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Bailey holds nerve to guide Tasmania home

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George Bailey controlled Tasmania’s tricky chase with an unbeaten 74 that sealed a tight win over New South Wales

Cricinfo staff05-Dec-2009Tasmania 7 for 178 (Bailey 74*, Smith 3-43) beat New South Wales 177 (Henriques 37, Denton 3-19) by 3 wickets

ScorecardGeorge Bailey stayed composed as his side edged past the Blues•Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The captain George Bailey controlled Tasmania’s tricky chase with an unbeaten 74 that sealed a tight win over New South Wales. A testing pitch in Launceston made life hard for the batsmen and it was Bailey’s innings that stood out as his side reached 7 for 178 in a three-wicket win.Chasing the Blues’ 177, Tasmania were looking comfortable at 3 for 87 following a stand of 51 between Brett Geeves (36), the makeshift opener, and Bailey. However, Steven Smith created some awkward moments with 3 for 43 before Bailey, who hit three sixes and four fours during his 89-ball stay, and Brendan Drew (31) guided them home.The Blues, who have lost three of their four games in the competition, relied on some late hitting from Stuart Clark and Simon Keen to reach their total on a pitch offering some unpredictable bounce. Gerard Denton caused the early damage with the prized wickets of Phillip Hughes (0) and Phil Jaques (0) in the first over before following up with David Warner (8) in a match he was not meant to play in. The late withdrawal of the opener Wade Irvine, who hurt his back in the warm-up, allowed Denton to take his place and he finished with 3 for 19.Moises Henriques started the recovery from 3 for 14 with a team-high 37 while Ben Rohrer’s 28 and Smith’s 25 avoided an embarrassing total. Clark and Keen both scrambled 29 to hold up the hosts while Geeves and Luke Butterworth collected two wickets each to keep the pressure on.

Mohammad Asif enjoying New Zealand sojourn

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Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif, Man of the Match for his nine wickets, has said he enjoyed bowling in New Zealand and felt he was getting back into the rhythm after missing Test cricket was nearly two years

Cricinfo staff06-Dec-2009Mohammad Asif, Man of the Match for his nine wickets, has said he enjoyed bowling in New Zealand and felt he was getting back into the rhythm after missing Test cricket for nearly two years.After his incisive display on day four, Asif recalled the last time he took 17 wickets in two Tests, in Sri Lanka in 2006. “I had two great Tests against Sri Lanka and now it’s same situation here,” Asif said. “The last match [in Dunedin where he took eight wickets] was fifty-fifty, not being decided till the last hour.”While the team had planned attacks for different New Zealand batsmen, Asif believed in an age-old and simple fast bowler’s mantra – just bowl to the stumps and pitch the ball in the right areas. “We watched videos of New Zealand batsmen, discussed which side they like to play, what weaknesses they have,” he said.However, Asif said the out-of-form New Zealand batsmen did not look nervous when facing up to him and Mohammad Aamer. New Zealand were bowled out for 99 in the first innings in Wellington and apart from Ross Taylor, the top-order batsmen have looked out of depth.
“I think they batted well. Taylor got 97, Daniel Vettori scored 99 in the previous game and Brendon McCullum also got a half-century,” he said. “Being in or out of form is part of the game. But facing the new ball in New Zealand is difficult.”Pakistan’s captain Mohammad Yousuf also stressed that the pitch was not easy to bat on. Though they won emphatically, bowling New Zealand 141 runs short of the target, Pakistan will be concerned about the number of catches they dropped in the match. They dropped six in the second innings alone: Yousuf dropped Peter Fulton on 2, Misbah-ul-haq dropped Taylor on 13, Umar Gul dropped McCullum on 13, Shoaib Malik dropped two in succession – Iain O’Brien and Daniel Vettori – and then Danish Kaneria dropped one of his own bowling when he failed to take a Vettori top edge.Yousuf felt that while the players were no doubt concerned, it had been very difficult to hold on to catches in the cold conditions. “The ball is moving around and because of the wind it is difficult to catch. I feel everyone tried hard and we are still working on our fielding,” he said.The serie decider in Napier is expected to be played on a flat pitch but Yousuf said he would wait until he had inspected the pitch before deciding whether or not to go with two spinners.

