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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.

The phrase “quietly confident” captures New Zealand’s approach to almost any international assignment but on the surface, this time there is perhaps no reason to be so quiet about it

Andrew Fidel Fernando08-Jun-2013The phrase “quietly confident” captures New Zealand’s approach to almost any international assignment, and Brendon McCullum used it again ahead of their Champions Trophy opener.On the surface, there is perhaps no reason to be so quiet about it. They have just felled the hosts, England, in a three-match series, have an opener in incredible form, and even without Daniel Vettori – who is doubtful for the match – possess an attack capable of troubling any top order.Only they are up against an opposition that has mauled them almost without relent, in the last five years. In the last 11 completed ODI matches between the two sides, Sri Lanka have won 10. From Hamilton to Hambantota, Mumbai to Kingston, most matches haven’t even been close. New Zealand might take some solace that the only victory in that lot came in the previous Champions Trophy, on a fast Johannesburg pitch, but both captains expect spin to play a major role in the match, and in that regard, Sri Lanka hold the advantage.”Sri Lanka has obviously dominated us in recent history,” McCullum said. “But the wickets that we played on back in Sri Lanka in the last series will be a lot different than what we’re expecting over here. They’ve got some mystery spinners and some obvious quirks about their bowling line up. They’ve also got some experienced batters and are a tough proposition. Our approach is very much on making sure that we play as well as what we have in the last few games in this form of the game.”Sachithra Senanayake is likely to be Sri Lanka’s frontline spinner, though, and despite Senanayake’s relative freshness at the top level, McCullum knows more about him than most. Senanayake was a big buy for McCullum’s Kolkata Knight Riders IPL franchise in 2013, and the New Zealand captain suggested that insider-knowledge might give his side the edge.”Sachi, he’s a different proposition to Murali,” McCullum said. “His bowling is definitely one of the mystery spinners that come around, and he’s got a good variety of different balls which he bowls as well, If we give him a sniff or show some frailty to such spinners such as Sachi, he could quite easily expose us. But I hope we play him with some freedom, and hopefully we’ve got enough knowledge and preparation from various sources, that we’ll be able to be successful against him.”Batting was New Zealand’s downfall in most of New Zealand’s recent matches against Sri Lanka, but the top order do not seem likely to fail again, with two key batsmen in form. Martin Guptill’s sublime hundreds overshadowed Ross Taylor’s efforts, but Taylor hit a fifty in each of the three matches against England, and has in the past been the most effective of New Zealand’s batsmen against Sri Lanka’s attack.”Martin Guptill’s batting has been world class the last week or so in this form of the game. We talked a lot recently about his batsmanship through some key stages in the game, and it’s been outstanding. We’re confident that Martin will continue that form, and also Ross Taylor as well. I think his performance has been very sound for us. Then some other guys have chipped in too.”While virtually all of Sri Lanka’s first XI were still at the IPL three weeks ago, New Zealand have been in England for well over a month. McCullum suggested their lead-up into the tournament might also hand New Zealand a slight advantage in the match.”We think we’ve got some match winners among our lineup, and we’ve had to become battle-hardened in English conditions over the last week or so. We are confident that it will give us some sort of assistance. We think we are a good one-day unit, with experienced players and a feel of the style of play which suits us.”

In contrasting styles Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen combined to give Derbyshire the best of the day at Headingley

