A round-up of the final and third-place playoff of the ICC East Asia-Pacific Region Division One Twenty20 tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2011Papua New Guinea maintained their unbeaten run in the East Asia-Pacific Region Division One Twenty20, beating Vanuatu by a comfortable margin of 58 runs in the final in Port Moresby. The victory books PNG’s spot in the Global Division One Twenty20 playoff in the UAE early next year, which will determine the two Associates or Affiliates to play in the 12-team World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.PNG elected to bat and got off to a streaky start when in-form opener Asad Vala was dropped by opposing captain Andrew Mansale. Vala, who had 344 runs in the tournament leading up to the final, and Tony Ura took advantage of Vanuatu’s slip-up, adding 56 off 5.2 overs before Jelany Chilia got Vala to edge to the keeper. Ura stood firm though, putting on 47 runs with Chris Amini, before falling for 48. By then the platform was laid for PNG – with the scoreboard reading 103 for 2 in the 11th over – to push on to a big total. Mahuru Dai and Jason Kila provided the final surge, striking four sixes to carry PNG to 195 for 5.The Vanuatu openers got the chase off to a steady start, but wickets in the fifth and sixth overs put PNG in front. From there on PNG picked up wickets regularly and kept the batsmen in check. Only Patrick Matautaava was able to inject some much-needed momentum into the Vanuatu innings, striking two fours and three sixes in his 36 off 18 balls. But when he was caught off medium-pacer Joel Tom – who was the pick of the bowlers for PNG, claiming 3 for 31 – in the 19th over, victory was already beyond Vanuatu.PNG captain, Rarva Dikana said the win at home, especially in front of the sizeable crowd, was fitting. “It is a huge achievement for the country, especially considering all of the development work going on,” he said. “I’m glad we could do this for everyone involved in cricket in PNG.”Ura, who was the second highest-scorer in the tournament behind opening partner Vala, was named Man of the Match. Tom and Matautaava, along with Fiji’s Iniasi Cakacaka, were the tournament’s top wicket-takers with nine wickets.In the third-place play-off game, an all-round performance from Samoa earned them a 30-run victory over Fiji. Samoa were sent into bat and though they lost opener Sean Cotter early, a steady 43 from captain Geoff Clarke, followed by whirlwind knocks from Faasao Mulivai (67) and Pritchard Pritchard (28*), carried them to a competitive 172 for 3.Fiji’s chase started poorly when they lost opener Sekove Ravoka in the first over. A 58-run second wicket partnership between Joji Bulabalavu and Iniasi Cakacaka steadied the innings, but a flurry of quick wickets after that derailed their chase. They slumped from 58 for 1 to 68 for 5 and couldn’t get going after that, getting bowled out for 142. Samoa’s bowlers were steady with Cotter, the most successful, claiming 3 for 9 in three overs.

Creating a professional ethos and identifying new talent are the key focus areas for West Indies as they aim to break into the top half of the Test table by 2015, their captain Darren Sammy has said

