Category Uncategorized

A staunch Queen’s College supporter left the Cable & Wireless BETSports Complex at 4:45 p.m. yesterday with his chest pushed high.By the time he got to Bridgetown 15 minutes later, it would have takena massive droop.In the space of seven minutes, the Cable & Wireless Under-15 cricketfinal took a twist following a Lodge School fightback in the finalmoments of the day.For four hours yesterday, Queen’s College made all the running. In thelast hour, however, a moment of indecision and another of indiscretionbrought Lodge back into the match. If anything, they have a slightadvantage on the final day.With 50 minutes to the close, Queen’s College were 124 for two inresponse to Lodge’s 232. With 11 minutes remaining, they were 155 forthree, representing a very good day’s work.Then came their big setback. Nicholas Standford, their solid openingbatsman who had been firmly entrenched for more than four hours, wasrun out for a disciplined 61.And just before stumps were drawn, Kofe Hurdle was adjudged to haveedged a catch to the keeper off Shamarh Brooks’ probing leg-breaks.Even before those two went, Queen’s College suffered a major loss whenKerwin Elias, their captain, leading run-scorer and seemingly mostfree-scoring batsman, fell to a rash stroke after featuring in athird-wicket stand of 73 with Standford.The day went well up until the end of the last session when we gaveaway two or three wickets which we shouldn’t have, said Rory Sidaway,a Queen’s College official.Standford set off for a single to mid-off, but got no response fromnon-striker Kofe Hurdle and failed to regain his ground when wicketkeeper Nicholas Squires broke the stumps.If we were still two or three wickets down at the end of the day, I’dbe a bit more confident about the outcome, Sidaway said. I still thinkwe can get the 75 runs that we need, but it will be more difficultnow. That’s for sure.In the first half-hour, the St James boys polished off Lodge’s lowerorder. Lodge, 207 for six, overnight, lost their last four wickets forfive runs after a seventh-wicket stand of 69 between Pierre Atwell(53) and Rio Brathwaite (31).For the remainder of the day, Queen’s College diligently pursued thetarget with the type of disciplined application that some local clubteams should try to emulate.Standford presented a straight, broad bat for the entire afternoon andwas never drawn into playing any false strokes. He and Nekoli Parrisput on 43 for the second wicket after Niaz Dokrat was bowled by fastbowler Damien King as he went into a drive.Queen’s College lost Parris just after lunch to a neat stumping bySquires off Brooks, but Standford and Elias made sure only one wicketfell in the middle session that produced only 57 runs.Elias batted confidently and just before tea cracked two fours in anover, a rare occurrence on the day.Lodge desperately needed a wicket and captain Squires’ move to takethe second new ball two overs after it was due paid dividends.The pacy Andre Gill, operating from around the wicket, shattered thestumps of Elias, who was drawn into an inexcusable cross-batted shot.It was a wicket that turned the tide for Lodge.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKieron Pollard ensured his team remained on top of the table•Caribbean Premier League

