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Vinay Kumar, the Indian medium-pacer, has been ruled out of the ongoing tri-series in Zimbabwe after injuring his knee during practice prior to the game against Sri Lanka

Cricinfo staff30-May-2010Vinay Kumar, the Indian seamer, has been ruled out of the ongoing tri-series in Zimbabwe after injuring his knee during practice prior to the game against Sri Lanka. He has been replaced by Karnataka team-mate, seamer Abhimanyu Mithun.Mithun, 20, had a fantastic debut domestic season, finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy with 47 at 23.23. His effort helped Karnataka qualify for the Ranji Trophy final for the first time in 12 years – they were beaten by Mumbai – and was rewarded with a call-up to the national squad for the Tests against South Africa earlier in the year and an international debut in the ODIs that followed.Mithun was named in the India A squad for the tour of England in June, but will now head to Zimbabwe to fill in for Vinay. Mithun was also the recipient of the Border-Gavaskar Scholarship for 2010, which entitled him to a two-week training stint at Cricket Australia’s Centre for Excellence.

The manner and nature of Pakistan’s squad selection for this summer’s tour to England has come under fire from members of the selection committee itself, who claimed they weren’t consulted over the composition

Cricinfo staff21-Jun-2010The manner and nature of Pakistan’s squad selection for this summer’s tour to England has come under fire from members of the selection committee itself, who are unhappy with the Twenty20 and Test squad, claiming they weren’t consulted over the composition.The squads were announced on Sunday by the board after a meeting between chairman of selectors Mohsin Khan, coach Waqar Younis, manager Yawar Saeed and captain Shahid Afridi in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, where the Asia Cup is underway. Cricinfo understands that the remaining selectors in Pakistan were not involved or consulted at all in the choices.A couple of key inclusions in particular – the recall of Yasir Hameed and Wahab Riaz and the overlooking of Younis Khan and Mohammad Sami – seem to have irked the selectors who are thought to have been against the decisions had they been consulted. The snub from the chief selector has led at least one of the selectors to ponder handing in his resignation.One of the selectors claims he wasn’t contacted until just before the announcement was made and that too only to be asked about the statistics of a player under consideration. The chief selector, it is claimed, wasn’t prepared enough in the first place to make the selections. Mohsin, still in Sri Lanka, has not spoken to the media yet about the squad.The squads’ composition has also been criticised for lacking experience, particularly in the batting; the overlooking of Younis is a case in point. Banned indefinitely in the aftermath of the Australia tour, Younis was one of several players whose punishments were subsequently overturned on appeal.But over the last couple of weeks the sense has emerged that the board will not let him back in unless he apologises for what they deem to be his mistakes, as the other returnees have done. Ijaz Butt, chairman of the board, said last week that Younis’s return would require clearance from the board, an issue that wasn’t deemed to be an issue at all with Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers.”I feel Younis has been victimised,” Iqbal Qasim, the former chief selector who resigned from the post in February after the Australia tour, said. “He fought his case and was outspoken against the treatment and was dropped.”The absence of Younis and Mohammad Yousuf – who retired from international cricket in protest at his indefinite ban – from the 17-man Test squad robs an already fragile batting side of their two most experienced and successful Test batsman. The pair have scored nearly 30% of Pakistan’s Test runs since October 2004 and almost half their Test hundreds.Even with the pair Pakistan have crossed 300 in a Test innings only 11 times in their last 30 attempts. Now the most experienced batsman in the middle order in their absence is Malik, who has played 29 Tests without fully cementing his spot in the side and is not a certain Test starter in any case. Imran Farhat, with 33 Tests, is the most experienced specialist batsman in the squad.Javed Miandad, director general and regular critic of the board, was also left asking questions about the selection and the manner of it. “An England tour is always a difficult one and we’re playing good teams,” he told . “The conditions are such that you need experience because even they will be troubled, so new, inexperienced players also struggle. In the middle order there is no one to play a Test match innings. One or two experienced guys were necessary for the balance of the side, but apparently even the selectors here didn’t know about the team.”Miandad said he would brief the patron of the PCB, President Asif Ali Zardari, on the matter. “The president is a cricket lover, he encouraged me to take up the job in the PCB for the betterment of the game,” he said. “He must know what’s wrong in the PCB.”Former captain Rashid Latif said that, along with Younis, Sami, Faisal Iqbal and Khurram Manzoor also deserved a place in the squad. “I respect the selection but four players – Younis, Sami, Iqbal and Manzoor – deserved places in the team,” said Latif.

