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Sulieman Benn needs to show his commitment to the West Indies team before he can be considered for international cricket, the chairman of selectors has said

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2011Sulieman Benn, the left-arm spinner, needs to show his commitment to the West Indies team before he can be considered for international cricket, the chairman of selectors Clyde Butts has said.Benn, 30, hasn’t played for West Indies since the World Cup in March, and was dropped after unfavourable reports from the team management about his behaviour during the tournament. He missed the entire home summer and was left out of the squad for the two Twenty20s in England next month as well.”I think Sulieman Benn would tell you point-blank that he is available for selection but of course you know what happened when Sulieman Benn went to the World Cup with us,” Butts said in a television interview on August 23. “We had some issues with Benn and nothing has happened since then to show us that he has changed his ways and certainly wants to play for West Indies.”Benn has had a string of disciplinary problems since debuting for West Indies in 2008: he was suspended for two one-day internationals for an incident involving Brad Haddin during West Indies’ tour of Australia in 2009, and then during South Africa’s visit in 2010 he received another ban for an altercation with Dale Steyn and was also sent off the field in a one-dayer by his captain Chris Gayle for refusing to do what the captain asked.After the World Cup, legspinner Devendra Bishoo took over Benn’s spot in the side and made a promising start to his international career. Benn was West Indies’ lead spinner till the World Cup, and performed moderately well, taking 51 wickets in 17 Tests and 29 wickets in 25 one-dayers.”I know the board has been trying to put some things in place for him and one just hopes he can reform,” Butts said, “and he can start thinking slightly different now and look at himself as a man who actually has been performing fairly reasonable for West Indies and would want to go on and play for West Indies for a long time.”

Edgbaston, Old Trafford or Chester-le-Street. Where will the Championship pennant be flying next season?

Andrew McGlashan11-Sep-2011Edgbaston, Old Trafford or Chester-le-Street. Where will the Championship pennant be flying next season? We’ll know by Thursday evening, but at the start of the final round of matches it’s too close to call after Lancashire’s last-gasp victory against Hampshire closed the gap on leaders Warwickshire to three points.However, Warwickshire remain favourites – if only just – with their narrow advantage meaning that if they win and take 22 points from their match at Southampton (a mark that will be reached by getting three batting points and a full bowling allocation in a victory) that title will be theirs regardless of what happens elsewhere. That, though, is far tighter than it would have been if Simon Kerrigan hadn’t taken his ninth wicket late on Saturday afternoon.If Lancashire and Warwickshire finish level on points the Championship will be Lancashire’s for the first time in 77 years because they have the better head-to-head record. It was the same tie-breaker that handed Nottinghamshire the prize ahead of Somerset last season. Title challenges really do come down to the odd point here and there; such small margins as a slow over-rate here or a missed bowling point there at the end of a marathon 16 matches.After events at the weekend Durham are a distant third favourites as they need favours at Southampton and Taunton. However, they have recent experience of winning titles and when they secured their maiden Championship in 2008 it was after Nottinghamshire bottled their challenge in the final round. Funny things happen when the pressure is on, so all Durham can do is go out and beat Worcestershire convincingly.Whoever takes the title will deserve it. Warwickshire have a strong batting line-up and seam-bowling unit, Lancashire have a blend of youth, experience and belief while Durham have a deep squad that enables them to compete without Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett. Warwickshire (2004) and Durham (2008, 2009) have Championship titles that the current generation can remember, but Lancashire have, literally, waited a lifetime since their last outright success in 1934.”It’s a great game to be involved in and we’ve earned the right to be there,” Peter Moores, the Lancashire coach, said of the trip to Taunton. “Winning nine games in a season is a lot, bouncing back time and time again both during games and now after that Worcestershire defeat which was a tough one. By hook or by crook we find a way to stay in most games and we did it again [at Aigburth]. All the way through someone has come up with something. We’ll go there looking forward to it.”It’s a very different story for the other Roses county. At the bottom of the table Yorkshire are all-but relegated, despite their victory against Somerset at Headingley, and their fate will be confirmed if Worcestershire get one point against Durham while they can also condemn Hampshire if they score seven points.There is still a bun fight to see who will replace the two teams that do head down. Northamptonshire, for so long the frontrunners in Division Two, have slipped badly in the final month of the season. Middlesex now sit top and are well placed to go up especially as they face bottom team Leicestershire. Surrey, however, are the form side and have peaked at the right time while Northamptonshire face Gloucestershire who are also in the mix with nine points separating second to fourth place. It’s a week to keep that table handy.

