Sridharan Sriram stroked his way to an unbeaten 92 as Tamil Nadu madea confident start, scoring 153 for one wicket off 47 overs at close ofplay on the first day of their South Zone Ranji Trophy league matchagainst Andhra at the Guru Nanak college ground in Chennai onWednesday.Morning showers delayed the start of play but good work by the groundstaff saw the game start at 1.15 pm after a delay of 185 minutes.Winning the toss, Tamil Nadu were served well by openers Sriram andRajat Bhatia (21) who put on 62 runs off 20 overs. Bhatia was thencaught by Madhukar at mid off off Ranganath. His fall brought two lefthanders and India players Sriram and Hemang Badani together and thetwo proceeded to accelerate the scoring rate. Off 27 overs, the twoadded 91 runs for the unbroken second wicket when stumps were drawn.Play was extended by 60 minutes and 58 overs were to be bowled on thetruncated day. But bad light lopped off 11 overs towards the end.Sriram was the more aggressive of the two batsmen. He had announcedhis intentions early when he hit medium pacer Shahbuddin over squareleg for a rousing six. His purple patch came when he clouted offspinner H Vatekar for 17 runs off five successive balls (42461). Byclose, he had faced 154 balls and hit six fours and two sixes. Badani,who was composed during his innings of 33, faced 80 balls and hit twoof them to the ropes.
ScorecardIt wasn’t a happy day for Jerome Taylor (file photo)•AFP
After their heavy loss in the first Test in Hobart, West Indies needed to go back to basics in their two-day match against a second-string Victoria XI this weekend. So a rookie fielding error from Jerome Taylor will not have pleased the captain and coach as the game cruised to a predictable draw, with local opening batsman Jake Hancock finishing unbeaten on 80 when rain arrived.Hancock was on 22, in the 14th over of the Victoria innings, when he hooked captain Jason Holder towards Taylor at fine leg. However, Taylor had his back to play and was looking into the grandstands while the ball flew his way. Only after his team-mates called out to him did Taylor turn around, but by then it was too late to get into position for the catch, or even stop the boundary.West Indies coach Phil Simmons said after the match that he had not seen the incident himself but he conceded that it was not a good look for a team aiming to lift their morale ahead of Boxing Day. “It can’t be a good look,” Simmons said. “It’s a team trying to gain that sort of respect. Things like that, we have to make sure we cut them out.”It was hardly the kind of attitude West Indies needed after their embarrassing performance in Hobart, where Taylor had leaked 108 runs for no wickets from his 17 overs. In Geelong, he was tighter and bowled nine overs for 14 runs, but West Indies managed just three wickets in 58 overs against a Victoria XI boasting only two players with first-class experience.One of those men, opener Travis Dean, was caught for 3 when he fended Kemar Roach to point, and at 1 for 13 in the fourth over it was a good start for West Indies. However, Hancock and Tom Donnell put on 73 for the second wicket as West Indies struggled in the field, also missing a run-out chance when Hancock was on 36, and it was not until Devendra Bishoo bowled Donnell for 34 that the stand was broken.Bishoo finished with 2 for 60 after he also had the Victoria captain Ian Holland stumped for 29 by Shai Hope, with regular gloveman Denesh Ramdin having been rested on Sunday. The Victorians moved along to 3 for 169 when the rain arrived, with Hancock on 80 and Aaron Ayre on 17.
