All posts by csb10.top

Mitchell Johnson, the Australia fast bowler, has been ruled out of cricket for “five to six months” after undergoing surgery on the big toe of his left foot in Melbourne. He sustained the injury while batting in the second Test at the Wanderers in South Africa earlier this month. Not only will he miss the home season as a result, but also the tour to the West Indies in March and April next year.”Mitchell sustained a severe injury to ligaments, commonly referred to as ‘Turf Toe’, when batting in the second Test in South Africa,” Cricket Australia doctor Trefor James said in a release. “Although lesser degrees of this injury can be managed without surgery, Mitchell’s injury was a severe form and surgery was clearly the best option. I would expect Mitchell to be able to return to cricket in five to six months.”This lay-off could make it difficult for Johnson, 30, to force his way back into the national side. He had a disappointing tour of South Africa, where he took 3 for 255 during the two Tests, and in the past 18 months he has taken 35 Test wickets at 45.71. Teenager Pat Cummins impressed during the Test series, and fellow seamers Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson made their debuts in the first Test of the summer, against New Zealand in Brisbane.It was during Australia’s series-levelling victory at the Wanderers that Johnson’s foot problem became apparent, when he stumbled while taking off for a run during Australia’s chase. Johnson was hobbling for the rest of the innings but stayed at the crease until the target was reached.

Group A

An unbeaten double-century from Suresh Raina put Uttar Pradesh in charge against Punjab, at the Punjab Cricket Association Ground. Raina’s effort was well-supported by Parvinder Singh, who equalled his best first-class score: 138. UP had begun day three on 221 for 3, with Raina and Parvinder at the crease. The pair both scored at a commendable rate and went on to add 241 for the fourth wicket. Parvinder was snagged by part-timer Karan Goel, and Manpreet Gony got Arish Alam to edge behind not long after with UP only 100 ahead, but another big stand followed.Piyush Chawla smacked 73 not out off 67 balls as his side looked for quick runs, and put on 146 at almost six an over with Raina. The declaration came soon after Raina went past 200 and his previous top score to finish with 204 at a rate of 71.32. Trailing by 246, Punjab lost two quick wickets ahead of stumps, to finish 26 for 2. Raina’s hundred will put pressure on Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli to perform against West Indies in the Test that begins tomorrow, should they be picked in the XI.Karnataka took control of their match against Rajasthan at the Field Club Ground, after their bowlers struck regularly to keep Rajasthan to 255. After Karnataka piled up a mammoth 623 for 6 in their first innings, Rajasthan needed their batsmen to build long innings after getting set. But none of them managed to do that – Ashok Menaria (who consistently churned out the big scores for Rajasthan during the knockout stages last season), Robin Bist and Rohit Jhalani all got to 45, but none of them could not manage more than Menaria’s 57.While new-ball bowlers Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun knocked over the top and middle order, taking five wickets between them, left-arm spinner K Appanna cleaned up the tail to finish with 4 for 35. With Rajasthan still trailing by 368, Vinay enforced the follow-on. The opening batsmen’s cautious approach – they scored at less than two runs an over – worked, as they safely saw off the 27 overs before stumps, finishing with 51 for 0.Orissa adopted a very cautious approach against Saurashtra at the Barabati Stadium, edging from 51 for no loss to 246 for 4 in a full-day’s play. Opener Natraj Behera scored most of the 195 runs they managed off 90 overs, carrying his bat through the day and completing his second first-class hundred in the process.Bikas Pati and Biplab Samantray afforded Natraj Behera some support, getting past 40, but neither could hang around long enough to threaten Saurashtra’s first-innings’ score of 545. In the final session, Natraj Behera found another reliable partner in Abhilash Mallick, who finished not out on 35. But Orissa will need both players to bat out as much of the final day as possible to have any chance of securing a draw. Natraj Behera is one short of his best first-class score, 113.File photo: Parthiv Patel led Gujarat’s solid reply at Eden Gardens•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Mumbai‘s spinners, Ramesh Powar and Ankeet Chavan combined to bowl out Railways for 256 at the Karnail Singh Stadium, after which Wasim Jaffer enforced the follow on. Railways had resumed on 66 for 3 and their captain, Sanjay Bangar, made a patient 89. But no one else could get a half-century, as Powar and Chavan picked up three wickets apiece. That meant Railways folded still 227 runs behind Mumbai.They began their second innings in better fashion though, going to stumps 121 for 2, trailing by 106. They lost Shreyas Khanolkar cheaply, but their other opener, Shivakant Shukla who is in his debut season with Railways after transferring from UP, held firm. He put on 89 with Faiz Fazal, before part-timer Suryakumar Yadav had Fazal edging behind just prior to stumps. Shukla finished unbeaten on 64.

