Canada have pulled out of hosting the 2012 Under-19 World Cup after admitting they wouldn’t be able to supply the required number of venues for the even

Sahil Dutta16-Apr-2010Canada have pulled out of hosting the 2012 Under-19 World Cup after admitting they wouldn’t be able to supply the required number of venues for the event.The move doesn’t come as a huge surprise following the recent reports from Canada over the problems with various grounds and Cricket Canada wanted to make sure the ICC would have enough time to rearrange the tournament.”It’s very disappointing but it was simply a case of coming too soon,” Ravin Moorthy, Cricket Canada’s vice president told Cricinfo. “We wanted to make sure we’d give the ICC enough time to rearrange if we couldn’t get the infrastructure ready, so we committed to April 2010 and we’re not quite there.”Last month the former Cricket Canada CEO, Atul Ahuja, hit out at the preparations in a wide-ranging letter which slammed the administration. “The ICC had installed 10 turf wickets for the ICC Trophy in 2001,” he said. “Currently, none of those are operational.”Moorthy, however, hit back at these claims and was at pains to point out that the pitches were not the issue. “We have 10 turf pitches, that’s no problem for us. What we don’t have is the other infrastructure – the pavilions and so on,” he said. “We calculated we’d need between $2 to $2.5 million, and at this we’ve still got some way to go.”It is a blow to cricket in Canada but Moorthy remains confident that the long-term development of the game is still in good order and is hopeful of securing enough funding to stage future events.”We are in regular contact with government and things are going fairly well. Cricket is very important to the social fabric of the South Asian community in Canada and funders understand that. We should be in a position to host these types of global tournaments soon.”In January the Canada board told Cricinfo it was confident of bringing facilities up to standard in time, but conceded defeat earlier this month when they wrote to ICC.”We are grateful to Cricket Canada for making what we recognise will have been a very difficult decision but their realistic and responsible approach allows ICC the time to find a suitable alternative venue,” said ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.ICC will discuss possible alternative venues during the boarding meeting in Dubai on April 19 and 20.

Left-arm medium-pacer Lal Kumar and legspinner Danish Kaneria demolished the Baluchistan Bears middle-order to hand Sind Dolphins the title

Cricinfo staff29-Apr-2010
Scorecard
Left-arm medium-pacer Lal Kumar and legspinner Danish Kaneria demolished the Baluchistan Bears middle-order to hand Sind Dolphins the title at the National Stadium in Karachi.Their efforts came on the back of a strong batting effort that took the Dolphins to 270 after they chose to bat. Dolphins’ openers, Shahzaib Hussain and Khurram Manzoor, were the highest run-getters in the tournament but neither made a substantial contribution in the final. Each of the next four batsmen made it past 40, though, to set the Bears a stiff target. Hasan Raza was the top scorer, with a brisk, unbeaten 61.The Bears’ chase didn’t get off to too good a start, but they reached a satisfactory 59 for 2 after 12 overs. It was then that the innings unraveled: in the next eight overs, they added only 14 runs losing six wickets, all of which were shared by Kumar and Kaneria. At 73 for 8, the match was effectively over, but half-centuries from Abid Ali and No. 10 Abdur Rauf reduced the margin of defeat.

Yuvraj Singh has set his sights on achieving peak fitness for the packed season coming up, after a series of injury concerns in the recent past

