There are currently four England spinners on their tours of Bangladesh and UAE, but none of them are Monty Panesar which shows how far his star has fallen

Andrew McGlashan24-Feb-2010There are currently four England spinners on their tours of Bangladesh and UAE, but none of them are Monty Panesar which shows how far his star has fallen. Instead, Panesar has finally been unveiled at his new county, Sussex, four months after joining them from Northamptonshire in an attempt to revitalise a stalling career.Graeme Swann is now England’s No. 1 spinner and his deputy in Bangladesh is James Tredwell, while the slow-bowling places in the England Lions squad are with Adil Rashid and David Wainwright. Panesar spent part of his winter overseas, but the nearest he got to the national set-up was when he helped in the nets before the final Test in Johannesburg in January. Instead he was with the Lions franchise in South Africa in an effort to recapture his form after managing a paltry 18 wickets at 59.44 in 13 Championship matches in 2009.His last appearance for England came against Australia, at Cardiff, where he famously helped save the Test alongside James Anderson as the final pair survived 69 balls. It would ultimately play a vital part in England regaining the Ashes, but Panesar’s bowling had fallen away badly over the preceding six months. A lot of advice was throw his way, but it only seemed to make the situation worse and part of the reasoning behind his winter away from the spotlight was to allow him to think for himself.Panesar’s stint in South Africa ended with 15 wickets at 39.06 which doesn’t appear an unqualified success, but he has returned to England feeling far happier with life than he had for much of last year and how his focus is on making an impact with Sussex.”It was an opportunity for me to play cricket elsewhere which will hopefully help me become the successful international cricketer that I want to be,” he told Cricinfo. “I haven’t really focussed on how or where I am with England, I just tried to go to the Lions and give myself the best chance to come to Sussex in form. I feel this is the second phase of my career now which will give me a good kick start and I’m just concentrating on making as good a start as possible.”Dave Nosworthy, the Lions coach, said how he had tried to give Panesar the freedom to express himself while also giving him the opportunity to mentor the franchise’s young spinners. Nosworthy’s view was Panesar could still become more proactive as a bowler and how Michael Yardy, the Sussex captain, handles his new bowler will give an indication of the responsibility on Panesar’s shoulders.”You have to learn and develop and the best way to do that is to play in different conditions, learning how different players play, and I think my time with the Lions enabled me to do that,” Panesar said. “I got the opportunity to help coach the youngsters over there and it was something I enjoyed, passing some knowledge onto other players. And being part of Sussex here it’s something I would like to do as well when and where I can.”Panesar’s only played first-class cricket during the winter, but Sussex’s success last season came in the one-day game as they were relegated in the Championship. While he is likely to be eased into the season with four-day cricket, Panesar is eager to play a part in all formats but knows success may not come straight away.”Last year Sussex had a phenomenal one-day season and that’s something I want to develop in my game because I feel when I’m bowling at my best I can have an impact in all formats,” he said. “I think come the one-day cricket and Twenty20 games I can add some value to their side. It may take me time to settle, but hopefully later in the summer when the pitches are drier I can have some impact.”

Gautam Gambhir followed up inspired moves in the field with an old-fashioned innings full of sensible strokeplay and saved a glittering batting line-up the blushes in a straightforward chase

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga13-Mar-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outGautam Gambhir’s sensible strokeplay helped Delhi clinch a tight win against Punjab. (File photo)•Associated Press

