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Double Champs

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THE CUP; the Challenge; the Bowl. What next?With the clinical efficiency that has been the hallmark of their cricket all season, Barbados hastily demolished Jamaica yesterday to complete an unprecedented double by adding the Carib Beer International Challenge to the Carib Beer Cup they secured three weeks ago."It is a great feeling. This is tremendous," victorious captain Courtney Browne said amidst excited celebrations among teammates in the Garfield Sobers Pavilion."The old saying that hard work pays off really caps it off here for us. Hard work is what this was all about."It was reflected in the presentation ceremony when Barbados copped most of the awards named after illustrious former West Indies players.And there was warm applause in front of the pavilion when Browne accepted the Challenge and the US$10 000 that accompanied it, along with the Cup and the US$7 500 that came with it.Sunday morning collapses at Kensington Oval have become common this season and yesterday was no different.Barbados, winners of last September’s Red Stripe Bowl final against the same opponents, wasted no time in wrapping up a Jamaica second innings that offered some promise on the third evening.For the second time in the match, the Jamaicans tamely folded after building an encouraging platform. In the first innings, their last nine wickets fell for 68 and yesterday, their last seven second innings wickets went for 32 to transform their overnight 166 for three to 219 all out.As a result, Barbados’ seven-wicket victory was achieved as early as 1:01 p.m. after they were set a small target of 35.In the process, they lost three wickets, one of which was Philo Wallace, who left the field raising his bat and helmet after he went for a duck. There was speculation that Wallace might have been hinting this was the end of his first-class career, but he indicated afterwards it was not.In the end, the Challenge final was a one-sided match and not the type of contest many expected against a team that featured eight players with international experience."I never thought it would have been a challenge. I know the Jamaican team. I never thought it would have been close," Browne said."They are still a young team and they were coming into the match with a bowling department that was not really good."In terms of their batting, I have some bowlers who bowl the ball in the right areas and guys who swing the ball. Once the ball is swinging the Jamaican batsmen don’t play it well. They always edge it."Since the first-class championship was expanded to feature two segments in 2001 following the inclusion of international opposition, no side has won both titles and Browne praised not only the effort of his players but the support of fans and those working behind the scenes.They included Barbados Cricket Association president Stephen Alleyne, the Barbados Defence Force team trainer Wayne Griffith, along with technical assistance from former West Indies opener Desmond Haynes and seasoned overseas professional Hendy Wallace.Needing to score briskly in an effort to set Barbados some kind of a workable target, Jamaica resumed the final day 19 runs in deficit with aggressive intentions that never worked.They scored at almost a run a minute in the first 35 minutes but were set back by the loss of their most consistent batsman this season and their most potentially explosive, both falling to left-arm pacer Pedro Collins.Dave Bernard Jr., the new West Indies selectee, drove a catch to cover and hard-hitting Ricardo Powell edged his fifth ball low to first slip where Floyd Reifer took a neat catch.It completed a double failure in the match for Powell. But he was not alone.Three of those who followed him also endured a match they would quickly want to forget.Vasbert Drakes, who came on after an hour, gave away precious little after he was knocked around the previous evening when he conceded 40 runs from his six overs. He delivered another six overs yesterday, gave up only four runs and collected three wickets.The first was Leon Garrick, who carried his overnight 56 to 75 before Drakes deceived him with his sixth ball of the day.With Garrick gone, there was still plenty of batting with captain Robert Samuels, Gareth Breese and Keith Hibbert capable of offering resistance. None of them did.Samuels and Breese succumbed to Drakes and Hibbert gave Tino Best his only wicket of the match.Reifer again took another low catch at first slip to account for Breese and Samuels’ cut was smartly held by Kurt Wilkinson at second slip.

