Sohail Tanvir has been ruled out of cricket for four months after undergoing a surgery on his knee in Australia

Cricinfo staff10-Mar-2010Sohail Tanvir has been ruled out of cricket for four months after undergoing a surgery on his knee in Australia. The knee injury had resulted in him pulling out of a contract with Victoria during the Australian domestic season.”Tanvir has had an operation in Australia today for a chronic knee problem and he has been advised to rest for four months,” his agent, Salman Ahmed, was quoted as saying in Reuters.Tanvir, who burst onto the international scene in the World Twenty20 in 2007, last played for Pakistan in a Twenty20 international against New Zealand in November last year. He had suffered a back injury after the 2009 World Twenty20 in England, was left out of the tour of Sri Lanka and returned to international cricket after five months in November, against New Zealand in Dubai.Tanvir has been out of action in Tests since December 2007 and hasn’t played ODIs since May 2009.

Amit Mishra, the Delhi Daredevils legspinner who currently leads the wickets tally for IPL 2010, is motivated to continue his good form despite missing out on a spot in the Indian side for the World Twenty20

Cricinfo staff05-Apr-2010Amit Mishra, the Delhi Daredevils legspinner who currently leads the wickets tally for IPL 2010, is motivated to continue his good form despite missing out on a spot in the Indian side for the World Twenty20.”I would be lying if I say I was not expecting a berth in the World Twenty20 squad,” Mishra told the . “I have been doing well, but then I can’t control certain things. In fact, if anything I am motivated to do even better. There are a couple of counties who have offered me a pro contract. If I get permission from the BCCI, I may just go and play for them.”Mishra has been in and out of the Indian side in recent times, sharing the second spinner’s spot with Pragyan Ojha and Piyush Chawla. Mishra’s bowling has received its share of criticism, but the bowler remains focused on his strengths. “See, there are a lot of people who say that Mishra is too slow, he should play domestic cricket a little more, he is this, he is that. Sometimes, I do get affected by all this. But then there are the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sehwag and Dhoni who have advised me a lot.”Sehwag cited his own example and said that I should continue doing things which I have done [well] to get a place in the Indian team. Others advised me to be patient and keep working on my game, but I guess it is important to be thick-skinned when you are playing for India,” Mishra said.Mishra has often bowled with the new ball during the IPL, and met with success. “I was always mentally prepared to open the bowling as at times we had to take the pace off the ball. If you ask me, the high-point of this IPL, it would have to be the manner in which I dismissed Jacques Kallis with a googly. It was a planned dismissal and gave me immense satisfaction.”I bowled a googly because Kallis has this habit of going over the top on the off-side and I was just trying to target the gap between his bat and pad. You can say I got lucky,” Mishra said.Mishra and his Delhi captain, Gautam Gambhir, go back a long way, having played together at various levels in their preparatory years. “Yeah, Gautam is my best friend. We learnt our cricket together, grew up together and share a lot both on and off the field. But he is extremely aggressive and if anyone thinks that being his friend means that I can get away with a below par show, it is absolutely wrong. He is a kind of cricketer and you can check this with anyone who has played with him, who will drop me if he thinks that I don’t fit the bill,” Mishra said.

MS Dhoni was running out of reasons to explain his team’s problems as their World Twenty20 hopes were left hanging by a thread, but Chris Gayle suggested it was a mental issue for the batsmen

