All posts by csb10.top

Michael Vaughan is planning to be in Australia throughout England’s Ashes campaign this November, even though it is almost certain he will play no part. Speaking to Vaughan revealed he plans to fly out to Australia the week before the first Test which starts on November 23 at Brisbane.”The rehab is going as well as possible and we’re looking at me batting (in the nets) in October,” he said. “The day I get on a plane to Australia will be the time people can start thinking I’m going to play cricket pretty soon, because I won’t go unless I’m about two or three weeks off playing.”Vaughan, who had knee surgery nine weeks ago, missed England’s tour of India earlier this year and was ruled out of the summer. Even the most ardent of optimists would rate his chances of playing any part of the Ashes as decidedly low, but Vaughan remains quietly confident that he will, at least, pick up a bat again before Christmas.”There’s a realistic chance I’ll be on a plane on November 17 and do 10 days of training around the first Test,” he said. “I won’t train with the team because it’s important they just get on with it but I hope to use the likes of Matthew Maynard, the trainer and physio.”Hopefully I’ll play some cricket in December. I’ll have to do that if I want to be available to play the one-day series (starting in January). If things go incredibly well, there’s a small chance I could play in the end of the Ashes, though if it’s 1-1 with two to play, I can’t see them saying ‘have a game’ when I won’t have played for 12 months. But who’s to say I won’t be able to tell them I’ve scored two hundreds in Perth and I’m available for selection? Whether I get back in, or come back in as captain, is for others to decide.”

“I won’t go in and say, ‘I’ve won the Ashes, listen to me’, but I’m there to speak to anyone if they need advice,” Vaughan insisted. “Andrew Strauss rings me regularly and I ring him and we pass ideas off each other. I don’t think anyone’s a wizard who can say, ‘This is the way to play’, because it’s all instinctive when you get out in the middle against a team like Australia. Plans can change every half-hour.”The England captaincy was a hot issue throughout the winter tour of India. With Vaughan absent, the captaincy was handed to Marcus Trescothick before he too withdrew from the tour owing to personal problems. Andrew Flintoff was next in line and named captain for their tour of India, and for the summer. He then broke down, though, missing the Pakistan series and handing Andrew Strauss the captaincy. Vaughan isn’t concerned who captains England; be it Flintoff or Strauss, and insists that his presence in Australia won’t be a hindrance to the appointed leader.”I have every confidence that whoever they pick will do a good job. They probably need a bit of my experience of captaining against Australia, but I think they’ll be fine. I may be more help to the younger players, who are there for first time. I’ll be there if they want a coffee. Whoever gets the captaincy will do okay.”I don’t think it has a huge effect because hopefully I’ll be coming back, but it will be a life-changing experience for whoever does it, because captaining in the Ashes is more intense than anything. Every decision will be analysed. Only time will tell how much I’ve been missed.”

Nayan Doshi, the left-arm spinner, has terminated his contract with Surrey with immediate effect, ending a three-year association with the club.Doshi, 28, who joined Surrey in 2004, cited a lack of opportunity as his reason for leaving. “I regard myself as a good spin bowler,” he said, “and I just didn’t feel that I had the backing that I should have had. It is for this reason that I have decided to step down. There are no bad feelings as this was my decision and I wish the club the best of luck for the remainder of the season.”However, Alan Butcher, Surrey’s cricket manager, was disappointed at Doshi’s decision, arguing that the club “need people who are prepared to take on a challenge”.”It’s not unusual for a professional sportsman to be left out of a team,” Butcher said. “They don’t enjoy it but on most occasions they take it on the chin and fight to regain their place as Alastair Brown has vowed to do.”It’s a pity that Nayan is unwilling to do this as he was part of our future plans but in the position we find ourselves in, we need people who are prepared to take on a challenge. This appears to be no longer the case and so I have accepted his resignation.”In all, Doshi took 120 wickets in first-class cricket at 34.10 apiece, but his main success came in the Twenty20 where he is the leading wicket-taker at domestic level.

Chief Executive of Cricket NSW David Gilbert has announced the SpeedBlitz Blues squad to play Queensland in a Pura Cup match at the Gabba starting on Sunday February 1st, 2004.

