All posts by n8rngtd.top

Mahela Jayawardene was left to rue missing the opportunity for Sri Lanka’s first Test series victory since 2009 and believes if they had survived Graeme Swann’s last over on the fourth evening they would have saved the match

Andrew McGlashan in Colombo07-Apr-2012Mahela Jayawardene was left to rue missing the opportunity for Sri Lanka’s first Test series victory since 2009 and believes if they had survived Graeme Swann’s last over on the fourth evening they would have saved the match.The complexion of the game was changed by Swann who claimed two wickets in the penultimate over to leave the home side with a huge task on the final day. A couple of early dropped catches by Alastair Cook suggested it would be a frustrating time for England, but when Jayawardene received one that spat from Swann this time the catch was taken and Sri Lanka’s main hope had gone.”On a fourth-day wicket that will happen, especially against the second new ball and we knew Graeme would get more bite with it,” Jayawardene said. “It was a period we had to survive and if we’d got through the situation I think we would have batted through two more sessions and the game would have been different but that’s the quality Swann has.”Graeme is one of the best offspinners I’ve faced and he’s got variety. We knew going into the series that he would be the challenge. Him and Jimmy Anderson are the two main bowlers that will bowl well in any conditions, which proved the case. We handled them well on some occasions but when you are up against two quality bowlers they will strike as well.”Although those late losses on the fourth evening knocked the stuffing out of Sri Lanka, Jayawardene pinpointed the first two days as the key period of the game. Having won what was expected to be an important toss Sri Lanka could only post 275 and England’s top three set a platform from where Kevin Pietersen was able to take the game away from them with a destructive 151 on the third day.”Before the game started I said the first innings is a very important part, especially in the subcontinent where you need to take advantage up front to put the opposition under pressure,” Jayawardene said. “We didn’t do that, but credit to the England bowlers who did really well on the first day. I thought 350-375 would have been a good score and the difference was that towards the end. We were playing against a strong team. I thought KP came and changed the game with the way he batted. He took some risks and it paid off.”Jayawardene also stood out with the bat and was named Man of the Series for his 354 runs at 88.50, includeding two centuries. “Over the previous two overseas tours I hadn’t been consistent so I had to improve,” Jayawardene said of his own performance. “In Australia my one-day form was pretty good and I was able to continue with that. I felt in Test cricket I went too negative, going into my shell but in Galle I came out of that very quickly. Even though at times it looked slow I was in control. I’m doing a lot of things right but the next tour will be a different challenge.”With a little more support the outcome could have been different for Sri Lanka. Kumar Sangakkara’s struggles left a big hole in their run-scoring capability although Angelo Mathews suggested during the second Test that he can forge a career as a specialist batsman. Overall, however, Jayawardene was content with his team’s performance and the fact they shared a series against the No. 1 Test side. The game in Sri Lanka faces a number of difficulties – not least financial – but following on from their impressive showing in the one-day tournament in Australia, where they almost claimed the title, there were signs that their longer game can develop.”Good players will step up and that’s what England have got. But I’m quite happy, we kept fighting and gave ourselves a chance,” he said. “Going forward we can develop the youngsters so as long as the commitment levels are there I’m quite happy. It was a good indication of where we are right now, especially in our conditions. We played against very good opposition and that gave us the chance to challenge ourselves.”Edited by Alan Gardner

Six wickets down for 138 shortly before tea, West Indies’ plight was there for all to see. Then Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy organised a sterling recovery against England in the second Test.

The Report by David Hopps25-May-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentaryMarlon Samuels struck his third Test century to rescue West Indies from a dire start at Trent Bridge•PA Photos

