Category Uncategorized

Hosts still trail Glamorgan by 125 following on but opening pair stand firm once more

ECB Reporters Network27-Jul-2023Promotion hopefuls Glamorgan are pressing for victory after Derbyshire collapsed dramatically on the third day of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Derby.After an opening stand of 165 between Luis Reece and Harry Came, Derbyshire lost seven wickets for 44 to be bowled out for 318 but following on, the pair again played well to close on 78 without loss, 125 runs behind.Reece scored 131, his first Championship hundred of the season, and Came 65 but the home side fell apart against the second new ball as Glamorgan secured maximum bonus points.Leus du Plooy made 41 to complete 1,000 Championship runs for the season but his dismissal started the slide with Timm van der Gugten finishing with 3 for 94.Until that second new ball, Derbyshire had looked comfortable as they accumulated steadily against accurate but mainly unthreatening bowling.On a rain-interrupted morning, Came and Reece played patiently with the former reaching his 50 from 162 balls as the pair recorded Derbyshire’s highest opening stand against Glamorgan at Derby.The bowlers were getting little out of a slow pitch and after a brief rain break, it was a lapse in concentration that brought about the breakthrough. Came was tempted into driving at a wide ball from van der Gugten and edged into the gloves of Chris Cooke.It had taken 64 overs but Glamorgan only had to wait another four balls as Brooke Guest, who scored centuries in both innings of the corresponding match last season, was trapped on the crease lbw for a duck.Another shower left Reece on 99 at lunch but he completed his hundred immediately after the resumption with an edge past the slips off van der Gugten for his 12th four.When du Plooy drove van der Gugten to the cover boundary, he reached 1,000 Championship runs in a season for Derbyshire for the first time and although he was dropped at slip off Mitchell Swepson on 33, the wheels came flying off shortly afterwards.Reece was caught off the glove sweeping Swepson and when the new ball was taken, Jamie McIlroy got some late movement to have du Plooy caught behind.Haider Ali went in the next over cutting at van der Gugten and Anuj Dal failed to make the most of a dropped catch in the slips before he had scored when he edged McIlroy behind.At tea, Derbyshire needed another 63 to avoid following-on but the last four wickets went for only two runs in 19 balls. Andy Gorvin was getting the ball to swing in the overcast conditions but Alex Thomson edged a big drive before Tom Wood missed a sweep at Swepson.Gorvin tempted Zak Chappell into a drive which secured full bowling points and when George Scrimshaw was run out, Glamorgan had no hesitation in putting Derbyshire back in.The good news for the hosts was that the sun was now out and batting became easier as Came and Reece combined again to frustrate Glamorgan.David Lloyd rotated his bowlers but Derbyshire’s openers played responsibly to bat 33 overs to the close and give their side a chance of saving the match with Reece unbeaten on 53.

David Warner and Mitchell Marsh head home while Peter Handscomb signs off his county spell with victory

Andrew McGlashan23-May-20222:24

Vettori: David’s six-hitting is like Pollard’s in his heyday

IPL

Marcus Stoinis was involved in an over that summed up the madness of T20 and the fine line between being a hero or villain. With 21 to defend, he watched his first three deliveries against Rinku Singh disappear for four, six, six. That suddenly made Kolkata Knight Riders favourites as they aimed to keep their tournament alive and another brace left three needed off the last two balls. When Rinku connected the fifth delivery it looked as though that could be the game, but Evin Lewis pulled off one of the catches of the competition at deep cover. Stoinis then held his nerve with the last ball, getting a yorker just about on target which Umesh Yadav missed.”You start your over and you’re pretty clear. You play to the conditions and the long boundary and what you think the batter wants to do,” Stoinis said. “As things get worse, you go back more towards what you like to bowl and what works for you. So that’s probably a learning for me, to maybe take the conditions out of it in those sort of situations and do what you feel most confident with.”Mumbai Indians’ tournament had long been over, which gave Tim David even more chances to show how foolish it was he did not play throughout. He could not quite get Mumbai over the line against Sunrisers Hyderabad, run out when his 46 off 18 balls had turned the chase around. But in his final knock of the season, he produced the decisive display with 34 off just 11 deliveries after having a huge dose of fortune when Rishabh Pant did not review an outside edge first ball. He finished the season with 186 runs at a tournament-leading strike rate of 216.27.Related