Steve Waugh (c)
Greg Mail
Phil Jaques
Dominic Thornely
Mark Waugh
Brad Haddin
Aaron O’Brien
Stuart MacGill
Grant Lambert
Matthew Nicholson
Stuart Clark
Nathan Bracken (subject to fitness)
Doug Bollinger

“I don’t know what they are doing,” remarked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi about Jaipur, his home team, after the first players’ auction in Mumbai on February 20. Of the nearly US$ 42 million that was spent by the eight teams on blockbuster names, Jaipur had spent only around US$ 2.95 million.On Tuesday, after the second auction, Jaipur spent just US$ 385,000 more but emerged with the biggest smile of them all.For a total of US$ 3.35 million – just half a million over what Chennai and Hyderabad spent for MS Dhoni and Andrew Symonds in the first auction – Jaipur’s Rajasthan Royals are looking quite formidable: Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Younis Khan, Shane Watson, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Kamran Akmal, Yusuf Pathan, Mohammad Kaif, Munaf Patel, Morne Morkel and Sohail Tanvir.”We have put together a great squad from the two auctions at our price,” Fraser Castellino, the CEO of the franchise, told Cricinfo. “I would call this a victory for us. Other teams have great squads too, but now I believe they may have overspent a bit. We believe we are well-placed now, as good as any of the other teams.”While spending just under three-fourths of the near US$ 5 million that the seven franchises have spent, Jaipur’s strategy of staggering their purchases across the two auctions seems to have worked.”We would like to be called a strategic franchise now,” Castellino said. “After today, few people will say we are a weak team. There were a lot of people who made fun of us last time. What they failed to understand then was we had a clear strategy, and we were as sure as they were that this was serious business.”On Tuesday, Jaipur started the ball rolling by picking up England allrounder Mascarenhas (US$ 100,000), with whom they had been negotiating for the last few days. Hampshire’s Twenty20 specialist was a last-minute addition to the auction after being cleared early on Tuesday morning by the county, which also has Warne on its rolls.Then, they bought Australian allrounder Watson (US$ 125,000), South Africa fast bowler Morkel (US$ 60,000) and Pakistan left-arm seamer Tanvir (US$ 100,000).Explaining the strategy, Castellino said, “Yes, there were good players in the first auction. But we also knew then that there were a lot of good Twenty20 specialists who missed out and who would come into play in the second auction. We targeted them this time, and our strategy has worked.”However, Jaipur could still run into some trouble with the second part of their strategy – tackling the minimum cap of US$ 3.3 million for the first auction in two attempts. While Castellino claimed that the cap covered the entire auction process and included the amount spent in the second auction as well, IPL governing council member IS Bindra told Cricinfo that the penalty for falling short last month “still stands”.”It was very clear early on that the first auction was just the first step,” Castellino said. “All the franchises knew then that there would be a second auction. And as far as we are concerned, we have crossed the minimum cap and adhered to the rules.”Jaipur now plans to rope in some more players from India, some of them through their Cricket Star talent hunt, steered by former India coach Greg Chappell.”We will be taking a few more players from India, especially through our Cricket Star programme through which we are currently talent-spotting across the country,” Castellino said. “If we find some exceptional talent we will fast-track him into the team this season, but there will be somebody from the programme in the team definitely next time.”

With the England cricket team creating waves in the West Indies, Warwickshire joined forces with England’s main sponsors, Vodafone, to create an indoor beach cricket event for local primary schools.The aim was to bring a little bit of the Caribbean to Edgbaston Cricket ground. The indoor school was filled with 10 tonnes of sand, palm trees, surfboards and deck chairs, and the atmosphere was provided by a steel band and an barbecque.Two local Birmingham schools attended – Montgomery Primary and Prince Albert Juniors. They were coached by Warwickshire’s development coaches for the day and given tours of the ground as well. After a barbecque lunch, the children then got the opportunity to have a question and answer session with three England and Warwickshire players – the captain Nick Knight, Jim Troughton and Dougie Brown.The event was attended by 80 children, as a little taste of the Caribbean was brought to Birmingham on a cold March day.

The triangular tournament involving India, Sri Lanka and West Indies, starting on July 30, will not be played under the new rules for one-day internationals. The Sri Lankan cricket board have informed the BCCI of its decision not to introduce the changes, which officially take effect on July 31.Gautam Dasgupta, joint secretary of the BCCI, said: “We have received a letter from the Sri Lankan cricket board in this regard. It is the prerogative of the hosts to decide on this matter.” He added that the BCCI had no problem with the decision of the Sri Lankanboard to stick to the old rules.The new rules, which will come into effect from July 30, allow every team to make one substitution during the game and has 20 overs of fielding restrictions instead of 15, of which two blocks of five are used at the fielding captain’s discretion.England and Australia will become the first teams to trail the new rules during the NatWest Challenge, which starts on July 7, after both sides agreed to adopt the changes.

