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Former India captain Rahul Dravid believes Karnataka opener KL Rahul and Railways legspinner Karn Sharma should be a part of India’s squad for the Test series against Australia in December-January

Gaurav Kalra03-Nov-20143:19

Dravid: Wrist spinners have a greater chance to succeed in Australia

Uncertainty over agenda

There is confusion over the purpose of the selection committee meeting on Tuesday. While BCCI insiders maintained that the selectors will select a team only for the last two ODIs of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, sources close to selectors said Sandeep Patil’s panel will select the squad for the Test series in Australia. The selectors will have to decide on the strength of the squad for the Test series. In England, India’s squad consisted of 18 players.

Former India captain Rahul Dravid believes Karnataka opener KL Rahul and Railways legspinner Karn Sharma should be a part of India’s squad for the Test series against Australia in December-January. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Dravid also stated that, in his view, Ravindra Jadeja and Gautam Gambhir would be surpluses to the team’s requirements on tour, while Suresh Raina would have to wait longer for a Test comeback. India’s national selectors will meet in Mumbai on Tuesday and could possibly name the team for the tour.Rahul, the 22-year-old Karnataka batsman, was one of the leading run-getters in the 2013-14 domestic season and recently scored a century in each innings of the Duleep Trophy final in New Delhi for South Zone. According to Dravid, this is the “right opportunity” to introduce him to the senior set-up.”He has scored over 1000 runs in the domestic season, looks in really good form with twin hundreds in the Duleep final, so if you are going to give a youngster an opportunity, it’s good to pick him if he’s in good form and actually playing well,” Dravid said. “You are picking him, at least initially, as a back-up opener.”Dravid also backed Shikhar Dhawan as an opener, stating that he “needs to be given another tour considering his track record in the last 10-12 months.” Dhawan played three Tests in England before making way for Gambhir, but the latter failed to make an impact, scoring 25 runs in four innings at an average of 6.25.Dravid was also convinced that despite some blow-hot-blow-cold performances in England, the core of India’s middle order – Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma – should not be disturbed. According to Dravid, Raina was not “ready to replace these guys at the moment”, despite impressive performances recently in the shorter formats.Rahul Dravid’s squad for the Australia Tests

M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Karn Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron.

“In their short international careers all the four middle-order batsmen I have picked have shown you glimpses that they could form a really potent combination,” he said. “Sure they have struggled as well, which happens to most young cricketers. But if you keep chopping and changing for every overseas series, then you find yourself in trouble. So Australia will be a good test after the disappointments of England. I think all four of them actually deserve to be given a bit more time. So it’s not that somebody else is not good enough, I feel that the four here need to be backed, especially for this series.”Dravid felt that allrounder Stuart Binny, who played three Tests in England wouldn’t fit the bill in Australia. He felt that while India’s experiment with five bowlers in England was “a brave one”, the side would need six frontline batsmen in Australia.”In Australia, India will need six batsmen, given the kind of pace attack that Australia has and the wickets they will be up against,” he said. “Pick three quality fast bowlers and a spinner, and hope you put enough runs on the board to give your bowlers enough time to pick 20 wickets.”Karn Sharma got Dravid’s vote over Jadeja as “wrist spinners have a greater chance to succeed in Australia especially if they bowl slightly quicker in the air and have a good googly.” In 34 first-class matches since his debut in 2007, Karn has taken 66 wickets at an average of 28.87.”Jadeja does a good job at what he does,” Dravid said. “You know what you are going to get with him, he will bowl wicket to wicket, he will bat well for you at 7 or 8 but I just feel if you want to win Test matches in Australia and you have a quality wrist-spinner, you give yourself a great chance.”Dravid picked Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron for the fast-bowling slots as he reckoned India would need “a bit of pace in truer conditions like Australia”.”With the Kookaburra ball, you need to put in a lot more to get more out of it, you need some pace. So, in my opinion, guys like Umesh and Aaron become more valuable,” he said.Dravid was optimistic about India’s challenge although the side has slipped to sixth place on the ICC Test rankings and will start the series as underdogs.”If they keep playing good cricket like they have, things will turn,” he said. “When you have a young side, you are going to have some ups and downs but at least we’ve seen in the last three tours that they are going in the right direction. They came close a couple of times in South Africa and New Zealand and actually won a Test match in England but couldn’t maintain that consistency. Hopefully, they go one better in Australia.”

