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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.

Dinesh Karthik has returned to the national squad almost three years after he last played for India

Amol Karhadkar04-May-2013Ever since he burst on to the domestic scene as a teenager more than adecade ago, Dinesh Karthik has been considered as a prodigious talent with the bat. Add to it his skills as a wicketkeeper and exceptional fielder and he becomes an all-round package.But without consistent performances, talent doesn’t get you too far. As a result, it wasn’t a surprise when Karthik was dropped from the Indian team after an ordinary outing during the tri-series in Dambulla where he scored 33 runs in five innings against New Zealand and Sri Lanka.Similarly, after a season in which Karthik was at his consistent best, nobody was surprised when Karthik returned to India’s squad for the Champions Trophy, to be played in England from June 6. Even the man himself wasn’t surprised.”I am happy about it [selection]. I’ve been batting well and it feels good when your efforts are rewarded,” Karthik said. He has been in exceptional touch while batting at No. 3 for Mumbai Indians during the IPL – 331 runs in 10 matches at a strike-rate of almost 140 – and it has come at the back of a run-heavy domestic season.In the season-opening Corporate Trophy, he emerged as the highest run-getter with 301 runs from three innings for India Cements. Then in the Ranji Trophy, even though it was a disappointing season for Tamil Nadu, Karthik was by far their top scorer with 577 runs at 64.11.Then came the domestic one-dayers. And even though Tamil Nadu failed to progress to the all-India knockouts of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Karthik scored at least a fifty in each of his five innings. As a result, despite playing only five games, he finished as the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament.”All along [these three years], I have been working hard in domestic cricket,” he said. “I have been trying to be as consistent as possible. And it feels good enough to score virtually every time I bat these days.”The confidence drawn from such consistency means Karthik wasn’t weighed down at the prospect of replacing an ODI stalwart like Yuvraj Singh. Though Karthik hasn’t yet been spoken to either by the selectors or team management about his specific role in the team, the squad composition hints that he may well be required to bat in the middle order. And he is up for thechallenge. “That is what I have done even earlier, so I am ready to play any role that the team management expects of me – whether a specialist batsman or a keeper-batsman.”Over the last two years, Karthik has been working with his personal coach Prasanna Agoram, the South African national team’s performance analyst. And the efforts have culminated in Karthik being recalled to the national squad, incidentally for a tour to the same country where Karthik made his international debut more than eight years ago.”We had to make minor corrections to my batting techniques,” Karthik said. “That has helped me immensely in order to be good enough to score every time I go out to bat. I would like to thank Prasanna and all my family members who have stood behind me during difficult times.”

Shane Watson is considering his future in the game after being axed from the squad for the Mohali Test on disciplinary grounds

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2013Shane Watson is contemplating his future in the game after being axed from the squad for the Mohali Test on disciplinary grounds and then leaving the tour to be with his pregnant wife. Watson was one of four players punished by the team management for ignoring team orders.Since being named Michael Clarke’s vice-captain in 2011, Watson’s Twenty20 and ODI displays have remained strong but his Test appearances have been neither consistent nor convincing. His struggles in India despite being one of only two batsmen to have made a Test hundred on the subcontinent were a major contributor to Australia’s 0-2 deficit.There is little doubt Watson’s T20 career will continue for he is scheduled to return to India in April for the IPL, where he had also indicated he would return to bowling for his franchise rather than his country. In ODIs he has the lure of the 2015 World Cup to sustain him. But it is now plausible that at 31 he has played his final Test match.”Any time you’re suspended for a Test match unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are … I think it is very harsh,” Watson told reporters at the team hotel in Chandigarh. “At this point in time I’m at a stage where I’m sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my cricket in general, to be honest. I do love playing, there is no doubt about that, but at this point in time I’m going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly which direction I want to go.”There are lot more important things in life – I certainly do love playing cricket and that passion is still there and I feel like I’m in the prime years of my cricket career. From that perspective I still feel like I’ve got a lot to give. But from a holistic perspective I’ve got to sit down with my family and decide which directions they are.”Watson, along with James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson were told this morning by the coach Mickey Arthur that, in an unprecedented decision, they would not be considered for the third Test. After the loss in Hyderabad, inside three and a half days, Arthur had asked every member of the squad to let him know three points on how their individual performances and those of the team could be improved. These four players did not comply with the directive.Watson said he had been going to tell the team management that he would need to miss the fourth Test to be with his wife, who is due at the end of the month, but had been informed of his axeing before he could do so. “I was about to communicate that to Mickey and the leadership group today but they obviously beat me to it by telling me I wasn’t selected for this Test match,” he said. “Also overnight, things have changed and Lee wasn’t going to tell me things had changed because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play this Test match. It was due in a couple of weeks but it’s looking like things have sped up a little bit.”With four players unavailable, Australia’s squad is down to 13 players for the Mohali Test, and if wicketkeeper Matthew Wade’s ankle does not heal, they will have to pick a team from 12.