Steven Davies hammered a 19-ball half-century as Surrey eased to a six-wicket
victory over Gloucestershire, who finished bottom of the Friends Provident t20
South Division

18-Jul-2010

ScorecardSteve Davies continued his impressive form at the top of the order for Surrey•Getty Images

Steve Davies hammered a 19-ball half-century as Surrey eased to a six-wicket
victory over Gloucestershire, who finished bottom of the Friends Provident t20
South Division.Needing a win to have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, Surrey
restricted Gloucestershire to a modest 147 for nine after Will Porterfield (37)
and James Franklin (33) had got the home side off to a reasonable start.Chris Tremlett finished as Surrey’s most successful bowler with 3 for 18
off four overs, while veteran leg-spinner Chris Schofield took 2 or 27.The outcome was never in doubt once Davies (73) and captain Rory Hamilton-Brown
(48) had plundered 78 in the six power-play overs. Aware that run rate could be a factor in their attempt to qualify, Davies and Hamilton-Brown continued to score rapidly until the Surrey captain was lbw to
Richard Dawson for 48 to make it 112 for 1 in the ninth over. His 30-ball
innings contained six fours and two straight sixes.Jason Roy was bowled second ball by Dawson and one-time Gloucestershire player
Andrew Symonds was dismissed by Aaron Redmond in the next over when Chris Taylor
took a catch at long-on.Davies continued to pepper the boundary boards with some powerful drives on
both sides of the wicket until Redmond had him caught on the midwicket boundary
in the 12th over. His scintillating 73 came from only 30 balls and included
seven fours and four sixes.That brought Gary Wilson to the middle and he hit three successive boundaries
off Redmond to complete the win with 49 balls remaining.Earlier, Tremlett had struck twice in the first six overs of the
Gloucestershire innings when he had Redmond caught behind and dismissed Alex
Gidman lbw with a yorker.Ireland captain Porterfield played impressively in compiling 37 from 34 balls
before he skied a drive off Schofield and Hamilton-Brown took a well-judged
catch, running back from mid-off.Porterfield’s dismissal prompted a Gloucestershire collapse in which another
three wickets fell for nine runs in three overs.Taylor was caught on the deep square leg boundary, off Matthew Spriegel. Chris
Dent was bowled while trying to sweep Schofield and Steve Snell was caught
behind off Andre Nel.Franklin was scoring at better than a run a ball until he was run out by
Wilson’s direct hit from deep cover, and Tremlett claimed his third wicket when
he had Jon Lewis lbw with a yorker.Dawson made an unbeaten 24 from 28 balls, but Gloucestershire’s total never
looked enough to trouble Surrey’s strong batting line-up.

Azeem Ghumman, who will lead Pakistan A in Sri Lanka later this month, has said the tour is an excellent opportunity for him to make a mark and target selection into the national team

Cricinfo staff14-Aug-2010Azeem Ghumman, who will lead Pakistan A in Sri Lanka later this month, has said the tour is an excellent opportunity for him to make a mark and target selection into the national team. Ghumman, who has an impressive first-class record with an average of 48.79 in 17 games, also captained Pakistan in the Under-19 World Cup earlier in the year in New Zealand where they were beaten by Australia in the final.”I have played ample first-class cricket and this tour to Sri Lanka with the A team provides a key opportunity to assert that I have the potential to play top level cricket even at a young age,” Ghumman told . “The board has shown a lot of confidence in me. It is a privilege to lead the team and I look forward to the challenge. Players like Aamir Sajjad, Khurram Manzoor and others have played twice as much as I have. But I am delighted that all of them have supported me and I am looking forward to their continued guidance.”The current Pakistan squad for the tour of England includes several youngsters, like Umar Amin and Azhar Ali, who had their first taste of international cricket there. Though their performances overall have been mixed so far, Ghumman believed the younger players needed more exposure at that level and more opportunities to perform.”The PCB’s move to induct young players for the England tour was a positive one but they need time to perform. Players can’t be judged after just three or four chances,” Ghumman said.Pakistan A begin their tour with a tri-series also involving South Africa before playing two four-day games against Sri Lanka A.”I know it would be a tough challenge because Sri Lanka has the home advantage while South Africa is one of the best sides. But we also have a tough side.”

Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, has denied that the Irish cricket team was placed under any undue pressure to travel to Zimbabwe for an Intercontinental Cup match and one-day series in September

Cricinfo staff04-Sep-2010Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, has denied that the Irish cricket team were placed under any undue pressure to travel to Zimbabwe for an Intercontinental Cup match and one-day series in September. Speculation over whether Ireland and Scotland would travel to Zimbabwe was ended when Ireland confirmed their intentions, while Scotland opted out of the tour following advice from the Scottish government against visiting the country.”Cricket Ireland had made entirely its own decision on this,” Deutrom told . “Of course we had to take the ICC’s own views, or what the international cricketing fraternity is doing, with India and Sri Lanka’s recent tours there. Clearly, that movement towards normalisation, certainly of cricketing structures in Zimbabwe, and of course the movement towards normalisation of political structures, meant it was something that we were duty bound to investigate ourselves.”Zimbabwe were originally admitted to the Intercontinental Cup on the understanding that their ‘home’ games would be played at neutral venues. There had been a possibility that South Africa would host the team’s matches, but in May the ICC related to Cricket Ireland (CI) Zimbabwe Cricket’s belief that the relative improvement in the political and cricketing structures in the country meant that it was no longer acceptable to play home matches anywhere other than Zimbabwe.CI contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Dublin and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London to seek advice on the implications of making the trip. They were given the all-clear, but although the DFA continue to have no objections to Ireland’s tour a subsequent change in the FCO’s stance led to Scotland’s decision to abandon their trip.”Back in 2008, the advice was that we shouldn’t travel from a safety and security perspective,” said Deutrom. “From a political perspective, playing cricket in Zimbabwe wasn’t something that Cricket Ireland would have even contemplated at that stage.”However, when we received the message from the ICC, and there was certainly no diktat from them, it was simply a reasonable question about what is the situation with your governments and would you be able to go back and check. We received information from the FCO and the DFA in June that they had no objection to us going.”Ireland players, team management and officials also met Zimbabwe sports minister David Coltart ahead of their decision. Coltart, a former human rights lawyer, was one of the founding members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that is now part of a unity government with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.”There were a number of questions at the meeting relating to safety and security on the ground, relating to the situation with hotels and hospitals. I raised all of these with the minister and asked him to explain his views on that.”He also talked about the situation in the country and his own views about how he feels Zimbabwe is very similar to that in South Africa in the early 90s, when South Africa’s sporting teams were readmitted to international competition while the apartheid regime was still in power.”Ireland’s tour could run into further controversy as it will mark Phil Simmons’ first trip to the country since he was axed as Zimbabwe’s coach before taking up the role for Ireland. Simmons has taken legal action against ZC in an attempt to recover the $400,000 he claims he is still owed after being sacked without compensation with two years still remaining on his contract in 2005.”He obviously had some concerns. Phil’s previous position was that he certainly had no intention of going back to Zimbabwe,” said Deutrom. “I’m guessing this has come a little bit earlier than he would have wanted, but we’ve made sure he has as much comfort in terms of his decision to go.”I’ve spoken to him about this and he does genuinely believe that the situation has moved on significantly from when he was there, even from the situation two years ago.”

Brendon McCullum has said his decision to give up wicketkeeping in Tests in order to prolong his career was “gutsy” and could the “worst call” he’s made in his career

Cricinfo staff10-Sep-2010Brendon McCullum, the New Zealand batsman, has said his decision to give up wicketkeeping in Tests in order to prolong his career was “gutsy” and could the “worst call” he’s made in his career.”This has no side-door options for me,” McCullum told . “You go from being one of the major certainties in the team to now being in the mix and being relatively unproven. It’s a huge challenge and hopefully it’ll be the right decision.”McCullum announced his decision to quit wicketkeeping in Tests in June but said he would continue to keep in the limited-over formats. He also said he wanted to move up the batting order and that his attacking style, which has resulted in an average of 34.90 in 52 Tests, could help improve New Zealand’s results.”I’m not saying I’ll be successful. I’m not saying I deserve to walk straight into the role,” he said. “I believe I’ve got a game which can help us win more Test matches by batting at the top of the order.”McCullum is set to rejoin the New Zealand squad following a break. He had skipped a short tour of the USA after the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies and was granted paternity leave during the tri-series in Dambulla involving Sri Lanka and India.His impressive form during the previous season won McCullum two New Zealand Cricket awards – the Walter Hadlee Trophy for best ODI batting, because his performances in the UAE helped New Zealand achieve their first away series win against Pakistan, and the John Reid Best Allrounder Trophy for his batting and wicketkeeping. During the period under consideration, McCullum made three centuries and took 55 catches in all forms of the game and his success came after he was relieved of the vice-captaincy.”It wasn’t a mutual decision at all,” he said. “I went from vice-captain, led with title, to now a senior player. I was lucky enough to put it all behind me and have the best season throughout my career. I’m confident I’m heading in the right direction and don’t need a title to contribute to my team.”

