Geoff Lawson, the former Australia fast bowler, will be appointed head coach of the Kochi IPL team, ESPNcricinfo has learnt

Nagraj Gollapudi29-Dec-2010Geoff Lawson, the former Australia fast bowler, will be be appointed head coach of the Kochi IPL team, ESPNcricinfo has learnt. Lawson confirmed he would be in India soon to sign his contract, which is likely to be for two years, marking the team’s first high-level cricketing appointment.”I will be flying to India in the next few days to prepare for the player auction,” Lawson told ESPNcricinfo. Mehul Shah, one of the owners of the Kochi franchise, confirmed the development.Lawson had stated in October that a section of the Kochi owners had expressed strong interest in him for the coaching position. Unfortunately that deal could not be finalised as Kochi was suffering from a fractured ownership and appeared on the brink of being shunted out of the IPL. However, extensive parleys among the owners and various lifelines handed out by the BCCI led to a compromise formula being worked out to keep the $333.33 million franchise afloat.Lawson said he was excited to be finally getting another opportunity of “creating a team” once again. “All is in order with the Kochi owners and everyone is keen and excited to be finally getting on with the job of creating a team. I will physically sign the contract when I get there [India], but in essence the owners have honoured the handshake deal we had before the minority owner problem occurred,” he said.Lawson’s most high-profile coaching job was his 15-month stint in charge of the Pakistan team from July 2007. He helped them reach the final of the inaugural World Twenty20, but his partnership with inexperienced captain Shoaib Malik did not get to blossom as 2008 was a virtually barren year for Pakistan – Australia pulled out of a full tour, the Champions Trophy was postponed and Pakistan were left to play minnows like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

A round-up of the final round of league matches in the NZC one-day competition

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2011Auckland sealed second spot, two points less than table-toppers Canterbury, after a comprehensive 67-run victory over Wellington at Basin Reserve. The defeat not only ended Wellington’s chances of making the semi-final, it consigned them to the bottom of the table.Auckland’s mammoth total of 320 was set up by a century from opener Lou Vincent and quickfire contributions from captain Gareth Hopkins and Greg Todd. Vincent and Hopkins put on 109 for the third wicket at 7.34 runs to carry Auckland to 188 for 2 in just the 33rd over. Both batsmen scored freely as the Wellington bowlers struggled to keep the run-rate in check. Hopkins was dismissed for 54 off just 48 balls but Vincent continued to torment the bowlers, reaching his 100 off 107 balls. He added a further 53 with Todd before he was finally dismissed for 112. Todd made a rapid 48 to propel Auckland closer to 300 and Colin Munro and Roneel Hira hit some big shots lower down the order to carry Auckland to 320 for 9.It was never going to be an easy chase for Wellington who are currently at the bottom of the points table, having won just two of their previous seven games. Opener Stephen Murdoch, in the news for Jesse Ryder’s tweet about him, made a half-century and Grant Elliott made 46, but they failed to receive much support from the other Wellington batsmen. Hopkins used seven bowlers and all of them were among the wickets as Wellington were bowled out 253 in just under 47 overs.Canterbury confirmed their place at the top of the points table after they comfortably beat Otago by five wickets at Aorangi Oval in Timaru. Otago elected to bat and started solidly with openers Aaron Redmond and Michael Bracewell putting on 54 in just under 11 overs before Redmond was run out. Rob Nicol struck three times but Craig Cumming and Darren Broom added 91 runs and at 205 for 4, with little over five overs to go, Otago looked like they had the platform for a big total.However Broom was run out soon after he reached his half-century, and his dismissal in the 45th over triggered a collapse. Derek de Boorder was run out in the next over and Mitchell Claydon dismissed Craig Cumming, who top scored with 66, and Warren McSkimming, in the 47th over followed by Nick Beard and Neil Wagner in the 49th over. Otago slumped to 220 all out, failing to bat out their 50 overs.Canterbury started poorly losing openers Nicol and Michael Papps cheaply. A 54-run partnership between Dean Brownlie and Peter Fulton steadied the innings. Fulton then combined with Shanan Stewart to put on 66 runs to set Canterbury on track for victory. Fulton was dismissed for 77, but Stewart remained unbeaten on 65 as his unbroken 86-run stand with Andrew Ellis (55) carried Canterbury to an easy victory.Central Districts had already been knocked out of the tournament, but they at least had the satisfaction of signing off on a winning note, beating Northern Districts by five runs in a thriller in Whangarei.Peter Ingram clubbed 12 fours on his way to a quick 64 before Tim Weston made a less explosive but effective 99 – unbeaten one short of his maiden century when the innings ended – pushed CD to 246. They seemed to have the game in the bag when ND slid to 87 for 5, but it turned out to be a close game thanks to BJ Watling’s century and Peter McGlashan’s 69.The pair were at the crease when ND needed 16 from the final two overs, but a superb penultimate over from Michael Mason, who conceded only three, left them chasing 13 off the last six deliveries. Highly-rated youngster Adam Milne proved CD’s hero as he had McGlashan caught behind, and it boiled down to eight off two. Milne gave away only singles off them to clinch the victory. ND had the consolation of making the semi-finals after Wellington’s defeat to Auckland.

