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Steven Smith has come in for high praise after his sparkling 73 in Canberra, with AB de Villiers dubbing him “a captain’s nightmare”, and Aaron Finch going one further by naming Smith in the same breath as de Villiers himself

Daniel Brettig19-Nov-2014Steven Smith started this series as a somewhat miffed 12th man in Perth.Three games on, and in Canberra, Smith showed precisely why he felt that way: his sparkling 73 lifted Australia’s tally beyond South Africa’s reach, causing AB de Villiers to dub him “a captain’s nightmare” and Aaron Finch to go even further by naming Smith in the same breath as de Villiers himself.This was high praise indeed for a man who had been elbowed out of the XI by the return of Shane Watson, the fitness of Michael Clarke – regrettably an occurrence no longer guaranteed – and the selectors’ faith in Glenn Maxwell and George Bailey.Clarke’s hamstring opened up a spot for Smith, and on a Manuka surface where batting became more difficult the older the ball became, his nimble feet, hands and mind stood out a mile, not least when his extraordinary “nutmeg” shot in the final over completed a dire day for Morne Morkel. Smith looks nobody’s idea of a batsman surplus to Australia’s World Cup team.”I think his strength is that he’s got a lot of energy at the wicket,” said de Villiers. “He’s almost a captain’s nightmare when he comes to the crease after 25-30 overs, especially on this kind of ground where you know you’re not going to get three and four wickets in patches.”You’re going to have to work hard for your wickets, and if you get a busy cricketer at the wicket it makes it very difficult for you to control the innings, to keep your rhythm and just to pace it a little bit better. He makes it really difficult for us in doing that.”Finch had played diligently and well to battle out of his own dalliance with poor batting touch, 109 a first score of better than 50 since September the result of some more circumspect batting than he is known for. But it was Smith who won man of the match, and rightfully so in Finch’s opinion, for he knew how the softer ball became harder to bully in later overs.”Smithy played one of the great innings I thought, the way he came in from ball one and struck it into the gaps and ran hard and never allowed the bowlers to settle,” Finch said. “He was moving around the crease and played a couple through his legs, I don’t know how he does that.”He was super and that’s really shown the class of the player. We’ve seen that in Test cricket for a while and in one-day cricket it’s starting to get better and better and more consistent. The beauty of Steve is he’s a great player of spin, so teams are reluctant to bowl that at the start of his innings because that does allow him to get away.

You’re going to have to work hard for your wickets, and if you get a busy cricketer at the wicket it makes it very difficult for you to control the innings, to keep your rhythm and just to pace it a little bit better. He makes it really difficult for us in doing thatAB de Villiers

“At the same time he bats in the middle order in Test cricket and can play pace. So he’s a hard guy to tie down – I think he’s a very similar type player to AB de Villiers, you really struggle to bowl dot balls to them in a row, and through the middle of the innings if you’ve got somebody who’s constantly getting off strike or hitting boundaries it’s such a hard thing to defend against.”Smith’s upward trend in this series reflects his wider international career, which began with confusion over his precise role – batsman, an allrounder or leg spinner – then went through a period of domestic exile and solid learning, before blossoming into the player many thought he would become when he burst into the NSW team in 2009.He has provided an example of how to grasp technical and mental maturity that others, notably Maxwell and Finch himself, would do well to remember. Finch’s innings showed that he too is learning and evolving, on the sort of pace that will allow him to perform staunchly at the World Cup next year.”I knew I’d been hitting the ball well lately but when you do get a couple of starts and you miss out a couple of times things start to play on your mind a little bit and you start to wonder how good a form you’re actually in,” Finch said. “But I still had confidence in my game.”As for the pressure for spots that has seen Smith running drinks, James Faulkner sent for Sheffield Shield duty and Maxwell cooling his heels on the Manuka boundary, Finch felt it a force for good, so long as the players kept thinking in terms of the team and each other.”It’s a real positive when you have guys challenging for spots because you know that’s driving you to perform well, and if you don’t perform you’re sitting on the pine,” he said. “Nobody’s safe in the side except the skipper – when you have that competition in the side it’s really quality.”Guys are still helping each other out. There’s none of this ‘I’m trying to look after my own spot’, it’s just about helping the team win games and us becoming the best players we can.”Smith is getting closer to that peak than most.

