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A round-up of the second day of the first round of the Regional Four Day Competition

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2011Craig Kieswetter scored his fifth first-class century as England Lions piled on a huge total against Leeward Islands at the Warner Park in St Kitts. Leewards fought back in the second half of the second day, with Kieran Powell’s 83 helping them reach 148 for 2 at stumps. Kieswetter, who hasn’t been a part of the England team since the Twenty20 series against Pakistan in September last year, got his unbeaten 116 off 102 balls, as the Lions reached 553 for 6 before declaring. James Hildreth missed his 150 by one run while James Taylor fell four short of a century. James Harris became the fifth England batsman to go past 50 in the innings, getting an unbeaten 52 in a 146-run seventh-wicket stand with Kieswetter. Seamer Jade Dernbach gave the Lions an early breakthrough, dismissing Montcin Hodge for a duck in the third over. Leewards recovered, but will need plenty more from their batsmen to get a positive result from the game.The match between Combined Campuses and Colleges and Windward Islands at the Three Ws Oval in Bridgetown looks set for a tight finish on the third day, after CCC ended the second day 173 ahead with one wicket in hand. In what has been a low-scoring match, Windwards added 29 to their overnight score of 145 for 7, giving them a 43-run first innings lead. CCC started their second innings well, with Kyle Corbin’s 57 helping them reach 180 for 3. However, they then collapsed, losing six wickets for 36 runs and ended the day at 216 for 9. Left-arm spinner Gary Mathurin was Windwards most successful bowler, taking 3 for 27.Half-centuries from Kirk Edwards, Ryan Hinds and Sharmarh Brooks took Barbados to 395 in their first innings, against Trinidad & Tobago at the Guaracara Park in Trinidad. Edwards, who was on 75 at the start of the day, fell seven short of his century, while the captain, Hinds, scored 94. Brooks had to bat with the tail and scored 61 not out, putting together a crucial ninth-wicket stand of 63 runs with Tino Best. T&T had to face 15 overs at the end of the day, and finished 55 for 1, with Runako Morton getting 45 of those runs.Jamaica mad a strong comeback on the second day at the Alpart Sports Club in St Elizabeth, finishing 95 runs ahead of Guyana with eight wickets in hand. The hosts had been bowled out for 150 on the first day, but responded by dismissing Guyana for 183 on the second. They then reached 128 for 2 by stumps, thanks to an unbeaten half-century by Marlon Samuels. Guyana lost wickets in clusters during their innings. First they went from 75 for 2 to 81 for 5, then, after a mini-recovery, went from 129 for 5 to 148 for 8. Jamaica’s spinners did the bulk of the damage, with legspinner Odean Brown taking 3 for 57, and offspinner Tamar Lambert taking 3 for 7.

Peter Borren strode into his post-match conference after his team’s 231-run loss to South Africa with his chest puffed out

Firdose Moonda at the PCA Stadium03-Mar-2011Peter Borren strode into his post-match conference after his team’s 231-run loss to South Africa with his chest puffed out. The defeat was the largest margin of humiliation in this World Cup but his eyes were brighter than they were after they went down to the West Indies, his smile was shyly peeking out and his voice didn’t crack and waver as it had then.”We bowled really well in the first 40 overs,” he said proudly. “We just didn’t take the wickets we needed to create pressure.” The Dutch bowlers had kept South Africa to 43 runs within the first 10 overs, 108 at the halfway stage and 215 in 40 overs.The problem, as Borren said, was wickets. After 40 overs, South Africa had lost just Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis and had two centurions at the crease. They’d given themselves enough time and enough batsmen to launch from there and launch they did. “Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are both magnificent players and it was a good experience for us to see how they batted. Even when they weren’t hitting boundaries they were taking singles.”It seems as though Borren and his team have got over the ignominy of hefty defeats and are starting to view their World Cup games as learning experiences and time to play against the Full Members that they hardly ever get outside of major tournaments. Borren spoke about the team setting their own targets and playing to try and achieve those, instead of to get results and notch up upsets. Today, he thinks they did that, in part. “In those first 40 overs, we bowled to our own standards,” he said.Netherlands were happy with their bowling for the first 40 overs•AFP