Pakistan were bowled out for 124 after electing to bat, and Jesse Ryder smashed a half-century to take New Zealand home with ease

The Bulletin by George Binoy22-Jan-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTim Southee took 5 for 33 to rip through Pakistan•AFP

Shahid Afridi won the toss and batted. Daniel Vettori wanted to do the same. Both captains expected the drop-in pitch at the Westpac Stadium to have runs in it. Instead, Pakistan’s batsmen faced a torrid examination of their techniques during an extravagant display of swing and seam bowling from Tim Southee. They were beaten innumerable times on both edges and five eventually succumbed to him. And the rest of the New Zealand attack, Hamish Bennett in particular, supported Southee by building pressure, giving away nothing. The outcome was a spectacular collapse that ended in the 38th over, leaving New Zealand with a modest target, which they overhauled with aggression.The same sequence of events, with different characters, played on loop. A bowler pitched on a good length, the ball angled in before seaming away, the batsman fished, and if he was lucky, he missed. Pakistan’s run-rate dipped below 3.50 after the second over and it did not reach that height again. Of the six boundaries that were hit in the first 30 overs, only two were the product of fluent strokes. Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, who secured victory in the Test series, struggled but appeared to be guiding Pakistan out of the mire. Then Bennett, a fast bowler built like an All Black, ripped through the resistance with a double-strike in two balls. Amid the uncertainty over the identity of Pakistan’s World Cup captain, Afridi failed while his deputy Misbah, defiant at one end, watched his team-mates come and go. Allan Donald, New Zealand’s brand new bowling coach, looked on with satisfaction.When New Zealand came out to chase, though, the Pakistan bowlers were unable to recreate the trouble their batsmen had suffered. Their lines and lengths were not bad initially, but the lateral movement was negligible, and Jesse Ryder, hurting after one duck too many in the Tests, went after them. He drove, hooked and slashed his way to a rapid half-century, and in the company of Martin Guptill, set up a nine-wicket victory with 32.4 overs to spare. The result continued the trend of New Zealand skittling teams cheaply at the Westpac Stadium, and chasing with relative ease.The afternoon had begun with Kamran Akmal threading a square drive through the narrow gap between two fielders in the point region – a false dawn. Southee’s first ball was a wide outswinger that Kamran chased and missed. He then strayed on to the pads twice but wasn’t punished by the openers. Southee was fine-tuning his line and length, and once he found it, he was swinging the ball into off and seaming it away. The one that cut back amid the outswingers only added to the confusion.Mohammad Hafeez had struggled for eight scoreless deliveries before he poked at one that seamed away, edging Southee to Brendon McCullum. Kamran, who had shown patience and adequate technique for 22 balls, eventually chased another seaming delivery and watched Ryder leap to his left at point to take a sharp catch. Asad Shafiq was unlucky to be given lbw because the one that nipped back into him, after he had been beaten by several outswingers, hit him high on the back thigh. Southee’s first spell was 6-0-16-3.Southee was not without support, though, for Franklin, Jacob Oram and Bennett were tight. There was pressure at both ends and wickets from one. Younis and Misbah nudged around for singles, unable to do much else. Younis, beaten several times, smiled in the knowledge that today, unlike most other ODI days, would not be a batsman’s day. And then he was late in pushing off the back foot against a quick one from Bennett and edged behind. Umar Akmal came and went in a jiffy, edging a rising delivery to first slip. Pakistan were 57 for 5.They could have been worse off but Afridi’s attempt to attack Vettori, a mis-timed loft to long-on, was dropped by Oram. Afridi was on 3. They were worse off soon, though, when Southee returned for his second spell and got Afridi to edge to McCullum, who leapt acrobatically across first slip to take his 200th catch. In the 30th over Abdul Razzaq, the last of the recognised batsmen, square drove Oram for four. It was only the second shot of authority of the innings. A ball later he hung his bat out to edge behind. Abdur Rehman did likewise next ball.Misbah, rapidly running out of partners, took the batting Powerplay in the 35th over and carted Oram over the midwicket boundary for the innings’ only six. He attacked Southee too, lofting over cover and driving down the ground, desperate to add whatever he could to Pakistan’s meagre total. He got to a well-earned half-century, but then walked too far across his stumps to play to leg and was bowled. Fittingly, Southee was the bowler and the final wicket was his fifth.Any hopes of Pakistan’s bowlers triggering a collapse ended in the fifth over of the chase. Ryder took on Shoaib Akhtar, lofting over the off side for four, hooking for six and powering past mid-off in an over that cost 17. In the next over, Ryder carted Sohail Tanvir over mid-off and then swung a full ball over the square-leg boundary. New Zealand had raced to 50 after six overs, when the tea break was taken. Ryder fell after the resumption but New Zealand, steered by Guptill, stormed to an emphatic victory that ended a streak of 11 consecutive defeats.