Wagh's mammoth 315 gives Warwickshire draw with Middlesex

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A record-breaking 315 by Warwickshire’s Mark Wagh was the highlight of a draw against Middlesex in this promotion battle at Lord’s.In a match of new faces and high scores an unlikely result looked possible with Middlesex 90 for four at tea with 34 overs remaining. They ended at 167 for six with the pitch the only winner in a game of 1 300 runs and 22 wickets.Wagh was on the field for all but one over of the match, bowling 33 overs in the first innings and another 18 in the second. He came in at 6 for one and saw Warwickshire through to 631 for nine declared, a first innings lead of 129.Wagh was unaware of the records that lay ahead when he resumed in the morning at 266. His score was equal to Percy Holmes’ 315 and one behind Jack Hobbs’ 1926 championship record at Lord’s.The 449-ball epic was the second highest for Warwickshire behind Brian Lara’s unsurpassable 501 not out. Graham Gooch’s 333 for England against India in 1990 remains the best at HQ.”It was a relatively flat wicket,” the 24-year-old told CricInfo. Unsurprisingly, the Oxford University psychology graduate was “absolutely knackered” when he finally left the field at 5.30pm.His patience and wristy timing finally went awry when he was caught at midwicket by Jamie Dalrymple off Tim Bloomfield whose three for 111 were the best figures of the match.Only Middlesex’s Stephen Fleming came close to match Wagh’s powers of concentration, adding 65 to his first innings 102. A final scare came when Fleming gloved a sweep to Warwickshire captain Mike Powell at short backward point.Guess who the bowler was?

Nervous nineties and a doomed debut

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Aaron Redmond did not enjoy the same sort of debut as his father Rodney © Getty Images
 

Innings of the day
Brendon McCullum took seven deliveries to get off the mark, and 18 to record his first boundary. Standard fare, you might imagine. Yet, this is no standard batsman. In Bangalore last month, McCullum had slashed five fours and three sixes in his first 18 deliveries, and had racked up 10 and 13 respectively by the time his 20 overs ran out, at which point he was sitting pretty on 158 not out from 73 balls. His idea of a gear-change is subtly different to that of the rest of the cricket-playing universe, and on a day when England’s seamers were hooping the red ball around corners, his response was a run-a-ball 97 that, by rights, should have required at least double that number of deliveries. Until his desperate late demise, it was an innings of breathtaking self-assurance …Dismissal of the day
… and yet. There’s nothing quite like a Lord’s Test for rubbing in the magnitude of an international appearance. McCullum knows this only too well. At Lord’s he has now reached the nervous nineties in consecutive innings, and has failed to convert on both occasions. This time he went one better than his 96 in 2004, but his dismissal was every bit as anticlimactic – Monty Panesar beat him with a straight ball, albeit a very well-flighted one. If only he could have transplanted his IPL mindset for the final few runs of today’s knock. In that Bangalore innings, he went from 83 to 101 in four legitimate balls – six, four, six, two, thank you very much. But he couldn’t. There’s no escaping the sense of history at Lord’s.Shot of the day
The aerial route is McCullum’s favoured method, but he restrained himself admirably until his eye was keenly set. Dealing almost exclusively in width, he scythed 13 fours – occasionally streakily but mostly with aplomb – before withdrawing his front leg to heave Panesar with disdain, up and over his head and straight towards the journalists in the media centre. That was just for starters, however. Three balls later, McCullum planted his front foot down the pitch and with a startling whirl of his arms, drove Stuart Broad high and handsome over the covers for six, and cleared the longest corner of the ground by a distance.Doomed debut of the day
Poor Aaron Redmond had a tough act to follow. His father, Rodney, opened the batting for New Zealand in his solitary Test against Pakistan in 1973, and made the small matter of 107 and 56 in his two innings. Redmond Jr might not have anticipated such riches but, after racking up a stoical 146 in six-and-a-half hours against England Lions last week, he was being spoken of as the new Mark Richardson, New Zealand’s famously dour stonewaller … who scored 93 and 101on their last visit to Lord’s in 2004. So, it was with a sad sense of inevitability that James Anderson squared him up with a first-over outswinger, to send him on his way for a fifth-ball duck.Cameo of the day
In his own Cricinfo Diary, Ross Taylor told of how Geoffrey Boycott, no less, had warned him: “Lad, don’tbe playing those Twenty20 shots, you’re in my fantasy team.” Sadly, the great sage’s advice fell on deaf ears. Coming to the crease at 18 for 2, Taylor got off the mark with a first-ball swat for four, and two balls later, damn near ran out his partner, James Marshall. He then flashed a brace of boundaries in the arc between backward point and slip, before finally hoisting a pirouette pull high into the air where Paul Collingwood at second slip jogged back to complete the kill. Taylor’s 24-minute innings had come at a strike-rate of 105.2, which would have pleased his Royal Challenger paymasters, but the score as he departed – 41 for 3 – wasn’t quite what New Zealand had in mind.Kit of the day
For the first time in a week, the sun refused to make an appearance in St John’s Wood, but the sunglasses still had to come out in force when England strode out to field. Their radical new adidas kit is cut from a “brilliant white” cloth, as opposed to the grubby cream flannel of yesteryear. The combined effect was like watching Tom Cruise break into a rictus grin as they burst out of their huddle and spread to all corners of the field. It was distinctly unsettling, to tell the truth.

