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Sean Abbott returned to cricket at the SCG, bowling a bouncer in his first over and collecting two wickets as New South Wales dismissed Queensland for 268

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2014
ScorecardSean Abbott returned to cricket at the SCG, bowling a bouncer in his first over and collecting two wickets as New South Wales dismissed Queensland for 268. Two weeks to the day after Phillip Hughes was struck by a bouncer bowled by Abbott at the same ground, cricket returned to some sense of normality around the country, with a Test match in Adelaide and three Sheffield Shield games.The New South Wales players wore shirts emblazoned with PJH 707 as a tribute to Hughes, who was the 707th man to represent the state, and wore black armbands. When Abbott was introduced in the 13th over he was applauded by spectators and sent down a bouncer with his fifth ball, which the batsman Joe Burns ducked underneath.Burns and Marnus Labuschagne put on 73 for the opening wicket before Labuschagne was caught off the offspin of William Somerville for 39, and Burns fell to Mitchell Starc for 59. Abbott’s first wicket came when he bowled Nathan Reardon for 6 and in his next over he added another when Ben Cutting was caught behind for 3.Queensland were in trouble at 6 for 132 but James Hopes and Chris Hartley rebuilt with a 105-run partnership that ended when Hartley fell to Somerville for 41. Starc added a third wicket, that of debutant Cameron Brimblecombe, and Hopes was then the last man out for 85 as the Bulls were dismissed in the 84th over.New South Wales batted nine overs before stumps and reached 1 for 17, with Ryan Carters on 7 and nightwatchman Somerville on 8. The one wicket to fall was that of Nick Larkin, who was caught off Hopes for a duck.

Brendon McCullum has said that Jimmy Neesham can become a “real weapon” for New Zealand at the top of the order in limited-overs cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2014Brendon McCullum has said that Jimmy Neesham can become a “real weapon” for New Zealand at the top of the order in limited-overs cricket. The allrounder will open the batting in the first T20 against West Indies. The opportunity has come about with New Zealand choosing not to fly in reinforcements for the tour-ending two T20s after the Tests, and could make it easier to include both allrounders Neesham and Corey Anderson in the side’s future limited-overs plans.”One of the real positives out of this is being able to give guys who may not have had some of the opportunities they are going to get otherwise,” McCullum said. “Jimmy Neesham at the top, I am excited to see how he goes. He has got the game to succeed at the top of the order in the short version of cricket. I don’t want to see him focus on that in Test cricket because he has made a great start in the role he is in but short version I think he can be a real weapon for us at the top and allows us to balance our attack nicely as well and get both allrounders into the line-up.”New Zealand’s coach Mike Hesson echoed the same sentiments. “He’s a power player. He’s a guy that can hit the ball from ball one and can play seam and spin equally well. He’s got the attributes, so we’ll give him a good opportunity.”Jimmy Neesham has been in fine form on the West Indies tour•Associated PressNew Zealand secured a hard-fought Test series win with a relatively inexperienced XI. McCullum was looking forward to seeing more young players taking up their opportunity. “Ish Sodhi will make his debut tomorrow and the wicket looks like it should favour his sort of bowling so hopefully he will perform well and we will continue to build the depths and strengths of our short-version team.”I must admit it is a little bit hard to refocus somewhat on two T20 games at the end of the tour but we have some high standards that we try and live by and this will be a good test of whether we can remain consistent with our traits and characteristics that we want to be known for in a different format in a challenging situation.”We will wait and see. You never really know. In T20 you can prepare as well as you possibly can and things don’t go your way so with a bit of luck I think we have got the team that can win these next two games.”McCullum said New Zealand were up against a “formidable” T20 team. “Very good team, even without Chris Gayle in their ranks. The guys opening the batting are two proven T20 players so they have got a lot of power throughout their batting line-up… Sunil Narine leading their attack with the mystery he brings as well as Samuel Badree.”They are a formidable team and they are going to be a tough proposition for us but even though we haven’t got some of our better T20 players here, a lot of our guys have played a lot of domestic T20 cricket so hopefully we feel well and are able to finish the tour on a high note.”

