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It’s fair to say that Bangladesh have not enjoyed the ideal build-up to the first Test at Lord’s

Andrew Miller at Lord's26-May-2010It’s fair to say that Bangladesh have not enjoyed the ideal build-up to the first Test at Lord’s. For all that they competed above expectations in their recent home series against England, the prospect of negotiating England’s lively early-season surfaces is one that, when they last toured the country in 2005, was cited by the then-captain Habibul Bashar as the toughest assignment of his 50-Test career.To have any real hope of putting up a fight, therefore, the Bangladeshis would surely, at the bare minimum, require their star players to be at the peak of their form and fitness. Alas, the two men most likely to provide the inspiration for an upset have spent large swathes of the tour to date on the sidelines. Tamim Iqbal has been labouring with a wrist injury that may yet require surgery, while the captain, Shakib Al Hasan, has only just emerged from quarantine after contracting chicken pox.Shakib’s style since assuming the captaincy in the Caribbean last year has been to lead from the front in every respect, both on and off the field. So the enforced isolation, with only the occasional visit from those team members who were sure that they had contracted the illness in the past and were therefore immune, was far from the best preparation for such a daunting contest.”I’ve been kept away almost for two weeks,” said Shakib. “It was very hard, staying a whole day in your room. It was weird, and a bit frustrating when you’re not going with your team-mates for dinner or a practice session. You’re missing everything. It was very hard. But I’ve been talking and going out with all the guys since, and we’re feeling much better.”After two days of practice, Shakib is certain that he’s now over the worse, and can instead concentrate on the build-up to one of the undoubted highlights of a cricketer’s career. Only three members of the Bangladesh squad have previously played a Test at Lord’s – Mohammad Ashraful, Shadahat Hossain and the wicketkeeper, Mushfiqur Rahim – and Shakib can’t wait to lead his team through the Long Room and onto the field on Thursday.”It’s exciting for most of the guys, because only a couple of the guys have played here before,” he said. “If we take 20 wickets and our batsmen do their job, we have a fair chance [of winning]. But we need to stick to our basics and be very disciplined. England know the conditions much better than us. But we’ve been here for 15 days, so we’ve got very good experience of the conditions.”Though Shakib habitually talks a good game, he’s fooling no-one as to the scale of the challenge that awaits Bangladesh. As was the case back in 2005, they are running the misfortune of encountering an England side on the up, and once again, there’s the prospect of an Ashes series on the horizon to galvanise their mindsets. It may still be some six months in the distance, but the ambitious selections of Steven Finn and Eoin Morgan are evidence that the planning for the Gabba starts right here.On their own wickets, Bangladesh were able to keep England’s ambitions in check with a spin-heavy bowling attack, but that’s not a viable option this time around, especially with the need to incorporate an extra batsman to guard against the sort of batting meltdown that has undermined all too many of their 57 Test defeats.”The practice wickets have turned a bit, so we hope it will in the middle too, but we’ll have to change our tactics,” said Shakib, who implied that there would be a Test debut for the seamer Robiul Islam, who impressed with 3 for 72 in the nine-wicket defeat against England Lions in Derby last week. “We have got some very good fast bowlers, and we have a newcomer, who will be perfect for the future of Bangladesh cricket.”The Lord’s Test will also mark the return to action of an old-stager, Ashraful, who missed England’s recent visit due to a loss of form, but is sure to slot into the middle-order at a venue that he remembers from his last Test tour back in 2005. “Being at Lord’s is a very different feeling,” he said. “We don’t have any tour to the UK until 2020, so we are not sure whether we will get another chance to play here. Everyone is excited.”Ashraful’s career has been undermined by uncertainty, with too much advice and expectation constraining the natural ability that he demonstrated both on debut as a 16-year-old in 2001, but also back in 2005, when his memorable century was responsible for the humbling of Australia in a never-to-be-forgotten one-day victory at Cardiff. Now, however, he says he intends to jettison the angst, and just get back to striking the ball with all the confidence he can muster.”An England tour is challenging for most teams that come here, and even Australia lost two Ashes Tests last summer,” he said. “But I just hope to play a big innings to cement my place, and to do that, I have gone back to my old style. I used to be a strokemaker but over the last few months I tried to check my strokes. But it did not bring any benefit, so I’ve decided to go back to my natural game.”

