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USA captain Steve Massiah raised hopes of a win for the hosts but Jamaica won the second and final Twenty20 by 19 runs in Lauderhill

Cricinfo staff24-May-2010
ScorecardMarlon Samuels made 36 and took two wickets•Associated Press

The series result was on expected lines as United States of America failed to register a win in each of their three matches against Jamaica. USA captain Steve Massiah raised hopes of a win for the hosts but Jamaica won the second and final Twenty20 by 19 runs in Lauderhill. Marlon Samuels made a satisfying return to competitive cricket with a brisk 36 and took two wickets in an all-round performance for Jamaica.Opening the innings, Samuels batted till the 15th over and was involved in stands of 40 and 43 with Dean Morgan and Shawn Findlay respectively. Samuels made a 34-ball 36 with three fours, before he was caught and bowled by Timroy Allen. Allen also claimed the wicket of Findlay, who hit three sixes in his 37. Lennox Cush picked up a couple of middle-order wickets but Jamaica accelerated to push the score to 141.USA made a steady start to the chase as their openers added 49. Much depended on their captain Massiah, who was well set and approaching a fifty. He took USA to 90 by the 14th over but couldn’t carry on after scoring 47. A double-strike by Samuels got Jamaica right back in the contest and the hosts failed to capitalise on the good start provided by their captain. They were restricted to 122 in their 20 overs.

Chaminda Vaas hit a quickfire half-century and then took two vital wickets as Northamptonshire Steelbacks beat Leicestershire Foxes by 10 runs

18-Jun-2010
ScorecardChaminda Vaas played a key role with bat and ball to help Northamptonshire secure victory•Getty Images

Chaminda Vaas hit a quickfire half-century and then took two vital wickets as Northamptonshire Steelbacks beat Leicestershire Foxes by 10 runs in their Friends Provident t20 clash at Grace Road. The visitors posted 166 for 4 after the game had been reduced to 18 overs because of rain, with Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall sharing a stand of 82 off 38 balls.Despite a fine innings of 53 by Will Jefferson, the Foxes were unable to reach their target, and crashed to their third defeat in five games and their second at home. It was the Steelbacks’ third win in a row after two early losses in the competition, and they owed much to the all-round ability of Vaas.Promoted to open as a pinch-hitter, he responded with a half-century off 35 balls that included eight sweetly-struck boundaries which gave the Northamptonshire the perfect start. Then, after they became bogged down in the middle of their innings, Boje and Hall swung the game their way with some dramatic hitting in the later overs.Boje made 54 off 30 balls, with nine fours and a six, and Hall gave him fine support, scoring 29 off 18 balls, hitting a six plus four other boundaries. It was a blistering response by the fifth-wicket pair after the Steelbacks had slipped to 84 for 4 in the 12th over. A total of 62 runs came off the last four overs, and it was to prove decisive to the result of the game.For much of the time, the Foxes were well up with the rate, with Jefferson and James Taylor giving them real hope of their first win at home in the competition this season by sharing a partnership of 72 in nine overs for the third wicket. Taylor looked in fine form, making 38 with a six and four fours before pulling a full toss off the bowling of David Willey to square leg.But the all-important wicket of Jefferson was claimed by Vaas, who trapped him leg before wicket as he tried to work the ball to leg, having made 53 off 35 balls, with the innings including seven fours.The Foxes needed 16 off the final over for victory, but Hall made sure they got nowhere near it, conceding just five runs and taking the wicket of Wayne White with his final delivery to give Northants a win by 10 runs.

Test debutant Suraj Randiv was ecstatic after getting his first wicket, that of Virender Sehwag, with a doosra

