All posts by csb10.top

Craig McDermott, the former Australian fast bowler, is pressing his case to be named the national team’s new fast bowling coach by taking on a leading role during Australia’s ongoing limited-overs tour of Bangladesh. McDermott, 45, who is employed by Cricket Australia as an assistant at the Centre of Excellence (COE) in Brisbane, was granted the chance to enhance his claims to replace Troy Cooley by accompanying the squad to Dhaka for their week-long visit.If possession is nine-tenths of the law, McDermott will have done himself no harm at all by travelling with the team on the first tour since Cooley vacated the role in order to become the head coach at the COE, replacing Greg Chappell.Michael Brown, CA’s head of cricket operations, is presently whittling down a shortlist of 14 applicants, believed to include McDermott and Jason Gillespie among others, in order to have the new coach installed in time for tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa from July.Senior fast bowler Brett Lee, who is mentoring a group that includes the young Victorian quick James Pattinson, said McDermott was making all the right moves. “I’m not sure what Cricket Australia want to do with that and that’s I suppose out of my control, but the work Craig’s done over the last couple of days with the guys has been great,” Lee told .”He’s been a world-class bowler for Australia and his record speaks for itself. He gets on well with the guys.”Lee is finding plenty of reward in passing down the knowledge he has accumulated over the years, and feels it is very much his duty to do so, just as he was taught by Gillespie and Glenn McGrath.”I’m enjoying playing more of a leadership role, working with the young bowlers and passing on the knowledge I’ve had passed on to me from Jason, Glenn and McDermott who’s working with us now here. I was looking up to him as a youngster when I was first playing,” Lee said.”As I was picking Glenn’s brain for years and years, and Dizzy’s [Jason Gillespie] brain, and trying to be a sponge and get as much out of those guys as possible, it wouldn’t be fair if I left the game now and didn’t pass on the knowledge I’ve learned.”I feel it’s my duty also to help the young guys coming through. And that’s not saying I’ve achieved everything and that I’m the world’s greatest bowler, but I think with what I’ve learned with my experience, I might show them five things and if one thing works for them, it’s going to make them a better bowler.The 2009 Twenty20 Champions League, in which Lee starred with both bat and ball before suffering the elbow injury that threatened to end his career before this year’s World Cup, was a source of great satisfaction for him as much as a mentor as a pace bowler.”Certainly in the 2009 Champions League I felt like I got a lot out of that series personally by passing on my knowledge and helping the young guys,” he said. “Having such a young side and nurturing those young guys coming through, was one of the most exciting times for me personally, not through getting wickets or making runs but the feeling you get from helping guys.”

The ICC’s decision to stage the 2015 World Cup without any provision for Associate members smacks of “insular, backward-looking” attitudes among the game’s custodians, former chief Malcolm Speed has said.The scaling down of the tournament to a 10-team event in 2015, in Australia and New Zealand, without so much as a qualifying tournament for smaller nations, has been met with plenty of opposition. The saddest element of the decision, said Speed, was simply that it reflected a persistent retreat from global gains made earlier in the 21st century.”I don’t have a problem with the 10-team World Cup. I think other formats have been tried and haven’t worked, but I do have a problem with the 10 teams qualifying automatically,” Speed told . “I would’ve preferred a system where the last two full-member countries in the one-day rankings are challenged by the top two Associate members, but it seems that’s not going to happen.”It’s consistent with the thinking I saw at the executive board towards the end of my tenure, but certainly not with the thinking earlier in my time, when there was a much broader view of the future of world cricket.”Self-interest is a powerful force at any meeting of nations, as Speed discovered to his detriment when his time as CEO was terminated in 2008. While making it clear there were useful voices at work on the ICC executive, Speed said that they did not, in this instance, speak loudest. “The decision strikes me as an insular, parochial decision that just perpetuates the 10 full-member countries, who are actually full members because they are Test-playing countries.”They’re not full members because they’re ODI-playing countries, they are chosen because they can sustain Test cricket. But other countries are then excluded from the major one-day tournament, so I think it’s a very insular, backward-looking decision.”Speed has just published his memoirs, , in which he discusses the politics of World Cups and the mixed blessing of India’s dominant position as the unrivalled financial leviathan of the game. “It’s the major operational benefit for the game, but it’s also the major governance threat,” he said of India’s power. “It’s the sort of opportunity any other sport would gladly welcome, as has cricket, but it brings with it some serious difficulties.”