Dwayne Bravo admitted that his opponent Denesh Ramdin’s batting inspired his team in yesterday’s four-wicket CPL win over Guyana Amazon Warriors

Renaldo Matadeen25-Jul-2014Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel captain Dwayne Bravo has said his opponent Denesh Ramdin’s batting inspired his team in their four-wicket CPL win over Guyana Amazon Warriors.Ramdin smashed 84 from 45 balls with six fours and six sixes for the Amazon Warriors, and Dwayne Bravo confessed to be taken aback by the bravado on display.”Denesh’s batting really inspired me. He came out there when his team was down and really took it to us,” Dwayne Bravo said. “That got me thinking that once we could go out there and bat 20 overs, with self-belief and fight, we could do the same.”Dwayne Bravo made a crucial impact in the match himself, scoring 67 off 42 balls, but it was his brother Darren Bravo who stole the show with an unbeaten 69, including a match-winning six off the last delivery.”We tried to copy what Denesh and [Jimmy] Neesham did for Guyana. We wanted to sit in the middle and build a big partnership like theirs. We knew that without Sunil Narine, on such a small ground, it was a gettable total once we batted through.”Despite the win, Dwayne Bravo stated that his team needed to improve in the field after yet another disappointing performance. “There were a few vital chances missed and there’s always room to improve,” he said. “Our batting clicked today but we still need to be better in the outfield. Sometimes these things do happen and you have days like today.”Reflecting on the loss, Ramdin admitted to being disappointed with his team’s bowling, especially in the absence of Narine, though he expected the injured spinner to be available for the next match.”We tried our best but the Red Steel batsmen did their job and the better team came out on top,” Ramdin said. “We didn’t have Sunil who’s out injured but he’ll be resting a couple days and hopefully, we’ll have him back for the next game.”

Tasmania have offered Michael Hill a chance to emulate Ed Cowan by making the most of a new start after a stuttering career in his home state of Victoria

Daniel Brettig23-Apr-2014Tasmania have offered the former Australia Under-19 captain Michael Hill a chance to emulate the likes of Ed Cowan and Michael Klinger by making the most of a new start, after a stuttering career in his home state of Victoria.Though highly rated when moving through the junior ranks – he also led Victoria to the Under-19 national title in 2007 – Hill has never quite managed to make a state place his own with the Bushrangers, a pair of first-class centuries the high points over the course of 19 appearances that have tallied 823 runs at 26.54.These figures are remarkably similar to those of Cowan with New South Wales before he too made the move south to Tasmania as a fringe left-handed batsman, and soon carved out a top order niche that ultimately led to Test selection.Klinger, recently signed by Western Australia, was likewise the beneficiary of a move away from home, building on a mediocre record in Victoria with numerous strong years with South Australia. At 25, Hill was looking for fresh pastures after the Bushrangers chose not to include him on their list for 2014-15.Andrew Dykes, the Tasmania general manager of cricket, said Hill is “a proven top order batsman and has an incredible amount of talent”. His chance was opened up partly by Mark Cosgrove’s decision to move back home to South Australia following his own successful stint with the Tigers.Elsewhere the Tigers were ultimately able to retain the services of Cowan, Tim Paine, Alex Doolan and Ben Hilfenhaus, though none were named in the state’s initial contract list.Cowan and his family are set to spend more time living in their hometown of Sydney, but flexible living arrangements will allow the opener to stay with Tasmania after he pondered signing with NSW.Like Cowan, Hilfenhaus returns to the Tigers’ contract list after losing his CA deal, while Doolan will hope to be upgraded to a central contract with further national appearances after a promising start at No. 3 on the testing battlegrounds of South Africa.Aiden Blizzard, Adam Maher, Ben Laughlin and Steve Cazzulino are among the Tigers players not offered new state contracts for the coming summer.Tasmania squad: George Bailey (CA), Jackson Bird, Luke Butterworth, Ed Cowan, Xavier Doherty, Alex Doolan, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner (CA), Andrew Fekete, Evan Gulbis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hill, Hamish Kingston, Dominic Michael, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Clive Rose, Jordan Silk, Timm van der Gugten, Jon Wells. Rookies: Gabe Bell, Ryan Lees, Beau Webster, Sean Willis

Forty of Pakistan’s top cricketers will participate in a month-long fitness camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore

Umar Farooq06-May-2014Temperatures in Lahore are expected soar past 45 C in the next one month, during which 40 of Pakistan’s top cricketers will undergo fitness training at the National Cricket Academy. Mohammad Akram, the NCA coach, hopes to “make the players sweat” and ensure a talent pool that is “fully attuned to survive” at the international level.The players underwent a preliminary examination to plot their current fitness level. The first 18 days of the camp will be concentrated on physical conditioning, while remaining 12 will be spent on honing all three disciplines followed by match simulations.”We have been looking for a window in which we could obtain a thorough insight of our players’ fitness level,” Akram said at the Gaddafi Stadium. “It might have been a talking point but we don’t have proper record on our players’ actual levels of fitness. Now players will be reassessed every four months to make them realise how important this aspect is.”The weather might tough for the camp but we deliberately planned for it. We could have taken this camp to relatively cooler places like Abbottabad or Murree but that won’t work. We actually wanted our players to work hard and sweat so that eventually he will be attuned for top level. I can’t claim that player will be super fit within this month but it definitely will create a significant difference.”Though fitness is one of the three criteria (performance and integrity clearance being the others) that define a player’s prospects of making the Pakistan side, it has not been given as much priority until now.”Being a professional, a player must maintain his fitness on his own but unfortunately in our culture it’s difficult,” Akram said. Additionally, there was much debate over psychological assessments of the players being included in the programme. Pakistan are known for frequent batting collapses, with players crumbling under pressure despite their evident talent. Former coach Geoff Lawson had hinted at the need of a sports psychologist for Pakistan.”It is a need but most of our players are very strong-minded and despite off-field issues they bounced back really well,” Akram said. “But yes we have already engaged a psychologist who will be delivering lectures every week.”Apart from batsman Azhar Ali, 39 players have undergone a screening test. Azhar has been ruled out of the camp due to a stress fracture in his right ankle and needs a month of rehabilitation.”It isn’t a serious injury but he still needs a four-week rest,” Akram said. “He is residing in the NCA and will be doing his rehabilitation on the sidelines of the camp. Mohammad Irfan is up and running and will be in action during the camp.”

CG curator Tom Parker is adamant that concessions to the demands of multi-sport stadiums will not go so far as to force Sydney to resort to the drop-in pitches now used in Melbourne and Adelaide

Daniel Brettig in Sydney02-Jan-2014Sydney’s cricket ground has undergone major redevelopment since the last Ashes Test at the ground, with last-minute work on the new MA Noble and Don Bradman Stands set to go on into the night on match eve. But the SCG curator Tom Parker is adamant that concessions to the demands of multi-sport stadiums will not go so far as to force Sydney to resort to the drop-in pitches now used in Melbourne and Adelaide.”It’s only myself here and Gabba that have traditional pitches,” Parker said. “We’re a dual purpose ground and it is a mammoth task to change over from AFL to cricket and maintain a first-class pitch. For the characteristics of the SCG, even if you had a drop-in here, you’re not going to replicate the centre that’s out there at the moment. No I think we’re right, the Trust is pretty staunch. Can’t say it’s never ever going to happen but in near future nothing on the drawing board I can assure you of that.”Parker said the SCG surface for this Test was slightly grassier than usual because a recent Big Bash League fixture had encroached on his preparation time, but expected the strip to offer the sort of balance between ball and bat witnessed in recent summers. A sunny day will encourage batting, while overcast skies may result in the seam-friendly conditions offered to Pakistan on day one in 2010.”It has a green tinge to this pitch and we had BBL match here on the 29th so we had to limit our preparations so we could ensure if someone ran across this pitch it didn’t get damaged in that match,” Parker said. “But in saying that beautiful humid, hot day today. Been here for hours on the heavy roller, we’ve cut that down now at 3mm and we’ll be cutting it again and rolling it again so a lot of that greenness will go out of it.”I anticipate it’s going to be very similar to what we’ve seen here last year. More looking for good, consistent carry to the keeper, should see a bit of bounce in this pitch as well given the amount of grass on it and the mature grass that’s on this pitch. It’s different to tour match pitch here earlier in the season when we were changing over from AFL and we didn’t have as much time.”If it’s overcast and the forecast is for some possible light showers or drizzly rain and if it’s like that you may well bowl. And I think you’ve seen here in the past when it’s overcast and cloudy the ball does move around a bit here at the SCG, so we’ve really got to wait for the day and hopefully it’s a bright sunny day.”Parker was one of the nation’s groundsmen directed by Cricket Australia at the outset of summer to prepare surfaces less grassy and more reflective of international conditions for the Sheffield Shield. Several curators were unhappy to be dictated to, and Parker stated his own intentions with similar bluntness.”I prepare a pitch that’s fair and just for both teams,” he said. “I’m not about preparing pitches for batters or bowlers or any other side.”