Les Smith at Headingley29-Apr-2013
ScorecardChesney Hughes helped Derbyshire to their best day of the Championship season so far•Getty ImagesIn contrasting styles Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen combined to give Derbyshire the best of the day at Headingley. Hughes dominated with power to make his highest first-class score, while Madsen manipulated the ball with the wrists of the international hockey player he is, and together they put on 258 for the second wicket.This after Andrew Gale had won the toss and, to no one’s great surprise, put Derbyshire in to bat on a damp morning and a greenish pitch. Early morning rain and bad light delayed the start of play by 45 minutes, and the prospects for batting looked grim.There was optimism among the crowd as Yorkshire returned home after a thrilling victory over Durham, whereas Derbyshire had drawn their opening fixture against Warwickshire and then lost to Middlesex But Madsen and Hughes spent most of the morning and all of the afternoon causing consternation among the locals in the stands and, at times, those on the field.Hughes is just 22 but played with the authority of a more experienced cricketer. When signed by Derbyshire he became the third player from Anguilla to enter county cricket following Cardigan Connor and Omari Banks. A powerfully built left hander, Hughes plays very straight and is an excellent judge of when to leave the ball. He looks sound temperamentally, too. Approaching his fifth first-class century, rather than shrink into his shell he bludgeoned two big sixes although the shot of the day was an extra cover drive to the boundary off the first ball after tea.Hughes and Madsen came together in the seventh over after Tim Bresnan, Yorkshire’s most threatening bowler on the day, found the edge of Billy Godleman’s bat and Joe Root, celebrating his selection as captain of the England Lions, took a sharp catch to his right at third slip.For the next 70 overs almost nothing went right for Yorkshire. A strong westerly wind got to work on the ground, and on the poor souls in the eastern stand, and the green tinge on the pitch perceptibly faded. The second time Bresnan induced an edge, when Hughes was on 70, Jonny Bairstow was unable to cling on to a difficult chance behind the stumps just a few days after spilling a chance against Durham.When Madsen was eventually caught seven short of a century off Steven Patterson there was a sense of surprise in the crowd, as if something inevitable had just been prevented. A few minutes earlier a cheery soul in the eastern stand had observed to his friend, “They’ve over 250 and we haven’t even see Chanderpaul yet”. He needn’t have worried; Chanderpaul fell to Adil Rashid and Adam Lyth’s second catch of the day after just ten balls.There was one further cheap wicket when Liam Plunkett dismissed Wes Durston, but at the close Hughes was still standing tall – in every sense.April 30, 10.15am: This story was corrected to amend Derbyshire’s results

A round-up of the fifth round of Ranji Trophy’s Group B matches on December 10, 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2012
Scorecard
Odisha’s batting keeled over for the second time in the match to help Baroda to all seven points in Vadodara. Five of Odisha’s top six made single-digit scores as their side collapsed to 56 for 6, still needing plenty to make Baroda bat again. The lower order showed a bit more spine than the specialist batsmen in the side to help Odisha reach 123, at least averting the ignominy of an innings defeat. Debutant left-arm spinner Ketul Patel was Baroda’s most successful bowler, taking 4 for 36. Baroda were left needing four runs to win, and they didn’t even have to score those off the bat as four byes confirmed their victory. The result took Baroda, at least temporarily, to the top of the table with 20 points. Odisha have slipped from second to third place, and still remain strong contenders for a place in the knockouts.
Scorecard
Uttar Pradesh finally declared their first innings on the third morning, after Arif Alam reached his second successive century, and then steadily consolidated their advantage with regular strikes against Vidarbha. Hemang Badani, the batsman formerly of Tamil Nadu, top scored with an unbeaten 69 but with UP having scored a mountain of runs, Vidarbha needed big hundreds to stand a serious chance of getting the first-innings lead. Instead, opener Faiz Fazal and No. 3 Amol Ubarhande produced 40s, which were not enough to prevent UP from dominating the game.
Scorecard
Maharashtra gave themselves a chance of their first outright victory of the season by taking a massive lead in the first innings and setting Haryana’s fragile batting the challenge of seeing out the best part of four sessions to survive. Sangram Atitkar, who reached his century on Sunday, reached his career-best score of 190, and Kedar Jadhav made a hundred to lift Maharashtra towards 500. Faced with a 283-run deficit, Haryana lost their openers in the 26 overs before stumps, and need to find some batting solidity on the final day to salvage a point.