Sri Lanka’s visually impaired cricket team has had its bid to attend the World Cup for the Blind in South Africa bolstered, thanks to funds raised by Sri Lanka Cricket and the visiting South Africa team

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Jul-2014Sri Lanka’s visually impaired cricket team has had its bid to attend the World Cup for the Blind in South Africa bolstered, thanks to funds raised by Sri Lanka Cricket and the visiting South Africa team. SLC and Standard Chartered had organised three fundraisers for the Sri Lanka Visually Handicapped XI. Angelo Mathews presented the Sri Lanka Visually Handicapped XI a cheque for the 925,000 Sri Lankan rupees (USD $7300 approx.), on Tuesday.The money had been raised via tickets for a meet-and-greet with both teams, a coaching camp for kids, and an online auction for the chance to meet the players at the ground and receive an autographed ball.”This is an additional dimension to international cricket tours and a chance for us all to support our national visually handicapped team,” SLC cricket operations manager Carlton Bernadus said. “They recently trounced the touring Australian Visually Handicapped XI 4-0 in a 40-over series. The team has high hopes for the World Cup in South Africa.”The World Cup for the Blind will be held in November.

Zimbabwe didn’t have a realistic chance of qualifying for the final, but they could have beaten South Africa if Brendan Taylor had more support at the other end, Elton Chigumbura has said

Liam Brickhill in Harare04-Sep-2014The sharing of videos via Whatsapp has caused some friction in the Zimbabwe camp recently, but there’s a highlights package on Youtube that might have helped the team today. Famously, Netherlands chased down 190 in under 14 overs to progress to the Super 10s of the World T20 earlier this year and several kind souls have uploaded clips of that match on Youtube. When Zimbabwe were faced with the prospect of needing to chase down 272 in 25.2 overs in order to qualify for Saturday’s final, they chose instead to focus on simply attempting to win the game. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either.”It would have been nice to just win the game,” said Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwe’s captain. “We thought chasing 270 in 20-something overs was not realistic, so we might as well try and play to win the game, and also just try and do what we did against Australia – but with wickets in hand. Unfortunately it went the other way and we kept losing wickets.”With the start we had it was chaseable, but after about eight overs when we’d started losing wickets it started getting harder and harder. We just left BT [Brendan Taylor] on his own. If we had supported BT, who knows, we could have put out a better performance.”Harare Sports Club isn’t Sylhet, of course, and it’s far harder to go at 10 an over against the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel than it is against Tim Murtagh and Alex Cusack. Netherlands also had the form of Stephan Myburgh to bank upon, while Zimbabwe’s top six have been frustratingly inconsistent. Zimbabwe’s bowlers, and particularly their spinners, have performed somewhat admirably in this tri-series, but their batsmen have not been able to pull together effectively.”We had games that bowlers bowled well and it was just up to the batting group to support the bowling performance,” said Chigumbura. “On the batting side, guys were playing well but in patches. We didn’t play as a team to put up a good performance as a batting group. It was just maybe one or two guys putting up their hand and scoring 50s and more. If you could put those scores together in one game, that’s what we’re looking for. If we do that consistently, we’ll win more games than we lose.”Chigumbura and his coach, Stephen Mangongo, will be pleased with the development of Zimbabwe’s spin group, with John Nyumbu building upon his success in his debut Test match against South Africa and Prosper Utseya finishing as Zimbabwe’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with seven scalps at 25.71.Only Australia’s Nathan Lyon has taken as many wickets. Sean Williams has also progressed from a part-timer to a bankable third option, giving away just 3.87 runs an over. All three will be important on Zimbabwe’s next engagement in Bangladesh at the end of October – and the entire team’s experience against the might of Australia and South Africa should stand them in good stead.”[This experience] has helped, but talking about Bangladesh – those are different conditions,” Chigumbura said. “They play differently, so we have to adapt as well. But it’s good for us to play games. The more we play, the better we’ll understand our own game.”The bowlers played a big part in all the games they played. I know in the first game we went for many runs, but looking at the wicket and also the score in the next game between South Africa and Australia, it was around 320 as well. So I thought the bowlers did well throughout the tournament, especially the spinners.”Zimbabwe’s captain has also had the responsibility of guiding a couple of new players through their first steps in international cricket, with Luke Jongwe, Neville Madziva and Donald Tiripano all coming into the squad. “You know, any team will have senior players, and senior players have to play that role to guide the youngsters coming through,” he said. “So it’s not just my responsibility, but also other guys who have been around and who have played in those conditions to help those youngsters that are just starting.”

