All posts by csb10.top

Auckland v Wellington
Wellington were well placed to take first-innings points as they inched to within 61 of Auckland’s total on another rain-affected day at Christchurch. After losing the entire second day, only 49 overs were possible today, but Wellington used them to good effect after an early shock when they found themselves at 29 for 2. New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming’s lean start to the season continued when he was trapped in front by Tama Canning for just 6. However that brought Jesse Ryder to the crease, who changed the tone of the match by scoring a quick-fire 77 off just 88 balls before falling to Lou Vincent. At stumps Matthew Bell was not out 65 and Neal Parlane 18.Central Districts v Northern Districts
Northern Districts gifted Central Districts first-innings points but showed they intend to make a game of it after declaring 402 runs behind at Lincoln. Whether anything will come of it will depend on the weather in Canterbury which has severely disrupted days two and three. Central’s Greg Hay took his total through to 74 to continue his impressive start as a first-class player while Bruce Martin, the left-arm spinner, ended the first innings with 4 for 117 from 40 overs of toil. Perhaps the most interesting point will be how much stock the New Zealand selectors will place in Hamish Marshall’s undefeated 33 before the declaration.

Shane Watson will miss the upcoming ODI series against India after suffering a sore hamstring during the win against Sri Lanka on Thursday in the ICC World Twenty20. It was Watson’s first game in the tournament after he sat out the initial matches with a hamstring problem.”Shane Watson experienced some left hamstring soreness during yesterday’s game,” Alex Kountouris, the team physio said. “This is similar to the pain he had prior to this tour. Although this is a low-grade muscular strain the decision has been made for Shane to return to Australia and prepare himself for the upcoming Australian season.”No decision had been taken regarding a replacement for Watson. Australia are scheduled to depart from South Africa for India on September 25 to play a seven-match ODI series and one Twenty20 game. The first match will be played on September 29 in Bangalore.

Marylebone Cricket Club, the former governor of the world game and the guardian of its laws, has renewed its drive to become an influence on the modern-day game by forming a committee of leading Test cricketers from eight of the ten member countries.The MCC World Cricket Committee will be under the chairmanship of the former England captain and MCC president, Tony Lewis, and its remit will be to lobby the ICC and guard the fundamental aspects of the game at all levels, particularly those concerning the laws and the spirit of cricket.”MCC, in my time, has always been a chamber of fair debate and seriously democratic,” Lewis told The Times, as he attempted to do away with the traditionally stuffy image of the club. “Everything [is] decided in what was believed to be the best interests of cricket and cricketers.”The first meeting will take place at Lord’s on April 24, with a committee that comprises five former England captains in Mike Brearley, Mike Gatting, Michael Atherton, Geoffrey Boycott and Alec Stewart; Australia’s Steve Waugh and Tony Dodemaide; India’s current captain, Rahul Dravid; Martin Crowe from New Zealand; Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower; Majid Khan from Pakistan; Barry Richards from South Africa; Courtney Walsh from West Indies, and the former Test umpire, David Shepherd.Crowe, Shepherd and Gatting will not be able to attend the inaugural meeting, but between them, the committee members have 1,183 Test caps. Items on the agenda will include an investigation into laws 24.2 and 24.3, which deal with unfair deliveries, and the question of whether umpires should be permitted more assistance through the use of technology.The idea is for the committee to “constructively question or challenge changes to the game”, and Lewis was delighted to have attracted so many influential names to join. “They will be well qualified to discuss matters relating to national and international cricket,” he said, “from the lowest level to the ICC, and to provide support or to challenge as appropriate.”The forum will replace the Laws, Spirit and Ethos sub-committee, which was created under the chairmanship of Ted Dexter in 2000, when MCC streamlined its committee structure.