Sa'adi Thawfeeq at the SSC28-Jul-2010Test debutant Suraj Randiv was ecstatic after getting his first wicket, that of Virender Sehwag, with a doosra. “Sehwag was on 99 at that time. I thought he might go for a big shot and I thought of bowling a doosra at him. It worked and I got his wicket,” said Randiv who ended the third day of the second Test with figures of 2 for 108. “When you get a player of his calibre it’s a big thing. It’s a privilege. I just came onto bowl and I thought he will do something different. Our bowlers hadn’t given him any easy runs at that stage.”Sehwag had said after the day’s play that he had spotted Randiv’s doosra, but decided to attempt the big hit anyway. “I bowl the doosra but like Murali it doesn’t go the other way a lot,” Randiv said. “But I got some bounce and some help (today),” he said.Randiv said that he was a bit nervous playing in his first Test. “However, with confidence that goes away. I had an opportunity to bowl a lot and it just went away. I guess any player will be nervous.”Randiv stated that there was more help for the spinners on the wicket than for the fast bowlers. “There was a lot of bounce on the track but it was a bit slow.” He said that he was not overawed by the reputation of the Indian batting line-up. “I was just thinking of bowling my line and length. I got a bit of bounce with my action. It was very difficult to bowl a good line and length to Sachin [Tendulkar]. He comes forward and he goes back. It is very difficult to get a correct line and length to him. I think I bowled well to him.He said there was still a lot of hard work ahead for Sri Lanka in the Test. “We need to stop the runs. We need to work hard. The pitch is good and it is very hard to get wickets. We have to be disciplined.”

Afghanistan have suffered another blow as Rashid Latif, who took up the post of batting coach last month, has resigned less than a week after head coach Kabir Khan was dumped by the Afghan Board

Cricinfo staff23-Aug-2010Afghanistan have suffered another blow as Rashid Latif, who took up the post of batting coach last month, has resigned less than a week after head coach Kabir Khan was dumped by the Afghan Board.Latif reportedly officially offered his resignation through an email to the board, and like Khan cited interference with his coaching role as the main reason behind his decision. “Kabir also left his job because of the same reason. I was not free to impose my ideas on the team. From team combination to the match strategy, the Afghan board officials want to dictate everything,” said Latif.Hamid Shinwari, the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s chief executive, struck back by telling the that the board “received Rashid’s resignation and fully respect his choice, but are shocked to receive a long list of new demands just 25 days after signing a contract with him.”The ACB had issued a press release explaining that Latif would take over the coaching role after Khan’s departure, but Shinwari suggested that Latif had asked the ACB to either re-hire Khan as coach or double his own salary and increase his benefits if he were to take up the role. The ACB’s response was that they could not afford his demands, and so the senior national side now find themselves without a coach.Shinwari explained that the ACB was in contact with the ICC and had requested help in hiring a new coach, who would join the national squad prior to the team’s Kenya tour in October this year. Afghanistan’s problems could run even deeper than a search for a new coach, however, as Latif added that he had given a comprehensive plan to the Afghan Cricket authorities for the development of the game at the grassroots level which included the establishment of academies and grounds, but his suggestions had been ignored.Latif explained that he had also wanted the Afghan team to practice more at home, but the board seemed not to like the idea. “Since I had a good training session with the Afghan cricketers in Jalalabad, hence I wanted more training sessions in Jalalabad and Kabul, but the authorities want to hold camps in Sharjah. With this attitude the Afghan cricket would go nowhere.”Raees Ahmadzai, a regular in the national team, has raised similar concerns in his blog for . “We wanted to do something for Afghanistan and we worked our hardest to make it happen,” wrote Ahmadzai. “We had hoped that this was a legacy that Afghanistan’s future cricket stars would embrace. We had built it with the hope we were starting a legacy, but unfortunately, the structures that need to be in place for grassroots cricket to really take off are still nowhere to be seen in Afghanistan.”The investment in grassrooots cricket in Afghanistan still hasn’t happened,” he added. “We do not have any professional grounds, proper academies in Kabul, or a club cricket structure to put young Afghan cricket enthusiasts through. With the ICC pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the ACB, plus the investment from the US embassy in Kabul, $350,000 from Etisalat and $200,000 from Supreme Group, we should be in a much more advanced position.”Ahmadzai went on to express his sadness that Afghanistan still had not played any one-day internationals against Test nations despite gaining ODI status more than 18 months ago and lamented the fact that “the incentive for the youth to play is slowly diminishing.”