Andy Moles, the former New Zealand coach, will take over as Afghanistan’s batting coach, in preparation for the 2015 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2014Andy Moles, the former New Zealand coach, will take over as Afghanistan’s batting coach, in preparation for the 2015 World Cup. Moles, the former Warwickshire and Griqualand West opening batsman, has also held coaching positions with Kenya and Scotland in the past. He lasted less than a year in the New Zealand job, resigning in October 2009.”We are pleased to have the services of Andy Moles in our batting preparations for the World Cup,” Noor Mohammad Murad, CEO of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, said. “He has broad experience in international cricket both as a player and a coach and he will bring the benefits of this experience to our national players.”According to an ACB media release, Moles will arrive in Kabul later this week to begin his work with the team.

Cricket South Africa will consider restructuring its provincial, semi-professional competition, the second tier of its domestic cricket, when its board meets early next month

Firdose Moonda07-May-2014Cricket South Africa will consider restructuring its provincial, semi-professional competition – the second tier of its domestic cricket – when its board meets early next month. ESPNcricinfo understands the proposal on the table is based on fewer fixtures between the 14 affiliates but no reduction in the number of teams. This revamp is possibly a part of a cost-cutting measure in the aftermath of last summer’s curtailed tour by the Indian team.CSA is estimated to have lost out on earnings of around R300 million (US$30 million) from the shortened tour by India, which was cut from three Tests, seven ODIs and two T20s to two Tests and three ODIs. As a result of the shortfall, operations around South African cricket are being streamlined.”The organisation has been forced to take a critical look at the business to see how it can be more efficient and save money in a difficult climate,” said an insider in the know of developments. “At the same time, cutting costs must not be at the expense of cricket.”The second tier of domestic cricket, which operates as a feeder system for the six franchises, has been identified as a primary area for downsizing because it is seen as the only bloated segment of the domestic game. The provincial set-up consists of 14 teams who will likely be divided into groups based on their geographic position to reduce the number of matches they play. The most likely scenario is a two-way split with one coastal and one inland group but the pools could be sub-divided further.Currently, all 14 provincial teams play against each other in a three-day league, which has first-class status. That amounts to 13 matches each for a team. One rung higher in the domestic game, the six franchises, who compete in a four-day first-class competition, operate under the same round-robin structure and only play 10 matches each.”If we look at it, our semi-professional sides are playing more than our franchise teams, which just does not make sense,” a second source said. “With that amount of matches, there is also the cost of umpires, venues, travel and accommodation so it would make sense to cut that down.” CSA, however, did not respond to questions sent in by this reporter.The semi-professional one-day and Twenty20 competitions have already seen that logic applied. The 45-over competition has teams playing just seven matches each while the 20-over event has been halved into inland and coastal groups, in which teams play six matches each before the final is contested between the top teams from each pool.The administrators are also looking at a way to revamp the shortest format and are mulling an FA Cup-style T20 competition, which could be modelled on a knock-out structure. This would include all 14 affiliates and would take place over a set period of a couple of weeks. It could also see the franchise T20 tournament dissolved although the details of that are sketchy. Importantly, CSA will only look at a new T20 competition if it can find a sponsor.Funding for the semi-professional competition has been difficult to secure, as it has faded into the background of franchise cricket. After a three-season sponsorship with South African Airways between 2005 and 2008, CSA has gone six seasons without a sponsor for the provincial tournaments. In last year’s financial statements, the most recent ones available, CSA reported that it spent R52.7 million (US$5.2 million) on amateur cricket, which includes the semi-professional competition, that was initially dubbed amateur because cricketers taking part in it were not on contract.At the start of the 2010-11 season, CSA announced that it was making provisions for seven amateur players per province to be contracted through a semi-professional structure which, it hoped, would keep players in the game for longer.This is still in effect and the amounts earned by the semi-professional crickets are understood to be between R120,000 (US$12,000) to R170,000 (US$17,000) a year. Contracts have recently been renegotiated which has provided security that player number will not be cut for now, although that may change in the future.The June 3 board meeting will also include ratification on the new Test captain following Graeme Smith’s retirement in March. The national selectors will decide on a candidate, believed to be either AB de Villiers or Faf du Plessis, and the board will then approve their choice. South Africa’s new leader will take his team to Sri Lanka in July for a two-Test series.