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said they perished under pressure although they had talked up the weight of expectations on the home side

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur16-Mar-2014Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi said they perished under pressure although they had talked up the weight of expectations on the home side. Gracious under fire, Nabi said that his team wasn’t overconfident, and praised Bangladesh’s spinners.This was the fourth time Afghanistan were bowled out for less than 100 runs in T20 internationals , three of them now coming against Test-playing nations.”We didn’t handle the pressure well so we lost,” Nabi said. “We enjoyed the big game, the pressre game. We weren’t overconfident. It’s a part of the game. Today Bangladesh played very well, that’s why they won the game. Otherwise we are not a team to lose like this. The conditions, the pitch was a little too difficult as well.”Despite the talk of building pressure on Bangladesh, Afghanistan themselves were troubled by a big loss to Zimbabwe in the warm-up game two days ago, and a worrying batting trend against spin. All of these problems came together for Afghanistan on an important occasion.The ball did turn from the start, even when Nabi and Karim Sadiq bowled early in the Bangladesh innings. Nabi also defended his batsmen when asked if their aggressive approach was wrong. However, he said the batsmen would have to work on their approach against quality spinners.”We didn’t expect that kind of a pitch too much but they bowled very well and got the extra bounce so we struggled in the middle,” he said. “If we had scored a bit more, it could have been a good game.”Since the Asia Cup, we have been struggling against quality spinners. We will try to improve against them. We will try our best to be stronger in the next two games. We just threw one or two wickets away, [Mohammad] Shehzad and Gulbadin [Naib]. Otherwise, two run outs and two good balls. We can’t play like that. We need to improve,” he said.Following Shahzad’s first-ball dismissal, Najeeb Tarakai and Gulbadin Naib staged a recovery by adding 36 before the latter gave Sabbir Rahman a chance to make amends after dropping him the previous ball. It triggered a collapse, from which they never recovered.Nabi said they are now pinning their hopes on a Bangladesh loss to either Nepal or Hong Kong, which would reopen their bid for the main draw. “We will try our best to win both games,” Nabi said. “It’s cricket, nothing can be said. If Bangladesh lose one game, we might come back.”

Jesse Ryder has his sights set on a place at the top of New Zealand’s batting order when the one-day squad for the series against West Indies is named on Thursday

Andrew McGlashan18-Dec-2013Jesse Ryder has his sights set on a place at the top of New Zealand’s batting order when the one-day squad for the series against West Indies is named on Thursday.Ryder has not played at international level since February 2012 when he was dropped for disciplinary issues during the one-day series against South Africa. He has since had to serve a six-month suspension for taking a banned stimulant, a period which coincided with his recovery from the serious assault he suffered in Christchurch earlier this year.Since returning to domestic cricket for Otago, following a move away from Wellington, he has scored 454 runs at 64.85 in four Plunket Shield matches. There has been understandable caution about Ryder’s return to the New Zealand fold, but he trained with the squad recently and now feels ready to dip his toe in the water again and has had a few conversations with coach Mike Hesson and national selector Bruce Edgar.”I feel that I’m probably in the best form that I’ve been in for a long time,” Ryder told LiveSport radio. “The confidence is there and it’s just a matter of getting my chance back in that side.”I’m not too sure what they are thinking but they are happy with the way I’m going so hopefully I can push for that West Indies one-day team.””I started opening and it would be nice to get back in to that opening spot,” he added. “But first and foremost I have got to push for a place in that side. The boys are playing well and if I can keep scoring runs and push for a place then I’ll be happy.”Brendon McCullum said Ryder’s domestic form had made a compelling case for his recall. “I’m obviously a big fan of Jesse,” he said. “His move to Otago was the right move at the right time and he’s doing a great job run scoring runs which is the only currency we deal in. If he finds himself back in the environment then we know he will have earned it.”Ryder has played 39 ODIs and scored 1100 runs at 34.37 with two hundreds; his average opening the batting in 24 innings is 32.60 while his career-best 107 came at No. 3 against Pakistan.He is one of a number of top-order batsmen in contention for a place in the 13-man squad including Tom Latham and the fit-again Martin Guptill. In the bowling department Doug Bracewell won’t be considered after suffering an adductor injury training with the Test squad in Hamilton on Tuesday.