Borren chose to put South Africa in because he wanted to give his bowlers an opportunity to capitalise on the conditions. With rain around and some juice expected in the pitch, he hoped that they would be able to snag a few big guns and “get their middle-order players in early.” They weren’t able to do that, but doesn’t frustrate him entirely; it’s their showing with the bat that does. “We didn’t bat to our standards so we let ourselves down again,” he said.With the Netherlands putting on such a commanding performance against England with the bat, it was that aspect of their game that was talked up as their strength and Borren was disappointed with how they fared in their last two outings. “I think the pressure of chasing big scores got to us.” When asked if he wasn’t inspired by Ireland’s supreme effort in chasing 329 against England, he grinned. Perhaps they weren’t inspired, they were awed.”Full credit to Ireland for the way they played in the second half of their innings. Kevin O’Brien’s century was incredible,” Borren said. “I think if you tried to emulate that, you wouldn’t be able to for 1000 years.”His answer almost reflected what everyone has been saying: that the gulf between the Associates and the Full Members is too great and that the smaller teams don’t have any reason to believe they’ll be able to close it. Borren didn’t even feel his team could match the performance of another Associate.In some ways, that carefree attitude should stand them in good stead for their remaining matches, because it will take away the burdens they’ve had to prove themselves up to now. The Netherlands next outing is against India and instead of wanting to cause an upset, Borren said they are just looking forward to the spectacle. “India are a magnificent cricket team. Hopefully we will do a bit better than we did today but to play them at home is going to be a great occasion.”

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said his side had trained hard for the World Cup but simply weren’t good enough on the night to beat New Zealand in Mirpur

Firdose Moonda at the Shere Bangla Stadium25-Mar-2011Graeme Smith is not a small man. He towers above six foot, has shoulders broader than a lock forward, a chest that can puff out even if he is not proud and logs for legs. His personality can be even bigger: the larger than life leader of South African cricket for the last eight years, who will bat with a broken hand and will bounce back, bullish as ever, after a broken heart. Add to that the meaty guffaw and booming voice, and you have a massive character. But, on Friday night, in his last game as captain of the one-day team, he looked a small, small man indeed.His gestures, usually open and friendly, were limp. His smile, usually broad, was absent. His frown, usually menacing, had been wiped off, and his eyes, usually alive, were empty. This was a man who was gutted. At the beginning of his post-match press conference, it was almost as though he was battling to speak. Each word was laboured, each breath was long. He had, perhaps a little too literally, been stunned.”It’s hard to describe [how we feel] at such short notice. It’s kind of disbelief; I felt that we certainly had what it took to win,” Smith said. Few will disagree. South Africa were the team that was talked up as the most balanced unit in this tournament. They had a plethora of options, particularly in the bowling department. It was in that discipline that South Africa shone in the group stages, as the only team to take sixty wickets in six matches.Their quarter-final was the first match of the tournament in which they did not bowl out the opposition. Still, they restricted New Zealand to 221 for 8, below the average first-innings score of 236 at the Shere Bangla Stadium. Smith showed creativity in the way he rotated the bowlers and used them in short spells; they displayed control and were assisted by a superb show of ground fielding. Smith said he thought they “certainly bowled well enough to win today.”Graeme Smith said he could not fault the way his team prepared for the World Cup•Associated Press