Seaming pitch expected at Wanderers

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South Africa will bank on home advantage finally paying off against England with a pitch that will boost their chances of levelling the series in the final Test

Andrew McGlashan in Johannesburg10-Jan-2010South Africa will bank on home advantage finally paying off against England with a pitch that will boost their chances of levelling the series in the final Test at the Wanderers. After failing to take the visitors’ last wicket at Newlands, South Africa must win to avoid successive home series defeats, following last year’s loss to Australia, and are looking for a few favours.The pitch at Cape Town became slower as the match went on making the new ball a crucial period of each innings. However, the expectation is that the surface at Johannesburg will offer something for the quicks throughout after above average rainfall around the highveld in the last few weeks.The man in charge of producing the 22 yards is Chris Scott and he knows what South Africa are looking for. “Obviously they have to win the Test, they don’t want to lose the series. They are looking at a result wicket because they don’t want to end with another draw,” he told Cricinfo.The Test strip will be one of the surfaces that was used for the Champions Trophy in September, which provided considerable help for the quick bowlers. Scott expects similar conditions this week, but has ensured his main surfaces have been protected with no matches on them since the Champions Trophy.The Wanderers has staged a huge amount of cricket in the last 12 months, with Scott also having to produce surfaces for the IPL. His job has been made harder by a reduction in the number of pitches available down from six to four, which has meant a juggling act to get surfaces ready.”Last year, I lost two of my main pitches and they are out of commission for the whole season so everything has had to be squeezed on the others and it has been more of a challenge,” he said. “But I’ve kept the Test pitch protected, there hasn’t been any cricket on it since the Champions Trophy to allow them to recover.”They’ll be pretty much like the Champions Trophy I would say,” he added. “The pitches for the Champions Trophy were not accidental, I said before the tournament that the pitches would be more lively, but I had to have them that way because I needed to look after them because they were my Test and ODI surfaces. I had to nurture them because I only had the other two to fall back on.”Despite having produced a mass of pitches for one-day and Twenty20 cricket in recent months, it is still the skill of providing a Test strip that gives Scott most satisfaction.”I’ve always maintained that a Test wicket should live up to its name in that it’s a test between bat and ball, unlike one-day cricket where everything is so loaded towards the batsman that the bowlers almost have no chance,” he said.”I actually enjoy doing a Test wicket because it allows you to create something that is going to have a balance and I love seeing Test cricket in that sense. The bowlers have got something to work with, there’s a bit more grass on the pitch, and over five days – if it lasts that long – the pitch will deteriorate.”

All-round Afghanistan clinch humdinger

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It was another team effort from Afghanistan as they picked up their second win of the tournament, beating Canada by five wickets

Cricinfo staff04-Feb-2010
Scorecard
It was another team effort from Afghanistan as they picked up their first win of the tournament, beating Canada by five wickets. It was still anybody’s game when Afghanistan needed 36 off the final four overs, before Mohammad Nabi’s cameo at No. 6 took them to the brink of victory, and a cool Samiullah Shenwari finished the job with a ball to spare.Choosing to bat, Canada were propped up by a third-wicket stand of 63 between Abdool Samad and wicketkeeper-captain Ashish Bagai. Bagai went on to score 53 off 42 balls, hitting seven fours, as Canada finished on a disappointing total, given the recent high scores at the SSC.Openers Karim Sadiq and Noor Ali, making his debut, ensured Afghanistan made a bright start, putting on 66 by the 10th over. But Canada fought back to take three wickets in three overs to reduce to Afghanistan to 105 for 4 in the 16th over. But three fours in Nabi’s 12-ball 23 tilted the balance and it was left to captain Nowroz Mangal and Shenwari to see them home in a tight finish.