Group B

Hundreds from Parthiv Patel and Priyank Panchal carried Gujarat to 315 for 2 in response to Bengal‘s 560 at Eden Gardens. The pair began the day with the score on 10 for no loss, and went on to string together a 284-run partnership. Parthiv Patel’s runs came at a good clip: he hit 143 at 70.79 with 18 fours. Panchal’s 139 was his best first-class score and, though a bit slower, included 19 boundaries – 16 fours and three sixes.However, Bengal’s spinners – Iresh Saxena and Saurasish Lahiri – removed the pair in the final session, as Gujarat went to stumps 245 runs in the deficit. The hundred could boost Parthiv’s chances of a Test comeback, as the reserve opener, during the much-anticipated Australia tour that kicks off at the end of the year.Debutant Milind Kumar and Rajat Bhatia went on to complete centuries on the third day at Roshanara Club Ground, to give Delhi the first-innings’ lead against Haryana, despite a collapse. Milind fell for 119 soon after the partnership had crossed the 150-run mark. Puneet Bisht could not get going, but Pawan Negi settled in. His 41-run stand with Bhatia looked promising when Bhatia was cleaned up by Amit Vashisht for 107.That triggered a collapse in which Delhi went from 318 for 5 to 352 all out, with a 59-run lead. The bowlers shared the wickets around. Haryana lost their captain Rahul Dewan early, before a half-century stand between Nitin Saini and Sunny Singh helped wipe out the deficit. However, Bhatia struck late in the day, effectively reducing Haryana to 35 for 2.There was no play possible in the Tamil Nadu v Baroda match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium due to rain, for the third day running.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTaufeeq Umar was in no hurry in making his century, as Pakistan took complete control in Abu Dhabi•Associated Press

