Category Uncategorized

Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s Test captain, has said that the upcoming two-Test series will be his side’s best chance to beat Australia. Mushfiqur drew comparisons between the current team and the one that pushed Australia more than nine years ago in Fatullah.”This is the biggest chance to beat Australia,” Mushfiqur said. “We will definitely try to give more than our 100% in both Tests.”Bangladesh have been excellent in one-day cricket since late 2014, winning four bilateral ODI series in a row against Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India and South Africa. In Tests, they won 3-0 against Zimbabwe and lost one Test to Pakistan in May this year; the others were all rain-affected drawn games.The Australia series is Bangladesh’s last international assignment in 2015, and Mushfiqur wants to cap the year with another high.”It would be a great way to end the year [with a win]. In 2006 they had the greatest team of all time. At that time we were long way from even thinking about beating them, and some even questioned whether we can play for four days,” he said.”If that team can go close to beating them [in the first Test in Fatullah], why can’t this team beat them? A win won’t be impossible if we can play five days. I hope we become like our ODI side. Our cricket has come to such a stage that expectations are a bit more these days.”Part of the reason for the rising expectations has been Mashrafe Mortaza’s captaincy, and in particular his backing of the pace attack. Since taking over as limited-overs captain last year, Mashrafe has regularly employed Taskin Ahmed and Rubel Hossain in a three-man pace attack. Mustafizur Rahman’s unprecedented early success has forced the team management to pick four pace bowlers at times, but the same can’t be said about the languishing Test pacers.Mushfiqur is hoping that the added choices in the ODI bowling attack can adapt well to Tests . Taskin and Rubel are part of the Bangladesh A team that will play three one-dayers and two three-day games in India from this week. Shafiul Islam and Al-Amin Hossain are also in the Bangladesh A squad.”We have choices in pace bowling, which is great news for Bangladesh cricket. A lot of matches this year were won by pace bowlers. If we can combine pace and spin and our batsmen do well, the series against Australia will be a good one.”We hope that the Bangladesh A team does well. Those of us who are playing in the NCL, will also try to give good performances although we are playing just one game. I hope everyone makes the best use of it. We are mentally focused from now.”Mushfiqur was also wary of the threat of Australia, who find themselves shorn of experience following the retirements of Ryan Harris, Michael Clarke, Chris Rogers, Brad Haddin, and Shane Watson.Mushfiqur, however, said that his side would focus on their strengths and consistency: “They are suddenly not going to lose because they are a young side. The top-class players from India and South Africa came here but lost. We played good cricket and were consistent, enabling us to win. We have to do well the things in which we are good at.Mushfiqur also identified his opposite number – Steven Smith – as Australia’s ‘main’ man”It was expected that they would rest Johnson and Hazlewood. They have two new cricketers but we will know about them soon enough,” he said. “They may be a young team, we can’t forget this is Australia. In these conditions, Smith is their main cricketer. And Maxwell is making a comeback after playing in the UAE. We will try to keep these two under pressure and get them out quickly.”Mushfiqur said that the threat posed by Nathan Lyon would be tackled the same way Bangladesh nullified South Africa legspinner Imran Tahir, who took just two wickets in the ODI series in July.”They are not weak in playing spin. Look at Nathan Lyon’s record,” Mushfiqur said. “He is among the top-three spinners in the world. He is effective against left-handers and we have a few of them. We have made some plans for him, something similar to what we did against Imran Tahir.”Australia are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on September 28. The first Test, in Chittagong, will begin on October 9.