The problem came with the bat and, inevitably, with the mind. When Smith and Jacques Kallis were laying the platform for the chase, and then again when AB de Villiers was starting to look in good touch, the win was there for the taking. When Kallis and de Villiers were dismissed, the wobble started. Two hundred and twenty two moved further and further away, and the South African middle order slipped further and further in pursuit of it.”The batting let us down in the middle period,” Smith said. “New Zealand squeezed us, the ball got soft and we needed to show a little more composure in that period.” He didn’t go as far as saying it was inexperience that cost them, but a middle order consisting of JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Johan Botha and Robin Peterson is only powerful if one of them can come off in a big way. Although all capable, they are relatively untested and even though they survived the pressure against India, Ireland and Bangladesh, against a rampant New Zealand, it was too much. “We lost four or five wickets quickly and it’s difficult to recover on a wicket like this.”Small as he felt, Smith would not make others feel smaller, and even though he identified the batting as the problem in this game, he was not on a witch hunt and had no more blame to dish out. He maintained that the squad he brought to the subcontinent had given their all and even though they had fallen, they would not be weighed down by South Africa’s history of exiting major tournaments in the knockouts. “We’ve trained hard, we worked on our skills and I cannot fault the way this team has played. When we go homes there’s going to be swords and daggers. We are not the only World Cup team that has not gone on to win.”Towards the end of his press conference, Smith had regained some of the confidence that has become synonymous with him over the years. He was still a long way from being a large man, but he had started to show fluency and conviction in what he was saying. He was being frank and honest and that’s something South African cricket will need to be after this episode.It’s going to be a long process of rebuilding, not the personnel, but the mindset, and Smith started it before leaving his chair. “We’ve just got to be honest with ourselves, that we weren’t good enough tonight. Simple as that.”

Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, has urged his batsmen to post “bigger, match-winning totals” and singled out the rotation of strike as an area his team needs to improve upon

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2011Darren Sammy, the West Indies captain, has urged his batsmen to post “bigger, match-winning totals” and singled out the rotation of strike as an area his team needs to improve upon in the fourth ODI against Pakistan in Barbados. The visitors have already taken the series 3-0 but Sammy is hoping to “pull one back” at the Kensington Oval.”Rotating the strike is one area we have to get better at,” Sammy said. “If we rotate the strike, that upsets the rhythm of the Pakistan bowlers and that would lead to us posting bigger, match-winning totals.”The ‘dot ball’ percentage has been high and we need to combat the opposition bowlers. One of our major problems has been that we have not been putting enough runs on the board. As a batting unit we hit a lot of boundaries, but we have to get better at ticking over the strike, especially against the Pakistan spinners.”The West Indian batsmen failed to post competitive totals in all three games so far, struggling to score against offspinners Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal in particular. In the first two matches in St Lucia, they were restricted to 221 for 6 and dismissed for 220. They had reached a sound position of 92 for 1 in the 21st over in the third at Bridgetown before they collapsed for 171 all out.The bowlers also managed to take only five Pakistan wickets in the first two matches, but came close to winning the third, in which they took seven. Pakistan were 49 for 4 at one stage before Misbah-ul-Haq steered them to a series-clinching victory.”I can’t fault the bowlers,” Sammy said. “They have been superb for us and brought us close to a victory in the last match. I believe if we put the runs on the board, the bowlers will do the job for us. We are looking to create winning opportunities and when we do that we have to grab it with both hands.”West Indies brought back Ramnaresh Sarwan to the squad after he had been left out for the first three games. Sarwan’s previous appearance was the quarter-final defeat against Pakistan in the World Cup. “We know he is a good player,” Sammy said. “With him back it is a plus for the team and we wish him all the best. He will be a key player in those middle overs as we look to keep the strike ticking.”

Mohsin Khan, Pakistan’s chief selector, and the PCB have reached a resolution over their differences, and the former has decided not to resign from his post