Warriors chief Dave Emslie has said Jacques Kallis’ contractual obligations with Royal Challengers Bangalore did not give his home team much of a chance to retain his services for the Champions League T20

Cricinfo staff15-Aug-2010Warriors chief Dave Emslie has said Jacques Kallis’ contractual obligations with Royal Challengers Bangalore did not give his home team much of a chance to retain his services for the Champions League T20. Contrary to Bangalore’s statements, in which they hoped their overseas signings would pick their IPL team over their home team, Emslie said Kallis’ IPL contract gave Bangalore the first rights over him should his domestic first-class team – Warriors from South Africa – and his IPL team both qualify for the tournament.”Kallis’ contract (with Bangalore) says if his IPL team gets into the CLT20 his
team has the first option,” Emslie said during a media interaction with
Indian journalists. “For that we got $200,000. We would have wanted
Kallis but the decision did not lay in our hands. We never had a choice.”Warriors coach Russell Domingo said “we always knew that Kallis will not
be there…I am under correction. But I think Kallis’ contract (with Bangalore)
says that should Bangalore qualify for the CLT20 they have the first call on
him. We might think it is crazy, he is a South African and his club
Warriors is in the CLT20 but still he is playing for Bangalore but that’s it.”Emslie added: “One can argue the merits of the case but that is the rule. They (CLT20) may be thinking of changing the rule in future.”Along with Kallis, Victoria’s Cameron White – who was disappointed to miss out for his home team – and New Zealand Central
Districts’ Ross Taylor are the other two players who will play for Bangalore
even though their home teams have made it through to the tournament.Domingo said, “We don’t pay big money, we can’t compete with IPL teams.
IPL dollars are going to get the first call. Money talks.” The compensation, according to Domingo, was not a bad deal and Kallis’ absence meant some of the younger players had a chance to shine. “It is a big attraction to get that money. It is not a bad deal as it was out of our control to get Kallis in our side… It gives a chance to youngsters like Colin Ingram. Kallis also did not play in some big matches last season but we still won domestic titles. We won the MTN domestic championship and Standard Bank Pro20 title without him.”

In what turned out to be a battle of captains, Michael Klinger’s 48-ball 78 for South Australia Redbacks outweighed Alviro Petersen’s 35-ball 56 for the Lions

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga12-Sep-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outIt was a contest of individual performances from captains, and South Australia’s Michael Klinger got the better of Lions’ Alviro Petersen•Associated Press

In what turned out to be a battle of captains – both men started their careers for other teams – Michael Klinger’s 48-ball 78 for South Australia Redbacks outweighed Alviro Petersen’s 35-ball 56 for the Lions. Klinger’s effort not only lasted longer than his counterpart’s, he could draw on more support from the other end too: Callum Ferguson, the new vice-captain, raised 97 in 9.3 overs with him after a slow start, a South Australian third-wicket record.The key moments in the big chase, which seemed on for more than half the innings, came in the 11th and 13th overs. With 86 required off 58 and seven wickets in hand, Neil McKenzie called for a second only to see Gary Putland – at sweeper-cover – fire in a throw right on top of the stumps. So alert were South Australia that Graham Manou, the keeper who has been relieved of captaincy duties, had his keeping glove off, completed the run-out, and then got the non-striker out too. Just in case.Two overs later, Daniel Christian, who had got Vaughn van Jaarsveld in his first over, produced the final game-breaker with an accurate inswinger that Petersen missed and was hit in front. Seventy-one off 44 was always going to be too much for the lower order, especially with Shaun Tait’s pace lurking.For a major part of the first innings, though, it didn’t seem Lions would be chasing that much. South Australia managed just 19 runs in the first five overs, and it seemed they would struggle without the big-hitting services of Kieron Pollard and Shahid Afridi. Another “outsider”, though, their new captain and Victorian Klinger, made up for it, almost single-handedly.Klinger moved to South Australia two seasons ago and played no part in their qualification for the Champions League, but if there were question marks over his walking into the new-look side as captain, they exist no more after his first half-century in the format.Klinger saw opener Daniel Harris perish after trying to play everything off the front foot, and Manou mis-hit a scoop to short third man. Out of the 52 that had been scored in 8.2 overs until then, Klinger had 27 off 16. Those included a delightful straight six off Zander de Bruyn to give score some respectability in the Powerplay overs.After Manou’s dismissal, Klinger took matters into his own hands, lofting offspinner Werner Coetsee over cow corner for six and hitting Richard Cameron for back-to-back boundaries, moving to 48 out of South Australia’s 78 in the 12th over. The bowlers to hit were intelligently picked: all three were the second string, and Coetsee got a game only because Shane Burger, then man who removed Sachin Tendulkar and Pollard in the first match, was injured.Ferguson, coming out of a knee reconstruction, started improvising by backing away and playing powerful shots through the off side. de Bruyn was at the receiving end again, going for three consecutive boundaries in the 16th over: through the covers once and into the leg side twice, a result of Ferguson’s moving about in the crease. Three more fours came in Ethan O’Reilly’s next: two yorkers squeezed through the off side and a an inside-out forehand.Klinger let Ferguson take charge for a bit, but opened a second round of fire in the 18th over, hitting two sixes over the short leg-side boundary. The Lions’ good fielding came to rescue: de Bruyn produced a good throw to run Ferguson out and Alviro Petersen a stunning catch at long-on to deny Klinger a sixth six.Petersen, who took over captaincy from Thami Tsolekile, the man who led the Lions to their domestic T20 final, continued resisting with the bat, finding a way to score off bowlers other than Tait, keeping Lions in touch with the rate, even ahead of it by the halfway mark. Wickets kept falling at the other end, though, and his dismissal signalled the end of the contest.

