Category Uncategorized

Lancashire have announced a strong profit for 2007 but their chief executive, Jim Cumbes, has warned about the cost of staging international matches.Despite the poor weather during last season, which had a severe impact on matches at Old Trafford, the club made a profit of £185,174 after tax. However, Lancashire also had to pay more to host their international games, a Test against West Indies and ODI against India.”With much of the club’s profit going towards increased staging fees, it limits the amount of funds available to invest back into the ground, which is going to be critical for the clubs with larger grounds, which of course includes Old Trafford,” said Cumbes.”Lessons must be learnt from the 1970s and 80s when international grounds fell into decline due to lack of profits from international matches which in turn led to lack of investment.”Lancashire are entering the first phase of a major redevelopment of Old Trafford, starting with a new outfield. Work will begin in August meaning Lancashire’s home matches will be played at outgrounds such as Liverpool and Blackpool. Work will continue with the building of a new £12m conference and banqueting facility early in 2009.”By and large it has been another very satisfactory year for the club both on and off the field,” added Cumbes. “Cricket is our raison d’etre and we will continue to invest in that side of the business, but we are approaching a critical time in terms of our redevelopment plans.”If we are to continue to stage top class international cricket, we must firstly secure funding to realise our vision of creating a ground with world class facilities. In that respect we need the certainty of international cricket over a long period of time in order to be able to create a programme of continued re-investment.”

The match between Knights and Cape Cobras in Kimberley was tied after rain ended play with the scores level on the D/L method during the chase. Pursuing 182, Rilee Rossouw made an explosive start, scoring 29 at a strike-rate of 241 to lead Knights to 40 in 2.5 overs, when he was dismissed. Wickets began to fall before partnerships could be built after that, and though they maintained a run-rate of close to 10, Knights had slipped to 119 for 5 when rain ended play after the 13th over. As it turned out, they were on par with the D-L score. In their innings, the Cape Cobras top three produced quick and substantial contributions to lead their team to 181 for 4. Andrew Puttick made 51, Stiaan van Zyl 48 and Owais Shah 45.Half-centuries from Martin van Jaarsveld and Farhaan Berhadien helped set up Titans‘ 29-run victory against Warriors in East London. The pair lifted Titans from 45 for 3 in the sixth over, after they had decided to bat, with a 94-run partnership. van Jaarsveld made 77 off 46 balls and Behardien an unbeaten 54 off 37. Both batsmen hit three sixes, and Titans finished with 174 for 5 from 20 overs. Titans’ decision to open the defense with Roelof van der Merwe’s spin paid off as JJ Smuts was dismissed in the first over. van der Merwe went on to have figures of 2 for 21 in four overs. Left-arm spinner Paul Harris also had a good outing, taking 3 for 22, his wickets being those of the Warriors’ top-scorer Ashwell Price, for 49, and middle-order batsmen Justin Kreusch and Kelly Smuts. The Warriors lost wickets at regular intervals and were restricted to 145 for 7 in their 20 overs.Impi made their debut against Lions in Potchefstroom and it was not a happy one. They were restricted and dismissed for 92 in 19.5 overs in pursuit of 154. Only two Impi batsmen – Cobus Pienaar and Ryan Canning – made double-figure scores. Ethan O’Reilly had figures of 4-1-4-2 for Lions, and Aaron Phangsio and Dwaine Pretorius also took two wickets apiece. Lions did not perform impressively with the bat either, slumping from 89 for 2 to 108 for 7 in 16.3 overs, before Chris Morris blasted 31 off 13 balls to lead them to 153.

Assembly elections in Karnataka have forced itinerary changes in the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. The match scheduled for May 10 between Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians has been pushed to May 28 and a direct switch has been made between Bangalore and Hyderabad for their matches against each other. Bangalore will now host Hyderabad on May 3 and visit them on May 25. The elections are on May 10, 16 and 22 and the counting of votes is on May 25.”Because of the elections and the counting, we will have massive repercussions on hospitality and security,” Charu Sharma, the CEO of the Bangalore franchise told Cricinfo. “The law stipulates that you can’t serve liquor in public functions one day before the elections and that would have affected the hospitality plans in the ground. Also, the availability of adequate security would have been affected as the focus might be more on the elections.”The Bangalore franchise consulted the IPL governing council, and the Hyderabad and Mumbai franchises, before making the changes in the schedule.

