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Mohammad Hafeez’s elbow extension went as far as 31 degrees under testing, according to an ICC report obtained by ESPNcricinfo

Umar Farooq08-Dec-2014Results of over-by-over testing from the report

First over, offspin around the wicket: Average elbow extension 28 degrees
Second over, offspin around the wicket: Average elbow extension 27 degrees
Third over, offspin over the wicket: Average elbow extension 27 degrees
Fourth over, offspin around the wicket: Average elbow extension 26 degrees

Mohammad Hafeez’s elbow extension went as far as 31 degrees under testing, according to an ICC report obtained by ESPNcricinfo.A bowler is allowed a maximum elbow extension – the extent to which he bends and straightens his elbow while delivering the ball – of 15 degrees, and the report notes that during the test conducted on November 24, every delivery Hafeez bowled was above the permissible limit.The test was conducted by five biomechanics experts, including three PhD students from the Loughborough University, in the presence of ICC representative Ben Leaver, and the coach advisor Karl Krikken. The report stated: “The bowler appeared to emulate his match-bowling action during the assessment. Between the upper-arm-horizontal and ball release, the bowler extended his elbow by well over 15 degrees during all deliveries.”The report concluded that the average range of elbow extension was 27 degrees, with a relatively small standard deviation of three degrees. His average upper-arm horizontal flex was recorded at 23 degrees, while the maximum elbow flexion was found to be between 26 and 27 degrees.According to the report, Hafeez was only tested for his stock delivery, and bowled regular offspin from both round and over the wicket. He delivered a total of 24 balls, of which three were discarded due to a wrong line and length.Hafeez, 34, had been reported for a suspect action after the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi as the umpires were concerned about the legality of four of his deliveries – 28.4 and 51.4 on day three, and 29.5 and 33.4 on day four. He had earlier run into trouble for his action during the Champions League T20, being reported by the umpires after Lahore Lions’ game against Dolphins in Bangalore.Before the tests, Hafeez had stated that he was confident he would overcome the scrutiny on his action. He, however, also emphasized that he had never viewed himself as much of a bowler, and that he was focussed on his batting in international cricket.

Adam Riley and Darren Stevens put Kent on course for their second Division Two victory of the season by demolishing Derbyshire’s batting and forcing them to follow on

Press Association23-Jun-2014
ScorecardAdam Riley claimed a four-wicket haul•Getty ImagesAdam Riley and Darren Stevens put Kent on course for their second Division Two victory of the season by demolishing Derbyshire’s batting and forcing them to follow on at Canterbury.Offspinner Riley, touted as an England Test possible against India later this summer, took 4 for 30 as Derbyshire plunged to 115 all out in reply to Kent’s first innings of 333. At stumps Derbyshire were 32 for 3 in their second innings, still 186 runs behind at the end of a second day, which had begun with Adam Ball and Robbie Joseph taking their ninth wicket stand to 59 as Kent added 74 runs to their overnight 259 for 8.Stevens picked up 3 for 25 first time around with his medium-paced seamers. He then took the new ball when Derbyshire batted again to send back opener Paul Borrington in his second over, caught at second slip by Riley, and Stephen Moore lbw for 14 in his seventh over as he tried to pull a ball which kept low.Brendan Nash, called up to bowl the last over of the day with his occasional left-arm spin, then saw nightwatchman Tom Taylor edge to Stevens at slip as he pushed defensively forward.Borrington, indeed, fell twice to Stevens in the day. The first time he sliced to Ben Harmison at third slip on 8 soon after lunch, at the start of a Derbyshire collapse which saw them lose eight wickets in the afternoon session and four wickets for three runs in just 21 balls at the height of their slide.Doug Bollinger, the Australia left-arm fast bowler, also played his part in Derbyshire’s demise by dismissing both Moore and Wayne Madsen with the new ball. Moore edged behind on 4, cutting at the fifth ball after lunch, and Madsen was bowled for 7 off an inside edge.Scott Elstone laboured 26 balls for his nought before becoming the first of Riley’s victims on a dry, dusting surface, which was being monitored closely by David Capel, the ECB pitch inspector. Former England allrounder Capel was making a routine visit and had not been summoned by umpires Rob Bailey and Martin Bodenham.Elstone was caught at slip from a ball that bounced to take his glove, while Alex Hughes and Gareth Cross also failed to score as Derbyshire’s first innings fell apart in mid-afternoon. Hughes was brilliantly caught off Stevens by Ball at first slip, left-handed and low down, but Cross looked distraught at being adjudged caught off bat and pad to Riley from the first ball he faced.Derbyshire were 56 for 7 when Stevens swung one back into the left-handed David Wainwright to have him leg-before for 1 and Marcus North was cleaned up for 18 by an inswinging near-yorker from Joseph just before tea.Tony Palladino offered 75 minutes’ resistance before, on 24, swinging Riley straight to Joseph on the deep midwicket boundary and the biggest partnership of an innings in which 29 extras was the largest contributor came when No. 11 Mark Footitt slogged Riley for a six and a four to make 14 in a stand of 22 with Taylor.There was also a moment of high comedy when Footitt, stranded and prone in mid-pitch when he slipped trying to turn back in a mix-up with Taylor, escaped a run-out when Kent wicketkeeper Sam Billings could not take an awkward throw. The ball ran away into the outfield and Footitt, who had made no effort to get up as he clearly assumed he was out, scrambled to his feet and ran through for two overthrows.