Against Zimbabwe, he had played a tremendous innings before falling at the final hurdle; but in Mirpur, he finished things off with a thumping six

Mohammad Isam11-Oct-2011Very few men get a shot at redemption within just two months of a disappointment. Virender Sehwag needed four years and 175 runs to restore his pride against Bangladesh while Jason Gillespie had to wait a year and look to his batting to provide salvation. Sehwag had been dismissed for 2 in India’s loss to Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup, which ended up eliminating them from the tournament, so his swashbuckling hundred in Mirpur in the 2011 edition was revenge of sorts. Gillespie had been hit for a six in the last over of Australia’s embarrassing loss to Bangladesh in Cardiff, in 2005, so he would have felt glad that his first double-century, which came in his last Test, in Chittagong, was against the same opponents.It is hard to find cases where a Bangladesh player has achieved similar redemption. There are very few shots at glory and the propensity of the board to drop those who flounder under pressure means comeback-stories are a rarity.Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh’s new captain, was lucky to be presented with a similar situation to the one he bungled up in Harare in August. This time, he finished the job in style, hammering the penultimate delivery of the Twenty20 international against West Indies high into the stands at midwicket.In Harare, Mushfiqur had fallen at the final hurdle after playing a tremendous knock. Not many Bangladesh batsman can guide the side through a stuttering innings with the ease with which Mushfiqur did in that game. He knocked around the ones and twos and pulled out the big hits when necessary during his 101, and could have kept Bangladesh alive in the series against Zimbabwe. However, with six runs needed off five balls, he skied one to long-on and was the last man dismissed, giving Zimbabwe the win.At the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday evening, it was a similar situation though the conditions were warmer and the crowd larger. Mushfiqur walked in after Bangladesh had lost three wickets for three runs after a brisk start to their chase of 133. The added burden of being captain must have weighed heavily on the 23-year-old, who is known to take personal failure very seriously.He hammered the ones and twos this time, given that it was a Twenty20, and only launched into a big hit after he found confidence in Nasir Hossain as an able partner. With 13 to win off nine balls, Mushfiqur guided one between short third-man and the wicketkeeper for four. The calmness with which he played that shot bore no shadow of the ghastly form he endured during this year’s World Cup. There were calls for his head, especially when one of his competitors for the wicketkeeper’s slot, Dhiman Ghosh, struck a few hundreds in first-class cricket, but Mushfiqur was persisted with.His latest resurrection began against Australia, when he hit 81 not out in the second ODI but his effort was overshadowed by Shane Watson’s 185 off 96 balls later that afternoon. This time though, no giant could eclipse the Mighty Atom who started celebrating the victory even before the ball had crossed the rope.Mushfiqur’s 26-ball 41 was the key to Bangladesh’s second Twenty20 win over West Indies but what was also significant was that the recently sacked captain Shakib Al Hasan and vice-captain Tamim Iqbal both remained heavily involved in Bangladesh’s performance. Shakib and Tamim combined to give Bangladesh their first dismissal of the match, that of Adrian Barath. Shakib continued to impress as a Twenty20 bowler while Tamim was energetic in the outfield.With Shakib’s every move being cheered by the capacity crowd, Mushfiqur used his key bowler cleverly, spacing out his four overs. Mushfiqur remained busy in the field and only looked slightly flustered when Marlon Samuels started attacking the bowlers, pounding sixes at will. The short spells Mushfiqur used his best bowlers in suggested he had a plan despite Bangladesh’s lack of Twenty20 experience. And after his bowlers had done half the job, he completed it himself.

