All posts by csb10.top

Records tumbled on arguably the most one-sided first day of a Test in 128 years of international cricket. It was gruesome to watch, but at least the statisticians had something to get excited about.First to go was Zimbabwe’s lowest Test score. Their previous-worst was 63, at Port-of-Spain in March 2000, when they wilted in the face of what seemed to be an easy victory target of just 99 runs. But today was worse: only Stuart Matsikenyeri made double figures, although curiously there was only one duck as Zimbabwe succumbed for 54. Click here for a list of the lowest innings in Tests.As South Africa toyed with the bowling as if it was the Father’s Match at school, another record loomed into view. The biggest lead that a side batting second had established by the end of the first day in any Test was 233, when England ran up 286 for 8 after bowling out Australia for 53 in 75 minutes at Lord’s in 1896. That 109-year-old record was soon in tatters – like Zimbabwe’s spirits – as the runs cascaded after tea, a session in which South Africa scored 249 in 33 overs.Jacques Kallis, soon after smacking three successive sixes off Graeme Cremer, hurtled to his half-century in just 24 balls – the fastest-known in terms of balls faced, relegating Ian Botham’s slaptastic 26-ball fifty at Delhi in 1981-82 down a place.There was also the little matter of Makhaya Ntini’s 200th Test wicket – he’s the third South African (after Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock) to get there, and the 46th from all countries – and Mark Boucher’s 300th Test dismissal behind the stumps (only Ian Healy and Rod Marsh have made more). There was even one bright moment for Zimbabwe: Tatenda Taibu scored his 1000th Test run.Wisden doesn’t do records for hurt pride, or the Zimbabweans might have clocked up a few more. But Cremer’s figures of 9-0-86-3 were a candidate for Most Unusual in Tests (Asanka Gurusinha runs him close, with a spell of 1.5-0-25-2 in 1986-87), while Tatenda Taibu’s persistence with a slip and a gully almost all day would have come in high on the mythical Most Optimistic Field Placings table.

The fracas surrounding Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly escalated on Sunday when several members of the Indian team stood up for their captain, on return to India. Newspapers around the country were awash with stories of how certain members of the team were unhappy with the manner in which Chappell was handling matters. There has been a clear polarisation in the team, into pro-Ganguly and pro-Chappell camps.The most vocal member of the pro-Ganguly camp has been Harbhajan Singh, who became the first member of this team to come out in defence of Ganguly, accusing Chappell of instilling “fear and insecurity” and slamming him for “double standards” in a Press Trust of India report. Cricinfo has learned that Harbhajan is not alone in feeling this way and that there is indeed a fair bit of anger within the team. “You can’t just talk to the Indian captain like that, asking him to stand down on the morning of a Test. Sourav has led India for long now and that’s not the way a coach should talk, no matter what his stature is,” said one player, who obviously did not want to be named.But it is not so much what Chappell has said, as the manner in which he has put things across that have irked members of the team – a mix of senior and junior players. “He’s a bit too rough in his approach. He’s just come to the job and he’s being ruthless. We all know that we have to work hard on fitness and all that, but you can’t just push people away the first time they struggle with a fitness regimen,” said another player.In all this though, it is not as though the whole team has turned against Chappell. “He’s very direct in his approach and some of the guys don’t like that. But the point really isn’t how he puts things across. He is trying to implement some plans and there’s some resistance to that. There’s always bound to be some resistance to change,” said another player.With the whole issue being thrashed out in the media rather than the dressing-room, it has become increasingly difficult for any of the concerned parties to back down from a stance. Had the matter been kept inhouse – as it has been when there have been disagreements in the past – the situation is unlikely to have deteriorated to this extent. In two days a panel including former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, will hear from Chappell and Ganguly, and they have their hands full.