Rain washes out second consecutive day

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFurther heavy rain in Sydney led to the abandonment of the fourth day’s play•Cricket Australia

For the first time in more than 25 years, two consecutive Test days were washed out in Australia without a ball being bowled, as heavy rain continued in Sydney on Wednesday. Only 68 balls had been bowled on the second day before days three and four were completely abandoned, leading Cricket Australia to declare free entry for day five, in addition to refunds for tickets on the second, third and fourth days.The forecast for the fifth day is for a possible shower, although only two millimetres of rain were expected by the Bureau of Meteorology, which would likely mean play was possible if the outfield was in a fit enough state. Australia will lift the Frank Worrell Trophy at the end of day five regardless of what happens on the field, having earned a 2-0 lead from their wins in Hobart and Melbourne.Only 86.2 overs had been bowled in the entire match by the end of day four, with West Indies still 7 for 248 in their first innings. Last time two straight days were washed out in Australia was also in Sydney, against Pakistan in 1989-90. The first two days of that Test were rained out without a ball being bowled, which led to a sixth day being added, though further rain throughout the Test meant a draw was inevitable.

Mumbai send second-string team for Nissar Trophy

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A second-string Mumbai team is scheduled to arrive in Karachi today for the Nissar Trophy four-day match against Karachi Urban, the Pakistan domestic champions. The squad has lost majority of its big names due to pullouts and non-availabilities.In the revised squad announced before departure, only five players actually played for Mumbai in the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy which the team won. Captain Amol Muzumdar had declared himself unavailable because of his league engagements in England while Rohit Sharma, with the Indian team in England, was also not available. Wasim Jaffer, India’s Test opener, who was later named captain of the touring team, opted out due to a minor knee injury while former international Nilesh Kulkarni was omitted from the squad because of an alleged connection with the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Crowd-pullers Sachin Tendulkar, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Ramesh Powar were already ruled out due to their involvement in India’s on-going tour of England.Mumbai have now appointed batsman Bhavin Thakkar as their captain, a player who was not in the original squad. Only Sahil Kukreja, Vinayak Mane, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nayar and Rajesh Verma of the initially-announced touring side played for Mumbai in last season’s Ranji Trophy. Now, Thakkar, Kshemal Waingankar and Mudeep Mungela have been added to the team, all with Ranji Trophy experience in 2006-07. Several of the remaining players, including Omkar Gurav, Iqbal Abdulla and Vikrant Yeligati have yet to appear in any first-class matches.The one-off match is to be played at the National Stadium from September 8 to 11. Last year, in the first match of its kind, played in India, Uttar Pradesh comprehensively beat Sialkot by 316 runs.The Karachi Urban squad is yet to be announced.Mumbai: Bhavin Thakkar (capt), Sahil Kukreja, Vinayak Mane, Prashant Naik, Ajinkya Rahane, Vinit Indulkar, Hiken Shah, Abhishek Nayar, Omkar Gurav (wk), Kshemal Waingankar, Mudeep Mungela, Aavishkar Salvi, Rajesh Verma, Iqbal Abdulla, Vikrant Yeligati.