Darren Bravo’s resolute century, which left him with statistics identical to Brian Lara’s at the end of 12 Tests, wasn’t enough to deny India an innings win

The Report by Sidharth Monga17-Nov-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEven in his celebration routine, Darren Bravo was reminiscent of Brian Lara•AFP

Darren Bravo’s resolute century, which left him with statistics identical to Brian Lara’s at the end of 12 Tests, wasn’t enough to deny India an innings win. Bravo, Marlon Samuels and Shivnarine Chanderpaul made India work hard on the fourth day, and took West Indies to their highest score following on. India preferred to wait for mistakes, which said a lot about the huge lead they had and the state of the pitch: a slow turner. When West Indies did make the mistake, Rahul Dravid was superb at slip to kickstart a collapse of four for 20.Given their recent form, not many were expecting a big fightback from West Indies, and according to unconfirmed reports Kolkata’s Jadhavpur University Complex, where Sourav Ganguly is playing a Ranji Trophy match, attracted a bigger crowd than Eden Gardens. They missed an attractive century from Bravo. Resuming on 38 he kept batting like he did yesterday. With the fields spread he kept picking the singles, and whenever MS Dhoni looked to attack he sent the fields back with calculated risks. He added 15 fours and a six to his boundary count on the fourth day.India began the day trying to keep things quiet until the new ball became due. The pitch had become slow, and allowed the batsmen enough time to recover even if they were beaten in the flight. There was only one hiccup, potentially a big one, in the 18 overs before the new ball was taken. Bravo pushed towards mid-off and set off immediately, Chanderpaul never moved. With the batsmen now capable of whispering to each other at the non-striker’s end, Gambhir threw on the run. A weak and wide throw ensued, allowing Bravo to get back.The new ball immediately produced more excitement. Bravo hit the first over for two fours, but also edged one. Soft hands and the slowness of the pitch, though, made sure it didn’t carry to slip. In the fourth over with the new ball, against the run of play, Chanderpaul got a bottom edge when he looked to push Umesh Yadav. A sterner examination followed for Marlon Samuels. Ishant Sharma hit him on the forearm with a short one, and was nearly played on soon.

Smart stats

• India’s series win is their third against West Indies at home after their 1-0 win in 1978 and 2-0 win in 2002.

• The innings victory is only the second for India against West Indies. The previous one came in Mumbai in 2002.

• West Indies’ innings defeat is their 11th in Tests since 2000. In contrast, between 1980 and 1995, they suffered just two innings defeats.

• West Indies’ total of 463 is their highest second-innings total against India going past the 443 for 7 scored in Kanpur in 1958. On that occasion, West Indies won by 203 runs.

• Darren Bravo scored his second century in 12 Tests to go with six half-centuries. His stats after 12 matches (941 runs at 47.05) are exactly the same as Brian Lara’s numbers after 12 matches.

• The 132-run stand between Bravo and Marlon Samuels is seventh on the list of fifth-wicket stands for West Indies in India.

• Samuels’ 84 is his third-highest score against India and his first half-century in nine innings. His previous half-century came against India in Barbados when he made 78.

At the other end Bravo went strong. With the new ball likely to travel faster, his strike-rate improved too. Against the new ball, he went from 67 to 100 in 35 balls. For the rare few who might not have noticed the resemblance, upon reaching the century he leapt in the air just like Lara used to. By now Samuels had become surer, and despite India’s defensive fields, the two kept scoring swiftly.With the deficit in two figures, and once again against the run of play, Bravo opened the face to one from Ojha. The ball didn’t turn as much as expected, and went low to Dravid’s right at first slip. Pouched. Bravo and Lara after 12 Tests: 941 runs at 47.05. India were back now. Six overs later Ojha produced an edge from Carlton Baugh. Dravid dived full length to his right and completed the low catch. Perhaps his batting has rubbed off onto his catching form in the slips, which hasn’t quite been up to his usual standards over the last two years.Next it was Samuels’ turn to make the fatal mistake. He stayed back to a quick offbreak from R Ashwin, and was hit in front, deep in the crease, 16 short of what would have been another attractive century. An unorthodox offspinner, Ashwin proceeded to produce the classical offie’s dismissal, when he got one to drift away from Kemar Roach, and then sneak through the gap produced.Darren Sammy swung a few hits, but he only delayed the inevitable. Minutes before tea, Umesh Yadav finished the game and gave India the series by rattling the stumps with successive balls.

