All posts by csb10.top

A fine match winning performance by left-handed Mohammad Ali helped Southern Telecommunication Reign (STR II) beat Cantt Sports Club by four wickets in the Seventh Danish Trophy (Ramazan) cricket tournament played on Tuesday at the KGA ground.Batting first after winning the toss, Cantt Sports reached 152 for loss of eight wickets in their 20 allotted overs.Skipper Khursheed Malik in fine form with the willow smashed 67 runs off 44 deliveries. Zeeshan Ahmed also among the runs scored (25) and Rafiq ur Rehman (24).David Decruze opening the attack bagged two wickets for 23 and was ably supported by left-arm spinner Mohammad Ali two for 27.Set to score 153 runs for an outright victory, STR II reached the winning target in 18.3 overs after losing six wickets in the process.Mohammad Ali was indeed the toast of the winning team, slamming an unbeaten knock of 69 runs in only 46 deliveries laced with six scorching boundaries and two mighty sixes. David Decruze also excelled with the willow while scoring 21 runs and Khurram (20), was the other main scorer.Ali Gohar two for 25, Khursheed Malik two for 33 and Talim Shah two for 39 bowled a tidy line and length.On Wednesday, Rangers Gymkhana meet Khatri Sports at 1-30 p.m.

Bashley (Rydal) have reached the final of the Southern Electric Contracting Cup and will play either South Wilts or Rowledge at the Hampshire Rose Bowl on Friday August 2, 5.45pm.Bashley beat BAT Sports by six wickets in the semi-final at Southern Gardens – the reigning Premier League champions crashing from 36-0 to 46-7 in an amazing mid-innings spell.Neil Taylor (5-10) clean bowled four batsmen after Michael Watson (24) and Richard Kenway (15) had provided a sound start.Terry Rawlins (22 not out), Richard Dibden (16) and Simon Preston (16 not out) rallied, but a score of 104-8 off 23 overs was never likely to be enough.Bashley batted consistently, with Luke Ronchi’s 36 not out leading the New Forest club to the final.Premier Division 2 club Rowledge beat Burridge by 50 runs in the weather delayed quarter-final.David Lloyd (52), Chris Yates junior (34) and Jeff Annings (27) led Rowledge to 152-6 before the Yates uncle and nephew combination sank Burridge for 102 (Roger Cawte 34).Chris senior grabbed 4-19 and his 21-year old nephew 3-28.