Redbacks keep Warriors to 284

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South Australia’s bowlers backed their stand-in captain Daniel Harris’ decision to send Western Australia in at the WACA, restricting the Warriors to 284

Cricinfo staff08-Feb-2010
ScorecardAdam Voges was the top scorer for the Warriors with 54•Getty Images

South Australia’s bowlers backed their stand-in captain Daniel Harris’ decision to send Western Australia in at the WACA, restricting the Warriors to 284. At stumps, the Redbacks were 1 for 19 in reply with James Smith on 14 and Michael Klinger on 4.Several Western Australia batsmen made starts but none managed to fully get on top of the visitors. Adam Voges was the top scorer for the Warriors with 54 while three men, including the No. 9 Steve Magoffin, posted scores in the 40s.Marcus North was keen to impress ahead of the tour of New Zealand after a lean Test summer but he managed only 29, having already been dropped once. He was one of four wickets for Daniel Christian, who is enjoying a productive summer with the ball and is sixth on the competition wicket tally.Jake Haberfield was the other key bowler for the Redbacks, picking up 3 for 64. The debutant Gary Putland grabbed two victims.

Asia will be a big challenge for Howard – Murali

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Muttiah Muralitharan says he has forgiven John Howard for publicly deciding in 2004 that he was a chucker but remained unconvinced of the former Australian prime minister’s ability to woo the powerful Asian blo

Cricinfo staff02-Mar-2010Muttiah Muralitharan says he has forgiven John Howard for publicly deciding in 2004 that he was a chucker but remained unconvinced of the former Australian prime minister’s ability to woo the powerful Asian bloc. Howard was today nominated by the boards of Australia and New Zealand as their candidate for the post of ICC president from 2012 but Murali felt he would have to do plenty of convincing to do outside his home territory.Murali, 37, had boycotted Sri Lanka’s Test tour in 2004 after Howard copied the view of many of his subjects by questioning his action. “At the time I thought it was wrong – that was my opinion and he had his,” he told the .”It was not appropriate at the time but it’s all [in the] past. We’ve got to think about the future: how is he going to handle things in cricket? It won’t be an easy job. He has to convince the subcontinent – that’s going to be a tough challenge for him.”Murali was subjected to crowd taunts during that visit to Australia but the reception he received during the World Cricket Tsunami Appeal in 2005, as well as a meeting with Howard afterward, changed his mind and he visited as part of the World XI later that year as well as during his country’s tour in 2007-08.The Australian captain Ricky Ponting believed Howard, who led the country from 1996 to 2007, would “do a terrific job for world cricket” while endorsing the nomination. “He gets my congratulations and he gets the congratulations of the team,” he said in Napier. “It’s great that someone of his standing wants the job. It can’t hurt the ICC to have someone of his ilk in the position he’s going to be in. It’s not about Australia, it’s not about anybody else, it’s just about the global game and I’m sure he’ll do a good job in that role. It’s good news for cricket.”

Durham begin UAE trip with victory over Sussex

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Half-centuries by Michael di Venuto and Dale Benkenstein helped Durham warm up for their four-day clash against the MCC in Abu Dhabi next week with a comfortable 33-run win over Sussex