Most of the Indian cricketers have a high level of motivation and mental strength, but the inability of the set-up to allow players to make mistakes and learn from them is the biggest roadblock to their progress – these were some of the revelations of a report by Sandy Gordon, a sports psychologist at the University of Western Australia.Gordon spoke to The Times of India about the findings of a study he conducted with current and former Indian cricketers over an 18-month period from July 2003. “Every player that I interviewed has a very high level of motivation and commitment which goes a long way in being mentally tough. Though they are different individuals, there were more similarities than dissimilarities that came up during my discussions.” The report mentioned the names of 14 players who Gordon spoke to, including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and former players like Bishan Bedi, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Vengsarkar.Talking about the biggest flaw in the Indian cricketing system, Gordon said: “Indians are far too intolerant of mistakes. Players should be allowed to make mistakes. They need to try and fail and then try again. This gives them motivation and resilience. Right now, if a player performs poorly – doesn’t take too many wickets or scores a couple of ducks – the Indian selectors are most likely to drop him. The player knows this too. That shouldn’t be the case. If India want mentally tough players, they need to learn to be patient and give the players a chance.”Gordon also talked about the Australian system to highlight his point: “There are plenty of examples in Australian cricket where players made mistakes but bounced back because the selectors stuck with them.”In his interviews with the Indian players, Gordon asked them their views on how mental resilience could be developed. “Most players thought that mental toughness cannot be taught. You can’t teach it in a classroom, and neither are you born with it. It’s something that you develop, and we have to develop that environment for them to become resilient.”Gordon was involved with the Indian players during the 2003 World Cup and on their tour to Australia in 2003-04, and was instrumental in introducing the celebratory huddle in the field every time the Indians took a wicket. Many players admitted that Gordon’s technique of having the cricketers stay positive had a huge role to play in India’s journey to the finals of the World Cup. With a view to having the upcoming players pick up these techniques at an early age, the board also had Gordon work out a specific programme for the National Cricket Academy, highlighting the ways in which the players training there can work on the mental aspect of their games.Gordon also revealed that he was doing a similar study for the Australian board as well. “The Aussies don’t lack in mental toughness. Cricket Australia’s reason for doing this study is to see how the bar can be raised. I’ve already interviewed four of the 21 players – Steve Waugh, Trevor Hohns, David Boon and Greg Chappell – and I must say the results are very interesting.”

New Zealanders 246 for 5 (Marshall 111) beat Essex (Irani 72*) 243 for 3 by five wickets
ScorecardHamish Marshall got New Zealand back into winning ways with a blistering 111 from 97 balls, to see off a spirited Essex side by five wickets at Chelmsford. After their defeat against Derbyshire earlier this week, it was a timely tonic.After winning the toss, Stephen Fleming opted to bowl first, but his seamers once again lacked penetration as Essex racked up 243 for 3 in their 50 overs. Ronnie Irani was the star of the show, finishing on an unbeaten 72 from 92 balls, with Ravinder Bopara, Paul Grayson and Aftab Habib all chipping in with important innings.In reply, New Zealand made a terrible start as Stephen Fleming fell in Scott Brant’s first over, but Marshall and Nathan Astle picked up the pace in a second-wicket stand of 93. Craig McMillan then broke the back of the run-chase with a 58-ball half-century, before Chris Cairns waded in with a typically destructive 19 from 8 balls, including a four and two sixes, the last of which was smacked over the Tom Pearce Stand to win the match.New Zealand wrapped up the match with more than 11 overs to spare, and can now approach next week’s NatWest Series with a timely injection of confidence.

The Pakistan Cricket Board today announced that Shaharyar M Khan has replaced Lt-Gen. Tauqir Zia as its chairman.Shaharyar Khan, who is 69 and a member of MCC, enjoyed a distinguished political career. He had a spell as Pakistan’s foreign secretary, and was also an ambassador and a high commissioner between 1957 and 1994. He comes from a large sporting family. The senior Nawab of Pataudi was his uncle, and the junior Nawab – Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi – is his first cousin.In a statement published today, Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf, who is also the PCB’s patron-in-chief, welcomed Shaharyar Khan into his new role, and also praised Tauqir Zia, who announced his resignation last week. He pointed out Zia’s “services for the uplift of the sport”, and praised “his role in the rebuilding of the Pakistan cricket team”. President Musharraf also mentioned the improvement of cricket at grass-roots level, especially the new academies, which took place under Zia’s time in charge. He concluded that his contribution would be remembered in years to come.Zia himself also issued a statement, saying he approved of his successor. “I spoke to him over the telephone in the afternoon and congratulated him,” he said. “We have worked together during the time we were preparing for the World Cup, and I find him an extremely knowledgable person.”He added: “As he has been with the team on a couple of occasions, he understands the players well and their requirements. He has the passion for cricket which will certainly make him a successful administrator.”