ESPNcricinfo staff05-May-2011Mohsin Khan, Pakistan’s chief selector, and the PCB have reached a resolution over their differences, and the former has decided not to resign from his post. Mohsin met with board chairman Ijaz Butt in Lahore on Thursday and said “now there’s no issue at all.”Mohsin had earlier said he would step down on Wednesday if some of his player choices were not included in the 15-member Test squad for the series against the West Indies, which starts in Guyana on May 12.But after the board contacted him, he cancelled a press conference where he was expected to speak on the subject. In a statement on Wednesday the board first said that any such conference would be a violation of the code of conduct governing selectors, and then issued a statement that said Mohsin had been summoned to a meeting with the chairman on Thursday.Neither Mohsin nor Butt took any questions after the meeting, with the chairman reading from a written statement saying that the matter had been resolved.”Mohsin and I had a fruitful meeting today and we discussed a number of matters. We also discussed some of the issues that are appearing in the media for last couple of days. Without going into the details of the matters discussed, I am pleased to inform that there are currently no unresolved issues between PCB and Mohsin Hasan Khan.”No details were given of who the disputed players were, though ESPNcricinfo understands Adnan Akmal’s exclusion was one issue. Though it is thought Mohsin had issues with another selector, some local reports suggested it may have been with Butt, the final authority on selections, or even the on-tour selection committee.The statement hinted that the problems may have been over the full ambit of the selection committee. “We have today discussed the importance of bringing in clarity in the role and functions of the national selection committee and I have advised Mohsin that the selection committee has independence of taking selection decisions.”To clarify our stance on some speculations that have appeared in a section of media, after having Mohsin’s point of view, PCB has decided that no further action in this matter is required.”

Surrey’s County Championship clash with second division rivals Essex petered out into a draw in Croydon, but not before Essex had flirted with the cricketing equivalent of hara-kiri

Mark Pennell at Whitgift School21-May-2011ScorecardSurrey’s County Championship clash with second division rivals Essex petered out into a draw in Croydon, but not before Essex had flirted with the cricketing equivalent of hara-kiri. Having posted a mammoth season’s-best first innings total of 548 to secure a slender lead of 42 at the mid-point of the game, Essex were in danger of throwing away all their good work away in Saturday’s opening session as they slumped from 118 for 2 to 201 for 7.Staunch Hammers fan and former England captain Graham Gooch, the Essex batting coach, moaned: “This is like watching West Ham play,” as he witnessed his county’s batsmen tossing away their wickets in the first two hours of the day.The visitors lost England opener Alastair Cook to the ninth ball of the day after adding only two to his overnight score. Prodding forward at Gareth Batty the right-hander nicked one to keeper James Foster to go for 64. Matt Walker then pushed well forward to a turning delivery from the
former Yorkshire spinner and appeared to be outside the line, only to be given leg before for 35 to make it 151 for 4.James Foster (7) called for a suicidal single to mid-on to be run out by Yasir Arafat’s direct hit then Adam Wheater’s slog sweep against Batty sailed into the hands of Kevin Pietersen at deep midwicket to go for 34. First innings top-scorer and world record six-hitter Graham Napier
reached 15 before being bowled by a shooter from Zander de Bruyn then alarm bells started to ring in the Essex dressing room when David Masters became their second run out victim.Committing the cardinal sin of failing to ground his bat when running a single, he was undone and red-faced when substitute fielder Jason Roy threw down the stumps from backward point.With the Essex score on 222 for 8 for an overall advantage of 266, Surrey began to scent an amazing turn around but hopes of a remarkable last day win were slammed firmly in their faces by a ninth wicket stand of 71 between Tim Phillips and Chris Wright. Phillips notched a worthy 114-ball 50 while Wright matched his first innings score of 34 as Surrey ran out of luck and ideas.The stand eventually came to an end after 21 overs when Phillips, in attempting to glance, edged a leg-side ball from Rory Hamilton-Brown into the keeper’s gloves to give the Surrey captain his first championship wicket for the club. Wright soon followed, chasing a wide one from Tim Linley to toe-end another catch to Steven Davies, but with 324 on the board the visitors
could consider the game safe.Surrey were left with a minimum of 27 overs to chase an impossible target of 367 for victory and though Tom Maynard entertained with his stroke play, the sides shook hands on the draw at 5pm shortly after Maynard’s demise for a cameo 26. Hamilton-Brown was left unbeaten on 34, his side banking 10 points while Essex travelled home with nine after an entertaining four days at Whitgift School.