England have arrived in Antigua for a week that could well make or break their World Cup campaign. They face two matches in the space of five days against Sri Lanka and Australia – two of the four teams who, along with New Zealand and South Africa, have been all but inked into most pundits’ semi-final shake-downs. Victory in either, or preferably both, will propel England ever closer to the next round. Back-to-back defeats, on the other hand, will all but ensure their early flight home.On current evidence, however, England have no right to be anywhere near the semi-finals. They have been ponderous and uninspiring in their four matches to date, not least in their 48-run victory over Ireland in Guyana on Friday – a match that Duncan Fletcher, their coach, admitted had been laced with a tinge of complacency.”I don’t think we played as well as we could have, there’s no doubt about it,” said Fletcher. “It was still an important win from our point of view, because we could have slipped up. But there are areas we can work on. We got a little complacent at times, and we need to make sure don’t get that complacent against better sides.”It’s an extraordinary admission to make, especially in light of Australia’s furious trouncing of Bangladesh at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Saturday. “There are no easy games in this tournament,” Ricky Ponting said after that ten-wicket victory, in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And yet, if Australia’s next opponents are to be believed, this whole World Cup campaign is a bit of a breeze really.Maybe it is preferable from Fletcher’s point of view to give the impression that England are a good side going through a slack phase, rather than a bad side struggling to stay afloat. Last week, the 144th edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack was published, and featured a broadside against a coach under whose leadership England had managed, at once, to be “worn out but under-prepared; complacent yet over-apprehensive; inward-looking yet dysfunctional as a unit; closeted yet distracted.”Fletcher himself brushed aside the criticism, insisting his focus was on the tournament and nothing else, but listening to him talk about England’s need to master the basics was further evidence of the gulf that exists between the best and the rest in this tournament. “The most crucial thing is that we must play to our strengths with the players available to us,” he said, implying that England are still – even at this crucial juncture of the biggest tournament of all – hankering after the men who did not make this trip; the likes of Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones, Steve Harmison and (knowing Fletcher) Ashley Giles.”Maybe we’ll change a few things,” Fletcher added, hinting that Andrew Strauss could come into consideration for a recall, “though maybe that would be dangerous at this stage. But we mustn’t ask players to do things that are foreign to them, because that could really be pretty disastrous. All our players must play to their strengths.”Quite what those strengths are, however, remains a moot point. England’s sluggish scoring and scattergun new-ball bowling has provided cause for concern ever since the opening defeat against New Zealand in St Lucia, and though Fletcher rightly extolled the importance of building partnerships and bowling “in the areas discussed at the start of the match”, the orthodoxy of his team’s approach is sure to be challenged on Wednesday when Sri Lanka, arguably the most flamboyant of England’s remaining opponents, arrive in town.

Sri Lanka, who marmalised England 5-0 last summer, haven’t looked this impressive at a World Cup since their victorious campaign in 1996 – a tournament in which England, again, were the fall guys atFaisalabad. And now, spearheaded by the maverick slinger, Lasith Malinga, who grabbed four wickets in four balls in a searing spell against South Africa last week, Sri Lanka are even more potent opponents than ever before.”Malinga is a threat, he is unusual to any other bowler,” said Fletcher, referring to the vicious round-arm action that delivers the ball from in front of the umpire’s chest. “Once you get out there and it hits you, it’s completely different to the talk. When you’re under pressure, the way you think is you always fall back on what you’ve done before. It’s hard to ask guys to suddenly change to something they haven’t really done consistently.””As long as the top-order can build some partnerships, that’s the crucial aspect,” added Fletcher, in defence of his under-performing top three of Michael Vaughan, Ed Joyce and Ian Bell. “We must be very careful we don’t put too much pressure on them. They are experienced, they’ve been around a bit, but they’ve got to build partnerships. Once it’s set they can accelerate from that platform.”As true as it may be, the need to reiterate such basic disciplines was alarming. At a time when the big guns of this tournament are applying a glossy finish to months and years of groundwork, England – rather like the stadiums in which they are appearing – are frantically trying to disguise their skeletal framework.

