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South Africa have asked the ICC to take disciplinary action against West Indies left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn following his altercation with Dale Steyn during the third Test in Barbados

Cricinfo staff03-Jul-2010South Africa have asked the ICC to take disciplinary action against West Indies left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn following his altercation with Dale Steyn during the third Test in Barbados. Steyn was fined his entire match fee for spitting while walking past Benn immediately after his dismissal. The incident was preceded by an exchange of words between the players in the previous few overs.”Dale Steyn’s action was regrettable and he has apologised for it,” Mohammad Moosajee, the South African team manager, told reporters upon his team’s arrival in Johannesburg from the Caribbean. “But it came after lots of provocation and there was also retaliation after the incident.”We have laid a code of conduct charge against Sulieman Benn with the ICC and that must now go through the judicial process.”The fact that Benn, who has been punished for indiscipline before but not penalised this time, had provoked Steyn had also been acknowledged by the match referee Jeff Crowe when he decided to fine the latter. “Dale’s behaviour was entirely unacceptable and he knows that. The fact that he was provoked by Sulieman during his time at the crease helps to explain his actions but cannot excuse them.”In a separate incident in the same game, fast bowler Kemar Roach was fined 50% of his match fee for an “unpleasant altercation” with Jacques Kallis.

You can almost hear the dirge after the Bangladesh’s openers fall. Will they stop the rot and begin the change from the game against Sri Lanka?

The Preview by Sriram Veera17-Jun-2010

Match Facts

Friday, June 18, 2010

Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)
How long will Mohammad Ashraful continue to waste his opportunities?•Associated Press

The Big Picture

Don’t say it aloud. Just whisper. You don’t want to scare a Bangladesh fan. What if Tamim Iqbal’s form runs out? Or worse what if he is dragged down by the mediocrity that surrounds him? It’s the scariest thought for a Bangladesh fan. They are used to unanswerable questions though. Sample these: How long will Mohammad Ashraful continue to waste his opportunities? How long will Bangladesh continue to squander good starts? When will the captain Shakib Al Hasan temper his batting approach? Is Mahmudullah already taking a back step when he should have built on his strengths that he showed when India toured Bangladesh? Has Mushfiqur Rahim joined the rest in flattering to deceive?Shakib knows where the problem lies: “We played well as individuals but not as a team… put team performances together, only then can we win some games.” Is it a matter of skill? Is it a matter of passion? On their best day, Bangladeshi players seem to posses both in ample measure: they can stun and woo you with their brand of play but their their best days don’t come often enough. Or is it a matter of blind expectations? Should we accept their mediocrity as a fact and move on? Surely not. Take that first game against India. 81 for 1 to 167 all out. Surely, Shakib, Rahim, Mahmudulah, Ashraful, and Naeem Islam can do better than that? Of course if it was just one bad day, there wouldn’t be any problem but this is the pattern now. You can almost hear the dirge once the openers fall. Will they stop the rot and begin the change against Sri Lanka?Sri Lanka seems to have just one problem: Chamara Kapugedera. An average of 21.66 from 74 games reeks of underperformance. The beauty is that no one in the Sri Lankan cricketing fraternity doubts his talent. six against Brett Lee, and that six off the last ball against India in the World Twenty20 will be mentioned but the fact of the matter is that many new players are gunning for his spot. It was Thillina Kandamby for a while but he too couldn’t hold his spot. However the young Dinesh Chandimal has already done what Kapugedera couldn’t: get an ODI ton. This Asia Cup might be the last great chance for Kapugedera.

Form guide (most recent first)

Bangladesh LLLLL

Sri Lanka WWLWW

Watch out for…

Mushfiqur Rahim is the pluckiest cricketer in Bangladesh. Tamim has the more audacious talent, Shakib the captaincy, Mashrafe the aura but it’s young, diminutive and talkative Rahim that is the life and soul of the team. He is not entirely dissimilar to Tatendu Taibu and has the skill to be a pretty handy no. 4 batsman. Will he make that spot his own?Farveez Maharoof bowled just couple of bad deliveries against Pakistan. Both came in his first over. He very quickly learnt that short of length was the region to bowl and did exactly that. On these pitches he should be a pretty handy bowler. With a short cover and short midwicket prowling, he can force a batsman to drive early. He is the bowler in this current line-up that the opposition are most likely to attack, and he has the ability to make them pay for the arrogance.