MCC 199 and 110 for 6 beat New South Wales 180 and 128 by four wickets
ScorecardMany leading players were absent from both elevens, for while MCC left out Jardine, Allen, Sutcliffe, Voce, Larwood and Paynter, New South Wales were without O’Reilly, Oldfield, McCabe, Hird, Bill and Theak. The match was naturally robbed of much of its importance, but about 25,000 were present on the opening day when the home side made 169 for 5 after losing their first four wickets for 68 runs. The feature of the opening day’s play was the partnership of 101 between Brown, aged 19, and Rowe, a left-handed batsman who is only 17, and some excellent bowling by Mitchell, who began by taking three wickets for 12 runs. Brown, who took three hours over his runs, made some beautiful cuts and was strong on the leg side. Rowe scored much more rapidly, and when play was abandoned for the day owing to bad light, had scored 67 in 74 minutes. Earlier in the afternoon rain caused the cricket to be held up for three quarters of an hour.On the second day, on a rain-damaged wicket, the batsmen found runs very difficult to obtain. The last five NSW wickets fell for 11 runs. Wyatt played excellent cricket for his runs and with Verity added 71 for the third wicket, while Leyland and Brown made some big hits off Chilvers, both claiming a six, but with the tail failing MCC’s lead was only 19. However, before play ended NSW lost Fingleton for 36.Considering the difficulty of the wicket Bradman’s innings of 71 was a splendid effort. Playing with care he punished any loose ball most effectively. He was eventually caught at short leg off Hammond, who bowled his off breaks with great effect and frequently got the ball to rise to a nasty height, and had four short legs very close in. At one time MCC looked to be in danger of defeat as six wickets were down for 70, but Tate hit out well and with Brown as his partner the necessary runs were obtained. Chilvers was the best of the NSW bowlers, some of his balls turning very quickly from leg. Howell, a fast medium bowler with an offbreak, is a son of the old Australian Test cricketer who took all ten Surrey wickets at the Oval in 1899.

Greg Chappell wasn’t a happy man after a game in which India had SouthAfrica in deep strife at 76 for 6, and yet managed to capitulate to an106-run defeat. He insisted that there was no easy answers and no obvioussolutions as the team continued on the downward spiral in the one-daygame. After winning 21 of 29 matches last season, they have managed justthree wins from 14 matches since.”We were outplayed in all departments of the game,” said Chappell, whoadded that the dropped catches – South Africa took all their chances -made all the difference. “We are not playing well enough. That’s the basicproblem. Too many players are out of form, key players are not doing well.”I am not sure whether there is a solution other than working hard. Wehave to try and turn things around. It has got to come from the players.They’ve got to dig deep and find a way to do it.”He refused to single out individuals for criticism, and said that tacticslike trying Dinesh Karthik in the middle order would continue to beemployed until a corner was turned. “We are struggling and we need to trysomething different,” he said. “Indian batting teams with bettercredentials have struggled under these conditions before. The ballbouncing between waist and chest is not something that happens regularlyin India. It takes some adjusting and I don’t think we are doing it wellat the moment.”There has got to be a big physical and big mental effort. We’ve got intowinning positions but haven’t finished them off. There are some criticalareas where we are falling off. We missed a few opportunities after theywere 76 for 6 and that was the turning point of the game.”When asked whether the failure of the other batsmen to deliver heaped evenmore pressure on Rahul Dravid’s shoulders, Chappell said: “It puts a lotof pressure on the captain, but then again that comes with the territory.There’s a lot of responsibility on him. He’s a key player and he’sexpected to do well. But he needs support. You can’t rely on one or twoplayers. There has to be a consistent effort from the team.”Following the 157-run defeat at Kingsmead, there had been calls inparliament for Chappell to be sacked. When asked about such remarks, hesaid, tongue firmly in cheek, “They are entitled to make any comment theylike. That’s what they are paid to do in parliament.” As for the fans,whose mood turns uglier with each reverse, he could only say: “There’s notmuch you can say at this stage. This is the squad we’ve got till the endof the series, and we’ve got to work hard.”At the moment, hard work alone looks unlikely to salvage this series. Aflash of inspiration like that provided by Justin Kemp today is what the team iscrying out for, but in these conditions, it’s hard to see where it’s goingto come from.

