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Brad Haddin is looking forward to the first Test against West Indies, confident that his position as Australia’s No. 1 wicketkeeper hasn’t been threatened

Cricinfo staff07-Nov-2009Brad Haddin is looking forward to the first Test against West Indies, confident that his position as Australia’s No. 1 wicketkeeper hasn’t been threatened. Haddin made his return to cricket during the week after having surgery on the finger that he broke during the Ashes tour.In his absence, Tim Paine and Graham Manou have both been used in one-day internationals and Paine especially was a standout until breaking his finger in India. Paine has averaged 31.92 in his 15 ODIs and his highlight was 111 opening the batting against England at Trent Bridge, but Haddin knows he remains the main man.”I can see why people might have thought things had changed,” Haddin told the . “That sort of talk doesn’t worry me. All I can do is make sure when I get back in, I’m not playing injured like I was the last two Tests in England. Not that I regret it.”Ask me now if I would’ve played with my broken hand, knowing I could do more damage to it, and I still would have done the exact same thing. It was a massive series. I wanted to be a part of it, and I have no regrets at all about playing and making the finger worse.”Tim and Graham, I’d never begrudge them going well. I’ve never been one to think like that. It probably comes from me being behind ‘Gilly’ [Adam Gilchrist] for so long. I can’t control what the other guys are doing … I’m not sitting back and getting my Tim Paine and Graham Manou voodoo dolls out and sticking pins in them every night.”Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch gave Haddin a call when Paine was being sent home from India, to see if Haddin was a chance to join the squad. But he had yet to make his state return, which came during the week in the Sheffield Shield match against Western Australia, and he wasn’t keen to take the risk.”I wasn’t right to go to India to start with, and my whole build-up, after talking to the physio and the selectors, had been to get right for the first Test,” Haddin said. “If I’d gone over to India and my hand wasn’t right, I’d be looking like an idiot. But if I was fit to go on that India tour, I would have gone.”Haddin has one more Sheffield Shield game and an FR Cup match to confirm his fitness before the West Indies series. The first Test starts at the Gabba on November 26.

David Hussey held his nerve to post a brilliant 174 while wickets fell around him as Victoria overcame a strong bowling effort from Queensland at the MCG

Cricinfo staff27-Nov-2009
ScorecardDavid Hussey was on fire in producing 174 from 183 balls•Getty Images

David Hussey held his nerve to post a brilliant 174 while wickets fell around him as Victoria overcame a strong bowling effort from Queensland at the MCG. Hussey was a dominant force in his near run-a-ball innings that helped the Bushrangers to 378 having been sent in to bat.At stumps, Queensland had reached 1 for 24 with Nick Kruger on 11 and Lee Carseldine on 6. The man out was Wade Townsend, who was caught by Hussey off the bowling of Clint McKay for 2, and it was a fitting combination as Hussey and McKay had rescued Victoria with the bat.The pair put on 120 for the seventh wicket after the Bushrangers fell to a less-than-ideal 6 for 194 and McKay’s 55 – his highest first-class score – was important in getting the hosts to a strong total. But Hussey was the star of the day, striking 22 fours and three sixes in his 183-ball stay.His effort was all the more impressive considering Victoria had wobbled to 3 for 47 within the first hour as the swinging ball proved dangerous. Ben Cutting and Scott Walter picked up four wickets each and Carseldine held four catches at slip as most of the Victoria batsmen failed to show the necessary patience.

Virender Sehwag is confident his fast bowlers will come up with a plan to restrict Tillakaratne Dilshan