Mark Pettini has resigned as Essex captain with James Foster taking over the leadership in all formats

Cricinfo staff02-Jul-2010Mark Pettini has resigned as Essex captain with James Foster taking over the leadership in all formats of the game having moved into the position for the Friends Provident t20 last month.Pettini handed over control of the team to Foster for the Twenty20 having suffered a slump in form and took time away from the first-team. With Alastair Cook on England Lions duty he was recalled against Sussex and responded with an aggressive half-century and now he has decided the best route for both him and the club is for him to concentrate on being a batsman.”I felt it was time for me to step down as Essex captain,” he told the club website. “We suffered a poor start to the Friends Provident t20 campaign and I wanted to be able to focus on my own game. I got to the point that I was exhausted and I was under pressure with my batting.””The team performances were, at that stage, not going to plan and personally I was struggling with the bat. On Tuesday I returned to the side to face Sussex in the T20, hopefully I showed the difference to my game without the pressures of being captain. The role is obviously very stressful and creates a lot of hard work, both on and off the pitch. Now I can focus on scoring runs across all formats of the game which will hopefully help us to have another successful season, with a chance of winning some major honours”.”It was an extremely tough decision to make; I have really enjoyed the last three years and the success we have enjoyed as a team. I particularly enjoyed working closely with Paul Grayson, if the circumstances are different in the future then the captaincy is certainly something that I would be honoured to take up once again”.Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, said he’d been involved in discussions with Pettini for a number of weeks about his position and hoped the move would free him up to fulfil his potential.”Obviously it is a disappointment that it has come to this,” Grayson said. “Myself and Mark have discussed the situation over the past few weeks. We want him to come back into the ranks and for him to be the player that he was. Anyone who was here for the game on Tuesday night would have seen he was really refreshed and focused, he did not appear to have any concerns and that is the way we want him to play for Essex”.Meanwhile Foster, who led Essex against the touring Pakistan team on Friday, said his priority was now leading the county to a trophy this season.”I was asked whether I would like to accept the role as captain and I am delighted and thrilled to be considered for such a pivotal position in the club, there have been some illustrious names that have done well in the role in the past and to be listed amongst them is an honour and a privilege,” he said.”I have thoroughly enjoyed the role as captain in this season’s Twenty20 tournament. The focus now is continuing our form across all three competitions. We have every chance of maintaining our place in the County Championship and hopefully gaining some silverwear in the one day competitions

With both sides weak in their respective fast bowling departments, both Dhoni and Sangakkara have pledged to make the Test series more interesting and enterprising by aiming for results

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Colombo13-Jul-2010With both sides weak in their respective fast bowling departments, Indian captain MS Dhoni and Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara have pledged to make the Test series more interesting and enterprising by aiming for results. The three-Test series beginning in Galle on July 18 is expected to be a very high-scoring one due to the imbalance between the batting and bowling strengths for both sides.India, currently the No.1 team in Tests, have been hit by injuries to opening bowlers Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, both of whom have been ruled out of the series. Even their key spinner Harbhajan Singh is also struggling for fitness, battling with a bacterial viral infection which ruled him out of the ongoing three-day practice match against a Sri Lanka Board President’s XI.”Most of the teams playing today want a result in a five-day game. That intent is more than enough to make the game interesting. We are hoping we can get results in all the games,” said Dhoni. “It’s not about targeting just one bowler, we have to think about the whole bowling department of the opposition.”They’ve got experienced campaigners who are playing Test cricket for the past ten years or so. Our preparation level is quite good. When you are playing in the subcontinent and playing a side that has got a batting order that is really experienced and knows the conditions really well it always better to have fast bowlers who have played Test cricket under the circumstances and who have got plenty of experience under them and who know how to bowl in those conditions.”That experience always comes when you play more and more games. It’s a bit of concern that we are missing fast bowlers quite regularly in important series. The good thing is we have somehow been able to do well in all the series we have played. Hopefully we’ll have a bench strength of a minimum of five to six bowlers who are always available and who are at the top of their form.”Although Sri Lanka are not affected by injuries, their fast bowling line-up for the Galle Test doesn’t have much experience with Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga, who is making a comeback to Test cricket after two-and-a-half years, being the most experienced pair with 33 and 28 Test appearances respectively. Another seamer who has performed well in recent home Tests, Nuwan Kulasekara, has been dropped. From the Indian side, Ishant Sharma, with 23 Test caps is the most experienced.”As a team we are going to play as hard as we can on the field to make sure that we come out on top. India will be doing the same so if that is not going to make it an interesting tug of war I don’t what is,” said Sangakkara. “We are looking forward to an interesting Test match and a result at the end of five days or even before.”The Galle Test marks the end of world’s leading Test and one-day wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan’s illustrious career who will be retiring after the match.