South Africa A beat Zimbabwe XI by one run in a nail-biting match in Harare, to score their first points in the tri-series

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2011
ScorecardSouth Africa A beat Zimbabwe XI by one run in a nail-biting match in Harare, to score their first points in the tri-series. Chasing 239, Zimbabwe needed two off the last ball, but came off second as Rusty Theron held his nerve to bowl a wicket-taking dot.Zimbabwe were steered through most of their innings by captain Brendan Taylor, who scored 98. While there were no other half-centuries from the line-up, the next six batsmen got into double figures, making sure Zimbabwe were on course in the chase. They took the third Powerplay in the 43rd over, needing 77 off 48 balls with seven wickets in hand. With a close finish looming, a five-ball 45th over did the hosts no favours. It came down to the last ball, off which Theron had Forster Mutizwa stumped.Choosing to bat, South Africa’s innings was similar to that of Zimbabwe’s in that it was guided by a patient 98 by the captain-opener, Jacques Rudoplh. Three wickets went down in the first 15 overs at the other end, leaving South Africa in a spot of trouble at 52 for 3. But wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn complemented Rudolph well, scoring 61 off 70 balls as the pair added 116 runs. Cameos from the lower-middle order followed, pushing the score to a competitive 238. Prosper Utseya was the pick of the bowlers, picking up four middle order wickets.Rudolph was named Man of the Match. Zimbabwe take on Australia A on Sunday, at the same venue, in the next game of the tournament.

Pakistan’s chairman of selectors, Mohsin Khan has denied that the Pakistan board has an agenda against senior players

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2011Pakistan’s chairman of selectors, Mohsin Khan has denied that the Pakistan board has an agenda against senior players. Mohsin was responding to Pakistan allrounder Abdul Razzaq’s comments, in an earlier interview, in which he had accused the Pakistan Cricket Board of indulging in conspiracy to keep senior players out of the national team.It’s the job of the selection committee to finalise the team,” Mohsin told . “I don’t know about any lobby and I don’t feel there is any agenda against the senior players.”While senior players like Razzaq and Shahid Afridi were not included in Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe, the selectors also chose to rest fast bowlers Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed and Wahab Riaz, with fringe seamers Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema and Junaid Khan making up the pace attack. There was also a change in the spin department with Abdur Rehman being rested and Yasir Shah being given an opportunity to make his international debut.Reacting to the team selection, Razzaq had told the Urdu newspaper , that “axing of senior players is not in the interest of Pakistan cricket”. Razzaq alleged there was a lobby within the PCB that was misguiding the board chairman Ijaz Butt. “It’s a conspiracy against the senior players,” Razzaq said. “There’s a lobby which is misguiding the chairman who is working sincerely for the promotion of the game. They just want to secure their position in the board and their agenda is against the interest of Pakistan cricket.Razzaq, who last played for Pakistan when they were beaten by India in the World Cup semi-final earlier this year, said that he had “fallen victim to the conspiracies of this lobby”.”This lobby is active in slowly ousting all senior players from the team and there is one main person who is calling the shots from behind the curtain,” he said.However Mohsin dismissed the allegations and said the senior players “should not be disheartened and should work on winning their place by proving their worth in the domestic tournaments”.”The selection committee is working on a simple policy that any player who is doing well should get a chance,” Mohsin said. “We just want to give a chance to the youngsters who are our future. If there was an agenda then we wouldn’t have a 35-year old captain [Misbah-ul-Haq] who is also a very senior player.”The squad for Zimbabwe includes three uncapped players – top-order batsman Rameez Raja, legspinner Shah and seamer Cheema. Mohsin had earlier explained that the fresh look to the squad was an effort to blood youngsters. “We have to bring in young players along with seniors so that they could be groomed,” he said.

