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Therese Walsh, who was chief operating officer for last year’s Rugby World Cup, has been appointed to lead the New Zealand operations for the 2015 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff29-May-2012Therese Walsh, who was chief operating officer for last year’s Rugby World Cup, has been appointed to lead the New Zealand operations for the 2015 World Cup. Walsh, who has been a director of New Zealand Cricket since 2011, will be head of New Zealand for the tournament to be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand.”Therese will play a leading role across the whole tournament but pay special attention to delivery in New Zealand,” John Harnden, the World Cup CEO, said. “Our aim is to put on a fan-friendly event which reaches as many communities as possible across both countries. Therese brings great experience in sport and major events to the role and has invaluable insights from what has been recognised as the best Rugby World Cup ever.”Walsh served as the chief financial officer and general manager corporate services for the New Zealand Rugby Union before she took on the Rugby World Cup role. Walsh said she was looking forward to working across both Australia and New Zealand in the lead-up to the tournament, which will be held in February-March 2015.”This was a perfect chance to be a part of another global sporting event that is going to have a direct and positive impact not only on cricket in New Zealand but on communities, businesses and individuals,” Walsh said. “While my title is Head of New Zealand, my focus will be on creating a memorable event across both countries that will leave a legacy for years to come.”

Alex Hales has been fined a week’s wages by Nottinghamshire after reporting late for the final day of the club’s Championship match against Middlesex on Saturday, May 12

George Dobell16-May-2012Alex Hales has been fined a week’s wages by Nottinghamshire after reporting late for the final day of the club’s Championship match against Middlesex at Trent Bridge on Saturday, May 12.Hales, who has played four T20 internationals for England, had been dismissed in his second innings of the match shortly before the close on the third evening of the game. After a late night on Friday, he overslept on Saturday morning and did not wake until lunchtime. The Middlesex side included England’s Test captain, Andrew Strauss.”We can confirm that Alex was fined,” a club spokesman told ESPNcricinfo, “but it is club policy not to comment upon the reasons.”Hales was part of England’s T20 squad in the UAE over the winter but was not selected for the side.

Darren Bravo returned to form with an unbeaten hundred against Middlesex and Dwayne Smith made 96 in a crushing win

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's13-Jun-2012
ScorecardDwayne Smith made an immediate impact for West Indies in their warm-up match against Middlesex at Lord’s ahead of the ODI series•Getty Images

With an influx of new personnel to their squad, West Indies can consider themselves far more England’s equals in the forthcoming one-day series, if not even slight favourites given the power in the top order. That strength was on show during their one warm-up match ahead of the opening ODI, as they piled up 335 for 4 against Middlesex. Their performance included a welcome hundred from Darren Bravo and Dwayne Smith’s 96 which showed they should not have to rest purely on Chris Gayle.Gayle’s return to the maroon strip was the initial focus at Lord’s. In the second over he took consecutive boundaries off Robbie Williams and then launched Tim Murtagh for two sixes. With the Middlesex attack lacking Corey Collymore – a former West Indies team-mate of Gayle – and Toby Roland-Jones it was lightweight and Gayle looked set to take advantage. However, he did not quite middle his attempted flick over the leg side off Anthony Ireland and found deep midwicket on the shorter of the boundaries.The backbone of West Indies’ imposing total was a 156-run stand for the third wicket between Darren Bravo and Smith, while the end of the innings was given a kick by Dwayne Bravo – another player back in the squad after IPL duty – who sped to 40 off 21 balls in a fifth-wicket partnership of 73 in six overs. There is certainly no lack of boundary-clearing ability in the visitors’ line-up which extends down to Andre Russell and Darren Sammy in the lower order.Darren Bravo’s innings was timely after a Test series in which he disappointed with 81 runs in five innings. He was not challenged by a weakened Middlesex attack – further depleted by the loss of Williams who suffered a suspected fractured collarbone while fielding – but neither did he let the opportunity to revive his confidence go to waste. The hundred – just his third in List A cricket – came from 110 deliveries in the final over of the innings and he closed out the 50 overs by striking the final two balls for sixes against Josh Davey. He provides an important foil to the more dashing blades elsewhere.Smith – well known to English audiences after his spells in county cricket for Sussex – came within one blow of three-figures after an innings that hinted at a greater maturity in his batting than had previously been evident. Given the chance to bat at No. 4 with Marlon Samuels resting, he played himself in but still did not struggle to score at a run-a-ball, a rate he later increased before driving to mid-on searching for the boundary to reach a hundred. One of his two sixes went into the top tier of the pavilion; Gayle is not the only one who can comfortably clear boundaries.There is suddenly competition for batting places. Samuels, West Indies’ Man of the Series in the Tests, will return to the middle order so one from this side will need to make way. Another advantage for them is many of their batsmen are more than capable with the ball; Gayle, Samuels, Smith and Kieron Pollard all provide useful varieties of spin or medium-pace, one of the reasons the 50-over (and 20-over) format suits West Indies. In this match, though, their bowling was barely needed.Middlesex’s reply was all rather embarrassing. Three of the middle order – Paul Stirling, Neil Dexter and Adam London – fell to a variety of miscued pulls as Ravi Rampaul continued his nagging form from the Test series and Russell produced a lively opening spell. There was just time for Gayle to finish the game with two in three balls, both wickets met with his unique celebrations.Eoin Morgan was not in the side despite his limited cricket so far this season and recent return to form with a 49-ball hundred in the CB40. Instead, he had a net on the Nursery Ground ahead of linking up with the England squad in Southampton on Thursday.

