Ashes series and Srilanka Vs Pakistan test Series Updates.

Brief History of The Ashes.

wishabhijit — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:59:52 +0000

The term ‘Ashes’ was first used after England lost to Australia – for the first time on home soil – at The Oval on 29th August 1882. A day later, the Sporting Times carried a mock obituary to English cricket which concluded that: “The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”. The concept caught the imagination of the sporting public. A few weeks later, an English team, captained by the Hon Ivo Bligh [later Lord Darnley], set off to tour Australia, with Bligh vowing to return with “the ashes”; his Australian counterpart,WL Murdoch, similarly vowed to defend them.

As well as playing three scheduled matches against the Australian national side, Bligh and the amateur players in his team participated in many social matches. It was after one such match, at the Rupertswood Estate outside Melbourne on Christmas Eve 1882, that Bligh was given the small terracotta urn as a symbol of the ashes that he had travelled to Australia to regain. On the same occasion, he met his future wife - Florence Morphy – who was the companion to Lady Janet Clark, mistress of Rupertswood, and governess to the Clark children.

In February 1884, Bligh married Florence. Shortly afterwards, they returned to England, taking the urn – which Bligh always regarded as a personal gift – with them. It stayed on the mantelpiece at the Bligh family home -Cobham Hall, near Rochester in Kent – until Bligh died, 43 years later. At his request, Florence bequeathed the urn to MCC. Today, over 75 years on, the tiny, delicate and irreplaceable artefact resides in the MCC Museum at Lord’s. Each year, it is seen by tens of thousands of visitors, from all parts of the world.

In the 1990s, recognising the two teams’ desire to compete for an actual trophy, MCC commissioned – after discussions with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia – an urn-shaped Waterford Crystal trophy (see right).

This was first presented to Mark Taylor after his Australian side emerged triumphant in the 1998-99 Test series against England. Since then, the trophy has been presented to the winning captain at the end of each Test series between Australia and England. Most recently, it was presented toRicky Ponting after his Australian side’s 5-0 victory over England in the 2006-07 Ashes series.

First Ashes test Preview.

wishabhijit — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:21:58 +0000

England’s turn to host the Ashes always results in an extended build-up and after 31 months the talk stops on Wednesday and a pair of teams with many fresh faces continue a 122-year rivalry. Both sides have changed line-ups considerably since the past two series and the chest injury to Brett Lee, who is out of the Cardiff and Lord’s games, takes further experience away from Australia while increasing the comfort of the local batsmen.

The home side has a new Ashes captain in Andrew Strauss and two match-winners in Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff. All three have beaten Australia and lost heavily to them. In the baggy green corner sits Ricky Ponting, a leader on his fourth tour of England, and he is in charge of an outfit that can no longer rely on Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist et al. After losing to India and South Africa, they crossed the Indian Ocean and beat the Proteas to retain the game’s top spot earlier this year, but doubt remains over their status.

On the rankings page this is a battle between No. 1 and No. 5, but for Australia and England it is much more than that. The history of the competition is so detailed that the players will be told to break it down to a simple, clutter-free contest. It will be impossible for the Ashes debutants and how they cope with the initial stages could determine the result of the first Test.

Instead of Lord’s or Edgbaston or Old Trafford staging the opening game, the players have stepped into Wales for the series welcome in Cardiff. It is the city’s first Test match and there are still rumblings that it has been given a chapter of Ashes history. Australian supporters have tried to move on from the gripping 2005 defeat and England fans seem to have slept through the 2006-07 whitewash. Both sides want this version to be unforgettable.

Team news

All of England’s players are fit so they have to trim two men from their squad. Ian Bell has returned to play for Warwickshire so the final choice will be between Monty Panesar and Graham Onions. Panesar had a much longer workout in the nets than Onions on Tuesday.

England (possible) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Ravi Bopara, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Graham Onions.

