ICC to inspect pitches for World Cup

The ICC's pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson, will be visiting India in early September to inspect six out of the eight venues in the country for the 2011 World Cup. Among the six is the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, the host for the controversial India-Sri Lanka ODI in December 2009 which was abandoned due to an unfit pitch.
"Atkinson is on a week-long visit in the first week of September to inspect six out of eight World Cup match hosting centres in India," Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, said.
Mohali and Nagpur are the venues Atkinston will not be visiting. "He would be visiting the other six centres (Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad). Anyway barring Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, the other centres are to host international matches against Australia and New Zealand and we would know their preparedness," Shetty said. "Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi would host some first-class games before the World Cup."
Atkinson had inspected the Kotla pitch on February 14 and 15 earlier this year and was happy with the remedial work under the supervision of Venkat Sundaram, former head of the BCCI curators' panel. The ground continued to host IPL games this summer.

Khalid Latif leads Pakistan to bronze

Pakistan won bronze at the Asian Games by thumping Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third-place play-off in Guangzhou. Pakistan captain, Khalid Latif, who is their only player with international experience, made an unbeaten half-century and combined with 19-year-old Bilawal Bhatti, who hadn't played any Twenty20s before this tournament, for a quick 56-run stand that completed the victory with two overs to spare.
"It was important to stay at the wicket till the end," Latif said after the win, "something I could not do against Afghanistan, but managed it today against a top side like Sri Lanka. Of course we would have wanted to win the gold medal, but at least we will go home with a bronze."
Sri Lanka's batting has let them down in their previous two matches, but they began confidently on Friday after choosing to bat, with the experienced pair of Nuwan Zoysa and Jeevantha Kulatunga putting on 52. Zoysa, who played 30 Tests for Sri Lanka as a left-arm seamer, has opened the innings for them in the Asian Games, and made a run-a-ball 24, while Kulatunga raced to 31. However, Sri Lanka frittered away the solid beginning as all their other batsmen, barring Dilshan Munaweera (28), made single-digit scores.
Sri Lanka kept their hopes of a medal with some regular breakthroughs. Any worries Pakistan had after they slipped to 85 for 4, though, were eased by Latif, who smashed three sixes in an over off legspinner Malinga Bandara. Bhatti finished off the match in style, with a six off Zoysa, which meant Sri Lanka will return empty-handed.
Sri Lankan captain Jehan Mubarak dismissed suggestions that his team, with 11 international players in their ranks, took the tournament lightly. "Not at all, we all wanted to win, but I think we did not adapt to the conditions quickly enough," he said.

Brilliant Shakib knocks down New Zealand

Bangladesh rode on an outstanding all-round performance from Shakib Al Hasan to beat New Zealand by nine runs in Mirpur, making Daniel Vettori's pre-match comments about his ability seem almost clairvoyant.
Shakib was scintillating with the bat in the latter part of Bangladesh's innings, unleashing a range of shots in the batting Powerplay to lift Bangladesh to a competitive 229. He then tormented the visitors with the ball, scalping four invaluable wickets including a double-strike in the 15th over to remove the rampant Brendon McCullum and Grant Elliott. He then returned to bowl a brilliant penultimate over in the rain-curtailed run chase, giving away just three runs and claiming the wicket of Nathan McCullum to give his side an unexpected 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Bangladesh's hopes of defending the smallish total suffered a huge dent when they lost their captain and strike bowler, Mashrafe Mortaza, to a sprained ankle after bowling just one over. The blow left the inexperienced Nazmul Hossain and the hosts' spinners to step up considerably, and vice-captain Shakib to take over the familiar captain's role for the rest of the match.
Brendon McCullum's devastating form at the top of the order exacerbated the problem for Bangladesh as he set about blasting the attack to all corners for 61 off 45 deliveries. He plundered boundaries at will, cutting and pulling short balls ferociously as well as slamming the fuller deliveries over cover and down the ground. Jesse Ryder too got in on the action, hitting three boundaries in his innings of 21, before chipping Shakib to short midwicket with the score on 53 in the seventh over.
Brendon McCullum used his feet against all the bowlers, with a particularly majestic straight strike off Naeem Islam in the eleventh over standing out. His fancy footwork, however, ultimately led to his undoing when he danced passed a dipping delivery from Shakib. Elliot followed two balls later to leave the visitors wobbling at 84 for 4 before the rain that had threatened through the day became heavy enough for the umpires to call for the covers.
When play resumed, New Zealand were left chasing 210 from 37 overs: a target Ross Taylor and Daniel Vettori set about hauling in systematically. Vettori was adjudged out after pulling a chest-high full toss straight to deep square leg, though the third umpire ruled it as a no-ball after the batsman asked for a referral. That was the second controversial umpiring incident of the day, following a stumping that should have been given during the Bangladesh innings, when Junaid Siddique survived after being caught out of his crease.
Vettori did not last long however, top-edging a sweep to short fine leg for 24. Shanan Stewart and Ross Taylor followed soon after, leaving the visitors in deep waters. Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum kept trying, but were no match for a Shakib special in the penultimate over. Nazmul then successfully defended 17 in the last over to spark off scenes of jubilation in the stands.
Earlier, New Zealand's slow bowlers strangled Bangladesh after a solid start. Vettori was at his miserly best, finishing with 2 for 29 from his ten overs, while Nathan McCullum and Ryder also made inroads into the Bangladesh line-up.
Opener Imrul Kayes fell to Kyle Mills after a 34-run stand for the first wicket, but Shahriar Nafees played intelligently for his 35, mixing firm defense with calculated aggression, before Vettori's introduction made an immediate impact.
He removed Nafees with a quick yorker in his second over, as Bangladesh began to feel the pinch. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, with only Shakib managing to come to grips with the slowish surface. He began smartly against the seamers in the middle overs before exploding in the 45th, pulling Tim Southee for consecutive boundaries and then slamming Andy McKay down the ground in the following over to bring up his half-century. An inventive scoop and a crash through the covers off Mills raised hopes of 240, before a slower ball ended his stay. A couple of lusty blows from Mortaza lifted the score to 229, a score which ultimately proved sufficient.

