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Jack Taylor and David Payne took two wickets each as Gloucestershire dominated a rain-reduced first day of their Division Two clash with Glamorgan

01-Aug-2012
ScorecardJack Taylor and David Payne took two wickets each as Gloucestershire dominated a rain-reduced first day of their Division Two clash with Glamorgan at St Helen’s, Swansea. Only 27 overs were possible but Glamorgan were still reduced to 64 for 6.This was the first time the two sides had met this season with their previous three matches – a four-day game and two T20 contests – all washed out. No play was possible until 3pm because of heavy rain but they did manage to get the toss in, which Glamorgan won.But captain Mark Wallace probably had second thoughts about batting first as his side were reduced to 19 for 4 within 14 overs. Three of those wickets fell in the space of four balls.The early damage was done by left arm seamer David Payne who trapped Gareth Rees with a ball that ducked into him from outside off-stump. That left the home side 12 for 1 in the eighth over. Gloucestershire captain Alex Gidman made the bold move to bring on offspinner Jack Taylor as early as the 11th over, and it paid dividends.Taylor, on a pitch that was showing signs of early turn, took two consecutive wickets at the end of his second over. Stewart Walters was well caught by Dan Housego at short leg before Marcus North, Glamorgan’s overseas batsman, went caught behind first ball attempting to sweep.Two balls later Payne trapped Will Bragg leg before in similar fashion to that of Rees. But just as the fifth-wicket pair – Jim Allenby and Ben Wright – seemed to be rebuilding the innings Ian Saxelby broke through to bowl Allenby. It left Glamorgan 56 for 5 and in the next over Wallace was bowled leaving a ball from Rob Nicol’s part-time offspin.Only 16 balls were possible after tea before the umpires took the players off the field for bad light, which turned into rain, and play was called off for the day at 5.35pm. With six wickets falling so quickly the pitch inspector David Hughes was expected to stay overnight to have a look at the action on day two.Meanwhile, Huw Waters, the Glamorgan seamer who has taken 31 first class wickets at 18 apiece this season, has been given permission to speak to other counties as he is out of contract at the end of the season.

Ravi Bopara, the Essex batsman, will return to cricket on Tuesday having been drafted into the England Lions squad to play Australia A at Old Trafford

George Dobell05-Aug-2012Ravi Bopara, the Essex batsman, will return to cricket on Tuesday having been drafted into the England Lions squad to play Australia A at Old Trafford. He replaces James Taylor, who took Bopara’s spot in the England side.Bopara pulled out of the squad for the second Test against South Africa at Headingley for personal reasons. Taylor was called up in his place and made an impressive start, scoring a determined 34 and helping Kevin Pietersen add 147 for England’s fifth wicket.Bopara struggled on his return to the team in the first Test at The Oval. He made 0 and 22 before pulling out of the England squad and Essex’s CB40 match against Worcestershire last Sunday.England Lions and Australia A will contest two unofficial Tests, both played over four days. The second begins at Edgbaston on August 14, with the squad to be finalised once England’s third Test squad is named. Eoin Morgan, another recent incumbent at No. 6 for England, will captain the side.

Praveen Kumar, the India medium pacer, has revealed his frustration at being sidelined by the national selectors despite having recovered from injury