Pakistan made the most of Elton Chigumbura’s generous offer to bat first to secure a seven-wicket victory in a rain-reduced fixture at Pallekele

The Bulletin by Sahil Dutta14-Mar-2011Pakistan 164 for 3 (Shafiq 78*, Hafeez 49, Price 2-21) beat Zimbabwe 151 for 7 (39.4 ov) (Ervine 52, Chigumbura 32*, Gul 3-36) by seven wickets (D/L method)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsUmar Gul was Man of the Match for his three wickets•Associated Press

Pakistan made the most of Elton Chigumbura’s generous offer to bat first to secure a seven-wicket victory in a rain-reduced fixture at Pallekele and rubber-stamp their quarter-final place. The dank skies delivered two huge downpours that meant Duckworth-Lewis made its first appearance of the tournament in another one-sided Group A fixture.With the damp pitch and heavy cloud cover Pallekele resembled an early-spring Headingley and Pakistan’s bowlers thrived in the helpful conditions. They entered the game on the back of a 110-run hammering on the same ground by New Zealand, but rediscovered their focus to reduce Zimbabwe to 157 for 7 when a second rain delay brought a premature end to the innings. Asad Shafiq then helped himself to an unbeaten 78 in his first World Cup match to steer Pakistan to an easy victory.Shoaib Akhtar was dropped after his shambolic showing in the previous match and, having struggled for new-ball scalps through the tournament, the opening pair of Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq made three inroads in the first six overs which set the tone for the remainder of the day.Razzaq, who was flogged for 49 in four overs against New Zealand, landed the key blow in the first over when he had Brendan Taylor caught behind for 5. Taylor would be forgiven for thinking himself unlucky because it was Pakistan’s calamitous wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal who held chance. Kamran had put down an almost identical one off Ross Taylor last Tuesday but here, to the palpable relief of all his team-mates, he made no mistake.If that was impressive enough, Misbah-ul-Haq’s catch at slip to remove Vusi Sibanda, demonstrated a rare sharpness in the field as he moved swiftly to his right to pluck the sharp chance out the air. With the ball darting around and Gul generating good pace it looked as though Zimbabwe would subside swiftly, but Craig Ervine resisted with a gutsy half-century, finding support from Greg Lamb and later Chigumbura, who made his second-highest score in 19 matches as captain with an unbeaten 32.Ervine was the most assured of the Zimbabwe players but was gifted a life on 13 when Misbah undid his earlier good work by fluffing a simple chance off Razzaq. The dark clouds had threatened all afternoon and finally let rip in the 28th over with a tropical downpour. On most grounds it would have been enough to end proceedings for the day, but a collection of huge covers and an army of groundstaff combined to get the entire outfield protected and play resumed after 90 minutes.The delay freshened up an already sprightly surface and Ervine fell five balls after completing his fifty. It left Chigumbura to try and atone for his earlier decision to bat and he was looking in good order when rain returned to close the innings prematurely, setting a modest target of 162 from 38 overs.Pakistan laboured somewhat early on in a straightforward chase before Shafiq took control. Ahmed Shehzad’s miserable tournament continued when he ran past a flighted Ray Price delivery to fall for 8. He now has a highest score of 13 from five knocks this World Cup which, after starring in Pakistan’s 3-2 series victory in New Zealand that preceded the tournament, is a major disappointment.Instead it was his Mohammad Hafeez who steadied the early innings with 49. After Hafeez fell, Shahid Afridi promoted himself up the order but his search for batting form continued as he landed a couple of sweeps before missing a cut to give an ecstatic Price his second wicketShafiq, in the side head of Umar Akmal, began very quietly and had 5 from 26 deliveries before finding the boundary for the first time. He added 41 from his next 49 balls to bring up a composed half-century and ensure no alarms.After Afridi’s predictable blow-out Younis Khan partnered Shafiq to guide Pakistan over the line and into the quarter-finals with a 54-run stand. It means Group A’s qualifiers are settled and the ICC can only be thankful Group B has been exciting enough to keep the elongated opening phase interesting.

Match Timeline

Tamim Iqbal says that his achievement of being named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year is all the more special for the fact that he is the first Bangladeshi to secure the honour