Lee’s stomach injury has seriously disrupted Australia’s plans and leaves a delicate choice for the tourists. Picking Nathan Hauritz alongside Johnson, Siddle and Clark is the most orthodox option, even though the offspinner has found county batsmen a challenge in the two warm-ups. Ben Hilfenhaus and Andrew McDonald will also have their cases pushed and all the combinations carry an element of risk.

Australia (possible) 1 Simon Katich, 2 Phillip Hughes, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Nathan Hauritz, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Peter Siddle.

Pitch and conditions

Ponting expects the pitch to have some moisture at the start, providing “slow-ish seam and trampoline” bounce, but he believes it will turn. The pitch spent most of Monday morning under the covers and when it was revealed in the afternoon there was not much green on the strip. Less colour was on show on Tuesday.

Andrew Strauss said it looked like a good pitch, but one that would not offer much pace or bounce. “There will be a little bit in it for everyone,” he said, “and that’s the sort of wicket we were hoping to see.” The weather has been unpredictable, with rain and sun fighting for attention, and more wet conditions are predicted for the end of the week.

Srilankan newcomer bowlers help to clinch 50 run victory over pakistan in series opener.

wishabhijit — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:39:38 +0000

Sri Lanka’s bowlers engineered a dramatic Pakistan batting collapse to clinch a 50-run victory on the fourth day of the opening test on Tuesday.

Pakistan resumed the day on 71 for two, needing just 97 runs with eight wickets remaining to win the opener of the three-match series, but wickets tumbled from early in the morning session and the tourists were bowled out for 117 in less than 45 overs.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath,who was rushed into the contest from English league cricket after an injury to Muttiah Muralitharan, sparked the collapse with the wickets of Mohammad Yousuf (12) and Salam Butt (28).

Left-arm fast bowler Thilan Thushara, a controversial pick ahead of veteran Chaminda Vaas, vindicated his selection when he had former captain Shoaib Malik caught behind for a duck to leave Pakistan in disarray on72-5.

Abdur Rauf and Mohammad Aamer threatened to stall the home side’s victory chargewith a partnership of 15 for the ninth wicket, but Herath deceived the latter with an arm ball soon after being called back for a second spell.Herath then wrapped up victory just before the scheduled lunch break when he got Rauf to edge to Jayawardene at slip.

Bret Lee doubtful of cardiff test.

wishabhijit — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:27:50 +0000

Australian fast bowler Brett Lee’s chances of leading the attack in the first Ashes Test starting Wednesday at Cardiff looked doubtful as he suffered a rib-injury during a tour-game against the England Lions.

The 32-year-old was in great touch during the game against the Lions but after the match he complained of pain on the left side of his rib-cage. He will undergo a scan and his participation in Cardiff is doubtful.

‘He has a sore left rib, but we won’t know the extent of it until the scans are back,’ an Australian team spokesman was quoted as saying in the English media. ‘We’re in a holding pattern until then.’

Lee is coming back from an ankle injury and his last Test was back in December when South Africa romped to a nine-wicket win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

India announces 30 member squad for ICC champions trophy on September this year.

wishabhijit — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:43:29 +0000

The BCCI has selected thirty players as probables for the ICC Champions Trophy 2009 at a meeting held at M A Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai on Monday.

Veteran players including Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag were included in the list along with the 16-man squad currently touring the West Indies for the event to be held in South Africa in September later this year.

The full squad list is given below:

1. M S Dhoni

2. Virender Sehwag

3. Gautam Gambhir

4. Yuvraj Singh

5. Rohit Sharma

6. Sachin Tendulkar

7. Rahul Dravid

8. Suresh Raina

9. Yusuf Pathan

10. Abhishek Nayar

11. Ishant Sharma

12. Zaheer Khan

13. R P Singh

14. Praveen Kumar

15. Harbhajan Singh

16. Pragyan Ojha

17. Ravindra Jadeja

18. Dinesh Karthik

19. Munaf Patel

20. R Ashwin

21. M Vijay

22. Amit Mishra

23. Ajinkya Rahane

24. Dhawal Kulkarni

25. S Badrinath

26. Ashish Nehra

27. Virat Kohli

28. Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh

29. Wridhiman Saha

30. Pankaj Singh

India win in the Digicel ODI Series as 4th ODI abandoned due to Rain.

wishabhijit — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:18:36 +0000

India won the series 2-1 after torrential downpour terminated the fourth ODI. With this victory, India have won their fifth straight ODI series.