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2011Creating a professional ethos, improving fitness levels and identifying new talent are the key focus areas for West Indies as they aim to break into the top half of the Test table by 2015, their captain Darren Sammy has said. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Sammy, who was appointed captain until the end of the 2011 season, also spoke about his experience thus far, the role of seniors in the side and his dynamics with former captain Chris Gayle.”Obviously bringing the whole professional attitude into practice properly and getting fit [are top of the agenda],” Sammy said, outlining the side’s vision, as they strive to shake off years of sub-par performances. “I believe the fitter you are, the more right decisions you will make. You will not cramp up under pressure. Being in the top five by 2015, and building a strong team that will go out and compete against anybody [are also part of the plan].”If you noticed over the last couple of years, we have been rotating the same guys. So now we are exposing a few more players, getting the right system, the right work ethic to go out and represent West Indies. Start changing the whole laidback type of culture, just strictly being professional. Knowing what to do for the team, and doing whatever it takes to make the team win [are the goals].”Sammy took charge of the side in a period of turmoil caused by the team’s on-field disappointments, and continued wrangling between the board and senior players, Gayle in particular. Several critics have questioned Sammy’s place in the side as an allrounder, pointing to his modest batting returns at No. 8. Sammy has gained more success with the ball – he has 46 wickets in 16 Tests – but his presence in the team relegates the much faster Kemar Roach to the bench. Sammy said the criticism was unfair and believed his record was good enough to merit a spot in the starting XI.”I think I have justified my selection as a bowler in the team,” Sammy said. “My batting has obviously not been up to scratch. It’s something I have to work on.”If I look at my Test record it is okay. In every team somebody will always be the fall guy. So far it’s always been me. It’s tough luck on Kemar. At the end of the day the selectors pick the team. What’s good is that we have competition for spots in the bowling department.”Sammy also revealed that while he was ready to lead the team through the tough times, he had no qualms over playing under someone else. “I am not somebody who, if not the captain, will be sulking and stuff like that. To be honest, I never dreamt of being the captain. Whether I am the captain or not, I will be the same person. I enjoy my job, but what I am saying is I would enjoy my cricket even if I am not the captain.”The Gayle-WICB dispute has raged for the bulk of Sammy’s tenure as captain – he took charge after Gayle’s demotion. However, he challenged the perception that he was the board’s man and insisted he had always enjoyed a good working relationship with Gayle and had no part to play in how the feud unfolded.”The whole situation with Gayle is not in my hands. I have no issues with Christopher. He helped me throughout the World Cup. I was always going to him for advice and stuff like that. It’s sad that we have an issue like this now. Hopefully something positive will come out of this issue.”Even as West Indies make a concerted push towards introducing new talent, Sammy said seniors like Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan have a role to play in the side’s future. “You saw today [fifth day of the Dominica Test] what Shiv [Chanderpaul] does and what he has been doing throughout his career. He has the ability to rally the younger players around him. And we have a number of young players in the team presently, but you saw the way he guided Kirk Edwards through to his first century. Hopefully he can carry on batting like he’s been doing.”Sars [Sarwan] is a class player. I believe that he will bounce back being the classy player that he is and the fighter that he is. So I will never write Sarwan off. I believe he still has a lot to offer.”

Sanjay Bangar, the former India allrounder who currently plays for Railways, is among the applicants for the position of Mumbai’s coach

Abhishek Purohit26-Aug-2011Sanjay Bangar, the former India allrounder who currently plays for Railways, is among the applicants for the position of Mumbai’s coach. The new coach will be appointed on Monday by the Mumbai Cricket Association’s cricket improvement committee (CIC).”I had applied at the end of the IPL,” Bangar told ESPNcricinfo. “But I have not had any communication with the MCA after that.”Mumbai have been without a coach since former India batsman Pravin Amre quit earlier this year, following an underwhelming season in which the 39-time champions lost in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals to eventual winners Rajasthan. Former player Vilas Godbole has been filling in as stand-in coach for the Mumbai side playing in the ongoing Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai.Mumbai-based Bangar is a domestic veteran having played 150 first-class matches in a career spanning 18 years and, at 38, is still an integral part of the Railways team. He was with the Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise in IPL 2011 as part of the coaching staff.If he is chosen as the coach, it would mean the end of Bangar’s first-class career and his association with Railways as a player, something which he holds very dear. “If it happens, it is going to be a very tough decision for me. I have loved being part of the Railways side over the years.”MCA treasurer Ravi Sawant said the position of Mumbai coach was filled by invitation and therefore the candidates were not restricted to people who have applied for the post. “The Cricket Improvement Committee will meet on Monday and after deliberating will invite a suitable person to coach the Mumbai team,” he told the . “This position is filled through invitation, and not application.”Balwinder Sandhu, member of the committee that will select the coach, was of the view that sufficient coaching experience counted when it came to mentoring the most-decorated domestic team in the country.”I have always been of the view that we should call the candidates for interviews, ask them about their plans for Mumbai cricket and then decide,” Sandhu said. “But that has not happened so far. We will take a call on the position soon.”When the CIC meet to decide on the new coach, former Mumbai players Sanjay Manjrekar, Milind Rege and Sanjay Patil will not be there as they have been removed from the CIC, with the MCA deciding on a fixed term for members of the committee. Rege and Manjrekar have been a part of the committee since its inception in 2001. “They said that we have completed eight years and we are no more required,” Rege told . “I don’t want to comment on their decision. But I will always be available for Mumbai cricket whenever required.”