Andrew Miller12-Apr-2011Tamim Iqbal has said being named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year is all the more special for the fact that he is the first Bangladeshi to secure the honour. However, he added, nothing he’s experienced to date compares to the thrill of competing on home soil in the recent World Cup.Tamim, who produced a pair of captivating centuries at Lord’s and Old Trafford during Bangladesh’s tour of England in May and June last year, was one of four players selected for the 2011 Almanack, alongside Eoin Morgan, Jonathan Trott and Chris Read.”It really means a lot to me,” Tamim told ESPNcricinfo’s Switch Hit podcast. “It was always a dream to receive an international award, and an award like Wisden is special so I couldn’t ask for more. But the best thing is that Tamim Iqbal the individual doesn’t matter, Tamim Iqbal from Bangladesh is the biggest thing. For someone from Bangladesh to be in Wisden, that’s the biggest thing that can happen.”Tamim showed the ferocity of his talents during England’s tour of Bangladesh in February and March 2010, when he followed a brilliant ton in the opening ODI in Mirpur with a succession of hard-hitting half-centuries in the subsequent Test series, including an innings of 85 from 71 balls in Dhaka that, until he played one stroke too many against James Tredwell, looked set to result in a century before lunch on the first morning of the match.However, his exploits in the return series two months later were even more remarkable. In his first Test in English conditions, he flogged an attack including James Anderson and Graeme Swann for 55 from 62 balls in the first innings, and then followed that with a blistering knock of 103 from 100 to become the first Bangladeshi to have his name up on the Lord’s honours boards. The following week in Manchester he repeated the dose with a 114-ball 108 in the first innings, to take his Test record against England to five fifties in six innings.”Before coming to England, I had no experience of playing in England,” said Tamim. “Playing England in England is a very difficult opponent, everyone knows that, but I was working very hard on it, and when I came to Lord’s for the first time, it was just a dream come true. My father used to tell me about Lord’s when I was really young, so to score a hundred there, I couldn’t ask for more. I was the happiest man in the world, happier than Bill Gates!”Since then, however, Tamim and his team-mates have been on a remarkable journey through the 2011 World Cup – a campaign that encompassed memorable victories over England and Ireland, and a pair of depressing defeats at the hands of West Indies and South Africa, in which they were bowled out for scores of 58 and 78. Their failure to qualify for the quarter-finals sealed the fate of the coach, Jamie Siddons, whose contract has not been renewed by the BCB, but overall Tamim insisted that the team’s memories of the campaign were positive.”I am a Muslim, and in Muslim countries, Eid is the biggest festival you can get,” he said. “But I think the World Cup was bigger than Eid. For guys who didn’t see it up close, it was just unbelievable. It was as if the whole country was on vacation at one time.”Before we started the tournament our aim was to win three matches, one against one of the major teams and the two Associates [Ireland and Netherlands],” added Tamim. “So to be very honest, we achieved both of those aims. But the trouble was the 78 and 58 against West Indies and