Heavy rain causes the match to stop after 7 overs of play by that time WI scored 27/1 in 7.3 overs.Gayle failed to give a start as he get out for a duck.Morton and Sarwan is in the crease when heavy rain came to halt the play.

The game got off to a delayed start and Dhoni made the obvious decision to bowl on a damp pitch that offered some help to the seamers. Ishant Sharma, bowling a fuller length here, removed Chris Gayle and along with Ashish Nehra, didn’t allow West Indies to get off to a breezy start.

Ishant hit the good length and pinged the off-stump line and Nehra got some seam movement into the right-handed batsmen. Sarwan hit a gorgeous on-the-up square drive against Ishant in the sixth over to break free but just as he started to find his rhythm, the rains came down again to kill the contest.

As the game called off and India win the series 2-1.In the post match Presentation Cris Gayle said,”Congratulations to Dhoni and his teams for winning. Looking forward to the Bangladesh series now. There aren’t too many positives to come out of this series, given that we lost.”

4th Digicel ODI Preview:India Aim at 5th series win on the trot.

wishabhijit — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:30:26 +0000

It may have been a dismal World Twenty20 for India, but when it comes to one-dayers they have been unstoppable over the past year. MS Dhoni’s boys have strung together 4 comfortable series victories since the defeat in the Asia Cup Final, and with plenty of ODIs coming up India will want to extend that winning sequence with a success on Sunday.

On the other hand, West Indies haven’t won a series against serious opposition in more than a year. To salvage this one, they need their pace spearhead Jerome Taylor to fire; in the absence of Fidel Edwards there’s more responsibility on Taylor, whose performances have mirrored West Indies’ fortunes in this series. Unless he and his pace-bowling colleagues provide the early breakthroughs, West Indies will have a tough time against the savage hitters in the Indian middle order.

Friday’s game at the Beausejour Stadium was shortened to a 22-over affair due to rain, and showers are forecast for Sunday morning as well, raising the possibility of another curtailed game.

England’s 13 men squad selected for 1st npower test against Australia.

wishabhijit — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:21:12 +0000

England today announced a 13-man squad for the 1st npower Ashes Test against Australia at Cardiff starting on Wednesday.

Ian Bell and Graham Onions have been added to the eleven that drew with Warwickshire in a three-day warm-up game at Edgbaston earlier this week.

The full squad is:

Andrew Strauss (capt) Middlesex

James Anderson Lancashire

Ian Bell Warwickshire

Ravi Bopara Essex

Stuart Broad Nottinghamshire

Paul Collingwood Durham

Alastair Cook Essex

Andrew Flintoff Lancashire

Graham Onions Durham

Monty Panesar Northamptonshire

Kevin Pietersen Hampshire

Matt Prior Sussex

Graeme Swann Nottinghamshire

National Selector, Geoff Miller said: “We were delighted with the way in which the team performed in the warm-up match at Edgbaston and it was very encouraging to see Andrew Flintoff bowl so well on his return to the side.

“We were keen to show consistency in selection and retain the nucleus of the side that performed so well against West Indies in the npower Test series earlier this summer. Graham Onions has made an excellent start to his Test career and gives us a different option when we consider the make-up of our bowling attack and the type of conditions we will encounter.

“Ian Bell has performed well in County cricket this summer and he will act as cover batsman for this Test Match should any of our established batsmen be unavailable through injury.

“There is healthy competition for places in our starting line-up at present and the strong performance by the England Lions against Australia at Worcester demonstrated that we are starting to develop a larger squad of players who can compete effectively with international class players.”