Leicestershire’s veteran pace bowler Matthew Hoggard marked his relinquishing of the county’s one-day captaincy to Josh Cobb with three wickets against Netherlands in Amstelveen.

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Jul-2012
ScorecardMatthew Hoggard, seen here against Derbyshire, enjoyed his first day back in the ranks with three wickets for Leicestershire in Amstelveen•PA Photos

Leicestershire’s veteran pace bowler Matthew Hoggard marked his relinquishing of the county’s one-day captaincy to Josh Cobb with three wickets in the county’s first CB40 win of the season against Netherlands in Amstelveen.Michael Thornely made a boundary-laden 86 as Leicestershire posted 208 for 7 in an innings reduced to 36 overs by the weather.Hoggard and Jamie Sykes then took three wickets apiece as Netherlands, the Group A leaders, were bowled out for 175, leaving Leicestershire as 33-run winners.Timm van der Gugten removed Josh Cobb in the first over and added the notable scalp of his opening partner Ramnaresh Sarwan to leave Leicestershire 51 for 3 from 13 overs.Thornely and Wayne White put on 69 for the fifth wicket before White (38) became Mudassar Bukhari’s first victim, leaving Leicestershire 143 for 5 with only 26 balls remaining only for a further 65 runs to be crashed in a climax that transformed the game.Thornely was caught by Tom Heggelman off Shahbaz Bashir to end a 77-ball knock containing six fours and five sixes.Hoggard removed Michael Swart and Wesley Barresi either side of Stephan Myburgh’s promising innings of 21 from 12 balls being ended when the opener retired hurt.Bashir followed to leave the hosts 35 for 3 – effectively four – and they never really recovered, though Cameron Borgas attempted to give the innings some momentum with an innings of 40 from 48 balls.

Australia’s batsmen did enough to secure victory in the first ODI in Sharjah on Tuesday, but they know they will need to find a more convincing way to handle Saeed Ajmal throughout the rest of the tour

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2012Australia’s batsmen did enough to secure victory in the first ODI in Sharjah on Tuesday, but they know they will need to find a more convincing way to handle Saeed Ajmal throughout the rest of the tour. Ajmal struck with his first ball of the match and again in his second over, which left Australia in trouble at 67 for 4 chasing 199, and he finished with 3 for 30 from his ten overs.George Bailey came to the crease after Ajmal’s first two wickets and helped put Australia back on target with steady half-century, but at no point did any of the batsmen really get on top of Ajmal. He conceded only one boundary and Bailey said Australia would need to find a way to score more freely off Ajmal in the remaining matches to avoid getting bogged down.”We could probably see him off a little better,” Bailey told reporters after the match. “We knew he was going to be a key bowler and I think that’s one of the real focuses we’ll have going in to Abu Dhabi is how we play him, and try to milk him a little bit better and try not to give him his wickets.”His control is good and we know he’s a key bowler. Certainly towards the back end, after he’d taken his wickets, the key was just to see him out. If we scored runs off him that was great, if we didn’t, that’s okay, we’ll just try to target the other bowlers. It’s nice to have faced Ajmal a little more, get a better feel of how to play him. And it was nice to face all the bowlers who we haven’t faced.”Mohammad Hafeez also proved a difficult customer for the Australian batsmen and having taken the new ball, it took him less than two overs to get rid of David Warner, who was bowled trying to slog across the line. Neither Warner nor his opening partner Matthew Wade had any real impact with the bat and Bailey said top-order partnerships would be important for Australia to win the series.”With opening the batting there’s responsibility,” Bailey said. “We want Matty Wade and Davey Warner to be scoring hundreds for us. But we also know that their ball-striking can get us off to a flyer too. So there’s a balance to be found there.”The big thing that we’ll take as a team is partnerships, particularly in the top order. If you look at teams that have had success over here the big partnerships and big scores come from the top order. That’s a real focus for us.”The Australians were helped by the fact that their bowlers put in such a strong performance after Pakistan chose to bat, dismissing them for 198. Bailey said James Pattinson was almost the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 19, although it was Mitchell Starc who ended up with the best figures of 5 for 42. Starc said he was pleased with the results given that the conditions didn’t offer much for the fast men.”It’s not helpful. There’s not much seam movement out there,” Starc said. “We’re sticking to our plans. We’re talking about it as a bowling group. I think we’re all bowling really well as a group. I was lucky to get the wickets today but James Pattinson got 3 for 19 and bowled magnificently well as well. As a group I think we’re doing well and then tonight with the bat we backed it up and got the job done in the end.”The three-match ODI series moves on to Abu Dhabi for the remaining two matches on Friday and Monday, before the three-match T20 series begins.