The former Australia allrounder Tom Moody has been named as Hyderabad Sun Risers’ coach, at a function where the franchises new logo was also unveiled

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Dec-2012Tom Moody, the former Sri Lanka coach and Australia allrounder, has been appointed coach of the Hyderabad IPL franchise, which was bought over by the Sun TV network in October. Former national selection chief Kris Srikkanth will be its mentor and VVS Laxman its mentor-ambassador.The team’s logo was also unveiled at a ceremony in Hyderabad, held two days after the franchise was christened Hyderabad Sunrisers. While both Moody and Srikkanth, the Chennai Super Kings brand ambassador for the first three IPL seasons, were in attendance, Laxman skipped it due to the death of a close relative.”This is a proud moment for us as we unveil our new name and logo and we are sure that the team will be successful in the forthcoming season of IPL 2013,” Moody said. “We are keenly looking forward to it and our game will stand testimony to the competition we will give to other teams.”Moody has plenty of coaching experience. He was in charge of the Sri Lankan national team for two years culminating in their run to the World Cup final in 2007, and also oversaw Kings XI Punjab in the first two seasons of the IPL. He has also had coaching stints at Worcestershire and his home state of Western Australia. Moody worked closely with Kumar Sangakkara, who is expected to lead Sunrisers in the next IPL season, during his time at Sri Lanka and Kings XI.The team also includes Dale Steyn, the premier fast bowler, and Srikkanth believes that with the current core group and few additions before the the next season, Sunrisers would be able to regroup.”We are very keen on [Ambati] Rayudu. He is a brilliant cricketer. He has been in the ‘A’ team for the last two years,” Srikkanth said. “If he comes into auction, it is very good. Same with the case of Dwayne Smith, who is released by Pune Warrior. The Pakistan players may come into auction. Indian cricketers who made their debut, will come into auction. We know what kind of combination we need for the new season. We want couple of good all-rounders.”List of 20 players retained by Sunrisers: Indian: Abhishek Jhunjunwala, Akash Bhandari, Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Bharat Chipli, Biplab Samantray, Shikhar Dhawan, Veer Pratap Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ashish Reddy, DB Ravi Teja, Ishant Sharma.Foreign players: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Cameron White, Dale Steyn, Chris Lynn, Jean-Paul Duminy, Juan Theron.

Pakistan will play two Tests in West Indies in July, while the limited-overs leg of the tour has been deferred to a later date in the Future Tours Programmes cycle for which the dates have not been decided yet

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2013Pakistan will play two Tests in West Indies in July, while the limited-overs leg of the tour has been deferred to a later date in the Future Tours Programmes cycle for which the dates have not been decided yet. The decision was taken by the WICB in a meeting held recently. Pakistan were originally scheduled to play the Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s in the Caribbean in June and July.The tour has been split because Pakistan plans to host India in August for a series that is yet to be confirmed, and West Indies are to host Sri Lanka and India for a one-day tri-series to be played immediately after the Champions Trophy. In order to avoid a clash in dates, the WICB had asked the PCB to reschedule their tour.In order to accommodate the tri-series with Sri Lanka and India, West Indies also scrapped the two Tests they were scheduled to play with Sri Lanka in May, which was also clashing with the IPL.Pakistan last toured West Indies in 2011 for one Twenty 20, five ODIs and two Tests.