Andrew McGlashan in Bridgetown09-May-2010India won’t be sad to wave goodbye to Barbados after an uncomfortable time against pace bowling. MS Dhoni was running out of reasons to explain his team’s problems as their World Twenty20 hopes were left hanging by a thread, but Chris Gayle suggested it was a mental issue for the batsmen.India now need a victory against Sri Lanka to retain any hope and even that might not be enough. As ever the scrutiny on the Indian team is huge and the problems of the top order are being dissected, especially as only a few weeks ago many of these batsmen were plundering runs at the IPL.Suresh Raina brought his form to this tournament and began with 101 off 60 balls against South Africa, but that was on a much slower surface in St Lucia. Unlike at the IPL there has been no let-up in the quality of bowling in Barbados, and India haven’t been able to cope against Australia or West Indies.”The IPL is a very different from international cricket. You have four foreigners and don’t have always the best bowling attack, you have to keep your side balanced,” Dhoni said. “Most of the sides have maybe one bowler who bowls really good, really quick, but apart from that you try to target the weak links.”But in international cricket most of the sides have got at least three bowlers, you can maybe target one or at the most two [bowlers]. I think the IPL is very different, it would be unfair to compare the IPL to international cricket. We are on the losing side and that’s the fact right now.”India’s frustrations threatened to boil over when Rohit Sharma questioned the caught decision against him and signalled for the umpire to check the TV replay. Billy Bowden stuck with his on-field call – the third official can only be used to determine a clean catch – and Sharma could be in hot water. Raina had earlier given a petulant display when he had an lbw appeal turned down which replays showed was easily missing leg stump.Gayle was always confident his team would be able to exploit the Bridgetown surface in their favour, even though it wasn’t the quickest pitch of the tournament. “They [India] are always going to be vulnerable against the short ball, every team has done it against them and it’s something they have to look at and try to prepare better,” he said.”They know that every team would bowl short at them so they just need to work on their mental game and back themselves. They are capable of handling it but maybe it is just a mental thing so if they can overcome that I’m sure they’ll be even more dangerous.”Gautam Gambhir, who was recently the No. 1 batsman in the world, was bounced out for the second game in succession when he received a brute from Kemar Roach and all West Indies’ seamers – even the medium-pacers Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo – banged the ball in the short. India knew they would face such a barrage, but, despite the forewarning, were still troubled.”It’s not something that has appeared all of a sudden. You are equipped to deal with it in this format as they bowl consistently short stuff at you but you have to keep scoring,” Dhoni said. “It’s not easy but as the players get more experience at international level they will groom themselves and be ready for the task. Quite a few players, I don’t think, have played this kind of bowling on this kind of track, we were slightly on the back foot but it’s only good for Indian cricket.”That last comment from Dhoni suggests that conditions back home in India are not preparing batsmen for the challenges of playing overseas. It was a hurdle that seemed to have been crossed during the last decade as performances away from home improved markedly, but a batting line-up without the experienced figures of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid is struggling to adapt.”We have prepared well,” Dhoni insisted. “We knew they would use short-pitched deliveries, we practiced against short-pitched deliveries in the net sessions but until you don’t face it in a game you are not match-aware of what is needed in that situation. You can do hundreds of things but when it comes to adaptation you have to be out in the middle and work it out, get a single, keep alternating the strike. If you keep backing off and keep playing the pull shot and people get out, it gets very difficult.”

A sound bowling effort by Matthew Parker and Majid Haq helped Scotland restrict Netherlands to a modest 210 on the opening day at Deventer

Cricinfo staff10-Jun-2010
ScorecardA sound bowling effort by Matthew Parker and Majid Haq helped Scotland restrict Netherlands to a modest 210 on the opening day at Deventer. Parker, the right-arm fast bowler, accounted for the top order while Haq, the offspinner, took three lower order wickets. Wilfred Diepeveen showed some resistance with an unbeaten 72 but he was the only Netherlands player to pass fifty.Parker began by removing the openers with the score on 32. Steven de Bruin and Wesley Barresi added 41 for the third wicket, but that was the best stand the top order could manage. Haq dismissed de Bruin, before Parker got rid of the captain Peter Borren. Haq chipped away at the lower order and Netherlands were struggling, having lost nine for 146. However, a last-wicket stand of 64 added some respectability to the score. Berend Westdijk joined Diepeveen, and the latter took charge with a half-century. He remained unbeaten on 72, hitting five fours. Parker finished with 4 for 63 while Haq took 3 for 45. Scotland lost the early wicket of Douglas Lockhart for 5 before stumps.

Tillakaratne Dilshan will lead Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe in the absence of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, both of whom have been rested for the triangular series also involving India

Sa'adi Thawfeeq20-May-2010Tillakaratne Dilshan will lead Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe in the absence of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, both of whom have been rested for the triangular series also involving India. Sanath Jayasuriya, who had a horrid World Twenty20, and Lasith Malinga also have been rested. Angelo Mathews, the allrounder, will deputise for Dilshan, who is on his first assignment as captain for an ODI series.Muttiah Muralitharan, who was ruled out during the World Twenty20 due to a groin injury, also hasn’t been picked. Sri Lanka have drafted in allrounder Jeewan Mendis, who’s been in his country’s domestic circuit for almost ten years but is yet to make a international appearance. Also featuring in the squad of 15 is left-handed batsman Lahiru Thirimanne, who played for Sri Lanka in two ODIs in Bangladesh in January.Returning to the squad are opener Upul Tharanga, middle-order batsman Chamara Silva and fast bowler Dilhara Fernando, who were not picked for the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.The tournament gets underway in Bulawayo on May 28, with Zimbabwe taking on India in the opener.Sri Lanka squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chamara Kapugedera, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Silva, Thissira Perera.

