All posts by csb10.top

Sri Lanka’s sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekera has said that elections for Sri Lanka Cricket will be held in January 2016. SLC has been administered by a nine-member interim committee, headed by former cricketer Sidath Wettimuny, since April 1.Speaking at an event at the Pallekele stadium, Jayasekera said: “Elections will be held in January next year, and those eligible could contest and get elected. Those elected to power to this prestigious body will have the challenge of generating their own finances to fund the ongoing projects for the future undertaken by the present interim administration.”This is not the first time January elections have been mentioned. Three months ago, the Sri Lanka board itself had stated its commitment to holding elections before the end of January.The interim committee was established because the posts held by the then existing office-bearers, led by president Jayantha Dharmadasa, had become null and void – the laws governing all sports bodies in the country require annual elections to be held on or before March 31 but SLC’s elections were postponed until the end of April due to the 2015 World Cup, which ended on March 29. The interim committee’s time in power was not specified, but it was expected to last not more than six months.In April, the ICC announced that the appointment of an interim committee at SLC was a breach of the ICC’s constitution. As such, it had placed certain sanctions on SLC, including holding payments due to the board in escrow, and suspending SLC’s voting rights at ICC meetings. The ICC had also urged SLC to hold elections by October, but this is understood to have been a soft deadline.

Free State moved to the top of Pool A with a comprehensive innings and 52 run victory over the North West Dragons inside three days at Goodyear Park on Sunday.The 18 points from the victory leap-frogged Free State from third placeabove leaders Northern Titans although the latter can reclaim their placeshould they overcome Boland in their current match.For the second time in the match Victor Mpitsang was the chief destroyer.The quickie followed up his first innings figures of four for 33 with fivefor 24 to take nine wickets in a SuperSport Series match for the second timein a fortnight.His wickets came in only 12.4 overs and in all the Dragons capitulated injust 36.5 overs. Altogether it took the Eagles just 79 overs to bowl themout twice.The four points taken by the Dragons moved them eight clear of GriqualandWest in the race for the fourth Super Eight berth from Pool A.Both teams have one match to play. The Dragons are at home to pace-settersNortherns while Griquas meet Boland in Kimberley.The Dragons will have to get off to a better start to their innings thanthey did in this match however.Having been reduced to 10 for three in the first innings they foundthemselves effectively reduced to 34 for four in the second.Victor Mpitsang sent back opener Andrew Lawson and number three MorneStrydom for ducks and with Hendrik de Vos having to retire hurt after beingstruck the Dragons faced an uphill struggle just to make Free State batagain.Mark Lavine (28), Glen Hewitt (26) and Craig Light (22) all got starts butnone could hang around long enough to worry Free State and the onlypartnership of any note was for 35 for the fifth wicket between Light andLavine.Mpitsang – who took nine for 107 against the Titans a fortnight ago – wasnamed man of the match for his nine for 67.

Ricardo Powell the young West Indian batsman is turning out for Hampshire 2nd XI this week, in the Championship match v Essex at the Hampshire Rose Bowl (Nursery Ground) this week. The match is a four day contest, starting Tuesday 6th June.Powell who is playing League cricket in the North is short of match practise, and under Michael Holding’s recommendation turns out for the County.Tim Tremlett, Hampshire’s Director of Cricket is happy to give him the opportunity. “With a few of our Academy players taking exams at this time of the year, and the University members of the staff still unavailable, our resourses were stretched.”Details of this match and all 2nd XI cricket played throughout the season can be seen on the Hampshire Web Site.