Team news

Despite the meek showing against India, Bangladesh are unlikely to change their eleven going into their second game. Sri Lanka ticked in perfect harmony against Pakistan and could look to retain their combination. Kandamby will hope to get a chance at the expense of Thilan Samaraweera or Kapugedera.Bangladesh (possible) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Naeem Islam, 8 Shafiul Islam, 9 Rubel Hossain, 10 Mashrafe Mortaza, 11 Syed RaselSri Lanka (possible) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Farveez Maharoof, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have won 26 of their 28 games against Bangladesh. The two losses came in Bangladesh. Furthermore, Sri Lanka have won 18 of their 25 games at Dambulla.
• Bangladesh’s best batsman Tamim Iqbal averages just 19 .80 from 10 games against Sri Lanka. The strike rate is also poor at 63.50 and he has just hit one fifty.
  

  Quotes

  “In the first 10 overs we played really well, but it needs to be continued with our middle order batsmen.”
  

Paul Best will captain England Under-19 in their two Twenty20 engagements against Sri Lanka Under-19 on August 2 and 3

Cricinfo staff01-Aug-2010Paul Best will captain England Under-19 in their two Twenty20 engagements against Sri Lanka Under-19 on August 2 and 3. There are three new additions to England’s squad for the games, with Alex Barrow, Adam Rossington and James Thorpe coming in and Michael Bates, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Adam Rouse, Atif Sheikh and Azeem Rafiq left out.A left-arm spinner, Best captained England Under-19 on their tour of Bangladesh in 2009, and was also in charge of Warwickshire’s second eleven that same year. Thorpe, a seam bowler, and Barrow, an opening batsman, are included in an Under-19 squad for the first time.Rafiq was dropped for “inappropriate conduct” after the first Test – for which he was captain – while Bates is on wicketkeeping duty for Hampshire after Nic Pothas’s injury. Bell-Drummond will captain England’s Under-17 squad in their limited-overs match against Sri Lanka Under-19 on August 5 at Sleaford Cricket Club, Lincolnshire, ahead of the first ODI between England Under-19 and Sri Lanka Under-19 at Fenner’s on August 7.”This T20 series provides a great opportunity to showcase the young talent in this country against a very good Sri Lanka Under-19 team,” said coach Adrian Birrell. “Good performances in these matches and the one day series that follows will provide a crucial platform for those players looking to further progress up the ladder in the national set up.”England Twenty20 squad: Paul Best (capt), Alex Barrow, Adam Ball, Jacob Ball, Matthew Dunn, Lewis Gregory, Ateeq Javid, Jack Manuel, David Payne, Adam Rossington, Joe Root, James Thorpe, Luke Wells

Pakistan fast bowler Naved-ul-Hasan’s appeal against the one-year ban imposed on him by the PCB has been adjourned to September 25 by the appellate tribunal headed by retired Justice Irfan Qadir

Cricinfo staff21-Aug-2010Pakistan fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan’s appeal against the one-year ban imposed on him by the PCB has been adjourned to September 25 by the appellate tribunal headed by retired Justice Irfan Qadir. Naved, who said he was “desperate” to meet the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt before the appeal, has been given the chance to state his case with Butt on September 7.”The chairman called me and said that he had been busy but will meet me on September 7 now,” Naved told Cricinfo. “The hearing has been adjourned till September 25. I’m still hopeful something can be worked out as I want to play for Pakistan again.”Naved, along with several of his team-mates, was punished by the PCB following the tour of Australia in 2009-10. He was banned for one year and slapped with a Rs 2 million fine. All the punished players, except for Naved, have met the PCB again and had their bans revoked, and fines lifted or reduced. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf, both of whom were banned, have since been recalled to the Pakistan side as well.The tribunal was due to hear Naved’s appeal today, but it had asked him to meet with Butt before that. Naved said he had made several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a meeting with Butt at the PCB headquarters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Naved was recently permitted by the board to play county cricket. He has played nine Tests and 74 ODIs for Pakistan.If he does not get selected for Pakistan, he is considering options to play in Bangladesh next month as well as joining up with Tasmania again for the Big Bash later this year. There is also interest from a couple of sides in South Africa for a stint there, though details have yet to be finalised.Talib Rizvi, the PCB’s legal adviser, said all the offending players had learned their lesson. “The PCB took actions against the players to give them a lesson that they are not bigger than the game,” Rizvi told . “Since all the players have apologised, the PCB’s objective is achieved and you will see a difference in their discipline in the future.”

