Category Uncategorized

The fast bowler will be rested from the Titans’ next Ram Slam competition so that he can hit the nets and get overs under his belt

Firdose Moonda23-Nov-2017Dale Steyn will not play in the Titans’ next Ram Slam game after turning out for three in a row last week, both as part of the franchise’s rotation policy and in order for the paceman to up his bowling workload in the nets. Steyn bowled a total of 10 overs and took four wickets for 61 runs in what has been deemed a satisfactory comeback following a year out of the game due to shoulder injury. The next step in his recovery is focused on bowling longer spells so that he can be ready for Test cricket.All of South Africa’s bowlers need to work on something other than T20 skills because an eight-Test summer follows the ongoing Ram Slam tournament. “It’s not only Dale that needs to bowl more, all the bowlers need to up their volumes ahead of the Test matches,” Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager, who is also a medical doctor, told ESPNcricinfo. “We have set plans for all the bowlers in terms of the numbers of balls and overs they need to bowl,”Moosajee said if Steyn’s return continues according to schedule he sees “no reason” why the fast bowler won’t appear in whites again. Steyn will be back for the Titans later in the competition and could also play some provincial cricket. “If he plays enough in the T20 competition and bowls in the nets and maybe even plays a three-day provincial game, then I don’t see why not,” Moosajee said when asked if he thought fans could look forward to seeing Steyn in action for South Africa this summer.Steyn is hopeful of making an international return over Boxing Day in the inaugural four-day, day-night Test against Zimbabwe in Port Elizabeth and also has his sights set on playing against India and Australia later in the summer. The 34-year-old needs just five wickets to beat Shaun Pollock’s tally of 421 and become South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket.Morne Morkel, who is on the mend from a side strain, also looks set to play a part in South Africa’s busiest home season since readmission. He is currently bowling at 80% and should be at full capacity in early December.However, Morne’s brother and Titans’ T20 captain, Albie, told reporters in Pretoria that he only expects Morne to be fit for the playoffs of the Ram Slam in mid-December and at that stage, it is unlikely he will get a game. CSA have a policy that any player returning from injury must play some form of domestic cricket before they can be considered for the national team. That means Morne may also look to the provincial structures or even club cricket to prove his fitness.Chris Morris, who has been sidelined with a lower-back injury since the England tour in August, is expected to be considered for Titans’ selection in the next week.

Suryakumar Yadav, Kaustubh Pawar, Siddhesh Lad, Arman Jaffer and Aditya Tare continued the tradition of Indian domestic batsmen softening up touring spinners, as New Zealanders’ trio of slow bowlers went for 263 in 51 overs