South Africa. If we could have played a bit better, it would have been a perfect World Cup. Luck wasn’t in our favour either, with West Indies losing to England when they were in total control of the game [in Chennai]. But all in all, except those two games, the World Cup was pretty good, I think.”The unquestionable highlight, however, was the thrilling two-wicket victory over England in Chittagong, in which Tamim’s turbo-charged 38 from 26 balls gave his side a flying start in pursuit of 226, before Shafiul Islam and Mahmudullah hauled them over the line with an over to spare.”That was a very important game,” said Tamim. “We were bowled out for 58 [in the previous game], and we got a lot of shit from a lot of people. We wanted to prove ourselves with a win against England and we managed to do so. We bowled, fielded and batted pretty well, and after that a lot of guys had to shut their mouths, you know?”The reaction to that West Indies defeat was one of the undoubted low points of Bangladesh’s World Cup experience, after a section of the fans outside the Sher-e-Bangla stadium threw rocks at the West Indies bus as it pulled out of the car park. Tamim, however, recognised that such inflamed passions were unavoidable at times, given the weight of expectation attached to the team.”The public are very different from England,” he said. “These things are expected in Asia, because in Bangladesh you need to win everything you are playing. We don’t mind because they still come to watch all our games and support us tremendously. We have no regrets and we are very happy they are still supporting us, and I’m sure they will support us throughout our careers.”There have been more setbacks since Bangladesh’s World Cup elimination. They are currently 2-0 down in their three-match series against Australia, having been mauled in the second game by an extraordinary performance from Shane Watson, who rampaged to 185 not out from 96 balls, with 15 fours and 15 sixes. He was on course to become the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to post an ODI double-century when he ran out of runs to chase in the 26th over.When asked what it was like to field against a batsman in such a mood, Tamim was utterly candid. “To be honest, I was not fielding the ball, the crowd was doing the job,” he said. “That type of innings comes once in a lifetime, you can’t play them every time you want. When someone is playing in that manner, there is nothing you can do, whether it’s against Bangladesh or England.”All Tamim could do was sit back and take notes. “There are lessons to be learnt about how cleanly he hit the ball,” he said. “With a very good technique, you don’t need to hit with hardness, but keep your balance and hit big sixes. It was a thing we learnt and it was a great experience – not an enjoyable one because it was against Bangladesh – but in the end it was a fantastic innings, I need to tell you that.”With the World Cup out of the way, and one last game against Australia to come, the end of a long season is nigh for Tamim. But he is already itching for the next campaign. “Every new tournament we play, it’s almost like a festival,” he said. “The people in Bangladesh are crazy about cricket. If we can do something special in our last game, that will be the perfect finish. After that, we have a few months’ break, then we regroup for our tour of Zimbabwe. Sometimes you need some vacation to get your mind right, and hopefully we’ll come back and do something special.”