In his first match as IPL captain, Gautam Gambhir followed up inspired moves in the field with an old-fashioned innings full of sensible strokeplay and saved a glittering batting line-up the blushes in a straightforward chase of 143 on a flat pitch. It was thanks to disconcerting bowling from Dirk Nannes and timely big wickets for Farveez Maharoof that Delhi were chasing a paltry total, but Gambhir had to counter the regularly falling wickets and rising required rate to take his team home.Sreesanth, who somehow nudged and edged nine runs in the final over to give himself something to bowl at, made the most of the extra few runs at Kings XI Punjab’s disposal. He swung the ball beautifully, taking out Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan in his first over, and gave away just 15 in his first spell of three overs.While sizeable contributions from the other end didn’t arrive, Gambhir was not going to contribute to Punjab’s cause. He ran hard, hit only one shot in the air before the six in the 19th over, never let the required rate reach unmanageable proportions, and got out with only three runs required. The main feature of the innings was the cut shot: the bat face opened at just the right time, at just the right angle, playing around with the point and third-man fieldsmen.From 10 for 2 he took Delhi to 45 for 3 with AB de Villiers for company, and to 79 for 4 with Dinesh Karthik. By the time Karthik fell, Gambhir had paced himself to 37 off 34, but 64 required off 46 was just about entering the tricky territory. In the next over, though, Gambhir took 15 runs off five Ramesh Powar deliveries to turn the game Delhi’s way. Nine of those came off shots either side of deep point.A two-run 17th over by Yuvraj Singh gave Punjab an outside chance, with 26 required off the last three, but when Irfan Pathan dropped Mithun Manhas in the 19th over, it was all over for Punjab. That Gambhir batted through the innings meant he ran up and down the pitch 71 times. A cramping Gambhir towards the end wasn’t what Delhi would have envisaged after a commendable fielding effort.Nannes was too quick, Maharoof too opportunistic, and Delhi’s fielders too alert for Ravi Bopara’s 48-ball 56. Regular wickets punctuated Punjab’s innings. Nannes went for just 12 runs in his four overs, and Maharoof claimed the big scalps of Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh.Bopara got support from Irfan – out of India’s preliminary squad for World Twenty20 but fit enough to start for Punjab – during a 60-run fifth-wicket partnership, but they would have always felt it not enough.Sharp fielding, Nannes’ awkward bounce, and Maharoof’s capitalising on the pressure left the lower middle order with too much to do. Manhas started Punjab’s slide with a direct hit to remove Manvinder Bisla. Sangakkara, Punjab’s new captain, came out counterattacking, but Gambhir persisted with Maharoof despite his 18-run fourth over.Maharoof repaid the faith by removing Sangakkara and Yuvraj in his next over, both to softish dismissals. Sangakkara flicked him straight to short fine leg, and Gambhir himself took a back-pedalling catch at mid-off to get rid of Yuvraj.That it was the last delivery of the Powerplay could have had something to do with Yuvraj’s shot selection. Mahela Jayawardene, though, edged the first delivery after the Powerplay, a straight angling delivery from Pradeep Sangwan.Bopara and Irfan applied themselves, also enjoyed some good fortune through edged boundaries to the third-man area, but another inspired move from Gambhir started the second collapse for Punjab. Tillakaratne Dilshan was given the ball in the 14th over, and Irfan – responsible until then – jumped out of the crease and missed a straight delivery.Mohammad Kaif was stumped to a wide flighted delivery from Amit Mishra, and Bopara hit a low full toss straight to deep square leg. At 113 for 7 in the 16th over, Nannes and Maharoof against the tail was always going to be an unfair contest.

Three days after he expressed reservations about flying to India due to security concerns, the England batsman arrived in Chandigarh to link up with Kings XI Punjab

Cricinfo staff04-Mar-2010Three days after he expressed reservations about flying to India due to security concerns, the
England batsman Ravi Bopara arrived in Chandigarh to link up with Kings XI Punjab. Bopara had delayed his arrival in India over concerns about the contents of security advisor Reg Dickason’s report, which had named Al Qaeda group Brigade 313 as a possible threat to the IPL, but Lalit Modi, the league’s commissioner, had been quick to say Bopara would play.While both Bopara and the franchise were tight-lipped about the sudden turnaround in Bopara’s participation, the England batsman’s presence at a promotional event in Chandigharh, the team’s headquarters, was enough to satisfy Punjab. “His arrival means he is willing to play,” said Punjab CEO Anil Srivatsa when answering a question as to whether the franchise has sought a reason for Bopara’s earlier comments to the . “We have not asked him any explanation for his comments in England as there is now no need.”Bopara, who was bought for $450,000 at the 2009 auction, is one of eight England cricketers involved in IPL 2010.Brett Lee, who is recovering from an elbow surgery, also arrived in India and bowled a few overs in the nets. “Our physio Patrick Farhat has met him and he is still doing rehab,” explained Col. Arvinder Singh, Punjab’s vice-president. “We will wait for his fitness status till March 11 and then decide.”

Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, has said he wants to use the upcoming Pentangular one-day tournament as a launchpad for a return to international cricket

Cricinfo staff10-Apr-2010Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, has said he wants to use the upcoming Pentangular one-day tournament as a launchpad for a return to international cricket, which he hasn’t been a part of for nearly a year.Earlier this week, he had been named in the Federal Areas team for the tournament starting on April 17. “I am thankful to the board for giving me this opportunity to prove myself again and I want to give it my best effort,” he said.Shoaib attributed to the below-par efforts in his past few series to a persistent knee problem, which has been corrected through surgery. “Now that the surgery has been done and the rehabilitation process has also gone well, I am back to my top fitness and the knee problem is no longer a hindrance in my giving my best on the field.”After being left out of the squad for the World Twenty20, he has set his sights on returning to the national team during the series against Australia, which will be hosted by England in July. “The England tour would be the perfect place for me to comeback as it has good conditions for bowling and the best facilities for a bowler coming back from an injury.”Shoaib’s last appearance for Pakistan was last year, a wicketless outing in a Twenty20 international in Dubai against Australia. Since then fitness issues, the rise of Mohammad Aamer and the return of Mohammad Asif have eased him further out of national reckoning. He has not played a Test for Pakistan since December 2007.

Essex cricketers Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield have been questioned by Essex police in connection with an ongoing investigation into spot-fixing

Cricinfo staff15-May-2010Essex cricketers Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield have been questioned by Essex police in connection with an ongoing investigation into spot-fixing, according to a report in the .Kaneria, the Pakistan legspinner, and Westfield, a right-arm seamer, are believed to have appeared at Brentwood police station on Friday. The investigation centres on alleged spot-fixing in Essex’s Pro40 match against Durham last September.Both were questioned under caution and released on bail until September 15, pending further enquiries. However, they can continue to play cricket as they were not charged.The controversy came to light on April 9, when a short statement confirmed a police investigation had been launched, and Kaneria, who was linked with the reports, immediately denied the claims.Reacting to these reports, the ICC president David Morgan said the game’s governing body is doing its best to keep an eye on illegal activities. “What is very clear is that we are extremely vigilant. We have the anti-corruption and security unit,” Morgan said in Barbados. “They look very carefully at movements in terms of the amounts bet on particular issues and so on. I can honestly say to you that I have no knowledge of any spot-fixing that I am refusing to tell you about.”Spot-fixing, which unlike traditional match-fixing (where the end result is the important aspect), is based on betting around small moments within a match, for example how many runs will come off a certain over, or how many no-balls or wides will be sent down.

South Africa ended the third day at the Queen’s Park Oval in a position of total dominance thanks to the fearsome bowling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel

The Bulletin by Liam Brickhill12-Jun-2010Close:
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dale Steyn picked up for 5 for 29 to reach 200 Test wickets in just his 39th match•AFP