The Pakistan Cricket Board have lodged a protest with the ICC after Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner, was left off the shortlist for the ICC Test player of the year.

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2012The Pakistan Cricket Board has lodged a protest with the ICC after Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner, was left off the shortlist for the ICC Test player of the year. He was included on the longlist for the award, and the PCB has requested a review, hoping Ajmal will be added to the shortlist.Ajmal, 34, took 72 Test wickets between August 4, 2011 and August 6, 2012 – the qualifying period for the award – including 24 at 14.70 as Pakistan swept aside England, the then No. 1 side in the world, 3-0 in January. He has climbed to No. 3 in the ICC Test bowling rankings and is the highest ranked spinner. He was also selected in the ICC Test team of the year.But despite his success, Ajmal was omitted from the four-man shortlist that features South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander, Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara and Australia captain Michael Clarke. The list is voted for by a 30-member panel of former players, officials and journalists and the award will be presented at a ceremony in Colombo on September 15.”During the voting period Ajmal produced some significant performances including the series against England,” a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s fair to show a concern on Ajmal’s omission from the top performers and hence the PCB has written to the ICC and expect them to reconsider.”There is precedent for the ICC to add names to the list of candidates for their awards. In 2010, Graeme Swann was omitted from the longlist for the Cricketer of the Year award but after the ECB put up his case, the ICC included his name after admitting an “oversight.” Swann was then shortlisted before missing out to Sachin Tendulkar. South Africa have also taken umbrage to the list of candidates in the past, boycotting the 2009 ceremony in Johannesburg after their cricketers were overlooked for awards.

Led by a Virat Kohli classic, India are now within 82 runs of the New Zealand first innings total

The Report by Sharda Ugra01-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSuresh Raina’s fifty had aggression mixed in with an urgency to find security around his No. 6 spot•Associated Press

Led by a Virat Kohli classic, after staggering somewhat at two points of their innings, India find themselves within 82 runs of the New Zealand first innings total of 365. Plus a healthy chance in this Test match. At stumps on day two, India were 283 for 5 with Kohli seven short of his century and MS Dhoni four short of his fifty.Kohli formed the core of two middle-order partnerships that ensured that the Indians kept moving ahead. Just after lunch, India had wobbled at 80 for 4, before Kohli became the fulcrum of the Indian resistance even as New Zealand’s impressive seam bowlers threatened to get their teeth into the Indian lower order.A fifth wicket stand of 99 with Suresh Raina took control of the Indian innings after the loss of the top four. A sixth-wicket unbeaten 104-run partnership with Dhoni had made the most of the softer old ball. New Zealand’s triumvirate of leading quick bowlers, Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult had an outstanding day of purpose, energy, swing bowling and wickets, more than ably aided by their fielders. In the final count, though, New Zealand were held off by these two partnerships.At stumps, the Indian response was centered around Kohli’s most intelligently compilied knock. He came in at 67 for 3, at the fall of Virender Sehwag’s wicket. In the early part of innings, he gave the bowling due respect and with two aggressive partners at the other end, Kohli played at his own pace. He was neither over-defensive or overdosing on the aggro. His strokemaking was of the highest calibre, his first boundary only off the 21st ball. He stepped out confidently to hoist Jeetan Patel over midwicket for six and hitting Boult, Bracewell and James Franklin down the ground for straight boundaries. A controlled pull off his face to Bracewell was sufficient proof of his calibre.Raina’s 55 was a different kind of fifty. It had aggression mixed in with an urgency to find security around his No. 6 spot. He was the prime mover in the partnership with Kohli, given enough opportunity to go onto his front foot. His three boundaries in the second over he faced from Bracewell, however, included a cracking pull shot. When Patel tossed one up, Raina struck a sweet six over extra cover. He was given a reprieve on 48, stumped off a no ball off Patel. His innings came to an end quickly after tea. Like Hyderabad, he was caught trying to tickle one down the leg side, this time to Southee.Much like Raina had done on his arrival during a crisis, Dhoni led his innings with big-hitting strokeplay. He took maximum benefit of the fact that his counterpart had offered him Patel’s off spin at one end for as many as eight overs. Dhoni charged down the wicket against Patel, taking on the fielder at long-on and belted two sixes over his head. That kicked off his innings and got the partnership with Kohli going at a good clip.

