Habib Bank Limited’s bowlers are only a couple of strikes away from giving their batsmen a modest target to chase in order to win the Quaid-e-Azam trophy in Karachi

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2011
ScorecardHabib Bank Limited’s bowlers are only a couple of strikes away from giving their batsmen a modest target to chase in order to win the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in Karachi. They reduced Pakistan International Airlines to 232 for 8 in the second innings, restricting the lead to only 147, and will hope to finish off the tail quickly on the fourth morning.The third day began with HBL’s tail fighting PIA’s bowlers, adding valuable runs for the last two wickets. They had resumed the innings on 280 for 8, with Fahad Masood on 38. He took charge of the run-scoring and reached his half-century as he made PIA’s bowlers wait longer than expected. Masood struck seven fours in his 66, scoring 28 of the 33 runs added today, before he was lbw to Shoaib Malik. HBL had secured a first-innings lead of 85.PIA’s second innings began poorly – Masood bowled Anop Santosh cheaply – and thereafter they suffered from a lack of substantial partnerships, even though most of the top and middle-order batsmen got starts. Kamran Sajid held the innings together with a steady 70 but he lost partners regularly as Kamran Hussain and Danish Kaneria worked through the line-up. Hussain and Kaneria picked up three wickets apiece and PIA went from 199 for 4 to 220 for 8. Fahad Iqbal, who ended the day unbeaten on 46, held the responsibility of giving PIA’s bowlers a reasonable target to defend.

The exclusion of Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha were the major talking points in India’s 15-man squad for the World Cup starting next month

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2011The exclusion of middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma was the surprise in India’s 15-man World Cup squad announced in Chennai. The other bone of contention had been the second specialist spinner’s slot, and the selectors have picked both offspinner R Ashwin and legspinner Piyush Chawla, ahead of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. Most of the other names in the squad were along expected lines.India’s major concern ahead of the team selection was the injuries to four first-choice players – Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and quick bowler Praveen Kumar – but the selectors picked all four, confident that they will be fit in time for the tournament which starts on February 19.India’s bowling attack for the World Cup will be significantly different from their standard Test attack, with only Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh being named. The fast bowling pair of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma, and Ojha are all excluded while Munaf Patel, who helped India to a series-levelling victory over South Africa on Saturday, has found a place as the fourth seamer.The selectors have gone in for a well-stocked slow bowling department, expecting traditional subcontinent tracks for the World Cup. Besides Harbhajan, there are two specialists in Ashwin and Chawla, an allrounder in Yusuf Pathan besides the part-time offerings of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Virender Sehwag.Chawla was also something of a surprise pick, though he is part of the one-day squad currently touring South Africa. He hasn’t played any one-dayers for India since the Asia Cup in July 2008, and none of his 21 ODIs have been at home.The squad also has only seven specialist batsmen, including MS Dhoni, which might be a worry in case of injuries. India haven’t played their full-strength one-day side since the New Zealand tour in early 2009. There is no reserve keeper in the squad either, but that shouldn’t be a concern as they can have one travel with them in case he is needed at short notice.Kris Srikkanth, chairman of the national selection committee, was confident India could end their 28-year wait for a one-day World Cup. “This particular Indian team is doing brilliantly for the past couple of years in both Test and ODI cricket. They are playing consistently not only in India but outside,” he told reporters after the team was announced. “We are confident this team will do well and win the World Cup for us in front of the home crowd.”He also defended the large spin contingent in the squad. “Don’t forget that you are playing in India. The spinners probably play a very major role on the turning wickets. I am confident that the kind of balance we have, the kind of batting line-up we have, this team led by Dhoni will do the job for us.”Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh vice-captain, has said that his side was satisfied with their nine-wicket win against Canada in their first World Cup warm-up game