Enticed by the chance to revitalise Australian cricket and do it in his MCG “backyard”, Shane Warne has confirmed he will line up for the Melbourne Stars in the BBL

Daniel Brettig08-Nov-2011Enticed by the chance to revitalise Australian cricket and do it in his MCG “backyard”, Shane Warne has confirmed he will line up for the Melbourne Stars in this summer’s Twenty20 Big Bash League.Warne will play for the duration of the competition, having decided that the initial offers of a one or two-match cameo appearance, made when he was still reticent about returning to cricket after retiring from the IPL earlier this year, would not have been worthwhile.Calling himself a “young 42″, Warne said he had not yet decided whether this would be his only summer with the Stars, but was enthused by the prospect of helping attract younger generations to cricket, not least his own three children.”There had been a few offers about coming out to play and I was pretty comfortable with where I was at,” Warne told a press conference at the MCG. “But then looking back at how lucky I’d been with Australia and Australian cricket and what I’d been able to achieve at the highest level with a great group of players, when Cricket Australia started to launch the BBL, something new with all the city-based teams, it was something quite exciting.”I thought ‘if I’m going to do this, let’s do it properly’ … it is a great opportunity where I can give something back to cricket, my kids are getting older, they love Twenty20, and the MCG is a great place to play.””The MCG’s been my backyard for 20 years, there’s something special here, I love playing here, the people of Melbourne always get behind me, whether it was for the Australian team or Victoria, and the MCG was something that really swayed it for me.”Having slimmed down in recent times, and bowled well for Rajasthan in his final IPL tournament, Warne said he had little doubt he would be able to contribute meaningfully to the Stars’ campaign on the field as well as off it.”If I wasn’t confident in my own form and being part of a team I don’t think I would’ve taken up that one or two games to get whacked around a little bit, because that’s what happens in T20,” he said. “But I think I’m in such good shape at the moment, I feel excited about playing cricket and being involved in a good team.”I think I can have a significant role, whatever Whitey [Cameron White, captain] and Shippy [Greg Shipperd, coach] want me to have I’m happy to do. I wouldn’t go into playing these games without a sense of confidence in my ability that I can go out there to make a difference.”Commercial considerations were mulled over also, and it is useful for the Warne to be back playing in Melbourne when a club bearing his favourite number 23 has just been opened at the nearby Crown Casino. However he denied that money was a major fact in his return, something the Stars chairman Eddie McGuire confirmed by pointing out that the fee agreed for two games would not be growing to accommodate seven or nine matches.”It’s got nothing to do with money, if it was about money me coming and playing cricket I’d still be playing in the IPL – I retired from that,” Warne said. “This is something that I’m passionate about, something that I think is unique to Australian cricket, city-based cricket teams are something new and that enticed me.”My kids that are 14, 12 and 10 can’t really remember dad playing cricket that much, but now they might be able to remember me playing at the MCG. With the seven games there’s a salary cap and all that, so it’s nothing to do with the money, otherwise I’d be playing in the IPL still.”Warne will now be in the slightly incongruous position of playing his matches head-to-head with the national team’s Test matches against India, much as his mentor Ian Chappell did during World Series Cricket from 1977 to 1979. He maintains a sense of optimism that all cricket formats are helping, not detracting from, one another.”All the versions of the game continue to help [each other]. T20 I think has helped the whole game of cricket,” Warne said. “There’s a place definitely for Test cricket, T20 and one day cricket at the moment, just finding that right balance and not doing too much of each.”If you have to face Glenn McGrath in a couple of overs in a Test match and you needed 20 to win you’d slog him, in a T20 game you’d slog him as well, you get more confidence in all the forms of the game to smash him around. So each version of the game helps each one, and it makes all the versions more entertaining. I don’t see a conflict in that at all, I think it’ll all help together and it’ll be an exciting summer.”Inevitably, Warne was asked about his high-profile fiancé Liz Hurley, brushing off the notion that he was returning to cricket so she could watch him play in Australia, but admitted she might not be a great fan of the Stars’ green strip.”She calls them costumes that we play in,” he said. “I’m not sure what she’ll think about the green costume…”