A solitary half-century, a near king-pair, an average shading 20.00 and three different opening partners in his first five matches indicate how patchy Abhinav Mukund’s baptism into Test cricket has been

Nitin Sundar29-Aug-2011A solitary half-century, a near king-pair, an average shading 20.00 and three different opening partners in his first five matches – the numbers are indicative of how tough Abhinav Mukund’s baptism into Test cricket has been, but he is encouraged by the way he has come through.”The results don’t show how much progress I made,” Abhinav told ESPNcricinfo. “I have definitely got the belief that I could do well and there’s so much that I have learned. It was a tough couple of tours [West Indies and England], but I can take a lot of confidence out of them.”Abhinav was far from the reckoning at the start of the season but injuries to Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave him a chance in the West Indies alongside his Tamil Nadu opening partner M Vijay. His performance on that tour sealed the third opener’s slot for England ahead of Vijay, but Abhinav insists he will always look up to his “senior partner” in whose company he has amassed runs for his state.”I’ve been opening with Vijay since I started playing at the domestic level [so] it was really good to open with him in my first three Tests,” Abhinav said. “Both of us know that there is competition, but that doesn’t affect our equation. He has helped me a lot in the domestic set-up, where we have had long partnerships and spent a lot of time in the middle.”Abhinav dropped out of the XI with Sehwag returning for the last two Tests against England, despite his century batting at No. 3 in the tour game against Northants, and he played no further part in the tour. The setback did not affect Abhinav, who admitted that shoehorning him into the XI for Edgbaston would have upset the team’s combination.”I batted at No. 3 in the tour game only to give Dravid a break,” Abhinav said. “I wanted to get a few runs and put some pressure on the management. At the end of the day, I believe that opening batsmen should open. [However] I don’t really mind playing lower down the order if slots open up there and I can contribute.”Abhinav’s debut coincided with that of the new India coach, Duncan Fletcher, who he says has had a positive influence on his batting. “Duncan hadn’t seen me much before the West Indies tour,” Abhinav said. “There were a lot of pointers he gave me, small things. The wickets in West Indies were a lot bouncier than I expected – especially Jamaica and Barbados. He showed me how to play much closer to the body, which was very helpful for someone like me who has grown up batting on South Indian wickets. It is something that I can use when playing on wickets with bounce and movement.”Walking out with different partners on a regular basis did not, he said, affect his mindset. “You can’t control injuries, especially on-field ones as happened to Gautam,” Abhinav said. “I had played with Dravid before [in the West Indies], and opening with him wasn’t a big difference since he comes in at No. 3.”Abhinav’s biggest challenge in England came at Trent Bridge where he chose to take first strike in the second innings despite being on a king pair. “I really wanted to take the first ball, no matter what,” he said. “I wanted to back myself and taking first strike was a positive move. It was very important that the openers showed a sign of solidarity, since the team revolves around the start the openers make.”Like in the first innings, Abhinav edged his first ball into the cordon, but Tim Bresnan put down a simple catch. Abhinav could not cash in, though, and managed only three as India sank against a bouncer barrage.”It was a really good ball,” Abhinav said about the James Anderson outswinger that nearly gave him the ignominy of two first-ballers. “Considering it was a good ball, I could have got a king pair but I didn’t. At the end of the day, though, I didn’t get too many either. I should have carried on.”Abhinav’s batting has reminded several cricket followers of the former Tamil Nadu and India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh. Abhinav said his team-mates, including Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh, refer to him as ‘Taki’, which used to be Ramesh’s nickname. “Apparently, even my mannerisms off the field are similar to his,” he said. “It is nothing conscious, since I haven’t seen Ramesh bat much. By the time I got my break into the Ranji side, he had moved on to other things.”