Drugs-test hearing to be held within fortnight

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A local newspaper alleged that Shoaib had delayed his testing and had ended up giving it a day later than his colleagues © Getty Images

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will have its drugs tribunal to investigate charges of doping against Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif in place by the end of this week. But as the Islamic festival of Eid is scheduled to begin early next week, it appears unlikely any conclusion will be reached until, at the earliest, late next week.The tribunal will comprise three people; a former Test cricketer – thought by many to be Intikhab Alam – an eminent lawyer and a sports doctor. Both Shoaib and Asif are expected to plead their innocence to the charges; in a meeting yesterday with PCB officials they denied taking any performance-enhancing steroids willingly. Dr Naseem Ashraf, the PCB chairman, has repeatedly asserted that both will be given a fair trial and be allowed a full opportunity to defend themselves but also that the board has a zero-tolerance policy towards doping. If found guilty, both players could face a two-year ban.While Asif has remained largely silent on the issue – he did tell reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore that not being a tearaway fast bowler, he had no need to use steroids – Shoaib has had his innocence defended with more vigour. He initially publicly denied any wrongdoing on bigstarcricket.com. His personal doctor, Dr Tauseef Razzak has also argued that Shoaib was using herbal medicines for various injuries, which might explain the presence of nandrolone in his samples.Razzak told Reuters, “After undergoing surgery in Australia and subsequent treatment for the stress fracture, Shoaib has been seeing a (doctor). It is a possibility that nandrolone was mixed in herbal medicines that he has been taking. He has been tested before during ICC events but has never tested positive.”Cricinfo has also learnt that Shoaib had been granted permission from the ICC to use Ventolin inhalers for his asthma condition. The inhalers are thought to contain a small amount of steroids though not nandrolone.One local newspaper also claimed that Shoaib had delayed his testing and had ended up giving it a day later than his colleagues.Pakistan, meanwhile, is slowly coming to terms with what has happened. Leading newspapers carried editorials on the doping scandal. Karachi-based , with customary balance, said the latest scandal “had the potential to debilitate the side for months to come,” and that the team “would have to live with a brand new taint.” It also reminded readers, however, that the possibility still existed that the two players had unwittingly taken the substance. put on a brave face, enthusiastically championing the PCB’s bravery in handling the situation publicly while also arguing that “Pakistan cricket is strong enough to weather such storms.”With monotonous predictability, two ex-captains, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, have slammed the PCB’s handling of the matter. Imran questioned the timing of the tests and asked why they could not have been taken earlier, thus preventing Pakistan the trouble of pulling out the two just one day before their opening match.Miandad blamed Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, arguing that it was his responsibility to make sure players knew what they were taking. “Woolmer has a battery of assistants, there are so many doctors on the PCB panel, they should also be investigated because players don’t know what medicines they are taking.”Fans are still in shock. One US-based reader wrote in to a newspaper saying, “I have been walking around all day feeling like someone has punched me in the gut and I am finding it extremely hard to recover from it.” One cricket-mad mother expressed similar angst, though quickly argued that “it must be a PCB-conspiracy to get rid of Shoaib.”Above all, as one follower put it, the gravity of what has happened is sinking in. “We can laugh off the captaincy changes and board changes. ‘ (‘This stuff keeps happening). But drug charges? That is really serious.’ As we will see, no doubt, over the coming week.

Smith confident of two-spinner strategy

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Muttiah Muralitharan, who wheeled away for 30 overs on the first day, will play a crucial role as the pitch wears © Getty Images