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2012Praveen Kumar, the India medium pacer, has revealed his frustration at being sidelined by the national selectors despite having recovered from injury. Praveen was also not picked in the Rest of India (ROI) squad for the first-class Irani Cup match, the curtain-raiser for the domestic season, which will be played from September 21 to 25 in Bangalore.”I was hoping to get a call for the New Zealand series but that didn’t happen. I was a bit disappointed not to find a place in the ROI side too,” Praveen told the . “At the moment I’m looking forward to the Challenger Trophy [the domestic one-day tournament featuring India’s best limited-overs players], as it will be the only competitive cricket for me.”Sometimes I sit and wonder about why I’m not there in the Indian side. It’s frustrating to be sidelined.”Praveen had had a fine 2011, picking up six wickets on Test debut against West Indies in Jamaica in June, and going on to take 27 from six matches at 25.81; he was one of the few positives for India on the dismal tour of England, with 15 wickets in three Tests. However, a chest injury kept him out of the Test series in Australia in December-January, and he wasn’t able to replicate his pre-injury form in the limited-overs series that followed: the Commonwealth Bank Series, the Asia Cup and the IPL.The chest injury was not the only one Praveen suffered last year: he had missed the World Cup with a tennis elbow, and didn’t play the final Test in the England series because of pain in his left ankle.”I had a good time in the West Indies and England, and then injuries halted my progress. Injury is in nobody’s hands,” Praveen said. “When I’m on the field, I always try to give 200%. And when you do that, you can get injured.”He will play for India B in the revamped Challenger Trophy, which begins on September 29 in Rajkot.

Steven Finn has boosted his chances of playing in the third Test against India with an impressive display on the first day of the England Performance Programme’s game against the D Y Patil Academy XI

George Dobell in Mumbai27-Nov-2012Steven Finn has boosted his chances of playing in the third Test against India with an impressive display on the first day of the England Performance Programme’s game against the D Y Patil Academy XI in Navi Mumbai.Finn, who missed the first two Tests after sustaining a thigh strain during the opening warm-up match of the tour, claimed 4 for 50*, including a wicket in his first over, and worked up a considerable pace. If Finn suffers no reaction to his workload, he has an excellent chance of forcing his way into the England team for Kolkata in place of an out of sorts Stuart Broad, who has not claimed a wicket in the first two Tests.Finn bowled four spells of four overs each and left the field on several occasions, but appeared untroubled by the exertion. As well as the wickets, he struck one batsman a painful blow on the hand and generated bounce from a sleepy surface that other bowlers struggled to find.Earlier in the day England’s bowling coach, David Saker, had hinted that a fully fit Finn would prove hard to ignore for the England selectors. “If he gets through unscathed and bowls well, his name will definitely be talked about for selection,” Saker said. “He’s got that x-factor, a bit of pace, that height that always means you could get variable bounce over here. So his name will be bandied around for sure for that second seamer’s spot.”In contrast, Saker was less effusive about Broad. “There’s a little bit of an issue, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “He hasn’t bowled as we would have liked, and he’d be the first to admit that. He’s not the first bowler to come over here and find it hard.”Four other members of England’s Test squad – Graham Onions, Joe Root, Stuart Meaker and Eoin Morgan – are also playing in the three-day match. Simon Kerrigan, the Lancashire left-arm spinner, claimed 4 for 61 with Meaker (1-34) beating the bat often without much luck. Legspinner Scott Borthwick took the other wicket.Onions finished wicketless, but conceded only 11 runs from his 14 overs which included six maidens. Later Root compiled an unbeaten 40 off 57 balls as the EPP team began their reply while Varun Chopra had been dismissed.November 27, 2.15pm: *Steven Finn’s bowling figures were corrected

Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, has been dropped from the one-day squad for the tour of India in December