Michael Yardy made a successful return to competitive cricket as he led Sussex Sharks to a five-wicket victory over Holland in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at Hove

02-May-2011
ScorecardMichael Yardy made a successful return to competitive cricket as he led Sussex Sharks to a five-wicket victory over Holland in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at Hove.Five weeks since he returned home early from England’s World Cup campaign to be treated for depression, the 30-year-old took 1 for 36 with his left-arm spin and then made 39 as the Sharks overhauled their target of 226 with 19 balls to spare thanks to an unbeaten 109 from Murray Goodwin.In his first competitive game since he helped England beat South Africa in Chennai nearly two months ago, Yardy brought himself on in the 10th over and immediately put the brakes on a fast start by the Dutch openers Eric Szwarczynski and Wesley Baresi, who had put on 64 before Baresi was caught down the leg side off Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.In his first six-over spell Yardy conceded just 23 runs and picked up the wicket of Tom Cooper who was caught behind trying to turn a ball down the leg side. When he returned to the attack Szwarczynski swatted him over long off for six on his way his maiden one-day hundred.Szwarczynski, 28, played some stylish shots off the front foot and reached his hundred when he dug out a yorker from Naved and deflected it fine for one of 13 boundaries. He departed in unfortunate circumstances when he was run out backing up too far when Yardy, in his final over, deflected Mudassar Bukhari’s straight drive onto the stumps. Szwarczynski faced 117 balls for his 111.None of his team-mates made more than Baresi’s 21 as Holland lost their way after reaching 105 for 1 in the 18th over. Chris Nash picked up 3 for 30 with his off breaks but Amjad Khan had to leave the field halfway through his fourth over suffering from a calf problem.Sussex’s reply began poorly when Ed Joyce, who made 28 for Ireland when they beat Holland in the World Cup, drove loosely to extra cover. Nash mis-timed a pull off the splice to mid-off and Bukhari had picked up his third wicket when Naved was bowled slogging across the line.That left the Sharks on 47 for 3 in the eighth over but Yardy and Goodwin took control on a flat pitch against an attack which offered little menace once Mudassar had been seen off. They added 80 in 15 overs before Yardy played on to Berend Westdijk, having struck four boundaries.Goodwin played superbly and cruised to the eighth one-day hundred of his career which he reached with his 15th boundary. The 38-year-old finished unbeaten on 109 from 88 balls, sealing Sussex’s first victory in this season’s competition with a straight six off Shane Mott.

The Surrey and Essex faithful came to Croydon to watch England star
Kevin Pietersen bat, but left for home marvelling over Graham Napier’s
astonishing display of pyrotechnics