Dale Steyn ripped through Sri Lanka with his 23rd five-wicket haul to give South Africa control of the Galle Test

The Report by Abhishek Purohit18-Jul-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDale Steyn took out his fifth five-for in Asia•AFPDale Steyn ripped through Sri Lanka with his 23rd five-wicket haul to give South Africa control of the Galle Test. Angelo Mathews fought with another rearguard effort after Headlingley last month, but Steyn had inflicted so much damage that South Africa still ended the day 172 runs in front.The Galle pitch was still largely quiet amid sporadic bouts of activity, but that did not deter Steyn, whose pace and venom did not dip throughout his 21 overs in sapping heat and humidity. Steyn went level with Richard Hadlee and Courtney Walsh for the most five-fors by a non-Asian bowler in Asia.Steyn bounced out Kaushal Silva in the morning and returned at the stroke of lunch to trap Mahela Jayawardene in front with a full, inswinging ripper. Even as Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne resisted, he came back again after tea with a furious spell of 5-3-8-3.At 98 for 1, Sri Lanka seemed to be heading safely to lunch with Kumar Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga having added 59 in quick time. Sangakkara, on a record streak of seven successive fifty-plus scores, had looked in no trouble at all. Only Morne Morkel had made him hop once with a sharp bouncer, but even then Sangakkara had been able to drop his wrists and avoid harm. His response was an emphatic cover drive for four.Rain arrived half an hour before lunch and second ball after the ten-minute break, Sangakkara went for a pull off an unremarkable short ball from Morkel, and under-edged on to the stumps for 24.Tharanga came back to Test cricket after seven years with a stroke-filled 83, despite being in discomfort at times. Vernon Philander even grazed his off bail when Tharanga was on 35 but the bail did not come off. Tharanga was also beaten by both spinners Imran Tahir and JP Duminy.Such deliveries were not frequent, though, and Tharanga was quick to counterattack, punching and pulling for boundaries in response, before skipping out to whip Duminy down the ground to bring up his fifty.South Africa continued with Steyn and Tahir after lunch, but Sri Lanka saw off the fast bowler and the legspinner provided too many boundary balls to be a consistent threat.There was, however, increasingly more assistance for spin from the rough outside the left-hander’s off stump. Amla turned to Duminy and seeing Tharanga jump out early, the offspinner spun a flatter one away from the rough and had him stumped in his first over on return.Duminy had earned himself an extended spell, and along with the quick bowlers, he tied down Mathews and Thirimanne, only 14 coming off nearly 12 overs. Mathews was 5 off 34 when he charged Duminy and his heave just cleared midwicket. Duminy started conceding a boundary every over, but Tahir showed better control in his second spell, not letting the batsmen get away.The stand had stretched into its 29th over and was worth 54 when Steyn stepped up once more. He had beaten Thirimanne outside off previous over, and first ball of the next, had him edging a full and away moving delivery to the keeper on the drive. Dinesh Chandimal pulled one straight to short midwicket next over, and Steyn swung one in to nick Dilruwan Perera’s inside edge through to Quinton de Kock in the next.Steyn was understandably spent after this effort, and was out of the attack for the next 15 overs, in which Mathews, along with Rangana Herath, nearly repeated Headingley.Mathews went after Morkel in the 79th over, hitting him for five fours, three of them flayed through extra cover. That brought spin from both ends, as Amla used the part-time slow left-arm of Dean Elgar along with Tahir and Duminy, none of whom could bother Mathews and Herath too much.Even as South Africa delayed taking the second new ball, Steyn was brought back with Mathews motoring towards his hundred. It was Tahir who ended the stand on 71, when Mathews missed a slog and was bowled.Morkel had Suranga Lakmal feathering a slog to the keeper off the last ball of the day to leave only the injured Shaminda Eranga to come out on the fourth morning.