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2012Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, has been dropped from the one-day squad for the tour of India in December, one of six changes made to the team that lost 1-2 to Australia in the UAE in August and September. Afridi retained his spot in Pakistan’s Twenty20 squad, which also had six changes made to the outfit that went to Sri Lanka for the World Twenty20.Apart from Afridi, the players cut from the ODI squad that went to the UAE were: left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, fast bowlers Aizaz Cheema and Sohail Tanvir, and allrounder Shoaib Malik. Asad Shafiq was also left out because of injury.They were replaced by Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, and Zulfiqar Babar. Younis and Gul were making comebacks after being axed for the series against Australia. Fast bowler Riaz was returning to the squad after last playing in the Asia Cup in March, while batsman Sohail and left-arm spinner Babar received their maiden call-ups to the one-day squad.”Dropping Afridi was a difficult decision,” Pakistan’s chief selector Iqbal Qasim said at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. “He is no doubt a great player and has the ability to win a game, but the decision has been taken in the interest of the team. We did retain him in the T20 squad and if he performs well he can win back his ODI place in the future. Meanwhile, we are looking for a youngster as Afridi’s replacement and I am sure we will find the right man soon from the domestic circuit.”Pakistan lost the World Twenty20 semi-final to Sri Lanka and from that squad allrounders Abdul Razzaq and Yasir Arafat, and opening batsman Imran Nazir were left out. Shafiq and left-arm spinner Raza Hasan were injured.Fast bowler Junaid Khan , who was a surprising omission from the World T20 campaign, returned to the squad, and Ahmed Shehzad, Babar, Asad Ali , seven-foot tall Mohammad Irfan and Umar Amin were the other inclusions.Irfan had been selected in 2010 for an ODI series against England, but conceded 37 and 40 in first two matches and was dropped for the rest of the series. He has been on the domestic circuit since then and in this season’s President’s Trophy, he took 27 wickets in eight matches. He also took 11 wickets in the Faysal Bank T-20. He has been preferred ahead of Under-19 fast bowler Ehsan Adil, who was the second highest wicket-taker in the President’s Trophy after Babar, with 53 wickets. Adil also took 10 wickets in four domestic T20 matches.”Irfan is a surprise package,” Qasim said, while explaining why Irfan was preferred over other notable performers. “Nobody is discouraged, I know we have Ehsan Adil and Imran Khan on the bench waiting for the call but they will be considered soon. They are our future prospects. Irfan currently is in good form and he has the height advantage and could be our surprise package. I am sure he will live up to our expectations and will perform very well.””India’s performance against England hasn’t been good and their chips are down. Compared to our side, they have always relied heavily on their batsman and we were more effective with the ball. So, we have selected a balanced mix with the consensus of both the captains and the coach. We have always beaten them when we are consistent with the batting, with bowling as an advantage, so I hope these teams will have good results on the tour.”Pakistan are scheduled to play two Twenty20 internationals and three ODIs in India from December 25 to January 6. The players will assemble for a seven-day camp in Lahore between December 14 and 22 before leaving for India on December 22.ODI squad: Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar.Twenty20 squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Asad Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Ahmed Shehzad.

Shadab Nazar, a corporal in the Air Force, routed UP for 134 on the way to his third five-for in his debut first-class season

Abhishek Purohit in Indore06-Jan-2013″We don’t want star players. We want performers,” Wing commander Deepak Bhaskar, the Services manager, had said before the start of their quarter-final against Uttar Pradesh, when asked about the big-name players in the opposition. Performance was what he got from his players on day one. Leading them was fast bowler Shadab Nazar, a corporal in the Air Force, who routed UP for 134 on the way to his third five-for in his debut first-class season.Nazar, 25, ironically hails from UP and played age-group cricket for the state. He was part of the same sports hostel set-up in Lucknow where Suresh Raina and RP Singh come from, before he was recruited by Bhaskar into the Air Force. Today, he showed no mercy to his former state-mates as he bustled in with a run-up full of energy and found generous bounce from the Holkar Stadium pitch to claim 5 for 51.Nazar’s been with Services for six years now, but broke into their first-class side only this season, though he played a couple of one-dayers in early 2010. He’s already become a potent part of the side’s fast-bowling attack, along with Suraj Yadav and Nishan Singh, and has played all their nine games so far in the season to pick up 30 wickets at an average of 23.56.”It doesn’t matter how big the batsman’s reputation is. In the end, it is all about putting the ball in the right areas,” Nazar said. He added more zip to the Services attack as soon as he was introduced first change and dismissed three of the top six UP batsmen. “My approach was to just keep it on a tight length,” he said.Nazar felt the pitch had eased out slightly after the morning session in which UP lost seven wickets but it was still not easy for the batsmen. Bhaskar said the deliveries that zipped through had decreased in number but were still enough of a threat.The UP attack has delivered four outright wins in the season and it was quite an achievement for Services to earn a lead of 20 runs by stumps with five wickets in hand. Even more so, considering they had to redo their batting order following the unavailability of the captain Soumik Chatterjee, who hurt his knee while fielding in the deep. Chatterjee was taken for an MRI scan, the results of which were awaited. The seriousness of his injury was evident when, unable to walk, he was carried from the dressing room to the team bus by his team-mates.What part, if any, Chatterjee will be able to play in the remainder of the match was unclear but for a determined Services side, it is just one of the several odds they have to tackle.