Cricinfo staff04-Jun-2010Yuvraj Singh has set his sights on achieving peak fitness for the packed season coming up, after a series of injury concerns in the recent past. He endured a torrid time at the IPL and the World Twenty20, leading to serious questions being raised about his form and fitness.”These days I am at the National Cricket Academy [in Bangalore], training a bit harder here,” Yuvraj told the . “We understand that it is a big season with virtually no breaks before the 50-over World Cup. I had issues with my knee and shoulder in the past, so I have to ensure they are able to sustain the load for the long season.”Currently in his tenth year of international cricket, Yuvraj has sealed his reputation as a top player in the limited-overs formats but there remain doubts over his Test credentials. Yuvraj admitted he had not been at his best in the longest version of the game, but also pointed out the competition he had to deal with for a spot in the XI.”My record in Tests may not have been great. For the better part of the career, I have had to compete with my former captain Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. I could get a permanent slot in the Tests after Sourav retired.”During my peak years I hadn’t played many Tests. But there were times when I got a chance but I failed to consolidate my position. I would have a good knock in a Test, fail in one innings, and then be out of the team. Then again I would play two Test matches and find myself benched. I wasn’t consistent, and people too didn’t have confidence in me, but it was my mistake.”One area where Yuvraj’s calibre has clearly dipped is the fielding. Once a regular at cover-point for the Indian team, he is now a slow mover, often banished to the outfield. “I am not 21 anymore. Definitely I would like to get back to fielding at point. I had hurt my knee and fingers in the past fielding there. Remember fielding at point and fielding elsewhere are two different things. The day I feel 100%, I’ll certainly go back to point.”

A brilliant 68-ball century from James Hildreth guided Somerset to their first County Championship win of the season and inflicted Yorkshire’s first defeat

20-May-2010
Scorecard
A brilliant 68-ball century from James Hildreth guided Somerset to their first County Championship win of the season and inflicted Yorkshire’s first defeat. Set a target of 362 to win in a minimum of 68 overs, the home side skated to victory by six wickets with more than five overs to spare, thanks to Hildreth’s brilliant 102 not out, 93 from Zander de Bruyn, Nick Compton’s 65 and 53 from Marcus Trescothick.It was a case of history repeating itself – in the corresponding fixture last year, Somerset won after being set an even bigger target of 476 at a similar run rate of just over five an over.Some declaration bowling from Nick Compton and Hildreth allowed Yorkshire to close their second innings on 333 for 4 during the morning session after the captains had agreed to contrive a finish.Anthony McGrath (83) and Jacques Rudolph (66) profited from the friendly home attack and Rudolph was able to declare three quarters of an hour before lunch. Somerset began cautiously and were 21 without loss off eight overs at lunch.They had progressed to 37 when Arul Suppiah had his off stump removed by Steven Patterson. Trescothick was watchful in reaching fifty off 77 balls and when he fell shortly afterwards, lofting Adil Rashid to David Wainwright at long-on, there was little sign of the fireworks to come.Compton blossomed from a sketchy start to play his part with a 60-ball half-century before edging a legbreak from Rashid and being caught at point by Adam Lyth. Then came the match-winning stand of 149 in 19 overs between de Bruyn and Hildreth, both making liberal use of the reverse sweep against the spinners.The game was as good as won by the time de Bruyn was caught at long-off attempting to hit Wainwright over the ropes. The South African had faced 103 balls and hit 10 fours and a six.But it was Hildreth who shone the brightest. The timing of his sweeps and reverse sweeps meant that even the increasing number of boundary fielders could not halt his rapid scoring rate. By the end of the game he had faced 70 balls and also hit 10 fours and a six. Some exhilarating running between the wickets also characterised a memorable knock.To cap a great day for Somerset, 19-year-old ‘keeper Jos Buttler smashed 31 off 17 balls at the end, with three fours and two sixes. Rashid’s bowling figures of two for 123 summed up Yorkshire’s demise in a game in they were in control for long periods, but ended up with six points to Somerset’s 21.

Former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq, widely regarded as the inventer of the doosra, hailed the retiring Muttiah Muralitharan as the “best spinner of his generation”