• Big-hitting Tim David proves his worth

• 'Everyone in the circle was not convinced enough' – Pant on not reviewing caught-behind decision against David

• Jason Behrendorff, Chris Green join Middlesex as Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman bow out

• Handscomb to leave Middlesex with immediate effect

David’s final performance was cheered on by all those associated with Royal Challengers Bangalore who squeezed into the final qualifying spot and in turn meant an early exit for David Warner and Mitchell Marsh with Delhi Capitals. Marsh had continued his strong finish with a thumping 63 against Punjab King before falling for a duck against Mumbai when Jasprit Bumrah proved too good. It was a quiet end to the season for Warner, who finished with scores of 0 and 5, but it remained a very good campaign for him with 432 runs after last season’s difficulties.Glenn Maxwell produced one of his most impactful performances of the season as Royal Challengers got the win they needed against Gujarat Titans before having to sweat on the Capitals result. Maxwell claimed 1 for 28 which included a maiden and 14 dots balls, dismissing his Australian team-mate Matthew Wade (more on that below). He then crunched 40 off 18 balls from No. 3 to get the chase done and dusted.Nathan Ellis has barely been used by Kings but got his second outing of the season in the dead game that ended the group stage and bagged 3 for 40. He found himself on a hat-trick in the final over and though he did not complete it himself, the team did when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was run out off what was also called a no-ball.Glenn Maxwell dismissed Matthew Wade, who wasn’t happy with the lbw decision•BCCI

Who is involved in playoffs?

So, we now know the final four – Titans, Royals, Super Giants and Royal Challengers – which means the following Australians remain for the last week of the tournament: Matthew Wade (Titans), Marcus Stoinis (Giants), Glenn Maxwell (Royal Challengers), Josh Hazlewood (Royal Challengers), Jason Behrendorff (Royal Challengers) and AJ Tye (Giants).

County

James Pattinson played his part in Nottinghamshire’s 10-wicket victory against Derbyshire as he claimed five wickets in the match which left them second in Division Two as the Championship takes a break.However, it was Victoria team-mate Peter Handscomb who finished the first part of the Championship season in pole position with Middlesex completing a six-wicket victory against Durham to sit top. Handscomb was unbeaten on 39 in the chase in what proved to be his final act for the club. He will now head to Sri Lanka with Australia A and it was announced that he won’t return to Middlesex afterwards and instead head home to spend time with his family.Peter Siddle claimed a four-wicket haul but could do little to prevent Somerset crashing to a 10-wicket defeat against Hampshire. Matt Renshaw made 27 and 11, the second coming as Somerset were bundled out for 69.

Focus turns to the T20 Blast

The county season now switches into T20 Blast mode (although there remains some four-day cricket sprinkled in) and a number of Australians will be involved. Dan Christian will captain Nottinghamshire and Ashton Turner will lead Durham. Middlesex announced the signings of Behrendorff and Chris Green with availability issues causing late changes to their overseas spots. Ben McDermott, who missed out on a place in the Sri Lanka tour squads, will play for Hampshire who also have Ellis. Josh Philippe will link up with Sussex after the Australia A tour. David has a deal with Lancashire in what will be one of the must-watch signings.

Did you see?

Matthew Wade will be involved in the IPL playoffs although it’s been a rather frustrating season with the bat. That came to a head in the final group match when he was given lbw against Maxwell but was convinced he had hit the ball. There was a tiny mark on Ultra Edge but the third umpire ruled it was not conclusive evidence to overturn. On returning to the dressing room, Wade threw his bat and helmet around the dressing room. It earned him a slap on the wrist with a reprimand.