It is going to be a tricky selection because only eight players select themselves. Only two of them are bowlers

Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2010The Asia Cup champions would have barely reached their homes when they will be told on Saturday whether they are needed for the Tests in Sri Lanka, which begin on July 18. While the bowling attack looks massively uncertain except for Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, there is one middle-order place available in the XI and two more in the reserves.It is going to be a tricky selection because only eight players select themselves. Only two of them are bowlers. Ashish Nehra doesn’t trust his body enough to play in Tests, Munaf Patel seems to have been rejected, RP Singh’s form has been ordinary, and Praveen Kumar is strictly a limited-overs bowler. That means India will most likely go back to Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth.Amit Mishra is likely to join them in the bowling department. On their last tour to Sri Lanka, India played the two-seamers-two-spinners combination in all three Tests. So there is a possibility India might go with only three seamers and include Pragyan Ojha as the third spinner. The more orthodox approach would be to pick a fourth seamer, but not many have been showing promise. Lack of readymade choices means there could be a surprise or two.Most of the batting choices seem easier by comparison. Virender Sehwag, who was advised 10 days’ rest after he injured himself during the Asia Cup game against Pakistan, is expected to be picked. Rahul Dravid, who missed the South Africa Tests, will surely come back. Sehwag’s injury, though, makes a case for the selection of M Vijay as a back-up opener who can bat in the middle order if required.The other two spots will be contested by Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath. Dinesh Karthik, who can open, and also be a back-up wicketkeeper, could be a left-field choice. Karthik could also go solely as a reserve keeper in case India go for a 16-man touring party. His fifty in the Asia Cup final has done his chances no harm.It was pretty clear that Yuvraj’s drop from the ODI side had more to do with his fitness than his form (his statistics weren’t all that bad if the IPL was ignored for a moment, admittedly difficult to do in India). It is for the selectors to decide if dropping him from one tournament has sent home the message. There is a possibility of reading too much into his Twitter message, “This elephant is back from injury and ready to rock!”, which links to a photo of his with an elephant statue.Raina, who was part of India’s squad for their last Test, against South Africa, has reason to be hopeful. While his weakness against the short ball is obvious, it cannot be denied that he has been scoring consistently despite that awkwardness. A week after he played a nice cameo in perhaps the most high-pressure situation of his career could be just the right time to draft him in for the longest format.Raina and Yuvraj will be competing with Badri, who played in India’s last Test, and Rohit, who scored two centuries in Zimbabwe before doing a steady job in the Asia Cup. Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored a double-century in India A’s tour of England and followed it up with another ton against Scotland a day before the selection, stands an outside chance.The squad
Certainties: MS Dhoni (wk & capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan
Batting hopefuls: M Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara
Bowling hopefuls: Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha

Gloucestershire Gladiators inflicted a first Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat of the
season on Yorkshire Carnegie with a 65-run victory in the opening game of the
Cheltenham Festival