Cricinfo staff09-Jul-2010Former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq, widely regarded as the inventor of the doosra, hailed the retiring Muttiah Muralitharan as the “best spinner of his generation”.”I have no doubt in my mind he was the best spinner of his generation,” Saqlain told PTI. “A champion bowler no matter what some people say. I am sure many batsmen would have heaved a sigh of relief knowing he is going to retire now.”Saqlain confounded batsmen from the late 90s onwards with the doosra that spins from leg stump to off, the offspinner’s equivalent of the googly. He was particularly effective in ODI cricket, where he was one of the rare spinners operating in the slog overs. Over the years, his surprise element waned as he tended to over-use the variation, and he played his last match for Pakistan in 2004. Saqlain was generous in heaping praise on Murali, who is credited with having perfected the mystery ball, now a regular fixture in an offspinner’s repertoire.”You can learn a lot from just watching him bowl and his videos are a must see for young spinners. To be honest I don’t think in the next 100 years, cricket is going to see a spinner of his calibre,” Saqlain said.”The best thing about him is that he had no pretensions or airs about him and I am sure even after retirement he will be around to help and guide the youngsters aspiring to be successful slow bowlers.”Saqlain also said there was no room for debate on Murali’s bowling action since the ICC had cleared it. “In all fairness I don’t think his action is suspect. The fact is that when the ICC cleared his action why should anyone have even raised questions about his action.”

Struggling Gloucestershire virtually ended Middlesex’s hopes of reaching the Friends Provident t20 quarter-finals by beating them by six wickets with four balls to spare at Uxbridge

11-Jul-2010

ScorecardStruggling Gloucestershire virtually ended Middlesex’s hopes of reaching the Friends Provident t20 quarter-finals by beating them by six wickets with four balls to spare at Uxbridge.The match saw Steven Finn return to the Middlesex team for the first time since he bowled England to victory in the second Test against Bangladesh at Old Trafford in June but he conceded 30 runs in two overs and was promptly withdrawn from the firing line.Finn was struck for five fours and a six as William Porterfield and Aaron Redmond launched Gloucestershire’s pursuit of a target of 186 with an opening partnership of 78 in seven overs. Neil Dexter, the Middlesex captain, stemmed the flow of runs by bowling Redmond and having Hamish Marshall caught behind in the space of seven balls.Porterfield, who had hit 64 off 32 balls with three sixes and seven fours, was then unluckily run out when Franklin’s drive was deflected into the stumps at the bowler’s end but Franklin and Chris Taylor regained the initiative with a fourth wicket stand of 61 in six overs.Middlesex, beaten by Hampshire on the same club ground the day before, owed their total to Dawid Malan’s 86 off 44 balls, including six sixes and five fours, after they had made another poor start, losing David Warner and Jackson Thompson inside the first four overs.Warner, the Australia Twenty20 specialist, who has made only 188 runs in 11 innings for Middlesex, was caught and bowled by Steve Kirby for one and Thompson, an India-born left-hander who once played for Gloucestershire, was caught at extra cover off Anthony Ireland for 14.Owais Shah gave the innings some momentum, following his 80 against Hampshire with 27 off 19 balls including a six and four fours before he was brilliantly caught on the midwicket boundary by Gemaal Hussain off Richard Dawson, and then Neil Dexter joined Malan in a fourth wicket partnership of 85 in eight overs.Dexter had struck 38 off 30 balls with two sixes and two fours when he was well caught by Porterfield, leaping high in front of the sightscreen, off Kirby and Middlesex were on course for 200 until they failed to make the most of the closing overs.Tyron Henderson was caught by Marshall running in from long on off Ireland and three wickets went down in the last over with Scott and Smith running themselves out and Malan bowled when making room to hit Kirby through the offside.

Umar Gul, who suffered a stiff hamstring during the second Test at Edgbaston, has recovered completely from the injury and is likely to be available for selection for the final Test of the England series, which begins on Thursday at Lord’s