Barbados Tridents captain Kieron Pollard inspired his team to a 14-run win against Guyana Amazon Warriors with 4 for 30 to keep the team on top of the table in their last league match, in Guyana. Pollard defended 24 runs off the last over as Tridents defended a modest total of 125 by restricting Amazon Warriors to 111 for 6. Tridents, already in the playoffs, will now not make it straight to the final only if Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel lose one of their remaining two matches. Amazon Warriors are on second spot, but with the same points as Red Steel, Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Zouks.Amazon Warriors started steady in their chase with an opening stand of 43 between Lendl Simmons and Brad Hodge before both fell within a space of six balls. Simmons scored a 31-ball 15. Umar Akmal and Denesh Ramdin also could not up the ante with their stand of 28 in 4.4 overs. When Pollard got rid of Akmal in the 15th over, Warriors still needed 53 runs from 31 balls with seven wickets in hand. But Ravi Rampaul gave only 14 runs in his next two overs to make it a more challenging equation of 37 from last two overs. Christopher Barnwell hit two consecutive fours in the penultimate over, which went for 13 runs, and started the last over with a six but Pollard finished his innings of 24 off 13 and took another wicket to finish with his fourth four-for in T20s, conceding nine runs in the last over.Tridents had opted to bat but could not get substantial partnerships going early on, thanks to David Wiese’s five-for, his third in T20s. He removed the openers, Dwayne Smith and Steven Taylor, in the fifth over, and was on a hat-trick when he had Jonathan Carter caught behind on the first ball of his next over. Legspinner Devendra Bishoo dented them further by getting rid of Robin Peterson and Misbah-ul-Haq within three deliveries, and Pollard was bowled in the next over for 2, to leave the score on 65 for 6 after 13 overs. Jason Holder and Rayad Emrit then hauled them past 100 with a 45-run partnership in under six overs. Holder smashed two fours and as many sixes in his 17-ball 30, while Emrit scored a run-a-ball 21 to help them finish on a competitive 125 for 9. Sunil Narine finished with 4-1-14-0.

Match facts

Sunday, July 12
Start time 3.00pm local (0900 GMT)1:31

Isam: Bangladesh need senior batsmen to step up

Big picture

Kagiso Rabada lit up a gloomy evening in Mirpur on Friday with a hat-trick in his six-wicket haul on debut. He now holds the record for best bowling figures on ODI debut, and the best ODI bowling figures for a South African. The visiting captain Hashim Amla, while not expecting Rabada to strike another six-for, will want the bowler as well as the rest of the young players to do enough to complete a series win on Sunday.South Africa completed their eight-wicket win through a strong, unbroken 99-run third wicket stand between Rilee Rossouw and Faf du Plessis. Amla later said the pair made a tough situation look easy. South Africa are brutal opponents for lower-ranked sides and Bangladesh are finding that out despite their own recent form.But the home side’s troubles seem more tactical in nature, although captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said that their strategy of using eight batsmen was a confidence issue. For the first time since December 2011, Bangladesh were bowled out for less than 200 when batting first in an ODI. Their batting form was not all that good even in the India series, but they managed to get the job done.South Africa did not give Bangladesh much of a chance to fight back after Rabada’s hat-trick and that is where the home side are behind. South Africa never give up, and in the second ODI, Bangladesh should be be prepared to put up a fight, something they have failed to do in the series so far.

Form guide

Bangladesh: LLWWWSouth Africa: WLWWL

Players to watch

With his team not doing well, much of the focus will be how Mashrafe Mortaza marshals his resources and inspires the group. He also has to bowl well and ensure South Africa do not get away to a quick start.A hat-trick and six-for on ODI debut has made Kagiso Rabada into an overnight sensation. He will be exciting to watch in the second ODI, particularly with the pace he generates off the slow pitches in Mirpur.

Team news

If Bangladesh stick to their eight-batsmen strategy, then there isn’t much need of a change. If they do revert back to five bowlers, either of Arafat Sunny or Rubel Hossain will likely be picked in the XI.Bangladesh (possible) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Litton Das, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim, 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Nasir Hossain, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza 10 Jubair Hossain, 11 Mustafizur RahmanAfter their eight-wicket win, South Africa will look to continue in the same vein, which means changes in the XI are unlikely.South Africa (possible): 1 Hashim Amla (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Rilee Rossouw, 5 David Miller, 6 JP Duminy 7 Farhaan Behardien, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Imran Tahir

Pitch and conditions

Rabada said the first ODI wicket looked to have a bit more grass than the T20s. The second ODI wicket too is unlikely have turn and will continue to be a dull surface. Rain has again been forecast, but not in the evening.

Stats and trivia

• Kagiso Rabada became the second bowler after Taijul Islam to take a hat-trick on debut. They both did it at the Shere Bangla National Stadium and both from the same end.
• Shakib Al Hasan is the first batsman to score more than 2,000 runs at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. He reached the mark when he was on 14 in the first ODI.