Brad Hodge rushed to his second hundred in consecutive matches as he guided a difficult Victorian chase to beat Queensland

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2010Victoria 8 for 239 (Hodge 140*) beat Queensland 8 for 238 (Philipson 53*, Lynn 50, Nannes 4-44) by 2 wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Chris Lynn is bowled for 50 by Mark Cleary as Queensland fell short•Getty Images

Brad Hodge rushed to his second hundred in consecutive matches as he guided a difficult Victorian chase to beat Queensland on a cold night at the Gabba. Chasing the Bulls’ 8 for 238, Hodge opened and stayed until the end as he carried his men to victory with five balls and two wickets to spare.Hodge, who blasted 134 against Western Australia last week, launched two late sixes and 28 from his last eight balls, taking him to a career-best 140 off 121 deliveries. The Bushrangers were 18 behind at the 20-over break and Hodge, who resumed on 54, took a while to warm-up as he dealt with a series of setbacks.Hodge collected four boundaries from a Chris Swan over to lift the pace and stayed cool to cover for the exits of Andrew McDonald (26) and Matthew Wade (21), who was caught behind slashing to the debutant Cameron Gannon. Ryan Carters (0) gave Swan his third but Michael Hill and Mark Cleary made useful contributions to support Hodge.Craig Philipson provided an important late burst for Queensland with an unbeaten 53 off 54 after the Bulls had struggled for momentum during their second innings. Lee Carseldine and Chris Lynn were cruising along as the hosts were 2 for 114 after 20 overs, but they found it hard to regain their rhythm on their return.Carseldine fell for 38 and Lynn pushed on to 50 before being bowled by Cleary. Dirk Nannes did the most damage for the visitors with 4 for 44 off 12 overs in his first domestic game of the season.

Don Lockerbie has been relieved of his position as chief executive of the USA Cricket Association with immediate

Martin Williamson21-Nov-2010Don Lockerbie has been relieved of his position as chief executive of the USA Cricket Association with immediate effect hours before a board meeting in Florida, according to sources inside US cricket.The news comes a little over a week after the resignation of Nabeel Ahmed, the first vice-president of USACA.While nobody was prepared to confirm the report, it follows several months of increasing concern that Lockerbie’s bullish promises about changes he was going to make to the game in the USA had come to nothing.The board’s finances remain a concern, and despite official denials it is widely believed the ill-fated tournament in Florida in May featuring New Zealand and Sri Lanka landed USACA with considerable losses.Lockerbie had a reputation of being someone big on talk but far more reluctant to address media inquiries about the more questionable aspects of USACA’s operations.He took up his role in April 2009 and quickly unveiled ambitious plans to turn US cricket professional and stage an IPL-type tournament in the country. But despite strong support from the ICC his plans failed to materialise, and in recent months there has been growing discontent within the USA which appears to have cost Lockerbie his position.While few will lament his departure, it does raise the grim spectre of the USA sliding back into the murky shambles that led to its suspension from the ICC in 2005.