Sangakkara reclaims top spot in Test ratings

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen, ending Sachin Tendulkar's short-lived stay at the head of the table.
Sangakkara's performance in the first two Tests of the ongoing series against West Indies coincided with Tendulkar's modest returns against New Zealand, leading to a swap at the top. Sangakkara has so far scored 228 runs in the West Indies series, taking him to 882 rating points, 23 clear of Tendulkar who could manage only one half-century in four innings against New Zealand. Virender Sehwag is in the third place, nine points behind Tendulkar, while Jacques Kallis is fourth, with 806.
South Africa's AB de Villiers and England's Jonathan Trott have broken into the top ten for the first time, following strong performances against Pakistan and Australia respectively. de Villiers amassed an unbeaten 278 in Abu Dhabi, the highest Test score by a South Africa batsman, propelling him to fifth. Trott's unbeaten 135 was a part of England's strong second-innings resistance in the Ashes-opener, helping his side earn a creditable draw, and lifting him to the eighth spot.
On the bowling front, India's fast-bowling spearhead, Zaheer Khan, surged to third in the Test ratings, his highest classification to date. South Africa seamer Dale Steyn and England offspinner Graeme Swann retained the top two positions. Australia's Peter Siddle, who picked up six wickets on the first day at the Gabba, including a hat-trick, rose to the 14th spot, while England seamer Steven Finn moved up to 19th on the back of his six-for.

What exactly did Flintoff tell you?

We saw a very emotional side of yours at an awards function for the 26/11 martyrs recently. You got teary-eyed. What was that about?We saw some really horrific sights after the Mumbai attack. Everybody was quite devastated to see all that. I was just honoured to be there with the people who lost their lives to save ours. Hats off to the NSG commandos for what they did for us. Just to listen what the families were saying – it's easy to say that somebody has died but you generally won't feel the pain unless it's someone from your family. It was quite an emotional moment for me.Emotion is something you thrive on. We all remember the 6 sixes you hit after Andrew Flintoff said something to you…That was more of aggression than emotion. Kind of an emotion you could say.

What did Flintoff say to you that got you so cheesed off that you decided to take the next bowler that came your way for six sixes?Well, I didn't decide on anything. I would have gone after the bowling even if there wasn't a spat. I guess it charged me up because I was fuming, but I guess that made me concentrate more on every ball – better and harder. It was one of the best highlights of my career.Was the fact that you had been slammed for five sixes earlier going through your mind?Yes, that was going through my mind. After the Oval game, I got calls from my friends who were saying "you got slammed for 5 sixes." Luckily we won that game! It was kind of funny, but I was not happy with what happened and felt that I had to give it back in some way. After that I got out to Dimitri twice, in the same game and at Lord's, so I said to myself that this wasn't right. I prayed to God, that I have to give it back and it came at the right moment.What exactly did Flintoff tell you?People don't want to know what he said to me. At the end of the day, you're playing for your country and you want to go and do your best. Aggression comes when two teams, two players are competing. He's a solid competitor. At the moment according to me he's one of the best fast bowlers in the world. It was great competition. He said something and I did too, that's what cricket is all about.2008 has been quite a year for you. It didn't start brilliantly, but you capped it by cementing your place in the Test side. How hard has that journey been, establishing yourself, after being in the Test team for eight years?As a young kid when I started playing cricket I never thought it would take me eight years to play Test cricket regularly. You never know now also. I would never be thinking of playing Test cricket if it takes so much of time. It has been a long struggle for me honestly, I have been in and out, I have tried a few things, so I think everything comes with time and I should capitalise on it now.We are a country that chases milestones and are fascinated by them. Would you reckon that the Chennai knock of 80 was the most important of your Test career so far?