Ireland’s spirited bid for back-to-back victories against their nearest neighbours was thwarted first by the weather and then by a canny diet of slower balls and yorkers from Jade Dernbach and Ravi Bopara

The Report by Andrew Miller25-Aug-2011England 201 for 8 (Trott 69, Morgan 59) beat Ireland 117 for 8 (Dernbach 3-30) by 11 runs – D/L

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSteven Finn took two early wickets as England won a scrappy game by 11 runs•Getty Images

England’s new-look one-day team exacted a measure of revenge for their predecessors who were vanquished in that thrilling World Cup fixture in Bangalore, as Ireland’s spirited bid for back-to-back victories against their nearest neighbours was thwarted first by the weather and then by a canny diet of slower balls and yorkers from Jade Dernbach and Ravi Bopara.In what effectively became a match within a match after two lengthy rain delays had eaten 35 overs out of the day’s allocation, Ireland were left needing 87 from the final ten overs of their run-chase, having gone into the second interruption on 42 for 2 after 13, following the early loss of both openers to Steven Finn.In what looked suspiciously like a tactical decision, Will Porterfield ran himself out off the second ball of the resumption, whereupon the hero of Bangalore, Kevin O’Brien, monstered consecutive sixes off the debutant spinner, Scott Borthwick, to give a patient Dublin crowd the treat they had all turned up to see, and to give England an early reminder of the damage he could cause, following that seminal 113 from 63 balls at the World Cup.While O’Brien was at the crease, anything seemed possible, as he bashed along to 26 from 15, with the pick of his strokes being an inside-out drive through extra cover off Samit Patel. However, Eoin Morgan, captaining England for the first time against his former countrymen, swiftly pulled his spinners from the attack, and turned to the seam variations of Dernbach and Bopara to regain control of the match.The move was rewarded with three key wickets in as many overs. First, Niall O’Brien misread a slower-ball bouncer from Dernbach and holed out to deep square leg for 13; then Nigel Jones was exquisitely cleaned up by Bopara, whose back-of-the-hand delivery trimmed his bails as he went through his shot too soon. Kevin O’Brien added one more boundary to his tally when he picked a Dernbach slowie and pulled it through midwicket, but he wasn’t ready for the change-up in pace, and was comprehensively yorked in the same over.John Mooney, the unsung hero of that remarkable night in Bangalore, revived Ireland’s hopes with a first-ball four and a crashing six over midwicket, but he too succumbed to Dernbach as he got underneath a lofted drive, and picked out Ben Stokes on the straight boundary.With 12 balls remaining and 23 required, Patel returned to the attack with an exceptional over that went for four runs and included the wicket of Gary Wilson to an optimistic swipe, which left Dernbach to close out the game for figures of 3 for 30 in five overs, all but one of which came in the closing ten-over bash.The frenetic finale was entirely at odds with the soporific start to the contest, in which Jonathan Trott – the only survivor of that Bangalore beating – dropped anchor in his habitual (and opinion-splitting) style to top-score for England with 69 from 105 balls. Morgan provided a spark of tempo against his former countrymen with a 65-ball 59, but Ireland’s bowlers bowled with excellent discipline on a sluggish surface to restrict their opponents to 201 for 8 in 42 overs.In showery conditions reminiscent of England’s lucky escape in Belfast two years ago, run-scoring proved hard to master on a two-paced surface. Though he once again batted deep within his bubble in his first England appearance since he damaged his shoulder during the second Test against India at Trent Bridge, even Trott appeared frustrated with his progress at times, and when rain interrupted after 12.1 overs, he had reached 19 off 34 balls.England lost two early wickets in that time. Craig Kieswetter’s struggles against the moving ball continued in an unconvincing 26-ball 14, while James Taylor, the highly-rated young Leicestershire batsman, managed 1 from eight balls on debut before a short ball from Rankin got big on him, and he top-edged a loose pull to Wilson at midwicket.Morgan’s inventiveness, and a decent flurry from the tail, ensured England scraped over the 200-mark, but the rain prevented a proper contest from panning out. Given that Kevin O’Brien had been the one batsman all day to really get a grip of the surface, Ireland may well rue the overs that got away.