On the first day’s play
We are really pleased in our camp about how it ended up – [Kumar] Sangakkara and [Thilan] Samaraweera really played well to get us out of a hole at 61 for 3. The way it was moving around this morning we could have been bowled out by tea time. I think if we had bowled first we’d have bowled them out by now. Obviously, we’d prefer to be four or five down rather then eight but I think its honours even at the moment.On the condition of the pitch
It got flatter as the ball got older and then once the new ball was taken it started to seam around again. I think it will stay seaming for the next couple of days and we were quite pleased to see some turn out there.On Mohammad Asif’s performance
Asif bowled well in the last Test and beautifully today, hitting a good length and moving the ball both ways to make it very difficult for our batsman.On whether Sri Lanka have the firepower to do something similar
[Farveez] Maharoof bowled beautiful in the last Test and he can do exactly the same job. We then have [Nuwan] Kulasekera and some pace from [Lasith] Malinga. While Asif bowled really well I didn’t think their other seamers backed him up well. I hope we can bowl better as a unit.On Sanath’s disappointing start to his farewell Test
It was perhaps not ideal to have a little ceremony just before going out to bat. I know I had a lump in my throat and goosebumps – it was a very special moment. But I thought Sanath did really well to bat for nearly an hour out there and then got a really good ball – hopefully he will fire in the second innings.On his first day in-charge
I enjoyed the experience. I have not been speaking to Tom [Moody] but he has been text-messaging the manager all the time. I think he is quite pleased too.

Ricky Ponting’s pre-series handshake of goodwill, which encourages batsmen to take the word of the fielder in close catches, has not yet been accepted by Michael Vaughan. In a gentlemanly opening to each tour, Ponting has offered the proposal to rival captains as he tries to lift the spirit of the game and chop the number of referrals to the third umpire, which are often inconclusive.Vaughan stood his ground at Adelaide in 2002-03 when Justin Langer claimed a catch on 19, but he was reprieved by the technology and went on to score 177. “We’ll be talking about it before the Ashes start,” Vaughan told . “I’m sure we’ll sit down and have a discussion. I think there’s [a match-referee’s meeting] on Tuesday. Maybe we’ll talk about it then.”The delayed decision shows the tough attitude of England under Vaughan’s captaincy, which included an unbeaten year in 2004. While Vaughan was tight-lipped about the catching issue, he said he wanted his side prepared for the first Test at Lord’s on July 21. “What is important over the next three or four weeks is that individuals play well and get some runs,” he said, “and take some wickets against Australia and gain some individual confidence.”

Fidel Edwards, who missed the second Test with a side strain, has been named in West Indies’ 14-man squad for the third Test in Barbados, which starts on Thursday (April 1).Edwards replaces Adam Sanford, and the likelihood is that West Indies will go into the Bridgetown Test with a four-man pace attack, all of them from Barbados. Indeed three of them – Edwards, his half-brother Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore – come from the tiny village of Boscabel. Tino Best is the fourth member of the Barbadian foursome.Daren Ganga, the Trinidad & Tobago opener who made two Test centuries against Australia last year, has been included in the squad as cover for Devon Smith, who has a finger injury.West Indies squad for third Test
Chris Gayle, Devon Smith, Daren Ganga, Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Ricardo Powell, Ryan Hinds, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Corey Collymore, Tino Best, Fidel Edwards, Pedro Collins.

PAARL, Feb 25: Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram on Tuesday had reasons to celebrate after he became the first bowler to scalp 500 batsmen in One-day Internationals when he dismissed Holland’s opener Nick Statham.Wasim had to wait a bit longer for his 500th victim as Holland decided to field first after winning the toss but he wasted little time in achieving the milestone. He has now taken 502 wickets in 354 one-dayers.Incidentally, Wasim’s first scalp was Australian opener Robbie Kerr when the demon left-arm speedster began his international career in late 1984.Wasim intends to quit international cricket after the World Cup but was undecided when to make the announcement.”I am talking to my family, friends and well-wishers about the retirement. It (the decision) will not be a hasty one as I do not want to regret it afterwards,” he told Dawn.Wasim said he was lucky to have won every honour the game could bestow on a player and would not like to become a liability and quit when on top.”I am no longer getting younger and I am fully aware that it is getting difficult every day to keep yourself motivated and fit to give your best at both limited over and Test versions of the game,” he said.The former Lancashire captain also revealed that he was considering an offer from English county Hampshire to skipper their team this season as a replacement for the banned Australian spin king Shane Warne.Wasim also disclosed that after quitting the game he would be signing on with television channel ESPN as a commentator as cricket had been his life and the only job.Reuters adds: The 36-year-old admitted he was a relieved man. “I was really under pressure last night and, like any youngster, although I am not a youngster, I couldn’t get to sleep. But now I’m relaxed and, yes, relieved… It was a feeling more of relief than ecstasy.”Statham out for a duck after playing a typically inswinging Wasim delivery back on to his stumps.”I’m very excited but in the end what matters is that Pakistan should qualify,” added Wasim, who later returned to the attack to take two more wickets and help his side to a 97-run victory. “I think we are going in the right direction.”I would like to dedicate this to all the people who have supported me in the last 18 years.”Wasim said two former Pakistan captains as the biggest influences on his career.”Imran (Khan) was the main man who helped me, and Javed Miandad,” he said. “Imran and Javed Miandad taught me how important it was to work hard and do it with passion, and I am still doing that.”Pakistan captain Waqar Younis is the only other player to take more than 400 One-day International wickets.