I would say because it was the fifth day wicket, and it was turning heaps and chasing just under 400 runs and it was against an attack with Harmison and Flintoff and Anderson, one of the best attacks in the world right now. Performing against that attack and playing alongwith Sachin was fabulous. As a kid I dreamt that one day I would bat alongside Sachin and win a game for India. That Test match was something special for me and especially after 26/11; it must have given a lot of people happiness. Another important knock I would consider one of my best is the 169 versus Pakistan at Bangalore. I had played after a year and was out for two Test matches and suddenly I came back because Sachin was injured and in that match we were 70 for 4. We didn't win it but I think that was a crucial knock.Just before the knock at Chennai you had back-to-back hundreds, fantastic hundreds, probably the best knocks of the year. Which one was more satisfying - the back-to-back hundreds or the 80 you made in Chennai with Sachin?I wanted to get into form as soon as possible. When I batted the way I did at Rajkot I knew that I was not out of form. I was just taking some time out in the middle. The second knock was more important because we were 20 or 30-odd for 3 and England were looking good so I took my time and played according to the wicket. It gave us a 2-0 lead and put more pressure on England.You'd say that would be slightly more satisfying…Both were different. Rajkot was a great wicket to bat on and Indore was slower so I had to really apply myself. I am happy with the effort, that I could shift gears and had a strike rate of 200 plus.How did you really take your journey through 2008? Australia was not a tour you'd want to remember. You had a great chance to cement yourself in the side. What kept you going on the belief that you would make it to the Test side in this manner?Before Australia I was really batting well for six months and suddenly there was a drop of form. It happens to everyone, but it happened to me on an important tour, which I had hoped would never happen. But the harder things come the better you learn, so I can't repent on it, it happens. After that I didn't get too many big scores. I scored a few runs in the ODIs. However after that playing in the ODIs I got two hundreds. I was just not capitalising on my starts. When things are not going well for you, you have to be mentally tough so I put 2 and 2 together and worked on my batting and knew the way I was working – I said 2 or 3 months back that I would finish the year on a high.Would you reckon that because there was a lot of criticism- it could be understood that a cricketer goes through a slump- but there was a lot of paparazzi, there were pictures and allegations that you were distracted because of someone, who was also there in Sydney. How true were those allegations?I generally don't think about what the criticism says as long as I'm true to myself. It's just sad that when you don't do well you get related to things off the field. I have no issues, I am true to myself and want to do well for the country, and these things don't matter to me because I know I am giving 100% for the country.You proved that, yes. There was a lot of talk at the time about the People magazine interview where you bared your heart out that there were two emotions involved. That probably gave more credibility to the rumours going about at the time that you were involved with a film actress and that was distracting you?I never said something was distracting me. Anything that distracts me from the game I would never go towards. It is just something I said and it's finished and I do not want to look upon it or talk about it. It's part of your upbringing and that's the way you learn about it. What's more important is my cricket, my friends and my family. If that is fine then these things don't bother me.Let's move on to something more exciting. What was it like captaining the King's XI?It was a great opportunity for me. I look forward to captaining India one day and this will help me towards it. To get to know those players, taking the pressure of captaincy, winning big games, learning how to handle yourself after losing games, it's a big learning curve. We had an outstanding year, we had just one bad game, but that's the way T20 is.It's so interesting you say that you dream of captaining India. Since the 2003 World Cup, it has been said that there is captaincy material in Yuvraj Singh, but as is the case, nothing comes easy, you have to fight for everything, and when Dravid resigned you were in the best form of your life. It must have been a tough time for you not to have got the captaincy?I wouldn't say tough time. It was a hard pill to swallow; things never just fall for you. I want to always be in the thick of things, I thought about it for a little while and said what's important for me is the team and country so let's get out there and play as a unit.It's surprising it didn't show at all that you found it hard on the field with your batting and your performances.

