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Kevin Pietersen’s performances against South Africa were always going to be analysed in great depth – it has been the story of his career – but his poor returns in Cape Town have turned the spotlight squarely on him ahead of the series decider at the Wand

Andrew McGlashan at the Wanderers13-Jan-2010Kevin Pietersen’s performances against South Africa were always going to be analysed in great depth – it has been the story of his career – but his poor returns in Cape Town have turned the spotlight squarely on him ahead of the series decider at the Wanderers.Pietersen bagged scores of 0 and 6 at Newlands and it was the manner of his dismissals that raised eyebrows. In both innings he was out-thought by Dale Steyn; in the first innings he punched a full delivery back to the bowler and in the second was trapped lbw whipping across a straight ball.”He won’t be happy with what happened in Cape Town,” Andrew Strauss said. “I suppose it was one of the performances that he will be least happy about so far in his career but I am not unhappy with the way he has been playing.”However, Pietersen has played an important innings in this series. Without his 81 at Centurion England would have lost that Test, although the effort was overshadowed by the run out mix-up with Jonathan Trott that brought his downfall. Then he was well-set on 31 at Durban before falling lbw to Paul Harris sweeping a very full delivery. But away from purely his dismissals, a spark has also been missing; that flash of brilliance that is the stand-out feature of his game.It may all have a simple explanation. He could just be out of form. Credit has to go to South Africa, especially the way they bowled at him in Cape Town, and they have followed the widely accepted view that full and straight is the way to attack Pietersen early on. However, that may also be too simple. There’s the impact of his time out of the game following surgery and a lingering suggestion that losing the captaincy still hurts him.Paul Collingwood suggested he was a victim of his own success in that people always expect match-winning displays, but if he aspires to greatness those will be the demands placed on him. This is by no a means a time to panic about Pietersen – both Strauss and Trott have also managed just a single half century each – but it will be fascinating to watch his response at the Wanderers. He is a big-game player, and games don’t come much bigger.”At Centurion I thought he batted exceptionally well and that’s only two Tests ago,” Strauss said. “He is a man for the big occasion, he has obvious class and quality and that does not change over course of two games.”Maybe people are reading too much into it,” he added. “If he had scored heavily in the Ashes and had a couple of quiet games here nothing would have been said but because he has been out quite a long time it is easy to focus on those quiet games.”I don’t think he is out of form by any means, I think his attitude and the way he has gone about his business has been exactly as it normally is. He will come back and score runs very soon, whether it will be here or not I don’t know but I have every confidence he will be putting in big performances for England in the near future.”Graeme Smith said he wasn’t losing any sleep over the prospect of a return to form by Pietersen, which suggests the South Africans feel they have a measure of him, but Jacques Kallis, a player who has achieved the rank of greatness, is well aware of his potential.”He’s a quality player so it’s only a matter of time before he comes right but hopefully it’s not in the next one,” Kallis said. “We’ve had a few plans against him which have worked and hopefully that will continue. We’ve done well to keep him quiet, but you don’t become a bad player overnight.”England have shown they can win, either with Pietersen not in the side, or not on top form, and if they secure a series victory at the Wanderers without a major contribution it will be a mark of the team’s strength. However, they would be a better team with Pietersen firing and until he captures the form that thrilled audiences the questions won’t go away.

Pakistan will have a new captain after their tour of Australia comes to an end in early February, Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said