Jacques Kallis has announced his retirement from international cricket, across all three formats

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2014Jacques Kallis has announced his retirement from international cricket, across all three formats. The South Africa batsman had quit Tests late last year and decided to call time on his limited-overs career after the recent poor one-day tour of Sri Lanka.Kallis will, however, continue to play T20 franchise cricket for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and for Sydney Thunder in the BBL. He ends his ODI career with 11579 runs in 328 matches with 17 centuries and 86 fifties at an average of 44.36. He played 25 T20s, scoring 666 runs with five fifties. He is the only South African batsman with over 10,000 runs in Tests and ODIs. Kallis had played his final Test in December 2013 against India in Durban, finishing with 13,289 runs in 166 matches with 45 centuries, 58 fifties at an average of 55.37. His last T20 was in October 2012.Kallis, 38, had plans of playing the 2015 World Cup and was part of South Africa’s ODI plans in the build-up. However, he managed scores of just 0,1 and 4 in the three ODIs in Sri Lanka recently.”I realised in Sri Lanka that my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far,” Kallis said in a statement. “Ï just knew on that tour that I was done. The squad that was in Sri Lanka is an amazing one and I believe they have a good chance of bringing the trophy home in March.”I would like to thank Cricket South Africa, the team, the team sponsors, my sponsors, the fans and all the people who have been involved in my career. It has been an amazing journey.Kallis: Ï just knew on that tour (Sri Lanka) that I was done•Associated Press

“I am not retiring from all cricket as I have a two-year contract with the Sydney Thunder and, if possible, to help the Kolkata Knight Riders defend the IPL title we won earlier this year.”Kallis’ ODI future was in the balance last year when he went on a ODI hiatus for a year and nine months. He had opted out of the 2013 Champions Trophy for personal reasons and did not join the team for a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in August and the Pakistan series in the UAE. He used the winter break to reassess his future and spoke to coach Russell Domingo about playing one more global tournament. He thus made a return for the home ODIs against Pakistan and India towards the end of 2013. However, he was well below his best since his return, scoring just one fifty in seven games.The national selectors were planning to rest a few players for the upcoming three-match bilateral ODI series in Zimbabwe, but send a full-strength squad for the tri-series to follow. The challenge for the selectors was to build the team around Kallis and in the past, Faf du Plessis was left out to accommodate him.”South Africa has been blessed with one of the world’s greatest cricketing talents in Jacques Kallis,” said CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat. “He is undeniably one of the greatest players ever to have graced our wonderful game and he has certainly been the Proteas standard-bearer of excellence for nearly two decades.”He has played a huge part in making cricket a truly national sport of winners and, in doing so, contributed so much to the important process of nation building. He is a true professional and it has been an absolute privilege to have worked with him both as Convener of selectors and now as chief executive.””To say that we will miss him on the playing field is stating the obvious. Each one of us from this day on will treasure the many fond memories of his awesome career.”Though he had an illustrious career as a batsman, spanning close to 19 years, he was never a full-time captain. He led the side in two Tests, both at home against Australia, and 13 ODIs as a stop-gap.

Sunrisers are trailing Mumbai and Royals in their scramble for a playoff spot. They need a resounding victory over Kolkata Knight Riders, who are on a six-match winning streak

The Preview by Alagappan Muthu23-May-2014Match factsSaturday, May 24, 2014
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)4:11