A round-up of matches on the second day of the WICB regional one-day tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Oct-2010A young Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) side gave Guyana a scare in a match that went down to the last ball before the more experienced team prevailed by three runs in Kensington Park in Kingston.HPC got off to a solid start in their chase of Guyana’s 225 with a patient century partnership between Rajindra Chandrika and Kieran Powell. 20-year old Powell – who played two ODIs for West Indies last year – top scored with 72 while Chandrika made 51. At 173 for 3, HPC were on their way to a huge upset. However, the Guyana spinners triggered a collapse as five wickets fell for 34 runs. Needing 10 off the last over bowled by offspinner Steven Jacobs, HPC managed only six to fall tantalisingly short.Guyana’s total was built around a 101-run partnership between Ramnaresh Sarwan, who slammed four sixes in his 63 off 79, and Richard Ramdeen, who made 46 off 58. However, legspinner Keron Cottoy ran through the middle order, claiming the wickets of Sarwan, Ramdeen, Narsingh Deonarine and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, as Guyana slumped to 156 for 6. Wicketkeeper Anthony Bramble and Jacobs then stuck around long enough to ensure Guyana would have a reasonable total to defend.At Sabina Park, half-centuries from Kirk Edwards and Ryan Hinds took Barbados to a four-wicket victory against Leeward Islands. Leeward captain Wilden Cornwall’s hurricane 85 was in vain as Barbados chased down the target of 240 with 20 balls to spare.Leeward had struggled to 91 for 4 by the 30th over in the face of tight bowling by Barbados, especially the left-arm spin of Hinds and Sulieman Benn, who took 5 for 55 between them. Opener Montcin Hodge had taken 96 balls for his 39, and had been put out of his misery by the offspin of debutant Marlon Graham.In walked Cornwall and went on to plunder six sixes and eight fours in his 85 that came off 59 deliveries. He took a liking to Graham, slamming him for 30 in an over that included four consecutive sixes. Cornwall was supported by allrounder Omari Banks as the duo added 127 off 95. However, both fell within four deliveries of each other, and the remaining batsmen could manage only 19 from the last 4.3 overs.Despite captain Hinds’ half-century, Barbados had slumped to 182 for 6 at one stage, offspinner Justin Athanaze taking 3 for 44. However, Edwards – who has played for West Indies A – anchored the chase, remaining unbeaten on a patient 68 off 95. Dwayne Smith and Carlo Morris played late cameos to help their side home in the 47th over.The next two matches scheduled to be played at Chedwin Park, Leeward against HPC and Jamaica against Combined Campuses & Colleges, have been shifted to Kensington Park due to unfavourable ground conditions on account of recent heavy rain at Chedwin Park.

Mark Boucher, the South Africa wicketkeeper, has recovered from a shoulder injury and is set to continue his bid to return to South Africa’s limited-overs sides

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2010Mark Boucher, the South Africa wicketkeeper, has recovered from a shoulder injury and is set to continue his bid to return to the national limited-overs sides. Boucher is presently part of only the Test team, while AB de Villiers is keeping wicket in the one-day and Twenty20 formats.Boucher recently returned from a six-week injury layoff and took four catches and effected a stumping for the Warriors during their 128-run defeat to the Knights in Port Elizabeth. He is desperate to regain his place in the ODI squad after he was dropped for the five-match series in the West Indies in May. He was not selected for the ongoing series against Pakistan in the UAE either.”For as long as I can go, and as long as I can keep learning and keep becoming a better cricketer, I will keep going,” Boucher said.South Africa’s coach Corrie van Zyl had said Boucher needed to work on his limited-overs game and, although he did not mention anything specific, it was widely believed that Boucher was dropped because of his batting. He averaged 21.00 in his last 10 ODIs and his lower-order match-winning skills were thought to have waned.The door is still open for Boucher, though, as South Africa build towards the 2011 World Cup. “We have not finalised the World Cup squad yet, therefore all South African first-class cricketers are eligible and will be considered, taking into account form and results of domestic cricket,” Andrew Hudson, the convenor of selectors, told ESPNcricinfo.Boucher will join the Test team in the UAE for the first Test against Pakistan, which begins on November 12 at the Dubai International Stadium. Before that, he will have one more MTN40 match for the Warriors against the Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg. The Warriors have played two matches in the competition so far, winning their first game against the Titans by two wickets before their loss to the Knights.