Leaders Nottinghamshire crashed to a 210-run defeat against Durham at Chester-le-Street but still hold a commanding lead with two games remaining in County Championship Division One

03-Sep-2010
Scorecard
Leaders Nottinghamshire crashed to a 210-run defeat against Durham at Chester-le-Street but still hold a commanding lead with two games remaining in County Championship Division One.Nottinghamshire took six points from the match to lead Somerset by 22, and Yorkshire, who go to Trent Bridge next week, are a further three adrift.After being set a victory target of 391 in 78 overs, on a pitch on which Durham added 82 in just over an hour in the morning, the visitors’ attempts to bat out the day were undermined by Ben Harmison suddenly taking three wickets in four balls.With Mark Davies taking no further part after developing a sciatic nerve problem on the second day, Durham also lost Liam Plunkett, who limped off after bowling two overs with the new ball. Harmison was on for the fifth over of the innings and conceded 24 in four overs before lunch. There was a wide in his first over after the break, but with the score on 51 for one he suddenly got it right in his seventh over.Alex Hales pushed forward and edged to Michael Di Venuto at second slip and the next ball, perfectly pitched on off stump, bounced steeply. Australian Adam Voges, also pushing forward, edged it to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard. The hat-trick ball was short and wide, allowing Samit Patel to collect two easy runs, but the next delivery pinned him lbw on the back foot.A stand of 30 between Mark Wagh and Ali Brown was broken by Ian Blackwell, who had both lbw and later had Luke Fletcher caught at silly mid-off to finish with three for 23 in 19 overs. Harmison had 4 for 70, his final victim being Chris Read, who drove wide of off stump and edged low to third slip, where substitute Gareth Breese held a good catch.Andre Adams, slogging at almost every ball, skied a catch to mid-on off Mitch Claydon, and the only resistance came from Steven Mullaney. He was last out for 64, skying an attempted pull off Scott Borthwick for Mustard to take the catch 10 minutes before the start of the final hour.Durham’s fifth win of the season ended any relegation worries, but their hopes of a title hat-trick remain minuscule. Nottinghamshire need only five points from two games to deny them. In the morning Blackwell had failed to add to his 50, edging Fletcher to Read, but Borthwick played beautifully for the second time in the match, scoring 43 in an unbroken stand of 79 with Mustard, who was on 51 when he declared with the score on 361 for 6.