Cricinfo staff20-Dec-2009Virender Sehwag,
India’s stand-in captain, is confident his fast bowlers will come up with a plan to restrict Tillakaratne Dilshan
, who has been Sri Lanka’s leading batsman this series with back-to-back centuries. Dilshan is currently in the form of his life, scoring a combined ten centuries and eight fifties in Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals since the start of the year.”It’s very difficult to stop somebody who is in such good form,” Sehwag said on the eve of the third ODI in Cuttack. “We must think of how to get him out instead of thinking of stopping him. I am sure Zaheer (Khan), Ishant (Sharma), PK (Praveen Kumar) will work it out.”Dilshan’s 160 gave Sri Lanka a very realistic chance of chasing a mammoth 415 in Rajkot
– they fell short by three runs – but his 123 in the second game in Nagpur
set up their successful chase of 302. His strike-rate of 118.93 is indicative of how destructive he has been.Sehwag will lead the side for the next two ODIs in MS Dhoni’s absence, following the ban handed to Dhoni by the match referee for a slow over-rate in the second game in Nagpur. Sehwag said the team will miss Dhoni, who has been in good touch with the bat.”He is our match-winner. If we look at the last game, he got us back (with a century),” Sehwag said. “Without him, we would have been got out for 40-45 overs. He is our best player in our middle order line-up and also a very good captain. But there is no extra pressure as a captain with everybody contributing for the team.”Sehwag was also confident of settling quickly into his makeshift role. “It’s (captaincy) not difficult. I am part of the team and I know who is playing, who is not playing,” he said. “I know of our strategy and planning. I don’t think it’s any kind of a problem.”One of India’s biggest problems in this series has been their woeful fielding and catching. India hired Mike Young, formerly with the Australian team, as their fielding consultant before the limited-overs leg of the tour to counter this problem. However, Sehwag urged for patience and was confident Young’s training methods would eventually work.”He just joined the time and he needs sometime,” he said. “He is a very good at it. He just taught us few drills, some new fielding session. He is very keen on what he is doing. I’m sure it will help.”It’s very difficult for pacers after bowling 7-8 overs to do well in the fielding. It is a concern and we are working towards it.”

Dennis Amiss, the former England and Warwickshire batsman, has been formally retained as deputy chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Cricinfo staff13-Jan-2010Dennis Amiss, the former England and Warwickshire batsman, has been formally retained as deputy chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board. This will be Amiss’ third year in the position, for which he stood unopposed.”Dennis brings a wealth of cricketing knowledge and opinion to the boardroom table and is respected throughout the cricketing world,” said Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman. “He has also served the game as ECB chairman of the cricket committee as well as in his current position as deputy chairman.”Amiss, 66, scored 11 centuries in 50 Tests for England, and was also the scorer of England’s first ODI century.

Cricinfo previews the one-off Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh in Hamilton

The Preview by George Binoy14-Feb-2010

Match facts

February 15-19, 2010
Start time 11.00 (2200 GMT)

Big picture

Peter Ingram is set to make his Test debut•Getty Images

After winning the Twenty20 and sweeping the ODI series 3-0, the one-off Test at Seddon Park may not present New Zealand with the greatest of challenges, given Bangladesh’s susceptibility in the longest format of the game. It does, however, provide them with the opportunity to test a new-look line-up ahead of a tougher series against Australia.The Hamilton Test will be New Zealand’s first since the retirements of fast bowlers Iain O’Brien and Shane Bond. They unearthed a promising talent in Andy McKay but his services, too, will not be on offer because of injury. The batting order, which has had to do without Jesse Ryder and Grant Elliott for months, has also been rearranged and has a raw top order. Tim McIntosh and BJ Watling will open with 31-year-old debutant Peter Ingram at No. 3. They have a total experience of 11 Tests between them, with McIntosh accounting for ten. The solidity for New Zealand, lies in the middle – Taylor, Guptill, Vettori and McCullum – and Bangladesh’s best chance will be to put them under pressure early.Bangladesh had a few bright moments during the ODI series: the form of Tamim Iqbal at the top, Mushfiqur Rahim’s fighting spirit in the lower-middle order, and Imrul Kayes’ maiden century. All these performances, though, came in separate matches and were solitary efforts while wickets had fallen or were falling at the other end. Bangladesh’s batsmen failed to fire collectively and, worryingly, there were no contributions from Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful. Shakib, however, was impressive with the ball, troubling New Zealand’s middle order with his left-arm variations. He could prove effective in the longer form, especially if the fast bowlers put the hosts under early pressure.