There was more misery for Bangladesh on the second day in Chittagong as they were hit with five penalty runs after a lackadaisical bit of fielding

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong05-Feb-2014As if Kumar Sangakkara ruthlessly punishing the bowlers was not enough, Bangladesh were hit with five penalty runs after a lackadaisical bit of fielding on the second day of the Chittagong Test.Shakib Al Hasan tried everything to disrupt Sangakkara’s concentration, but it went horribly wrong when he bowled a wide way down the leg side in the 146th over. Shamsur Rahman, Bangladesh’s makeshift wicketkeeper, didn’t even attempt to stop the ball and as it rolled towards the fine-leg fielder Tamim Iqbal.With only the No. 11 for company, Sangakkara was looking to farm the strike and had declined the easy single on offer. With no urgency to get the ball back, Tamim sauntered after it, and lobbed in a casual throw towards the stumps. To his dismay, the ball hit the helmet placed behind the keeper and immediately the two umpires converged to discuss the issue. They then awarded five penalty runs in accordance with Law 41.Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had seen the ball beat Ajantha Mendis’ bat and hit the offstump only for the bails to stay firmly in place. The penalty runs were another slice of misfortune for them on a day when almost everything went wrong, as Sri Lanka powered their way towards 600.

Peter Siddle, in England to take up a season-long overseas contract with Nottinghamshire, has admitted he is “pretty glad” England have dropped Kevin Pietersen

George Dobell09-Apr-2014Peter Siddle, in England to take up a season-long overseas contract with Nottinghamshire, has admitted he is “pretty glad” England have dropped Kevin Pietersen from their side.Siddle, the Australia seamer, has claimed Pietersen’s wicket 10 times in Test cricket, but he still regards him as “a challenging player” to bowl against.”Personally, I’m pretty glad he’s not playing any more,” Siddle said. “I always loved bowling against him. He is a challenging player to play against.”But while Siddle remains respectful of Pietersen’s talent, he conceded he had enjoyed success against the batsman by playing to his ego in the most recent Ashes series in Australia.”I did [play to his ego],” Siddle said. “I just bored him. It is the most boring way I’ve bowled to any player. I knew where he wanted to score and knew how he would do it, so I tried boring him as much as I could and had a lot of success doing it.”Siddle might logically expect to have seen the last of Pietersen in an England shirt, but he does expect Jonathan Trott to return to the international side. Trott left the Ashes tour after the Brisbane Test suffering from burnout but, Siddle backed the batsman to return before too long.”I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Trott came back,” Siddle said. “He’s a very good player and he has had a lot of success against us. It has always been hard work. I wish him all the best.”While it has become rare for established Test seamers to appear for long stints in county cricket, Siddle is keen to experience life on the county circuit and has been given no restriction on his workload by Cricket Australia.”It’s great opportunity,” he said. “I love the country and, after talking to guys like David Hussey and Simon Katich about their experiences of playing county cricket, I knew it was something I wanted to experience.”I had a chat with David Saker, the England bowling coach, during last summer’s Ashes series and he put in a word for me. I didn’t talk to any clubs other than Nottinghamshire.”The IPL has never been a big thing for me and India, sometimes, isn’t a place you want to be. My goal has always been to play as many Tests as I could and I bowl at my best when I play continuous cricket. By playing for Nottinghamshire, I’ll stay match fit.”And with another Ashes series to be played in England in 2015, the experience Siddle will gain of English conditions will also do him no harm.