Australia’s captain, Michael Clarke, hopes he will have some input into who replaces Tim Nielsen as the team’s coach

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2011Australia’s captain, Michael Clarke, hopes he will have some input into who replaces Tim Nielsen as the team’s coach. Clarke arrived back home in Sydney on Wednesday night after leading Australia to a 1-0 Test series victory in Sri Lanka, where Nielsen finished the tour by announcing his decision to step down from the coaching role.That means Australia will have an interim coach for next month’s tour of South Africa – probably one of the assistants, Steve Rixon or Justin Langer – while the search goes on for a full-time replacement. Clarke is believed to have a very high regard for his former New South Wales coach, Rixon, and while he did not name any preferred names, he said he hoped his opinions would be considered as Cricket Australia looked for their new man.”I hope I will [have some input],” Clarke said. “I have a really good relationship with James Sutherland, the CEO, and I’m pretty sure it is important the captain and coach have a strong bond. I would imagine I would have some sort of impact and I’ll be communicating with James over however long, to try and work out who they think the best person for the role is.”There’s a lot of successful coaches around the world, and I think the priority, as the review has made very clear, is they are going to try and get the best person for the job. I think Tim Nielsen has done an amazing job for Australia. He’s been fantastic for me, not only as a captain, but as a player and he’s certainly going to be missed.”Leading candidates to replace Nielsen will include Rixon, who has a successful track record having coached New Zealand as well as New South Wales, and Mickey Arthur, the former South Africa mentor. Arthur is preparing for his second season as coach of Western Australia.Nielsen’s resignation came after the release of the Argus review, which recommended a more wide-ranging brief for the head coach. Whoever gets the new job will not only guide the national team, he will also direct the coaching style that will filter down to state and academy level, and with Clarke will be one of Australia’s five-man selection panel.

A blistering opening partnership between Robin Uthappa and S Anirudha set up an impressive win for India Green against India Blue in Nagpur

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Oct-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Robin Uthappa struck a blistering ton and was involved in a double-century opening stand•Sivaraman Kitta/K Sivaraman

A blistering opening partnership between Robin Uthappa and S Anirudha set up an impressive win for India Green against India Blue in Nagpur, and secured their place in the final of the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy. India Green were asked to bat first once again, however, this time they made better use of the fine platform laid by their openers and piled up 348 for 9 in their 50 overs to all but shut India Blue out of the match at the halfway stage.Uthappa carried his form from the first match into this game, launching his aggressive knock with a lofted four to long-off and a well-executed pull off Irfan Pathan. Anirudha played the support role in the pair’s century stand in the previous game, but here he matched Uthappa shot for shot. He struck Irfan for two boundaries as well, before depositing a short ball on the leg stump from Pradeep Sangwan beyond long-on.The pair was aided by some wayward bowling from Irfan early on, as he repeatedly strayed on to the pads in an attempt to get the ball to swing in. India Blue captain S Badrinath tried to stem the flow of runs by bringing on Amit Mishra in the fifth over, but Uthappa and Anirudha continued to pick up fours and sixes at will. After the openers pummelled 34 runs off two overs, India Green had raced to 86 after eight. Unlike against India Red though, they did not waste their fine starts and pushed on to centuries, bringing the 200 up as early as the 23rd over.The bowlers finally found some relief after Uthappa retired. Mohammad Kaif struggled to keep the momentum going before rushing down the track and playing down the wrong line to hand Mishra his first wicket. Anirudha gifted his wicket away, lofting a full toss on the leg stump to midwicket off part-timer M Vijay. Uthappa returned after India Green lost Mohnish Mishra and Ishank Jaggi in quick succession, but could not match his early tempo, striking just one more four before P Parameswaran had him bowled. Sangwan claimed wickets late in the innings as the batsmen looked for quick runs, to finish with 4 for 58 form his ten.India Blue, who needed to win to make the final, made a poor start in the chase as Tanmay Srivastava edged behind off left-arm medium pacer Samad Fallah, with CM Gautham completing a spectacular diving catch. Vijay and Saurabh Tiwary did not let the asking-rate get out of reach though, in an 87-run stand for the second wicket at better than a run-a-ball. After Vijay fell, beaten by Iqbal Abdulla’s turn, Dinesh Karthik provided Tiwary with adequate support. The pair added 48 before Tiwary hit straight to Jaggi at long-off, cutting short his promising innings of 74 off 70. India Blue had one last go at the target through Karthik and Manish Pandey, before Karthik was adjudged lbw off Abhimanyu Mithun for 49.From then on, wickets fell at regular intervals and the required rate soared, and India Green closed out the game in the 42nd over courtesy a fine tumbling catch by Kaif to get rid of Sangwan. Badrinath, who had gone off the field during the first drinks break of the India Green innings, did not bat. Uthappa was named Man of the Match.India Green will play India Red in the final on Thursday at the same venue.