29-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Gloucestershire Gladiators inflicted a first Clydesdale Bank 40 defeat of the
season on Yorkshire Carnegie with a 65-run victory in the opening game of the
Cheltenham Festival.Gloucestershire joined Yorkshire on 10 points at the top of Group B after the
visitors were bowled out for 229 in reply to 294 for 6 by the hosts. Chris Taylor, with an unbeaten 83 off 63 balls, and skipper Alex Gidman, with 64 from 57 deliveries, led Gloucestershire to an imposing total.Yorkshire slumped to 73 for 5 before Adam Lyth (84) and Tim Bresnan (58)
made a fight of the run chase with a sixth-wicket stand of 104 in 17 overs.But the game was as good as over when Bresnan, who missed out on selection for
today’s first Test at Trent Bridge, holed out to deep midwicket to give former
Yorkshire fast bowler Steve Kirby his second wicket.Kirby also had Lyth taken at mid-off as he finished with three for 41 in eight
overs. After being put in by Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale, Gloucestershire openers
Will Porterfield and James Franklin took 17 off the opening over from West
Indies paceman Tino Best.Porterfield departed in the third over, caught at second slip off Bresnan, but
Franklin and Gidman maintained a good tempo to the innings by bringing up 50 in
the eighth over and 100 in the 15th.The pair had extended their partnership to 105 in 17 overs when Franklin gave a
return catch to Steven Patterson. Gidman’s entertaining innings came to an end in the next over when he carved a delivery from Best to Richard Pyrah at backward point. His 57-ball innings had
contained seven fours and two straight sixes.There was no respite for Yorkshire, though, as Hamish Marshall and Taylor took
advantage of the short boundaries square of the wicket at the College Ground to
maintain a brisk scoring rate.A partnership of 98 in 14 overs came to an end when Marshall, whose 42 came off
38 balls, pulled Bresnan to backward square leg, where Best took the catch.Chris Dent was dismissed soon after when he sliced a drive off Patterson to
Wainwright at short third man. But that brought Steve Snell to the middle and he
and Taylor plundered 50 off the last four overs.Snell cracked three fours and a six over long-off before he was run out at the
bowler’s end, attempting a third run off Adil Rashid. Taylor smashed the next delivery over the midwicket boundary boards for six and the final over of the innings from Rashid ended up costing 19 runs.Taylor’s unbeaten 83 was his best one-day score of the season and there were
four fours and three sixes in his innings. Yorkshire’s chase got off to a disastrous start with the loss of four wickets in the opening six overs for 39 runs.Jacques Rudolph was first to go when Jon Lewis had him taken at second slip by
Richard Dawson. Anthony Ireland accounted for Gale, who played on, and Jonathan Bairstow,
caught behind, off successive deliveries and then Lewis clipped Rashid’s off
stump.Anthony McGrath helped Lyth put on 34 for the fifth wicket before Kirby had him
caught behind off a defensive edge. Lyth and Bresnan, who had dashed down from Nottingham after being told England did not need him, rallied the innings with a half-century apiece.Bresnan hit sixes over long-on and midwicket on his way to a 57-ball fifty, but
eventually fell to a fine catch on the run by Dawson in the deep off Kirby. Lyth’s valiant knock ended two overs later when he skied a drive off Kirby to Marshall at mid-off, and the rest of the innings quickly folded.The last three wickets were taken by Dawson, who had Wainwright leg before,
Pyrah caught at extra cover by Gidman and Patterson caught behind.

John Buchanan insists he is not giving away Australia’s plans ahead of the Ashes while Ricky Ponting’s 5-0 claim has been written off

Cricinfo staff17-Aug-2010John Buchanan insists he is not giving away Australia’s plans ahead of the Ashes while Ricky Ponting’s 5-0 claim has been written off by everyone except Justin Langer. Buchanan, who coached the team between 1999 and 2007, has been hired as a consultant to the ECB but said he was not there “to tell people how to beat Australia”.”I am Australian, and cherish the part I played in the ongoing development of Australian cricket,” he said in the Courier-Mail. “Just as I am a Queenslander, and so would never be a full-time coach of another domestic team. This may be misguided loyalty. However, I am loyal to my principles of always assisting those organisations or individuals who seek to be better.”The Ashes tit-for-tat is in full swing after Ricky Ponting said it was possible to cleansweep England. Andrew Strauss called it the “silly season starting” while his team-mate Jonathan Trott felt the announcement would put more pressure on Ponting’s men.”We’re excited about going to Australia and we think we can do very well, but predictions mean nothing,” Strauss said before the start of the third Test against Pakistan. “Ultimately it’s about what you do on that field on the first day at Brisbane that starts to count. Up to then what people say doesn’t interest me to be honest.”Langer, Australia’s batting coach, stood up for Ponting. “It was always funny when Glenn McGrath said we were going to win 5-0 and everyone would bag him, but I never quite understood what he was meant to say,” Langer said in the Australian. “And I don’t understand what Punter’s meant to say, that we expect to lose a couple of Test matches? It’s not really our style to say we’re going to lose any Tests.”Stuart Clark was a key figure in the 5-0 win in 2006-07 and said everything would have to go right for a repeat of the result. Dean Jones, who was involved in Australia’s last home Ashes loss in 1986-87, tipped Strauss’s men as favourites.”I love Ricky’s bravado in coming out and saying Australia will win 5-0 but I can’t see it happening,” he said. “If it does, it will be the greatest performance of all time.”

Virat Kohli avoided a repeat heartbreak of a nearly successful chase, making Royal Challengers Bangalore the first IPL team to have made it to a Champions League T20 semi-final

The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga21-Sep-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outHe may have stumbled in the home stretch against Mumbai, but there was no stopping Virat Kohli against Lions•AFP