The Ranji match between Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu is being billed as a clash between UP’s strong bowling and Tamil Nadu’s formidable batting

Siddarth Ravindran in Meerut20-Nov-2013Meerut may have a reputation as a crowded industrial place, but the sprawling Victoria Park adds a much-needed expanse of green to the town. It houses the Bhamashah Stadium, which is surrounded by more open spaces for Meerut’s young cricketers to train in, much like the city’s two most famous cricketers, Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, did over the past few years.Several knots of cricketers – in full whites and with proper equipment – are practising there on the day before the Ranji match between Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. A short walk past them takes you to the main ground, where next to a whitewashed wall that serves as one of the sightscreens, several dozen spectators are watching the two Ranji teams train.This is the biggest match of the year for Meerut, and signs of that are all around. The ground itself is surrounded by temporary billboards, advertising everything from real estate to fertilisers, and also includes tributes to Sachin Tendulkar as well as notable Meerut cricketers. The boards denoting the scorers box, the media enclosure and the teams’ dressing rooms, all sport a distinctive logo with the words ‘Ranji Trophy cricket match’.A wide, white, single-storeyed building – the O’Donnell pavilion, named after a former principal of Meerut College, which owns the ground – is a hub of activity as the organisers try to ensure everything is in order for the match.Just ahead of the pavilion, some of the UP players are practising taking high catches. It’s a nippy, winter morning and the cold isn’t making training easy. ” (it’s stinging),” says one of the fielders, wringing his hands after snaffling a skier. The weather will take even more adjusting to for the visitors, with maximum temperatures in Tamil Nadu still well above 30 degrees.The match itself is being billed as a clash between UP’s strong bowling and Tamil Nadu’s formidable batting. Tamil Nadu have scored in excess of 450 in the first innings of both their matches this season, with B Aparajith and S Badrinath both having scored double-hundreds, and UP captain Piyush Chawla knew what his side was up against. “They have got one of the best batting sides and we have got one of the better bowling sides in Ranji Trophy circuit,” Chawla said. “It should be a good contest.”It doesn’t help UP, though, that both of Meerut’s finest bowlers are not available for this game. Praveen is out with a shoulder injury and Bhuvneshwar is away on national duty.Chawla and his bowlers are coming off a rough game in Rajkot, where Saurashtra piled up a mammoth total. Chawla bowled 51.5 overs in one innings. Little wonder then that the only time he got animated, during a short press conference, was when he spoke about the state of pitches in the country.”Wickets are quite flat these days, and if it is not flat, then it is seaming, so it becomes really difficult for the spin bowlers. Even if you see the list of highest wicket-takers in the last few years in Ranji Trophy, you won’t find many spinners in that, hardly one in top 10 or something. So that is a challenge, for a spinner to come on these sort of wickets and bowl your best and try to pick up something out of these nothing tracks.”Neither captain wanted to elaborate on how they thought the Meerut track would behave, but the surface generally favoured quick bowlers in the three matches held here over the past four years.

There have been incidents of protests in Barbados over Trinidadian Kieron Pollard’s appointment as captain of the Barbados team for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2013There have been incidents of protests in Barbados over Trinidadian Kieron Pollard’s appointment as captain of the Barbados team for the upcoming Caribbean Premier League. Apart from a “street protest” on Tuesday, as reported by the , former member of parliament Hamilton Lashley has spoken out on the issue.The protests centre around Pollard captaining the team ahead of Barbadians like Dwayne Smith and Kirk Edwards. According to the designer Wayne Cadogan, who led the street protest, said: “I am no Pollard or Smith fan, but I am looking at the principle of the matter.”Lashley, formerly the minister of social transformation, had earlier said: “I have a great difficulty with a Trinidadian captaining the Barbados franchise in the upcoming CPL. They have retained the name Barbados, so I believe a Barbadian like Smith or Edwards should be captain. I feel it is fundamentally and psychologically wrong. It affects the psyche of some Barbadians.”Barbados Tridents are one of two teams, from among six, to have captains from another country. The other is Antigua Hawksbills, who will be led by Jamaican Marlon Samuels.