South Africa ended the third day at the Queen’s Park Oval in a position of total dominance thanks to the fearsome bowling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who combined to skittle West Indies for just 102 in their first innings.After Morkel’s opening burst left the hosts’ top order in tatters, Steyn ripped through the middle and lower order to take 5 for 29 and become the fourth fastest bowler to reach 200 Test wickets behind Clarrie Grimmett, Dennis Lillee and Waqar Younis. Graeme Smith gave his bowlers a rest after their hard work, choosing not to enforce the follow-on, and by the close he had found the form that had eluded him on the tour thus far to take South Africa to 155 for 2 with an unbeaten 79, a lead of 405.Morkel bowled with great effort to extract life from a slow, low pitch and bully the top order from the crease in the morning session, reducing West Indies to 12 for 3 as Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash and Chris Gayle were removed with back-of-a-length deliveries.Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Narsingh Deonarine rallied briefly with a 59-run fourth-wicket stand, but Steyn then tore through the middle order, reverse-swinging the ball at high pace as six wickets fell for just four runs in 28 deliveries. Denesh Ramdin showed some pluck as he took West Indies’ score past 100 in a 27-run partnership with No. 11 Nelon Pascal, but Jacques Kallis then returned for a second spell and wrapped up the innings with the wicket of the tailender.South Africa were in control of the game within the first hour, as Morkel bowled with discipline and patience and found pace and alarming bounce off a placid pitch. Dowlin had stern questions asked of his technique against the short ball, and the whereabouts of his off stump, before he lost patience and pushed at one that he should have left.Morkel made it two wickets in two balls when he had Brendan Nash caught behind off the glove with the first delivery of his next over. Umpire Steve Davis didn’t think he had got anything on it, but the South Africans were convinced and asked for a referral, upon which Davis’s decision was overturned. With the first ball of his next over Morkel got the wicket that South Africa really wanted, as Chris Gayle went to pull a back-of-a-length delivery that wasn’t quite short enough for the shot and the resulting inside edge cannoned into his stumps to put West Indies in serious trouble at 12 for 3.With Morkel and Steyn taken off after their opening spells, Chanderpaul and Deonarine began to settle and took a particular liking to Paul Harris, who bowled six unsuccessful overs for 25 runs. They managed to weather another short burst from the opening pair before lunch, but when they returned, refreshed after the break, West Indies’ capitulation was quick in coming. The partnership was broken as Steyn went round the wicket and sent down a brutal bouncer at Chanderpaul, who gloved an easy looping catch to Mark Boucher.Dwayne Bravo, too, was bounced out shortly afterwards, although in his case it was a lack of bounce that contributed to the dismissal. Morkel dug one in halfway down and Bravo, expecting the ball to rear up at him, crouched and turned his head away but the ball kept low and flicked the glove on its way through.In a sustained assault of fast bowling of the highest standard, Deonarine was next, shouldering arms to a delivery that reversed in to him from around the wicket to have his stumps splayed. Shane Shillingford fell to the very next ball as Steyn continued to find devilishly late movement at high pace and the batsman was struck on the pad right in front of the wicket.Ramdin managed to survive the hat-trick ball – though it was wide of off stump and he flashed wildly at it – but three balls later Steyn reached the 200-wicket milestone by beating Sulieman Benn for both pace and movement to rattle his stumps.His fifth wicket came just two balls later, as Ravi Rampaul – like Deonarine before him – failed to pick up the reverse swing as Steyn came round the wicket and he left a ball that clattered into his off stump. With that, West Indies were 75 for 9 and Steyn’s four overs since the lunch break had yielded five wickets, for the cost of just four runs.When Ramdin took three boundaries off his 14th over, Steyn was pulled out of the attack, but the fightback was a brief one as Kallis nipped Nelon Pascal out in the second over of his spell. Deciding against the follow-on, Smith and Alviro Petersen put on 56 without much discomfort despite the fact that the pitch was beginning to exhibit huge variations in bounce.
After Petersen was trapped in front of his stumps by Benn for 22, Hashim Amla suffered his second failure of the game, driving Shillingford uppishly into the hands of a diving Deonarine in the covers to reduce South Africa to 79 for 2.But Smith fought to a half-century off 78 balls and Kallis was also in belligerent mood, his first boundary a massive six over long-on off Shillingford. He took South Africa’s lead past 400 with a savage pull off Pascal before fading light forced the players from the field.

The Bangladesh coach was at loss to explain why the once reliable middle order has been failing in the last two tours

Siddarth Ravindran in Dambulla18-Jun-2010Jamie Siddons: “I think we’re a bit tired, a bit flat, a bit jaded, and we’ve been focusing on Test cricket, we’ll regroup”•AFP