Sri Lanka’s new selection panel has said its selections would remain transparent throughout its tenure, at a meeting held at SLC headquarters

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2013Sri Lanka’s new selection panel has said its selections would remain transparent throughout its tenure, at a meeting with players, coaches and officials, held at Sri Lanka Cricket headquarters on Wednesday.The panel also committed its two full-time selectors, Hashan Tillakaratne and Pramodya Wickramasinghe, to be present at every international match and team training session. In addition, the selectors outlined their expectations of the players – particularly the national team, emphasising fitness in particular, both as a way to enhance performance and remain injury free.SLC’s match referees were also asked to play a part in feeding information about domestic players to the panel. “The selectors told the match referees that they see all matches, and are in the best position to identify talent,” an SLC release said. “They were requested to give them information on noteworthy players.”The selectors’ meeting with the players came after a week of discussions held with domestic cricket coaches, clubs and match officials, whose views had not been canvassed systematically by previous panels.

Jesse Ryder is out of his induced coma and has begun talking again as he embarks upon the road towards a full recovery from his assault in Christchurch

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2013Jesse Ryder is out of his induced coma and has begun talking again as he embarks upon the long and arduous road towards a full recovery from his assault in Christchurch on Wednesday night.Ryder’s manager Aaron Klee said the New Zealand batsman was also now breathing without the assistance of a ventilator, though he is still battling the effects of his coma and the drugs used to aid his fight against serious head and lung injuries.”Jesse’s condition has improved to the extent that he is now out of the induced coma and off the ventilator,” Klee said in Christchurch. “Jesse is awake and talking to us, but he is obviously still working through the immediate effects from being in the coma and the drugs the medical team have been using.”Naturally we are thrilled with this progress. This is only the start of the recovery process for Jesse and there is still a big battle ahead to full health, but the progress is positive. Again the family wishes to extend their sincere thanks to everyone for their messages of support and love. They mean a lot and will help Jesse no end in his journey ahead.”Klee said that Ryder had no recollection of the events that left him in hospital, his last memory of the day being his dismissal for a duck during the Wellington Firebirds’ season ending loss to Canterbury in the afternoon.”It’s not like it is in the movies where they wake up peacefully and they give everyone a big hug. It takes a while, there’s a lot of confusion and he’s dazed,” Klee said. ”[But] he knows where he is, he knows what’s happened and he knows I’m here now talking to you. It’s leaps and bounds from 24 hours ago.”He’s still got quite serious lung injuries and they’re keeping an eye on that because there’s a lot that potentially can go wrong with the lungs, so monitoring that very closely but at this stage they don’t need to support his breathing, which is a great milestone.”It was great to have him order us around again.”Ryder had gone with teammates to Aikmans Bar in Merivale where around 12.30am, while making his way to join other Wellingston players at a nearby McDonalds, he had been attacked twice in the space of a few minutes, suffering heavy blows to the head and chest that left him with a skull fracture and a collapsed lung.Police have arrested two men in connection with the assaults, a 20-year-old Christchurch resident and a 37-year-old relative who was visiting the city. They have been bailed to appear in the Christchurch District Court court on Thursday, April 4.

Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar sent down 10 wides and a no-ball in a 17-ball over in the semi-final of the inter-zone Deodhar Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Mar-2013Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar sent down 10 wides and a no-ball in a 17-ball over in the semi-final of the inter-zone Deodhar Trophy. Mohammad Sami, the Pakistan quick, holds the record in ODIs, with his famous 17-ball over against Bangladesh in an Asia Cup match in 2004.As with Sami’s wild over against Bangladesh, Nayar’s didn’t have an effect on the outcome of the match: Nayar’s West Zone won with nearly nine overs to spare. Nayar himself had handy figures of 7-0-49-2 with wickets of two specialist batsmen, Hanuma Vihari and CM Gautam. Nayar didn’t look pleased with some of the wide calls, but later said it was more disappointment than dissent. “These things happen,” Nayar told . “I had a bad day, and I was not provoked by the umpire’s call. I was a little rusty initially but I’m happy with my figures for the day.”Nayar come on to bowl in the 12th over of South Zone’s innings, and began with the wicket of opener Vihari first ball. The wide malaise began with the third delivery of the over. Fifth, sixth, seventh, ninth, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th were all wides. All bar one of those were off-side wides. Nayar even tried to shorten his run-up, but to no avail.Finally, when Nayar seemed to have got the last delivery on target, he over-stepped. He survived being penalised harshly on the free hit as Dinesh Karthik, who saw all those wides go through, failed to connect with a wild swing. Nayar was taken off immediately, but he came back on to bowl the 19th over, and delivered only one more wide in his remaining six overs.

Northants looked set to maintain the pace in Division Two as they closed in on victory against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

26-Apr-2013
ScorecardAlex Gidman lead the fight for Gloucestershire but Northants closed in on victory•PA PhotosNorthamptonshire look set to claim their second Division Two win of the season despite half-centuries from Alex Gidman, Benny Howell and Chris Dent for Gloucestershire at Bristol.The hosts, trailing by 212 on first innings, were largely indebted to Gidman (87), Howell (53) and Dent (50) for guiding them to 280 for nine at stumps and an overall lead of 68.But the Northamptonshire attack stuck well to their task on an easy-paced pitch and there were three wickets each for Andrew Hall and Steven Crook as they closed in on victory.Gloucestershire started the day on 34 for 1 and, with no addition to the total, Dan Housego fell to the fifth ball of the morning when he was caught down the legside by wicketkeeper David Murphy off Copeland.Gidman and Dent applied themselves well to add 56 in 21 overs, but Dent then attempted to withdraw his bat to a delivery from David Willey and only succeeded in getting an edge on to his stumps. Marshall departed five overs later, caught at first slip by Copeland off Andrew Hall, and Gloucestershire went into lunch in considerable trouble on 111 for 4.The afternoon session started well for the hosts as Gidman and Howell put on 69 for the fifth wicket with few alarms.Gidman brought up his 95-ball half-century by cutting Copeland to the cover boundary and the county’s former skipper then took three fours in quick succession off Hall. He also hit off-spinner James Middlebrook for a straight six and appeared on course for a century until he pushed forward to Hall and edged low to Copeland at first slip.Will Gidman, Alex’s younger brother, was dismissed six overs later when he was caught behind off Crook. Gloucestershire took tea on 188 for 6, still 24 short of making Northamptonshire bat again. The visitors only had to wait one over after tea to take the second new ball, but Howell and Cameron Herring successfully saw off the shine with some attractive strokeplay in a partnership of 54.Teenage wicketkeeper Herring was dropped on nine by Rob Newton at backward point off Crook, but otherwise played impressively in only his second first-class innings.Howell progressed to a patient 142-ball half-century, with five fours, before he edged Hall to David Sales at second slip to give the South African his third wicket.Jack Taylor took successive boundaries off Hall, to midwicket and backward point, on his way to an unbeaten 30 at stumps, but there were still two more wickets for Northamptonshire to celebrate in the closing overs. Herring chipped Crook to Alex Wakeley at midwicket to depart for 32 and the seamer then bowled David Payne for a duck.