James Pattinson’s astonishing debut has exposed the often vast differences between state and national coaching philosophies in Australia

Daniel Brettig06-Dec-2011James Pattinson’s astonishing debut has exposed the often vast disparity between state and national coaching philosophies in Australia, one of the central problems identified by the Argus review.As a young pace bowler with Victoria, Pattinson was taught to bowl short of a length, in line with the Bushrangers’ long successful methods for winning domestic matches, particularly on the MCG’s drop-in pitches.However the national team has recognised his natural swing and speed are better suited to fuller bowling and, under the guidance of the bowling coach Craig McDermott, Pattinson has been groomed to make the adjustment.”Billy’s taken over this year as the bowling coach and he’s just said to me the length that I bowl for Victoria, that back of a length, doesn’t work in Test cricket, it is hard to get wickets with that,” Pattinson told the television panel show .”You get more chance of getting wickets if you pitch the ball up there and get a chance to get some caught behind the wicket [dismissals]. He’s been pushing me to get a lot fuller with my lengths and all that work I’ve done over in Sri Lanka and South Africa has really proved pretty good for me.”Pattinson’s progression from state cricket to the international game was smoothed by his presence as a reserve paceman on numerous Australian overseas tours, where he worked assiduously with McDermott to change his methods, with startling results against New Zealand in Brisbane. As he settles further into the role of head coach, Mickey Arthur is charged with ensuring greater consistency in coaching standards and philosophies between the states and the national team.”Of course, absolutely,” Arthur said when asked about the need for greater alignment between state and national coaching. “There are a couple of things we’ll be looking at implementing, I think we need to be a little bit harder and a little more ruthless on the basics, but for James that was phenomenal and it was a spell that was right up there among the best I’ve seen.”I thought he was quick, he was aggressive and he hit the right areas. We had a chat before the start of play that morning on what we believed were the right areas and he executed that fantastically well. The key for us really is to increase our depth, if we can get our depth in all departments nice and strong, and we’ve spoken about giving quality opportunities, we’re going to place ourselves in a really good position down the line.”Another area highlighted by the Argus review was that fielding and fitness in state programs was not always up to a high enough standard. One passage of the report stated: “Some COE and National Coaching staff (as well as some Australian players) feel that several State programs are inadequate for preparing players for international cricket, for example, in relation to players’ physical conditioning and fielding.”The fielding coach Steve Rixon has returned to the team for the Hobart Test, and will speak with Arthur about how to prolong his role beyond the current short-term arrangement. Arthur said the team’s fielding in Brisbane was one area requiring considerable improvement.”We certainly dropped too many catches, there’s no two ways about that,” Arthur said. “I do put it down to nerves, it was the first Test match of the home summer, a lot of guys on debut, and there was a lot of excitement around the group, and I’ll put it down to that. But we’ve got to sharpen it up a huge amount because catches are crucial. We’ll work really hard on it and aim to put in a really quality fielding performance in Hobart.”One of the lest natural fielders in the Australian XI, Usman Khawaja, fielded at short leg for large swathes of the match, and Arthur said he was intent on becoming a specialist in the position.”We’ll be doing a lot of work with Usman in that position definitely,” Arthur said. “Technically he’s a little bit on his heels, he probably needs to get a bit more on the balls of his feet a little more, but he can catch and we’ll keep upping his work-rate in that position and challenging him there. That’s where he is going to field, so we need to be getting the best out of him. He’s very receptive to that as well.”