Usman Khawaja has capped off a summer in which he made his Test debut by being named the State Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal night in Melbourne. And Khawaja’s New South Wales team-mate Trent Copeland joined him in having reason to celebrate after he was voted the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year, barely 12 months since he made his state debut.Khawaja might not play too many matches for the Blues next season, if he establishes himself in the Test line-up, but he was a clear winner this season with 35 votes, ahead of the Victoria allrounder Andrew McDonald on 12. Victoria’s wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and the Queensland fast bowler Chris Swan tied for third with 11 votes each.It meant a runaway victory for Khawaja, 24, who won his first baggy green last month at the SCG, when he replaced the injured captain Ricky Ponting at No. 3 for the final Ashes Test. His domestic highlight during the voting period, which began on February 14 last year, was without doubt his career-best 214 against South Australia in the opening round of the Sheffield Shield in October.Khawaja’s win ended the successful run of the South Australia captain Michael Klinger, who had won the title back-to-back over the past two years. It also meant an award double for New South Wales, with the fast bowler Copeland having picked up 44 votes to beat the Queensland batsman Chris Lynn (27) and the Victoria batsman Aaron Finch (15) for the young player prize.Copeland, 24, barely scraped in to the age-group – to be eligible for the honour, players must be aged 23 or under at the start of the voting period, at which point they must also have played no more than 10 first-class games. Copeland has been a standout performer for the Blues since debuting last January, and he raced to 50 wickets in the first innings of his eighth first-class match.He has followed a long list of stars in winning the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year title, and all 11 men who have preceded him have now played for Australia. The first winner was Brett Lee in 2000, and Shane Watson, Nathan Hauritz, Shaun Tait and Ben Hilfenhaus have all had their names etched on to the trophy.The Women’s International Player of the Year was Shelley Nitschke, who collected the award for the third consecutive year. The allrounder Nitschke, 34, has had a tremendous 12 months, having been named as the ICC Women’s Player of the Year in 2010.She scored 760 runs in 26 matches during the voting period at an average of 30.40, and also picked up 34 wickets at 17.68. Nitschke finished on 76 votes, well clear of Lisa Sthalekar on 50 and the young allrounder Ellyse Perry, who received 40 votes.