Guha: Sunrisers have to win well

Big PictureShikhar Dhawan has begun to covert his starts for Sunrisers Hyderabad•BCCISunrisers Hyderabad have a laundry list of odds to beat if they are to clinch the final playoff spot. A dismal net run-rate of -0.231 puts them well behind their contenders, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals. They travel to Eden Gardens, one of the largest stadiums in the country, which has routinely and vociferously been behind Kolkata Knight Riders, who have won their last six games quite convincingly. Gautam Gambhir’s men are in sight of their their longest winning streak and a spot in the top-two on the points table.Three of the strongest hitters in T20s wear the Sunrisers orange. However, only David Warner has bolstered his threat with performance on the field. Aaron Finch and Darren Sammy haven’t yet caused the damage they are capable of. With the backbone buckling and their limited Indian talent taking too long to hit their stride, the Sunrisers bowlers needed to pick up the slack once again. Only they couldn’t. Sunrisers claimed 100 wickets in 17 matches last season at an average of 23.03, but in 13 matches this year their tally is 64 at 31.78.A upturn in form since the IPL returned to India and Robin Uthappa’s remarkable consistency at the top of the order has put Knight Riders through to the playoffs. They are now in contention to displace Chennai Super Kings, with whom they are level on 16 points, from the No.2 spot.Form guideKolkata Knight Riders: WWWWW (completed games, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: WWLLLWhere they standKolkata Knight Riders: Third place, with 16 points from 13 games
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Sixth, with 12 points from 13 gamesPrevious encounterThe Sunrisers think-tank had picked the top-order’s inability to push on as their major drawback this season and this game was another example. David Warner lasted 18 balls and his 34 was the top score as Umesh Yadav’s three wickets helped Knight Riders limit Sunrisers to 142. A string of 30s and a 40 from Uthappa took the visitors to victory by seven wickets.Watch out forDavid Warner has been shuttled up and down the order but his performance has not been affected. He has the most fifties in the tournament so far – the first came at No.3, the next three at No.4 and the last two while opening the batting. His 90 off 45 against Chennai Super Kings might well have ended his musical chairs up and down the order.At the other end is Sunil Narine, whose mechanical consistency – 20 wickets at an economy rate of six – is the major reason for Knight Riders’ confidence in their bowling. The battle between the two could well decide the result of the game.Stats and trivia Gautam Gambhir is the only batsman to have scored a half century in the three IPL games played between Knight Riders and Sunrisers Sunrisers won four out of six times when they posted a total below 150 in 2013. This year, they have managed only one win in four triesQuotes”We knew that we have the bowling attack to defend anything. But to chase has been my personal decision as lot of people have been tagging us as chokers and I wanted to rid of it.”
“I wanted to applaud every shot he played because he was batting magnificently”

ESPNcricinfo assesses Northamptonshire’s prospects for 2014

George Dobell29-Mar-2014Northamptonshire
Last year 2nd, CC Div 2 (promoted); Champions, FLt20; 2nd in Group A, YB40.2013 in a nutshell
Excellent. Hailed as the “best season we’ve ever had” by chief executive, David Smith, Northants’ won just the fourth trophy in their history – the Friend Life t20 – and gained promotion at the expense of richer rivals with more high-profile players in the Championship. They also only missed a Yorkshire Bank 40 semi-final on run-rate.Bearing in mind how awful they had been in 2012 – no team had won fewer games across all three competitions than Northants – it was a remarkable improvement and vindicated the appointment of David Ripley as replacement for David Capel midway through 2012 and the appointment of Stephen Peters and Alex Wakely as captains across the formats.A feature of Northants’ Championship cricket in 2013 was the depth of their batting, with the lower-order regularly disheartening their opposition with impressive fightbacks. So 171 for 8 against Essex became 399 all out; 236 for 6 against Glamorgan became 453 all out – both setting up innings victories – and 172 for 7 against Hampshire became 425 for 9 declared.With the ball, Trent Copeland proved an inspired addition and was well supported by David Willey and Stephen Crook. Andrew Hall, released from the burden of captaincy, enjoyed an excellent season with bat and ball.Willey enjoyed a fine T20 season and was rated the competition’s most valuable player, with Richard Levi and Azharullah, the top wicket-taker in the competition, also featuring in the top 10. But it was fitting that in the final Willey scored the fastest half-century of the season and claimed a hat-trick to seal the title.2014 prospects
Northants have not enjoyed the perfect run-in to the season. They have already learned that their limited-overs captain, Alex Wakely, is out for the season after sustaining a ruptured Achilles tendon on the pre-season tour of Barbados, while David Willey is recovering more slowly than expected from a stress fracture of the back and, less than two weeks before the start of the season, has barely bowled and reports more pain in the affected area.Trent Copeland, so effective as an overseas player in 2013, cannot return due to (self-defeating) work-permit regulations while his replacement, Jackson Bird, has had his stay curtailed on the orders of Cricket Australia.But there are grounds for optimism, too. Batsmen Rob Newton and Peters are both back to fitness after injury problems last year, while the club have added seamer Maurice Chambers and spinner Graeme White. Olly Stone should also boost the seam attack after an injury-ruined 2013. While survival in the top division should be deemed a success, it is not beyond Northants and there is no reason they should not continue to challenge in the limited-overs formats.Key player
Steven Crook should probably have been in Bangladesh with the England World T20 squad. A powerful batsman and deceptively quick, skiddy bowler, he is just the sort of allrounder England required. But, whether it is age, 30, his Australian heritage or the fact that he plays for an unfashionable club, he seems to have been oddly overlooked. But England’s loss is Northants’ gain and Crook should continue to have a large impact at county level. As well as proving counterattacking batting or acceleration, he has the pace and variations to surprise well-set batsmen on good wickets. It would underline his influence on the side if he was promoted to the captaincy of the limited-overs teams this season in the absence of Wakely.Bright young thing
It bodes well for Northants’ future that there are several options in this category. Ben Duckett, who looks likely to benefit from Wakely’s absence, appears to have a bright future as a keeper-batsman, while 20-year-old Olly Stone is a highly impressive seam bowler. But it is Rob Newton who could surprise opposition this season. The 24-year-old was injured for much of last year but has the compact technique and range of strokes that looks capable of helping him emulate the success of David Sales.Captain/coach
Ripley remains head coach, with Peters captain of the four-day team. No replacement has been named for one-day captain Wakely, though Crook is the favourite for the role.ESPNcricinfo verdict
Despite the injury setbacks, Northants should be capable of avoiding relegation. While the depth of their squad is not huge, they have more quality within it than Derbyshire had in a similar position last year and a better crop of young players developing through the club’s system. Repeating the success of the FLt20 will not be easy but Northants should remain challenging opponents in both limited-overs formats.