South Africa need just two more wickets to be assured of a series win against Sri Lanka, according to Vernon Philander

Firdose Moonda at Newlands05-Jan-2012South Africa need just two more wickets to be assured of a series win against Sri Lanka, according to Vernon Philander. Philander, who missed the last Test with a knee injury and has taken four wickets in the deciding match so far, said once South Africa break into Sri Lanka’s tail, they expect victory to come fairly easily.”Once we get past [Dinesh] Chandimal at No.7, we won’t find much resistance from the lower order,” Philander said. “If we can get No. 7 out, we are pretty much in it.”Chandimal is the next man in and is considered Sri Lanka’s last line of defence after his bright debut in Durban. He scored twin half-centuries and was credited by both Russell Arnold and Mahela Jayawardene as being one of the main reasons for Sri Lanka winning their first Test in South Africa.Since the euphoria of that victory, Sri Lanka have struggled to reach similar highs in Cape Town. They lost 12 wickets on day three and were made to follow-on after conceding a massive 580 for four. On a pitch that was expected to remain batsmen-friendly until the end of day three, Sri Lanka made it look like the complete opposite.Chandimal said the South African attack made life difficult on a pitch good for batting. “The wicket is still good but the South African attack doesn’t give you a chance to relax at any time,” he said. “Their bowlers keep giving a variety of deliveries and you have to concentrate hard which makes it difficult. All three quicks bowl differently and that variation also causes problems when batting.”Dale Steyn, Philander and Morne Morkel operated in short, incisive bursts to slice their way through Sri Lanka’s line-up. From the third ball of the morning, when Kumar Sangakkara slashed at a Steyn delivery, the tone was set for the trio, aided by a pumped-up Imran Tahir, to take centre stage. “Wickets always set the tone of the day,” Philander said. “Picking up Sangakkara gives the bowlers a bit more oomph and bit more of a big boost.”Tahir bowled 30 overs on the third day, substantially more than he has been given the opportunity to do in the previous four Tests he has played. For the first time, he was able to perform a dual role of containing and attacking and it was one he fitted into well. “His last two games he has put a few overs under the belt. You can just see the confidence he has within in himself. He also does a big job for us in holding up one end,” Philander said. “It gives the seamers the freedom of bowling short spells and being fresh all day.”Philander and Steyn both returned in later spells to claim wickets with the older ball, something that Philander, in particular, needed to prove he could do. After starting his career bowling in helpful conditions, skeptics wanted to see how Philander would fare in more trying situations. He showed he would do no worse. “I always back myself to take wickets, whether it be upfront or in the middle with the older ball,” he said.South Africa’s bowlers have been in the field for one ball short of 127 overs and will have to spend more time toiling in the sun tomorrow. Although they could have refrained from enforcing the follow-on, Philander said the strategy was to take advantage of their big lead. “Having such a big lead, you have to make them follow on and try and bowl them out as quickly as possible,” he said. “Tomorrow morning the bowlers will be a fresh and legs will be ready to go again.”Philander thinks a win is within touching distance for South Africa but Chandimal believes Sri Lanka can still make them work hard for it, and possibly even prevent it, with a more determined approach. “We made a few mistakes which cost us dearly and that’s why we are in this position but the game is not over yet and we’ve lost only four wickets in the second innings,” he said. “If a long partnership is established, we can still be competitive.”

India Women’s bowlers came good the second time around, helping their team successfully defend 95 in the second Twenty20 international in North Sound and level the five-match series against West Indies Women at 1-1

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Feb-2012
ScorecardIndia Women’s bowlers came good the second time around, helping their team successfully defend 95 in the second Twenty20 international in North Sound and level the five-match series against West Indies Women at 1-1.India’s captain and opener, Mithali Raj, top scored with 27 as her side got to 95 for 5. In the previous match, India’s total of 101 proved highly inadequate, with West Indies chasing it down with eight wickets and four overs to spare. It was a different story this time though, as the opening partnership of Jhulan Goswami – who was miserly – and Amita Sharma claimed five wickets. It also helped the visitors effected two top-order run outs. In the end, only three West Indies batsmen got into double figures and the innings included four ducks, as the hosts were edged out by three runs: they finished on 92 for 9 in their 20.