Mark Pennell in Abu Dhabi24-Mar-2010
Half-centuries by Michael di Venuto and Dale Benkenstein helped Durham warm up for their four-day clash against the MCC in Abu Dhabi next week with a comfortable 33-run win over Sussex in the Emirates Airline Forty40 at the Zayed Stadium.Chasing Durham’s seemingly modest 224 for 6, built around Di Venuto’s 51 and 61 by Benkenstein, Sussex lost two wickets in the opening over of their reply and never seriously threatened the target thereafter, capitulating for 191 to lose with 11 balls in hand.Fresh from shock defeats to part-timers Fly Emirates and rookie South African side the Emerging Cape Cobras, Michael Yardy’s side made a poor start to their pursuit at 5.63 an over by losing both openers in the space of six balls. Michael Thornely fenced at a length ball from Mitchell Claydon to be caught behind by debutant keeper Michael Richardson, then five balls later Joe Gatting chanced a second run on an overthrow to mid off and lost the race against Will Smith’s throw to the strikers’ end.Ben Brown committed another costly blunder when he pushed one from Will Gidman and set off, only for Smith to take aim at the non-striker’s stumps and run Brown out with a direct hit. Sussex fought back through Yardy (37) and Ragheb Aga (18) with a determined fourth-wicket stand of 52 in 11 overs, but the introduction of spin at both ends sent Sussex tail-spinning toward defeat.Young legspinner Scott Borthwick pegged back Yardy’s off stump after the left-hander missed an attempted dab to third man then Aga’s reverse lap against Gareth Breese looped to short third man. The run-chase effectively ended when Robin Martin-Jenkins ran past another well-flighted delivery from Gareth Breese to gift Richardson a stumping.Sussex keeper Andrew Hodd, playing solely as a batsman, helped save face with a bright 48 at almost a run-a-ball as he and Ollie Rayner added 55 before, in the first over of their batting Powerplay, Hodd chipped a simple catch to deep square and then Chad Keegan slogged to cow corner as the last three Sussex wickets went down for 11.Durham’s workmanlike total relied heavily on the experience of di Venuto and Benkenstein, who took a no frills approach to scoring their first fifties of pre-season on a flat, yet sluggish pitch. Each hit six boundaries in helping their side lay solid, if unspectacular foundations.Captain Smith chipped in with a composed 31 from 41 balls while left-hander Mark Stoneman chanced his arm to add 43, but should have gone on 1, only to see slip fielder Rayner grass a dipping chance at off the luckless James Kirtley.Monty Panesar finished wicketless from a six-over stint that cost 38 leaving Keegan as the pick of the attack for a Sussex side who will spend their seven-hour flight home to the UK reflecting on three defeats in as many starts during their visit to the UAE.

Vettori faces same old problems

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It’s not surprising Daniel Vettori looked a tired man after New Zealand’s loss in Hamilton

Brydon Coverdale in Hamilton31-Mar-2010It’s not surprising Daniel Vettori looked a tired man after New Zealand’s loss in Hamilton. Captain, selector, No. 6 batsman and best bowler is a heavy burden for Vettori.He bowled 67.3 overs at Seddon Park and flies out in a couple of days to join Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. It will be a welcome break from his many tasks.However, the time will come when Vettori and his fellow selectors Mark Greatbatch and Glenn Turner must make some decisions on the future of their Test team. Their next five-day challenges come on a tour of Bangladesh and India in six months and the opportunity to regroup will be valuable after a summer in which they won two Tests, lost three and drew one.The form of Brendon McCullum was a positive from the series loss to Australia, while Martin Guptill made some progress and Ross Taylor fired with a century. But right throughout the summer New Zealand have had issues in two facets of the game that have become familiar problems.”It is probably the same old theme of trying to get more out of our top three and still looking for that strike weapon with the ball,” Vettori said after the 176-run loss in Hamilton. “If we can solve those two problems then the rest of the components within the Test side are not too bad.”The first issue will be eased by the return of Jesse Ryder, who hasn’t played a Test this summer due to an ongoing groin injury. His eventual comeback might bump Vettori down from No. 6 but it won’t solve the bowling concerns, with the form of the 35-year-old fast man Chris Martin a particular worry.Martin finished the Australian series with 1 for 260 and his season return of 16 wickets at 47.93 in six Tests was disappointing for a man who should be the strike weapon. Martin’s pace has been down but Vettori remained confident he could still play a part in the Test team’s future and build on his career tally of 181 wickets.”I hope people don’t write his obituary just yet,” Vettori said. “I know he is determined to play for a while longer. He wants 200 Test wickets and I’m really confident Chris Martin can be in the mix with the fast bowlers [for the next tours]. I know he wants to and is desperate to. He is not pleased with his performance in this Test match and hopefully that makes him hungry to get better and get stronger for next season.”Jeetan Patel was another member of the attack who struggled for impact during the summer with four wickets at 74.50 in his two Tests against Australia and Bangladesh. There are other spin options around New Zealand, including slow-bowling allrounders like Nathan McCullum and Luke Woodcock, but Vettori was happy with Patel’s status as the second-best spinner in the country.”They need to bang the door down with their domestic performances,” Vettori said. “Jeetan tends to dominate at that first-class level and he’s a very good bowler. Sometimes when he is in and out of the team it is difficult so with some Tests coming up on the subcontinent that is his real opportunity to shine.”Such decisions can be postponed for the time being. For now, the New Zealanders can focus on the shortest format. The World Twenty20 starts in a month and before that Vettori can fly to India and remember what it’s like to concentrate solely on his own game.