Cricinfo staff22-Jan-2010Pakistan will have a new captain after their tour of Australia comes to an end in early February,
Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, has said. Mohammad Yousuf was appointed to lead in New Zealand and Australia after Younis Khan quit in a huff back in November.”This captain [Mohammad Yousuf] was for this series only and we will decide after the tour of Australia about the captain, [but] we will change,” Butt told the private ARY News channel.Under Yousuf, Pakistan squared a three-Test series against New Zealand but lost three Tests in a row to Australia before they surrendered the first ODI in Brisbane today. The relationship between Yousuf and the selection committee, headed by Iqbal Qasim, has been tense over the course of the long tour of Australia. He had Misbah-ul-Haq sent over to New Zealand after the player had been dropped from all three formats of the game just a month before.Butt termed Younis’ decision to relinquish the captaincy as unfortunate for Pakistan. “We did not change Younis. Unfortunately the sports committee of the parliament made him run away after they levelled match-fixing allegations against him,” he said.Butt squashed the match-fixing allegations against Pakistan after the Champions Trophy, in specific the game against Australia in which they lost by one run off the last ball. “How can someone fix a match on the last ball? Only a magician can do that and on this allegation Younis was mentally disturbed and resigned,” Butt said. “Younis was a good captain but he was hurt on the allegations and quit. Now we will soon decide about the change.”Butt also said there could be changes to the coaching staff. “Coaching is a very difficult job so I don’t want to comment on it, but yes, we are looking at options to hire batting and fielding coaches, foreign or local, for the national team,” he said. “The problem is no foreign coach is willing to come to Pakistan in present security conditions and a local coach appears to be a more feasible prospect.”Pakistan’s next Test assignment is in England where they play Australia, a series shifted out of Pakistan over security fears. They are scheduled to play four Tests against England on the same tour.

The MCC has confirmed it has explored possibility of joining a consortium bidding to buy an IPL franchise

Cricinfo staff25-Feb-2010The MCC has confirmed it explored the possibility of joining a consortium bidding to buy an IPL franchise, and said matches could be held at Lord’s if the MCC succeeds in buying a team.”It’s a logical conclusion that if the MCC were involved with an IPL side, to have that side playing at Lord’s would be extremely exciting,” Keith Bradshaw, the MCC chief executive, told .There are two new franchises, which will be revealed on March 7, up for grabs with 12 Indian cities in the running. Bidding starts from a base price of US$225m, more than four times the US$50m base price that the original eight franchises were auctioned for in 2008. Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, previously announced that “a very famous football club in the UK is very interested in bidding” but that has so far proved little more than speculation.It would be a major boon for the MCC, and Bradshaw travelled alongside Anthony Wreford, a trustee of the club, to India for a weekend of talks with consortium members and IPL officials. Discussions also included the ongoing partnership with the IPL to promote the MCC Spirit of Cricket campaign in the tournament.”MCC has a proud history, is respectful of the game’s traditions and always mindful of its role as guardian of the laws and spirit of cricket,” said Bradshaw. “We would not pursue a path that we believed was contrary to the best interests of the sport or to the future health of Test match cricket.”Undeniably, the game is changing. MCC, as an innovative, independent cricket club, wants to be at the heart of that change. Playing cricket is something that we have quite a bit of experience in – we compete in over 450 matches every year around the world and currently have a men’s team in the UAE and a women’s team in Trinidad & Tobago.”The concept of MCC involvement in the IPL is something I believe is worthy of thorough investigation, and something that we’ll take to our committee for their deliberation.”

MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said his team was completely outplayed by South Africa