An opening stand of 134 runs between Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Paul Stirling helped Sylhet Royals crush Khulna Royal Bengals by 61 runs in Mirpur

The Report by Mohammad Isam12-Feb-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Shivnarine Chanderpaul struck his third half-century of the tournament•Bangladesh Cricket BoardSylhet Royals bounced back from a lacklustre performance against Chittagong Kings in their last match, as they crushed Khulna Royal Bengals by 61 runs. Their openers, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Paul Stirling helped lay the foundation for the big victory with a 134-run stand.They scored 66 each, striking 19 fours and three sixes between them, to lead Sylhet to 196 for 3 in their 20 overs. Chanderpaul used the crease expertly during his innings, and even employed the switch-hit a number of times with mixed results. He had more success with the sweeps, which he played between square leg and the wicketkeeper. Stirling drove belligerently for most of his innings, thriving on the strike he was fed by Chanderpaul.After the openers fell and the Royals needed a final flourish, Nazmul Hossain Milon played his best innings of the tournament. He hit five sixes in an unbeaten 14-ball 36 that took the Royals’ total close to the 200-mark. He struck five sixes, and was much more aggressive than Elton Chigumbura, with whom he shared an unbroken 52-run stand.Royal Bengals couldn’t make amends with the bat. Mithun Ali and Riki Wessels added 84 runs for the fifth wicket, after their top order was dismissed cheaply, to reduce the margin of defeat. Mithun scored 60 off 47 balls, his first major contribution in this year’s competition.This was Sylhet’s eighth win in the tournament, but they remained in second position behind Dhaka Gladiators, while Khulna end their campaign with nine losses out of 12 games.

A desire to preserve the primacy of Championship cricket is likely to see England’s first-class counties opting out of the Champions League and returning to 50-over List A cricket

George Dobell27-Sep-2012A desire to preserve the primacy of Championship cricket is likely to see England’s first-class counties opting out of the Champions League and returning to a 50-over domestic one-day competition.While Yorkshire and Hampshire will shortly depart to participate in this year’s Champions League it is quite possible that it will be the last time that the counties are involved. They have already decided not to participate in 2013 and, while the door is not closed on future involvement, it will require the Champions League to be rescheduled to start a couple of weeks later so as not to clash with the finale of the County Championship.In 2013, in order to avoid a repeat of the earliest starts in history in 2011 and 2012, the county season is likely to commence on April 9 and finish in the third week of September. The Champions League, which has a window in the Future Tours Programme, starts in the second week of September and has, over recent years, caused the entire county season to be altered and abbreviated to cater for it.Talks about the restructuring of the county game have been in progress for some time. The ECB commissioned former ICC and ECB chairman David Morgan to compile a report and make recommendations about the future structure around 18 months ago but his plans for reducing the Championship programme were met with little support.The debate has obliged the counties to define their priorities as never before. A consensus of sorts has now been reached with the majority agreeing that a two-division Championship of 16 games involving promotion and relegation must be a non-negotiable feature of the season. It is also highly likely that, from 2014, the majority of the domestic T20 competition will be staged on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons over much of the season rather than in a ‘high summer’ window.Not only did the rain that bedevilled the 2012 FLt20 silence many of those who feel the competition should be played in a window, but there is an increasing acceptance that the counties are no longer able to attract the best overseas talent even for a short T20 tournament. While all the evidence suggests that the first USA T20 competition, scheduled to be staged in 2013, is going to be a somewhat shambolic affair, the ECB are wary of the long-term effects of the rival event, with agents reporting that many of the leading overseas players will be attracted to the USA rather than the UK with the offer of large salaries.As a compromise for accepting the Championship and T20 structure that many of the counties would like, the England team management are hopeful of persuading the counties to return to 50-over List A cricket from 2014. While there is very little enthusiasm for the format among the counties for commercial reasons, there is a grudging acceptance that the domestic game should mirror the international game and, with the England management having lost the argument over the structure of the Championship, some willingness to compromise.In an ideal world, the counties would like to remain involved in the Champions League, too. Not only does it offer the possibility of large prize money, but players and coaches have spoken of the developmental benefits of playing different players in different conditions. For those county players not on the international radar, it might even represent the highest-quality cricket they experience.The counties’ involvement in the league has been contentious for some time, though. Not only has the scheduling been an issue, but there has been a growing concern that teams are not operating on a level playing field. While several teams from the three countries with a stake in the competition – India, South Africa and Australia – are entered into the main event, teams from other nations are obliged to come through an extra qualifying event for which there is no prize money. Furthermore, while some teams are allowed four overseas players, the counties are allowed just two. In 2011, Mumbai Indians were allowed to register a fifth overseas player.While the prize money on offer for the event is, on the surface, very attractive – the winners receive $2.5m and even teams knocked-out in the group stages get $200,000 – the ECB receive only $1m for the involvement of both counties and there have also been delays in the payment of prize money.The counties meet to agree the format in October with the ECB board expected to ratify the format at the end of November, by which time they will have reviewed the consumer research they conducted this summer. After a process of consultation that has dragged on longer than a county season, there is no desire to seek further dialogue.