Former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan took three wickets for Worcestershire on the third day of their County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road

27-Aug-2010
Scorecard
Former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan took three wickets for Worcestershire on the third day of their County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.Stephen Peters, Rob Newton and Northants captain Andrew Hall all made half-centuries for the home side, who batted through the day in posting 385 for 9 declared at the close, with the game surely destined to be drawn.Peters top-scored with 75, with Shakib taking 3 for 75 and Alan Richardson claiming overall figures of four for 83 with an anti-climactic final day seemingly on the way tomorrow. After two days ruined by rain, Northants resumed their first innings on 96 for three, with opener Peters on 38 and youngster Newton yet to score.Peters went on to complete a patient half-century off 123 balls as the home side made a confident start. 20-year-old Newton reached his 50 in a more explosive fashion, smashing it off 59 balls including one superb six pulled over mid-wicket off Richardson.He added six more to his tally before his aggression proved to be his undoing when he launched Gareth Andrew to Richardson at deep square leg to end a fourth-wicket stand of 80 with Peters. Peters made it to 75 before being pinned lbw by Shakib in the last over before lunch. Richardson, who took two wickets on the first day, then dismissed Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura (nine) when the seamer forced him to edge to Worcestershire wicketkeeper Ben Cox in the third over after the second new ball was taken.Hall then became the third batsman to make a half-century for the hosts when he clouted his 129th ball, delivered by Jack Shantry, behind square leg for four. He and James Middlebrook survived until tea, with the pair completing a 50 partnership in the first over of the evening session.Hall had reached 65 before he feathered a Shakib delivery to Cox in the following over before Middlebrook, who had made a competent 40, saw his leg stump taken out by the same bowler. However, the ninth-wicket pairing of Northants wicketkeeper David Murphy and Jack Brooks made the visitors attack toil after that in producing a 50 stand of their own.Richardson ended their entertaining partnership of 68 when he comprehensively bowled Brooks, who had blasted 34 off 46 balls. Murphy stayed put for the rest of the day and finished on 36 not out, with Lee Daggett unbeaten on six at the other end as the hosts declared.

Nathan Hauritz and India go back a long way. It was here almost six years ago that his Test career started … and nearly ended

Sidharth Monga28-Sep-2010Nathan Hauritz and India go back a long way. It was here almost six years ago that his Test career started … and nearly ended. It was the Mumbai Test played on the raging turner where he took the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, but in his own words, “after they had taken me down pretty easily”. Those runs helped India erase the deficit and win the incredible Test. Hauritz was sent back to first-class cricket where he spent the next four years. He never really thought he would be Australia’s lead spinner again, leave alone coming back as one to the land where it all began.Hauritz remembers the debut and the circumstances around it well. “Warney got hit on the thumb in the training on the day before,” he says. “It looked innocuous, not too bad. I didn’t find out until the morning that his thumb was actually cracked and broken. The first day was washed out. I didn’t bowl until late in the next day. And the match was over very quick.”Hauritz remembers not being mentally ready. The instant memory of that match, in fact, is Michael Clarke’s 6 for 9 on a pitch that should have suited Hauritz immensely. “Training-wise I was ready,” he says. “Mentally I was still developing. I was only 23 years old. I was put into that tour because there weren’t too many offspinners around. I had been bowling well in one-day cricket too.”The wickets of Tendulkar and Laxman came at a price. “Sachin hit me for the biggest six of my life,” Hauritz says. “Pup remembers he hit me into the sightscreen, and the dirt in the sightscreen looked like an ant – it was that far away.”Look it was a great thrill to get those guys in my first Test. It was a long time ago, but those memories will stay with me. I still can’t forget the feeling of being in the huddle after getting Sachin out.”The next four years were spent outside the team. “During that period, Shane Warne was playing, there were some other good spinners around, and I never really looked at myself in that way [leading the spin attack in the future],” Hauritz says. He doesn’t blame that debut Test for a slow start to his career. “I was very fortunate to play that Test. There weren’t too many spinners around. And I got the opportunity. And it was great to play. At the end of the day, my bowling wasn’t up to standard in first-class cricket in Australia, and I had to go back and become a better bowler. It took me four years to get to that stage where I could play at the next level.”As it would happen with the great Australian team of that era, the comeback, too, started through injury, this time to Jason Krejza’s ankle. “I was fortunate to have played a Test again, through injury and all that, but since then the bowling is improving all the time,” Hauritz says. “And when your bowling is improving, the confidence grows. To be the spinner going into this Test series, I would never have thought. It is a great achievement, but at the end of the day it doesn’t mean too much if you don’t do well.”The Hauritz on this tour is six years older, smarter, a better bowler. Still, he hasn’t got off to a desirable start. Piyush Chawla, a legspinner and a useful batsman in the lower order, danced down to him and lofted him with ease in the tour game against the Board President’s XI. Ajinkya Rahane, the Mumbai batsman, repeated the dose in the second innings.It’s not that Hauritz wasn’t prepared for an assault. “I don’t think you can have a better place to bowl spin,” Hauritz says. “You are bowling against the best players of spin in the world, but also on wickets that will help spin. It will be a really tough challenge, but it is something that I have always wanted to be part of. It is going to be fun, but it’s going to be really tough too.”Spinners better than Hauritz have come to India and have failed to have fun. Numerous others have had their careers destroyed here. Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, considered two of the best spinners of all time, averaged in the mid-40s here. Hauritz is not likely to even be compared to those bowlers. He has neither the mystery nor the amazing confidence. Neither the dark tricks nor a reputation that could create some doubt in the batsmen’s mind.Hauritz is a straight-talking, simple offspinner, who relies on working hard. There is even a hint of awe when he talks about the Indian batting line-up, a sense of hoping for the batsmen’s human errors. In this self-confessed greatest test of his, Hauritz will have done well if he has some fun over the next two weeks in Mohali and Bangalore. It’s going to be tough, as he says. Really tough.

Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has refused to apologise for suggestions he made that England fixed a match in the recent one-day series

Osman Samiuddin27-Sep-2010Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, has refused to apologise for suggestions he made that England fixed a match in the recent one-day series. Speaking on his arrival at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday, he said he thought the matter would be settled in days.Butt and the PCB’s legal advisor are expected to hold meetings with the lawyers of the three players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, is also headed to London, but ESPNcricinfo understands his is a pre-planned visit.Butt and Taffazul Rizvi are expected to be in the UK for four to five days on a trip that was finalised only last week. The meetings with Elizabeth Robertson, the Addleshaw Goddard lawyer representing Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir in the spot-fixing case, were confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by a PCB official.The board expects there to be some movement from the Crown Prosecution Service on the fate of the case against the trio within the next week or so. Scotland Yard passed on their file of evidence on claims that Pakistan cricketers were involved in spot-fixing to the CPS on September 17.It is not known whether there will be meetings between Butt and the ECB while the PCB chairman is in London. The English board have demanded a full, public apology from Butt for claiming England players took “enormous amounts” of money to lose the third one-day international at The Oval earlier this month.That claim came in the wake of another spot-fixing story, this time in , which had sparked an investigation by the ICC over scoring rates during the match at The Oval. Following Butt’s outburst England came close to withdrawing from the fourth game at Lord’s but late-night meetings between Andrew Strauss and the ECB ended with the decision to continue with the series.However, both Strauss and the board came out with strongly-worded statements and have said they will pursue legal action if Butt doesn’t apologise. “We would like to express our surprise, dismay and outrage at the comments made by Mr Butt,” Strauss said at the time. “We are deeply concerned and disappointed that our integrity as cricketers has been brought into question. We refute these allegations completely and will be working closely with the ECB to explore all legal options open to us.”

Shane Warne believes Ricky Ponting is the best man to captain Australia to an Ashes triumph this summer, despite his criticism of Ponting’s field placements last week