Rob Key tried to liven things up with an imaginative declaration but for Kent it still proved to be a long week in Derby

Les Smith at Derby14-May-2014
ScorecardNow how do I liven this up then? Rob Key tried but failed.•Getty ImagesRob Key, now officially in his dotage two days after his 35th birthday, showed himself to have it in him still to be a bold, imaginative and calculating captain. Well perhaps not so very bold because there was no prospect of his Kent side losing at the County Ground, but at least he made a declaration of intent to try to force a win. In the event it came to nothing, but a patient crowd appreciated seeing something resembling a competition for a couple of hours.When Sam Billings skied a crude slog to the wicketkeeper, with Kent 15 runs short of a second batting bonus point and Brendan Nash five short of a century, Key called off Kent’s innings. There were 49 overs left in the day and Kent led by 117.In the first innings they had bowled out Derbyshire for 118 in the same number of overs. Key had a cunning plan.When play began, mercifully on time, the overs count for the match was 52 bowled and 233 lost, and there appeared to be scant prospect of a positive result barring some contrivance, and the captains were unable or unwilling to agree on such a plan.Key’s day began badly. Both openers fell cheaply to catches behind the wicket by Gareth Cross. There was nothing controversial about Sam Northeast’s nick off Mark Footitt, but Key was distinctly disgruntled, in fact nigh on incredulous, when umpire Peter Willey judged that he had edged Tony Palladino.It was a morning mostly for statisticians. When Daniel Bell-Drummond inexplicably shouldered arms and lost his middle stump it gave Tim Groenewald his 250th first class wicket – 50 overs after he took his 249th.When Nash clobbered David Wainwright over mid-on for six he simultaneously brought up his 50 and took his side past Derbyshire’s total. As well his boundaries, 15 of Nash’s runs had come in 3s. After lunch, Ben Harmison and Darren Stevens both fell to outstanding catches in the outfield. When a change of gloves was sent out to Nash, for the next five overs Nash and Billings went for it.Sam Billings sacrificed his wicket and Key sacrificed sentiment when he said to Nash, sorry, no century today. Perhaps it was of some consolation to him that he passed 7000 first class runs when he entered the 90s.In Derbyshire’s first innings swing and seam had done for them, but that was not in warm sunshine on a dry pitch, which is what we had today. Stephen Moore attacked from the outset and his 55-ball half century contained ten boundaries. He proceeded to 73 and he and his fellow opener were still together when a draw was agreed at 5 o’clock. So much then for the cunning plan.Key was a disappointed but realistic man. “I thought if we could get a lead approaching 150 and give ourselves 50 overs to bowl at them, we’d have a chance. But the pitch was unbelievably flat considering it was basically two days old.” He paid tribute to Brendan Nash’s innings, and to the way in which he’s become a more assertive batsman in his two years with Kent. Asked about denying him his century, Key said: “They had nearly all their fielders out and we needed the time to have a chance.” When asked how he would be feeling on the journey down the M1 he said simply: “It’s been a long old week in Derby.”