For two sessions, West Indies, debilitated by the IPL, were routinely preyed upon by England. Six wickets down for 138 shortly before tea, their plight was there for all to see. Things were so bad, it was hard to be optimistic about the future for West Indies Test cricket. Then Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy organised a recovery that made a mockery of what had gone before.The Trent Bridge pitch went flat and England, so close to achieving what would surely have been an impregnable position, went flatter. By the close their stand was worth 167 runs in 41 overs. Samuels commands respect and received warm handshakes after reaching his third Test hundred. Sammy relished driving England’s bowlers to distraction especially James Anderson, whose frustrated commentary on his unorthodoxy led the umpire, Aleem Dar, to intervene.Samuels reached his century in the penultimate over of the day, with a clip to long leg off Anderson for only his third hundred in 39 Tests. At 31, he has finally understood his potential. His previous boundary had been blissful, an easeful extra-cover drive against Tim Bresnan, proof in a single shot that if he maintains the discipline he has shown in this series there can still be many more.Once again, DRS proved its worth. The umpire, Asad Rauf, gave out Samuels lbw to Bresnan when he had only made a single, only for replays to suggest on West Indies’ review that the ball was way too high.Sammy, 88 not out from 121 balls at the close, has also answered his critics – although in Anderson’s case they were prone to answering back. He has been characterised as a one-day cricketer in charge of a Test side, not quite good enough to prosper as a third seamer and reliant upon a rough-hewn batting style that prevents his promotion above No. 8.But his innings had an endearing simplicity. He is the most convivial of biffers, a batsman of prodigious strength. Even block drives fly off his bat with meaning and when he puts his body into it, he has the strength of a coal miner. He can punish off-colour attacks and England, who conceded 106 in 23 overs up to the new ball, should be wary of the message. Bresnan, preferred to Steven Finn, might have won all his 12 Tests for England but he is a lucky charm in need of a polish.When Sammy muscled Trott over mid-on after reaching his 50, one sensed that he did not believe he had a prayer against the second new ball. But he survived it, grinning at two midwicket whips against Anderson which flew to the third man boundary, smiling again (more sheepishly) at a perilous leave.Their stand was the highest seventh-wicket partnership for West Indies against England and in Tests at Trent Bridge, surpassing the achievement of Collie Smith and John Goddard in 1957 – another alliance between a captain and a Jamaican. There are no better statistics than those that connect the generations so neatly.It had all looked so different. West Indies opted for the offspin of Shane Shillingford in the expectation that he would come into his own on the last two days, especially with the hot forecast. The only challenge was exactly how they intended to reach them. By the morning drinks they were three wickets down for 42 and the doleful figure of Shivnarine Chanderpaul came out to the middle to sip a refreshment he did not need and observe a scoreboard he did not relish.Anderson had a hand in all four morning wickets, dismissing Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo in an opening spell of 9-4-22-2 and holding two slip catches as Stuart Broad accounted for the openers, Adrian Barath, without scoring, and Kieran Powell for 33.Anderson has an outstanding Test record at Trent Bridge, 33 wickets at 17 runs each going into the Test. He was initially so content that he might have won an advertising contract for camomile tea, even though while he held slip catches for Broad, others were spurning them off his own bowling. Long before the close, though, he was a camomile cricketer no longer.Broad struck first: Barath edging a back-foot force in his second over and Anderson pulling off a nonchalant, fast, one-handed catch at third slip. For his own bowling, England’s fielding lacked the same grace. He might have dismissed Edwards for a single, but Bresnan erred in the same position.Edwards’ tour of England has been a difficult one. He scored a century on Test debut against India last year, but he has yet to reach double figures on tour. Anderson jagged one back through the gate as once more he seemed late on the shot. He switched around the wicket to persuade Bravo to prod a wide-ish delivery to Graeme Swann at second slip.And so, with indecent haste, it was time for Chanderpaul. He dug in for nearly ten-and-a-half hours at Lord’s, but Anderson’s bouncer almost dislodged him first ball as the ball flew off his arm guard and over the wicketkeeper, Matt Prior. An edge in Anderson’s next over flew at catchable height between Bresnan’s half dive and Swann’s crouch as neither locked on to the coordinates. Broad completed an excellent morning’s work by England as Powell edged a good-length delivery to Anderson at third slip.England, who reduced West Indies to 79 for 4 by lunch, squeezed them dry in the first hour of the afternoon. Chanderpaul and Samuels added 13 runs in as many overs before Chanderpaul’s unwieldy straight drive brought the first boundary of the afternoon. He had nine boundaries, including a few covert flicks and edges and even a couple of drives, before Swann intervened.For Swann, to be an England spinner on his home ground at Trent Bridge had been to feel like the unwanted child. Finally, after two Tests in which he was limited to 17 overs, he had a wicket against his name. His toy to play with was Chanderpaul: not so much Action Man as Inaction Man but invaluable for all that.Chanderpaul fell for 46, as Swann found first-day turn around off-stump and struck him on the back leg to have him lbw, but only after a successful review. “Nearly there,” thought England as Bresnan bowled Denesh Ramdin. But nearly was not quite enough.