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-2011Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh vice-captain, has said that his side was satisfied with their nine-wicket win against Canada in their first World Cup warm-up game. “Winning is a habit and our main target was to win the game first,” Tamim told the . “We did well in the 2007 World Cup because we went into the tournament after winning some games. So, it’s nice that we began with a win.”Bangladesh inserted Canada and skittled them out for 112, with five of the seven bowlers used, getting among the wickets. While Bangladesh’s strongest suit – their spinners – turned in a strong show, their seamers also impressed, with Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain sharing four wickets. “Our planning was to give everybody a chance in the practice match. It was nice to see that the pacers executed the plans, especially Shafiul impressed everybody. The way he dismissed John Davison [with a slower delivery] was really fantastic. But still it can be much better.”Ashish Bagai, the Canada captain, rued his side’s poor batting. “I think it was not the good bowling by the Bangladesh pace bowlers, but our poor shot selection that caused the early damage,” he said. “And definitely Bangladesh’s main strength is their spin bowlers. The score was not good enough. The wicket was little bit low, but still we could have managed 220-225 runs.”Tamim led the small chase in style, smashing ten boundaries in his 69 from 50 deliveries before falling seven runs away from victory. He is crucial at the top of the order for Bangladesh, so crucial that he said they plan to take the batting Powerplay early if he gets going. But he was disappointed by his dismissal. “I always go for big shots which was not good,” he said. “It was rubbish, the way I was dismissed. Actually there was some pain in my hips.”The decision to bowl did not give Bangladesh a chance to try out their bowlers under lights, and Tamim’s charge ensured the other batsmen missed out on some practice, but he maintained that the main focus was on winning. “Spin bowling is our main strength, and the dew factor could be an issue if we bowl in the second session. We are happy that everything has happened according to our plan, but still we can improve a lot of things before the big challenge on February 19 [the tournament’s opening game, against India].”

Despite being one of three nations hosting the mega event Sri Lanka find themselves as much as in the same situation as Canada when Kumar Sangakkara goes out to toss with Delhi-born Canadian skipper Ashish Bagai in their opening World Cup match at Hambant

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Hambantota19-Feb-2011Despite being one of three nations hosting the mega event Sri Lanka find themselves as much as in the same situation as Canada when Kumar Sangakkara goes out to toss with Delhi-born Canadian skipper Ashish Bagai in their opening World Cup match at Hambantota.None of the 15 players in the Sri Lanka squad have played at this venue before and they have no first hand information of how the pitch is going to behave and what the conditions are going to be especially under lights. It is in the context of such adversity that Sri Lanka take on Canada.”We trained on the ground and there doesn’t seem to be any issues,” said Sangakkara looking ahead of Sunday’s game. “We need to play well whatever the conditions that we get. It looks a magnificent ground it looks beautiful and the wicket looks fantastic. So conditions will be good for cricket tomorrow.”The guys have been practicing here and they are happy the way conditions are. It’ll be beautiful for cricket and we are all amazed at what a transformation Hambantota has gone through. We will enjoy everything about this ground. Whatever happens with the toss, we need to be strong mentally whether we bowl or bat first we need to do it better than the opposition,” said Sangakkara.”I think our job is to try and win the first game. It’s important to build it up step by step. You have to take it game by game. You can’t change what other people say about us whether they say that we are good enough to win the tournament or whatever,” he said.”We know we are a good team to compete in this tournament and that’s the most important thing rather than worry about anything else. Our focus is on tomorrow’s game. India and Bangladesh are good sides, especially India. They are the best ODI unit in the world and most people expect them to win the tournament.”Not only do Sri Lanka have to overcome the alien conditions that they will confront at Hambantota, but for the team overall it has been a tough four days following the deaths of manager Anura Tennekoon’s father and team member Chamara Silva’s sister. Silva apparently will miss today’s game.”We feel very much for them and at the same time these things bring us closer together,” said Sangakkara. “We just need to concentrate on playing good cricket because they be will wanting us to do well.”Leading his country for the first time in a World Cup, Sangakkara said that it was “a great privilege and an honour not just to captain a World Cup team, but to captain this particular team”. “They are a wonderful bunch of guys and the best we have in Sri Lanka.”Sri Lanka is likely to go in with a two spin, two pace attack with all-rounder Angelo Mathews playing the role of third seamer.The team received a timely morale booster with the arrival of Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lanka’s World Cup hero of their 1996 triumph and present chairman of selectors, at the team’s practice session on Friday.”Aravinda just came to express his confidence in the team. His advice is extremely valuable at all times and he’s a very shrewd thinker on the game and a fantastic cricketer on his own right,” said Sangakkara. “It’s good to have him not just as the chairman of selectors but once in a while just talk to the team. His job has been a tough one especially in the light of decisions he had to make. But he was very forthright in his selections.”Sangakkara was wary of Canada and said that you cannot take them lightly. “If you take the warm-up game they played against England, they lost only by 16 runs. Every team raises their game when the World Cup comes and we need to raise our game and if we do that we can do well.”