Days of fervent speculation came to an end today with the Indian CricketLeague announcing its roster of players, which included Inzamam-ul-Haqand Mohammad Yousuf and an assortment of Indians – former internationals, domestic veterans and greenhorns. However, the organisers failed to shedany light on the details of the tournament.Prominent in the list of 50 released at the press conference were DineshMongia, Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Deep Dasgupta, JP Yadav, Laxmi RatanShukla and T Kumaran, all former Indian cricketers. And apart fromInzamam and Yousuf, the ICL announced the names of Abdul Razzaq andImran Farhat from Pakistan, who have signed on with Lance Klusenerand Nicky Boje of South Africa.Last month the ICL had announced the signing of Brian Lara, the former West Indies captain, and he remains the biggest name to join till date.However, the organisers could not yet reveal where or when the proposed40-day Twenty20 tournament would take place. It is believed that thetournament will be held in October. However, at the same time Australiawill be in India to play a series of seven ODIs. Soon after that Pakistantour India, another marquee series, while India tour Australia straightafter. The organisers do not have a window in which to stage thistournament, without it clashing with the Indian team’s itinerary, andperhaps that explained why they could not come up with dates.Kapil Dev, the chairman of the executive board of the ICL, pointed to theassembled group of cricketers, calling them “the cream of talent” in thecountry, as one-by-one, the 44 cricketers from domestic cricket walked upand took their places on a podium alongside the dais where officials ofthe ICL were seated.The most severely hit association was Hyderabad with eight of its playersjoining the ICL. Bengal and Punjab have also had their Ranji teams eroded,with the likes of Deep Dasgupta, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Subhomoy Das,Subhojit Paul and Shibsagar Singh from Bengal, and Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Ishan Malhotra from Punjab. Railways and Uttar Pradesh were two other teams also badly hit.The ICL organisers were also tightlipped about the kind of money peoplewere being offered. They refused to either confirm or deny the kind ofnumbers doing the rounds in the media. It is speculated that players fromIndian domestic cricket – not international stars like Inzamam and Yousuf- were being paid in the region of Rs 30 lakh ($72,600) a year.When it was put to Kapil that the contract period of ICL was three years,and that it was likely that players who signed on with ICL would losetheir regular jobs – most players are employed to represent theircompanies in leagues and tournaments conducted under the auspices of theBCCI and its affiliates, and will be unable to do so if a ban were imposed- he responded, “Can you tell me what will happen to your job after twoyears?” Kapil shot back. “As long as they keep on playing well, they willdo well. These are professional people who have to make their own lives.”Kapil was seated alongside the other officials of the ICL – Himanshu Mody,the project head of ICL, Sandeep Patil, Kiran More, EAS Prasanna, BharatReddy, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Madan Lal, Rajesh Chauhan and Pranab Roy.Kapil was at his emotional best, exhorting his players to do well, andcongratulating them on showing the bravery they had in joining the ICL.”I’d like to take everyone to where we started some months ago. At that time peopleasked, ‘Where will you get cricketers from?’ This is the cream of thecountry,” he said, pointing to the group of 44 Indian cricketers. “Thecourage these people have showed, even I didn’t have at that age. We needpeople like this who want to make their own decisions. They take pride toplay for their country, not being pushed by someone or threatened bysomeone. What we need is to entertain the people in this country. I willback you till the last day I live.”In their turn the players who had joined the ICL spoke of their reasonsfor doing so. “I thought of all the pros and cons. Playing domesticcricket does not give me a chance to play against international stars,”said Abhishek Jhunjhunwala. “This gives me very good security.”Mongia, who is believed to be one of the big-ticket signings, said,”My clear thought is, as a cricketer I want to play cricket. I play clubcricket in Chandigarh, in Madras I play in corporate tournaments, I playRanji Trophy for Punjab, and league cricket in England. Here again I get achance to play with youngsters who are good, and foreign players.”Interestingly, Mody, the head of the initiative, claimed he knew nothing ofthe circumstances surrounding Boje, after announcing his signing.Boje had withdrawn from South Africa’s last tour of India, with the Delhipolice wanting to question him regarding matchfixing allegationssurrounding an existing case in the Hansie Cronje affair from years ago.”I suppose Boje has taken all that into consideration when signing thecontract,” he said. “He has signed with us and that’s all I know. I’m notaware of these allegations of betting or whatever it is you’re speakingof.”International players Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Imran Farhat, LanceKlusener, Nicky BojeIndian players Hyderabad : Ambati Rayudu, Alfred Absolem, Inder Shekar Reddy, Ibrahim Khaleel, Shashank Nag, D Vinay Kumar, Kaushik Reddy, Anirudh SinghBengal: Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Deep Dasgupta, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Shibsagar Singh, Subhomoy Das, Subhojit Paul, Syed Akhlakh Ahmed.Punjab: Dinesh Mongia, Ishan Malhotra, Reetinder Sodhi, Manish Sharma, Sarabjit Singh, Rajesh Sharma, Sumit KaliaTamil Nadu: V Devendran, J Hariesh, R Sathish, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, Thirunavukarasu Kumaran, Hemanth Kumar, G VigneshUttar Pradesh: Shalabh Srivastava, Ali Murtaza, Avinash YadavMaharashtra: Dheeraj Jadhav, Ranjit Khirid, Sridharan SriramMadhya Pradesh: Syed Abbas Ali Khan, Sachin Dholpure, Mohnish Mishra,T SurendraRailways: Jai Prakash Yadav, Shreyas KhanolkarBaroda: Kiran PowarAndhra: Syed SahabuddinMumbai: Robin MorrisServices: Yashpal SinghNon first-class players: Abhishek T (Chattisgarh), Raviraj Patil and Puskaraj Mohan Joshi (both Maharashtra)