Mark Pennell at Whitgift School19-May-2011ScorecardThe Surrey and Essex faithful came to Croydon to watch England star
Kevin Pietersen bat, but left for home marvelling over Graham Napier’s
astonishing display of pyrotechnics.Free from the spinal stress fracture injury that has dogged him for
over a year Napier, in his first County Championship game for 11
months, clubbed a world record-equalling 16 sixes in a career-best 196
for his part in mammoth Essex first innings of 548 all out.Having resumed on his overnight score of 25, the 31-year-old right-
hander took three overs or so to play himself in before launching a
savage assault on Surrey’s listless attack.Balls were disappearing over the ropes, out of the ground and
disappearing down the adjacent A235 Brighton Road with more frequency
than London buses heading into town. He twice took three sixes in an
over against Gareth Batty, and in between times achieved the same
feat against Stuart Meaker.Though Tim Phillips and David Masters fell at the other end, Napier
charged on untroubled adding over a hundred runs to his overnight tally
before lunch, the first batsman to do so against Surrey since Allan
Lamb for Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in 1989.In all, the visitors scored 172 in the session, but their fun did not
stop there as Chris Wright held up one end for 90 minutes in
contributing 34 to a ninth-wicket stand that added 190 in 22.2 overs.There were no nervous 90s for Napier. On 88 he drove Tim Linley to the
ropes through cover then, playing right back in his crease, launched
back foot forces over extra cover and long-off to move to an imperious
century from 102 balls with 15 fours and five sixes. It was his fourth
first-class century and his first since July 2007.He might have gone for 118 when miscuing high to long on against Batty,
but Chris Tremlett’s effort appeared half-hearted and the England
paceman only succeeding in spilling the chance for four.As if to celebrate the milestone and the let off Napier shifted gear
after lunch and moved into overdrive. Despite losing Wright to a run
out by Mark Ramprakash, Napier switched to Twenty20 mode and his charge
proved nigh on relentless.He hit another four sixes and four fours to post his third 50 in just
15 deliveries. Tired of replacing lost balls, umpire Richard
Kettleborough took to taking two at a time from the box of spares once
Napier truly got his eye in.It was Batty who suffered most; his 15, wicketless overs cost 112
runs at an economy rate of 7.40 as he conceded seven of Napier’s 16
sixes. A tally that took Napier level with the first-class world record for
sixes in an innings set by Andrew Symonds, when playing as an
‘Englishman’ for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan at Abergavenny in
1995.Having scored his last 103 runs from only 29 balls, Napier found
himself four shy of a maiden double hundred which he clearly wanted to
reach in a manner befitting of the innings. Aiming for the player’s
pavilion against Meaker he top-edged and wicketkeeper Steven
Davies ran around toward gully to catch a skier and end the Essex
innings.To his credit, home skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown ran over to shake
Napier’s hand as the all-rounder walked off to a standing ovation.Requiring 399 merely to avoid the follow-on, Surrey made good progress
through Hamilton-Brown and Tom Maynard, who was making his maiden
appearance as an opener for Surrey.The former Millfield School chums, who boast a combined age of 45,
added a trouble free 136 either side of tea for Surrey’s first century
opening stand since August 2009Hamilton-Brown coasted to his fifth championship hundred from 123 balls
with his 20th sumptuous four, but Maynard nicked a good one from
Masters to go for 43 and Mark Ramprakash went for a 12-ball duck,
bringing in Pietersen with 25 overs remaining.He should have gone with 18 against his name to the same bowler when
Mark Pettini downed a comfortable overhead opportunity at mid-on, but
when on to a 48-ball 50 before playing across one from Matt Walker to fall lbw for 58 shortly before stumps.

Spinner Dean Cosker claimed four wickets and opener Gareth Rees struck his third-consecutive half-century as Glamorgan beat Gloucestershire by four wickets