Performance of the week

Another excellent few days for Tim David who, when he was selected consistently, showed why he fetched such a hefty price tag at the IPL auction. David has yet to feature for Australia but they have a lot of T20Is in the lead-up to the World Cup. He will be very hard to ignore.

“If a bio-bubble can be created for the England men’s team, they can do it for a women’s team also” – Shanta Rangaswamy

Annesha Ghosh22-Dec-2020India women’s proposed tour of Australia in January 2021 looks set to be rescheduled to later in the year, extending the uncertainty that’s plagued the team’s international schedule since the cancellation of the tour of England in July. The development will mean that India, runners-up in the last ODI and T20 World Cups, are going to be out of action for over ten months, their last international match being the final of the T20 World Cup on March 8, 2020.In May, Cricket Australia had announced that it would host India for three ODIs – on January 22, 25, and 28 – as part of the build-up to the 2021 50-over World Cup in New Zealand, originally scheduled for February 2021. But concerns around the Covid-19 pandemic led to the tournament being deferred to March 2022.Related

• India women's team to play South Africa women in Lucknow

• Women's T20 Challenge 2020 logs 'record-breaking viewership', 147% rise in viewing minutes

• A case for more games, and better investment in women's cricket

• David: Covid-19 has made picking WT20C squads challenging

A article last week stated: “Australia’s next international engagement remains up in the air, with no confirmation that a planned three-game ODI series against India – scheduled as preparation for the now-delayed World Cup – will go ahead in January.” ESPNcricinfo understands that, as a result of the deferment, the BCCI didn’t want to stick to the schedule – India are one of five teams to have qualified directly for the tournament.As things stand, India will at best take the field next in February, if a limited-overs assignment against Sri Lanka, presently being discussed between the two boards, does take place – either at home or away. A series against South Africa, most likely at home, in April or May is also being considered, and an update could come from the BCCI’s annual general meeting on December 24.Though the BCCI has hosted the IPL, in the UAE, with a four-match Women’s T20 Challenge alongside the playoffs, and the men’s team is currently on tour in Australia, there has been no official word on the women’s team since the country first went into lockdown, in March. In February-March next year, the England men’s team will come to India for the first international cricket in the country since March, while the domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament will start on January 10.Shanta Rangaswamy, the former India women’s captain and current member of the BCCI’s apex council, stressed on the increased financial investment that hosting teams during the pandemic entail.”If a bio-bubble can be created for the England men’s team, they can do it for a women’s team also,” Rangaswamy told ESPNcricinfo. “But it will be an expensive affair – creation of bio-bubbles. So, they will look at the economics of it before taking a call. But I’m positive that the BCCI office-bearers will not hesitate to spend on the development of the game.”‘If a bio-bubble can be created for the men’s team, they can do it for a women’s team also’•Annesha Ghosh/ESPNcricinfo

What about the women’s domestic matches?
Rangaswamy was optimistic that after the completion of the Mushtaq Ali tournament, the senior women’s domestic season, too, might resume, tentatively in February.”In our last apex council meeting, we had suggested that both the senior women’s and the age-group tournaments be staged around that time [early February],” Rangaswamy said. “Hopefully the pandemic wouldn’t set us back any further on the execution of those plans because the caseload in India is so high you can’t risk players’ safety.”But, as ESPNcricinfo has found out, the BCCI is some way from committing to resuming any domestic cricket beyond the senior men’s competition/s.Such an eventuality could also have a bearing on the preparations of players hoping to find spots in the squad for the inaugural women’s Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, which the ICC is considering slotting into the second half of 2021.