In what will definitely rank as a big upset, and one which Andy Pick, the Canada coach termed an “embarrassment”, Bermuda traipsed to a memorable six-wicket win in the opening one-dayer at Toronto. Having bowled out Canada for 145, Bermuda, thanks to a solid 39 from Saleem Mukkudem, knocked off the target in just 40 overs.”Since we arrived this morning, everything has been substandard,” said Pick in his assessment, “our warm-ups, our practice and our performance.” Not for the first time this season, Canada failed to put enough runs on the board, a trend hard to explain considering their good win in the four-day game, against the same opposition, earlier in the week.Mukkudem, who took Bermuda to victory with a six over long-off, couldn’t hide his excitement after the triumph. “It was a huge effort for us to put that defeat [in the four-day game] behind us,” he said. “We got off to a fantastic start. It was good to get [out] the guys who had got runs [in the four-day game] out cheaply.”Canada lost John Davison, their captain, and Desmond Chumney early. Both fell to the pace bowling of Kevin Hurdle. Ian Billcliff followed soon and Canada were in a deep hole at 21 for 3. Ashish Bagai began comfortably but he too didn’t last long, caught at backward square leg after making just 10 (46 for 4). Abdool Samad and Umar Bhatti added 29 for the sixth wicket before Bhatti was caught and bowled by Dwayne Leverock, diving to his left. Samad was out for what proved to be the top-score (28), driving Leverock into the hands of Irvine Romaine at cover.The Canadian innings was completed so quickly that Bermuda began their innings before lunch. The Bermudan opening batsmen, Borden and Outerbridge, scored 23 by the interval. Their partnership was broken with the score on 41 but there continued to be little success for the home bowlers. Canada sniffed a faint chance when Bermuda were 86 for 3 but Mukkudem and Janeiro Tucker played sensibly. They added 48 for the fourth wicket and Mukkudem stayed unbeaten till the end.There continues to be very little effort from the Canadian Cricket Association to promote the sport in this country, particularly these international matches. There was talk of selling off an existing inventory of merchandise at this summer’s home games but no evidence has been seen of that initiative to date. It seems hard to believe the World Cup is just seven months away.The two four-day matches in the Intercontintental Cup have been exciting and went down to the wire in the last hour of available playing time. The home ODIs have been disappointing but with plenty of latent cricket interest in the Toronto area it seems pathetic that a mere 30 people, including scorers and some officials, were dotted around the ground some ten minutes after play began. It cannot be much fun for the batsmen to hear louder roars for dismissals from the fielding side than the applause from home fans.Canada and Bermuda play again on Monday at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club. The ground is on Wilson Avenue, near the intersection with Avenue Road. Play is scheduled to begin at 10 am. This match is an ODI but also forms part of an ICC Americas Regional Tournament that takes place next week. All other matches in that event take place at Maple Leaf CC at King City. USA, Cayman Islands and Argentina are the three other sides in this tournament.
Although it was USA’s turn to have a day off on Friday, heavy rain which washed out the games involving their nearest rivals ensured that they won the tournament before their last match, leaving Cayman Islands, Canada and Bermuda scrapping for second place.USA beat Cayman Islands by six wickets USA completed an impressive clean sweep, confirming beyond any doubt that they were the best team. That they beat Cayman Islands, the side drafted into the Intercontinental Cup at the senior team’s expense, will give them added pleasure.Cayman Islands were inserted on a wicket that had a little moisture from the overnight rain. Openers Ricardo Roach and William Quin got off to a reasonable start but then disaster struck as both fell with the score on 26 . Wickets fell rapidly thereafter as the spinners tied down the batting and Cayman Islands were skittled for 86. Hemant Punoo, USA’s captain, was the pick of the bowlers with 8.3-3-12-4. The solid USA batting side struggled somewhat, but again it was Punoo to the rescue with a brilliant 42 not-out as the USA won the match by six wickets. Unsurprisngly, Punoo was named Man of the Match.Canada beat Bermuda by 99 runs Originally planned as the championship decider, this contest took a new meaning with USA already securing the Championship Trophy all the winner could hope for was the silver medal.Canada won the toss and surprised the crowd by electing to bat on a damp wicket , and that decision looked dubious as they slumped to 65 for 5. Then Trevin Bastiampillai was joined at the wicket by Waqas Junaid and the pair put on the best batting display of the tournament with a 142-run sixth-wicket partnership. Junaid fell for 43 but Bastiampillai carried his bat through the innings for 110 not out, the first century of the tournament. The Canadians finished on 239 for 8.From the moment Bermuda lost their Captain O.Bascome to the first ball of their innings, they were never really a threat. Rodney Trott (30) and Dickinson (42 not out) were the only two batsmen to offer some fight. Gunraj Patel 7.5-2-18-3 and Krunal Patel 6-2-21-3 made certain that Canada gained the silver medal.For his fine innings Trevin Bastiampillai was the obvious Man of the Match. There was further gloom for Bermuda who lost out on a medal as they tied with Cayman Islands in the points table, but the Cayman Islands had a better run rate.