Ireland will host Bangladesh for three Twenty20 internationals in July, Cricket Ireland has confirmed

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jun-2012Ireland will host Bangladesh for three Twenty20 internationals in July, Cricket Ireland has confirmed. The teams had initially planned on playing an ODI series in Ireland but the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requested a Twenty20 series instead, in order to prepare for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later in the year. The nine-day tour of Ireland will also include a practice game.”It’s great news that we’re taking on Bangladesh and the games will give us valuable preparation as we build towards the World Cup in Sri Lanka,” Ireland coach Phil Simmons said. “We played an exciting brand of cricket in winning the recent qualifying tournament in Dubai and we’re now eighth in the world rankings in this format of the game.””We are delighted to be able to bring more top quality cricket to Ireland. Hosting matches against the Full-Member countries is exactly what we are striving for and this summer proves we are on the right track with matches against Australia, South Africa A, Afghanistan and now Bangladesh,” Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s CEO, said. “I would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the ICC High Performance Programme and to ICC Europe for their financial support in helping make these matches come to fruition.”In addition, this is the first time ever we are playing T20I matches at home against a Test nation, and we fully intend to play the games at a time and a price to suit the post-work and weekend crowd.”The teams have faced each other just once in a T20I, at Trent Bridge in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. All three matches this series will be held in Stormont, on July 18, 20 and 21. The warm-up game against an Ireland XI will be held on July 16.Ireland, in April, had submitted a proposal to the ICC, seeking to play 12 to 15 ODIs a year to recognise their rising standards.

A couple of days after winning India a game with an unbeaten fifty at No. 6, Suresh Raina has said he wants to bat higher up the order in ODIs so that he can score hundreds and make a case for a Test comeback

Abhishek Purohit in Colombo30-Jul-2012A couple of days after winning India a game with an unbeaten fifty at No. 6, Suresh Raina has said he wants to bat higher up the order in ODIs so that he can score hundreds and make a case for a Test comeback. Raina, who has played 15 Tests, was ignored for India’s home series against West Indies and the tour of Australia after averaging 13.12 in four Tests in England in mid-2011.”I would love to [move up the order],” Raina said. “If I get to bat up the order I can play more overs and score more hundreds. I have scored only three [ODI] hundreds in my career. I need to play longer innings and score more runs [so that] I can come back into the Test team. Wherever I get a chance to bat, at No. 4, 5 or 6, I have to bat anywhere.”Raina started with a century on Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2010 but has been criticized for failing to tackle the short ball in the format. He said he had been working on the weakness and pointed out that of his eight Test dismissals in England, four had been to the offspinner Graeme Swann.”I have been discussing my batting with Duncan Fletcher (the coach). In Twenty20 and 50 overs you have to play your shots. I am now looking to duck the [short] ball. At the same time I need to score runs, [so I need to] tap the ball and take singles. It’s all mental. If you are playing Test cricket, you have to duck the ball. In England I did not do well. I got out once to the short ball and four-five times to Swann. Still, I have done well in Test cricket. I need to do well in two more [ODI] games and then I can be available for the No. 6 or No. 7 slot [in Tests].”Raina, who has developed a reputation as a fine finisher in limited-overs cricket, credited his “tough days” at the sports hostel in Lucknow for his calm approach under pressure in big games. “[The hostel] didn’t have good facilities. But we would get good inputs and we would practise from that. And we learnt that whatever chances we got, we would remain tough. If we got to bat in pressure situations, we would make sure that we finished the job. I have learnt a lot about middle-order batting from Yuvraj [Singh] and [MS] Dhoni. Dhoni and I have been successful as a pair while chasing.”