15-May-2011
ScorecardSpinner Dean Cosker claimed four wickets and opener Gareth Rees struck his third-consecutive half-century as Glamorgan Dragons beat Gloucestershire Gladiators by four wickets in their Clydesdale Bank 40 Group C clash at the Swalec Stadium.Glamorgan restricted the Gladiators to 154 for 8 in their 40 overs on a slow wicket and the home side knocked off the runs required with 10 balls to spare to record their second win in the competition.Rees was the mainstay of the innings, striking his 50 from 84 balls with just three fours. He lost partners at regular intervals including skipper Alviro Petersen, who had his off stump pegged back by David Payne, and Jim Allenby, who was adjudged leg before reverse sweeping off spinner Jack Taylor.Glamorgan then lost Stewart Walters (4) and Ben Wright (9) as they were both caught at midwicket. But an attacking innings from Graham Wagg, who scored 22 from 23 balls, helped Glamorgan towards their target before being the victim of a brilliant catch by Kevin O’Brien. Rees, meanwhile, ended unbeaten on 59 from 100 balls.Despite winning the toss and opting to bat the Gladiators found themselves on the back foot as they were reduced to 20 for two earlier in the day.They got off to a poor start when opener Ian Cockbain was run out from the final ball of the first over at the bowler’s end by a brilliant throw from Rees with the total still on nought.Rees was in the action again when he caught Ed Young, who miscued an attempted drive off James Harris to mid-on, and Will Owen then trapped Alex Gidman leg before with a well-disguised slower ball.From 44 for 3 the Gladiators slipped to 63 for 4 when Cosker claimed his first victim in the 20th over by bowling Kane Williamson. Much then depended on new signing O’Brien, who scored the fastest-ever World Cup century against England in March, but the Irishman lasted only four balls before he too was bowled by Cosker.Cosker’s purple patch continued when Chris Taylor holed out to Walters to leave the Gladiators on 84 for 6.Gloucestershire were finding runs hard to come by and they only reached the 100-mark at the end of the 33rd over, and the first boundary for 26 overs came when Jon Batty swept Cosker for four.But the spinner had his revenge in his next over by trapping Batty lbw leg to finish with four for 30 from his eight overs. Harris then got rid of Richard Dawson late on in the Gloucestershire innings and their total never looked like being enough.

In a low-scoring match at the Harare Sports Club, Australia A trounced South Africa A by 60 runs, topping the table with 10 points after their second victory in two games

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-2011
ScorecardIn a low-scoring match at the Harare Sports Club, Australia A trounced South Africa A by 60 runs, topping the table with 10 points after their second victory in two games.Choosing to bat, Australia got off to a promising start with openers Aaron Finch and David Warner putting on 52. Their stand was followed by solid performances from the middle order, before John Hastings’ 28 off 20 balls in a 45-run eighth-wicket partnership finished things with a flourish. Rory Kleinveldt was the most economical of the wicket-taking bowlers, giving away just 32 runs in 10 overs for his two wickets.Despite a modest target of 215, South Africa never quite settled into a rhythm, losing wickets at regular intervals. Kleinveldt, who came in at No. 9, combined with Ethy Mbhalati for the highest partnership of the innings – 48 for the 10th wicket – but it proved to be too little too late. Hastings removed Kleinveldt in the 34th over – one of his four scalps in a miserly nine-over spell – to end South Africa’s innings on 154.South Africa take on Zimbabwe XI on July 2 at the same venue.

The Enforcement Directorate of India’s finance ministry has issued a showcause notice to the BCCI and Lalit Modi as part of its investigation of alleged financial irregularities in the Twenty20 tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jul-2011The Enforcement Directorate (ED) of India’s finance ministry has issued a showcause notice to the BCCI and Lalit Modi, the suspended IPL commissioner, as part of its investigation of alleged financial irregularities in the Twenty20 tournament. The case in question involves the alleged illegal transfer of Rs 90 crore ($20 million) to the UK.This is the first showcause notice by the agency in the case after it began investigations in 2010 of various contraventions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). On Thursday, news emerged that Ravi Shastri had been served a summons by the ED in his capacity as a member of the IPL’s Governing Council.The BCCI’s chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, said it was a routine enquiry by the ED. “These kinds of notices keep coming and we furnish all details,” he was quoted by as saying. “Agencies like the ED and the I-T department have been asking questions and we answer everything. This has been happening for over a year now.” reported that the ED had asked both BCCI and Modi to reply to questions the agency found unanswered during its probe into the alleged transfer of funds to domestic and offshore locations. The notice, it said, could be replied to either in person or by an authorised representative of the BCCI and Modi along with documentary proof.