Frustrated as much by a slippery ball as a doughty Afghanistan during their 66-run victory, Australia’s bowlers must find ways of keeping dry in the damp night-time air before they face Pakistan

Daniel Brettig26-Aug-2012Frustrated as much by a slippery ball as a doughty Afghanistan during their 66-run victory, Australia’s bowlers must find ways of keeping dry in the damp night-time air before they face a far more accomplished Pakistan team.While the Australians began brightly in defence of 272 for 8, reducing Afghanistan to 49 for 4 inside 12 overs, the longer the innings went the more they battled to keep their hands and the ball dry. Their difficulties were reminiscent of those experienced by Mark Taylor’s men in the 1996 World Cup final, won by Sri Lanka on a dewy night in Lahore.Mitchell Starc, who won the match award for figures of 4-47 that included four of the first six Afghanistan wickets, said that while happy with the overall effort, the tourists would be looking into how to maintain better control with the ball later in the innings, with two more matches to be played in Sharjah against Pakistan.”I don’t think we thought too much about the humidity, we thought it was going to be more a dry heat,” Starc said. “As we’ve seen the last few days and again tonight, it’s more the sweat factor that’s going to play a part and the dew as well. Both balls towards the end were quite hard to hold onto – you’d wipe yourself with a towel and you were already sweating again.”So it’s something we’re going to have to look at in training before the Pakistan series, but in the end I think the bowlers did quite well to control that ball. There’s a few little things we’re going to have to work on, but the batsmen put on a good score for us to defend, and we defended it.”Apart from the humidity, the Australians were also somewhat surprised to find a Sharjah pitch that did not turn with quite the same venom of those prepared for their preparations in Darwin. Though the surface lacked grass and did not offer any great pace, nine of the Afghanistan wickets fell to the fast men.”I think the wicket played a lot better than we thought it would,” Starc said. “We prepared for wickets that were going to spin a lot. The quicks took nine of our wickets so I think the fast bowlers are going to play a massive part as well as the spinners in these conditions.”Afghanistan put up quite a good fight for us ahead of the Pakistan games, and the conditions a lot of us haven’t played in before, so it was a bit of a learning curve for some of us. I thought it was a good game in preparation for the next series.”Starc said the Australians had been impressed by the intensity of Afghanistan’s fielding in the heatof the early evening. “A lot of us made comments during our batting innings that they fielded quite well,” he said. “They were out there with a lot of energy, and that surprised us a little bit that they fielded as well as they did, and then with the bat they came out quite aggressively as well … it was quite a competitive match.”Afghanistan’s captain Nowroz Mangal said the game had provided decent evidence of his team’s ability to compete with the major nations. “The players played very well. Australia is one of the best teams in the world,” he said. “The way the bowlers performed and the way we fielded, it was quite satisfactory and we proved we can compete with such big sides. We have learned a lot.”This was a better performance than we put up against Pakistan. I’d like to thank Cricket Australia for allowing us to play their team. We played the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and we’ll rectify the errors we made then.”

Ray “Slug” Jordon, the former Victoria wicketkeeper who toured India and South Africa with the Australians in 1969-70, has died at the age of 75

Brydon Coverdale14-Aug-2012Ray “Slug” Jordon, the former Victoria wicketkeeper who toured India and South Africa with the Australians in 1969-70, has died at the age of 75. Jordon, who was well known as a sports commentator and Australian rules football coach as well as for his cricket career, had struggled with ill health since suffering a stroke 13 years ago.As a cricketer, Jordon played 90 first-class matches, mostly for Victoria during an 11-year career, and he was renowned for his work up to the stumps. The former Test fast bowler Max Walker made his Sheffield Shield debut in 1968-69 with Jordon as captain, and he said he would remember Jordon for his “blunt, forthright” nature, as well as his skills as a player.”He was my first captain at Victoria. I guess some people come into your life and they change the way you act and think forever,” Walker told ESPNcricinfo. “The Slug had an amazing way with language. If you were on the opposition side you’d probably reckon his tongue was a bit like a chainsaw. It landed with impact and nothing was sacred or off limits.”It was Jordon’s way with words – and not mincing them – that made him a fine Australian rules coach, particularly at the Under-19 level. It also made him a fascinating commentator, and his association with Walker continued when they were both part of the cricket commentary team for the radio station 2UE after their playing days ended.”On 2UE we had Richie Benaud, Dennis Cometti, Slug Jordon and Max Walker. They were pioneering days,” Walker said. “Richie Benaud and myself would walk out of the television commentary and it was like changing gears, you’d have the images up on screen and then all of a sudden on radio you had to paint the pictures yourself, and Ray Jordon was brilliant at that.”He was the stand-out, a bit like Kerry O’Keeffe is now. What a contrast it was, Slug sitting next to Richie Benaud, but he was never intimidated by anyone in any environment and that’s what we loved him for.”Although Jordon did not play a Test, he came close on the 1969-70 tours of India and South Africa, where he was the reserve gloveman behind Brian Taber. Many years later, Ian Chappell recounted in the book how the captain Bill Lawry had considered picking Jordon in the Test side during the South African leg of that tour, but was persuaded not to by Chappell.Chappell was convinced that during a tour match in India earlier on the same trip, Erapalli Prasanna had been cheated of his wicket when Jordon was standing up to the stumps to the fast-medium bowler Alan Connolly and the ball had bounced off the keeper’s pads and back on to the stumps, and Jordon appealed for bowled.Whether that was what happened remains a matter of debate, but Chappell told Lawry he would not play in the same Test team as Jordon, and Jordon was duly not selected. Connolly, who was a state team-mate of Jordon with Victoria, said his work up to the stumps to pace bowlers was extraordinary.”He was the very, very best keeper of fast-medium bowling on the stumps around. There were no others,” Connolly told ESPNcricinfo. “I bowled to plenty of the other great name keepers but none of them had the courage to be able to stand up to the stumps and put their bones at risk like he did. He had very good hands. That was his forte, keeping up on the stumps and taking medium-pace. We had a very good rapport and he knew my bowling inside out, knew what was coming.”He always had colourful language. Stump-mike wouldn’t have worked with him, it would have had to be turned off all the time. But he really made playing cricket on a 22-yard hard strip of dirt a pleasure.”