The hard work of the England Under-19s bowlers went to waste after a heavy downpour flooded the pitch at Grace Road

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jul-2012
ScorecardA flooded outfield put paid to England U-19s game against Ireland U-19s•Getty Images

The hard work of the England Under-19s bowlers went to waste after a heavy downpour flooded the pitch at Grace Road and caused the abandonment of their run chase. Set 95 to win by Ireland Under-19s, England had reached 22 for the loss of one wicket off 4.1 overs, before the rain set in.Having put Ireland in to bat, England’s bowlers set about their task by suffocating the Ireland batting. No bowler conceded three runs an over, with Adam Ball, Aneesh Kapil and Tom Knight each picking up two wickets. Ryan Hunter top-scored with 25 but once he was the third wicket to fall in the 19th over, Ireland lost their remaining seven wickets for 44 in 20.3 overs.The amount of water that fell was so great that the second match of the series on Friday has been moved from Grace Road to Loughborough.

Kent threw Group C of the Clydesdale Bank 40 wide open by beating leaders Warwickshire by six wickets on a tricky Edgbaston pitch

13-Aug-2012
ScorecardKent threw Group C of the Clydesdale Bank 40 wide open by beating leaders Warwickshire by six wickets on a tricky Edgbaston pitch.The Spitfires skittled Warwickshire for just 92, their third lowest one-day score at their home ground, inside 31 overs and got home with 19.4 overs to spare after an early wobble. Kent’s win took them level with Warwickshire on points but the Bears still lead the table by virtue of an extra win.Warwickshire’s decision to play this match on a used and grassy pitch, which will also host tomorrow’s match between England Lions and Australia A, played straight into the hands of Kent’s quartet of seamers who all extracted movement from the surface after captain Rob Key decided to bowl first.Darren Steven took 5 for 25 to give him figures of 9 for 61 in two days following a five-wicket haul in the victory over Derbyshire at Canterbury on Sunday. Former Pakistan seamer Azhar Mahmood and Mark Davies undermined Warwickshire’s innings by taking two wickets apiece in reducing the hosts to 15 for 4 at one stage.With Varun Chopra and Chris Woakes called up by England Lions and Steffan Piolet sidelined by a hamstring injury, Warwickshire’s batting looked lightweight and their batsmen appeared to have suspicions about the quality of the pitch from an early stage.Laurie Evans gave the pitch a long stare after he edged Mahmood to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones in the second over. William Porterfield clipped Mahmood to midwicket and Jim Troughton nibbled Davies to Stevens at slip.The Stevens-Davies combination accounted for Darren Maddy who was caught pushing forward and it was left to Rikki Clarke to prevent the innings from total disintegration after Stevens and Simon Cook joined the attack. Clarke, playing as a specialist batsman because of a torn abdominal muscle, played a restrained unbeaten innings of 35 from 66 balls but only Paul Best supported him for long.Best straight drove offspinner Adam Riley for the only six of Warwickshire’s innings before he edged to first slip and Stevens snuffed out the innings when he pinned Chris Wright lbw.There was little chance of Kent repeating their 10-wicket win over Warwickshire at Canterbury in June but they were given a solid start by Key and Sam Billings before Billings edged Chris Wright to second slip.Key went lbw to Keith Barker and Stevens and Sam Northeast perished to Darren Maddy’s accurate medium pace. But Mahmood, who straight drove Maddy for six, and Alex Blake guided Kent home with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 39.

Australia wouldn’t be a pushover but would face a stern test by a strong West Indies when the two teams meet on Saturday

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale21-Sep-2012

Match facts

September 22, 2012
Start time 1930 local (1400 GMT)

