their performances in their previous two games. While Knight Riders failed to win key moments with the ball and close out the games when ahead, Mumbai Indians looked completely hapless in theirs, losing by 87 runs and nine wickets.Both teams have selection matters to mull. Knight Riders will have to decide whether to allow the big-hitting Brendon McCullum a chance ahead of Eoin Morgan, though that seems unlikely. Captain Gautam Gambhir hinted on the eve of the match that Knight Riders would stick with Morgan – who has been doing well for the team – as it was a choice between wanting “McCullum at the top or a finisher in the middle”. Mumbai Indians captain Ricky Ponting, meanwhile, will once again have to see whether he fits into his team’s line-up at all.The game comes with a subplot: it coincides with Sachin Tendulkar’s 40th birthday. The Cricket Association of Bengal and Mumbai Indians’ management have several plans to celebrate the occasion, including a 40-pound chocolate cake reportedly made of cocoa from Ghana and Madagascar. Tendulkar – whose half-century in the previous game, against Delhi Daredevils, came at a strike-rate that is barely passable in Twenty20 cricket – and his team will be hoping for an on-field performance that does not mar the day’s festivities.Form guideMumbai Indians LLWWW (most recent first)
Kolkata Knight Riders LLWLLIn the spotlightGambhir apart, Knight Riders’ Indian batsmen have been underperforming. As the captain pointed out, one of Knight Riders’ main problems this season is “our middle-order which is not getting runs”. In their six games Manoj Tiwary and Yusuf Pathan, two major cogs in their middle order, have averaged 21.50 and 14.80. Knight Riders bumped Yusuf up to the opener’s slot in their previous match in a bid to get him back into form. They’ll definitely need more from these two as the tournament progresses.Mumbai Indians produced one of the poorest bowling performances in IPL cricket on Sunday. Munaf Patel, one of the more experienced bowlers in their line-up, was especially woeful, consistently straying on leg stump despite having fine leg up. He conceded nine an over. The rest of the line-up, Lasith Malinga aside, were even more expensive. A rejig is definitely on the cards.Stats and Trivia Lasith Malinga is five wickets short of the 200 mark in Twenty20 cricket. Only Alfonso Thomas and Dirk Nannes are ahead of him Kieron Pollard needs two sixes to become the second player behind Chris Gayle to get to 250 sixes in T20sQuotes”We are playing good cricket. We are getting there gradually. All we need is a win. A victory would put our campaign back on track.”
“Playing as defending champions itself is the biggest motivation. Otherwise you should be sitting at home and watch others play. Wearing a KKR jersey itself is the biggest motivation. There are many more in the dressing room who are dying to wear the jersey.”