India pulled off a heart-stopping one-wicket victory over Pakistan in Townsville, to seal their place in the semi-finals of the Under-19 World Cup

The Report by George Binoy in Townsville20-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHarmeet Singh held his nerve to help India edge out Pakistan•ICC/GettyHarmeet Singh and Sandeep Sharma, India’s Nos. 8 and 11, batted with incredible composure for seven overs to score the ten runs they needed to drag a misfiring batting line-up to a one-wicket victory against Pakistan in the quarter-final of the Under-19 World Cup. India were cruising one minute, at 120 for 5 needing 17 more, and were sinking the next, at 127 for 9. Harmeet and Sharma, however, saw to it that their consistent excellence with the ball in this tournament – they dismissed Pakistan so cheaply – was not in vain.It so nearly was, though. Needing only 137 to secure a place in Thursday’s semi-final, India slipped to 8 for 3 in the chase. They needed one batsman to drop anchor and stay the course and their No. 3, Baba Aparajith, did that. He had a partnership of 68 for the fourth wicket with Vijay Zol that put India on course. Aparajith went on to score 51 and, with him batting so fluently, India moved slowly but surely towards their target. The required rate was never an issue; wickets were, but five were in hand.Then Aparajith drove one in the air and was caught at cover, with India 17 short. In no time at all Smit Patel edged Ehsan Adil to the wicketkeeper and Azizullah dismissed two more batsmen in the 41st over. Only one more Indian wicket stood between Pakistan and victory.Harmeet, who missed India’s last two league games because of an illness but replaced Vikas Mishra today, took charge. Sharma batted cautiously, blocking out an entire over from the spinner Zafar Gohar. Harmeet, the more competent batsman, was astute enough to see off Azizullah’s final over, which meant Babar Azam had no more seam options to call on.Runs came at Chinese water-torture pace, but the batsmen were unruffled. Harmeet and Sandeep blocked and blocked, and occasionally they dabbed for a single or two. Every ball survived was cheered by a small but vocal group of Indian supporters. Even when the target was within the reach of one lofted blow and all the fielders were in the circle, Sandeep did not do anything rash. He left it to Harmeet, who eventually chipped over square leg, ran the second run and then ran into 13 team-mates sprinting towards him.As Sharma joined in the celebrations, he could have scarcely believed that it had come to this, especially after the hammer blow he had hit Pakistan with early in the morning. Most teams have preferred to bowl first at Tony Ireland Stadium but Pakistan chose to bat on an overcast and drizzly day in Townsville – a brave approach considering it was their first game here and batting has been hardest in the morning. Their decision backfired.Sharma, who has swung the new ball both ways prodigiously in every game, struck with the first delivery of the match. He bowled a good length and pitched on legstump, drawing the left-hand opener Sami Aslam into the front-foot defence. Sharma got the ball to swing sharply just outside off and hit the edge, giving Aparajith a regulation catch at second slip. Four balls later, the same thing happened to Imam-ul-Haq, another left-hand batsman. Pakistan were 0 for 2.Barely five minutes had passed since the start, so Pakistan’s No. 4 Umar Waheed wasn’t fully padded up. He and the other opener, the captain Babar Azam, had a monumental repair job to do and they began it with composure. But Sharma and India’s other new-ball bowler, Kamal Passi, were there and thereabouts all the time, and Pakistan were 27 for 2 after ten overs.Harmeet came on in the 15th over and caused a stir immediately. His first ball hit Umar Waheed on the pad and the lbw appeal was turned down, after which Waheed could have been run out had Smit Patel hit the stumps. Waheed appeared shaken and Azam went up to him to have a word. The next ball from Harmeet was lofted towards the midwicket boundary.Ravikant had a patchy first four overs, bowling several wides, but began to wreck Pakistan’s innings in his fifth. He got Waheed to edge behind, and in his next over he bowled Saad Ali and had Salman Afridi caught behind as well. Harmeet had Mohammad Nawaz caught at slip soon after. Pakistan had lost 4 for 7 to slip to 62 for 6.Through all this, Azam had batted with concentration, holding his end up as wickets tumbled at the other. He was dropped on 36, though, by Harmeet, soon after a rain interruption. Aparajith ensured that error didn’t cost India too many, having Azam caught at midwicket soon after his half-century. The batsman was distraught, having been dismissed to a tame chip after battling through tougher times.Pakistan were 99 for 8 after a second rain break and Adil hit four sixes to lift them to 136. Two of those were massive blows, clearing the longest boundary at midwicket and then the sight screen. India’s seamers, however, came back to finish the innings off, Sharma picking up the tenth wicket with the first ball of the 46th over.A couple of hours later, Sharma was in the middle again, striving to prevent India’s tenth wicket from falling. The gut-wrenching end was the third such finish between India and Pakistan’s Under-19 teams this year. In an Asia Cup league game, Pakistan had won by one run. The final of that tournament was tied. The third time, it was India that scraped through by the narrowest of margins.