Tasmania surged to a 48-run victory over South Australia in a rain-shortened domestic one-day match in Burnie

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2011Tasmania
ScorecardTasmania surged to a 48-run victory over South Australia in a rain-shortened domestic one-day match in Burnie, as Ed Cowan and Ben Hilfenhaus made striking contributions.Cowan’s 91 at No. 3 allowed the Tigers to set a decent target despite the loss of regular wickets, and the total was bolstered a little more by Duckworth-Lewis calculations.SA’s reply was unsettled the moment the visitors lost the captain Michael Klinger to Hilfenhaus, and regular wicket ensured they would never mount a serious chase despite 66 for the in-form Tom Cooper.Hilfenhaus finished with four wickets while Xavier Doherty managed two.

Tony Greig the former England captain, will deliver the 12th MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s next year

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2011Tony Greig, the former England captain, will deliver the 12th MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture at Lord’s next year. Greig will become the second ex-England captain to deliver the lecture, after Geoffrey Boycott in 2005.The Spirit of Cricket lecture began in 2001 and was named after the late Colin Cowdrey, the former England captain and a past MCC president, who, together with another former president Ted Dexter, were instrumental in including the spirit of cricket as the preamble to the Laws of the game.Grieg played 58 Tests for England between 1972 and 1977 and was captain 14 times. He scored 3,599 runs at 40.43 and took 141 wickets at 32.20. Now 65, Greig is broadcaster for Channel Nine in Australia.”Fiercely competitive on the field and hugely insightful off the field, Tony Greig has had a wonderful career in the game,” said MCC president Philip Hodson. “Never one to shun the limelight or shy away from voicing his opinion, I am sure that his MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture will be in keeping with the way he played the game.”I very much look forward to welcoming him to Lord’s to deliver one of the highlights in the MCC calendar, and listen to him tackle some of the key issues that currently surround the game.”This year Kumar Sangakkara gave a widely acclaimed Cowdrey lecture where he talked about controversial issues within Sri Lanka cricket and also about the importance of the sport in his country.

As predicted the Durban Test was a one-sided affair, except that it was the no-hopers from Sri Lanka who were doing the dominating

The Report by Siddarth Ravindran29-Dec-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rangana Herath ended Sri Lanka’s run of 15 Tests without a victory•AFP