Nagraj Gollapudi at Lord's24-Aug-2010Umar Gul, who suffered a stiff hamstring during the second Test at Edgbaston, has recovered completely from the injury and is likely to be available for selection for the final Test of the England series, which begins on Thursday at Lord’s.”We can’t say anything for certain but we are hopeful,” Salman Butt, the Pakistan captain said. It was feared that Gul would take no further part in the Test series when he first picked up the injury but Gul, who is Pakistan’s most experience fast bowler, has been working hard with Dale Nyler, the team physio, and trainer David Dwyer, to bounce back.While his team-mates were scripting Pakistan’s remarkable victory in the third Test, Gul was on the sidelines where he bowled ‘no-effort’ balls which involved him charging in from a full run-up and going through the remainder of his action before finishing the sequence without delivering the ball. The exercise was essential to determine if the injury was healing fast.”So far his recovery has gone as desired,” Dwyer said. But both him and Nyler will have a final look on Wednesday morning before giving their final assessment on Gul’s fitness to the team management which will sit in the evening to pick the playing eleven.For the last two days Gul has progressed to bowling flat out without any cause for concern. At the indoor training centre at Lord’s he bowled marathon spells of nearly 90 minutes and was happily sharing tips with Wahab Riaz, the man who replaced him in the previous Test.Gul’s recovery is good news for Pakistan, who are spoilt with riches in the bowling department. At The Oval last week, Riaz, the left-handed quick, made a memorable debut by claiming 5 for 63 on the first day to help set up Pakistan’s four-wicket victory. Riaz earned further points on the second morning when he offered stubborn resistance with the bat. His 27 logged over a two hours, and he stitched a 34-run partnership with Mohammad Yousuf for the third wicket to rob England of the chance of putting pressure on the Pakistan middle-order.Gul won’t be worried about the competition. At Trent Bridge he top scored with 65 in addition to a match haul of 4 for 102. At Edgbaston he was forced off the field after bowling nine wicketless overs in the first innings but batted with a runner to bolster Pakistan’s lead with a 27-run stand with Mohammad Asif for the last wicket.Gul will have fond memories of playing at Lord’s, after performing well there against Australia earlier in the year. He was on the verge of a hat-trick during Australia’s second innings and finished the match with five wickets. Waqar Younis, Pakistan’s coach, was positive about Gul but remained non-committal about his availability for the final Test: “We will have to see tomorrow and then decide.”

The three Pakistan players who are at the centre of the spot-fixing controversy have been dropped for the limited-overs leg of the England tour

Andrew Miller and Nagraj Gollapudi02-Sep-2010Pakistan’s high commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, has provided a new twist to the spot-fixing saga after suggesting in an interview with the BBC that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, the three players at the centre of the controversy, may have been the victims of a “set-up”.Hasan was speaking after the confirmation that the three players would be playing no part in the limited-overs leg of the England tour, after extensive talks between officials from the ICC and PCB led to the announcement that they had pulled out of the squad due to “mental torture”.”The three players have said they are extremely disturbed with what has happened in the past one week, especially with regard to their alleged involvement in the crime,” Hasan said. “They have mentioned that they are entirely innocent of the whole episode and shall defend their innocence as such. They further maintain that on account of the mental torture that has deeply affected them, they are not in the right frame of mind to play the remaining matches, therefore they have requested the PCB not to consider them until their names are cleared.”They are innocent until proven guilty. They are under interrogation so they have to defend themselves. They are bright young men, one of them has just broken a world record, and we will go to a court of law to defend them.”However, speaking in a separate interview later in the day, the commissioner appeared to support the notion that the players had been set up. Asked specifically if he believed this was the case, he responded: “Yes, I would say that. Yes.” A spokesman for the News of the World later said the paper would “refuse to respond to such ludicrous allegations”.Cricinfo understands that the decision to omit the players only came about after extensive meetings between Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, and Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of the ICC, which went on past midnight on Wednesday evening. The PCB’s position had been one of reluctance to act before the investigations had run their course, but with the integrity of the sport at stake, Ijaz was finally persuaded to back down.On a day of hectic developments, officials from the ACSU met officials from Scotland Yard in relation to the ongoing investigation, and the three players will be be questioned by Scotland Yard early Friday morning. In the meantime, a local legal firm has been appointed, with the PCB’s legal advisor, Taffazul Rizvi, also in London assisting the case.A source close to the investigation denied that any pressure had been applied from the Pakistan government, but added that the deputy attorney general of Pakistan was in London and had attended the meeting with the high commissioner. Later in the day, Lorgat and Ijaz Butt attended a separate meeting at the Pakistan High Commission.The players, who arrived at the high commission in a car with blacked-out windows, were escorted by 10 police officers past a media scrum, involving up to 20 photographers and reporters, as they entered the building.Earlier in the day team manager Yawar Saeed announced the players’ exclusion from the squad in Taunton, where the Pakistan team is playing a warm-up game. “The T20 squad will remain what it is here this morning, i.e. 13 people,” Saeed said. “When we play the one-day internationals we will be asking for replacements to make the squad up to 16.”The ECB, whose stance on the omission of the players has been clear from the start, estimates that an income of approximately £10 million hinges on the successful staging of this series and the chairman Giles Clarke said “he welcomed the decision”. He said he looked forward to the series being playing “in the spirit” that matches between England and Pakistan are always played in.”I look forward to working with Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, and Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, and everyone involved in Pakistani cricket in taking forward cricket in Pakistan so that a proper plan exists for the whole of Pakistani cricket,” Clarke added.Alan Hamer, the chief executive of Glamorgan, also welcomed the news of the trio’s omission ahead of the county’s hosting of the two Twenty20 matches on Sunday and Tuesday.”This is definitely the right decision going forward into the series,” Hamer told Cricinfo. “The week leading up to the matches has felt like a department store in the lead-up to Christmas, with no-one coming through the doors. It has been clear from our initial market research that many people have been waiting for clarity on the allegations before committing to buying tickets, so hopefully with this decision, the emphasis will now shift back to the cricket, and a contest between the past and present World Twenty20 champions.”Additional reporting by Osman Samiuddin.