Australia reached 30 for 1 during a tricky period at the end of the day after their bowlers put England under pressure again

The Report by Valkerie Baynes15-Aug-2019Jonny, be good. It was a plea rather than a statement and Jonny Bairstow duly answered England’s call.Whether Bairstow’s half-century, his second in Tests in 2019 and his first on home soil in more than a year, combined with Rory Burns’ fifty proves to be enough remains to be seen but, given Australia’s performance in the opening Test, England’s first-innings total did not look overly impressive.Most concerning for the hosts, was the events leading up to Bairstow’s entrance. The majority of England’s upper and middle order floundered – Burns and Joe Denly were among just four batsmen to pass 20, another being No. 8 Chris Woakes. Even a 66-run stand for the third wicket between Burns and Denly, while somewhat encouraging, was indicative of the England batting collective – a start without going on with it.Australia battled during a tricky hour under lights at the end of a late session elongated after the washed-out first day. Openers Cameron Bancroft and David Warner, who both failed to break into double figures at Edgbaston, looked uncomfortable in the face of a fiery first spell from Test debutant Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, who has had the measure of Warner in the series so far.Broad claimed Warner’s wicket for the third time in as many innings, bowling him through the gate off an ideal length for just 3 with a ball that nipped back to take the leg bail and put Australia at 11 for 1, having dismissed him lbw and caught behind in the previous Test.Archer could have had Warner out an over before with a 90-mph delivery that UltraEdge suggested shaved the bat, but with not so much as an appeal emanating from the bowler or the field, Warner hung on – briefly. Bancroft and Usman Khawaja safely navigated the rest of the session as Australia went to the close with a slight edge.Archer’s first over in Test cricket yielded plenty of pace and venom with speeds in the low 90s and high 80s after he was made to wait a day to be a part of the action, having been handed his cap by Chris Jordan during a short break in the weather on Wednesday. His first foray came with the bat after Tim Paine won the toss and sent England in.When Josh Hazlewood claimed the wickets of Jason Roy for a duck and Joe Root for just 14, England were in trouble at 26 for 2 and Paine’s call – which Root said he would have echoed had he won the toss – seemed well justified.Doubts crept in, however, as Burns and Denly dug in, the former backing up his first-innings 133 in Birmingham with a controlled 53 after he was dropped on 16 by Khawaja at gully off the bowling of Peter Siddle, and Denly making a marginal improvement on his earlier innings of 18 and 11 in this series when he reached 30 to leave the match looking fairly even at lunch.It took a brilliant catch by Bancroft, diving to his left at short leg, off Pat Cummins to dismiss Burns after Hazlewood had Denly caught behind. The England pair were among four wickets to fall in the second session, as Australia’s bowlers combined well, Cummins banging the ball in short while Hazlewood and Siddle found some away swing from the Pavilion End.Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes made very little impact to compound England’s batting concerns as Bairstow and Woakes set about rebuilding. Woakes was hit hard on the helmet by a Cummins delivery and, after barely flipping the penultimate ball of the over to the leg side, fell on the next when Cummins’ delivery brushed his thumb on the way through to Paine behind the stumps.Bairstow compiled his 52 off 95 deliveries, with seven fours, before he picked out Khawaja at deep square leg to hand Nathan Lyon his third wicket. Lyon’s three-for moved him level with Dennis Lillee on 355 Test wickets, joint-third overall for Australia. Cummins and Hazlewood also ended the innings with three wickets each.The theme of the day was red, with Lord’s spectators urged to wear the colour and players entering the field wearing bright red caps in honour of the Ruth Strauss Foundation, set up by former England captain Andrew Strauss following the death of his wife last year from a rare form of lung cancer. By stumps the initiative had raised well in excess of £350,000 for cancer research and support for patients and their families.

Australia now head to Zimbabwe for a T20I tri-series that also includes Pakistan but perhaps the most significant tour will be when Australia A and South Africa A play a tri-series in India in August