Kristen said,”Rain gave India the advantage.”

wishabhijit — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:46:27 +0000

Gary Kristen, India’s coach, has credited India’s innings not being affected as much as by inclement weather as crucial to taking a series lead. West Indies innings began two hours late and was interrupted thrice due to rain, and further intervals initially readjusted India’s target to 195 in 27 overs before a further shower reduced it to 159 in 22 overs. In the end, thanks to MS Dhoni’s unbeaten hand, India won in the final over with six wickets in hand.

“It definitely helps a team batting second in this type of set up,” said Kirsten. “It did suit us to be batting second because you can dictate the game a little better when the overs are shortening in terms of what you need.”

India went into the final over needing 11 and Dhoni hit the second ball from Jerome Taylor over midwicket to leave India on course for victory. “Someone like MS Dhoni can hit the ball out the ground at any time so it was comforting knowing that we had him at the crease controlling the game,” said Kirsten. “He’s had a magnificent series and he’s played some really good one-day cricket for us. When it comes down to the wire it can go either way, the most important thing is that you have game breakers and match-winners in at that situation.

“It became a Twenty20 game and you know that when you are chasing more than a run a ball and [the required run rate] is up at eight and nine and you have one bad over, you’re behind a little bit. [Dwayne] Bravo bowled a magnificent second to last over when he went for five. But we had quality batsmen in so we always felt that one good over [would make the difference’,” Kirsten said.

The electronic scorecard at the ground blanked out toward the end of the game, forcing Kirsten to relay required scores to the batsmen at the crease. “It was mind-blowing to be honest, but the umpires were giving them notice every over so they knew what was going on,” he said. “They were fully aware from us what the Duckworth-Lewis totals were so we were pretty much in control of that.”

India lead 2-1 with one to play on Sunday.

India Seals Victory over Windies by DL Method in 3rd Digicel ODI.

wishabhijit — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:18:01 +0000

India sealed a tense six wicket Duckworth/Lewis victory off the penultimate delivery in a match which must hold some obscure record for the most rain interruptions. Chasing 186 for victory from 27 overs, the Indian target was reduced to 159 from 22 overs after the fifth rain interruption.

Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, marshalled his team to victory with an unbeaten 46 from 34 balls with two boundaries and one maximum to secure the Man of the Match title and win himself a Blackberry Storm from the series sponsor.

At the outset of their run chase, top scorer and makeshift opener Dinesh Karthik (47 from 43b, 5×4, 1×6), and Gautam Gambhir (44 from 38b, 2×4) set the victory march on a firm foundation as they put on 84 before Karthik – a regular wicketkeeper who has been thrust into the opening role in the absence of the injured Virender Sehwag – was dismissed by lanky left arm spinner, Sulieman Benn (5-0-31-1).

The Indian run chase received a further boost in the 14th over when rain stopped play for the umpteenth time. At that stage, after 13.3 overs India were 95 for 1 needing 186 from 27 overs.

At the resumption of the Third Digicel One Day International at the Beausejour Cricket Ground, their target was reduced to 159 and they effectively needed 64 runs from 51 deliveries. With nine wickets in hand, they held the clear advantage.

Dhoni played as intelligently as he had done in his innings of 95 in the previous game at Sabina Park and an Indian victory seemed a certainty until the end of a phenomenal 21st over by the irrepressible Dwayne Bravo (4-0-27-1). With 16 runs needed from 12 balls, Bravo sent down six deliveries at the cost of five miserly runs plus the wicket of Rohit Sharma (11 from 9b) who tried to get India out of the red by attempting a big heave.

It meant that the visitors were set back, they then needed 11 runs from the last over. Windies skipper, Chris Gayle, chose Jerome Taylor (3.5-0-39-0) to bowl the over and after a single from the first delivery, Dhoni effectively secured the win with a huge six into the stands off the next. With four runs from four balls needed, a double and two singles formalised the triumph.