The painstaking efforts of Pakistan’s top order put their side in control against a helpless Sri Lankan attack which was remorselessly taken apart on an unresponsive surface, first by the positivity of Mohammad Hafeez and then by the self-denial and accumulation of Taufeeq Umar and Azhar Ali.After Hafeez had batted with purpose in a productive morning session, Taufeeq and Azhar stonewalled at under two runs an over till tea before displaying some urgency in the final session to leave Sri Lanka deflated in the Abu Dhabi heat. Taufeeq played second fiddle to Hafeez, blocked half-volleys after lunch along with Azhar Ali and displayed refreshing freedom after tea to reach his second century in three Tests. Azhar, mostly bordering on the over-cautious, continued to display the solidity that has marked his short career with another half-century in a partnership which grew to 141 by the end of the day.Nothing worked for Sri Lanka after their batsmen had collapsed yesterday. Mahela Jayawardene – one of the safest slip fielders around – failed to hold on to the only real chance that Pakistan gave during the day. Azhar, on 7, edged Rangana Herath towards slip but Jayawardene could not grasp the ball as it died in front of him. Towards the end of play, umpire Tony Hill failed to spot a clear inside edge off Taufeeq’s bat into the wicketkeeper’s gloves when he was on 102.The tone for Pakistan’s dominance was set by Hafeez in the first over of the day bowled by Chanaka Welegedara which went for 10. Sri Lanka would have wanted more from their seamers in the morning, but an in-form Hafeez proved hard to crack on the flat pitch. The heat also restricted the length and effectiveness of the seamers’ spells; only Herath consistently troubled the batsmen with clever use of flight and variations, something not reflected in his returns of 33-9-53-1 for the day. Herath beat Hafeez with flight and turn off his third delivery and would have sneaked a carrom ball through him but for a late inside edge.Hafeez targeted the seamers and eventually broke free against Herath to loft him for a straight six before being trapped in front with an arm ball. Pakistan stalled inexplicably after Hafeez’s departure, defending everything and refusing to take charge of a second session they should have dominated. They should have taken the lead before tea but with Azhar remaining stuck on 7 for 43 deliveries at one stage as they scraped 59 runs in 30 overs in the second session.They seemed to have woken up at the stroke of tea, though, with Azhar taking Suranga Lakmal for consecutive fours. Taufeeq, on 65 off 200 deliveries, came out a changed batsman after tea. He took 35 off his next 59 balls to reach his century with two boundaries and a tuck off Lakmal in the 86th over. The landmark reached, he shut shop for the rest of the day, scoring only nine off his final 37 deliveries. Pakistan still collected 85 off 31 overs after tea, finally attempting to rub in their advantage. The second new ball came and went, almost unnoticed.At no stage during their partnership were they pretty to watch, but Taufeeq and Azhar will rightly point to the scoreboard, and to Pakistan’s position, to show that it was worth the grind.

Ajay Maken, the Indian sports minister, has slammed the BCCI for its stand against the transparency-enhancing Right to Information (RTI) Act and the proposed bill to regulate Indian sports bodies. The bill, which could cover the BCCI too, was discussed at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday but failed to gain approval and will now be re-worked.One of the main reasons the Indian board has given for staying out of the ambit of the RTI, which opens up to public questioning the institutions covered by it, is that the BCCI doesn’t rely on government money. “The BCCI is a non-governmental organisation, which has its own constitution and generates its own funds,” the BCCI president Shashank Manohar told the . “In fact, there are two orders passed by the country’s Chief Information Commissioner wherein it has been clearly stated that the RTI Act doesn’t apply to the BCCI.”Maken, though, countered by saying that the BCCI indirectly received government funds. “How about the tax exemptions?” Maken asked. “How about the land they get? How much did they pay for the Feroz Shah Kotla? We are not asking them to reveal anything to the government. We are asking them to be accountable to the people. “Another recommendation in the bill is that people over 70 years of age should be barred from heading sporting federations. “I wonder why the proposed age-cap is 70, not 65 or 60?” Manohar said. “And what has age got to do with administration as long as the person concerned is in good health?”Maken defended the introduction of an age limit. “What is their problem with age limit? Doesn’t the judiciary, the bureacracy have age limits? Why can’t a good example be followed? If someone remains a federation chief for ever why will vested interests not develop.”The proposed bill also called for the inclusion of former players in cricket administration. “I can only speak for the BCCI which has its own constitution and office-bearers are elected democratically by state associations and other affiliated units,” Manohar said.”We have former players like Anil Kumble, Shivlal Yadav and Mohinder Pandove holding key positions in their respective associations as well as in the BCCI after they were duly elected to their respective posts. In BCCI, we only involve former players to deal with cricket-specific issues like selection, technical matters, coaching, mentoring etc, leaving the administrative issues to elected representatives.”All said and done, cricket is the best administered sport in the country. It is not as if the BCCI is a closed-door body. It submits its annual audited accounts to the Registrar of Societies after the same is duly circulated and vetted by its member associations.”At the ICC annual conference in Hong Kong earlier this year, the ICC gave its member boards a two-year deadline to democratise in an effort to reduce government interference in cricket administration. Manohar cautioned against the possibility of government involvement in this matter as well. “The ICC has recently amended its constitution and empowered itself to take action against Member boards in case of undue government interference in functional matters.”