Melinda Farrell at Edgbaston27-Jun-2018The Australian squad may be leaving England without a win but Justin Langer believes they won’t be carrying any mental baggage either, despite a disappointing tour. After the 22-run loss in the standalone T20I at Edgbaston, Langer said he believes the tough lessons learned will benefit the younger players in the squad.”Light at the end of the tunnel, there’s no doubt about that,” said Langer. “We knew it was going to be a big job knowing where we came from in South Africa.”There’s been some great learning and some real positives that have come from this trip. On the surface it looks like a complete disaster but we have talked about a team for the World Cup and the Ashes and I think we have unlocked a few answers, but it hurts when you get beaten, particularly in England.”My first Test match was against the West Indies and it was pretty scary. You faced four fast West Indians and you are a skinny kid. I remember David Boon saying ‘Test cricket will never get tougher than this’.””I thought he was just being nice to me but it was so true. I learned something from it and I was tougher from it. When you look at Trent Bridge for our young blokes to get hit for 480-something, it doesn’t get tougher. Hopefully it will add some layers to their character and not scars.”Langer pointed to the lack of experience in the squad, the absence of several first-choice players as well as Australia’s long-standing battles to master spin as key reasons Australia had struggled throughout the tour. But he was full in his praise of England’s prowess in the short forms of the game.”I have been blown away by how well England are playing but they have got 880 games between them, they’re all in good form, they’re at the peak of their powers right now and we’ve come up against them,” said Langer.Justin Langer talks to his players at practice•Getty Images

“There’s so many people talking about our style of play at the moment. When I started playing Test cricket I could not hit them off the square. I could hit them to third man and hit them to fine leg and I didn’t have much else, but by the end of my career I would come out and I would be swinging, I would be playing cover drives and pull shots and I’d be hitting the spinners over their heads.”My point is, we talk about England now and they are guys playing brilliant cricket. They are confident, they’re scoring hundreds and they’ve been playing together for a long time. They have the core together and they take confidence from it, at the moment we haven’t got that. What I do know is we will learn lessons from how England are playing at the moment but it is hard to compare us because we are at such a different stage of our journey.”The journey for both teams, in the one-day format at least, leads straight back to England and Wales next summer, and while there may have been valuable lessons learned by this group of players, Langer made it clear he is expecting to come back for the World Cup with a more experienced squad.”If Steve Smith and David Warner and Mitch Marsh, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc come back in, all of a sudden you’ve got 800 games of experience again and we’ve got a lot more experienced team,” said Langer.”And if some of these young guys who are gaining some experience here, or the guys who have taken it up – Shaun Marsh in the one-day series, he scored two hundreds. Ashton Agar has been really good with the ball and shown a lot with the bat.”Billy Stanlake has had some good games. If we can get some of those guys learning and growing and if some of the other guys are available, who knows what could happen in 12 months’ time?”It’s a fact of life, we don’t know what’s going to happen in 12 months. That will just be natural if some of those more senior players come back in the team, that’s just reality.”Australia now head to Zimbabwe for a T20I tri-series that also includes Pakistan but perhaps the most significant tour will be when Australia A and South Africa A play a tri-series in India in August. A number of players in and around the Test side will be in that squad and, while Langer won’t be present, performances in India could have a significant impact on the make-up of the Australian Test side during the home summer, when they host India and Sri Lanka.”It’s huge,” said Langer. “We’ll probably pick the Test team after the Australia A team. It’s a great opportunity, particularly for our young batsmen, or any batsman in Australia.”It’s very, very rare to pick a Test squad after something like that. We’ve got a short period so it’s going to be a huge tour. It’s exciting. I won’t be at that tour, because from about the end of September, we’re not going to go home for about 18 months. So I probably won’t go to India for that tour.”I’ll certainly be watching it closely because we have to start building the top six in the Test team.”

Karnataka have appointed two former batsmen from the state to lead the support staff for the coming season