Quotes

“Against India and Pakistan we played unbelievably well. If we can play like that we can win against South Africa as well. But we haven’t even been within touching distance of those performances or of South Africa. We hope to do much better in the second game.””They are not going to go down without a fight. We know they are going to be up for a good scrap tomorrow [Sunday].”

Ireland have named their Under-19 and Under-15 squads which will compete in two tournaments over the summer. The U-19 side take part in the European Championships in Belfast and the U-15s have their European competition in Netherlands.Greg Thompson, an allrounder from Lisburn, will lead the U-19 team as they attempt to qualify for the U-19 World Cup which will be held early next year in Malaysia. The qualifying tournament takes place in Belfast from July 23-27.The U-15 tournament takes place in Deventer in Netherlands from July 31 to August 2 and the side will be captained by Niall Delaney from Clontarf Cricket Club.U-19 squad Greg Thompson (Lisburn, capt), Ben Ackland (Merrion), Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke), Andrew Britton (Donemana), Eoghan Delany (Clontarf), Chris Dougherty (Bready), Shane Getkate (Malahide), James Hall (Waringstown), Richard Keaveney (Merrion), Graham McDonnell (Pembroke), Gavin McKenna (N Down), Lee Nelson (Waringstown), Jamie Shannon (Instonians), Paul Stirling (Cliftonville)U-15 squad Niall Delany ((Clontarf, capt), Jonathan Andrews (North County) , Eoghan Conway (Rush), Harry Doyle (Waringstown), James Fleming (The Hills), Marc Fleming (Bready), Shane Getkate (Malahide), Cameron Grieve (Lurgan), Dean Mehaffey (Donemana), Philip Moon (Limavady), Robin Russell (Pembroke), Sam Shannon (Instonians), Jason van der Merwe (Muckamore)

ScorecardIndia Under-19 clinched the Test series against England Under-19 after a fine performance from their spinners on the final day at Shenley. England had to bat throughout the day to save the match, but couldn’t quite pull it off despite Michael O’Shea’s 56. Shahbaz Nadeem was the main star for India with a five-wicket haul.England slumped during the morning session as Nadeem added to his overnight wicket of Varun Chopra by removing Billy Godleman and Greg Wood. He also dispatched Adil Rashid 12 and at 107 for 5, India could sense their victory.However, they were held up by a fighting partnership between O’Shea and Adam Lyth – who helped to save the first Test with an impressive century – as the sixth-wicket pair knuckled down against the spinners. Karan Singh, an 18-year-old legspinner, made the breakthrough when he dislodged Lyth and England’s lower order struggled to keep out the bowling.Nadeem was a constant threat and went at barely one-an-over through his 35 overs as the England batsmen tried to hold out. Andrew Miller blocked out 54 balls for an unbeaten six but Singh wrapped up the match with the wickets of O’Shea and Steven Finn in the same over. The telling factor was the quality of India’s bowling and the failure of the England batsmen to build on their starts in this decisive match.