Comment – Board offers little

Officially, the ICC is not getting drawn too deeply in the crisis threatening Zimbabwe cricket, but various newspaper reports over the weekend have indicated that it is working hard behind the scenes to try and broker a solution.The ICC is under increasing pressure from certain sectors of the cricketing world to end its policy of staying out of what Ehsan Mani, the ICC’s president, described as a “domestic issue … internal to the Zimbabwe cricket community”.The makeshift Zimbabwe side’s poor performances against Sri Lanka has raised awareness of the depth of the crisis, and there is genuine fear that the forthcoming matches against Australia could humiliate them and bring the game into ridicule.The first indication that the ICC was getting involved came last Friday when the Zimbabwe Cricket Union surprisingly announced that it had extended the deadline for the rebels to return to the fold by another 21 days. That came four days after the board has fired them just as it seemed that mediation would take place.The rebels are preparing to meet again with their lawyer on Monday, but there are signs that some of them have had enough. Sean Ervine, 21, was the first to jump ship, and on Wednesday he told his colleagues that he was quitting and left for Australia where reports suggest he is going to apply for residency. Others, depressed and weary with their treatment, are expected to follow.What could be the crucial factor is that the ZCU has refused to agree to mediation, which was one of its original offers. It claimed that the players’ attitude was to blame, and that they were only using mediation as a tool to try and force arbitration.Grant Flower, the unofficial spokesman for the rebels, was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph as saying that he believed the ZCU’s about-turn came about because they failed to deal with the dismissals correctly on Monday. “It seems,” he explained, “that they may have made a mistake by firing us in the first place. Obviously they want us to play against Australia to prop up the system. We want to get back and play but if this dispute is not resolved properly our stand will be a waste of time.”Comment
by Martin WilliamsonThe sudden change of tack by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union on Friday came as a surprise to most who have been following this whole sorry affair. It seemed on Monday, when the board dismissed the rebel players, that the end of the road had been reached.The sackings also caught most people on the hop, coming as they did as the players had just agreed to mediation with the board. The feeling among those involved was that the so-called political hardliners inside the ZCU had won the behind-the-scenes battle for control.But despite denials to the contrary, legally the board was on shaky ground, and the rebels immediately countered by threatening to sue for unfair dismissal. That, allied to increasing behind-the-scenes manoeuvring by the ICC, were the main reasons that the ZCU offered another 21-day deadline.But the offer isn’t as magnanimous as it might at first appear. The main sticking point first time round was that the board only offered mediation, while the rebels wanted arbitration, making it fairly clear that they did not trust ZCU to honour any promises. Their eleventh-hour acceptance of a mediator was agreed in the hope that if the two parties met, the board could be persuaded to go to arbitration.The final paragraph of the ZCU’s statement on Friday said that it was "concerned about the lack of bona fides of the players towards the process" and that it would "not pursue the mediation issue any further". Without the offer of mediation, it is hard to see the rebels going back to work.Sadly, the ZCU’s offer appears to be little more than a backside-covering operation on its part. And given that the board now appears to be under more political control than ever, there is even less reason in the rebel players’ minds why it should be trusted.

Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble will both play in India’s next game in the TVS Cup, against Australia at Bangalore on Nov 12. According to a BCCI press release, Ganguly has recovered from his injury and will resume the captaincy. Kumble, who had taken time off following the death of his father, will rejoin the team in place of Sairaj Bahutule.Ricky Ponting, Australia’s captain, said that India would benefit from Ganguly’s return. “Ganguly is a very good leader,” he said. “His return to the field will bring a spring in the steps of the Indians. He is a great one-day player who has more than 20 one-day hundreds to his name.”

Close Auckland 317-8 (T McIntosh 96, S Singe 57, C Pryor 57*, J Ryder 4-14, M Orchard 2-65, W Cornelius 2-72) met New Zealand Academy Selection.Auckland gave another demonstration of its latent batting depth on the opening day of their two-day match with the New Zealand Academy Selection at Lincoln Green at the High Performance Centre yesterday. Despite the fact their regular openers Matt Horne (injured) and Mark Richardson (playing for the Selection XI) were not playing, Tim McIntosh and Shane Singe put on 165 for the first wicket.Auckland ended the day on 317-8 with McIntosh, who scored 820 runs in first-class cricket last summer, falling four short of a century. The stand was an impressive one, built on well-run singles before the more free-flowing batting started to emerge. The Academy attack of Shane Bond, Wade Cornelius and Mark Orchard could make no early impression and Aaron Redmond’s leg-spin was brought into action for the 25th over.But nothing could stop the batsmen. McIntosh’s 50 came off 100 balls and the century partnership off 172 balls. Singe had a life just before the lunch break when Auckland had 116 without loss. Singe’s half-century was scored of 122 balls. On 96 McIntosh latched onto a short ball from Cornelius but was taken at square-leg. He had faced 161 balls. A double breakthrough occurred when Singe was caught behind by Bevan Griggs off Cornelius for 57.Cornelius had taken 2 for 15 off five overs in his post-lunch spell while Orchard took 2 for 15 off nine overs to further stem the run flow from Auckland. While Bond and Cornelius took the new ball they had no more luck and it was left to Jesse Ryder to come in and pick up three quick wickets, and nearly a fourth, before the day ended.