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2017Former Karnataka batsmen PV Shashikanth and GK Anil Kumar have been appointed the state team’s coach and assistant coach respectively. The duo replaces the highly successful combine of J Arunkumar and Mansur Ali Khan.Shashikanth played 51 first-class games and scored 2397 runs at an average of 31.53, including four hundreds, before retiring in 1999. A former captain, Shashikanth also led a depleted Karnataka side to an Irani Cup title in 1996-97. The 43-year-old Anil Kumar, on the other hand, played five first-class games in a career spanning from 1998-99 to 2000-01. In 2014, he turned out for the Rockstars side in the Karnataka Premier League.The KSCA said their appointments were “unanimous decisions” of the board’s managing committee.”They (Shashikanth and Anil Kumar) have been coaches of various age groups of the state for more than a decade,” KSCA said in a release on April 26. “The KSCA also acknowledges the contribution of the former coaches Mr J Arun Kumar and Mansoor Ali Khan for their stint as coaches of the senior state team for the last five seasons.”Currently involved in the IPL as Kings XI Punjab’s batting coach, Arunkumar is one of the most successful coaches in the domestic arena. While he was eventually elevated as head coach, he and Mansoor were initially appointed as batting and bowling coaches respectively in July 2012 to replace K Jeshwanth. The duo did not have to wait long to taste success, as Karnataka bagged the treble of domestic titles – Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup and Vijay Hazare Trophy – in 2013-14 before repeating it the following season.In 2015-16, however, Maharashtra snapped Karnataka’s three-year unbeaten run as the defending champions failed to make the knockouts of the Ranji Trophy. Karnataka made the quarter-finals in the 2016-17 season before losing to Tamil Nadu, and finished on top of the Inter-State T20 League’s south zone table.

Australia entered their fourth straight final of the Women’s World T20 with a five-run win over England in Delhi

The Report by Shashank Kishore30-Mar-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:49

‘Our fielders did a great job’ – Lanning

International victories are sweet, but some are sweeter than the others. On Wednesday, it was Meg Lanning-led Australia Women side that won the bragging rights over England Women, who stumbled to yet another defeat to their arch-rivals in a knockout clash. It left Australia eyeing a delicious prospect of pitching for their fourth successive Women’s World T20 title come Sunday.Lanning’s 50-ball 55 on a slow Feroz Shah Kotla deck was the cornerstone to Australia’s 132 for 6. England, who needed to achieve the highest successful run chase in the tournament to have a crack at their second title, choked despite having the target well within touching distance. They imploded with a combination of nerves and reckless shots. Katherine Brunt, who had a forgettable day with the ball, muscled a six and four to bring the equation down to 17 off 10 deliveries before Australia’s killer instinct prevailed; England agonisingly falling short by five runs.England came out all attacking in their chase, and also benefitted from some luck as a diving Beth Mooney put down a tough chance offered by Tammy Beaumont at mid-off in the fourth over. Charlotte Edwards, who started slowly, lent the artistic touch to the innings, before she chipped a catch to cover, against the run of play. Her dismissal ended a 67-run opening partnership that came at better than a run a ball.Sarah Taylor, who had failed in each of her four innings in the group stages, then showed why she is a feared striker in the women’s game as she stamped her authority immediately by hitting Jess Jonassen inside-out over cover for six. But the pressure of the asking rate resulted in her partners attempting shots they wouldn’t otherwise.Beaumont, after doing all the hard work, chipped one to cover where Lanning pulled off a stunner. Nerves then turned into proper panic when Natalie Sciver, who had brought England back into the contest with the ball, walked across the stumps, only to miss a full and straight delivery from Ellyse Perry. By then, England were reduced to 91 for 3, needing 42 off the last five overs.Lanning then introduced spin even as Taylor, who grew increasingly frustrated, tried to reverse sweep and paddle her way, but to no avail against Kristen Beams, the legspinner. The slowness of the surface forced another change as Erin Osborne, the offspinner, brought in for the first time in the 17th over struck off her second delivery as Heather Knight holed out to long-on. From bossing the chase, England had almost bottled it by that point as the asking rate escalated to close to 10 runs an over.That Australia had the luxury of runs on the board was courtesy a strong start from the openers Alyssa Healy and Elyse Villani. Healy, under scrutiny after a poor run of scores in the tournament, did the early running by taking the attack to Brunt and Anya Shrubsole with a 41-run stand, their highest of the tournament.Healy’s game is mostly about timing, and she set the template early on, showing the surface was a far cry to the ones both sides had encountered early on. Healy’s four boundaries in the first three overs somewhat took pressure off Villani, who took a while to get going. England’s pacers were guilty of not varying their pace and were duly put away, the first four overs yielding 35, before Australia were pegged back by a double-strike.Sciver, the seamer, struck in her first over as Villani missed a straight one to be adjudged lbw. Off the next over, the sixth, Healy, also fell lbw attempting a reverse paddle to give Laura Marsh a breakthrough and leave Australia at 50 for 2.Lanning and Perry did what they do best, milking the runs in the middle overs through smart strike rotation, seldom looking for the big hits to largely defensive fields set by Edwards. England didn’t help their own cause by reprieving Lanning twice, once on 20 and 45, with Taylor being the culprit on both occasions.Lanning went on to make a half-century, and help Australia post a more than competitive score courtesy support from her deputy Alex Blackwell, who contributed all of 11 in a 37-run stand for the fourth wicket. While most other sides may have looked to hit out, the match awareness of the pair on a surface that demanded application, and not flamboyance, may have resulted in those few extra runs that made the difference in the end.As much as those extra runs may have come in handy, it wouldn’t have been enough had Rene Farrell not brought her experience into play. She held her nerve, defending 12 off the final over in style, as Australia showed why they were the three-time champions.