Ricky Ponting expects to assume greater responsibility when Australia’sregenerating team begin their three-Test assignment against West Indies atBrisbane on Thursday. The post-Ashes clear-out has given the home side ashiny look over the past month and another fresh coat was confirmed withNathan Bracken picked ahead of Stuart MacGill.Australia’s line-up suddenly has a strangely unfamiliar feel following theadditions of Hussey, Bracken and Watson, and the withdrawal of Justin Langerwith a rib fracture on Tuesday. “They may be less experienced at Test level,but they’ve all got a lot of experience under their belts and been aroundthe Australian structure for a while,” Ponting said. “There’s a slightlydifferent feel with players like Martyn, Gillespie and Kasprowicz not in theside and Langer out.”Shane Watson was confirmed as the side’s allrounder and Ponting hoped thesquad would remain settled over the summer. “There’s more responsibility onthe batters to put their hand up with some of the inexperience in the middleorder,” he said. “Shane is going to be given a run and Bracken is in goodform and has a great record up here.” The pitch shows tinges of green andMacGill will be released to play for New South Wales in Perth on Friday.West Indies delayed finalising their side but will have a full bowlingcontingent to pick from after the fast men recovered from niggles sufferedin the lead-up and during the Queensland game. However, the players werealready concerned by reports here and in the Caribbean that they will bewhipping boys for Australia and Shivnarine Chanderpaul hoped they would useit as motivation.”Australia are a strong team but we have a good team also,” he said. “We’vebeaten them in the Caribbean chasing a huge total and I know we can win outhere.”Catching was an area of concern after last week’s warm-up and on Tuesday theplayers received 100 each at training, where there were no net bowlersprovided. “The guys are gelling and helping each other, it’s a wonderfulsight,” Chanderpaul said. “Obviously we want to win and go out there andplay some tough cricket.”Ponting was wary of the West Indies threat and after viewing footage oftheir inexperienced attack said they would be treated with respect. “We knowthey are a very dangerous side and we’ve spoken about that,” he said. “Thebatting is very good with quality down the list and their bowling can bedangerous.”

Hamilton Masakadza was surprisingly included in Zimbabwe’s 16-man squad for the first two one-day internationals against England, to be played at Harare Sports Club on November 26 and 28.The last time Masakadza, 21, played a competitive match was in 2002, since when he has been in South Africa studying at university. In 2001 he became the then-youngest player to score a century on Test debut, against West Indies.The rest of the selections were as expected, with recent one-day form being the main criterion.Zimbabwe squad
Dion Ebrahim, Brendan Taylor, Stuart Matsikenyeri, Hamilton Masakadza, Mark Vermeulen, Tatenda Taibu (capt and wk), Elton Chigumbura, Vusi Sibanda, Donald Samunderu, Douglas Hondo, Tinashe Panyangara, Mluleki Nkala, Chris Mpofu, Edward Rainsford, Prosper Utseya, Gavin Ewing.

Fidel Edwards, the 21-year-old fast bowler from Barbados, was named in the XI to take on Sri Lanka in the second Test, which starts on Friday at Sabina Park, Kingston. Edwards, who has played just one first-class match for Barbados, will make his debut on a pitch which is expected to offer plenty of support to the fast bowlers.The half-brother of Pedro Collins, Edwards’s slinging round-arm action has been compared to Jeff Thomson’s, and his inswinging yorkers have reminded talent-spotters of Waqar Younis in his pomp. Edwards was named the Most Improved Bowler in the Shell Cricket Academy, Grenada. Dr Rudi Webster, the Academy Director, has rated him among the most disciplined players to have attended the academy.The squad announced by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) had two other Barbadian quick bowlers, Corey Collymore and Vasbert Drakes. Merv Dillon was dropped, after going wicketless in the rain-hit first Test at St Lucia.Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team are all set to ring in the changes after their disappointing performance in the first Test. Poor fielding, the absence of another back-up bowler and the inability of the top-order batsmen to get runs once they had settled in, all contributed to West Indies gaining the upperhand at St Lucia.Duleep Mendis, the interim coach, said that with the pitch here expected to assist fast bowlers, Sri Lanka would definitely opt for a third seamer at the expense of a batsman. Darshana Gamage is likely to win the third-seamer’s spot ahead of the inexperienced left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara, while Thilan Samaraweera will probably be dropped. Samaraweera did not impress much in his 109 minutes at the wicket for 11 runs and Brian Lara took him to the cleaners in his eight overs of gentle offspin, which cost him 53 runs.The other area of concern is the wicketkeeping of Romesh Kaluwitharana, who found out just how costly it could be to offer Lara a second chance. Kaluwitharana missed a stumping opportunity off Muttiah Muralitharan on the fifth morning when Lara was on 93. Lara ended up scoring his fifth double-century, and his fifth hundred in seven Tests against Sri Lanka. Kaluwitharana has been in reasonable form with the bat though – his failure in St Lucia was the result of a poor decision – and that might save him from getting the axe.The West Indian batting revolves largely around Lara. Their total of 477 was largely made up of two partnerships totalling 310 runs which involved Lara. His mastery of Muralitharan is another cause for worry for Tillakaratne.Lara has called for a result-oriented pitch and the inclusion of anadditional pace bowler to the West Indies squad at the expense of awicketkeeper-batsman clearly indicates that the pitch will assist the quick bowlers. If that is the case, Sri Lanka have a more penetrative attack to exploit the wicket. Vaas bowled superbly – but without much luck – on the placid pitch at St Lucia, while Prabath Nissanka is perhaps the quickest bowler Sri Lanka have had since Dilhara Fernando.Lara has admitted that his team’s bowling was a continuing worry. “We need to start getting 20 wickets in Test matches consistently. That’s what we are looking for, the right combination and the right set of guys to take West Indies into the future. Fidel falls into that category.”The Test also brings together Muralitharan and Australian umpire Darrell Hair for the first time in a Test since Hair called Muralitharan for chucking at Melbourne in 1995. Hair did officiate in Sri Lanka’s VB Series matches last year, though.Teams
West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Brian Lara (capt), 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 7 Omari Banks, 8 Vasbert Drakes, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Corey Collymore, 11 Fidel Edwards.Sri Lanka (from) Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Hashan Tillakaratne (capt), RomeshKaluwitharana (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Kumar Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Prabath Nissanka, Darshana Gamage.Umpires Darrell Hair (Aus) and Russell Tiffin (Zim)Match Referee Wasim Raja (Pak)