Mohammad Azharuddin feels that Aakash Chopra should continue opening the batting, though he heaps some lavish praise on Yuvraj Singh. In a syndicate column with The Indian Express, Azharuddin says, “It’s a long way for Yuvraj yet, but I think he can become the David Gower of the current age if he can cope with the pressure of international cricket. His century in the first innings was such a delight, for its power, placement and timing. In full flow, he was a treat to watch. But I am not sure if he should open the innings in the Rawalpindi Test. That should be Chopra’s to do.”Yet, Azharuddin was critical of a few of Chopra’s shortcomings. “It’s not as if I am a great admirer of Aakash Chopra. He hardly has any stroke in front of the wicket. If [Virender] Sehwag gets out cheaply, Chopra’s 40s are never going to be enough, and he can also reduce the scoring to a crawl which could become a factor if you want to raise a good score in quick time.”***Javed Miandad has lashed out at a few of Pakistan’s former cricketers. A report from UNI quoted Miandad as saying, “Those who could not field properly in their days, are criticising me. It is high time they should also retire from commenting or writing.”He added, “It is very bad to hit a person when he is down. The hallmark of a great sportsperson is to encourage the player when he is not doing well, but in our country everybody wants to settle scores by running down the team.” And what really amused Miandad was the fixation with appointing coaches for all departments of the game. “Every so called expert recommended three coaches for each player. I don’t think any expert worth his salt can even think of it, leave alone recommending it.”And he finished with a mighty flourish when he said, that it was the “experts” who need coaches to improve upon their behaviour and writing, while the “players” are capable of looking after themselves.***Saqlain Mushtaq, who was dropped form the side after a poor performance in the first Test, has taken the disappointment in his stride. PTI quoted him as saying, “Pakistan’s requirements for the series against India are different, and I didn’t fit in. Plus I am not in good form. I think from my point of view, it is better that I practice and return to form before I come back into the team. I didn’t bowl well in the previous match that is why I am out of the side.”There was a tinge of philosophy too: “When you attain happiness, you sometimes get sorrow along with it. That is life.”And he finished on a comforting note by saying, “Bad patches do happen. When [Sachin] Tendulkar was playing in Australia, even he didn’t perform in the first three Tests, then he got a double hundred in the last Test. He too had a bad patch.”***In a desperate attempt to bolster its image, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to hire a public relations firm. Dawn reports about how the idea was put forth by two “honourary” consultants, old-time friends of the PCB chairman. The PCB, invited four public relations firms to Lahore headquarters last week for presenting their credentials.***Steve Bucknor is targeting a century. He expressed his desire to officiate in a hundred Test matches before 2007, the year he plans to announce his retirement. In a report in AFP he said, “I have set a target of 2007 for myself and with the speed of Test matches I am doing I hope to complete the century before retiring.”He continued, “I have to work hard to keep myself fit and to meet the demands of umpiring in the high-profile game of cricket and it would be a great honour to complete [a] century of Tests as umpire.” After the Lahore Test, Bucknor’s score stood at 89. Considering his fairly poor run off late, he could be in for some nervous nineties.

South Australia’s build-up for the forthcoming season got underway today with fitness testing at the Kidman Park Sports Institute in Adelaide.The squad got together yesterday to lay some programs and put plans in place for the new season. The rest of the week will be occupied with a variety of speed and agility, weight and fitness programs.The squad has been bolstered by the return from Britain of vice-captain Greg Blewett, wicketkeeper Graham Manou and 2003 Bradman medalist Ryan Harris. New state coach Wayne Phillips said he was looking forward to getting the team together.”The physical side of pre-season starts tomorrow, and we will be usingexperts at SASI to help with the physical preparation of the squad,” hesaid. “I’ve been in the job for a month now, have talked individually with theplayers and I’m now looking forward to getting into the physical side oftheir preparation.”