The recently concluded Morocco Cup exposed Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) policy which has been to project the establishment at the cost of the players. The image of a sports body is reflected by the performance of the players and not the other way round.PCB has a novel method of dealing with the players. Sometimes it supports the players beyond all limits and then it drops them like a hot cake on the slightest pretext. The people at the helm of affairs want to run cricket issues on personal whims which has shaken the confidence of the players and because of this the performance graph of our team has not been consistent.The team’s inconsistent performance is the result of board’s ad hoc policies manipulated by one of its advisers, a former Pakistan captain, who himself was a mediocre cricketer in his heydays.When the adviser was captain of the Pakistan team he tried to promote off-spinner Arshad Khan and tried every time to run down Saqlain Mushtaq, a world class off-spinner highly acknowledged by all the greats of the game. Somehow, the adviser who has a sort of complex against players like Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq never gives them the credit they deserve.Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq were dropped in the final against Sir Lanka in the Asian Cricket Championship at Lahore and Pakistan lost.History repeated itself at Tangiers in the crucial match against South Africa where Saqlain and Saeed Anwar were dropped against South Africa in the do or die tie.Instead of playing them, the tour management committee, preferred Shoaib Malik as for some time the PCB high ups have been projecting him as an all-rounder. He replaced Saeed Anwar as an opener and Saqlain Mushtaq as an off-spinner. The board thought that it will be killing two birds with one stone but its move backfired for the second time.Inclusion of Shoaib Malik in fact exposed the cricket management’s wrong policies when he conceded 15 runs in just one over that he bowled. The team captain perhaps on the advice of the dressing room just to save humiliation did not expose him further.When he came to bat, with the departure of Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi who was sent in the earlier matches at No. 9 was all of a sudden promoted to No. 3, Shahid, in his own style collared the South African bowling and when he seemed to be tearing it apart, he hardly got any support from the other end where Shoaib played couple of maiden overs. This dampened the spirit of the team and sent wrong signals into the dressing room. When he was out the new batsmen came under undue pressure.The theory of rotation of players now being preached by the PCB high-ups just backfired. No doubt the players should be saved from burnout but who should decide when someone has to be rested. The first choice should be of the players themselves and then others come in for their views. The team management on its own cannot and should not take the decision.Secondly, the policy cannot be applied every time. The team situation too has to be taken into consideration. If Saeed Anwar and Saqlain were rested on the policy of rotation, those who took the decision should be taken to task. They have no business to be paid heavily for such nonsense. It was a do or die situation and none of the players would have liked to be rested in such a situation.PCB hired an army of specialists to accompany the team on every tour. There is a analyst, a psychiatrist, a team doctor, a physiotherapist, a manager and a coach. One would just like to know what has been the achievement of the psychiatrist. What wonders has he performed with the players. When the team won the series against Australia, every official was rewarded for his contribution to the team’s effort. They were all presented before the President who acknowledged their services and duly rewarded them.It seems that perhaps, victory against Australia was the end of cricket world. The PCB officials jumped to the conclusion that they have found a world beating combination and the World Cup next year is just a formality.It started, in fact blackmailing the players. When wicket-keeper Rashid Latif asked for permission to go to Houston (United States) to play in the double wicket championship last month, the PCB delayed the permission. But later Rashid Latif was allowed to proceed to Houston after some other players were given permission for the same trip.These are dirty tricks and cheap management. Such tricks do more harm to the game and the team spirit than doing any good. The job of dealing with 16 players with different background, and different bloodline requires extraordinary intelligence, patience, farsightedness and perseverance.Shoaib Akhtar is being praised by all the high-ups of the board beyond imagination. No doubt he is rated as the fastest bowler today. But he has to conduct himself in order to remain on top. He should be treated at par with other players of the team. Any preferential treatment will cause heartburn among the players. Wasim Akram though down the hill, is the greatest bowler that Pakistan has produced. He has 400 victims in both the editions of the game. A milestone which, Shoaib, perhaps will never be able to achieve.How come Shoaib was allowed to proceed to United Kingdom when the team was in camp training for the Morocco Cup, Kenya and Sri Lanka tours. He wanted a break. Well if he wanted a break how come he was playing in England? What sort of break is this? Can the PCB chief please explain?Now it has been gathered that Dr Meesaq Rizvi is being sent to England to check on the fitness of Shoaib Akhtar for his inclusionfor the Kenya tour. It seems that Dr Rizvi is more qualified than doctors in England. If the board wanted to oblige Dr Rizvi, it could have appointed him as the team doctor. His assignment to test Shoaib is mind-boggling and a sheer waste of money.If Shoaib wanted his inclusion in the team, he should have been asked to come home and report to the PCB which could have arranged a cost free test and put him at one of the academies to gain full fitness if he was really out of action during his absence.The PCB should treat all the players alike. It should not give stepmotherly treatment to some and go out of its way to pamper others. Unless this policy is adopted for all the team members, no one should expect any better performance. Nobody is prepared to believe that a team which has ten centurions in its line up cannot chase a target of 196 runs. It was because of poor policy of the PCB that we have not been able to build a world beating combination.