New Zealand Cricket will honour its commitment to tour Pakistan, when the time is right.In the event of New Zealand not being able to complete a re-organised tour over the next six weeks, another tour will be organised as soon as it can be reasonably scheduled in the calendar.New Zealand has an obligation to fulfil its requirements under the International Cricket Council’s 10-year Test plan and world championship.However, it is understood no penalties exist in the rules of the championship at the moment for failing to compete.NZC chief executive Martin Snedden said today that he had told Pakistan of New Zealand’s commitment to honour the tour.”The health of the 10-year plan is based on reciprocal tours and we fully acknowledge our obligation to tour Pakistan within the foreseeable future,” he told CricInfo today.Pakistan interests have targeted the period between May and September next year as the most likely time for the tour to be re-scheduled.However, New Zealand has a tour to the West Indies in the last week of May and all of June.Its next commitment is the ICC KnockOut tournament to be played in Pakistan in the last two weeks of September. After that it hosts India from the last week of November through to January, its only home tour that year, with the World Cup being held in February-March 2003.While the period from July to mid-September 2002 was a window of opportunity, New Zealand also had to consider its need to rest players, a lesson learned after the horrific injury toll the side suffered last summer.Snedden said New Zealand would continue to work with Pakistan to resolve the matter.

Zimbabwe’s morale received a welcome boost just five days before the second Test match when they beat Yorkshire in this Vodaphone Challenge match.Heavy rain just before the scheduled start meant that play was delayed for 10 minutes, but Zimbabwe soon had their first success. With Yorkshire needing 180 to win opening bowler Mbangwa stuck in the second over with his second ball. He had Yorkshire skipper David Byas caught at forward short leg by Murray Goodwin.In his next over he removed Richard Harden for one. Harden hit a leading edge straight to Nkala at mid on. With the first ball of Brian Strang’s third over Victor Craven was caught by Grant Flower in the gully. There was more bad news for Yorkshire when Wood became the fourth man out. He was caught by Brent at mid off. Yorkshire were now 13 for four and Mbangwa had taken three wickets for just three runs.Michael Lumb who was making his first class debut for Yorkshire joined Garry Fellows. Michael who is the 21-year-old son of former Yorkshire vice Captain Richard Lumb cannot play county cricket for Yorkshire until next season because he was born in South Africa. The pair looked comfortable and took the score to 54 before Fellows was out. He pushed forward to Strang and was caught behind by Any Flower.Gavin Hamilton was nearly out before lunch but the ball dropped short of second slip when he was only three. Hamilton and Lumb were realistically Yorkshire`s last chance of winning the match. Lumb played some wonderful square drives and looked the mirror image of his father, because Michael is a left hander and his dad was a right hander. The pair added 40 when Hamilton was caught behind by Flower of Nkala’s first ball of his second spell.Middlebrook looked uneasy troughout his innings of 7 before he was caught by Grant Flower at point off Nkala. Guy hung in with Lumb and took the score to 128 before he was caught by Andy Flower off Strang. Next ball Hutchison was caught by Carlise at second slip after the ball had rebounded of Goodwin at third slip.Last man Hoggard tried to slog Yorkshire to victory and scored ten in no time. His attitude was followed by Lumb who also started to hit out. Hoggard was the last wicket to fall when he was LBW to Nakala. Lumb remained unbeaten on 66. When Lumb brought up his fifty he had scored 44 in boundaries.Brian finished with four for 41 and Nkala took two wickets for 24 runs. Mbangwa who was named man the match took four wickets for 39 runs but ended up with career best figures of 10 for 53.