All Today’s Yesterdays – November 6 down the yearsNovember 5 | November 71999
The sort of all-action performance that makes you wonder how Michael Slater can ever fail to make the Test team gave Australia the whip hand over Pakistan in the first Test at Brisbane. Most batsmen would have started cautiously in reply to an imposing total of 367, but not Slater. He butchered 169 and put on 269 for the first wicket with Greg Blewett. And after Mark Waugh stroked an even hundred, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne rubbed it in. Gilchrist smacked an 88-ball 81 in his first Test innings, and Warne gleefully smeared four sixes in a then-Test-best 86, piling on 86 for the tenth wicket with his old mate Scott “Can’t bowl, can’t field” Muller (6 not out). Much-hyped before the series, Shoaib Akhtar nursed typically erratic figures of 32-2-153-4. In all Australia’s 575 took only 139.4 overs, the first display of the batting fireworks with which they would light up world cricket in the years to come. A defiant 119 from Saeed Anwar could not stop Australia completing an innings victory on the final day.1956
Birth of Western Australia’s Graeme Wood, a compact left-hand opener renowned for his stubborn determination and eccentric running – he became known as the “Kamikaze Kid” after a series of fiascos against England in 1978-79. Throughout his career Wood confounded expectations. Most notably, he followed hundreds in consecutive Tests (against England in 1980 and New Zealand the following winter) with three successive ducks. His Test career looked to be over after the 1985 England tour when he struggled, apart from a ten-hour 172 at Trent Bridge, but outstanding domestic form saw him return in 1988-89. He made a brave hundred against Ambrose, Marshall, Walsh and Patterson on a Perth flyer, but was dropped for the final time after the next match, as Australia tried out another left-handed opener … Mark Taylor.1956
Preparing a traditional Calcutta dustbowl backfired on India as they went down to a 94-run defeat to Australia in the third Test. In all 39 wickets fell in the match, and 35 of them went to spinners. Richie Benaud benefited more than anyone, taking 6 for 52 and 5 for 53, and though offspinner Ghulam Ahmed almost matched him with 7 for 49 and 3 for 81, a fourth-innings target of 231 proved beyond the Indians. It gave Australia a 2-0 series victory, neatly bringing down the curtain on the 45-Test career of their captain, Ian Johnson. He finished with exactly 1000 runs – and a slightly less symmetrical 109 wickets.1921
Birth of a true allrounder. New Zealander Geoff “Boney” Rabone was an aggressive batsman, an offspinner capable of turning to leggies or even medium-pace, an outstanding slip fielder and a popular captain. He captained New Zealand in five of his 12 Tests, and though they didn’t actually win any of them, it was hardly Rabone’s fault. At times he opened the batting and bowling, and he turned in some heroic performances, most notably in his first match as captain, against South Africa at Durban in 1953-54, when he made 107 (next-best: 32) and 68 (19) as the Kiwis went down to an innings defeat. He played his last Test against England at Auckland in 1954-55, when New Zealand were skittled for the alltime Test low of 26.1994
A rout at Harare, where Sri Lanka took their one-day series against Zimbabwe 2-1 with a thumping 191-run victory. It was their biggest win, in terms of runs, until they smashed India by 245 runs at Sharjah in 2000-01. The old firm of Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga set them up with a fourth-wicket partnership of 143 in 24 overs, with de Silva batting through for an unbeaten 107. Zimbabwe were always going to be up against it chasing 297, and it was effectively over when Chaminda Vaas and Ravindra Pushpakumara reduced them to 22 for 5. They were finally all out for 105 – there were only three fours in the whole innings – with Mark Dekker (23 off 109 balls) settling for some batting practice.Other birthdays
1876 Ernie Hayes (England)
1897 Jack O’Connor (England)
1919 Allen Lissette (New Zealand)
1927 Eric Atkinson (West Indies)

In the latest round of National League matches, Worcestershire came out on top, but only just, in a rain-affected game against Scotland, and Sussex defied the pace of Shoaib Akhtar to set Durham a stiff total at Hove, with Robin Martin-Jenkins picking up three cheap wickets as Durham fell 99 runs short.Worcestershire batted first after winning the toss at Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh, which had been soaked by morning rain, and were soon on the back foot, when Graeme Hick fell for 7, caught by Dewald Nel off the bowling of Asim Butt. Scotland continued to bowl well, and Worcestershire were reduced to 69 for 6 as five of the top six were dismissed for single figures, but Vikram Solanki (36) and Kabir Ali (33) provided a little stability, and helped Worcs to a total of 128 after 22 overs.In reply, Scotland lost Asim Butt early, and despite some runs from Sridharan Sriram (24) and Ryan Watson (26), were always behind the required run-rate. David Leatherdale, Kabir Ali and Nadeem Malik picked up wickets regularly, and despite Paul Hoffman’s last ditch effort, Scotland were never really in with a shout.At Hove, Matt Prior’s maiden century, and a 69-ball 81 from Chris Adams helped Sussex to a highly competitive 261 for 4 from 45 overs against the Durham bowling attack, lead by Shoaib Akhtar. Prior started fairly slowly, but after passing 50 accelerated well to bring up his hundred only 43 balls later. He finally fell caught by Graham onions off Neil Killeen for 119.An unbeaten 58 by Gary Pratt was the only highlight for Durham, whose top order were rolled over by Martin-Jenkin’s medium pace. Shoaib Akhtar once again failed at number four, and with only Gordon Muchall (22) sticking around for any length of time, Durham crawled to 162 for 8 at the end of their allotted overs.
Scorecard

Scorecard