Des Raj, a former international umpire, suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Aug-2013Des Raj, a former international umpire, has died following a cardiac arrest in Pune on Sunday.Raj, 69, officiated as third umpire twice, including in the Titan Cup final between India and South Africa in 1996. His lone appearance as an on-field umpire in the men’s game was in a match between Australia and Zimbabwe in 1998. Raj was a part of the panel of umpires in the Women’s World Cup in India in 1997, officiating in two matches, including the first semi-final between India and Australia. He also stood in a Test between India Women and England Women in 2005.Raj was active in the Ranji Trophy for 15 years, since making his debut in 1986. After retiring in 2001, he took on the role of BCCI match referee till the end of 2006-07 domestic season.

ESPNcricinfo’s preview to the first ODI between Pakistan and Australia in Sharjah

The Preview by Brydon Coverdale28-Aug-2012

Match facts

Shahid Afridi needs three more wickets to reach 350 in ODIs, and he is the leading wicket taker among current one-day international players•AFP

August 28-29, 2012
Start time 1800 (1400 GMT)

Big Picture

Australia’s one-off entrée against Afghanistan now complete, it’s time for the main course in the UAE: a three-match ODI series followed by three Twenty20s against Pakistan. That the series is even going ahead is a credit to both countries, for finding a venue and a suitable time proved harder than anyone could have imagined. Initially, Sri Lanka was to host the matches but the scheduling of the SLPL at the same time scuppered that plan. Malaysia was considered, with the heat in the UAE at this time of year making it unsuitable for day-time play, but in the end the boards agreed to play in the UAE with a 6pm start for the ODIs, to avoid the hottest part of the afternoon.The conditions and the likelihood of turning pitches will give Pakistan a good chance of breaking their ten-year drought without a one-day series win against Australia. Not that Pakistan have been in particularly good one-day form: they lost a series to Sri Lanka in June and to England in the UAE in February. Australia are similarly struggling in the 50-over format; having been soundly beaten by England they slipped to fourth on the ICC one-day rankings, and could fall further if they lose to Pakistan, who are sixth.Both sides are without some senior players: Pakistan have dropped Umar Gul and Younis Khan, and Australia are missing Clint McKay due to injury and Shane Watson, who is being rested to allow him more time for strength and conditioning work ahead of a busy schedule. Pakistan are expected to use a spin-heavy attack in this first match, while Australia have decided to rely on pace, having seen the ball swing in their win against Afghanistan.