Jesse Ryder has returned to New Zealand’s squad for the one-day series against South Africa but the allrounder Jacob Oram has been ruled out due to a calf injury

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Feb-2012Jesse Ryder has returned to New Zealand’s squad for the one-day series against South Africa but the allrounder Jacob Oram has been ruled out due to a calf injury. Ryder has also been added to the group for the final Twenty20, to be played in Auckland on Wednesday, having not played for New Zealand since the tour of Australia in December due to a calf problem.The allrounder James Franklin and the fast bowler Andy McKay have been named in the squad for the three-match ODI series, which begins in Wellington on Saturday. There was no room for Tom Latham, who made his debut against Zimbabwe last month, while the other change from the side that played Zimbabwe was the omission of Dean Brownlie due to his fractured finger.”The squad has a talented mix of experienced internationals and proven performers from domestic cricket,” the national selection manager Kim Littlejohn said. “We decided to leave Tom out of the side. We are a pleased with his first stint at international level but in terms of his overall development felt it was best for him to return to domestic cricket. He remains in our thinking for the future.”James has been in good touch during the current Twenty20 series while Jesse has been shown that he is ready for a return to top level cricket. Andy McKay bolsters the bowling attack and deserves his spot after putting in consistent performances across the summer.”New Zealand ODI squad

Brendon McCullum (capt), Michael Bates, Doug Bracewell, Andrew Ellis, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay, Kyle Mills, Tarun Nethula, Rob Nicol, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson

Oram was scheduled to have scans on Monday after injuring his left calf in the final ODI against Zimbabwe and the severity of his problem remained to be seen. Meanwhile, Andrew Ellis will not play in the final T20 after requesting to return to Christchurch to be with his family for the anniversary of the Canterbury earthquake.Ryder will join the squad for the final match after impressing during his first matches back for Wellington after recovering from his calf problem. In a one-day match earlier this month, Ryder made 96 against Otago and in this week’s ongoing Plunket Shield game in Rangiora he scored 74 in the first innings.”We are pleased with the progress Jesse has made since returning from injury,” Littlejohn said, “and with Andrew not available for the final match we felt it was a good opportunity to bring him back into the mix.”

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke has signed off from the West Indies by opening up the possibility of Matthew Wade retaining his Test place as a batsman should Brad Haddin return as the Test gloveman next summer