Big Picture

Australia and West Indies entered this tournament with vastly different expectations placed upon them. Although the Australians were quietly confident, plenty of people saw their form, ranking and not-so-settled side as an indication they would struggle. West Indies came in as one of the tournament favourites, the first time in a long while that they have been considered such a strong chance. Australia have already overcome Ireland and should West Indies do so as well, both these sides will progress to the next stage. But West Indies don’t want to be placing themselves under any unnecessary pressure when they take on Ireland so victory in this, their first match, is important. Not that Australia will be a pushover – the teams drew 1-1 when they met for two T20s in the Caribbean earlier this year.Everywhere you look in the West Indies line-up there are men seemingly made for T20. Chris Gayle at the top of the order. Kieron Pollard in the middle. Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Andre Russell. The best player in the IPL this year, the offspinner Sunil Narine. And the highly under-rated legspinner Samuel Badree, who has the best economy rate of any bowler in T20 history (with a minimum qualification of 300 balls). Badree goes for 4.59 an over, on average. If every bowler in a team managed that, the opposition wouldn’t even rack up a hundred. But for all of their star power, West Indies haven’t really turned their potential into results. In the past year, they have won four T20s and lost four. Overall, they are the only ICC Full Member besides Bangladesh to have lost more T20s than they have won. Much greater consistency is what they will require to go all the way in this tournament.For Australia, the opening victory against Ireland has provided a handy bit of breathing space and they know that victory against West Indies will put them through to the Super Eights. There have been minor health worries for the veteran spinner Brad Hogg and the fast bowler Mitchell Starc over the past couple of days, but both are still in contention to take their places against West Indies.

Form guide (completed matches, most recent first)

Australia WWLLW
West Indies WWLWL

Watch out for

On the ICC’s rankings for T20 international allrounders, it is Shane Watson and then daylight. Against Ireland on Wednesday he showed why, with 3 for 26 and 51 from 30 deliveries, ensuring there were no nasty surprises for the Australians in their opening game. Notably, he also made important contributions in both T20s against West Indies earlier this year in the Caribbean, and his 69 in the first match was the highest score in the two-game series.Australia are aware of their potential weakness against high-class spinners with hard-to-read variations – Saeed Ajmal showed that in the UAE recently – and Sunil Narine fits that category. He baffled the Australians during the ODIs in the West Indies earlier this year, although they managed to survive against him in the T20s that followed. Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur believes attacking Narine might be the best approach. “He’s always going to be a factor, like Ajmal for Pakistan and [Ajantha] Mendis for Sri Lanka,” Arthur said. “I think if we can put him under just a little bit of pressure, that’s something we haven’t been able to do with the spinners, we’ve always been a couple of wickets down, so we haven’t been able to attack Ajmal, or Narine in the West Indies where it turned massively.”

Team news

Australia had a couple of minor concerns in the lead-up to the match, with the veteran spinner Brad Hogg having missed training on Thursday due to a headache and flu-like symptoms, while Mitchell Starc also sat out due to gastro. Xavier Doherty has rejoined the squad having made a quick dash home to be at the birth of his child, while Clint McKay and Ben Hilfenhaus are the backup fast men in the squad. However, the captain George Bailey on Thursday played down the possibility of Starc and Hogg missing the match.”They’re all right,” Bailey said. “Training is quiet without Hoggy, [but] he’s pretty good and from all reports Starcy was certainly on the mend. We’ll make a call.”Australia (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Cameron White, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Brad Hogg/Xavier Doherty.The West Indies selectors have plenty of options and their final decision will depend on how they believe the side should be balanced. Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle appear likely to open and there is the possibility of a dual spin attack with Narine and Badree likely to enjoy working on the pitches in Sri Lanka.West Indies (squad) Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Lendl Simmons, Johnson Charles, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy (capt), Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Samuel Badree, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Fidel Edwards.

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at the Premadasa was hard on the opening day of matches there on Wednesday, and there were runs available for the batsmen. It is expected to remain reasonably hard for the early stages of the tournament.

Stats and trivia

• West Indies could find themselves a little rusty if they are forced to chase in this match, for they have batted first in their past eight T20 internationals. The last time they chased was against India in Trinidad last year, the only time in the past two years West Indies have batted second
• Chris Gayle’s strike rate of 153.47 in the World T20 is the highest amongst players who have batted at least ten World T20 innings

Quotes

“It’s good to come into the tournament and have people show us the kind of respect and admiration to rate us among the top teams.”
“They are one of the best fielding sides around in the world and that counts for a lot in T20.”