Papua New Guinea maintained their unbeaten record in the tournament with a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Denmark at the Kowloon Cricket Club. Denmark won the toss and batted, but were in strife right from the start as each of their top six batsmen failed to get into double figures. Loa Nou, Hitolo Areni and Chris Amini shared two wickets apiece as the Denmark batsmen failed to cope with their seam bowling and were reeling at 33 for 6. Denmark’s lower order showed some fight: Martin Pedersen made 17, and Bobby Chawla and Aftab Ahmed added 55 runs for the ninth wicket to take Denmark past 100. Ahmed was unbeaten on 39 as Denmark were bowled out for a paltry 112 in just under 42 overs.That score was never going to be enough to challenge PNG and though they lost Asad Vala in the first over, Tony Ura and Amini put on a solid unbeaten 114-run partnership to carry PNG home. Ura was unbeaten on 64 while Amini was 43 not out.Half-centuries from Waqas Barkat and Najeeb Amar carried Hong Kong to a thrilling one-wicket win over Italy at the Mission Road Ground. Italy elected to bat but started poorly, losing openers Andy Northcote and Damian Fernando with just 26 runs on the board. Italy captain Alessandro Bonora and Peter Petricola then put on 110 runs for the third wicket to set the base for a big total. Bonora was run out for 40 but Petricola remained solid as he added a further 42 with Damian Crowley. However, Italy frittered away the advantage as they lost five wickets for 50 runs to slide from 178 for 3 to 228 for 8. Petricola was unbeaten on 104 as Italy reached 235 for 8 at the end of their 50 overs.Italy looked set to defend that total as Gayashan Munasinghe struck with his medium-pace to pick up three quick wickets to leave Hong Kong struggling at 25 for 4. Hussain Butt and Nizakat Khan revived the Hong Kong innings with a 43-run fifth-wicket partnership but it was the 97-run seventh wicket partnership between captain Najeeb Amar and Waqas Barkat that got Hong Kong’s chase back on track. Both batsmen looked set to carry their team across the line before Amar fell for 52 in the 44th over with the score on 184. Hong Kong seemed to lose the momentum with Amar’s dismissal as Munir Dar and Nadeem Ahmed fell in quick succession. They needed 26 off the last 12 balls with just one wicket in hand but No. 11 Aizaz Khan played a blinder, swatting three sixes in an eight-ball 24 to take Hong Kong home with two balls to spare.United States of America overcame an early batting collapse to post a two-wicket win in a low-scoring encounter against Oman at the Hong Kong Cricket Club. Oman, who were sent in to bat, started strongly, with openers Hemin Desai (28) and Deep Trivedi (11) putting on 42 runs in just under 7 overs before Desai was bowled by Kevin Darlington. His dismissal triggered a collapse as Oman slumped from 42 for 1 to 110 all out in just under 38 overs. Only Sultan Ahmed, with his 30, offered some resistance as Usman Shuja, Orlando Baker and Asif Khan picked up seven wickets between them.USA’s chase started disastrously as medium-pacer Rajesh Kumar picked up three key wickets and ran out Sushil Nadkarni to leave USA reeling at 16 for 6 in the eighth over. However, No. 9 Usman Shuja (43) and No. 10 Asif Khan (31) held firm to carry USA home. The duo added an unbeaten 71 runs for the ninth wicket to anchor USA to victory with 16 overs remaining.

Iqbal Abdulla, the Mumbai left-arm spinner, has signed a two-year deal with Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the fourth season of the IPL. Abdulla, who is also a useful lower-order batsman, was at Kolkata for the first three seasons, having been picked as their Under-19 draft in the first season, and now returns as an uncapped signing. “We needed a specialist Indian spinner to accompany Shakib [al Hasan] and Yusuf Pathan and we are happy to get Iqbal,” a Kolkata spokesperson said.Kolkata are talking to at least 10 or 12 uncapped players, some of whom played for the team in the first three editions of the IPL. Bengal allrounder Laxmi Shukla, Haryana wicketkeeper-batsman Manvinder Bisla and Delhi middle-order veteran Rajat Bhatia are some of the other names the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise is in talks with it.Though Mumbai, the defending champions, were knocked out by Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals this year, Abdulla had a good season, ending as their top wicket-taker with 27 victims at an average of 22.11 in addition to notching up his maiden Ranji century, an unbeaten 150 against Saurashtra in their opening match. Abdulla averaged 47.75 with the bat in eight matches in the Ranji season. When Mumbai defended their crown in the 2009-10 season, Abdulla had a tally of 32 wickets.Even though teams have until March 8 to sign uncapped players for the IPL, which starts on April 8, franchise owners and officials have shown desperation in the last few days to latch on to quality youngsters as soon as possible.Kings XI Punjab have been lucky to get back three players who were part of their squad in the previous seasons: Punjab allrounder Love Ablish, Himachal Pradesh fast bowler Vikramjeet Malik and Uttar Pradesh left-arm quick Shalabh Srivastava have decided to stay with Punjab for the next two years. The franchise has also signed Sunny Singh and Nitin Saini, centurions for Haryana in the Ranji quarterfinals this year against Tamil Nadu, along with 23-year-old batsman Siddharth Chitnis, who made his first-class debut for Mumbai this year.The BCCI has also made it clear that it is the players that have the final say on which team they wish to join. “Franchises have full rights to scout for players in their catchment area, but uncapped players have the right to negotiate,” Niranjan Shah, BCCI vice-president, told . “We are also keeping a close watch on any underhand dealings between the players and the franchises. All agreement will be tripartite, involving the board, the player and the franchise.”