As predicted the Durban Test was a one-sided affair, except that it was the no-hopers from Sri Lanka who were doing the dominating. A year that has gone rapidly downhill for Sri Lanka since their World Cup final appearance in April, including an interminable run of series defeats and a bankrupt board struggling to pay players, ended on the most unexpected of highs as they secured their first Test success in South Africa.A Sri Lanka victory that will rank alongside the path-breaking one at The Oval 15 years ago as the greatest in their history was within reach as South Africa’s batting crumbled after lunch on the fourth day at Kingsmead. The parties in Sri Lanka were delayed by a long stand between AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn, who batted out most of the final session before Rangana Herath struck minutes before close to ease any anxiety building up. The final three wickets went down in four deliveries and a fantastic year for Test cricket ended with the biggest upset of 2011.South Africa’s batting had been solid in the morning, and they would have been satisfied with the start to their attempt at a world-record chase of 450 despite losing the wicket of Graeme Smith. With Hashim Amla in imperious form, South Africa had reached a reasonably comfortable 86 for 1 by lunch, but over the next hour they lost four wickets and even their flimsy hopes of ending their three-Test losing run at Durban evaporated.The collapse began in the first over after the break, when Jacques Rudolph’s resistance ended – and with it perhaps his recently-revived Test career, temporarily at least. As so often in his second coming at the Test level, he was caught in the slip cordon – this time nicking a wide delivery from Thisara Perera.Jacques Kallis has been in patchy form recently, including a duck in the first innings, but his record in the second innings of Tests is unimpeachable. If South Africa were to salvage something from the Test, they needed another Kallis special. Unfortunately for him, there were no match-turning heroics as he top-edged a sweep on to his helmet to give short leg a catch. In his 149th Test, he bagged his first pair.If that blow left South Africa unsteady, they were on the mat soon after as Amla, till then producing a masterclass in off-side strokeplay, was run out after attempting a kamikaze single. He punched the ball straight to mid-on and dashed across for the run though Ashwell Prince showed no interest, and stayed firmly at the non-striker’s end. Prince, with his Test career on the line, then had to face a lifter from Dilhara Fernando, that he could only glove towards slip. With South Africa at 116 for 5, the fans could start partying in Sri Lanka.The Prince dismissal was an almost exact replica of Smith’s earlier in the day. Fernando, used as early as the ninth over this time after his delayed introduction in the first innings, started with his usual no-ball, raising snickers, but there was no laughing later in the over when he got a delivery to leap at Smith. The batsman attempted to ride the bounce, instead of dropping his hands and letting the ball through, and could only glove a catch to slip.Besides Fernando, South Africa’s main worry was the left-arm spin of Herath. On Wednesday, South Africa had been given a glimpse of what was to come when two successive deliveries from Imran Tahir spun and kicked off a length to comfortably beat the batsman and the wicketkeeper. With the ball turning, Herath varied his flight and angle, to relentlessly probe the South African batsmen’s techniques. He was rewarded with the huge wicket of Kallis, and just before tea he added the scalp of Mark Boucher, another man whose place in the side is under scrutiny.AB de Villiers gamely fought on, but there was little he could do to lift South Africa from their hopeless situation. He and Steyn defied the bowling for 34 overs – another reminder to the batting unit that failed twice in this match that the surface wasn’t unplayable.Steyn had been central to South Africa’s promising start to the day as well. In the first innings, he had gone wicketless in a completed innings for the first time since 2008, and he responded second time round with his 17th Test five-for to bring a quick end to the Sri Lankan innings.There was some classic tail-end batting from Sri Lanka in the morning but their resistance lasted only about half an hour. It didn’t matter much, given how far ahead Sri Lanka had already got after the first three days of the Test.The biggest monkey on the back in the game, if measured by column inches, would be Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international hundred, but the bigger one is Sri Lanka failing to win a Test for nearly a year-and-a-half since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. They have got that off their backs – in style and on a great stage – setting up a tantalising decider in Cape Town.

The Scottish Lions will play seven three-day games against county sides and the MCC as part of their schedule for 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2012The Scottish Lions will play seven three-day games against county sides and the MCC as part of their schedule for 2012. The increased fixture list, which includes Scotland’s Intercontinental Cup and CB40 commitments, is the most demanding undertaken by the Associate nation.The senior squad will also attend a training camp in Sri Lanka ahead of their attempts to secure a spot at the World Twenty20 in later this year. Scotland are set to be involved in at least seven T20 matches during the qualifiers in Dubai in March.Three of Scotland’s games in 2012 will have one-day international status, including a fixture against England that will take place on August 12 in Edinburgh.”The increase in game time for both the national and Lions sides is a vital part of our development,” Scotland head coach Peter Steindl said. “The schedule will provide all of our players with the chance to develop their skills in pressurised environments. We are looking forward to the challenge that 2012 will provide us.”