Entering a second summer as Australia’s No. 1 spinner, Nathan Lyon has
revealed his struggles to deal with the avalanche of bowling advice
fired his way across the first 12 months of his time in the Test team

Daniel Brettig17-Oct-2012Entering a second summer as Australia’s No. 1 spinner, Nathan Lyon has
revealed his struggles to deal with the avalanche of bowling advice
fired his way across the first 12 months of his time in the Test team.One of the side-effects of Lyon’s rapid rise from obscurity to the
national team was that many glimpsed his bowling for the first time in
Test matches. A return of 42 wickets at 27.83 from 13 Tests suggests
Lyon had a decent enough idea of how to bowl but everyone, it seemed,
had an opinion on how he might do better.During the summer Lyon was incredulous to find himself being called by
strangers advising him of how to gain better results against India’s
batsmen. Then, amid a difficult Australia A tour of England on which
Lyon’s bowling became “muddled” in the words of the national selector
John Inverarity, it is believed he was even offered technical
suggestions by Mitchell Johnson.Having shown signs in the recent Sheffield Shield match against
Tasmania of a return to the tantalising loop, curve and spin that
first won him a national spot, Lyon said he was now very careful about
who he listened to, keeping the counsel of a small group including the
South Australia coach Darren Berry and the spin coaches Craig Howard
and John Davison.”It’s been pretty difficult to be honest with you,” Lyon told
ESPNcricinfo. “To come into the thing and no-one say anything at the
start, then come seven Tests you have people ringing you up and stuff.
I’ve been fortunate to have Darren Berry and Craig Howard and John
Davison on my side, and having that close unit together, really being
able to work with each other.”We’ve got that little group there where we all trust each other and
are on the same page heading in the right direction. Everyone has
their own opinion and stuff, but I’ve really tried to block that out
and just worry about working with the people I really trust and know
where my game is at and where I need to get to. I just rely on Darren
Berry, Craig Howard and John Davison now really.”Inverarity was concerned by what he saw of Lyon in England, where he
was outdone by the Victorian left-arm spinner Jon Holland. However the
national selectors are determined to persist with Lyon, given the
significant role he played a critical junctures of the past year, not
least in Sri Lanka, the West Indies and also South Africa, where he
took vital wickets in both innings of the epic Johannesburg Test.”We hold Nathan in very high regard, he’s a bowler with a lovely
action, he gets drop and bounce and turn,” Inverarity said. “For six
months he got a bit muddled and he didn’t bowl well on the A tour, and
he didn’t bowl well in Brisbane [against Queensland]. But in Adelaide
he bowled much better.”On the first day of the Shield game against Tasmania he bowled 30
overs, 0 for 90 in round figures. He got [Mark] Cosgrove dropped at
mid-on, chest-high. He had [Alex] Doolan mistiming one to point and
dropped, he had [Ricky] Ponting missed stumping. So he’s got 3 for 50
let’s say, and he might’ve picked up another couple. You can’t do much
more than deceive someone in flight and they hit it chest high to
mid-on.”The ebb and flow of Lyon’s rhythm is something the Australian
hierarchy is prepared to roll with for a time, aware that Test matches
account for exactly half of his 26 first-class appearances to date.
Inverarity offered parallels with the young fast bowler James
Pattinson, who has shown himself to be a bowler of great destructive
capability at his peak, but one of rather more modest results when
rhythm and swing prove elusive.”You’ll often see with fast bowlers it can often be little technical
things … with Nathan he had a lovely rhythm and good drop and bounce
and turn,” Inverarity said. “For whatever reason he lost it, lost his
rhythm, and he got frustrated and then I think he was running in to
bowl and he was thinking about where his front arm was and he was
falling short. He’s practised now and is concentrating on where he’s
landing it.”James Pattinson last December bowled superbly, and in Brisbane last
week he bowled fast, he swung it, was accurate, he was terrific. In
the West Indies and England he was not the same bowler, he was very
ordinary. He lost pace and rhythm and was ordinary. So these things
happen, particularly with young bowlers.”Irrespective of where his advice is coming from, Lyon knows he must
keep improving so as to grow into a more senior member of Australia’s
bowling attack. It will help that he has a battery of high class fast
bowlers around him, plus a captain in Michael Clarke who has the right
sense of how best to use spin as an attacking weapon.”Personal results always help, but we’ve really got a solid bowling
group at the moment,” Lyon said. “We’ve got quality fast bowlers,
probably the best in the world at the moment, and it’s really good
working closely with Michael Clarke, he’s fantastic and just being
able to know my role has been a massive help over the last 12 months.”Being able to play in 13 Tests and being involved in 14 Tests was
unbelievable. I’m pretty grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had,
but I really need to grab the ones that come my way this summer and
really try to move forward, keep trying to improve and keep trying to
win games of cricket for Australia.”