Match referee Colonel Naushad Ali tonight called a disciplinary hearing after England completed a series victory over Zimbabwe with a bad-tempered win in Harare.The hearing, involving England captain Nasser Hussain, young wicketkeeper James Foster and Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower. followed an angry exchange between Foster and Flower, who refused to walk after an appeal for a catch behind the wicket.Foster walked up to Flower, who was on 99 at the time, and who feigned a head-butt in response.Both players could face fines, suspended sentences or even bans from the remainder of the series.Asked for his views about the incident, Hussain said: “I want to see people with a lot of heart and character because that’s what gets you through in the end.”You can be as nice as you want, play the game the right way and all that butyou want people with character in your side.”I’ll speak to James and we’ll see what happens, but I’d rather have someonewith a bit of character that you’re trying to draw in every now and then thanthe other way around when you’re trying to draw people out of their shells.”We’re still trying to play cricket in the right way, but things will happenin a heated contest occasionally and we’re trying to keep those down to aminimum.”Flower was also reluctant to criticise the young Essex keeper. “It was just one of those battles in the middle but nothing too serious,” he said.”It’s up to him how he wants to play the game and if he wants to play itaggressively like that and he can back it up then good luck to him.”

Craig Ervine, whose maiden ODI hundred drove Zimbabwe to a famous win against New Zealand, has said he scented victory during the last eight overs of the hosts’ chase though they needed over nine runs an over.Though Zimbabwe were always largely on track during their pursuit of 304, doubts remained if the team could actually go all the way: the hosts had previously chased a 300-plus score only once, and in recent months have fallen short during the final stages of matches despite competing earlier on.However, even with 72 needed from 48 balls, Ervine and his partner at the other end, Elton Chigumbura, did not panic, keeping the score ticking with ones and twos, and putting the bad deliveries away for boundaries.”Maybe started believing that we could win in the last seven or eight overs,” Ervine, who was named Man of the Match, said. “I thought if we could go at eight or ten an over and try to take it as deep as we can, we would always have a chance to go over the line. It was about taking it ball by ball and not thinking too much about the end result.”Ervine said the win was particularly “special” for him since he was able to stay unbeaten till victory was secured. From 32 previous ODIs, Ervine had made six half-centuries, but could not convert any of them into a hundred. Today, after making a steady start, Ervine accelerated as the innings wore on and as the situation demanded, finishing with a 108-ball 130, including 11 fours and five sixes.”I thought the wicket was really good [to bat on], whereas against India it misbehaved maybe due to the dew. It feels very good, especially to be there at the end to take the team home, it’s something special. There was a bit of a tough period during the game when I slowed down in my nineties, but thankfully Elton batted really well to take the pressure off me.”Going into the match, Zimbabwe had won just one ODI in 2015, and lost 10. They had also suffered defeat in 15 of their last 17 one-dayers in Harare, and were beaten by New Zealand in nine of their last 10. Given the odds were stacked so high against them, Zimbabwe captain Chigumbura was very pleased with the effort.”It has been a hard road for us,” Chigumbura said. “This result shows that we’re still capable of winning games. I want to thank everyone who has been behind us during the hard times. Hopefully we can carry this on to the next couple of games.”Chasing 300 is always difficult, but I felt it was good wicket to bat on. The foundations were good from Hamilton [Masakadza] and Chamu [Chibhabha] who showed the way, and we had a very good performance from Ervine to take us home.”