Cricinfo staff09-Feb-2010MS Dhoni was candid in his post-mortem, after suffering his first Test defeat as India captain. It can be argued that India had started on the backfoot, losing Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma in the lead-up to the match, forcing them to field a sub-par eleven, but Dhoni was not looking for excuses.”You miss players because of injuries. This was the best available squad at that time. I won’t complain about that. We were outplayed in most of the departments, batting you can say, definitely bowling, and also the fielding. Because we were outplayed we are on the losing side. There are plenty of lessons to be learnt,” Dhoni said.India’s batsmen found it tough to handle Dale Steyn’s pace and movement and his ten-wicket haul played a crucial role in the result. Dhoni was full of praise for South Africa’s premier fast bowler.”The first few overs the way Steyn bowled, where we were three wickets down, most of them were brilliant deliveries. Luckily they got a ball that was really reverse-swinging [after tea on the third day]. That doesn’t stop me from giving credit to Steyn,” Dhoni said.”He bowled really well with that ball. He had already bowled 12-15 overs and after that coming back and bowling the way he did was amazing. But in the last 12 months, this was the best display of conventional swing bowling as far as I am concerned. We’ve seen good reverse-swing but you hardly get to see good conventional swing, especially in India, on tracks like these.”Dhoni went on to compare Steyn’s accuracy and ability to swing the ball both ways to Glenn McGrath. “When McGrath used to bowl around the off-stump it was always difficult to leave the ball, and that’s what is happening with Steyn. He was getting the ball to go away and from the same spot he was getting it to go in. You just get a fraction of a second to make up your mind and decide what you’re planning to do.”You may end up playing the ball and you may end up getting caught behind or in the slips, like what happened to Gautam Gambhir, first innings got caught behind, the second innings he got bowled.”Dhoni also had words of appreciation for Paul Harris who bottled up one end with his tight left-arm spin and picked up crucial wickets in the second innings. “He can really bind one end for them. He’s one bowler who can really bowl 30 overs out of the 90 in the day. You can’t look to play, just 30 overs you can block, at some point of time you have to look for runs. At the same time there’s not plenty of shots you can offer to that line of attack.”India’s woes were not restricted to the batting failures and, in fact, began with the ball. Harbhajan Singh had an ordinary tour of Bangladesh, and could not exert much control in Nagpur either, but Dhoni was confident that his number one spinner would bounce back.”He’s a great bowler and I’m not worried about that. That’s what stats suggest, he’s been doing really well, you’ve always seen him come back in big games, he’s a big-game player. He’s got the experience because of which he knows exactly what to do,” Dhoni said.Dhoni expressed disappointment that his fast-bowlers were unable to extract reverse swing. “If it’s a turning track you definitely see loads of spin for the spinners on the second day which means the wicket is dry, so more often than not you see the reverse swing going. The first innings there was a bit of turn, but we couldn’t get the reverse swing going.”When that happens with four bowlers and two fast bowlers they have something to play with. But it never happened for us, it became really tough for the fast bowlers to either contain them or get them out. Hopefully in Kolkata we’ll get the reverse swing going. Whatever legal ways are there we tried to get the reverse swing going but it didn’t happen for us.Dhoni was happy with the way the debutants stood up to the challenge. S Badrinath got his spot in the middle order due to Yuvraj Singh’s absence and Wriddhiman Saha was hastily drafted in after Rohit Sharma picked an injury, minutes before the start of the match.”I think they did quite well. Wriddhiman got a brilliant delivery in the first innings and Badrinath also looked quite calm and composed, his approach to Test cricket was good, and in a way it was good for them because they got an opportunity because most of the time, middle-order batsmen don’t get an opportunity to play in this Indian team. Of course we missed the experienced players, but it was good to see youngsters getting exposed to international cricket.Dhoni was banking on VVS Laxman making a comeback to the team for the second Test. “I’m hoping he gets fit. May be, the day after tomorrow, we’ll get to know what his scene is. But he’s been practising in the nets and we’re hoping he gets fit.”Dhoni has been a fan of the six batsmen, four bowlers combination since he took over the reins of the Indian team and stuck by his guns again. “You can always say if four bowlers can’t do the job no good reason your fifth can. Same way, you can say if six batsmen can’t do the job how can seven? You can pick the side you want to argue. But usually we play with a 2-2 combination and part-timers.”South Africa has Jacques Kallis who’s a specialist allrounder and they play with a 3-1 combination, so you can say they play with four bowlers and have a perfect all-rounder with them, which luxury we don’t have. We have to see what is the best combination,” Dhoni said.After Steyn’s initial strikes in the first innings, India seemed to be on the road to recovery through Sehwag and Badrinath. Shewag reached a hundred, but threw away his wicket soon after, attempting a big shot, which triggered a collapse. However, Dhoni was unwilling to blame Sehwag for the debacle.”You can say we lost the game but you can’t put the blame on him because that’s Sehwag-cricket for you and more often than not he’ll win more games then he’ll lose. There are other ten batsmen who can fit into the space. One and a half years back if he hadn’t played that innings against England in Chennai, we would not have been on the winning side. He has that liberty because he is a match-winner,” Dhoni said.”When he is playing aggressive cricket he puts pressure on the bowlers, they have to shift their lines which may not be their strength. It may look like a rash shot, but that’s the kind of cricket he plays, and we should leave it to him because he’s very successful in the cricket he plays. It’s very difficult to imitate that so I will not recommend that. Sehwag is one of a kind, he’s a great batsman and I just love the way he plays, and I hope he gets more and more runs.”The teams now have an extra day off following a four-day finish, before travelling to Kolkata for the final Test, which starts on February 14.