England have moved up to third place in the ICC’s Test Championship table after their 3-0 win in the Carribean while India’s 2-1 series win in Pakistan has lifted them to fourth place, the highest they have ever been in the ratings.The result meant England jumped ahead of India by a single point, while West Indies stayed stagnant in eighth position. With Pakistan losing the third Test, and hence the series, against India, England will be assured of their third spot at least until the end of their home series against New Zealand this summer.India’s rating has risen from 100 to 102 as a result of the series victory in Pakistan. The result put India ahead of Pakistan for the first time since August 2003 with Pakistan dropping from 102 to 99.Earlier this year, India’s rating improved from 95 to 100 due to a strong showing in the drawn series against Australia. India has never had a rating above 100 since the new system of calculation was introduced in July 2003 and has never been as high as fourth since the introduction of the system in May 2001.Prior to the current Test series, India also overtook Pakistan in the ICC one-day championship by virtue of a 3-2 win in the ODI series.
Sachin Tendulkar ended the World Cup at the top of the PwC one-day ratings for batsmen, and India finished the tournament with four bowlers in the world top 15 for one-day cricket.But as the Final demonstrated, Australia remains the dominant team in one-day cricket. Matthew Hayden had a quiet tournament (he was number one coming into the World Cup and had dropped to 6th place by the end) but the Australians won every match in the World Cup thanks to their incredible strength in depth.Ricky Ponting ends the tournment as the top Australian batsman (4th), followed by Adam Gilchrist who is at his personal best one-day rating (5th), as is Damien Martyn (13th). Andrew Symonds, up 44 places to 29th, was one of the most improved players of the World Cup. Andy Bichel, who climbed in both the batting and bowling , established himself as an all-rounder.Already, another wave of Aussies is proving itself to be world-beating. The absence of Gillespie, Warne and two Waughs seems to have made not a hap’orth of difference.
* Huge losses expected after India pulls outIndia’s refusal to play Pakistan in the Asian Test Championship is amajor blow to cricket in the region, according to Asian CricketCouncil secretary Zakir Hussain Syed. He told AFP in Karachi onWednesday that the financial losses alone would damage the sport inAsia, where India was the main drawcard for international sponsors andtelevision coverage."India’s refusal to play Pakistan in the Asian championship is agreat setback for Asian cricket and the ACC will face a huge financialloss," Syed warned. "The ACC made all the plans and schedules withthe Board of Control for Cricket in India’s consent and they hadassured us of their participation, but this latest decision is verydisappointing."The decision is strange in the sense that India plays all othersports with Pakistan, is sending their squad for the South AsianFederation Games in Pakistan, but they have objections over cricket,"said Syed."The earnings from this championship were supposed to be invested indevelopment with a share for all the participating teams," Syed said."Since India is a huge market, and with the Indian team out, therewill be less earnings from title sponsorship and TV rights. The figureis confidential but the loss will be huge."* KSCA to launch cricket academyIn its quest to unearth cricketing talent at the junior level, theKarnataka State Cricket Association will launch a cricket academy inOctober, becoming the first state cricket body in the country to doso. KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel told reporters in Bangalore onTuesday that the academy would be based in KSCA which, he said, wouldlaunch a junior cricket development programme – “Catch Them Young andMake Them Great” in October.Initially, Patel said, the programme would be launched in 13 districtsand a few more would be added to the list next year. He said eachcentre would have 20 players, totalling 260 players, and coachingcamps would be held in district centres from October 15 to January 15.The Karnataka State Cricket Academy would invite 80 players toBangalore and each group consisting of 20 players would undergoadvance training for two weeks from November 15 to January 15, hesaid.Makarand Waigankar, who has successfully launched and implemented suchprojects in Mumbai for the last two decades, had prepared the projectwhich was approved by KSCA. Patel said former England fast bowler andrenowned coach Frank Tyson would conduct a two-week coaching coursefor 60 coaches from September 24 to October 6.