Somerset have named their strongest available team for the championship opener against old rivals Gloucestershire, that gets underway at the County Ground in Bristol on Friday, which means that the line up includes Marcus Trescothick.The England star will be making a welcome return for the Cidermen who will be anxious to get their championship campaign off to a good start, after being relegated to Division Two at the end of last season.The county’s three new signings, batsman James Bryan, all rounder Aaron Laraman and West Indian Test bowler Nixon McLean have all given a good account of themselves in the pre season matches and are all selected.Certainly there is no shortage of confidence at the club. New captain Mike Burns told me: “We are all really looking forward to getting going in the championship. All of the batters and bowlers performed well in our match against Loughborough earlier this week, and we are going into the match feeling very positive indeed.”New batsman Bryant, who scored an impressive century against Loughborough UCCE last weekend, is also raring to get his competitive season underway. During a break from his net practice at Taunton yesterday morning he said: “I’m feeling really good and looking forward to the first championship match. I seem to have found some good form out in the middle which is very pleasing and I’m look forward to scoring many more runs for the county.”Somerset’s two England left handers, Ian Blackwell and Trescothick were also enjoying some last minute batting practice in the nets, and showing that they have lost none of their old form.Even though he has been overseas playing cricket all winter, Trescothick is just as keen to get started again. He said: “It can’t come soon enough for me, it’s just a shame that we are not playing down here at the County Ground.”Looking forward to the match coach Kevin Shine said: “This is what we have been training hard for all the winter. We have had one of our most competitive pre seasons ever and now we have to go out there and put it into practice.”The full Somerset squad to face Gloucestershire is: Marcus Trescothick, Peter Bowler, Mike Burns, Jamie Cox, James Bryant, Ian Blackwell, Rob Turner, Aaron Laraman, Richard Johnson, Nixon McLean, Simon Francis and Keith Dutch.Andy Caddick, Somerset’s third England player is expected to make his return for the county in their championship match at Derby on April 30th.

Barry Richards has joined the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as a consultant for their national academy. The PCB convinced Richards after Greg Chappell agreed to serve in an advisory capacity.According to an AFP report, Rameez Raja, the PCB’s chief executive, said that the hirings were an investment in Pakistani cricket’s future, and that their experience would help develop players. “Richards will come for 30 days in a year as consultant for not only the national academy, but would add to our commitment to secure our future,” Raja said. “Our main problem is batting and through these two great players our players [the trainees at the academy] will get useful guidance.”Both Richards and Chappell are great thinkers [and] have good ideas, so they would have encompassing roles under which they would also prepare coaching manuals which suit our conditions. Due to less movement our batsmen play more towards the on-side. The manuals would teach them how to play these shots correctly under all conditions.”Daryl Foster, who served the Pakistan team as a bowling coach in 2001 and 2003, was expected to arrive at the national academy as a consultant in July. Interestingly, a few days ago Inzamam-ul-Haq had said that he would have liked Foster to return as a bowling coach for the national team.

Carl Hooper is set to join for Lancashire this week and could make his county debut against Middlesex at Lord’s on Friday (May 9).Hooper has been signed as a short-term replacement for the injured Harbhajan Singh and is only expected to remain with Lancashire for five weeks.Lancashire admitted that they have been inundated with calls from players’ agents since it was revealed that Harbhajan had suffered a finger injury. Although they have asked him for clarification of his position, it is not clear when he will be fit to play for the county.Hooper’s arrival would be timely boost as Lancashire have been laid low by a `flu bug which has left them struggling to field a side.