Mumbai have everything that it may take to become a top Twenty20 side, yet in three years they have no silverware to show for their efforts. The game against South Australia could be the first step towards correcting that

The Preview by Sidharth Monga13-Sep-2010

Match facts

Mumbai v South Australia, Tuesday, September 14
Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)Solos from Sachin Tendulkar will not do for a side with Mumbai’s depth•AFP

Big Picture

Mumbai Indians seem to have everything a team might need to become the best club side in the world. They have Sachin Tendulkar at the top, who has taken Twenty20 batting to a new risk-free plane. They have talented Indian domestic batsmen in the middle. They have Lasith Malinga, perhaps the best bowler in the format, to go with Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan, who more than hold their own against international sides, leave alone club teams. Their owners are one of the richest families in India, and they have spent merrily in acquiring the services of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and JP Duminy among others.
Still they are neither the IPL champions nor have they got off to a good start in the Champions League, losing to the Lions, a team whose collective fame and earnings pale in comparison to Pollard’s from one IPL season. From their last two matches, Mumbai will know they can do with better captaincy and pre-match strategy. In the IPL final, Pollard was given just three overs to win a match. They have been almost apologetic in using their rich resources. In the Champions League opener, neither Malinga nor Zaheer opened the bowling. Why not hit some helmets and break some toes straight up? Despite the presence of five specialist bowlers in the side, the part-timers bowled four overs for 49 runs.Now Mumbai are up against a side that has won a match based on a captain’s solo. Michael Klinger, a Victorian, moved to South Australia two seasons ago, didn’t play a single Twenty20 for them last season, but walked into the Champions League side as captain. Their first match showed why. While the rest of the top order struggled, Klinger got a golden bat emblazoned on his cap, a rather subtle recognition for the tournament’s highest scorer at the time, breaking away from the IPL’s honourable tradition of gaudy caps.Tendulkar nearly did a similar solo in the first game, but in a team of Mumbai’s quality he shouldn’t be required to do solos, only better strategy shall do.