Over the next few weeks the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy will be touring the country as part of a campaign to draw attention to the new cricket season and to highlight the building societies involvement in sponsoring the major limited over cricketing competition in this country.What more appropriate place could there be to launch the tour than in Taunton the county town of Somerset, the current holders of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.Between 1pm and 3pm on Wednesday afternoon two Somerset cricketers, Keith Dutch and Keith Parsons, will join officials from Cheltenham and Gloucester at their premises in North Street in Taunton town centre to launch the tour of the trophy.Somerset Chief Executive Peter Anderson told me: "We are delighted and honoured that Cheltenham and Gloucester have chosen to launch their campaign here in Taunton. We are also delighted that Cheltenham and Gloucester have chosen a town like Taunton in the middle of a rural area rather than a city for the launch."Mr Anderson continued: "It is fitting that Keith Dutch and Keith Parsons, the Somerset heroes of the semi-final and the final of last year’s Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy victory, should both be in attendance on Wednesday."The Chief Executive concluded: "The players are very confident that winning one of the limited over competitions is well within their reach, and they will of course be doing their best to make sure that Somerset retain the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy this season."Somerset fans are invited to go along to the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society on Wednesday to catch a glimpse of the trophy and the stars that helped to win it for them.Those fans who turn up at the building society with the token from last week’s Somerset County Gazette will also be able to have their photograph taken with the trophy by a professional photographer free of charge.

Leicestershire still have a lot of work to do if they are to overhaul Warwickshire’s first innings 462 at Edgbaston. Jamie Troughton continued his recent purple patch for the hosts, moving from his overnight 65 to 130 before he was bowled by Grant Flower. Trevor Ward ensured a brisk reply, with an 89 as Leicestershire closed on 205 for four, still 257 behind.A big century from Ally Brown has put Surrey firmly in control of their game against Kent. Brown made 188 to steer Surrey to 361 all out at The Oval, and Kent then lost Robert Key, bowled by James Ormond for four. At stumps Kent were 62 for one, still 146 behind.Somerset are struggling at Bath, after Matt Bulbeck gave them hopes of a revival in the first session, taking three wickets as Hampshire dwindled from 149 for three to 252 all out. Alan Mullally then took three wickets as Somerset ended the day on 79 for five.Yorkshire are struggling again against Sussex at Headingley. Steve Kirby finally dismissed Timothy Ambrose for 149 at Headingley this morning, as the visitors finished on 435 all out. In reply Yorkshire have limped to 195 for six, with James Kirtley and Kevin Innes taking two wickets each.In Division Two, Michael Di Venuto gave Derbyshire an excellent start in pursuit of Nottinghamshire’s 393 at Trent Bridge. He made 79 off just 84 balls before being caught behind off Nadeem Malik. Derbyshire had reached 298 for five, with Andrew Gait making 52, when rain forced an early close.A double century from Ronnie Irani enabled Essex to thrive at Ilford. The captain made an unbeaten 207 before declaring on 498 for nine against Northants. Mark Ilott has taken two wickets as the visitors struggled to 138 for five in reply.Durham are well placed after dismissing Worcestershire for 250 at Chester-le-Street. Although Allan Donald took two wickets to reduce the hosts to 94 for four, wicket-keeper Andrew Pratt (63*) has engineered a revival. At stumps Durham had reached 190 for four, a deficit of just 60.Middlesex put Glamorgan in to bat at Lord’s this afternoon, where the game finally got under way almost a day and a half late. They may be wondering if the decision was a wise one after Glamorgan closed on 228 for three. Mike Powell (89*) and Matthew Maynard (86*) have so far added 167 for the fourth wicket.