Form guide (Complete matches, most recent first)

Pakistan LLLWW
Australia WLLLL

Watch out for

It’s nearly 18 months since Kamran Akmal last played for his country in any format, in the World Cup semi-final loss to India. Since then, Pakistan have rotated through four different wicketkeepers in ODIs, including Kamran’s brothers Adnan Akmal and Umar Akmal. Now it is his turn again. Kamran’s batting is always a threat, although in 15 ODIs he has only once scored more than 50 against Australia, but it’s his glovework that often lets the team down. As part of the squad for this tour and the ICC World Twenty20, he needs to find his best form with both bat and gloves over the next month.By promoting himself to No.3, Michael Clarke has said that he is the man to fix Australia’s batting black hole. In the past year, Australia have used Clarke, Ricky Ponting, Peter Forrest, Shane Watson, Matthew Wade and George Bailey at first drop, for a combined average of 23.37. Against Afghanistan Clarke made 75 and it was a positive sign, and he will be aiming to keep that form going against Pakistan. Batting high up also gives Clarke a chance to bat for a long period against what is likely to be a spin-heavy attack, and he is the best equipped of Australia’s batsmen to handle such bowling.

Team news

Pakistan have taken a 16-man squad for the ODIs but there was no room for Umar Gul or Younis Khan, while Kamran Akmal was brought back into the side. The exact make-up of the attack remains uncertain, but the coach Dav Whatmore indicated they would rely largely on the slow bowlers. “We are going to bowl more spin than the quicks,” Whatmore said, “and it’s important that we do that well.”Pakistan (squad) Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Anwar AliAustralia have made one change from the side that beat Afghanistan, leaving out their frontline spinner Xavier Doherty. The allrounder Daniel Christian will take his place, meaning plenty of seam-bowling options for Michael Clarke, while the spin duties will be shared by Glenn Maxwell, David Hussey and Clarke himself. It remains to be seen whether Matthew Wade will open or be moved down the order to give him some respite from the heat.Australia 1 Matthew Wade (wk), 2 David Warner, 3 Michael Clarke (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 George Bailey, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Daniel Christian, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 James Pattinson

Pitch and conditions

The humid conditions allowed Australia’s fast bowlers to extract plenty of swing at the same venue against Afghanistan, but Pakistan’s spinners should also find the conditions to their liking. The temperature, even late at night, is not expected to fall below 33C.

Stats and trivia

• Shahid Afridi needs three more wickets to reach 350 in one-day internationals; now that Brett Lee has retired, Afridi is the leading wicket taker among current ODI cricketers
• The last one-day international Australia played against Pakistan in the UAE was just over three years ago, yet only one member of that Australia side – Michael Clarke – will take the field in this game
• Should Australia lose the series 2-1 they won’t move on the ICC one-day rankings, but if they lose 3-0 they will drop from fourth to sixth, swapping places with Pakistan
  

  Quotes

  “Australia have had a retirement or two and an injury so I suppose we can have an edge to start with.”
  “Both teams are keen to get some consistency, I guess, back into the one-day game. I think Pakistan are a lot like Australia in the fact that they have a lot of talent – it’s just about performing consistently.”

Sri Lanka Cricket has slashed its budget for Australia’s tour scheduled for August-September this year, sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has said

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2011Sri Lanka Cricket has slashed its budget for Australia’s tour in August and September this year, sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has said. The cash cuts, he said, will not affect the quality of security provided for the teams, despite the board being instructed to trim the security bill from 50 million rupees ($ 445,000) to nine million rupees ($ 81,000).”We are taking austerity measures because we can’t even recover the monies we are spending,” Aluthgamage told . “There is no war now [Sri Lanka’s conflict with the LTTE ended in May 2009], and I think there are enough officers in the military and police that could assure us very good security, at a fraction of the [originally projected] cost.”Overall, the SLC had budgeted 300 million rupees ($ 2.67 million) for the tour that comprises three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s. The projected income, however, was a “dismal” 150 million rupees. The board will now look to keep expenses down to 100 million rupees, the minister said. “Lots of frills like distributing hundreds of free tickets and banquet meals for invitees will be cut.”The expenses incurred while co-hosting the 2011 World Cup have left SLC in debt. Pallekele, one of two new venues built for the World Cup, will host both the Twenty20 games against Australia, one ODI and one Test, while the other new stadium, Hambantota, will stage two ODIs. The cost of constructing these stadiums left SLC a debt of $23 million. The board pledged the newly built stadiums plus the income from upcoming tours as collateral to raise funds to pay for the World Cup.