Virat Kohli, who scored a century in the first ODI in Napier, said it was important to want to hit the short balls in order to play them well

Abhishek Purohit in Hamilton21-Jan-2014If India’s batsmen need advice in tackling the short ball, they can get it from their team-mate who cracked 123 off 111 in his first international innings in New Zealand, in the first ODI in Napier. Before the second match in Hamilton, Virat Kohli said that it was important to want to hit the short ball in order to get into a good position to do so, while elaborating on his approach.New Zealand had made it clear before the series started that they planned to target the Indians with pace and bounce, especially on faster pitches, and four of India’s top six subsequently fell to the short ball in Napier. Kohli said that as international batsmen, the Indians needed to be technically and physically better equipped to deal with that.”It’s a very personal choice of any team, what sort of plan they want to come up with against us,” Kohli said. “I think a lot of teams have tried to bounce us out but that hasn’t been the case for the longest time that I have seen. Mostly the bouncer is a plan to set you up for the next ball to nick you off. A bouncer is never to scare you away, it is just to put in the batsman’s head that there might be a short ball coming, another one, because you have two in the over now.Virat Kohli was one of the few Indian batsmen who played the short ball well in South Africa•Associated Press”I think as international cricketers, we have got to be good enough to stand up to that challenge and be fit enough to actually react to those deliveries. That’s where your fitness counts as well. If you are not fit enough, you might not have the reflexes to actually tackle a ball thrown at 150 kmph and you might be totally exposed or found in a very uncomfortable spot. As I said, we should be prepared to face anything. If it is a seaming wicket, if they are trying to nick us off, then we should be technically correct to tackle that. If they are trying to bounce us out, we should be technically correct to leave the ball or, if confident, pull the ball.”Detailing his own methods, Kohli said one could either strike or leave a bouncer in the end, but it was important to be balanced and set up to play the initial shot.”I think even to leave the ball on a bouncer, it is very important to want to hit the ball. If you are looking to leave the ball, your weight is already on the back foot and then you are in no position to leave or hit the ball. If you are looking to hit the ball, you take your body forwards and then you can be balanced enough to duck under it. I think that is one key aspect that a lot of people mistake.”If you are looking to leave the ball, then more often than not you will get hit on the glove or the helmet. If I am looking to hit the ball, then I can get under the ball much better, I have much better balance because my body is going forward. I have a good base to duck under the ball.Kohli said he preferred to pull rather than hook, and that too in front of square, a strategy he said gave him more control. “Even if I am not ducking, if I have a good base, then I have confidence to actually pull the ball and I look to hit it in front of square. I hardly look to hook the ball unless it is on my body, so it gives me more control. It gives you that extra half a second because you know you have to hit the ball in front of square, so you have to be quick enough to do that. You have to be quick enough to tackle the ball coming at 140.”Having a clear mind was also crucial, Kohli said. Completely backing whatever he decided to do with a particular delivery, and doing it wholeheartedly, was something he said he had picked up in South Africa.”One thing I learnt in South Africa was when you are batting, whatever you are doing, you need to commit to it fully,” he said. “Because people are bowling at you at 140-145 kph, there is not much time to decide and think later on, after the ball is bowled. Whatever you want to do, you got to read the length and commit to the shot. If you want to leave the ball, you have got to commit to that.”