South Australia are battling to keep their season alive but Queensland still have the upper hand at the Gabba as they chase a home final

Cricinfo staff05-Mar-2010South Australia 72 and 1 for 89 (Smith 53) need 237 runs to beat Queensland 160 and 6 for 237 dec (Townsend 114*)

ScorecardWade Townsend has been the key man for Queensland•Getty Images

South Australia are battling to keep their season alive but Queensland still have the upper hand at the Gabba as they chase a home final. The Bulls gave the visitors a target of 326 to win and the Redbacks improved significantly on their first-innings 72 as they reached 1 for 89 before rain and bad light cut the final session.More wet weather is predicted for Saturday and if a result is not possible it will leave the Redbacks out of the race for the final and Queensland in second place with a game to go. Wade Townsend’s third first-class century was the innings of the game as he negotiated the difficult conditions to take Queensland to 6 for 237 before the declaration came shortly before lunch.The opener Townsend, who resumed on 74, moved to an unbeaten 114, which included 16 fours and a six, while most of his team-mates struggled. Chris Simpson managed 33 and Ben Cutting collected 15 not out, but it was Townsend who was responsible for the strong position. Gary Putland finished the match with seven wickets after taking 3 for 39 while Peter George had 2 for 38.South Australia’s openers put on 89 – more than the whole side made in the first innings – and lost James Smith (53) to the final ball before tea when he hit Luke Feldman to gully. Smith was also responsible for striking Townsend in the shoulder at short leg in the sixth over of the innings and he went to hospital for x-rays. When the rain came Daniel Smith was 32 not out.

Cricinfo lists the Plays of the Day for the match between Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians in Mumbai

Cricinfo staff28-Mar-2010Singh floors Singh
As Harbhajan Singh embarrassed Deccan’s bowlers, Jaskaran Singh suffered nerves and delivered consecutive beamers, the first of which floored the rampaging Harbhajan. Later when Jaskaran ran up to congratulate Harbhajan, the offspinner pointed to his head, indicating that it was a narrow escape. His younger opponent apologised and blamed his sweaty palms for his slippery actions.Tendulkar, you beauty
Teams have understood that Adam Gilchrist doesn’t fancy spin straight up. Smartly, Sachin Tendulkar introduced Harbhajan in the first over as Gilchrist marked his guard. Harbhajan darted the second ball into Gilchrist’s body, cramping him for room as he tried to steer it towards the third man, but a vigilant Tendulkar at first slip bent low to his right to pick the ball inches from the turf. It was a special piece of fielding and even Tendulkar appreciated his own effort as he kissed the ball to celebrate the catch., Mr Haysman!
The best travel advice anyone can give is to get absorbed in the local culture when in a foreign land. Dwayne Bravo is already trying to learn a few Hindi words and you can hear him shouting “” during the warm-up handball games during the Mumbai training sessions. Today when commentator Mike Haysman tried to scream his greetings when Bravo was fielding at long-on, Bravo turned back, and as Haysman, unsuccessfully, tried to shake hands, Bravo smartly said (traditional Indian greeting) with folded hands and bent knees.Malinga has no time for greetings
Tailenders don’t normally expect bouncers first up. Lasith Malinga didn’t believe in the normal etiquette as he greeted RP Singh with a searing bouncer that could’ve turned ugly had he not fended it off. Little wonder that RP glared at Malinga, who refused to apologise. The next ball, RP charged aimlessly, out of anger and missed out completely. Malinga followed with another short delivery, which RP left alone. Having softened his opponent, Malinga went for the kill, bowling a yorker to bend RP’s stumps and seal Mumbai’s victory.