Chris Cairns was questioned about his work for a diamond trading company and the large sums of money he received from them prior to the third edition of the ICL

Alan Gardner at the Royal Courts of Justice06-Mar-2012Chris Cairns, the retired New Zealand international, has been confronted with allegations of corruption made by former team-mates on the second day of his libel action against the former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi. Cairns, who is suing Modi over a 2010 tweet that claimed the former allrounder was involved in match-fixing during his time in the rival Indian Cricket League (ICL), said that the accusations made him “angry” and “sad”.The High Court in London heard testimony from witness statements of several former players with Chandigarh Lions, the team Cairns captained during his three seasons in the Twenty20 league. The evidence provided in Modi’s defence included a claim that Cairns asked a batsman to score “no more than 5 runs” in an innings, and instructed one bowler to bowl no-balls and another to bowl “loosely”.Cairns was also questioned about his work for a diamond trading company and the large sums of money he received from them prior to the third edition of the ICL. The firm, Vijay Dimon, was run by what Cairns described as family friends and he said he regretted them becoming the focus of public interest.”I didn’t realise how intense this would be,” Cairns said. “Anything that has Modi attached is significant global news. The initial tweet in 2010 started this and now it’s spread like wildfire all over the world. With regards to bringing my friends into this domain, I feel sorry for them.”During his second day on the witness stand – an appearance that ran to almost eight hours in total – Ronald Thwaites QC, representing Modi, accused Cairns of colluding with Dinesh Mongia, a former India international, to “put pressure on younger players to underperform”. Mongia, described as Cairns’ “co-conspirator”, had an unofficial role as vice-captain within the team because of his ability to translate English for the Indian players who didn’t speak the language.The court heard that Rajesh Sharma, a bowler with Chandigarh, said that he had raised concerns about match-fixing during the second edition of the ICL but was told by Cairns and Mongia to keep quiet or he would be removed from the team. Cairns denied such a conversation took place but said that he had spoken to Sharma and two other players about their levels of performance.Another player, Gaurav Gupta, alleged that he had been told by Mongia that Cairns would give him money for fixing matches. He said in one match he had been told to score five runs or less and that Cairns had told him to “get out now” upon joining Gupta, who had scored four runs at the time, in the middle. Cairns responded by saying: “I would never instruct anyone to do that.”Gupta said it was understood a player could earn 10 Lakhs ($20,000) if they agreed to engage in fixing.Two other bowlers were also allegedly pressured by Cairns and Mongia. Amit Uniyal said he was told to “bowl loose balls” in order to keep his