The old guard of Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysore royal family, and Brijesh Patel, the former India batsman, have returned to power in the Karnataka State Cricket Association

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2013The old guard of Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysore royal family, and Brijesh Patel, the former India batsman, have returned to power in the Karnataka State Cricket Association, after sweeping the elections on Sunday. Their group won all 24 posts in the election to the KSCA managing committee.Wadiyar is back as president, a post he lost to Anil Kumble in 2010, and Patel returns as secretary, a role he held for 12 years till he was defeated by Javagal Srinath three years ago. Kumble and Srinath had announced in October that they would not be contesting the elections this year.Wadiyar defeated Sadanand Maiya, who was supported by Kumble, in the presidential race. “I would like to thank all the members of the KSCA for having supported the Wadiyar and Brjiesh group,” Wadiyar said. “It is overwhelming that the entire group of 24 candidates has won this election by convincing margins.”Patel’s rival for the job of secretary was former Karnataka batsman and international umpire AV Jayapraskash. “We can’t expect a better mandate than this, 24 out of 24 is great,” Patel said. “Now we need to deliver in the next three years. Our first target is to see that our Ranji Trophy team does well and that junior cricket is played and revived.”Key officials at KSCA: President – Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, Secretary – Brijesh Patel, Vice-presidents – Sudhakar Rao, Ashok Anand , Sanjay Desai, Treasurer – Dayananda Pai

Lou Vincent has confirmed he is one of the former New Zealand cricketers under investigation by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-20130:00

New Zealand Cricket addresses ACSU match-fixing probe

Three former New Zealand players, including Lou Vincent, are being investigated by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit. The news, first reported by , was confirmed by the ICC and New Zealand Cricket – without mentioning names – before Vincent acknowledged he was one of the three under investigation.Chris Cairns, whose name figured in media reports on the issue, released a statement on Thursday saying he had not been contacted by the ICC or NZC in regard to any investigation of alleged fixing.The story emerged from New Zealand on Thursday morning, with the saying the ACSU had been in the country for four months as part of a match and spot-fixing investigation. NZC did, however, confirm that the matches involved were not in New Zealand or under their jurisdiction.Vincent made his involvement public through a brief statement. “I wish to let everyone know that I am cooperating with an ongoing ICC Anti-Corruption investigation that has been made public today,” he said.”This investigation is bound by a number of rules and regulations that mean I am unable to make any further public comment. I will personally talk to the public when I am able to. In the meantime I cannot comment. Please respect me and my family’s privacy until such time.”Cairns’ statement came after he told : “We need to let the investigation by the ICC run its course.”In his second, public, statement, he said: “No representative of the ICC, New Zealand Cricket or the New Zealand Players’ Association has contacted me in regard to any connection by me to an investigation into alleged fixing. I have no information, and was therefore shocked and dismayed to discover the speculation in today’s media.”Twenty months ago, the High Court in England ruled that I’ve done nothing wrong – which is on record for everyone to see. Like you, I will be looking for answers.”His reference to the High Court related to a suit he filed – and won – against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi over a defamatory tweet sent in January 2010, in which Modi referred to Cairns’ alleged involvement in match-fixing as the reason for barring him from the IPL auction.David White, the CEO of New Zealand Cricket, confirmed that he knew the identity of the players involved, but clarified that the players were not currently active and the matches in question had not taken place in New Zealand.”New Zealand Cricket is aware that the International Cricket Council is investigating a small number of New Zealand cricketers,” White said in Dunedin. “We have been aware of this investigation for a number of months and we are shocked and surprised by the allegations. We support the ICC’s investigation as corruption has no place in our our sport.File photo: Lou Vincent stated that he was cooperating with the ACSU’s investigation into allegations of fixing•Getty Images”However, I would like to clarify a number of matters. No current New Zealand players are being investigated, no games played in New Zealand are being investigated and lastly no matches under NZC jurisdiction are being investigated. This is an ongoing ICC investigation and I simply can’t comment further.”When pressed for further details, such as names, timescales and when the matches in question took place, he repeated the “no comment” line.Current fast bowler Tim Southee was asked after the day’s play of the Dunedin Test – where New Zealand were playing West Indies – whether the story had been talked about. “There were a few conversations going around but it is out of our hands, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Southee said. “Once we got to the ground we got our game faces on and concentrated on the job in hand.”An ICC statement, issued after the story broke, read: “Following the publication of an article in a leading New Zealand newspaper earlier today in which it is alleged that a small number of former New Zealand cricketers had engaged in fixing activity in historic cricket matches and were being investigated by the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU), the ICC confirms that it has indeed been working closely over the past few months with its colleagues in the domestic anti-corruption units of member boards to investigate these and related matters.””The ICC and all of its members maintain a zero-tolerance attitude towards corruption in the sport, and the ACSU will continue to collaborate with relevant individuals in order to complete its investigation process.”Naturally, as the investigation remains ongoing and nobody has been charged with any offence, no further comment will be made by the ICC or by NZC.”New Zealand is set to play a central role in world cricket over the next 15 months. It hosts the World Cup Qualifiers in January then is joint-host, alongside Australia, for the 2015 World Cup.