Sri Lanka’s five-man selection committee will select the Test squad for theforthcoming three-match series against India on Thursday night and they lookset to omit veteran batsmen Aravinda de Silva.De Silva, recently cleared by the Sri Lankan board of the match fixingallegations levied against him by Mukesh Gupta in the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) report, was not awarded a player contract in June, buthad been selected in the 26-man training squad for the India tour.De Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan, both of whom played against England inMarch, are expected to be dropped, as in form opener Avishka Gunawardene andveteran middle order batsman Hashan Tillakaratne are earmarked for recalls.This is not the first time that the star batsman has been dumped. He hasonly played sporadically in Sri Lanka’s successful one-day squad since the1999 World Cup and he was dropped for the three-Test tour of South Africalast December.Sri Lanka struggled without his experience and he was eventually sent toSouth Africa for the final Test at Centurion, as a replacement for UpulChandana, who suffered a hand injury. He stayed with the team for their fivematch one-day series in New Zealand and was selected for the England series,in which he scored his 19th Test century in the first Test at Galle.Since then, however, he has played little competitive cricket and questionshave been raised by his laissez faire attitude to training. He has been inand out of the country and there is the suspicion that he no longer has theappetite for Test cricket, especially after failing to turn up for athree-day training camp in Dambulla before the Coca-Cola Cup.Unfortunately, it seems that there has been little communicationbetween the selectors and De Silva. He was understandably disappointed tohave not been awarded a player contract and has been left guessing as to hisposition within Sri Lankan cricket.A recall and a proper farewell is not out of the question – it has happenedtoo many times before to rule it out – but that depends on the performanceof the middle order in the first two Test matches. Certainly, if injuriesoccur, he can expect a call.Sri Lanka are likely to play seven batsmen. Sanath Jayasuriya, MarvanAtapattu, Mahela Jayawardene and Russel Arnold are automatic selections, butthe remaining three places will be the subject of some conjecture atThursdays selection meeting.Early indications suggest that Avishka Gunwardene may be rewarded for recentfine form and asked to open the innings, pushing Atapattu down to numberthree. Jayasuriya may prefer, however, to stick with his erstwhile openingpartner in Test cricket.Hashan Tillakaratne looks certain to play after a two-year absence since the1999 World Cup, when he and Roshan Mahanama were summarily dropped as theselectors looked to the future. Unlike Mahanama, however, he never gave uphope of playing again and has impressed with a stack of runs in the domesticseason and a good attitude. Captain of Nondescripts Cricket Club he toppedthe averages having scored 665 runs at 110.83 and made three hundreds.His tenacious batting style has helped to bring him back into recognitiontoo, with Sri Lanka’s middle order failing too often in recent times. The34-year-old used to be one of Sri Lanka’s most consistent Test batsmen,averaging 38.59 after 52 matches, and the selectors will be hoping that hecan add some steel to the batting line up.Kumar Sangakkara’s position is apparently in doubt after some poor form inrecent times, but his omission would be scandalous. He was the third highestSri Lankan run scorer in the last Test series against England and was thehighest run scoring in South Africa. With four half centuries to his name ina relatively short career his name should be penciled in immediately.Whether he keeps wicket or not will depend on whether the selectors arewilling to hand Romesh Kaluwitharana another chance. He was jettisonedbehind the stumps after his inconsistency with the bat, but the selectorsmay look favourably upon him after a more consistent run of form in theone-day game of late. If he plays then Gunawardene would have to make way.The bowling is simpler. Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and MuttiahMuralitharan can start marking out their run-ups, but the selection of thethird seamer is harder now with Nuwan Zoysa still on the sidelines. SureshPerera, Ruchira Perera, and Dinusha Fernando are all in the running, withRuchira Perera being the slight favourite. It could though be decided by who bowls best in the current practice game against India.

Four current Somerset players will be taking part in the Cricket World Cup that gets underway in South Africa next month, whilst another two former players have enjoyed mixed fortunes.As expected Andy Caddick and Marcus Trescothick were named in the England squad of fifteen and they will be joined by all rounder Ian Blackwell.New boy Blackwell has made quite an impression in the VB One Day International triangular tournament that is currently taking place in Australia with a number of valuable contributions with both bat and ball.Whilst `Blackie’s’ inclusion in the squad for the World Cup was not unexpected, it is worth remembering that just twelve months ago he was spending the winter working in the office at the County Ground in Taunton.Just after the Christmas break last year the former Derbyshire all rounder decided to work hard on his fitness levels and change his dietary regime, which he found hard work, so he will be absolutely delighted to have made it into the squad because that was his target.Nixon McLean, one of Somerset’s trio of new signings for 2003 will also be taking part in the Cricket World Cup. The twenty nine year old paceman who played the last of his 44 One Day Internationals in 2001 has been playing cricket for Natal where he has been enjoying some good returns.Roland Lefebvre, who played for Somerset back in the early 1990’s before moving onto Glamorgan will also be out in South Africa. The talented all rounder, who will be forty in early February has just been named as captain of the Dutch team for the tournament.However, Steve Waugh another Somerset old boy was not so fortunate, and will no doubt be disappointed to have missed out on a place in the Australian squad.