A sparkling double century by Younis Khan (221) put Peshawar in the driving seat against Lahore Whites on the second day of the Quaid-i-Azam Cricket Trophy match at the LCCA Ground on Tuesday.Younis Khan’s magnificent display enabled Peshawar pile a massive 598 in their first innings after resuming on 352 for four. By close of play, Lahore Whites were 95 for two in 27 overs with skipper Test discarded Aamir Sohail batting at 52.Younis began his innings with overnight total of 146 with Taimur Khan who resumed at 50. But Taimur fell without any addition. However, Younis continued his career-best innings and reached his 200 with 29 boundaries and one six. He was finally caught at long-on by Zahoor Ellahi off leg-spinner Kashif Siddique for a fine 221 with 32 fours and three sixes. He negotiated 290 balls and batted for 377 minutes.Skipper Arshad Khan contributed a quickfire 57, adorned with five boundaries and two mighty sixes. He faced 84 balls. Zulifqar Jan (37) and Sajid Shah (36 not out) were the other contributors in Peshawar’s big total.

A deadly leave
By the 16th over of the Karachi Test, Pakistan had dumped their fast bowlers and proceeded to try four spinners. It was a different story in Lahore as, aided by a seaming pitch, Mohammad Asif strolled in for his ninth over of the day. The ball pitched at a good length but was wide enough of off-stump for Hashim Amla not to play at it. So he shouldered arms, letting the ball pass. Next thing he heard was the death rattle as the off-cutter shaped in sharply and left him shocked. Asif, meanwhile, celebrated as if it was nothing special.Run, Inzi, run
Umar Gul steamed in for his second over after lunch and as Jacques Kallis loosely drove a wide but fast full-pitched delivery, Younis Khan dived forward at second slip only for the ball to fall short. The ball bounced off Younis’ hand and raced towards the vacant third-man boundary only for someone from first slip to run down and stop it. Surprising many by the sprint, especially so soon after lunch, Inzamam-ul-Haq was keen to makehis last Test a memorable one as the batsmen managed just two runs.Inzi at it again
As Asif replaced an innocuous Gul in the post-lunch session, he finally managed to induce an outside edge off Ashwell Prince’s bat after beating him on several occasions. The edge, left alone by the wicketkeeper when it was his for the taking, failed to carry to Inzamam at first slip and he could only palm it on to the helmets kept behind the stumps. Inzamam’s first significant contribution to the Test: adding five runs to the score, but in the opposition’s name.A grand welcome
His eights wickets on debut brought Abdur Rehman in for a lot of praise from pundits and team-mates alike. He also managed to keep his place in the team for this match ahead of a third pace bowler. A confident start was what he was looking at when finally introduced in the 51st over of the day. Spinning the ball into Prince, he was driven to the boundary and spinning it away from Kallis he was driven over it as his first six balls yielded eleven runs. A subtle reminder that cricket is a great leveller.Great shot … that’s out
The shadows had started to lengthen and Pakistan decided to take the new ball straight away for some late breakthroughs. As Asif once again caused the batsmen ample problems, Mark Boucher decided to break the shackles and drove him fiercely back down the ground. The straightest of hits whisked Asif’s fingers on the way to hitting the stumps at the bowler’s end as AB de Villiers suffered the unluckiest of dismissals after scoring a solid 45.