Replacing Simon Katich for the third Test is the easy part for Australia. Deciding what to do with the rest of the side in Perth is the difficult bit

Peter English at Adelaide Oval07-Dec-2010Replacing Simon Katich for the third Test is the easy part for Australia. Deciding what to do with the rest of the side in Perth is the difficult bit.Marcus North, Xavier Doherty, Doug Bollinger and Peter Siddle will be wondering if they still have a spot when the squad is named on Friday. Ricky Ponting and Andrew Hilditch discussed the make-up of the unit after the innings loss in Adelaide on Tuesday and had to decide how many changes to make – and whether any of them would make a difference.The simplest decision surrounds the new opener. Phillip Hughes, who scored 86 not out in his last Test in March, is the leading candidate to come in for Katich on December 16, while Usman Khawaja would also be a capable choice. Every other issue is much more murky.Ponting’s experiment with Doherty failed over two Tests, with the left-arm spinner taking three wickets at 102 and causing more trouble for the scorers than any batsman. Nathan Hauritz is in form after career-best figures for New South Wales last week, but returning to him so soon would require a serious selection back-flip.Steven Smith, the legspinning allrounder, took four wickets at the SCG on Tuesday, but he is not yet qualified at Test level as a batsman or a bowler. There may be no other choice than to go with Hauritz, who is a superior bowler at home than away. The confusion over the quality of the slow men will probably provide North with one more chance, despite him scoring 22 and 26 and going wicket-less with his offies in Adelaide.”He’ll be a bit disappointed with his week’s work here,” Ponting said of North. “I still believe that he’s got great value to the team.”The fast bowling is another huge issue after the attack managed only 16 of 30 possible wickets in the past two Tests, and 10 of those came on the opening day of the series. Ponting said Doug Bollinger “hit the wall” during England’s 5 for 620 declared, so the left-armer will be the first quick out. The step up in class that the tourists provided showed Bollinger was workmanlike rather than exceptional, and Australia currently have two superior men in that regard in Ryan Harris and Siddle.Harris was Australia’s best bowler in the second Test, taking 2 for 84, and will be a starter in Perth as long as his wonky knee holds up. Siddle’s reputation has diminished significantly since he grabbed six wickets on the first day in Brisbane. Since then he hasn’t managed one breakthrough in 54 overs and will be vulnerable if Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus have responded well to their Adelaide axing. The sad fact for Australia is that these men remain the best options despite their impotency over the past fortnight.Ponting spoke before his discussion with Hilditch and made it clear that he didn’t have a say in who would be picked. He did provide a glowing reference for Hughes, 22, who was dropped for the first time during the 2009 Ashes when he struggled with Andrew Flintoff’s short balls.”I’ll be surprised if it’s not him who comes in,” Ponting said. “We know what his international record is like.”Hughes scored 81 for Australia A against England last month and was 80 not out in a one-dayer for New South Wales on Saturday. But he was dismissed for 4 against South Australia in the Sheffield Shield today. “He’s got a few runs under his belt lately,” Ponting said. “He’s probably the first cab off the rank.”Whatever the selectors decide, Australia face a serious overhaul to avoid further Ashes humiliation at home over the final three Tests. “No doubt it’s a bad loss for us, there’s no hiding that fact,” Ponting said. “I think they out-batted us, out-bowled us and out-fielded us in the entire game.” If England continue to fire, any Australian changes are unlikely to have anything more than a cosmetic effect.

Gautam Gambhir is not a sure starter for the crucial Boxing Day Test in Durban. He was hit on his left hand, around the knuckles area, and it has swollen a bit

Sidharth Monga in Durban25-Dec-2010Gautam Gambhir is not a sure starter for the crucial Boxing Day Test in Durban. He was hit around the knuckles of his left hand in the first Test, and it has swollen a bit. He had batted in the nets all three days of India’s training leading into the Test. What is a concerning bit of news for India, though, is that the swelling seems to have grown on the match eve, and Gambhir spent a long time in the nets sitting on an ice box, with an icepack on his left hand.If Gambhir doesn’t make it, M Vijay will be his natural replacement. Looking at the contingency, India chose to give Vijay a long hit in the nets on the eve of the match. Vijay has done well in the past as a back-up opener, even when he has been called up on short notice. His last effort as replacement opener was 139 against Australia in Bangalore, which contributed to India’s 2-0 series win. For somebody who always gets called up on short notice, Vijay has a healthy average of 42.41 in eight Tests. If he gets picked, though, this will be Vijay’s biggest Test, on a green, rock-solid pitch, with overhead conditions likely to contribute to swing and seam movement.India trail 1-0, and South Africa are looking to close out this series before they enter the next year.