The only winning ticket Xavier Doherty is interested in is one to the World Cup

Brydon Coverdale26-Oct-2010Xavier Doherty will make his ODI debut at the MCG next Wednesday, while Victorians recover from Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup festivities, but the only winning ticket he’s interested in is one to the World Cup. Doherty is the latest spinner to be called into Australia’s side and the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, believes he is the frontrunner to partner Nathan Hauritz at the World Cup.Doherty celebrated his call-up with 5 for 83 in Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield match against Victoria at the MCG. The stands were all but empty and it will be a vastly different experience in front of up to 40,000 people next week against a Sri Lankan side adept at handling spin bowling, but Doherty’s success was a good sign all the same.”It’s been one of the better days in my cricketing life,” Doherty said. “I was on a high after getting the news last night. Coming here today I had a bit to live up to and luckily things went my way today, so it was pretty pleasing.”A little confidence boost like that never goes astray. It’s good news to get going into a Shield game. I was pretty nervous going into this Shield game. I hadn’t bowled in a four-day game for six months, so I was quite nervous, which is a bit unusual for me, so it definitely helped.”He hasn’t played a lot of first-class cricket in recent seasons, but it’s hard to believe Doherty has been overlooked for so long in the shorter formats. Last summer he was the leading wicket taker in the FR Cup with 20 victims and it was merely the latest in a string of strong one-day campaigns. He will arrive on the international scene at the age of 27, and believes it is the perfect time to make his international mark.”Spin bowlers are very different,” Doherty said. “You get batsmen who are 21 and fast bowlers that are 18 or 19 can come in to this system, but for spin bowlers it’s always going to take a bit of time. Some guys will pop up at 20 and go missing and then come back in to it. I think it’s pretty perfect timing for me, because it’s allowed me to play 80 games for Tasmania and be in a lot of different situations and gain a lot of experience.”A left-arm orthodox bowler, Doherty is not a vicious turner of the ball but has thrived in the shorter formats, where he troubles batsmen with his clever changes of pace. Tasmania have enjoyed one-day success by using Doherty in tandem with Jason Krejza, and he said the arrival of Krejza in Hobart four seasons ago had given him a serious jolt.”It was a bit of a kick up the bum when he came down to Tasmania, because I was the main spinner and all of a sudden I was straight out of there,” Doherty said. “Having that competition for the spot has definitely made me a better cricketer.”It must have been good for both men, as they have each received approval from the national selectors since Krejza’s move. Doherty could get a few more calls judging by the words of Hilditch, who said Australia would aim to take two spinners to the World Cup and a left-armer would be ideal.”That would be pretty exciting to hear but there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and then,” Doherty said. “That’s late February, so there’s quite a bit of cricket going on now. If that opportunity pops up that would be great, but it’s a long way away.”

Despite the gut-wrenching loss in Mohali, Hussey said Australia returned to training in a “buoyant mood”

Sidharth Monga at the Chinnaswamy Stadium07-Oct-2010After a heady Test match and a day of rest, Australia returned to training in “buoyant mood” in Bangalore. Michael Hussey said that though there was a feeling of having been part of a great Test, it was difficult to get over the disappointment of Mohali.”We were part of something special, but we are disappointed with the result,” Hussey said. “We have played some amazing Tests over the years, but being on the winning side makes a hell of a difference. In Adelaide against England we were on the winning side, and it was an amazing feeling. After the Test match, the dressing room was very quiet but we are proud of giving such a good performance.”Hussey said they were yet to discuss the Mohali Test in a detailed team meeting. “We will get a debriefing this afternoon at the hotel,” he said. “We sort of spoke after each day’s play and talked about things that are good and what we can improve on. I think in general we did a lot of things really well. We had our opportunities to win, but we couldn’t do the job and get over the line. From a positive point of view, we did a lot of things right.”Hussey said the team was in good spirits. They had an optional nets session today, which was not attended by Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Peter George and the fast bowlers who played the Mohali Test. “Mood was pretty buoyant at the training. The boys are in good spirits. Some of the guys, particularly the fast bowlers, are trying to recover as best as they can because it was a gruelling Test match. After a tough match in Mohali, the focus is on recovery but we have to keep our skills in good shape as well.”Except for Doug Bollinger, struggling with abdominal pain, those who missed the nets session worked in the gym at the team hotel. “He went for a scan yesterday,” Hussey said. “I believe it is just a minor strain. We are hopeful he is going to be okay. But he’ll have to bowl tomorrow and we’ll see how he pulls up on the morning of the match. If he doesn’t, then we have three other young guys who would love to have the opportunity.”Two of those young guys, James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc, had a long bowl in the nets. “We like to have guys who are trying to get into the Test side,” Hussey said. “They are charging at you. The intensity of a net session is as good as a match situation. We are trying to create the same intensity and pressure of a match during the net session so that you don’t feel that you are far away from the middle. I had not faced them before – Starc and Pattinson – and I am very impressed. Pattinson reminds me of [Peter] Siddle.”One of the aspects of the game Australia could work on is not letting the Indian spinners settle. “We could have been more positive in the first innings but they bowled really well,” Hussey said. “In the last session [on the first day] we could have been more positive and taken a couple of more risks.”