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced a triangular four-day tournament to begin on October 8, which effectively replaces the postponed Test tour of Zimbabwe

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Oct-2013

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced a triangular four-day tournament to begin on October 8, which effectively replaces the postponed Test tour of Zimbabwe. The tournament features Sri Lanka’s Test side and its best first-class talent. Two of the matches will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds and the third at the P Saravanamuttu Oval.The Board XI – which largely comprises Sri Lanka’s Test players – will play a Sri Lanka A team and a Development team, with those teams also playing a match against each other. The Board XI is led by Test captain Angelo Mathews, while Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne – both of whom are also being groomed for leadership – will captain the other teams.”We want to give those youngsters a chance for the future,” chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said. “Chandimal and Thirimanne are good prospects for the future, and we wanted to give some responsibility to these two youngsters also.”Prasanna Jayawardene will keep wickets for the Board XI, suggesting he may remain in the selectors’ plans for Tests. Shaminda Eranga is a notable exclusion from the Board XI, but Jayasuriya said he had only been selected in another team because it would provide each of the cricketers in Sri Lanka’s fast-bowling battery with match practice.”We just picked the teams in a way in which everyone can play,” he said. “We put some important players in other teams to do that. Eranga is there so he can play every game and bowl a lot. This will allow us to give them experience and make use of everybody.”The tournament will have first-class status and will be the only domestic four-day tournament played this year, with Premier League matches having been contested over three days. Forty-six players have been named in the squads in total.Board XI: Angelo Mathews (capt), TM Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Dimuth Karunaratne*, Angelo Perera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Ajantha Mendis, Lahiru Jayaratne, T PriyashankarSri Lanka A: Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), Mahela Udawatte, Pabasara Waduge, Kaushal Silva, Kithuruwan Vithanage, Ashan Priyanjan, Chaturanga de Silva, Ishan Jayaratne, Dilruwan Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Vimukthi Perera, Madura Lakmal, Chathura Randunu, Ramith Rambukwella, Bhanuka RajapaksaDevelopment Team: Lahiru Thirimanne (capt), Shehan Jayasuriya, Kusal Perera (wk), Rumesh Buddika, Sachithra Serasinghe, Roshen Silva, Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Madawa Warnapura, Tharindu Kaushal, Malinda Pushpakumara, Vishwa Fernando, Kanishka Alvitigala, Lahiru Gamage, Shaminda Eranga, Niroshan Dickwella, Seekkuge Prasanna*Dimuth Karunaratne was added to the Board XI squad after his name had been mistakenly omitted

MatériaMais Notícias

Identificado com o Fluminense, o meia Thiago Neves revelou, mais uma vez, a sua vontade de atuar pelo Tricolor. Apesar de ter mais dois anos de contrato com o Cruzeiro, o jogador afirmou o desejo de encerrar a carreira no clube das Laranjeiras ou no Paraná, seu primeiro time no futebol.

– O sonho do meu avô é que eu voltasse a jogar no Paraná. Ele e minha família quase toda torcem pro Paraná Clube. E o da minha família do Rio, a de agora, meus filhos e minha esposa, é o Fluminense. Então fico meio que dividido, não sei o que vou fazer – declarou o apoiador, de 34 anos, ao “Aqui com Benja”, programa da “Fox Sports”.