Near misses for Gidman & Franklin as Gloucs dominate

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Captain Alex Gidman and James Franklin both fell agonisingly short of centuries but Gloucestershire still had the best of the opening day of their County Championship match

Cricinfo staff17-May-2010
Scorecard
Captain Alex Gidman and James Franklin both fell agonisingly short of centuries but Gloucestershire still had the best of the opening day of their County Championship match against Glamorgan in Cardiff. Gidman (97) and Franklin (95), the former Glamorgan allrounder, put on 155 in 46.2 overs as Gloucestershire finished the day on 303 for 5 after they had been reduced to 27 for 3 inside 10 overs.This was a crunch early season meeting between second and third in the table – both sides with three wins to their name. Glamorgan were without in-form strike bowler James Harris, who has been called up to play for the England Lions in a three-day clash against Bangladesh at Derby starting on Wednesday.But the Welsh county did include former England offspinner Robert Croft, who went into the match requiring just 11 wickets to reach 1,000 in first-class cricket for Glamorgan. He has been surplus to requirements for the last four games. But it was the Glamorgan seamers, Huw Waters and David Harrison, who made an early impact on Gloucestershire’s batsmen.Waters struck in his second over, trapping Jonathan Batty lbw and three overs later the other opener Chris Dent was also went lbw, Harrison the wicket-taker this time, as the visitors found themselves reduced to 17 for 2. Glamorgan were convinced they had a third wicket when Gidman appeared to be caught at first slip by Jim Allenby off Harrison. But the batsman stood his ground and the umpires – George Sharp and Stephen Gale – ruled that the ball had not carried.The third wicket did arrive however when Hamish Marshall made it a trio of leg-before dismissals to give Waters, who produced impressive early figures of 2 for 14 from 10 overs, his second victim. Gidman made the most of his good fortune and began to put together an impressive partnership with Franklin as bat started to dominate ball.Either side of lunch, which Gloucestershire reached at 74 for 3, Glamorgan began to wonder where the next wicket was going to come from. Gidman reached his 50 from 116 balls and Franklin reached his own half century from six fewer deliveries.But just as in Gloucestershire’s previous match when he made 99, Gidman failed to reach three figures as he became the fourth batsman to go leg before, the wicket going to Allenby this time. Fifteen overs late Franklin also perished in the nervous nineties, caught behind off Dean Cosker. But Steve Snell and Chris Taylor then carried on the good work finishing the day with an unbeaten partnership of 121 from 23 overs.

Nottinghamshire frustrated by rain

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Title-chasing Nottinghamshire were frustrated by the weather in their attempts to overhaul County Championship leaders Yorkshire, with only 17 overs of play possible on day one against Essex at Trent Bridge

29-May-2010
ScorecardTitle-chasing Nottinghamshire were frustrated by the weather in their attempts to overhaul County Championship leaders Yorkshire, with only 17 overs of play possible on day one against Essex at Trent Bridge.After waiting until 1700 for the game to start, Nottinghamshire skipper Chris Read unsurprisingly chose to field in the damp conditions after winning the toss. Faced with a potentially tricky session, the visitors managed to reach 61 for 2 at the close.Openers Tom Westley and Jaik Mickleburgh were the men out, leaving Ravi Bopara and Matt Walker to resume in the morning. Nottinghamshire, two points behind Yorkshire and with two games in hand, were able to call upon the services of Ryan Sidebottom with the left-arm seamer not picked for England, but it was one-cap wonder Darren Pattinson who struck first.Westley had taken advantage of a short boundary on the Bridgford Road side of Trent Bridge to clip a six off his legs in Pattinson’s fourth over, but the seamer responded in the next over with a good length delivery resulting in a thin edge to Read.Sidebottom’s England colleague Bopara had a bit of luck to get off the mark with a thick edge to the third-man boundary but Mickleburgh then departed lbw to former Essex all-rounder Andre Adams. Bopara and Walker survived until to the close and, with better weather forecast for the remainder of the match, the hosts will be looking for early wickets tomorrow against the struggling visitors.