The great thing about football is that it’s entirely continuous. Do you remember that period of time – about five minutes ago – when your life seemed torn apart and ultimately without meaning or distraction by the ending of the football season? Poor Chelsea – they got to celebrate for all of an evening before dragging their hungover corpses back to the grind.
Well, OK, they probably got a nice few weeks on a beach too.
But what’s wonderful for fans and horrible for the players is sometimes wonderful for the players too. This time, especially Liverpool players.
After defeat at the Britannia Stadium in May, a defeat that ranks up there with the Brazilians in Belo Horizonte in 2014 or the Italian Army in Caporetto in 1917 it’s no wonder Liverpool beat a retreat like Napoleon out of Moscow.
But what you want after a humiliating, emasculating defeat is – to borrow a phrase – to go again. And Liverpool have that unique chance – the chance to fully exorcise the demons of last season before getting stuck into the new season, with a raft of new players and a spring in their step.
[ffc-gal cat=”liverpool” no=”5″]
That’s the hope anyway. There’s just a word of caution.
Although Liverpool have strengthened, Stoke have strengthened too. There’s enough optimism around the Staffordshire club for ex-players to start talking about a top-four finish. Clearly there’s nothing like the heady optimism of opening weekend to put you on a high – or, you know, smoking something.
But Liverpool will still need to be careful, because this isn’t just the Stoke side that beat Liverpool 6-1 on the final day of last season, this is a Stoke side who have added some very good players in the meantime. Stoke 2.0.
But that’s not even the main reason for Liverpool to be careful on this trip. You’d still expect Liverpool to have enough firepower to beat Stoke. Even after the last time, and even with the added new faces to Mark Hughes’s side, you’d still make Liverpool favourites. But even at this early stage it’s already a big game for Liverpool.
Much has been made of the fact that Brendan Rodgers and his side will be running the gauntlet for their opening away fixtures. Thankfully the home games are very winnable – Bournemouth, West Ham, Norwich – so if Liverpool do lose a few of the tougher away games they should still claw back some points there.
But what’s important is momentum and form. For the last two seasons we’ve seen Liverpool live and die by form, when they’re good they’re very very good, but when they’re bad….
A few away defeats could dampen morale and make the home games even tougher, and Rodgers will need to make sure his team start as they mean to go on. So when you look at the tough away fixtures and you see that the most winnable away game for a while is Stoke, then you know the Stoke game is a bigger game than it might usually be.
That is, usually a draw at the Britannia is a good result, even a defeat you can chalk up to a tough away fixture. But given that the next six away fixtures are even tougher, a defeat could precipitate a bad run of form.
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Now I’m not suggesting that Rodgers should be under pressure to win against Stoke, but this game is a very big game, psychologically speaking.
So we’ll see this weekend if Liverpool have exorcised the demons of May and the end of last season, if they do they can build momentum for the rest of the season – and, importantly, some good form going into some ridiculously early crunch games. If they lose, the same questions will be asked and Brendan Rodgers will be left wondering if the summer recruitment that brought in seven new signings actually helped his side to progress.
It’ll be too early to say for certain, but as far as opening day fixtures go, this is about as important as they get for Liverpool.
ScorecardFile photo: Udara Jayasundera made a painstaking 63 off 153 balls for the Sri Lankans•WICB Media
The Sri Lankans’ bowlers let the NZC President’s XI’s eighth-wicket partnership plunder 124 runs, but batted marginally better than in the first innings to secure a draw in the three-day warm up game in Queenstown. The hosts took a 206-run lead before declaring and the Sri Lankans then moved to 226 for 6 by stumps.A 153-ball 63 from opener Udara Jayasundera led the Sri Lankans’ innings, and heightened his chances of a debut in the first Test against New Zealand next Thursday. He struck up a 108-run partnership with Kithuruwan Vithanage, who hit 61 off 109 himself. Angelo Mathews made an unbeaten 54, while Dinesh Chandimal collected 29. Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis were dismissed for low scores for the second time in the match.The President’s XI bowlers shared the six wickets between them, Neil Wagner taking 1 for 31. Seamer James Baker picked up the innings’ best figures of 2 for 21.Earlier in the day, the Presidents’ XI’s resumed on 288 for 7, before hitting 111 runs in the next 15.3 overs. No. 9 batsman Tim Johnston hit 62 from 74 balls while Shawn Hicks finished with 79 not out from 85 deliveries. Sri Lanka lent their opposition a hand with 44 extras, including 21 no-balls. Dushmantha Chameera claimed his fourth wicket of the innings to end that eighth-wicket partnership and invite the declaration.