New Zealand A continued their excellent form at the Emerging Players Tournament in Brisbane, finishing on top of the table after their 32-run victory over Karnataka State Cricket Association XI. Neil Broom again starred for New Zealand with 62 and he had good support from his captain James Marshall, who scored a brisk 51 from 47 deliveries.Grant Elliott chipped in with a 38-ball 40 as New Zealand made the most of Marshall’s decision to bat first at Sandgate Redcliffe. S Dhananjaya tried to keep Karnataka in the game with 4 for 44 but when New Zealand were dismissed for 278 in the 50th over, the chase was always going to be difficult.Bharat Chipli was promising with 76 from 68 balls and there were contributions from Raju Bhatkal (46) and KB Pawan (44) but Karnataka fell for 245. New Zealand will play South Africa Emerging Players in Saturday’s final.
South Africa Emerging Players cruised past the Australian Academy and into the final, finishing the preliminary games with a convincing seven-wicket win over the hosts at Redlands. The series ended on a low for Australia, who suspended three players on Thursday for poor behaviour at their Brisbane accommodation, as South Africa overhauled the target with nine overs to spare.Johan Botha’s decision to field first paid off when Australia wobbled to 9 for 189. Luke Ronchi made 65 and Phillip Hughes scored 58 but they had little help trying to get on top of Botha (3 for 27) and Yusuf Abdullah, who collected 3 for 43.Gulam Bodi made batting look easy and compiled 86, while Francois du Plessis was also in control with 62. South Africa reached 3 for 190 in the 41st over and settled in second spot on the tournament table, ahead of Australia in third and the last-placed Karnataka.

Darren Lehmann, the captain of South Australia, has been elected president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association and is the first person to hold the post while still a player. The members of the ACA voted Lehman in for a two-year term replacing Ian Healy who retired after five years as president.”The fact I’m still playing will allow me to still be hands-on in communicating with the players nationwide,” Lehmann told the . “I reckon that since I’m still playing with and against other state players, if they have any concerns I’ll hear about them pretty quick.”Lehmann said that programming was perhaps the major issue behind concerns of too much cricket and also hoped to develop support structures for the families of cricketers who spend several months of the year away from home.Lehmann had aspired to become a national selector while still playing for South Australia last summer. However, he was overklooked as Cricket Australia chose Merv Hughes as Allan Border’s replacement during his brief retirement. Lehmann, who played 27 Tests for Australia, just completed a prolific season for Yorkshire scoring 1706 runs at an average of 77 including a career best 339.

Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, has suggested that Brett Lee’s return to the Test squad for the Ashes would add fire to an ageing bowling line-up. Lee, who hasn’t played a Test since January 2004 , returned after a shoulder injury in the NatWest Series.”I think that Brett Lee would add something to any side, to be honest,” Hussain was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald. “Looking from a distance, even before this last week happened and the bowlers looked to have lost a yard of pace, as an Englishman I was quite pleased to see Brett wasn’t part of the Test side in New Zealand.”Hussain further compared Australia’s performance in the current series, where the bowlers have struggled to make an impact, to a similar beginning in the 1997 Ashes series. “If I were Australia I wouldn’t be panicking too much because the same thing happened in 1997,” Hussain explained. “In ’97, Glenn was struggling with his rhythm, Gillespie was injured; it just takes something to click and it clicked for Glenn at Lord’s and he turned everything around. You can do that at 27 – whether you can do it at 35 I’m not so sure.”Australia got off to a worst possible start to their Ashes campaign losing four successive matches. However, they registered their first win in the NatWest series with a 57 runs win over England.”At the moment, what they are missing is what Australia has had for so many years – a bowling attack that everyone has been in envy of. From looking at them so far, it could be they’re struggling to find rhythm, they could be a bit undercooked or they could be feeling their age. You can rectify the first two, but I don’t think you can fight age.”Speaking about their batting, Hussain added, “Australia’s batting is fine. The only question is, and I’m sure the selectors are looking at it … They’ve been expert at retiring off batsmen when they are still playing well and getting new guys in, but have they done the same with their bowlers? Are they all going to come to a shuddering halt?”

The success of Twenty20 in England continues with three of the four quarter-finals due to be played on Monday night already sold out, and the fourth – at Nottinghamshire – likely to produce another bumper crowd.All 6500 tickets for Essex v Yorkshire at Chelmsford were snapped up within four hours of going on sale, with the home allocations being bought within 41 minutes. David East, the county’s chief executive, has had to promise to assess the way tickets are sold in the future. Gloucestershire v Surrey at Bristol and Leicestershire v Kent at Grace Road sold their last tickets at the weekend.Trent Bridge – the biggest of the four grounds hosting the matches – still has tickets available for the tie with Northamptonshire, but Paul Maylard-Mason, the county’s chief executive, told the BBC that this would be the biggest gate since around 10,000 attended a Gillette Cup quarter-final tie in 1975. “It’s fantastic news that we will shut the gates on a full house for the first time since the introduction of Twenty20 cricket,” he beamed.