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2010Shane Warne believes Ricky Ponting is the best man to captain Australia to an Ashes triumph this summer, despite his criticism of Ponting’s field placements last week. Warne wrote on his own website that there was no rift between him and Ponting, and that “Never at any stage did I say or imply that Ricky’s time as captain is up”.However, the former fast bowler Geoff Lawson has raised the idea of taking the captaincy off Ponting so he can focus on his batting. The issue has occupied plenty of airtime on sports talkback radio stations over the past week, but Warne doesn’t agree with the many callers who think Ponting’s reign should end.”Ricky, to me, is the right man to lead Australia for the Ashes,” Warne wrote. “It’s a great opportunity for him to show his leadership and captaincy skills. He also looks in super touch with the bat; I am sure he’s going to fill his boots this summer.”This Ashes series is going to be the biggest of his and the Australian team’s career. I think Ricky is at his best when he shows his Tassie devil side which is, aggressive with a dash of flair.”Although Ponting was disappointed with Warne’s tweet about the fields set for Nathan Hauritz, the pair later made up by SMS. Warne said he found it “staggering, but not surprising” that his original tweet was reported as a falling-out between he and his former team-mate Ponting.”My tweet about Ricky’s fields for Nathan Hauritz for two overs has been portrayed as a rift between myself and the Australian captain and journos have tried to start a slanging match between us; what rubbish. Commentators on the match, cricket journalists and even the Indian captain, MS Dhoni, have agreed with my tweet. It was an observation, not an attack!”

A round-up of the first day of the first round of matches in the Super League of the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2010L Balaji’s 12th first-class four-wicket haul helped Tamil Nadu bowl Assam out for 184 on the opening day at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Assam began cautiously after TN chose to field on a pitch that had plenty of carry, and the openers had seen off 13.3 overs, adding 24 before debutant seamer Sunil Sam made the first breakthrough. Dheeraj Jadhav, Assam’s top-scorer last season, slashed and edged to the wicketkeeper. Sridharan Sriram, the left-hand batsman who hails from TN, could not make an impact against his old team-mates, and became Balaji’s first victim when he cut to gully. Parvez Aziz played offspinner R Ashwin with confidence and had moved to 36 with six boundaries. He also fought through a stream of bouncers before offering S Badrinath a catch off Balaji’s bowling. Badrinath had to dive low and to his left at second slip to take the chance. When star import Amol Muzumdar departed for a duck, nicking Balaji behind, TN sensed an opportunity to shoot Assam out for a low score. The spinners Aushik Srinivas and R Ashwin nipped three wickets between them, while a couple of run-outs added to Assam’s woes as they stumbled to a score under 200. TN’s openers Abhinav Mukund and Srikkanth Anirudha then batted with determination to take their side to 21 without loss by the close.Wasim Jaffer purred along to his 40th first-class century, while Rohit Sharma missed his ninth by seven runs as Mumbai launched their title defence by scoring 340 for 7 on the opening day at the Bandra Kurla Complex against Saurashtra. On a day that would have left both sides reasonably satisfied, there were several important individual performances that stood out. Dropping himself to No. 3 in the absence of the injured middle-order bulwark Ajinkya Rahane, Jaffer carried on his penchant for plundering domestic hundreds, after Jayesh Odedra’s double-strike. At the other end, with the selectors’ eye on his fitness and temperament, Rohit launched himself into the Saurashtra attack with typical elegance. His 93 came off 86 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes, leading Mumbai to 252 for 2 and in sight of a towering score. Then came the third most significant performance of the day, from another India hopeful. Ravindra Jadeja has had his place in the Indian questioned by all and sundry, and he responded with an incisive spell with the game threatening to run away. He dismissed Sharma, Abhishek Nayar and Ramesh Powar, leading Saurashtra’s resurgence in the evening session and left them with an opportunity to finish Mumbai’s innings early on the second day.For more on this match, click here.Opener Arindam Das’ seventh first-class century was the highlight of the opening day at the Feroz Shah Kotla as Bengal posted a dominant 313 for 2 against a Delhi attack that struggled for incisiveness. Ten months after the abandonment of an ODI due to an underprepared pitch, the Kotla track was at its benign best as Das settled down for a big innings, in Shreevats Goswami’s company. The pair raised 133 in 37.2 overs, giving the hosts a taste of what was to come before Goswami fell for 68, the first of Mithun Manhas’ two wickets. Abhishek Chowdhury was more cautious, but it did not affect Bengal’s speed of scoring as Das shifted gears upwards. Manoj Tiwary who came in at Chowdhury’s exit kept the momentum going with an unbeaten 47 off 80 balls. At the other end, Das, kicked on after reaching his ton and finished the day unbeaten on 150. His knock included 19 fours, and he looked good for more when stumps were drawn.For more on this match, click here.Yuvraj Singh managed a half-century but, like the rest of his top-order mates, was guilty of throwing away a start, as Uttar Pradesh held Punjab to 279 for 6 on the opening day at the Bhamashah Stadium in Meerut. Sarul Kanwar began in aggressive fashion after Punjab chose to bat, striking eight fours in his run-a-ball 42. However, after an opening stand worth 56, Praveen Kumar removed Kanwar and Ravi Inder Singh off successive overs, exposing Punjab’s middle order. Uday Kaul rebuilt in Yuvraj’s company, the pair raising 61 for the third wicket before a mini-collapse reduced Punjab to 143 for 5. Karan Goel rose to the occasion, and along with Vishwas Bhalla, lifted his side to respectability with a 72-run alliance. Piyush Chawla prised out Bhalla, but Harmeet Singh counterattacked with four fours and a six in his 29, taking Punjab to stumps along with Goel, who was unbeaten on 56.Gujarat‘s top order gave a good account of themselves without managing to dominate the Railways attack, leaving both sides on par at stumps on an attritional opening day at the Karnail Singh Stadium. Every Gujarat batsman got a start in a score of 234 for 4, but only one managed to reach fifty, while most bowlers gained respect without making enough entries in the wickets column. Jay Desai and Priyank Kirit Panchal ground out an opening stand of 58 in 28 overs before exiting on the same score. Niraj Patel and Parthiv Patel showed more urgency in a stand of 74, but both failed to kick on, as Gujarat found themselves unable to reap the rewards of solidity. That partnership, however, eased the pressure on the remaining batsmen. Bhavik Thaker, coming in at No. 5, did better than the top four, ensuring he crossed his half-century and remained unbeaten at stumps. His innings included two fours and a six off consecutive deliveries from Faiz Fazal. Debutant Pratharesh Parmar held up the other end with an undefeated 28 and the pair will want to push ahead on the second day. Parthiv praised his batsmen for their effort. “The wicket was green and two-paced,” he told the . “So, it was a challenge to play the first 30 overs and we did it.”Opening bowler Basanth Mohanty completed his sixth first-class five-wicket haul as Orissa bullied Baroda, reducing them to 99 for 9 on a curtailed day at the Barabati Stadium. After overnight rains delayed the start by half an hour, Orissa captain Shiv Sundar Das had no hesitation in bowling after winning the toss in damp, seamer-friendly conditions. Baroda’s batsmen, star players Yusuf Pathan and Ambati Rayudu included, had no answers against Basanth in an innings where only three batsmen managed to enter double-figures. Things could have been far worse for Baroda if not for Rakesh Solanki’s unbeaten 44. Debasis Mohanty, Alok Chandra Sahoo and Dhiraj Singh complemented Basanth’s efforts with a wicket apiece as Baroda derailed in shocking fashion.Himachal Pradesh‘s bowlers contained Haryana on the opening day, as the visitors crawled to 204 for 4 in Dharmasala. After choosing to field, the hosts started well, with seamer Jitendra Mehta removing Nitin Saini for five, but wickets were hard to come by after that. Rahul Dewan held vigil for 40 watchful overs, his 46 pushing the score to 88, before he perished against Ashok Thakur. Manav Sharma and Hemang Badani carried on in the same vein, their partnership of 74 spanning nearly 30 overs before Manav fell four short of his half-century. Badani brought up his 37th first-class fifty, and the first for Haryana, but more importantly, ensured he was unbeaten till the end.