ScorecardJames Taylor’s century and Ben Stokes’s fifty set up a series-clinching 135-run victory for England Lions over Sri Lanka A at Northampton.It was Taylor’s second hundred in three games and helped the Lions bounce back emphatically from their 10-wicket drubbing the game before. Taylor and Stokes helped the Lions recover from 38 for 3 to post 282 before the bowlers finished the job in style, skittling Sri Lanka A for 147 with over 20 overs to spare.It was a captain’s innings in the old sense from Taylor, anchoring the recovery at one end while Stokes was more positive from the other. Tharanga Lakshitha had done the early damage taking each of the first three wickets before the fightback started.The pair added 98 with Stokes reaching his fifty first – from 45 balls – hitting seven fours and three sixes in his 65-ball 73. He fell just past the half-way stage to legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna. Though he had time to score plenty more his contribution would not have gone unnoticed by the England selectors who will be considering their squad for the upcoming India series.Taylor was more restrained, taking 91 balls to make his half-century but steadily increased his pace as the innings wore on. At one stage – when the Lions slipped to 178 for 6 – it looked as though he may run out of partners but James Harris offered him sound support with 29. It took Taylor just 37 deliveries to go from fifty to his century and by the time he was last man out in the final over, he had struck eight fours and a six in his 111.283 looked a challenging target and it proved much too difficult for the visitors. The promising four-pronged seam attack, which included Ireland’s Boyd Rankin for the first time, shared seven wickets, while Lancashire left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan took the other three. The chase was as good as done by the third over when Sri Lanka A were reduced to 7 for 3.Captain Dimuth Karunaratne resisted grimly for 30 from 43 balls in a stand with Sachithra Chaturanga, who made 35. Aside from them, though, wickets kept tumbling. It needed a 38-run ninth-wicket stand to push Sri Lanka A towards 150 but Kerrigan and Woakes finished off the match to give the Lions the series.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has resolved to improve its corporate governance and review the process for awarding bonuses as their months-long internal strife appears to be reaching its end. The board took the decision at their annual general meeting in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, where they deliberated the legal advice of advocate Azhar Bham, who was appointed to investigate possible breaches of the Companies’ Act committed by chief executive Gerald Majola.Accounting firm KPMG, who were tasked with investigating CSA’s financial affairs, produced a report which stated that Majola could have violated the act four times in relation to bonus payments made after the hosting of the 2009 IPL and Champions Trophy. CSA decided to seek legal opinion on the possible breaches at a special board meeting held three weeks ago in Johannesburg.At the time, it was expected that Majola would not be fired and that the importance of governance procedures would be stressed on CSA. The core issue appears to be the methods used to pay bonuses to staff who work on non-CSA events that are hosted by the organisation, such as the IPL. Insiders confirmed that traditionally these bonuses are awarded without going through CSA’s remunerations committee (REMCO), leaving the door open for possible indiscretion. It was this type of misconduct that CSA President Mtutuzeli Nyoka said he wanted to prevent and expose.With the findings of KPMG and subsequent legal advice, CSA have admitted that they were not vigilant enough and did not employ strict enough methods of procedure. Majola was reported to have been severely reprimanded for this at the meeting and CSA have vowed to embark on a crash course in governance in order to improve their processes.”As far as CSA is concerned this matter is now closed,” AK Khan, vice-president of CSA, who chaired the meeting in Nyoka’s absence, said. Nyoka did not attend the meeting for personal reasons and has not yet responded to the resolution.If he mounts a challenge, it would further draw out the spat between him and Majola, which started when R4.7 million (US$ 671,428) was paid in bonuses to 40 staff members after the 2009 events. The payments were picked up as an irregularity by CSA’s auditors Deloitte and the body announced that they would have an external investigation to look into the matter.Instead, they chose to hold an internal inquiry first, chaired by vice-president AK Khan. In November, the Khan Commission cleared Majola of any wrongdoing but cautioned him against making “errors of judgment.” These mistakes referred to the payments not being declared to Remco.Nyoka’s outspoken views on holding an external investigation resulted in him being ousted by a vote of no confidence in February, but he challenged the decision in the South Gauteng High Court and was reinstated in April Nyoka’s demands for an audit were also met and KPMG were chosen to conduct the investigation which, once completed, did not put an end to the matter but lengthened in with the call for legal advice.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have confirmed that the DRS will be used in the upcoming home series against Australia, contradicting earlier reports. Sri Lankan media had previously reported that a cash-crunched SLC was looking at saving money by not using the DRS, the technology for which is estimated to cost about US$ 5000 a day.Upali Dharmadasa, the SLC interim committee chairman, told ESPNcricinfo on Saturday: “The use of DRS is a priority for us, since the decision was taken during the ICC annual conference in Hong Kong, to use it in all series, which all the members agreed to.”A revised version of the DRS, including Hot Spot but not ball-tracking technology, has been made mandatory for all Tests and one-day internationals by the ICC, subject to availability and commercial considerations. National boards can decide whether to add the ball-tracking tools. Dharmadasa said SLC still had a few questions about the DRS that would be resolved by next week. “Regarding the predictive path, we have written to the ICC and the final decision will be taken at the SLC meeting on Wednesday.”The Sri Lankan board has been facing financial difficulties after cost overruns in building stadiums for the 2011 World Cup. Last month, SLC slashed its budget for the tour from 300 million rupees down to 100 million rupees, after the sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said austerity measures had to be taken. Dharmadasa, however, said “funding for DRS is not an issue.”Australia arrive in Sri Lanka at the end of this month for a full tour, including two Twenty internationals, five ODIs and three Tests.