Match Facts

Sunday, December 12
Start time 09:00 (03:00 GMT)
Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons and Zimbabwe coach Alan Butcher were unhappy with the drainage system in Chittagong•Associated Press

The Big Picture

All eyes will be on the weather in Chittagong ahead of the fifth and final ODI of the series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The fourth match was called off due to a soggy outfield, and more showers are predicted for the weekend. The drainage system at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium has come in for flak, and the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s chief Manzur Ahmed has suggested using a large cover across the whole ground to protect the outfield. Otherwise, even mild rain could lead to the last match being abandoned.With Bangladesh leading 2-1, the best Zimbabwe can do is draw the series, and their coach Alan Butcher admitted that would be a good result for them after they were beaten 4-1 in Bangladesh in 2009. Zimbabwe have lost their previous four ODI series in Bangladesh.Sunday’s one-dayer is the last scheduled international match for both sides before the 2011 World Cup, and may be the final chance for fringe players to make their case. Both teams have settled bowling attacks, but there are still spots to be fought for in their batting line-ups.Hamilton Masakadza, one of Zimbabwe’s most important batsman over the past few years, has been in poor form and will be under pressure from Regis Chakabva for a place in the team. An experienced batsman for the home side, Mohammad Ashraful, will also be struggling for a place, with Raqibul Hasan and Naeem Islam likely to keep him out again.

Form Guide

(most recent first)
Bangladesh: WWLWWZimbabwe: LLWLL

Watch out for …

Craig Ervine has had a couple of starts in the series, but has still only got one half-century in his 13-match ODI career. Ervine said he had been working hard on playing spinners in the nets, and it was paying off in the series. In the first two ODIs he was the only batsman who looked capable of dealing with Bangladesh’s left-arm spinners in the middle overs.Abdur Razzak has a chance to break two records in the match in Chittagong. He has the chance to be the first bowler to take four wickets in four consecutive ODIs if he repeats his efforts of the first three matches in the last one. With 13 wickets in the series, he is also three wickets away from the record for the most number of wickets by a bowler in a five-match bilateral ODI series.

Pitch conditions

Ahead of the fourth match, both teams’ players said they expected significant turn from the Chittagong wicket. Ahead of Sunday’s game, the question is more whether there will be any play at all. The poor drainage facilities are even more concerning as the venue will host two World Cup games. Ahmed said there was no time for significant alterations to the ground since the World Cup is two months away. “We have to bring a large cover to protect this ground since the drainage system is not up to the mark,” he said.

Teams

Elton Chigumbura, who missed the previous game with a groin strain, should be fit for the last match. Masakadza practised in the nets on Friday, so will probably get another opportunity to prove himself.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Brendan Taylor, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Regis Chakabva, 4.Elton Chigumbura, 5 Tatenda Taibu (wk), 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Prosper Utseya, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Shingirai Masakadza, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Chris MpofuBangladesh are unlikely to change their winning combination.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Raqibul Hasan, 5 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Naeem Islam, 8 Suhrawadi Shuvo, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Abdur Razzak, 11 Shafiul Islam

Stats and Trivia

• Zimbabwe have won 20.61% of their matches in the subcontinent, having got 20 victories out of 97 matches.
• Bangladesh’s winning percentage in ODIs over the last two years is 48.89%, the sixth best among all nations.

Quotes

“A better ground for soccer? You might get football matches called off here.”
“It is very frustrating, considering the sun was out virtually the whole day but we couldn’t play the match.” Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, was similarly disappointed at the time the outfield took to dry.