Smart stats

• Pragyan Ojha’s five-for is the third of his career and his first against New Zealand. The previous two came against West Indies.

• With Ojha’s five-wicket haul, the number of five-fors for India in the series went up to three. It is only the fourth time that India have had three five-fors in a series of two Tests.

• The opening stand between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir yielded just five runs. In the last ten innings, the pair has not been involved in a single fifty-plus stand.

• The 104-run stand between MS Dhoni and Kohli is the sixth century stand for the sixth wicket for India against New Zealand. Dhoni has been involved in four of them.

• The fifth-wicket stand between Suresh Raina and Kohli is only the fifth 99-run partnership for India (broken stands only). The last such stand was between Syed Kirmani and Sunil Gavaskar in Chennai in 1979.

• Sachin Tendulkar was bowled for the second consecutive innings in this series. He became the third batsman after Rahul Dravid and Allan Border to be bowled on fifty or more occasions.

Regardless of what was happening to Patel, Boult, Bracewell and Southee got the ball to move at good pace, even if they were a bit lenient by not putting enough short ball queries to Raina. Like he had done in Hyderabad, Ross Taylor overbowled Patel at a time when his three seamers were – between them – asking constant questions of the batsmen. Rather than use Franklin’s very medium pace to wobble the ball around, Taylor chose to fall back on Patel.Until then, New Zealand had given themselves the best chance in this Test, Southee instantly justifying his selection over Chris Martin, not only because he’d hit a six during his brief time at the crease. Within ten overs of the Indian innings, Southee had the wickets of Gautam Gambhir, shouldering arms and having his bail disturbed, and Cheteshwara Pujara, mistiming a hook leaving the hosts at 2 for 27.At the other end, after a watchful start, Sehwag lashed at the bowling. At the lunch break he was on 39, with seven boundaries, an surviving an appeal for leg before and two nicks through the slips. His partner Sachin Tendulkar played at a subdued pace, searching for touch and timing.In his first over after lunch, Bracewell’s leg stump line to Sehwag was meant to eliminate the width and room he gobbled up on his way to 43. The third ball was whipped to the square leg boundary. The fourth ball, slightly straighter, was hit uppishly and ended up in the hands of the flying Flynn at short midwicket.When Tendulkar hit a classic straight drive off Bracewell, it offered the clue that he may finally have settled in. One ball later, came the bowler’s denouement: Tendulkar played all over a straight one and was bowled through his defence. It is the second time that Tendulkar was bowled through the gate in this series. Within eleven balls after lunch, India were tottering at 80 for 4 before Raina and Kohli got together.Play had started half an hour early and New Zealand lost their last four wickets for 20 runs, within 45 minutes. The two overnight batsmen, Kruger van Wyk and Bracewell who added 99 for the seventh wicket, met with contrasting ends. van Wyk fell to a sustained spell of inquiry from Zaheer Khan, trying to guide one through to third man, Gambhir-style, but instead edged it to a diving Raina at second slip. Bracewell was unlucky to be the non-striker who ended up backing Southee too far. Ojha finished with 5 for 99, when he had Southee leg before for a lusty 14.Overall, it was a tight day’s Test cricket; New Zealand have kept throwing the challenges, Southee finishing with 3 for 35 and Bracewell 2 for 66; the control of the game will, however, depend on what India’s last batting pair do on Sunday morning.