Form guide (last five completed matches, most recent first)

New Zealand – DLWLL
Bangladesh – LLWWL

Watch out for

Shakib Al Hasan is for Bangladesh what Daniel Vettori is for New Zealand – captain, key batsman in the middle order, and premier bowler. Shakib was in poor form in the ODIs, scoring a total of eight runs in the first two games before making 36 in the third. His left-arm spin, however, was effective, resulting in five wickets at 21.60. He will have to raise his batting and maintain his bowling form if Bangladesh are going to push New Zealand.Peter Ingram made a steady start to his ODI career – 122 runs in three innings – and has been slotted at the pivotal No. 3 spot in the Test line-up. Vettori said finding a solid top order has been a “perennial challenge” for New Zealand so the spot is there for the taking for Ingram.

Team news

Ingram batting at No. 3 means Martin Guptill will drop down to No. 5, with Vettori likely to bat at No. 6 ahead of McCullum. The late injury to McKay has forced New Zealand to rework their attack, which is now likely to comprise three fast bowlers and a second spinner in Jeetan Patel, ahead of back-up seamer Brent Arnel.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Tim McIntosh, 2 BJ Watling, 3 Peter Ingram, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Martin Guptill, 6 Daniel Vettori (capt), 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Daryl Tuffey, 10 Jeetan Patel, 11 Chris Martin.Bangladesh named their XI for the Test late on Sunday evening. They made one change from the team that took the field against India in Mirpur, replacing Raqibul Hasan with Aftab Ahmed in the middle order.Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Aftab Ahmed, 6 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Mahmudullah, 9 Shahadat Hossain, 10 Shafiul Islam, 11 Rubel Hossain.

Stats and trivia

• Vettori averages nearly 49 at Seddon Park – with the bat. He’s scored 584 runs with two centuries and two fifties in 14 innings. With the ball, he’s taken 26 wickets at an average of 34.33.
• Of the Bangladesh players, only Mohammad Ashraful has played a Test in Hamilton. He made 1 and 6 in 2001.

Quotes

“I think we may have let ourselves down a wee bit in the last series [against Pakistan] by not finishing it off with a winning performance in Napier. But against Bangladesh I’m hoping we can at least get a good win to get some momentum leading into Australia as well.”

A round-up of the quarter-final matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that took place on March 13

Cricinfo staff13-Mar-2010
Scorecard
Akshath Reddy, in his first Twenty20 game, smashed an unbeaten 105, including ten fours and five sixes, to lead Hyderabad into the semi-final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after they beat Mumbai by seven wickets. Mumbai, thanks to an unbeaten 89 from Siddharth Chitnis and a 24-ball 46 from Paul Valthaty, had posted a formidable 181. Chitnis, who faced just 36 balls, was ruthless in his knock, striking 10 sixes and four fours. But Reddy’s reply was just as unforgiving, and he was well backed up by opener Danny Prince and Anoop Pai who chipped in with useful contributions to help ensure Hyderabad scaled down their target with little difficulty.
Scorecard
Maharashtra marched into the semi-finals with a comprehensive victory, easing past the finish line with six wickets and four overs to spare. It was the bowlers who set up the win, taking four wickets for 19 runs in the middle of the innings to derail Madhya Pradesh, who had moved along to 54 for 2 by the 10th over. Left-arm spinner Kiran Adhav was the most successful of the Maharashtra bowlers, finishing with 3 for 29, as MP folded for 120. There was hardly any trouble during the chase, with the openers slamming 56 by the seventh over. Offspinner Jalaj Saxena sent down a tight spell, conceding only 17 runs and taking a wicket, but the target was too flimsy for MP to defend.

James Franklin’s first one-day century inspired Gloucestershire Gladiators to a
51-run win over Derbyshire Falcons in the opening Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture at
Bristol