Azharullah and Trent Copeland each took three wickets as Northamptonshire roared to victory over Glamorgan by an innings and 25 runs inside three days

30-Aug-2013
ScorecardTrent Copeland nipped out three in Glamorgan’s second innings•Getty ImagesAzharullah and Trent Copeland each took three wickets as Northamptonshire roared to victory over Glamorgan by an innings and 25 runs inside three days.Glamorgan collapsed in the afternoon session as they were bowled out for a meagre 187, with Australia paceman Copeland taking 3 for 41 and Pakistani seamer Azharullah 3 for 42.This was the promotion-chasing hosts’ first win in six matches in this competition, while it is the second time in three seasons that Glamorgan have been thrashed by an innings at Wantage Road.The visitors began their second innings at the start of the day, needing 212 just to make Northants bat again. But they suffered an early blow in the 10th over when Gareth Rees departed for 19 as David Sales took a fine catch falling to his left at second slip off Copeland.Copeland then struck again by taking the important wicket of Murray Goodwin by trapping him lbw for just 5. The third-wicket pairing of Will Bragg and Chris Cooke then survived the rest of the morning session as Glamorgan reached lunch on 86 for 2.But Bragg was to depart on 44 in the fifth over of the afternoon when he dragged Azharullah’s delivery on to his leg stump to end a stand of 70. Northamptonshire made further inroads three overs later when Steven Crook pinned Jim Allenby lbw.Cooke then went cheaply, having played well in making 42, when he gloved Azharullah’s leg-side delivery to Northants wicketkeeper David Murphy. It was now becoming a sorry procession for Glamorgan as their captain and wicketkeeper Mark Wallace was also taken by Murphy, this time off the bowling of Crook.John Glover soon followed him back to the pavilion after making only a single and became the third wicket to fall in 12 balls when he edged Azharullah to Murphy. The visitors slid ever closer to defeat when Andrew Salter fell to Murphy’s ninth catch of the match to give Andrew Hall his first wicket.Dean Cosker then smashed Copeland to Crook at fine leg to leave Northants on the brink of victory and maximum points. Graham Wagg did give the hosts some resistance but he was to be left stranded on 34 as the result was wrapped up two overs before tea was due when Michael Reed was taken at first slip by Copeland off Hall.