Fomer England captain Andrew Flintoff has said Kevin Pietersen will be intent to perform in India, after a difficult exile from the team

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2012Former England captain Andrew Flintoff has predicted a successful reintegration into the team for Kevin Pietersen, saying the batsman will draw strength from recent adversity when England tour India in November. Flintoff said Pietersen had a track record of responding to strife with good performances, and expected him to turn the misgivings from his exile from the team into runs for England.”When people get on Kevin’s case he comes out swinging and scores runs,” Flintoff told . “I think Alastair Cook might benefit from this. He might get KP at his best.”Pietersen was added to the squad to India, having missed the final Test and limited-overs leg of South Africa’s tour of England, as well as the World Twenty20, because of text messages he had sent to South Africa players criticising Andrew Strauss, who was captain at the time. Pietersen has since been accepted back into the team, after he, the ECB and England’s team leadership discussed their concerns behind closed doors.Pietersen first showed a tendency to be steeled rather than weakened by adversity in an ODI series in South Africa in 2005, when he made three hundreds and a 75 despite crowds in his former nation treating him with hostility. In August this year, he made 149 against South Africa at Headingley, just as his deteriorating relationship with the England team began to play out in the media.”When Kevin’s got a point to prove, he usually proves it with the bat,” Flintoff said. “We saw that when he came into the international game in South Africa and he just kept scoring hundreds. In his last innings, he got a hundred at Headingley and saved England.”Flintoff also said Pietersen was invaluable to England’s cause, and that efforts needed to be made to smooth over differences given his considerable ability. In April this year, Pietersen made 151 in Colombo to help end a five-Test away losing streak for England.”I think his qualities as a player outweigh everything. Like everyone else he needs a bit of encouragement,” Flintoff said. “When you are as good as he is, you need an arm round the shoulder and you need the backing of the team. He is different, but if you want Kevin the player, you have Kevin [the person as well]. If he starts scoring runs and England win, it will quickly be forgotten.”Flintoff expected Pietersen’s reintegration into the team to be more difficult for some of his team-mates. Graeme Swann and James Anderson were thought to have had issues with Pietersen, with Swann having criticised Pietersen’s captaincy in a book released last year. Swann, Anderson and Stuart Broad all denied being party to a parody Twitter account making fun of Pietersen.”I think Kev will be fine,” Flintoff said. “It might be a bit more uncomfortable for some of the others who have not been too kind in books, in paper reports and in interviews. Everyone’s got an ego. Maybe there are a few clashing in that dressing-room at the minute and they just need to put them to one side and carry on.”

A round-up of the second day of the Group B matches in the first round of Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2012
Scorecard
File photo: Stuart Binny removed both the Baroda centurions to bring Karnataka back into the contest•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Riding on a Stuart Binny five-for, Karnataka made a roaring comeback against Baroda in Vadodara, bowling them out for 406 and then making a steady 148 for 2 in response. Baroda started the day with two overnight centurions at the crease, but Aditya Waghmode and Irfan Pathan could add only eight and 16 on the second day.Both the batsmen fell to Binny’s medium pace. This was Binny’s third five-wicket haul. The remaining batsmen couldn’t add meaningful partnerships, and the last six wickets fell for just 79 runs. Robin Uthappa and KB Pawan were cautious in response but added 112 for the first wicket. Utahppa played against his nature to stay unbeaten on just 67 in close to three hours.
Scorecard
After being bowled out for 55, Haryana had a slightly better day where they made Vidarbha fight for their runs and wickets, but they still needed 47 runs to avoid an innings defeat and had seven wickets in hand. On a testing Lahli pitch, none of the Vidarbha batsmen reached a half-century, but they managed to put together enough partnerships to rack up a 150-run first-innings lead. Their last three wickets added 87.Wicketkeeper Nitin Saini and Rahul Dewan then provided Haryana with a 80-run opening stand, but Vidarbha struck back just before the first fifty of the match could be posted. Opening batsman and part-time bowler Faiz Fazal provided the breakthrough with Saini’s wicket, and Umesh Yadav then took two more before stumps to take his match tally to seven.
ScorecardDelhi were left searching for directions in Ghaziabad, one of its much-derided eastern outskirts. The match, packed to bursting with big Delhi names, is in danger of being snatched away by the journeymen of Uttar Pradesh. If medium-pacer Imtiaz Ahmed took out half the Delhi batting on day one of the Ranji Trophy, on day two, Mukul Dagar handled their bowling with the precise and heavy tread of a batsman determined to make his mark.It was a 196-run partnership for the second wicket between Dagar and Mohammad Kaif that ensured that if Delhi want points from this game, they will have to amp up the quality of their cricket so that it matches their reputations. For the better part of two days, the game has belonged to UP and its bling-less cricketers. Click here to read the full report.
Scorecard
No play was possible on the second day in Cuttack. Overnight and morning rains meant play was called off even before noon.