It was nearly another heartbreak for Virat Kohli. Chasing a below-par total, thanks to Anil Kumble’s four overs for 13 runs and Alviro Petersen’s wicket, Royal Challengers Bangalore nearly messed it up, staying behind the required rate for 16 overs. Nerves began to show when Kohli ran Robin Uthappa out in the 15th over, and followed it up with plays-and-misses in the 16th. However, with 43 required off four overs, Kohli pulled Bangalore out of the hole he seemed to have dug them, hitting Ethan O’Reilly for six, six, and four. It was a cruise after that, making Bangalore the first IPL team to have made it to a Champions League T20 semi-final. Uthappa wasn’t angry anymore.Two nights ago, Kohli was down on his haunches, inconsolable after he fell just short of pulling off an improbable chase against Mumbai Indians. Then at least he had Rahul Dravid to pat his back. Tonight, after he called Uthappa for a non-existent second and then changed his mind, he was all alone, down on his haunches, until Cameron White came out to bat.In the next over, Kohli top-edged one, refused a single to White, and was beaten twice. It was a gradual turn, but what had looked an easy chase, especially after a 53-run opening stand between Rahul Dravid and Manish Pandey, was now almost out of hand because there hadn’t been the urgency earlier to score quickly.Kohli, just 23 off 20 then, would have seen himself as part of the problem. He was about to become the solution. It all started with his favourite shot. O’Reilly missed a yorker by inches and Kohli flicked it off the pads for a flat six. A low full toss followed; dispatched over long-on. A length ball then, which went past extra cover for four. In three balls, the required rate was down to the original eight an over, and that Uthappa run-out was a distant memory.The Lions were not so lucky with run-outs. Alviro Petersen and Vaughan van Jaarsveld were punishing Bangalore in a third-wicket stand when van Jaarsveld backed up for a second run that didn’t exist. He had taken those two steps that ensure a second should there be a fumble. As it turned out, there was no fumble. But van Jaarsveld slipped while turning back and was run out. Lions were 74 for 3 at the end of that over, the eighth, but could manage only 59 in the next nine as Kumble’s smart bowling and tactics choked their innings.The run-out not only ended a partnership worth 54 off 26, it gave Kumble a look-in. Like Kohli, Kumble was looking for redemption of his own. It was when he dropped Dwayne Bravo in their previous game that they turned towards defeat. Tonight he was at the heart of Bangalore’s comeback.Kumble followed that run-out with an over that went for just four, and then introduced Kohli in an inspired move. Even though one over in between, bowled by Dillon du Preez, went for 10, Lions were finding it difficult to score off Kumble and Kohli. While Kumble gave Petersen and Neil McKenzie zero room, Kohli, a Chris Harris clone when bowling, mixed his cutters and wide yorkers well.McKenzie’s couldn’t match the earlier run-rate, or one that was required for a challenging total. In the four overs following that run-out, Petersen, who was scoring at two runs a ball without taking risks, got to face just nine balls, and McKenzie scored just 15 off the other 15. The edginess pushed Petersen into a slog-sweep against Kumble. The predictable result was an uprooted off stump.Kumble and Kohli refused to release the choke hold as Lions dragged towards 121 by the end of 16 overs. McKenzie continued to struggle, kept moving all around in the crease, and Dale Steyn’s yorkers proved too good in the end. A frustrated McKenzie finally got run out for 39 off 35 before Frylinck added respectability to the total with two sixes in the last over.The Lions would go on to add more respectability to it with spirited fielding and stable bowling, but it was to be Kohli’s night.

Dilhara Fernando reported a suspicious approach to the Sri Lanka team management that was in turn reported to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), the Sri Lanka board has said

Cricinfo staff10-Sep-2010Fast bowler Dilhara Fernando reported a suspicious approach to the Sri Lanka team management that was in turn reported to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU), the Sri Lanka board has said. The incident is among those reported by ESPNcricinfo to have taken place over the past year.The ACSU’s investigators met Fernando in May 2009, while in Sri Lanka to interview players regarding the terrorist attack on their team bus in Lahore earlier that year.”During their visit to Sri Lanka, Dilhara Fernando voluntarily reported a suspicious approach to the team management, and it was immediately referred to the ICC Anti Corruption Unit who in turn carried out a regulation interview with Dilhara,” Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a statement.Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain, said that Fernando “should be applauded for following the rules” and alerting the Sri Lanka authorities.The SLC said it hadn’t received any further communication regarding the issue. “The interviewing of players after the reporting of suspicious approaches is standard practice and the above-mentioned cricketer followed the correct protocol. The Anti-Corruption Unit then followed their normal protocol and launched an investigation. We can confirm that no further information has been provided to us with regard to this incident or player that necessitates any action or raises any concern.”ESPNcricinfo had reported on September 10 that possibly more than one Sri Lankan cricketer had been approached by suspicious persons on more than occasion over the last year and a half. One such instance happened during the World Twenty20 in England.