The Report by Sidharth Monga in Delhi17-Sep-2016
Scorecard1:40

Bracewell shrugs off tough day for NZ

Amit Pagnis did it to Shane Warne in 1998; Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma traumatised Jason Krejza in 2008; Nathan Hauritz received a rude welcome from Ajinkya Rahane in 2010. On Saturday Suryakumar Yadav, Kaustubh Pawar, Siddhesh Lad, Armaan Jaffer and Aditya Tare continued the tradition of Indian domestic batsmen softening up the opposition spinners in their tour game. Rohit, himself a part of the Test squad now, failed to press claim for a slot in the XI, falling for 18 in an ungainly manner, but his Mumbai team-mates did a job for the India Test side by making New Zealanders’ three frontline spinners toil for 51 overs for 263 runs and just three wickets. A whopping 402 runs came in the day. Mumbai’s coach Chandrakant Pandit didn’t brag too much, but cheekily said he hoped the India team would be happy that a state side had tested the visiting spinners.Doug Bracewell, though, said the New Zealanders weren’t too concerned about their performance, although there were lessons to be learnt. A lot of it was down to the flatness of the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch. New Zealanders’ spinners, though, seemed to be playing for the conditions expected in the Tests rather than trying to beat batsmen in the air on an unresponsive track. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and offspinner Mark Craig, in particular, kept bowling quick and flat, which works on the kind of raging turners that South Africa were given in India’s last home season. Legspinner Ish Sodhi was the only one who created regular problems.Be that as it may, the Mumbai batsmen matched the intent shown by the New Zealanders on day one, shot for shot. Jaffer, yet to make his first-class debut, had come in to bat on the first evening, at the fall of the opener Jay Bista for a duck, and hit Santner for a straight six in the first over he played. Now he hit Santner back over his head twice in his first over on the second morning.The only time it seemed Mumbai were under pressure was when Sodhi, the last spinner used, began to turn a few. One legbreak got rid of Jaffer for 69, after which Rohit played an edgy innings. It just seemed anything could happen every time Rohit faced up. One of those things was a clean six over mid-off after eight straight dots, but he never looked in. On 18 he looked to charge Sodhi, who dragged his length back, drawing an uncertain defensive shot. In the same over Rohit repeated the charge without bothering about defending when beaten in the flight. An easy stumping for BJ Watling ensued.It could have become 133 for 4 when Yadav skied a pull towards the stumps at the non-striker’s end, but Sodhi, the bowler, dropped a dolly after going back a few steps, to herald an afternoon of pain. Having ridden his luck in the initial stages, Yadav got stuck into the spinners, hitting eight sixes in his 103 off 86 balls. He began with a swept four, and peppered the straight and midwicket region with his sixes. He brought up his hundred with a swept six off a full-toss.Pawar, known for his stodgy efforts, opened up in Yadav’s company, repeatedly driving the spinners over cover and back over their heads. The late-cut was beneficial too, as the spinners dragged their length back. He retired with an even hundred to his name, off 228 balls. Towards the end of the day, Lad and Tare filled their boots too, putting on an unbroken 137 in 22 overs. Lad ended the day batting on 86, having hit seven sixes.Two worries for the New Zealanders will be the absence of reverse-swing, and the sameness of their spinners’ offerings, not as a group but individually. Perhaps preoccupied with getting their pace right for the expected rank turners, they kept bowling similar trajectories and similar angles through the day. Their release points and pace didn’t vary much. When Santner did slow up the odd delivery, he caused some indecision, once even drawing a chance, but dropped a return catch from Pawar, who was 45 at that point.Release points changed for the quicks with both Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell trying the round-the-wicket angle, but they couldn’t get much reverse swing. When Neil Wagner went to his trusted bouncers, the lack of pace off the pitch and friendly bounce rendered him ineffective.”The surface didn’t really break up and turn that much,” Bracewell said. “We are not really concerned at this stage. It is early on in the tour. They played really well. I definitely know our guys will take some learnings out of today.”We know it is going to be a different surface for the first Test. Wasn’t really any surprises [to be given a different surface for the warm-up game]. Whether it is a part of India trying to get us to not expect something that might be our way… we definitely expected something like this. You just get on with it.”

The series against England in the UAE is shaping as the last for Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq

Umar Farooq01-Oct-2015The series against England in the UAE is shaping as the last for Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq. Although he had initially hoped to continue until next year’s tour of England, the forthcoming contest is looking increasingly likely to be the final chapter of an international career which began in 2001.”I have come to a certain stage of my career where I have started considering [retirement],” Misbah, 41, told ESPNcricinfo. “I was thinking that the upcoming India series would be the point when I will decide what to do. But since I don’t see the India series happening so the next one-and-half months will be important. I am giving second thoughts whether I can extend my career until the 2016 England series.”The series against India, scheduled to take place in the UAE at the end of the year, now appears unlikely to happen due to the tense political landscape which would mean an eight-month gap before the series against England next July. Since Misbah has already retired from ODI and T20 cricket he will have little chance for competitive cricket after the Pakistan domestic season concludes in February.”I have been considering so many factors as it’s a very hard decision, in fact one of the toughest ones to take,” Misbah said. “So in the next one-and-half months I will be analysing myself as to how far I can go. I will see how much I can contribute in for the team, I will see if my passion remains the same or I start losing interest in the game. Sometimes it’s not about fitness, it’s about how much interest you have in the game and I don’t want to be a liability. So whatever the decision you will know soon.”For the upcoming series, starting with the first Test in Abu Dhabi on October 13, Misbah said he will be guarding against the team being over confident after they whitewashed England in 2012. Misbah, along with Azhar Ali, Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq, will form the same middle order which featured in that series. He, along with several other Test players, are currently having a conditioning camp at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, while the one-day side is in Zimbabwe, before leaving for the UAE on October 4.”Within our mind we are confident,” Misbah said. “But at the same time creating a perception about our past victory against them by 3-0 doesn’t make any difference. This is fresh series. England are a much-improved side and are coming after playing their best cricket back home. They are a far better side in terms of playing spin and this is the reason I stand guarded against us being over confident.Misbah-ul-Haq is well aware of the different class of spinner England are bring on this tour compared to 2012•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“Having won 3-0 previously doesn’t mean that they are still a soft target and we can wrap them up easily. No, it’s not that simple. We have to understand that setting the expectation level based on the previous series isn’t a fair call. We simply have to work very hard and play at our full potential to win. I don’t think that previous series victory is going to help us and we don’t need to put undue pressure on us with it. It’s not that we can’t win, but I just want to insist that you can’t ride on the past to make your future.”In 2012, England arrived in the UAE following a lengthy lay-off from Test cricket having not played a match in five months after beating India, at The Oval, in August 2011 to go to No. 1 in the world. But this time they have flown in having won the Ashes less than two months ago, although they only have two two-day warm-up matches before the first Test which Alastair Cook has admitted is not much preparation.While Misbah reiterated his belief that England now play spin better than when they previously faced Pakistan, it did not escape him that their spin bowling resources are significantly ‘weaker’ than in 2012 having lost both Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar.”They are in good form, so are we, but we have to play good cricket,” Misbah said. “There is a difference in their squad as many of their players have started to play the spin very well. They have changed their game, as we have seen they are using their feet and sweeping all over so we have to be on our toes to get their wickets.”Their fast bowling is the same but their spinners are weaker this time in the absence of Swann and Panesar. We have answers to their experienced fast bowlers, we understand we have to work hard to negotiate the new ball and later the reverse swing. Their bowling never gave us the chance to score big runs in 2012, but we have plans this time and in the UAE it’s all about scoring big runs.”In the UAE conditions runs on the board are very important and then the spinners play the vital role. When Australia came we had answers so is it’s the same this time. Australia had Nathan Lyon, England have Moeen but what is important is who is going to bat well in these conditions.”England played their cricket very aggressively against Australia, with none of the five Ashes Test going into the fifth day, but Misbah suggested it will very different in this series.”You can’t just go all out aggressively like the cricket England have been playing back home. It’s different in the UAE. You can’t just be defensive either, though. As I said, you need to have big runs on board and that requires patience as pitches here change their behaviour on a daily basis especially on the fourth and fifth day. So there are a lot of factors that mean you need to have a balanced approach. And that is the key.”

Taskin Ahmed’s four wickets spurred Chittagong Kings to a victory that led them into the second semifinal against Sylhet Royals on Sunday

The Report by Mohammad Isam16-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTaskin Ahmed was Man of the Match for his four wickets•BCB

Taskin Ahmed’s four wickets spurred Chittagong Kings to a victory that led them into the second semifinal against Sylhet Royals on Sunday. The four-wicket win over Duronto Rajshahi, however, didn’t come easy as they struggled during a modest chase.Ravi Bopara and Jacob Oram soothed nerves after the Kings had slipped to 87 for 6 in the 15th over, and achieved the target in the 18th. Bopara made an unbeaten 34 off 30 balls with three boundaries, and more than the runs it was his calming influence that mattered most as wickets fell at the other end.The Kings had got off to a good start after Jason Roy and Nurul Hasan added 43 runs for the first wicket. However, Naeem Islam jnr’s two wickets and some excellent fielding from Rajshahi gave them an outside chance despite their struggle with the bat earlier.Taskin, the Under-19 quick who bowls at a brisk pace, had rocked the Rajshahi top-order. He took three wickets in four balls after being initially attacked by Charles Coventry. He removed the Zimbabwean opener, but that was more due to the batsman’s lack of footwork as he dragged a wide ball on to the stumps. Simon Katich cut one right down third-man’s throat a ball later, before Taskin had Jahurul Islam also dragging the ball onto the stumps.Rajshahi soon slumped to 55 for 6 before Mukhtar Ali and Sean Ervine added 43 for the seventh wicket to take them towards 100-run mark. Ervine remained unbeaten on 47, but it was a struggle for Rajshahi. Taskin ended with 4 for 31 from his three overs, after he took the wicket of Mukhtar. The Kings captain Mahmudullah also took two wickets while Oram picked up 1 for 18 in four overs.