ScorecardSpinners Monty Panesar and Michael Yardy claimed five wickets between them as Sussex Sharks defeated Gloucestershire Gladiators by seven wickets in a Friends Life t20 game at Bristol.In a match reduced to 17 overs per side by rain, the Gladiators could only manage 97 for 9 as Panesar (3 for 14) and Yardy (2 for 22) did much of the damage. Lou Vincent (31 not out) and Murray Goodwin (27) then led the Sharks to victory with 15 balls to spare, making it two wins out of two for the south coast county.The Gladiators, though, have lost three times in as many games. The sides had been set to start on time at 2.30pm but further rain swept across the County Ground and play was delayed by 90 minutes.The Gladiators lost skipper Alex Gidman to the last ball of Luke Wright’s opening over when he was superbly caught off a skied drive by Rava Naved-ul-Hasan at wide mid-on. Hamish Marshall and Chris Taylor put on 32 for the second wicket – the biggest stand of the innings – before Marshall fell lbw to Yardy for 16.Taylor was the next to go, trapped lbw when sweeping at Panesar for 22, and no other Gloucestershire batsman could break the stranglehold exerted by the two Sussex spinners. Kane Williamson was bowled around his legs by Panesar, Will Gidman was taken on the midwicket boundary off Yardy and Panesar had Ed Young lbw.Kevin O’Brien struck Wayne Parnell for six over midwicket, but the South African got revenge next ball when Yardy held a skied drive at extra cover. A fine all-round bowling performance from Sussex was completed by Naved-ul-Hasan, who bowled Richard Coughtrie in the 15th over and had Ian Saxelby leg before in the last one.Sussex lost a wicket in the third over of their innings when Chris Nash miscued a pull off Jon Lewis to Saxelby at mid-on. It became 31 for 2 in the fifth over when Muttiah Muralitharan had Wright lbw to claim his first wicket for the Gladiators.But Sussex’s victory never looked seriously in doubt and Murray Goodwin hit 27 from 20 deliveries before he was caught by O’Brien on the midwicket boundary from Williamson’s first ball. Vincent and Yardy took Sussex to victory with an unbroken stand of 37, despite some tidy spin bowling from Muralitharan and Williamson.Vincent provided the finishing touches by reverse-sweeping Williamson for a boundary and then cutting the next ball for three to third man.