place in the side, while Love Ablish was allegedly instructed to bowl a no-ball. Cairns denied the claims.Cairns had his contract terminated after three games of the third edition of the ICL, with his failure to disclose an injury the official reason given. Mongia also left the Chandigarh Lions as the same time.Modi’s defence claims that talk of Cairns’ injury was a cover-up to obscure the corruption allegations that had been made against them. Cairns has denied this but faced further questions from Thwaites about his financial situation in 2008, prior to the start of the third edition of the ICL in October.Bank statements submitted to the court show that Cairns received two separate payments, totalling 600,000 Emirati Dirham ($160,000), into an account in Dubai, where he had set up home with his new wife. The payments, which were made in August and September of 2008, were for Cairns’ involvement with Vijay Dimon. He had a verbal agreement to do promotional and sales work for the India-based diamond trader, which also has offices in Dubai and Antwerp.Thwaites suggested that the transactions were bound to invite scrutiny and questioned the nature of Cairns’ involvement with the diamond trade.”You have drawn suspicion upon yourself,” Thwaites said. “You must be aware that to take large payments immediately before a tournament in a country where match-fixing is rife invites suspicion?”The initial payment, of more than 350,000 AED ($95,000), was for relocation costs, Cairns said, the rest being for appearances at dinners and events. A third payment, bringing the total Cairns received to 900,000 AED ($250,000), was made to the account in 2009, after which his association with Vijay Dimon continued only on an “occasional basis”.However, Thwaites said that the absence of a formal contract with the company “deepens the suspicion you bring upon yourself”.It was also revealed that after Cairns’ departure from the ICL – but before Modi’s January 2010 tweet – that former Australia wicketkeeper Rod Marsh refused to sign a bat to be auctioned for charity that already bore Cairns’ signature, as he did not want to be associated with the allrounder. Cairns accepted this but said he “had it out” with Marsh and that they had resolved their disagreement.Cairns has previously admitted to being made aware of match-fixing allegations during a hotel meeting with ICL officials on October 26, 2008. He said that the reason for his contract being terminated, however, was due to an ankle injury that prevented him from bowling. Despite repeated questioning, Cairns has denied that the ICL’s anti-corruption officer, Howard Beer – who is due to give evidence on Wednesday – was present in the hotel room.Following the meeting, Cairns said he called his lawyer Andrew Fitch-Holland and asked him to “shut down” the rumours about alleged corruption that had begun to circulate. Fitch-Holland is also scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

Jacques Kallis, the South Africa allrounder, has admitted that, like many connoisseurs, he too did not buy into the idea of Twenty20 cricket when it was first mooted