RelacionadasFluminenseApesar de desfalques, M. Ferraz diz que confia nas opções do FluminenseFluminense18/03/2019Galeria PremiumSem Ganso, mas com opções: Flu terá mudanças para Sul-AmericanaGaleria Premium18/03/2019

Thiago Neves disse ainda que a renovação de contrato com o Cruzeiro foi motivada pela sua boa adaptação a Belo Horizonte.

– Já estou com 34, tenho mais dois anos com o Cruzeiro. Optei por ficar no Cruzeiro porque a proposta era boa, meus filhos estão na escola, então já estamos adaptados a Belo Horizonte. Voltar para os clubes que eu gosto não é o momento. Mas daqui a dois anos, um ano, a gente não sabe – explicou.

No momento, Thiago Neves recupera-se de lesão muscular, que o tirou da maioria dos jogos do Cruzeiro na temporada. Em 2019, foram apenas quatro partidas disputadas pelo experiente meia.

Além de Paraná e Fluminense, Thiago Neves jogou ainda no Vegalta Sendai (JAP), Hamburgo (ALE), Al Hilal (SAU), Flamengo e Al Jazira (EAU).

ودع نجولو كانتي نادي تشيلسي الإنجليزي برسالة عبر حسابه الرسمي على “إنستجرام”، حيث انضم إلى اتحاد جدة السعودي.

وأعلن اتحاد جدة تعاقده مع كانتي لثلاثة مواسم، وقد غادر الفرنسي صفوف تشيلسي خلال انتقالات الصيف الحالية.

وكتب كانتي: “وداعًا تشيلسي، لقد حان الوقت بالنسبة لي لفتح صفحة جديدة في مسيرتي المهنية، ولكن قبل ذلك، من المهم جدًا بالنسبة لي أن أشكر عائلة تشيلسي الرائعة والجميلة”.

وأضاف: “المشجعون واللاعبون والمديرون والطاقم الطبي وأعضاء مجلس الإدارة، كل من كان معي خلال المواسم السبعة الماضية في هذا النادي الأسطوري”.

تابع: “فقط الذكريات الجيدة والانتصارات العظيمة والألقاب التي لا تنسى معكم، من أعماق قلبي شكرًا جزيلاً لكم، لن أنساكم أبدًا”.

وواصل: “وبالطبع أخيرًا وليس آخرًا، أشكر عائلتي، أصدقائي، الذين كانوا دائمًا بجانبي في الأوقات الجيدة والسيئة”.

وأكمل كانتي: “دون أن أنسى وكيل أعمالي كريم والمستشارين رشيد وإدريس الذين قدموا لي مثل هذا الدعم الثمين منذ بداياتي وكانوا جزءًا كبيرًا من نجاحي”.

وأتم: “لم تكن الأوقات الماضية سهلة بالنسبة لنا ولعائلتنا، لكننا كنا قادرين على البقاء متحدين لمواجهة الشائعات والأكاذيب، نراكم قريبًا لخوض مغامرات جديدة على أرض الملعب مع الاتحاد والمنتخب الفرنسي”.

After the end of the second day’s play in Barbados, Darren Sammy said what’s been said several times before, that cricket was “a game of shifting fortunes and glorious uncertainties,” and despite West Indies being in a dominant position, he was going to “remind the guys that this game is not yet over.”West Indies had faced plenty of uncertainty at Kensington Oval and it had been Sammy’s attacking half-century that shifted momentum in their favour, after a spirited Zimbabwe bowling performance had reduced the hosts to 151 for 6, in danger of conceding a first-innings lead to opponents who hadn’t played Test cricket in a year.With Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul falling in the space of seven runs, West Indies were down to their last recognised batsmen, Sammy and Denesh Ramdin, and the pair produced a 106-run stand. Sammy did not hold back, flaying the bowling during his 73 off 69 balls.”I backed myself and I played my natural game,” Sammy said. “That partnership with Ramdin and myself really put us in a good position and set up the game nicely.”Today for me it wasn’t about survival as I always back myself to play the proper shot. They gave me some loose balls and I put them away. That’s cricket – you respect the good balls and when you get the bad balls you put them away. It was a matter of [proper] execution. It was good to see that Denesh at No. 6 and myself scheduled to be at No. 7 were able to put on over 100 runs and put the team on the right track after we were five wickets down.”Ramdin was batting in his 50th Test on his 28th and he marked the occasion with a half-century, digging in for 62 off 130 balls. After his stand with Sammy, Ramdin batted with the tail to take West Indies past 300 and secure a lead of 96.”I was focused on getting a score and batting the team out of trouble,” Ramdin told WICB Media. “Wickets fell rapidly yesterday and we had a few fall early in the day so I knew I had to settle in and stay focused on batting to the end.”It was fantastic batting with Sammy and I was thrilled to watch the way he dominated the bowling. He took all the pressure off me and put all the pressure on the bowlers. He loves to go after the bowling and that meant there was less pressure on me. He is that kind of player, he can change the game in quick time and I was just happy to rotate the strike and run hard between the wickets.”After taking the lead, West Indies strengthened their grip on the Test by taking three Zimbabwe wickets, reducing them to 41 for 3 before stumps. “We wanted to bat all day but we didn’t so when we came out to bowl we were hunting for wickets,” Sammy said. “From the time Zimbabwe came down we were focused on winning. We have won four Test matches [in a row] and before this Test series we said we wanted to win this one – take it game by game, day by day.””We are well on top with the wickets – with Shillingford getting two wickets and Shannon bowling quite fast and getting the other wicket. We got three of their top order batmen out and they are still over 50 runs behind.”