Two middle-order collapses in Dambulla have handed Bangladesh an all-too-common early exit from a big tournament. Just when they manage to sort one piece of the puzzle, another one pops out of place. Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim were their regular firefighters, rescuing them when top-order failures were the norm early this year, but with Tamim Iqbal now tapping into a rich vein of form and providing robust starts, the others are fumbling.The perfect example is the second Test against India in Mirpur five months ago: the top three made seven runs between them in the first innings but a 96 from Mahmudullah and supporting hands from the rest of the middle order lifted them to 233. And in the second, when Tamim counterpunched with a majestic 151, the experienced batsmen lower down flopped and Bangladesh ended up losing their final seven wickets for 22 runs.At the Asia Cup, the trend of blazing opening stands followed by a limp performance carried on from the England tour. Against India they raced to 81 for 1 in 13 overs, but barely managed to double their score. Today, Tamim started out with three boundaries off the first three deliveries and Bangladesh found themselves at a virtually identical 77 for 1 before sinking to 168 for 8.”Tamim keeps showing the world how good he is, I think it’s a real positive,” Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, said after the match. “Unfortunately, our middle order which has been saving us for the last six months making a lot of runs has stopped making runs, I don’t know why yet.”One of their big worries is the continuing inability of the most experienced player, Mohammad Ashraful, to make runs. Tamim and Junaid Siddique had weathered the early threat of Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, but the initiative was squandered when Ashraful pottered around for a painful 29-ball 9, ending with a botched reverse-sweep.”I was just speaking to Ashraful, I think he had tears in his eyes, letting the team down, he knows that and he’s really upset and really frustrated with his shot today,” Siddons said. “You know but it keeps happening.”There were other aspects of Bangladesh’s performance that he was at a loss to explain, like the bunch of wickets that have fallen to part-time spinners, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virender Sehwag. “It is a frustrating thing, we play spin all the time at home, it’s something we pride ourselves on,” he said. “Our batsmen since I’ve been there have struggled when it spins, whether it is part-time or world-class, we struggled in England when [Graeme] Swann spun the ball, [Daniel] Vettori always troubles us when it’s spinning.”Bangladesh entered the tournament after a two-Test tour of England, and haven’t played one-dayers in three months. Siddons felt his side hadn’t adjusted to the radically different conditions in Dambulla soon enough. “It’s difficult, it was swinging in England and we were focusing on their fast bowling over there and really leaving the ball a lot, not really focused on spin,” he said. “Fast bowlers haven’t worried us here, we’ve handled fast bowling without a problem in both games, but part-time spinners shouldn’t get you out.”The non-stop cricket Bangladesh have played has also had an impact, according to Siddons. “The other sides have had a good rest, had their senior players have rested and we’ve been going flat out for eight months including our domestic cricket,” he said. “I think we’re a bit tired, a bit flat, a bit jaded, and we’ve been focusing on Test cricket, we’ll regroup.”

William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, was left to rue his side’s batting collapse against Australia in Dubin

Cricinfo staff17-Jun-2010William Porterfield, the Ireland captain, was left to rue his side’s batting collapse after he and Paul Stirling had given them a real chance of causing a huge upset and beating world champions Australia in Dublin. The openers added 80 in 11 overs but the middle order couldn’t keep up the momentum as James Hopes took a career-best 5 for 14 to save the visitors’ blushes.After watching his team’s batting struggle at the World Twenty20, Porterfield was again frustrated as the hosts lost 3 for 6 to slip to 86 for 3 then fell away again from 137 for 3 to 156 for 9. The Ireland captain departed for 39 in the 14th over when he was bowled by Nathan Hauritz and despite brave efforts from Alex Cusack and John Mooney the chase proved too much.”We had them right on the back foot,” he said. “It was ours to lose and we let it slip. It’s pretty disappointing from the position we were in, especially after the first 10-12 overs.”We were way ahead of the game from what we needed from then on in with 10 wickets in hand. So it is pretty disappointing. We took the game to them. We definitely put them under pressure.”However, Porterfield was hopeful that Ireland’s gusty display, which included an impressive bowling and fielding performance to keep Australia to 231 for 9, would show that they can challenge the major nations as they push their claim to be promoted to Full Member status.”When these occasions come around we have to show what we can do,” he said. “The first 70 overs of that game we were almost on top in everything we did. We were ahead of the game. It’s obviously disappointing to lose, but we showed what we can do in stages there.”Instead of 70 overs we’ve got to do that for 100. There’s no letting up and you can’t afford to lose wickets in bunches against teams like this. They’ll come down on you as they did. It’s disappointing, we shouldn’t collapse like that.”Tim Paine, the replacement wicketkeeper for the injured Brad Haddin, played a key innings for Australia with 81 but the matchwinning effort came from Hopes who dismantled Ireland’s top order with his bustling medium pace which was ideally suited to a sluggish Clontarf wicket. Hopes admitted the team were rusty after a lengthy break from 50-over cricket and that they had to dig deep to avoid beginning their six-week tour with an embarrassing reversal.”When we turned up today we knew there was a good chance that Ireland were going to come out and give us a good run,” he said. “We hadn’t played any one-day cricket for a while, since New Zealand, and we got off to a sluggish start.”They got off to a blistering start and they were in a position to put us away, and we were fortunate to get out. Fortunately we brought it back in the middle overs and you could look at it that we got out of jail.”