Graeme Smith is confident his plan to use only two specialist fast bowlers will pay off as the Super Test ages on an SCG pitch already assisting the spinners. The World XI decided to strengthen the batting in the six-day Super Test and preferred the allrounder Jacques Kallis to Shaun Pollock for the third seamer’s role.Kallis, who took 0 for 35 from seven overs, has been used as a specialist first-change bowler only twice for South Africa in the past four years and Smith said the move was a “gamble that would reap benefits”. “The two spinners are definitely going to offer a lot and the selection panel decided on an extra batsmen and Jacques doing the top-up,” he said. “It’s turning a lot out of the rough and from day three onwards things will start to happen.”The World XI will start the second day with a new ball and Smith said he hoped to dismiss Australia for under 400. “The first innings is crucial, we need to get into a good position and then push things in the second,” he said. “It was a reasonable day. We grafted hard, if anything the total was 20 or 30 runs too much.” Smith said the match felt like a Test and he was pleased with the bowling performance on a slow pitch and conditions offering swing for only the first 30 minutes.Smith also responded to claims in Michael Vaughan’s autobiography that he had called Andrew Flintoff, who bowled well with Steve Harmison in the morning session, a “big baby” during England’s tour of South Africa last year. “There are no problems,” he said. “It’s sad when you take things on the field off the field.”Following Smith’s debut series in 2001-02 he exposed the Australians’ sledging in a magazine article and his stance has changed. “When you play competitively you sometimes say things you regret and I was naïve when I did it,” he said. “We are all playing to win for our countries, and we are all getting on well this week.”

Northants look to Love and Rofe for cover

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Martin Love: returning to county cricket© Getty Images

Northants have signed two Australians for the remainder of the county season – even though they won’t be playing at the same time.Martin Love, who has played five Tests for Australia and played for Durham in the past three seasons, will arrive at Wantage Road later this month. He will replace Martin van Jaarsveld, who is to tour Sri Lanka with South Africa in August.Love will stay until the middle of August, from when Paul Rofe, the fast-bowler from South Australia, will take his place. Rofe, 23, has played for Australia Under-19s and took 36 wickets at 27.47 in 10 Pura Cup matches last season.”The thinking behind this is quite simple really,” said Kepler Wessels, the Northants coach. “We have five Championship matches after Martin Love leaves, we need to get some wins and to do that we have to take 20 wickets. Paul had a good season with the ball in Australian domestic cricket and so he comes with a useful pedigree.”Northants were promoted to Division One of the County Championship last season, but are yet to win this season.

Zimbabwe Cricket Online – Letters

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LOOKING FORWARD TO ZIMBABWE’S VISITI would just like to make a few comments regarding Zimbabwe cricket.Firstly, well done to the team for making the Super Six stage! It’s a shame they couldn’t progress further. Hopefully in the Caribbean in 2007!!!Also congratulations on hosting such a great tournament!!! It was excellently done, and has clearly got to be the best for organisation, entertainment, etc. . . All three hosts did great and Africa should be proud!Next, in regards to the Zimbabwe Cricket Website, I was just wondering why there is no section for contacting, mailing or supporting players and the team. Both the Australian and Sri Lankan sites have these sections for fans! I only say this as I have been trying in a variety of ways to contact a player (Brain Murphy), but have been unsuccessful and had no response. Which in comparison to the Aussies and Lankan players is very disappointing. My main aim was to send support messages amongst other things.Finally, I noticed under the ICC Test Championship that Zimbabwe is scheduled to tour Australia later this year. I was wondering if any games will be played in Melbourne, as I’m looking forward to see the team play. To meet my favourite player(s) would be an added bonus.I have been very honoured and fortunate to have met and even hosted my favourite player(s) from West Indies, England, Pakistan, India, and of course especially Australia and Sri Lanka. (About which I’m happy to go into details if needed). I’d love to be able to do the same with Zimbabwe (but as in each case I seek approval from the appropriate authorities).By the way, what is the chances of getting a autograph photo/picture from a Zimbabwe player? (I know it varies from nation to nation).Delan Adikari (Melbourne, Australia)Reply: You write about ideas that actually haven’t reached Zimbabwe cricket yet. I thought that Zimbabwe players would not appreciate having their e-mail addresses made widely available, as they can so easily be abused, but I will see what their thinking is. And I’m afraid autographed photos or pictures are not yet part of Zimbabwe cricket either!Regarding Zimbabwe’s tour of Australia, I have had provisional news of the venues for the two Tests we will be playing there, but cannot release them yet as they are still unofficial.