Ottis Gibson wants his West Indies side to use their Twenty20 success to help improve their one-day cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2013

Ottis Gibson wants his West Indies side to use their Twenty20 success to help improve their one-day cricket. They go into the series in Australia ranked seventh in ODIs and Gibson is looking for them to move up the ladder.West Indies open their tour against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Tuesday with speculation surrounding Gibson’s future. He will almost certainly be in charge for the five-match ODI series and the one-off T20 – West Indies first match against a major nation since winning the World T20 in October.”We are the T20 world champions and we are proud of what we achieved in that tournament but that doesn’t put any added pressure on the team,” Gibson said. “Hopefully with that victory and what we achieved more people will come and watch us.”It’s something we have to move on from and think about moving up the ladder in one-day cricket and getting ourselves in the mix with the best teams in the world. We believe we’re a top team but we now have to show it with the way we play.”West Indies welcome back Ramnaresh Sarwan into their squad, which Gibson described as having a “good mix” of young and experienced players. They prepared with the Caribbean T20, which Gibson saw as a positive with all his players getting game time and playing themselves into form.”We’re hoping we can hit the ground running,” he said. “The Prime Minister’s XI is our one opportunity for preparation and it gives us a good chance to get some practice. Hopefully we put on a good show but the main aim is to get our preparation right for the one-day series on Friday.”West Indies captain Darren Sammy echoed his coach’s sentiment on getting their preparation right. “The guys have been playing a lot of cricket back home and hopefully we can get this series off to a great start here. As an individual and as a team we have just got to get the basics right and execute if you want to win.”West Indies lost their last ODI series 3-2 in Bangladesh, and the series against Australia comes less than 12 months after the sides drew 2-2 in the Caribbean last March.”It will be competitive out here, that’s for sure,” Sammy said. “I see it as a continuation of what happened in the Caribbean. We want to play hard, competitive cricket. It’s always a challenge to play Australia anywhere in the world, but even more so in their own backyard. We believe we can come here and if we can execute our plans and play to our strengths, we can be successful.”West Indies have a poor recent record to overcome. They have not won an ODI in Australia since January 1997 – 13 completed ODIs ago – and their last series victory came in 1992, when they won a tri-series also involving Pakistan.”We have a lot of respect for Australia, you can never count Australia out,” Sammy said. “They’re professionals and know how to dig themselves out of a hole. We won’t watch the results of the Sri Lanka series but we’ll look at some areas to implement in our game. I expect it to be a hard-fought battle and we’re looking to play it very hard.”As might be expected, Sammy is looking to Chris Gayle to have a defining impact for them. West Indies played at the same venue against the Prime Minister’s XI two years ago and made 399 for 5 off 45 overs. Gayle made 146 off 89 balls.”I remember Chris hitting the ball all over the park,” Sammy said. “I’m expecting Chris to have a good tour as a whole. When he came back home he looked really good and I think he almost had the most runs in the Caribbean T20 tournament after just a couple of games. We all know what he’s capable of, but the strength for us is the way the team has performed together. We are getting stronger as a unit.”