Cricket Ireland (CI) has confirmed the appointment of Stephen Moreton as coach of the national Women’s squad

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2010Cricket Ireland (CI) has confirmed the appointment of Stephen Moreton as coach of the national Women’s squad. Moreton, who had first-class experience as a cricketer with Oxford UCCE, had been in the role on a temporary basis following the resignation of Paul Delany earlier in the season.”I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to coach the Irish side,” said Moreton. “I feel very lucky to have inherited such a talented group who are all extremely proud to be able to represent their country. We have a World-Cup qualification tournament in November in Bangladesh, and it is within our own hands whether or not we do well enough in this tournament to qualify for the World Twenty20 in 2012, and the one-day World Cup in 2013.”The recent tournament [ICC Women’s Challenge] gave us an indication about are position in relation to the other countries vying for qualification, and it will be a long, tough road – but one that I am excited to be involved in.””I feel the appointment of Stephen as coach to the Irish Women’s national squad, ahead of the start of 2011 season is a positive move by Cricket Ireland,” enthused Ireland captain Ciara Metcalfe. “Stephen was introduced to the team back in August as interim coach and during his short time has made a big impact.”2011 is a massive year for Irish Women’s Cricket and all our attention must be centered around the World Cup Qualification tournament in November. I have no doubt with Stephen’s cricket knowledge, some team commitment and hard work we can have a successful year.”

Chris Lynn struck his second first-class hundred to ensure a draw for Queensland at the Gabba, where Western Australia began the final day searching for victory

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2010
ScorecardChris Lynn struck his second first-class hundred to ensure a draw for Queensland at the Gabba, where Western Australia began the final day searching for victory. The Bulls started at 1 for 23, needing 158 runs to make the Warriors bat again in their rain-affected match, and when Michael Hogan had Craig Philipson lbw early it seemed a big ask.However, that brought the 20-year-old Lynn to the crease, and together with Ryan Broad (52) he steadied Queensland. In his tenth first-class outing, Lynn showed no sign of nerves and brought up his century by advancing to the spinner Aaron Heal and driving him over long-off for six.Brett Dorey led the attack with 3 for 62 but Western Australia’s hopes faded as Queensland moved into the lead, meaning the Warriors had not only to bowl the Bulls out but then chase a target. When the match was called off, Lynn was unbeaten on 142 with Cameron Boyce on 1, and at 7 for 277, Queensland had a lead of 96.

Jonathan Trott has climbed to third in the ICC Test batsmen rankings on the back of his unbeaten century in the fourth Ashes Test; Zaheer Khan has moved to fourth in the bowlers list

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2010Jonathan Trott, the England top-order batsman, has climbed to third in the ICC Test batsmen rankings on the back of his unbeaten century in the fourth Ashes Test at the MCG. Meanwhile, Zaheer Khan, India’s bowling spearhead, is up to fourth in the bowlers rankings after his six wickets against South Africa in Durban, and VVS Laxman moved up six places to ninth after his 96 in the same match.Trott’s 168 not out, which helped England seal an innings-and-157-run victory over Australia to retain the Ashes, takes him up from tenth in the rankings to within nine points of Sachin Tendulkar. Trott could actually overtake Tendulkar by the end of the Ashes depending on each of their performances in their next Tests.Zaheer is now joint-fourth with England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson on 752 points, while his team-mate Harbhajan Singh moved up to eighth position after also taking six wickets in Durban. Laxman’s current ranking is just one below his best-ever eighth place, which he occupied in 2001, after his 281 at Eden Gardens.Alastair Cook moved up one place to 13th and Kevin Pietersen up four to 21st in the batsmen rankings after the Melbourne Test.Australia’s top-order batsmen took a dive in the rankings, after they were bowled out for 98 and 238 at the MCG. Michael Hussey dropped four places to 10th, Shane Watson fell two spots to 15th, Michael Clarke slipped to 24th and Ricky Ponting, who has scored just 113 runs in the four Ashes Tests played so far, moved down to 29th place, one behind England captain Andrew Strauss. Peter Siddle, the Australia fast bowler, was rewarded for his 6 for 75 in Melbourne with a jump of six places to 11th in the bowlers rankings.Dale Steyn, the South Africa fast bowler, is still comfortably ahead of all competitors at the top of the bowlers rankings, after he took eight wickets in the Durban Test, but his team-mate Hashim Amla dropped out of the top ten batsmen after the 87-run loss to India.