A half-century by Morne van Wyk and a tight performance in the field from the Knights took the them to victory in the MTN40 finals, as they beat the Titans by eight wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method

The Bulletin by Firdose Moonda11-Dec-2010
ScorecardAn unbeaten 85 from their captain Morne van Wyk led the Knights to victory over the Titans in the MTN40 final in Centurion. The visitors won by eight wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain reduced their innings to 23 overs. It was the Knight’s third limited overs title since the inception of the franchise system in South Africa in 2004/5.With lightening going off like fireworks around the ground, the Knights knew the Duckworth- Lewis method would probably play a part in their chase of the Titans’ 227, and began in earnest. Albie Morkel opened the bowling for the Titans, although his brother Morne and seamer Ethy Mbhalati were both on the field. Van Wyk took advantage, hitting Albie to the point boundary and then to long-off in the first over. He was brutal in the first ten overs, showing no respect even when Morne and Mbhalati were introduced. He was particularly strong through the covers and helped his team bring up their 50 off 44 balls.Van Wyk’s opening partner Reeza Hendricks played second fiddle and fell to left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe in the ninth over. As van der Merwe made the breakthrough, the heavens opened and the match was delayed for 78 minutes. The Knights innings was reduced to 23 overs and they were set a revised target of 152 to win. They needed 85 off 86 balls after the delay.The downpour did not put a dampener on van Wyk’s innings and he reached his half-century with a drive through the covers. Van Wyk and Rilee Rossouw took the Knights to the brink of victory before Rossouw played onto his stumps and left Dean Elgar to finish the job with the captain. Van Wyk hit the winning run with eight balls to spare and after completing the single took a bow to celebrate guiding his team to victory.The Knights bowlers had bowled out the Titans in 39 overs, after putting them in to bat in gloomy conditions. Seamer Ryan McLaren picked up a wicket in his first over when opener Henry Davids was caught by Rossouw in the slips. Jacques Rudolph and Blake Snijman both struggled to play big shots to the tight line McLaren and seamer Johan van der Wath were bowling, and both fell cheaply. Snijman was caught by Elgar at point off van der Wath and three balls later Rudolph handed McLaren his second scalp, after being caught behind by van Wyk.McLaren was replaced by left-arm seamer Obus Pienaar after a six-over spell and that released some of the early pressure on the Titans. AB de Villiers played one convincing cut off seamer Victor Mpitsang but, worryingly for the national team, scratched around nervously for the rest of his innings. He managed to rotate the strike with Faf du Plessis, who established himself as the anchor.De Villiers was dismissed for 31, thanks to a diving catch by Rossouw in the covers and that brought big-hitting Farhaan Behardien to the crease. His first boundary was a magnificent shot over left-arm seamer Jandre Coetzee’s head for four and he followed it up with two more straight drives down the ground. Behardien looked set to stay with du Plessis till the end, but pulled a van der Wath delivery straight to Rossouw at short midwicket.Albie Morkel was out for a first ball duck and then McLaren returned for a second spell with immediate success. He claimed the wicket of van der Merwe, who inside-edged one onto his stumps. Du Plessis continued steadily at the other end, unperturbed by the carnage around him, which only got worse. David Wiese was caught behind off Coetzee’s bowling and Mangaliso Mosehle was run out off the next delivery. He drove confidently to deep-extra cover before Elgar swooped in and threw to Coetzee, who dumped the ball onto the stumps in emphatic fashion.The Titans looked likely to be dismissed for under 200, but du Plessis had other ideas. He smacked back-to-back sixes off van der Wath in the 38th over, first over long-on and then over long-off, scoring 19 runs off the over, including a clever single off the last ball to keep the strike. Du Plessis registered his third century of the competition in the next over, but the Titans innings came to an end before they could complete their 40 overs, when Morne Morkel top-edged high into the Centurion sky and van Wyk completed his fourth catch of the evening.

Queensland took the only points from their draw with Victoria at the MCG, but finished four wickets short of victory

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2010
ScorecardRyan Harris will join Australia’s squad in reasonable form after taking six wickets for the match•Getty Images

Queensland took the only points from their draw with Victoria at the MCG, but finished four wickets short of victory. The Bushrangers were set a highly improbable target of 339 from 55 overs after the Bulls declared at 2 for 190 in their second innings, and despite a strong bowling effort from an attack led by Ryan Harris, Queensland couldn’t quite get through Victoria’s lower order.The hosts finished at 6 for 142, after David Hussey top scored with 48. Harris collected 2 for 27 from 13 overs to add to his first-innings collection of 4 for 41, which ensured he will be in good form when he joins the Australian squad for the second Test, which starts in Adelaide on Friday.Queensland spent a large chunk of the final day batting Victoria out of the match, with Chris Lynn finishing unbeaten on 77 and Wade Townsend on 72. The rain-affected draw has left Victoria, the defending champions, struggling in second-last position after half their matches, while Queensland are on top of the table.