Steve Harmison has become the latest England cricketer to face up to the possibility that he was afflicted by clinical depression during his international career

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2012Steve Harmison has become the latest England cricketer to face up to the possibility that he was afflicted by clinical depression during his international career.In the BBC documentary , Harmison admitted a doctor raised the possibility that the bouts of homesickness and anxiety attacks that characterised his career might be extreme enough to be classified as severe depression.Harmison’s problems were most severe during England’s 2004-5 tour of South Africa when, by his own estimation “I realised that I had a problem and was going to have to sort it out.”His admission follows Marcus Trescothick’s enforced early retirement from international cricket because of mental health issues and Michael Yardy’s premature departure from the 2011 World Cup after a lengthy fight with depression.Andrew Flintoff also speculated depression might have been behind his prolonged drinking bouts as captain of a whitewashed England side during the 2006/7 tour of Australia.Harmison took only nine wickets at an average of 72 runs during the South Africa tour before recovering the following summer to play a central role alongside Flintoff in England’s Ashes success.”I was the No. 1 bowler in the world at the time and maybe there was a perception that everybody was looking at me thinking we’ve got to bowl South Africa out,” said Harmison. “You have got to take five wickets each time, you have got to do this, you have got to do that, you have got to carry the attack, and here I was struggling inside.”It never really transformed into something on the field. That was my get-out really – walking over that white line.”Harmison’s problems began even before the Test series began, frustrating his coach at the time, Duncan Fletcher, whose relationship with Harmison and Flintoff deteriorated as the years progressed.”We went into Jo’burg and it was the first time really where I went into a trip where I was having one of these dog days, or episodes, as the doctor said to me afterwards. That was the first time I had gone onto a trip feeling like that.”I had a bad first week. I couldn’t train. I was struggling to breathe, I was hyperventilating and that’s when it dawned on me that I had a problem and I was going to have to sort it out.”I was panicky, the anxiety was hitting me and I had a lump in my throat, I was having bad heads, I was shaking, I didn’t want to let go off the ball. There was one night when I went back into my room and looked into the mirror and thought ‘what’s the problem?’ That is when it really dawned on me, ‘You have a problem, you’re not weak, you are going to have to sort it out.”That was when depression was first mentioned. I still can’t get to the answer of what made me feel that way.”Flintoff told that his lowest moment came in Australia when he broke down and cried in front of his father on Chrisitmas Eve in Melbourne and pronounced himself a failure. England, although aware of his problems, chose not to replace him as captain with Andrew Strauss for the one-day series because Fletcher feared, quite wrongly, a backlash from the media.”I was at an all-time low personally and professionally even though I was captain of England,” Flintoff said. “But I didn’t want to get out of bed and I didn’t want to face people.”

Usman Khawaja ensured he will remain at the front of the queue for a Test call-up if Ricky Ponting’s broken finger keeps him out of the Boxing Day Test, after helping to keep New South Wales on top against Queensland

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Dec-2010
ScorecardUsman Khawaja made an unbeaten 78•Getty Images

Usman Khawaja ensured he will remain at the front of the queue for a Test call-up if Ricky Ponting’s broken finger keeps him out of the Boxing Day Test, after helping to keep New South Wales on top against Queensland. Khawaja made an unbeaten 78 as the Blues set the Bulls an unlikely target of 414 for victory, although by stumps on the third day the visitors had made a solid start to their chase.Queensland reached 0 for 71 at the close, with Ryan Broad on 31 and Wade Townsend on 26, but their task remains an enormous one after three days that have been dominated by New South Wales. The Bulls began the day at 3 for 84 in their first innings and they relied on the debutant Andrew Robinson (77) and the tailender Luke Feldman (43) to guide them to 213.They lost seven wickets in the first session, including three in four balls taken by the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe, who finished with 3 for 23. The axed Test spinner Nathan Hauritz collected 2 for 68 and Doug Bollinger picked up 3 for 55, having also recently been dumped from the Test squad.New South Wales did not enforce the follow on despite having a 245-run first-innings lead, and they lost early wickets in their second innings to fall to 3 for 36. However, Khawaja steadied the Blues in a strong partnership with Moises Henriques, who ended up on 53 not out when Stuart Clark’s declaration came, leaving Queensland 25 overs to face before stumps.