You have shown great support to Dhoni and in his dream run Yuvraj has had a big role to play…Dhoni was someone who was very young and he didn't have too many games in international cricket and taking on the captaincy he needed a lot of support. He got a lot of support from the team and has been very good as a captain. He was very calm. I think as a young captain, like Graeme Smith, it was very important that Dhoni got the support and belief of the team.Did Dhoni know that you were upset that the captaincy was not with you? Because Sehwag, Dhoni and you are the 3 most important people on the field and without the three of you, India don't stand a chance…We never really discussed it. More than your own feelings, it is important that you gel as a team. So we never talked about who should have been the captain. Whoever is the captain is in charge and it is the team's job to support him.With Dhoni's winning percentage and his success do you think that the selectors took the right call? Or is it just that the team is so good at this point of time that it really doesn't matter who is captain? Like Australia…I really think it is the team that gets the result. Obviously the captain is important, but the team gets the result. You tell Ricky Ponting to captain Zimbabwe or Bangladesh – not that I'm saying Bangladesh is a bad team- but they don't have great players like Australia, India, or South Africa. The captain is very important, the role is important. Whatever Dhoni's done has been outstanding, he's been cool and calm but the result really comes from the team.Yuvraj, if you see over the last 3-4 years, in 2005-06 you scored almost 110 runs, your average was about 58-60, but the rankings never reflected that. You should have been at the top at least once or twice, that's the level of success your batting has had. Are you disappointed that someone like Dhoni who came after you managed to get to those rankings twice and someone like you who has been playing for 8 years having got the runs hasn't scaled that peak?The rankings don't really matter because someone might play more matches and score and come above you. It is important that the team knows about you. Dhoni has been very consistent for the last two years, his average is more than 45, and he deserves to be at the top. But it's not all about the ranking. The ICC said Sachin is no.26 so you don't believe that. Everyone has got an opinion. They all know that Sachin is one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

ICC Champions Trophy - Epic Fail

The International Cricket Council has confirmed that next month’s Champions Trophy has been postponed until October 2009. With South Africa pulling out and pretty much every other team set to follow suit, it’s no surprise that the competition has been cancelled but the question that now remains is whether the competition has a place in the international cricket calendar.
I’ve yet to understand the need for another 50 over ODI trophy. We have the World Cup every four years. Isn’t that enough? What is the ICC Champions Trophy if not a watered down version of the World Cup? What is the difference apart from fewer teams are invited to take part?
Alec Stewart suggested on TMS the other day that the Champions Trophy should be held every four years rather than its current bi-annual status. He cited the football European Championship as being a competition that fills the four year void between World Cups but the key difference here is the teams taking part. The major teams taking part in the football World Cup and European Championships are different. This is not the case with the cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy.
As far as I can see, the ICC Champions Trophy is nothing other than another opportunity for the bigwigs in Dubai to milk yet more money out of cricket fans, TV companies and corporate sponsors.

Patrick Kidd over at Line and Length posted the other week about this ridiculous new Champions League Twenty20 that is being shoehorned into the 8 day gap between the ODI’s and Test series between England and India. As I said in the comments, how long will it be before the idiots at the ICC kill the goose that lay the golden egg?
I’m a bit of a traditionalist and prefer Test match cricket but, whether I like it or not, Twenty20 cricket has introduced a whole new audience to the game which can only be good for the long term. However, in typical fashion, the ICC have decided to try to fit in as many Twenty20 games into the calendar to secure more lucrative sponsorship deals.
According to the ICC Mission Statement, one of their key roles is to optimise ‘its commercial rights and properties for the benefit of its Members’. Gotcha. So these tournaments are not for the benefit of the fans of the game, then.
If the ICC had a genuine interest in the game, the players and the fans they would scrap the Champions Trophy, scrap the current bi-annual World Twenty20 tournament and run a Twenty20 World Cup every four years. I’d rather see a tournament that actually meant something to the players than watch the ICC Cash Cow Cup.

Ashes Test Series

After the excitement of the 2005 Ashes series in England, can this series live up to expectations? England have struggled with injuries and form since the historic Ashes victory of 2005. Australia will be keen to avenge the defeat which saw them hand back the famous urn after 18 years. Can the young English lions do it again?
The last time England retained the Ashes in Australia was under Mike Gatting back in 1986/87. The pitches in Australia are very different to those in England and the crowds are notoriously hostile. It all adds up to an interesting and exciting series.
Even without Michael Vaughan and Simon Jones from the Ashes winning side of 2005, England will travel to Australia with a sense of optimism. Whilst it is fair to say that they haven’t performed anywhere near as well as they did in the summer of 2005, they are still a strong side with a number of match winners including Kevin Pietersen, Steve Harmison and, of course, the skipper Andrew Flintoff.
Australia are a team that you can never write off. Even though Old Man McGrath has been out of cricket for a long time, he is still the most consistent fast bowler on the planet and you can bet that he will be doing everything to get fit and match ready for November 23. Let’s not forget the Pie Eater - SK Warne - quite simply the best player of his generation. For a great number of the Aussies, this will be their final assault on the Ashes and you can guarantee that they will not want to be beaten on home soil in their swansong.
The excitement leading up to the 2005 Ashes series in England was immense.�England believed they had a side capable of winning the Ashes and after 5�breathtaking Test matches it proved to be the case. Winning�the Ashes is one thing. Retaining them is something altogether different.
This promises to be the Ashes series to beat all other Ashes series. As WG Grace was heard to say on countless occasions during the summer of 2005…