Three Indians among Bradman's selection

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Three Indian cricketers – Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and SachinTendulkar – were among a pool of 69 from whom the legendary Sir DonaldBradman made his selection of the ‘World Best Team’ before he died.The `All-time ideal team’ of Bradman will be announced on Monday,Roland Perry, who chronicled the careful considerations of individualtalent and corporate balance behind how the Don selected his best XI,wrote in his book ‘Bradman’s Best’, a report in The Times, said inLondon on Saturday.”In interviews for Bradman’s Best, the Don, over a concentrated sixmonths in 1995 and intermittently over the next five years, discussedthe greatest players of the game, from WG Grace and Victor Trumper atthe beginning of the 20th century to Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkarat the end of it,” the report said.Bradman exhibited an enormous capacity for analysing the strengths,weaknesses, technical skills, temperament, personality and characterof scores of cricketers who have graced the world stage over more than120 years.”I was intrigued to know his all-time ideal team. At first wediscussed it in terms of achieving the perfect balance under normalplaying conditions,” Perry wrote.According to the report, Bradman opted for the following: tworecognised opening batsmen of whom one shall be a left-hander, threeother batsmen of whom one should be a left-hander, one all-rounder,one wicketkeeper who is also a good bat, one fast bowler to open withthe wind, one fast or medium-pace bowler to open into the wind, oneright-arm off spinner or right-hand leg spinner and one left-armorthodox first-finger spinner.Perry said Bradman’s understandable obsession to avoid publicity madea book on his best team untenable. “But I was still interested to knowhis world best XI. I suggested that the team only be made publicposthumously and sent him a range of selections for the positions inthe team, based on our discussions,” Perry said.How the idea of an ideal team came into the mind of Bradman makesinteresting reading.Bradman had been retired eight years when he returned to England forthe 1956 Ashes battle as a journalist. England won 2-1 and had thesuperior team, with right-arm off spinner Jim Laker in blisteringform, especially in the fourth Test at Old Trafford when he took 19wickets for 90 runs on a dustbowl.”This went very close to perfect (balance)” Bradman said. “Englandhad a left and right-hander to open, but there was neither a left-handbatsman nor an all-rounder in the next four.”The Australia 1921 teams also went close: Collins, Bardsley,Macartney, Andrews, Taylor, Pellew, Armstrong, Gregory, Oldfield,McDonald and Mailey.Bradman also liked his 1948 “invincibles”, the unique squad that wentthrough an entire Ashes tour of 34 games without losing a contest.Asked whether the 1948 team was the best since cricket’s inception,Bradman replied with diffidence. “It’s difficult comparing teams fromera to era,” but conceded that it was “the best team I was everinvolved with as a player.”But was it the best in history?”I suppose that could be argued” Bradman replied. “It’s biggestchallenger would probably be (Warwick) Armstrong’s 1921 side or theWest Indies teams of the 1980s (under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards).”He paused, smiled wryly and added: “A match between any two of theseteams would have been worth seeing.”The pool of players read:Openers (one a left-hander) from Gavaskar, Greenidge, Haynes, Hobbs,Hutton, Ponsford, Barnes, Lawry, Simpson, Morris, Sutcliffe, BarryRichards, Slater.Three other bats (which was two given that Bradman would be anautomatic selection), ideally one should be a left-hander: from(Bradman), Lara, Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh,Graeme Pollock, Headley, Weekes, Hammond, McCabe, Harvey, Macartney,Greg Chappell, Compton, May, Trumper.One all-rounder: from Sobers, Miller, Davidson, Benaud, Proctor, KapilDev, Botham, Hammond, Grace.One wicketkeeper, who is also a good bat: from Tallon, Healy, Knott,Dujon, Marsh, Evans.One fast bowler to open with the wind, and one fast or medium pacer toopen into the wind: from Ambrose, Hadlee, Lillee, McGrath, Lindwall,Donald, Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Walsh, Alec Bedser, Tyson,Larwood, Wasim Akram, Davidson, Johnston, Barnes.One right-arm off-spinner: from Laker, Gibbs.One left-arm orthodox first-finger spinner or an orthodox leg spinner:from Verity, Rhodes, O’Reilly, Grimmett, Mailey, Warne.