25-Apr-2010
ScorecardJames Franklin’s first one-day century inspired Gloucestershire Gladiators to a
51-run win over Derbyshire Falcons in the opening Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture at
Bristol.The New Zealand all-rounder responded to his new position as opener by hitting
133 off 121 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes, as his side ran up 230 for
5 after losing the toss. Alex Gidman (35) and Chris Taylor (32) offered good support.Steve Kirby (3 for 44) then took two early wickets to reduce Derbyshire to
31 for 2 and, despite 37 from Chris Rogers and 41 from John Sadler, the
visitors were restricted to 179 all out. It was an important win for Gloucestershire, beaten at home in their first two County Championship games of the season. Batting frailty in those matches led to the experiment of promoting Franklin up the order and he responded with a superbly-paced innings.Overcoming the early loss of Jonathan Batty and Hamish Marshall, the elegant
left-hander added 89 in 17 overs with Gidman and 70 in 10 overs with Taylor. Franklin owed his hundred to Taylor’s quick thinking. On 95 he would have been run out had his partner not sacrificed himself by crossing before bowler Tom Lungley’s throw hit the stumps.Soon afterwards the Kiwi reached three figures off 104 balls. Surprisingly for
an international player of his pedigree, it was the first time he had done so in
any one-day competition at home or in England. Franklin’s three sixes were all hit straight down the ground.Tim Groenewald was the pick of the Derbyshire attack conceding 37 runs from his
eight overs. After Kirby’s double strike, Rogers and Greg Smith put on 47 in 11 overs for
the Falcons third wicket before Smith (28) was caught at the second attempt by
wicketkeeper Batty off Gidman.There was still hope for Derbyshire at 103 for 3. But then Garry Park, on
13, carelessly swung off-spinner Taylor’s first ball of the game down the throat
of Steve Snell at deep mid-wicket. The key wicket of Rogers followed when he had a swing at Franklin and skied a steepling catch to Batty. At 107 for 5, the Falcons were suddenly staring down the barrel.Sadler ensured their total would reach respectability by being last man out,
having hit his 41 off 34 balls, but it was always in a losing cause. He became Kirby’s third victim, while Anthony Ireland and Taylor claimed two each.

Jesse Ryder confirmed his recovery from the groin injury that forced his withdrawal from the IPL, as he cracked a rapid 64 from 30 balls, including five fours and five sixes, to lift New Zealand to a matchwinning 187 for 5 in their opening Twenty20 warm-u

Cricinfo staff27-Apr-2010New Zealand 187 for 5 (Ryder 64) beat Ireland 147 for 9 (Porterfield 34, McCullum 3-25) by 30 runs

ScorecardJesse Ryder muscled his way to 64•AFP

Jesse Ryder confirmed his recovery from the groin injury that forced his withdrawal from the IPL, as he cracked a rapid 64 from 30 balls, including five fours and five sixes, to lift New Zealand to a matchwinning 187 for 5 in their opening Twenty20 warm-up against Ireland at Providence.After New Zealand won the toss, Ryder opened the batting alongside Rob Nicol, who made 31 from 30 balls in an opening stand of 104. Paul Stirling made the breakthrough by bowling Ryder in the tenth over, but Martin Guptill replaced him with similar bravado at No. 3, and rattled along to 50 from 35 balls.It wasn’t until George Dockrell, the 17-year-old left-arm spinner, entered the attack that Ireland managed to apply a brake to the scoring rate, as he removed Nicol, Scott Styris and Gareth Hopkins in a superb four-over spell of 3 for 24. But Daniel Vettori biffed 18 valuable runs from 12 deliveries to give the total a late lift.In a valuable pointer as to the conditions that can be expected at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, spin continued to play a major role when New Zealand’s turn came to bowl, with Nathan McCullum taking the new ball and striking in his first over as Stirling was bowled for a duck.McCullum added two more wickets in his spell – Niall O’Brien for 12 and Gary Wilson for 31 – both stumped by Hopkins – as Ireland’s hopes of victory evaporated. Trent Johnston smacked two sixes in a 12-ball 16 before becoming Hopkins’ third stumping of the innings, this time off Styris, while Kevin O’Brien was run out for 28 from 19 balls.

Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, has confirmed he received an approach from an unknown person whom he believed wanted him to manipulate the result of a one-day international against Ireland