Firdose Moonda11-Apr-2012Jacques Kallis, the South Africa allrounder, has admitted that, like many connoisseurs, he too did not buy into the idea of Twenty20 cricket when it was first mooted. Only on realising its popularity and inevitable growth was Kallis persuaded to work on his performances in the shortest format, and he soon found it improved other aspects of his game.”A lot of us perhaps didn’t accept Twenty20 cricket at first. I certainly didn’t,” Kallis said during an interview with ESPNcricinfo. “Then you realise that it’s here to stay. It was a format of the game that I wanted to get better at and improve in, and I put a lot of time and effort into it.” Kallis was dropped from South Africa’s World Twenty20 squad in 2007 but worked his way back in after making notable efforts to increase his strike-rate during his time with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. He was a regular in the South African team in 2009 but stopped playing Twenty20 internationals after the World T20 in 2010, when his career needed to be better managed and South Africa looked to build different squads for each format.Kallis recently featured in a one-off T20 against India in Johannesburg and made 61 off 42 balls. The match was played in his honour and the proceeds donated to his scholarship foundation. He also features regularly for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. “I think it really has helped other formats as well. A long time ago, people were worried that one-day cricket was going to affect Test cricket negatively and I don’t think it has. It has been really good for the game, as has T20 cricket.”The most obvious positive effect Kallis identified was that T20 cricket has helped speed up the sport as a whole. “Entertainment value has risen because the game is getting played a lot quicker and there are a lot more results,” Kallis said. Throughout the 2000s, more than 70% of Tests yielded results. In the twenty years before that, the statistic hovered between 40 and 60%.The numbers back up the opinion that Test cricket is healthy. Kallis says for it to stay that way, it should not be fiddled with. “The game doesn’t need to change too much,” he said. “The important thing, for me, is having big series, like there has been over the last while. [We need] some closely fought Test matches, Ashes series, our series against England, against Australia, some really exciting cricket needs to be played.”It’s getting a balance between bat and ball,” Kallis said. “Not playing on flat wickets. Nobody wants to see 800 play 700, [they want] exciting contests and that is the key going forward: that the wickets we play on are conducive to good cricket and we have the chance of getting some good results.”South Africa’s pitches are among those lauded for providing an even contest between bat and ball. With the team pushing for the No. 1 Test ranking, Kallis said they had the right grounding from playing on tough pitches at home and should be able to reach the summit when they play England in July. “We’ve got a big series against England coming up in a few months that will hopefully give us the opportunity to beat England and go to No. 1,” he said. “It’s a tough place to go to and win, we went there last time [in 2008] and did it.”South Africa spent four months at the top of the Test rankings in 2009 and bubbled under since then. If they reach those heights again, Kallis said they can have a sustained run as the world’s best Test team. “Playing Test cricket, that’s where you want to get judged. You still want to be judged as a cricketer on Test cricket. And it’s important that it stays that way, that Test cricket is the No. 1.”Despite the success in Tests, Kallis said he will not be completely satisfied with his career until he has been part of a World Cup winning team. He previously expressed his desire to play until the 2015 World Cup to have another shot at the trophy.”It [one-day cricket] probably is under the most pressure at the moment and they have made one or two rule changes to make it exciting,” Kallis said. “But, the one World Cup that people want to win is the 50-over World Cup, which shows that 50-over cricket is still important. People talk, crowds talk about winning the 50-over World Cup. There is still a place for 50-over cricket.”Kallis said there was place for all three forms of the game. His opinion of T20 is different from what it first was, and he called it a “great revelation” because of the exposure it has given the sport. “It’s been fantastic, to open the game up to new audiences. Families have come to T20s, people that didn’t understand or follow the game are following the game. Hopefully they will enjoy it so much that they will start to learn a bit about the game and enjoy the five-day version as well.”

Geraint Jones, the former England wicketkeeper, will return to the country of his birth and play for Papua New Guinea in the World Twenty20 qualifying tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2012Geraint Jones, the former England wicketkeeper, will return to the country of his birth and play for Papua New Guinea in the World Twenty20 qualifying tournament.Jones will join up with the Papua New Guinea squad for a training camp in February before trying to help them earn a place at the World T20 in the qualifiers in March. Both finalists of the tournament in Dubai will qualify for the main event in Sri Lanka in September.Born in Kundiawa in the Chimbu Province of Papua New Guinea, Jones was raised in Australia before moving to Britain and gaining a contract with Kent in 2001. He made his England debut against West Indies in April 2004 and was part of the team in 2005 that regained the Ashes.Jones, who played two T20 internationals, has been out of international cricket since 2006. He lost his Test place in December 2005 and played the last of his 49 ODIs against Sri Lanka at Headingley in July 2006.His decision provides a major boost for Papua New Guinea and their general manager, Greg Campbell, was delighted at the news. “I couldn’t believe it when Geraint contacted us,” Campbell said. “He is genuinely excited about coming to play and helping us achieve the dream of a World Cup spot. He has played so many games at the highest level. His talent and experience will be incredibly valuable for us.”Papua New Guinea begin their World T20 qualifying campaign against Afghanistan on March 13.