‘Appropriate response’ to Bharti’s statement soon: PCBThe Pakistan Cricket Board said it would respond shortly to Union Sports Minister Uma Bharti’s statement that India would play Pakistan only in multinational tournaments. Talking to PTI over phone from Lahore on Monday, PCB’s Director Operations Brig. Munawar Rana said “We are considering an appropriate response.” Rana added that “Bharti’s statement had been taken note of by PCB which would react soon after consultations with the Government.”PCB has been keenly following the recent statements both by the BCCI and the Sports Minister over evolving a coherent policy towards playing Pakistan in bilateral, multinational as well as sponsored tournaments in Sharjah and Toronto. The Pakistan media recently had also given extensive coverage to former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur’s statement criticising the government’s decision not to send its team to Sharjah.India yet to confirm participation in indoor ODI matches: ACB The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) on Monday said in Melbourne that they are yet to receive confirmation from the BCCI to play an indoor one-day series in August as the Indians have a hectic schedule ahead of them this year. An ACB spokesman said “A number of things need to be sorted out … we’re still waiting to confirm the opposition.”History was made when Australia played South Africa in the Super Challenge series last August at Melbourne’s Colonial Stadium, the venue for the first official indoor international cricket match. The three-game series ended in a 1-1 draw, after the second match finished in a tie.MCA accepts Wadekar’s resignationThe Mumbai Cricket Association executive committee on Sunday accepted the resignation of Ajit Wadekar as the chairman of the selection committee. MCA’s joint secretary Prof. Ratnakar Shetty said in Mumbai that “Wadekar’s resignation has been accepted and the selection panel along with its chairman for the next season will be named at the end of next month.”Shetty said Wadekar had not given any reason for his resignation. “It was a simply worded letter asking us to relieve him as the chairman of the selection committee”.When contacted by PTI, the former Indian captain and coach said the reason behind the decision was the poor performance of the state side in this season’s edition of the Ranji Trophy tournament.

Expect a better performance from New Zealand’s batsmen in the second National Bank Test with England after the lift they got from Nathan Astle’s display on the last day in Christchurch.That’s Craig McMillan’s feeling going into the Wellington match at the Basin Reserve, a ground that has been good for him in the past.”The knock that Nathan played was great.”It gave other guys a lift, some confidence after two or three pretty tough days where we had been behind the eight ball for most of the game after that first over that Cairnsy (Chris Cairns) bowled.”You could just see perhaps a little momentum that hopefully we can show on Thursday,” he said.The onus was on the more experienced players to lead the way, especially now that the firepower of Cairns had been lost.The senior batsmen in the side had failed to score enough runs in the first innings and had not achieved any of the game’s disciplines well enough, or for long enough, he said.”It’s a big game and it is going to take a big effort from everyone.”I love playing here, I’ve had some really good innings here and Hamilton are my two favourite grounds in terms of runs scored, I’ve had two of my Test hundreds here.”It’s a cricket ground, I enjoy the atmosphere, the people come in to watch us, it’s a good place to play cricket,” he said.In contrast to his home ground at Jade Stadium, he expected more people to turn out to watch the match.”The crowd was hugely disappointing in Christchurch. I was also disappointed with the one-day crowd. It is a rugby town.”But it disappoints me they don’t come out to watch especially when there are four or five Canterbury players in the side.”And after the success we’ve had all summer you wouldn’t think there would be many more reasons to come out and watch us.””In the end we didn’t play well so people may say that justified not coming to watch but in saying that they missed what from the first over to the last over was an enthralling Test match.”I’m sure those who did go along thoroughly enjoyed it.”I was disappointed as were most of the other guys.”Of the bowlers they had been up against there was respect for Matthew Hoggard who had shown he could be dangerous when the ball was swinging.”We played him better when it wasn’t swinging around and if it doesn’t continue to swing we will continue to play him well.”Take nothing away from him, he bowled well and to get seven wickets is a great achievement.”Hopefully if it does swing then the guys have made the necessary adjustments. You need to be a little more patient and a little more selective because all he really did was bowl in that channel.”He didn’t give us a lot to hit but because of the pressure they built by bowling dot balls, he didn’t go searching then we went searching and that was the difference.”When we bowled, we went searching and they didn’t have to go looking because we were serving it up to them and that is probably shown in the number of boundaries hit, especially in that partnership between (Andrew) Flintoff and (Graham) Thorpe.”We’ve got two days to turn it around.”It came back to basics and if you didn’t do them well then any side could knock you over”It starts in the nets here and that is what the guys have been trying to focus on.”If they can’t do in the nets then they are not going to do it out in the middle,” he said.