Andrew Miller at Lord's26-May-2010Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, has confirmed he received an approach from an unknown person whom he believed wanted him to manipulate the result of a one-day international against Ireland.The incident is believed to have taken place in Dhaka in March 2008, and involved a brief phonecall on the eve of an ODI series against Ireland in which Shakib, who was not captain at the time, was offered “sponsorship” in return for his under-performance.In accordance with the strict guidelines of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit, Shakib immediately reported the approach to a Bangladesh Cricket Board official and to Colonel Qaza Noor, the ACSU’s regional manager, and never heard from the caller again. Bangladesh had been expected to win the contest, and duly did, by a comfortable 3-0 margin.”It was a long time ago, probably two-and-a-half years ago, in our home conditions against Ireland,” Shakib said on the eve of the first Test against England at Lord’s. “I didn’t talk to him much because we had a team meeting to go to, so I told him ‘I’ll talk to you later’ and immediately told a member of the board and the ICC guy. They took action and after that he never called me again.”Shakib’s revelations come on the same day that the Daily Telegraph revealed that a senior county cricketer was asked to “name his price” to fix the result of televised one-day matches in English domestic cricket, and the ECB later confirmed two players had reported approaches to them. It confirms the fears of the outgoing head of the ACSU, Lord Condon, that the threat of match fixing will never be entirely stamped out, and that it could “spread like a rash” if the game’s players and administrators relax their vigilance.”Cricket probably has the strongest anti-corruption code for players and support staff of any international sport,” said Condon. “The modern generation of players know that if they bet on games, underperform for fixing, or even if they don’t report an approach that is a disciplinary offence in itself. If we have due reason we can ask for their phone records, and they have to provide them.”We introduced an education programme so that anyone who wanted to play international cricket had to go through a programme that raised their awareness of who the fixers were, how they fixed, and how they groomed players. That has been very well thought out and very useful, because we now have a generation of players who are supportive of what we are trying to do, and aware of how the fixers operate. They are the providers of the most important intelligence that we get.”Shakib added that the exact nature of the deal that the phone-caller was proposing was never fully revealed. “We didn’t have time to discuss all the things, and what I should do,” he said. “I took the phone, and from the way he was talking, I thought he might do something, so I told someone. He never exactly told me he wanted me to fix a match, he just told me he wanted to be my sponsor.”I can’t speak for anyone else, but as far as I’m concerned my head wasn’t turned at that time,” he added. “What I feel is I do not care about the money. I want to play for my country, because that is a great pride for me, and I want to continue to do well for my country. As far as my family is concerned we are settled enough to lead our lives, so I am not concerned about those monies. If I play well for the next ten years, the money will come and I won’t have to worry about it.”England’s captain, Andrew Strauss, said: “I’ve never heard or had any reason to suspect that a game I’ve played in has been fixed in any way. If it is happening, it needs to be stamped out straight away. There’s no place for it in any form of cricket, and we’ve got a duty as players to make sure that if we hear of it, or are approached by someone, we come forward and report it straight away.”It’s the only way of ironing it out. For players to be tempted by taking money is ludicrous in my mind. The authorities are doing everything they can, but there is a huge responsibility on the players to make sure it doesn’t take hold and spread.”

Phillip Hughes is hoping to get back on the field before the end of the English summer as he continues to recover from a serious shoulder injury

Cricinfo staff02-Jun-2010Phillip Hughes is hoping to get back on the field before the end of the English summer as he continues to recover from a serious shoulder injury. Hughes had surgery on his left shoulder four weeks ago after hurting it during boxing training and it has ruled him out of Australia’s Tests against Pakistan in England in July.However, Hughes could consider a stint in county or league cricket to get some game-time ahead of the Australian season. Although he will be hard-pressed to fight his way into the side for the first Ashes Test with Simon Katich and Shane Watson the established openers, Hughes knows that the more matches he plays before then the better his chances of international action.”Time wise, three months from now if I’m back fully fit three months from now I’ll be very happy,” Hughes told AAP. “It might not take as long or it might take a bit longer depending on how rehab goes.”England is something I could be thinking about, for now I’m just worried about my shoulder, and then when it’s closer to 100%, depending on timeframe and where I am and what’s around, I’ll definitely be looking at playing something.”Hughes’ last taste of Test cricket came in Wellington in March, when he hared to 86 in Australia’s chase of 106. The injury at least came during his off-season and he was content with the progress he had made since the problem arose.”I can move it now, it’s been three weeks and I’ve been doing a little bit of rehab, but I’ll start fully into rehab every day next week,” Hughes said. “It could’ve been a lot worse [timing] but it’s never a good time to get injured.”I’ve been quite lucky with injuries, never had big injuries like this before in the last four or five years of my professional cricketing career, so I’ve been lucky, but if there’s a positive to come out of it, it’s good that it happened now and not in the middle of summer.”