Sri Lanka Cricket has informed the West Indies board that it is willing to postpone the five-match one-day series on account of the current spell of poor weather in Sri Lanka

Sa'adi Thawfeeq08-Dec-2010The boards of Sri Lanka and West Indies are in talks over postponing to January the five-match one-day series on account of the current spell of poor weather in Sri Lanka. The first two matches of the series were scheduled to be played on Thursday and Saturday at Hambantota, one of the new venues that will host 2011 World Cup games. But incessant rain has prevented the teams from holding any outdoor practice since arriving at the venue three days ago.A spokesman for Sri Lanka Cricket said both boards had tentatively agreed to call off the series and instead play a three-match series in late January. The Test series between the two sides was also hampered by rains and ended in a stalemate, leading Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara to term it as the worst series of his life.An official announcement is awaited, though West Indies opener Chris Gayle tweeted that the tour had been officially called off.

Every team will play the same number of league games – 14, seven home and seven away – as in previous seasons

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2011During the two-day long IPL auction in Bangalore, the BCCI announced the draw for the tournament’s 2011 season that begins on April 8. Every team will play the same number of league games (14, seven home and seven away) as in previous seasons with the following break-up: each team will play five other teams both home and away (10 matches), two teams only at home, and the remaining two teams only away. A random draw was used to decide who plays whom once and twice.