A superb hundred from Gareth von Hoesslin gave Border the edge over Boland at East London. They closed the day on 248 for 8, a lead of 68, but with much of the first day lost to rain, a draw still looks the likely outcome. Murray Ranger took another three wickets, finishing with 6 for 30 as Boland slumped to 180 after resuming on 149 for 4. Border then suffered an even more dramatic collapse, but from 44 for 6, Gareth von Hoesslin blasted a brilliant 101 not out to turn the match around. He found an ally in debutant Darryl Brown (77), who helped him add 141 for the ninth wicket before Boland declared at stumps.Griqualand West were within sight of victory over Free State thanks to a career-best 6 for 37 by Alan Kruger. Griqualand West had failed to build on a strong overnight position, losing their last seven first-innings wickets for 60, a lead of 47. Free State overcome an uncertain start to reach 108 for 3 before Kruger took six of the last seven wickets to fall. Set a target of 127, Griqualand West need just 54 runs with 7 wickets remaining.A green Newlands pitch was to largely to blame as the match between Eastern and Western Province barely lasted four sessions, Western winning by six wickets before tea on the second day. After 24 wickets fell yesterday, things returned to normality, but the damage had already been done as far as Eastern Province were concerned. Resuming on 115 for 5, they crept to 168, but had no answer to Rory Kleinveldt, who took the last four wickets to fall and finished with 6 for 57, the first five-wicket haul of his career. Set 107 to win, Western Province started cautiously, and although Grant Howell took two wickets, Myles Williamson (35) and Warren Wyngaard (37) ensured their were no further alarms.

New Zealand allrounder Suzie Bates will miss the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe in February-March 2026 with a quadricep injury. Bates, 38, will also miss the remainder of the domestic home summer for Otago and will remain on the sidelines for three months.Bates suffered the injury last month while fielding for Otago during the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, New Zealand women’s domestic one-day competition. Subsequent scans revealed that due to the severity of the tear, she will require three months of rehabilitation. This is the second injury blow for New Zealand in recent weeks after Eden Carson faces a longer period out because of an elbow injury.Related

• Satterthwaite among NZ's regional female pathway leads

• Eden Carson to undergo surgery for partial ligament rupture

Bates is hoping to return to action in the white-ball series against South Africa in March.”I’m gutted to be missing out this summer, I was really looking forward to another season with the [Otago] Sparks, especially the Super Smash,” Bates said in an NZC statement. “I’m determined to get back on the field with the White Ferns in March, so that’ll be my focus for now.”Before the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield, Bates had a difficult ODI World Cup in India, managing only 40 runs in five innings at an average of eight and a strike rate of 61.53.

Former England batsman Vikram Solanki, who was in effect forced to withdraw from the Indian Cricket League or risk being barred from playing in England, has warned that such sanctions constitute a restraint of trade.Joining in the escalating debate on English cricketers’ role in the two leagues, Solanki also called on the Professional Cricketers’ Association to demand clarification from the England board as to why players are being prevented from playing in India when it does not conflict with existing contracts.”Sport in general is a short career for most people and you must take opportunities to maximise your earning potential,” Solanki told PA Sport. “I haven’t spoken to anyone in the England camp recently but I can see no reason why they wouldn’t be tempted by the sums of money that are being offered.”It’s unreasonable to place sanctions, restrictions, rules without giving good reason. I’m baffled by the reasoning offered sometimes for some of the sanctions and us as a group of players and the PCA should demand some clarity on the matter definitely. I’m no expert on legal matters but it seems like restraint of trade.”It remains to be seen what happens but in the next year or so, the face of cricket could change totally. People will find it hard to resist the money and that might be the big point that makes the changes to the traditional formats and seasons that we’ve grown accustomed to.”As for his own career, Solanki told PA Sport that he hoped his ICL involvement would not mean the end of his England chances. “I’d like to think if I had a reasonable year I’d have as good a chance as anyone of playing for England. This is what I mean about there being some reasoning behind if myself playing in the ICL should hinder my opportunities to play for England. If that is the case, then I haven’t quite figured that out yet.”