Tevin Robertson, a member of the Trinidad &Tobago Under-19 team, has died in a car crash

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2014Tevin Robertson, a member of the Trinidad &Tobago Under-19 team, has died in a car crash. Robertson, 19, was driving on a highway near Gasparillo, a town in southern Trinidad, at about 5am on Saturday, when his car crashed into a fence. He died on the spot.Robertson was a left-arm fast bowler who had played for the T&T U-19s at the regional tournament in Barbados last year. Prior to the accident, he was part of a training camp for the T&T squad.His mother, Rhea St John, told West Indies papers that he was a keen cricketer from an early age. “He had a passion for cricket,” she said. “Since he was three years old he told me he was going to play with the West Indies team and that he would build a big house for me with a swimming pool.”West Indies ODI captain Dwayne Bravo said: “I knew him as a young boy around the Trinidad & Tobago national team. He was very friendly, very polite, and had a good work ethic and it is just sad to hear he is gone. When I got the news I was stunned. He had a bright future ahead of him. He was a talented young bowler and we all had high hopes for him.”Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath said Robertson was a “disciplined and talented young man, who had a bright future in the game”.Team manager Manohar Ramsaran also mourned Robertson’s loss. “The loss of Tevin Robertson will be felt by the local cricket community. He played an important role coming up the ranks and was called by the national selectors for trials. Tevin was a consistent performer who had a bright future ahead.”

Karnataka went through to their first Ranji final in four seasons after the last day of their semi-final against Punjab was washed out in Mohali

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Karnataka went through to their first Ranji final in four seasons after the last day of their semi-final against Punjab was washed out in Mohali. Karnataka had already taken a commanding lead by stumps on the fourth day, virtually extinguishing Punjab’s chances. A dull fifth day had been in store, with Karnataka looking to bat out time and Punjab needing a miracle, but the persistent rain wiped out any chance of play.

It will again a case of India’s batting v Pakistan’s bowling as the archrivals face off in the Asia Cup