Daniel Brettig at Windsor Park28-Apr-2012Australia’s captain Michael Clarke has signed off from the West Indies by opening up the possibility of Matthew Wade retaining his Test place as a batsman should Brad Haddin return as the Test gloveman next summer.Wade’s pitch-defying century in Dominica earned him man-of-the-match honours in the final Test of a 2-0 series win over West Indies, and also demonstrated his skills as a batsman. It is an exceedingly rare thing in Australian cricket for a wicketkeeper to make the national side on his batting alone, though Adam Gilchrist and Haddin both played as batsmen in the ODI team while waiting for their predecessors to step aside.”I think if he plays the way he’s been playing there’s no doubt about it [he could play as a batsman],” Clarke said. “And his numbers say that for Victoria. He’s a wonderful wicketkeeper but I think that his batting’s got a lot of potential too. He plays spin as good as anyone.”Like I said, I think he has learned a hell of a lot throughout the one-day series about different conditions and playing spin in Australia compared to playing spin in the Caribbean, which will help him going into the subcontinent. And we’ve got a Test tour coming up over in India.”There’s a lot of cricket to be played before any of the selectors have to worry about the next XI or the next squad of 15 for our next Test series, but Wadey, hopefully, will continue to perform in the shorter form until the next Test match comes around.”Clarke, an avowed friend and supporter of Haddin, declined to repeat his pre-Test assertion that his New South Wales team-mate would automatically return to the keeping spot for Australia’s next Test, against South Africa in November, should he make himself available. However he remained staunch in his support for Haddin, who withdrew from this tour due to a serious family matter.”I’ve made it very clear that think Wadey’s done everything in his power to put as much pressure on the selectors as possible,” Clarke said. “What I also said was that if Brad was available for this tour he would have played the first Test match. I think it’s great there’s competition as a batter, as a bowler, as a wicketkeeper. It’s fantastic for the game. How lucky are we in an Australian cricket team to have either Brad Haddin or Matthew Wade available for selection in the Test team?”I think, Wadey, if he plays like that, certainly will continue to put pressure on not only the wicketkeeper’s spot but a batsman’s position too. That’s something the selectors will have to worry about in time.”I will still continue to support anybody that plays for this Australian team. Even though Brad’s not here on this tour. My friendship, yes … but also [because of] his experience, his knowledge, his success as a Test player, I’ll continue to support him, as I will always support Wadey. I think he’s done fantastically in the shorter form of the game. He got his first opportunity here in Test cricket and he’s grabbed it with both hands so there’s nothing more he can do and now it’s up to the selectors, when the time comes, to make a decision.”For his part, Wade said he had derived great satisfaction from developing as a wicketkeeper and a batsman in conditions as foreign as any he has experienced. He also felt the tour would work in his favour ahead of the 2013 tour of India, which serves as the prelude to that year’s dual Ashes series.”Probably the all-round experience of coming over here in the one-day series without knowing too much about these conditions,” Wade said, when asked what he had found most rewarding. “Learning a lot in the first three one-dayers, as I’ve spoken about, in St Vincent and then continuing to develop my game in the nets with Justin Langer and Mickey Arthur, and trying to find my way in difficult conditions against spin bowling. So, probably that’s most pleasing thing, going home knowing that I’ve learned a hell of a lot and I’m improving.”I’ve been to the subcontinent a couple of times but only to play the short formats of the game. These conditions are very similar, I’ve been told. So, fingers crossed, if I get an opportunity to play, hopefully I can bring what I’ve learned here to the subcontinent and do my stuff.”

A spectacular collapse by Zarai Taraquiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), after taking the first-innings lead, has shifted the momentum completely in favour of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2011
ScorecardA spectacular collapse by Zarai Taraquiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), after taking the first-innings lead, shifted the momentum completely in favour of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on the third day at the National Stadium. The PIA seamers began a demolition job after their team conceded a lead of 37, reducing the opposition to 70 for 9. It left ZTBL with a lead of just 107 and a wicket in hand.The ZTBL wickets were shared by the pace trio of Anwar Ali, Ali Imran and Najaf Shah, who took three wickets apiece. Anwar got the first breakthrough, when he had Imran Nazir caught with the score on 12. Imran then got rid of Sharjeel Khan with the score on 32 and that sparked off the collapse. Shahid Yousuf went without scoring and Yasir Hameed, who made a start with 19, perished shortly after. The fast bowlers continued to make inroads and nearly sealed the innings before stumps. Only two batsmen, Hameed and Haris Sohail, managed double figures.Earlier, PIA looked to build on their overnight score of 119 for 4, with Fahad Iqbal within reach of his fifty. He went on to score 61 before he was trapped lbw by Rao Iftikhar Anjum. Shoaib Khan snr and Sarfraz Ahmed put PIA on course to match ZTBL’s 337 with a stand of 98. Shoaib also made 61 before he was caught and bowled by Rehan Riaz. Sarfraz made 70, and when he was trapped lbw by Sohail Tanvir, PIA were still 70 in arrears of ZTBL’s score. The tail brought the deficit down to 37.ZTBL appeared to have the edge, until the PIA seamers swung it their way.