Team news

A niggle to Saurabh Tiwary cost Mumbai some firepower in the middle order, and they will be hoping he is fit to play. They also need to realise that Dwayne Bravo is a better, classier, more valuable cricketer than Pollard, and they can’t afford to keep benching him. Not when their fourth overseas player, Ryan McLaren, is bowled for just one over and has hardly any role with the bat. Abhishek Nayar has been called up as cover for the injured Dhawal Kulkarni, but is unlikely to figure in the final XI even if he makes it in time.
Mumbai Indians 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 3 Ambati Rayudu (wk), 4 JP Duminy, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Saurabh Tiwary/R Sathish, 7 Dwayne Bravo/Ryan McLaren, 8 Ali Murtaza, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Lasith MalingaSouth Australia would like to retain their winning combination.South Australia Redbacks 1 Michael Klinger (capt.), 2 Daniel Harris, 3 Graham Manou (wk), 4 Tom Cooper, 5 Callum Ferguson, 6 Cameron Borgas, 7 Daniel Christian, 8 Aaron O’Brien, 9 Shaun Tait, 10 Gary Putland, 11 Cullen Bailey

Watch out for …

Kieron Pollard has played for so many teams it was inevitable he would come up against old mates one of these days. Good job that he plays a sport where who he is playing for is clearly defined. He is not at the risk of, say, instinctively passing the ball to the wrong team.
Callum Ferguson is back from his knee reconstruction, and his 27-ball 47 in South Australia’s first game suggested he had never been away. Watch out for more improvisation from the man whose Australia limited-overs career was on its way when he got injured.

Key contest

Shaun Tait v Lasith Malinga It will be a day to rejoice for the slingers of the world. Which of these round-arm hounds does better might just determine the course of the match.

Stats and trivia

• Sachin Tendulkar has hit just 20 sixes in his 1437 runs. Among those who have crossed 1000 runs in the format, only Gautam Gambhir (20 sixes out of 1844) and Murray Goodwin (21 sixes out of 1671) have higher runs-to-sixes ratios.
• Lasith Malinga has bowled 34 batsmen in his Twenty20 career. Only five men have found the stumps more often. Shaun Tait has 25 bowled victims.

In a ruling that could have widespread repercussions for cricket administration in India, the Kerala High Court has said the officials of the Kerala Cricket Association can be considered public servants

Tariq Engineer26-Oct-2010In a ruling that could have widespread repercussions for cricket administration in India, the Kerala High Court has said the officials of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) can be considered public servants, and directed a lower court to continue hearing a complaint alleging misappropriation of funds by the association. The complaint was filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which applies only to public servants.The KCA had argued that it was a private body similar to a club, and therefore did not come under the purview of the act. In its order, the High Court observed that the KCA had a monopoly on cricket in the state and performed a public duty and a public service, and so was liable to be investigated by the vigilance department.The complainant, Balaji Iyengar, a chartered accountant and former Kerala junior cricketer, had filed the original complaint against the KCA in the Vigilance Court two years ago. The court ruled in favour of the KCA, saying its officials were not public servants, but Iyengar challenged the ruling in the High Court. In quashing the lower court’s order, Justice M Shashidharan Nambiar held that the officials do fall under the definition of public servant as laid out in the act.TC Matthew, the KCA secretary, told ESPNcricinfo it would challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court, adding that the decision, if allowed to stand, could result in a number of cases being filed against the BCCI and other sports associations.Indian cricket’s governing body has consistently held it is a private organisation and not accountable to the public but the Kerala ruling could open the door for anyone to challenge the functioning of the BCCI and cricket associations around the country.”It will be a landmark judgement of sorts if upheld by the Supreme Court,” the activist lawyer Rahul Mehra said. “In effect, what you are saying is that these officials are akin to government officials.” Mehra famously pursued public interest litigation against the BCCI in 2000 in an attempt to extract more accountability from the board.The Delhi High Court ruled in Mehra’s favour in 2004, saying that the BCCI was accountable to the public as it performs important public functions. That ruling was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court in a case involving television rights between Zee Telefilms, an Indian television company, and the BCCI. This decision takes things another step further, Mehra said. “It has opened a door which I have been trying to open for about five years.”