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy01-Mar-2014Match facts March 2, 2014
Start time 1400 local (0800 GMT)India and Pakistan face each other for the first time since the Champions Trophy•AFPBig pictureIndia and Pakistan have won one match each, and have each lost a close game against Sri Lanka. It’s a cliché to call this India-Pakistan meeting a virtual semi-final, but that, under the circumstances, might well ring true. Neither side has performed to anything like full capacity so far. India’s bowlers didn’t look particularly threatening even against Bangladesh, and Pakistan’s top-order tardiness nearly cost them against Afghanistan. Both teams made match-turning errors against Sri Lanka.Ordinarily, as has been the case throughout the recent history of the two sides, this would be billed as a clash between India’s batsmen and Pakistan’s bowlers. Those are still the respective teams’ strong suits, but an inexperienced middle-order might put India at a disadvantage in that particular mini-contest. Pakistan will also be playing an India side that could be a little low on confidence, having won only one out of their last nine completed ODI matches.A lot of Pakistan’s batsmen looked good out in the middle in their first two games, but nearly all of them threw their wickets away with silly shots or, in the case of their captain Misbah-ul-Haq, a comedy run-out. After their match against Afghanistan, Misbah said the batsmen couldn’t afford to keep repeating the same mistakes, but indicated he would keep faith in the same batting order. Fawad Alam waits in the wings, but it might be a little unfair on Sharjeel Khan or Sohaib Maqsood to single one of them out for two displays of collective carelessness.Zaheer Abbas, Pakistan’s chief cricket consultant, said on Saturday that the rash shots might have been cases of the batsmen looking to get out of jail on a sluggish Fatullah pitch. The ball, he said, was likely to come on a little quicker in Mirpur.Pakistan’s players trained on Saturday, while the Indians – barring Varun Aaron and Cheteshwar Pujara – didn’t. Aaron bowled to a dummy batsman, with a circular target attached to the net behind off stump, while Pujara faced a group of net bowlers who were barely club class. Of the two, Aaron seems likelier to play against Pakistan, with India perhaps looking to give their middle-order combination one more chance before making any changes. With no one talking to the media, though, this remains pure conjecture.Aaron hardly covered himself in glory against Bangladesh, and was left out for the allrounder Stuart Binny for the Sri Lanka game. Binny, in that match, was out for a duck and only bowled four overs. More than their respective displays, the shift in venue might prompt India to go back to having a genuine third seamer.Spinners have more or less similar records in Fatullah and Mirpur, but the quicker bowlers have done distinctly better at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. India have Aaron and Ishwar Pandey to choose between for that third seamer’s slot, but the amount of time Aaron spent bowling on Saturday suggests he might have a role to play.Form guide (Completed matches, most recent first)
India LWLLT
Pakistan WLLWW
Watch out forBhuvneshwar Kumar made an impressive international debut against Pakistan 14 months ago, and has looked good with the new ball so far in the tournament without having the wickets to show for it. He also seems to have worked on his death bowling, and was particularly accurate with his yorkers against Bangladesh. That aspect of his game suffered against Sri Lanka, with dew making it difficult to grip the ball, but it will help India greatly if he can hit the blockhole consistently in this game.Ahmed Shehzad’s gotten off to fine starts in both his innings so far, but he will want to make bigger scores than 28 and 50. Shehzad has the spiky hair and prominent eyebrows of Virat Kohli, and some of his shots suggest a comparable level of talent. There’s no better way to prove that than making big score against India.Match facts If the pitch in Mirpur plays true to its history, India will want a genuine third seamer rather than a medium-pace-bowling allrounder. This means Varun Aaron might come back in for Stuart Binny, but the side is likely to remain unchanged otherwise.India (likely): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Varun Aaron.Pakistan’s top-order hasn’t been consistent, and Shahid Afridi, in his current avatar, seems to be occupying a place too high in the batting order, but they are unlikely to make any changes from their eleven against Afghanistan.Pakistan (likely): 1 Ahmed Shehzad, 2 Sharjeel Khan, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Sohaib Maqsood, 6 Umar Akmal (wk), 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Anwar Ali, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Junaid Khan.Stats and trivia If he plays, Ravindra Jadeja will make his 100th ODI appearance . The last meeting between India and Pakistan in Mirpur, in March 2012, was Sachin Tendulkar’s last ODI appearance.Quotes “It is more of a media creation. It is not really for the players. They play their normal game. The pressure always comes from the public as they want their country to win.”

Jesse Ryder has been recalled to New Zealand colours for the first time since February 2012 as part of a 13-man squad for the one-day series against West Indies

Andrew McGlashan19-Dec-2013Jesse Ryder has been recalled to New Zealand colours for the first time since February 2012 as part of a 13-man squad for the one-day series against West Indies.Elsewhere in the squad, Martin Guptill has returned from injury and will partner Ryder at the top of the order, meaning that Tom Latham misses out. Tim Southee will miss the first two matches of the series to have a toe problem dealt with, but is expected to return for the third ODI in Queenstown.Ryder has not played at international level after being dropped for disciplinary issues during the one-day series against South Africa. He has since had to serve a six-month suspension for taking banned stimulants, a period which coincided with his recovery from the serious assault he suffered in Christchurch earlier this year.Bruce Edgar, the national selector, said it was a credit to his perseverance that he has responded to so many setbacks. “He’s in great form and he’s in a great space. Go back a number of months ago and it could have been the end of his career. He’s come back with a vengeance and wants to play well and play for the Blackcaps, and that’s what we want.”Since returning to domestic cricket for Otago, following a move away from Wellington, he has scored 454 runs at 64.85 in four Plunket Shield matches. There has been understandable caution about Ryder’s return to the New Zealand fold, but Ryder is now ready to put a tough period behind him.”I set the goal to make it back earlier this year and it is a great end to a tough year for me,” Ryder said. “I’m more motivated than ever to perform for the Blackcaps.”And there won’t be any extra safety nets put in place for Ryder’s return. “Jesse is in the team environment so there’s plenty of support in that environment,” Edgar said.It has also been confirmed that Luke Ronchi will have the wicketkeeping gloves throughout the series. Last week Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, confirmed that Brendon McCullum’s days as a wicketkeeper were over due to his back problems.Adam Milne, the 21-year-old Central Districts pace bowler, who was part of the squad in Sri Lanka has been retained despite not taking a wicket in those three matches.Squad: Brendon McCullum (capt), Corey Anderson, Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson

VRV Singh, the Punjab fast bowler, marked his return to first-class cricket after an absence of five years with a five-wicket haul against Haryana in Lahli

Devashish Fuloria28-Nov-2013VRV Singh, the Punjab fast bowler, marked his return to first-class cricket after an absence of five years with a five-wicket haul against Haryana in Lahli. He last featured in a first-class match in the 2007-08 season, taking ten wickets in North Zone’s Duleep Trophy triumph, but a series of injuries – first to the foot and the ankle, then a more serious one to the back – threatened to cut his career short.”It feels great, because that’s (playing cricket) what I wanted to do,” VRV Singh told ESPNcricinfo after the first day’s play in Lahli. “Hopefully, I can continue the performance as we go forward in the season.”During his prolonged absence from first-class cricket, VRV Singh did play a handful of domestic T20s, the last one in March 2012, almost a year after his back surgery, but then he disappeared again. On Thursday, bowling in top-flight domestic cricket for the first time in 20 months, he didn’t look like the fittest cricketer, but then as coach Bhupinder Singh Sr had said at the start of the season, he proved to be the “surprise package”. VRV Singh made the batsmen play and got rewards, bowling a spell of 16-4-38-5.”I had some issues with my back, on which I had undergone surgery in the past,” he said. “I was recovering from it and was working on my fitness. Early September, I started playing a few one-day matches in the local tournaments.”His return was carefully managed, according to Bhupinder, because the team didn’t want to rush VRV’s re-entry. He performed well in the last two matches of the inter-district tournament one month prior to the Ranji season, but Bhupinder said the team wanted to start with an attack that did well in the previous season.”There are always question marks on fitness when you don’t have much cricket behind you,” Bhupinder said. “That’s why we wanted to be very sure that the ones we take in should last the entire season. We played some practice matches and he [VRV Singh] did well, so we hoped he would last the whole season.””He is a good bowler and he is coming back from injury after three years. He bowled tight lines and it was a good performance. I am happy for him.”VRV Singh, who has played five Tests for India, said the last few years had been tough, but he was hoping to find his groove. “I was ready for the struggle, that’s what you have to do if you want to play cricket. It was just a start today and as we go forward, hopefully the rhythm, fitness and the pace will improve further.”

Stuart Law has been appointed coach of both Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat for the next three seasons

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2013Stuart Law has been appointed coach of both Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat for the next three seasons, roles which had fallen vacant when Darren Lehmann was named Australia coach before the Ashes. Law, one of Queensland’s most prolific batsmen in a decorated career that ended in 2004, will take over on August 27, once he completes his stint as High Performance coach at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence.Law, 44, has built up plenty of coaching experience since his retirement in 2009, having been in charge of the Bangladesh national team and, briefly, Sri Lanka after the 2011 World Cup. He was also coach of the Australia Under-19 side that reached the finals of the World Cup and batting coach of the senior team last year, and was assistant coach of the women’s team that won the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.He will oversee a Bulls outfit that had plenty of success last season, winning the Ryobi Cup and finishing runners-up in the Sheffield Shield. His other team, the Heat, also had a great year, taking the Big Bash League title.”I’ve very excited to again be involved with cricket in Queensland, which is where I got my start,” Law said. “Hopefully I can help the next generation to achieve all they can in the game and play it at the highest level possible.”The Champions League starting next month in India will be Law’s first assignment and he is confident he has enough time to prepare the Heat for the tournament. “We’ll pull things together pretty quickly. Darren had plans in place already for the season and the coaches and players have been working very well in that framework during the off-season. I’ll be looking to slot in with minimal disruption and get on with things.”