Pakistan rounded off their preparations for the ICC Women’s Twenty20 with a big win against West Indies

Cricinfo staff30-Apr-2010
Scorecard
Pakistan rounded off their preparations for the ICC Women’s Twenty20 with a big win against West Indies, one that denied the home side their second successive series sweep. Pakistan kept West Indies to just 105 and then knocked off the runs with eight wickets remaining in St Kitts.It was a disappointing card from a side that had dominated Sri Lanka over three Twenty20s and Pakistan in the first two. Corel Jack top-scored with 46 after Pakistan opted to field on a hard surface and no other batsman crossed 20. Pakistan captain, Sana Mir, led an accomplished bowling performance with 3 for 17 from three overs. In reply, the opener Sajjida Shah then anchored Pakistan to victory with five fours in an unbeaten 51 from 54 balls.The Women’s World Twenty20 begins on May 5.

In the end England’s eight-wicket victory came with ease on the final afternoon at Lord’s as they comfortably chased down 160 following Steven Finn’s first five-wicket haul in Test cricket

The Bulletin by Andrew McGlashan31-May-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Steven Finn continued his outstanding match to secure a five-wicket haul on his home grund•Getty Images

In the end England’s eight-wicket victory came with ease on the final afternoon at Lord’s as they comfortably chased down 160 following Steven Finn’s first five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Andrew Strauss guided the pursuit with a confident 82 after the visitors’ last five wickets fell for 35 under cloudy skies against Finn and Tim Bresnan, yet they have done much to enhance their standing over the last five days.With the ball new and the morning overcast the odds were always against Bangladesh delaying England long enough to put the result in serious doubt. It took ten overs to make the breakthrough but they then chipped away regularly to wrap up the innings on the stroke of lunch. Strauss and Alastair Cook were gifted a 60-run start by some woeful bowling and negative fielding settings. The only tension was to see whether the win would come before tea. Despite Kevin Pietersen playing out a maiden from Shakib Al Hasan some scurrying from the umpires ensured it did.However, without Finn England would have had serious problems dismissing Bangladesh twice in this match. The 21-year-old has led the bowling effort in both innings, impressing with his maturity, accuracy and stamina. Strauss gave him an eight-over spell on the final morning and he responded with three further wickets to earn a place on the honours board in his first Test on his home ground.Junaid Siddique and Shakib fought hard to survive and, as often happens when pressure builds, it was one of worst deliveries that made the breakthrough when Shakib cut a wide ball straight to Eoin Morgan at point. Siddique had again resisted stubbornly while England tried to pepper him with the short ball and the tactic could well have played a part in his demise as he tried to drive with his feet planted in the crease and popped a catch to mid off.That gave Finn his fourth and this time he wasn’t going to be denied a place on the board when he produced a beauty that climbed and took Mushfiqur Rahim’s outside edge. However, he couldn’t quite claim the scalp that would have made him the first since Ian Botham in 1978 to claim a 10-wicket match haul at Lord’s.James Anderson endured a frustrating morning as his rhythm continued to improve but was unable to add to his collection. He produced a testing nine-over burst and regularly beat the outside edge, but the closest he came to a breakthrough was when Bresnan spilled a tough chance at third slip off Mahmudullah.Mahmudullah, who is batting far too low even taking into account the nightwatchman, continued the defiance shown by many of his team-mates. He and Rubel Hossain resisted for 10 overs until Bresnan found Rubel’s edge as the No. 10 tried to leave the ball. It’s been a difficult match for Bresnan, and he came in for some guarded criticism from Andy Flower on the fourth evening, but he closed the innings when Mahmudullah had a wild heave in the last over before lunch and ended with 3 for 93.While Bangladesh’s batting is making huge strides, there progress will be held back by the weak pace bowling. Shahadat Hossain’s opening over went for 11 as he sprayed the ball wide at Strauss, while Rubel and Robiul were given an over apiece before spin came on from both ends.Mahmudullah removed Cook as the left hander was given out lbw on the front foot and replays showed the ball would have gone over the stumps for the second time in the game. Strauss, though, eased to his second fifty of the match from 50 balls – nothing more than a gentle net for the captain – while Jonathan Trott eked along at his own sedate pace before Strauss was caught behind cutting with 13 needed.The final result was as expected, yet Bangladesh can take great heart from the way they took the game five days and made England dig deep. Strauss and Flower will expect their side to be far more commanding in the second, at Old Trafford, on Friday but the visitors will have ambitions to make a mark of their own.