John Morris has been sacked as Derbyshire’s head of cricket midway through their current Championship match against Essex. Andy Brown, his assistant, has also been told his services are no longer required.Morris’s contract was due to expire at the end of September and Brown’s at the end of December but the pair’s departure is immediate, to the extent that they won’t see out the final two days of a Championship game that Derbyshire are well-placed to win.Derbyshire have only won one of their first four Championship games but are top of Group A in the Clydesdale Bank 40 after three wins. Luke Sutton, the captain, will take charge of the team along with academy director Karl Krikken, bowling coach Steffan Jones and committee member Tony Borrington.”After careful consideration, it has been decided not to renew their contracts and both will be released from performing their duties immediately,” Chris Grant, the club chairman, said. “The positions of lead physiotherapist James Pipe, strength and conditioning coach Luke Storey and Second XI coach AJ Harris are unaffected.”I would like to thank both John and Andy for their efforts while they have been employed by Derbyshire and wish them the very best in their future endeavours.”

Match facts

Tuesday, April 12
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)How will Bangalore tackle those yorkers?•AFP

Big picture

Barring the opening encounter, the first round of the IPL has seen one-sided mismatches, but Tuesday’s second game offers the prospect of a much closer clash. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore are two of the strongest sides in the tournament, possessing plenty of power-hitters, who are backed by world-class bowlers.Mumbai rode on Lasith Malinga’s brilliance against Delhi Daredevils in a match that was rendered a no-contest. The small chase allowed the Mumbai top order to spend some time in the middle; Sachin Tendulkar eased to an unbeaten 46 while Rohit Sharma got a start.The Bangalore attack of Daniel Vettori, Zaheer Khan and Dirk Nannes will provide a stiff challenge but the key will be how their batsmen handle Malinga. Especially for batsmen who haven’t seen much of him, Malinga’s yorkers, delivered from a very low height, can be unplayable. Fortunately for Bangalore, this isn’t the case for the core of their line-up. Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kolhi, AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary have faced Malinga sufficiently enough to be used to his unique style. He will nevertheless be difficult to get away, but they could look at how Virender Sehwag handled him in Delhi, even playing out a maiden when it was required.

Team talk

Andrew Symonds missed the opening game after injuring his shoulder in a fall, and Mumbai opted for James Franklin as their second overseas allrounder along with Kieron Pollard. Symonds, if he recovers in time, should replace Franklin.Bangalore fielded a pace-heavy attack of Zaheer, Nannes and Abhimanyu Mithun against Kochi Tuskers Kerala and could continue with it, given that the Chinnaswamy Stadium has short boundaries. They might also want to send Cheteshwar Pujara higher up the order.

In the spotlight

Mayank Agarwal impressed on his IPL debut, smacking Muttiah Muralitharan over deep midwicket off the first ball he bowled. Malinga will test him upfront with the yorkers. How will he tackle them?Davy Jacobs was undone by a pacy incoming delivery from Morne Morkel against Delhi. He will be up against Zaheer and Nannes in Bangalore. Will he be able to uncork those powerful wrists, like he did in the Champions League last year?

Prime numbers

• Bangalore and Mumbai have been involved in two of the three ten-wicket victories in the IPL. Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals in 2010 by the same margin by which Mumbai lost to Deccan Chargers in 2008
• AB de Villiers held 13 catches in the field in 2009, the most in an IPL season. Andrew Symonds was not far behind with 12, the most in IPL 2010

The chatter

“My wicketkeeping is coming along very well, and I am getting good experience in Indian conditions. I have shown that I can do both [batting and keeping] and fitness is not a worry.”