A round-up of the fourth day’s action of fourth round Group B matches in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2012
Scorecard
In perhaps the most thrilling day of the season, Baroda’s last pair put on 25 runs to consign Haryana to their third defeat in three matches. It was a day which began with seemingly little chance of a result as Haryana were still two down and looking to set a target. That quickly changed as Haryana’s famously fragile batting buckled once again, to slide from 127 for 2 to 160 all out. Overnight batsman Abhimanyu Khod was run-out on the second over of the day, after which the wickets tumbled rapidly.If Baroda thought they had a straightforward chase ahead, given the target of 132, they were in for a surprise as Haryana were in no mood to give up. Kedhar Devdhar, who is yet to make a half-century this season, fell on the first ball of the innings, and only one of top six reached double-digits as quick bowler Mohit Sharma ran through the top order. They still had their regular opener,Saurabh Wakaskar, and Gagandeep Singh, who has proved useful with the bat this season. The pair added 37 – the biggest stand of the innings – for the seventh wicket, but both were dismissed in the space of six runs, leaving Baroda at 91 for 8, still 41 away. When legspinner Amit Mishra had Murtuja Vahora bowled the score became 108 for 9, leaving Haryana sensing victory.The last-wicket pair of Bhargav Bhatt and Utkarsh Patel, neither of whom have much batting credentials, then dashed Haryana’s hopes. With the match on the line, No. 11 Bhatt even hit a six and Baroda soon completed only the 14th one-wicket victory in Ranji history.
Scorecard
After waiting four years to get their first Ranji win since 2008, Odisha needed only a week to get their second. They upset Karnataka by 65 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and jumped to the top of the table in a tightly contested group. Karnataka began the day on 43/1 needing 202 more. They lost Ganesh Satish early on, and were further set back by the dismissal of their two most well-known batsmen, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, in the space of an over. Stuart Binny resisted with a 42, but Odisha’s Biplab Samantaray, whose 86 in the second innings proved pivotal, removed both Binny and Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar off successive deliveries. There was little assistance for CM Gautam from the lower order, and he was bowled by Alok Sahoo to confirm the defeat. Odisha now have 13 points, while Karnataka have only five from four matches.
Scorecard
The highlight of a dull final day in Nagpur was Virag Awate, the 31-year-old opener from Maharashtra, becoming only the second player to score twin hundreds on debut in the Ranji Trophy. Awate was the mainstay of the innings for a second time in the match, guiding Maharashtra to 261 for 7, setting Vidarbha an unlikely target of 278 in less than half a day. Awate was helped by Rohit Motwani’s half-century but no other batsmen reached 20. Vidarbha reached 103 for 1 in 29 overs, thanks to Urvesh Patel’s unbeaten half-century after which the match was called off. Maharashtra get three points for the first-innings lead while Vidarbha had to be satisfied with one point.

Michael Muirhead has said that negotiations are on track for staging of the inaugural Caribbean Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2012Michael Muirhead, the CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), has said that negotiations are on track for staging the inaugural Caribbean Premier League, a tournament which could replace the regional T20 competition in January next year.”The negotiations are going on to bring on stream the Caribbean Premier League, and this would be a franchise tournament,” Muirhead said. “The West Indies Cricket Board is negotiating the rights, and after this it will be handed to a private promoter who has shown interest in staging the league.”As it stands now, seven Caribbean teams will play a regional T20 which begins on January 6 in Trinidad and Tobago. Muirhead maintained that the commercial league may replace the regional tournament.”It might mean that the regional T20 cricket tournament that is now being played might have to be done away with. This would mean that the franchise team would now go on to represent the region at the Champions League tournament on an annual basis,” he said.Muirhead also said that during his tenure, he hoped to resolve differences between the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA).”I think with the temperament that I possess, I will be able to bring the parties closer together. Issues with WIPA don’t have to be contentious, and at the end of my tenure I think WIPA would become a less contentious issue,” he said.”Both bodies have to work together to get things right, and it will take compromise from both ends. We will sit and negotiate fairly while achieving our own individual ideals, and I am confident things would work out.”