Eldine Baptiste has stepped down as Kenya’s coach two months before his current contract expires

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Apr-2011Eldine Baptiste has stepped down as Kenya’s coach two months before his current contract expires. The news was not unexpected following Kenya’s wretched performance at the World Cup where a string of poor displays on the field were accompanied by reports of rows off it.Baptiste’s departure comes in the wake of the performance review being conducted by Cricket Kenya after the country lost all of their six World Cup league games and finished bottom of their group. Tom Sears, CK’s chief executive, said that as part of the review, the coach’s position had also come under scrutiny.”Both Cricket Kenya and Eldine Baptiste have decided that there is a need for change. I would like to commend Eldine for his professionalism and honesty during the review process,” Sears said. “We will now conduct an extensive recruitment process to find a new national coach and will be inviting applications from both within Kenya and overseas. It is vital we find the right person to take us forward and this is a crucial appointment.”Sears explained there would be far-reaching changes at every level of the game in Kenya as the review process would assess each operational area. “We expect to make public the full findings of the review in mid-May once we have consulted with the ICC. We have to use this opportunity to change for the better and fulfil the undoubted potential of cricket in Kenya.”Baptiste took over as Kenya coach in September 2009 after coaching stints in South Africa and the West Indies. But he was unable to turn round a team in long-term decline and despite bullish assurances, little seems to have changed in the last 19 months.

Mumbai proved they are the best team in the tournament and reclaimed their by now customary at the summit of the table by battering Pune at the DY Patil Stadium

The Bulletin by Siddarth Ravindran04-May-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Sharma were impressive with the ball, but Pune could not capitalise, as they failed with the bat yet again•AFP

Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians are geographically the two closest IPL franchises but they couldn’t get any further from each other in the points table. Mumbai proved they are the best team in the tournament and reclaimed their position at the summit of the table by battering Pune at the DY Patil Stadium, whose freefall continued with a seventh successive loss that kept them firmly at the bottom.Mumbai gave another demonstration of the depth of their batting talent, as two men who have had little batting time this season, T Suman and Kieron Pollard, fired them to a competitive total. Their brilliance undermined the efforts of the Pune spinners who had initially shackled Mumbai.Yuvraj Singh, who has under-bowled himself in the IPL, removed the rocks at the top of the Mumbai batting, Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu. Then, legspinner Rahul Sharma prised out two important wickets with the most economical spell of the season (4-0-7-2) to leave Mumbai at an insufficient 114 for 5 after 15 overs. Suman and Pollard, however, got stuck into the erratic Alfonso Thomas to lift Mumbai to a competitive score.Mumbai had briskly moved to 56 for 1 after seven overs, before Rahul and Yuvraj pulled them back. Rahul’s combination of quick legbreaks and topspinners proved hard to get away, before Yuvraj made the big breakthrough in the ninth over, getting Tendulkar to hole out to short extra cover. Yuvraj and Rahul choked the innings in a four-over passage of play that yielded only 13 runs. That forced Rayudu to attempt the big hit, but he holed out to long-off.Suman was surprisingly promoted ahead of Andrew Symonds and Pollard for his first proper hit this season, and he provided Mumbai the momentum they desperately needed. In an innings where everyone else had struggled to score at a run-a-ball till then, Suman came out blazing, racing to 19 off seven with a couple of stylish sixes.Rahul returned and removed the struggling Rohit Sharma and Suman in two overs, but in between those strikes Suman showed off his timing with a four and a six to long-off against Thomas. Pollard then provided the final flourish, unleashing his brand of brutal straight-hitting. Thomas bore the brunt as he was whipped for 27 in the penultimate over, and Pollard’s quickfire 30 made sure Pune’s batsmen had a challenge on their hands.Pune’s reply got off to a horror start as Jesse Ryder sliced the first ball to backward point. Graeme Smith has not been in the best touch with the bat for quite a while now, and that spell continued today. Manish Pandey’s timing was completely awry, and the decision to promote Abhishek Jhunjhunwala meant the big guns, Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa, were pushed too low in the order.The most expensive over in the first ten overs of the chase fetched only nine runs, and the asking-rate soared past 11 by the halfway stage. Lasith Malinga then harried Yuvraj with a series of bouncers, the last of which was awkwardly popped towards third man where Munaf Patel took a tumbling catch. It was the knockout blow, and Yuvraj was left on the floor.The big news ahead of the match was that Pune had bought former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Even if that does prompt a dramatic turnaround, it might be too late for Pune, as even winning all their remaining matches may not be enough to make the semi-finals.