Coach Duncan Fletcher has set England a target of 350 in the first innings of the Second Ashes Test at Lord’s.With the home side on 121-4 after a first day punctuated by weather interruptions, that may seem a tall order but Fletcher believes his batsmen have so far performed well.And, of course, Graham Thorpe is still there on 16 off 38 balls and he looked confident on the first day despite his seven-week lay-off because of a calf injury.Fletcher said: “Mark Ramprakash’s was an important wicket; we’d have been alot more comfortable going into tomorrow only three down.”I thought after they way we looked at Edgbaston they batted well. Out of thefour dismissals, three were to really good deliveries.”Maybe Marcus Trescothick would look at his and say it was a bit of a rashshot. The one that got Ramprakash came back up the hill. Mark Butcher got a goodone. I thought the guys batted well.”Obviously we are looking at 350. That’s the score we should try and get to,but it’s a wicket that’s offered something and hopefully it will continue thatway for the next couple of days.”With Graham, we realised it was a bit of a risk because he hadn’t played forsome time.”The most important thing was that Graham was very confident, he wanted toplay, he wanted to go out there and do battle with the Aussies. The mental sideis very, very important. I think he looked pretty good.”Tomorrow will be very important. Hopefully Stewart and Thorpe can put on agood partnership and we can build towards that 350.”Australian coach John Buchanan said: “It was a day when it was hard for anyside to build any momentum.”I suppose having sent England in, getting four wickets on reasonably benignwicket, we are reasonably pleased.”Overall our bowling performance was better than the First Test. The areas webowled in were much better than at Edgbaston.”Thorpe and Stewart will be our first priorities tomorrow, obviously.Thorpe’s come to the crease handled himself reasonably well. There are areasthere we hope to exploit tomorrow.”Mark Waugh’s catch of Mark Butcher at second slip was his 157th in Tests,equalling the world record of his former captain Mark Taylor, and Buchanan paid tribute to the player’s consistency in the slip cordon.Buchanan added: “I think Mark’s taken some amazing catches in the time thatI’ve been associated with the team.”This one was a nice one to have and I’d say there’s plenty more catchesround the corner for him in this series.”One of the key words for him is anticipation; no matter what position hefields in, he actually watches the ball from the bowler’s hand – not many players do that.”He has a feeling of the way it is going. No matter whether he’s on theground or standing still, the result’s still the same the way he catches theball.”I think that’s one of the secrets, he’s an athlete when the ball’s nearby -good reflexes.”

Sri Lanka seamer Akalanka Ganegama bowled his side into a commandingposition with six for 43 as England were dismissed for only 112 on the firstday of the crucial third Under-19 Test at Worcester.Although the home side bounced back immediately, reducing Sri Lanka to sixfor four, the tourists ended the day 12 runs ahead with three first-inningswickets standing.Essex left-armer Justin Bishop did the damage for England, taking threewickets in the first four overs of the Sri Lanka innings.Had left-hander Jehan Mubarak not got himself out for 49 just before theclose, cutting Chris Tremlett straight to point, Sri Lanka would have beenin a stronger position.Ganegama picked up four of the last six England wickets and was instrumentalin reducing England to 46 for eight before Hampshire all-rounder Tremlett,on his England Under-19 debut, helped add 66 for the last two wickets andremained unbeaten on 39.Play did not begin until 12.15 because of damp patches on the square but SriLanka made up for lost time, reducing England to 26 for five at lunch.Before the match, England replaced Mark Wallace as captain with Ian Bell.Bell had skippered the side for the three one-day internationals and thefirst Test when Wallace, the appointed captain, was injured. England won allfour games and Bell led the side well whereas Wallace had a poor match atNorthampton in the second Test, which Sri Lanka won by 151 runs.