For over twelve years now Curtly Ambrose has been putting the fear of God upbatsmen all over the world. But that will not happen for much longer as thissupreme fast bowler insists on bowing out of international cricket at the endof this series. It is of no surprise that this exceptional man does so havingtoday joined that exclusive, elite group of just four who have reached fourhundred Test wickets.Such illustrous cricketers as Sir Richard Hadlee, Wasim Akram and Kapil Devare in that group but leading it with 475 wickets is Courtney Walsh, the manwho has formed a most formidable bowling partnership with Ambrose. Betweenthem they have accumulated a staggering 875 Test wickets as they went aboutdemolishing the strongest batting line-ups over the years.Today they shared the five wickets that England lost for 105 by stumps andonce again, as is usually the case, the runs came more easily when these twostalwarts were replaced. For England, Graham Thorpe’s innings of 46 was theonly one of any note, but with 67 runs behind and five wickets remaining inthe first innings the match is evenly poised after the first day.The Headingley pitch lived up to its reputation of assisting pace bowlers butin the absence of low clouds – indeed, the first morning of the fourth Testwas greeted by a lovely blue sky which remained so for the rest of the day -Jimmy Adams decided to make first use of a wicket which had little grass. Hecertainly would not have wanted to bat last on the Headingley wicket whichdeteriorates rather than get any easier for batting.Although he lost Sherwin Campbell in only the third over, Adams wouldn’t havebeen unduly concerned until the score had reached 50 for 1 when things beganto happen for England.Craig White, who finished with his Test best figures of 5 for 57 and looksnow to be such an improved bowler, began an alarming West Indies collapse. Heswung the ball most effectively into the left handers and that movement wasthe basis of his first three dismissals.He brought one in sharply into Wavell Hinds who got a thin edge to it to becaught behind and struck again quickly in his next over when he trapped themaster batsman Brian Lara leg before. He drew him forward and moved the ballacross towards leg stump.After Darren Gough had removed Adrian Griffith, White again produced thein-swinger to Jimmy Adams who played on, via the inside edge. It reduced WestIndies to 5 for 60 before lunch and White had been instrumental in thatbatting debacle.It took an unbeaten half-century from young Ramnaresh Sarwan, who was ablysupported by Ridley Jacobs to halt the slide. Playing in only his fourthTest, Sarwan has shown tremendous potential since making his debut last May.This Test is already showing signs of a close finish.

The Australians will not get a taste of Bangladeshi spin in their only three-day tour match from October 3. The national selectors picked a BCB XI squad of 13 devoid of any genuine spinners but included four pace bowlers for the docile Fatullah pitch.National selector Minhajul Abedin said that it was the team management’s strategy to not give the touring side an early advantage. “We are taking home advantage,” he said. “Like any other touring side that comes to Bangladesh, we will make it challenging for Australia to play spin, which is our biggest area of strength. We have picked more batsmen because Australia has a good bowling attack.”For the last few years Bangladesh have tended to keep specialist spinners, especially left-armers, away from touring sides for practice games. The only spin that Steven Smith’s side will face will be from allrounders Mahmudul Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Shuvagata Hom and Naeem Islam. Mahmudul and Shuvagata are likely to lead the spin attack as they have been doing well in the recent past.The first Test between Bangladesh and Australia will begin on October 9 in Chittagong.BCB XI squad Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque, Mahmudul Hasan, Mohammad Mithun, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Shuvagata Hom, Naeem Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Kamrul Islam, Abu Jayed, Shafiul Islam

Surrey are yet again dictating terms after posting an impressive first-innings total in their championship match against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. After an innings of 55 by Saqlain Mushtaq had extended the champions’ first innings to 418 this morning, the Pakistani off-spin wizard took three wickets and James Ormond four as Hampshire were bowled out for 327, a deficit of 91. John Crawley (82) was the hosts’ top scorer, while John Francis made 59 and Jason Laney 48.Kent are in an excellent position against Lancashire after their captain David Fulton went on to reach 177 at Canterbury. The hosts reached 405, while Lancashire’s academy-bound young fast bowler James Anderson finished with three for 88. The visitors’ batting then turned brittle, as Martin Saggers, Majid Khan and Mark Ealham enjoyed themselves. At stumps Lancashire were 164 for eight, 241 runs behind.Bottom club Yorkshire had a poor first day at Edgbaston, as Warwickshire ended the day on 374 for five. Dominic Ostler (126*) and Tony Frost (103) were the prime movers after skipper Mike Powell had made 58, adding 140 for the second wicket with Frost.Somerset’s miserable season continued at Grace Road, where they were skittled for 191 despite 97 from Michael Burns. Javagal Srinath (four for 60) and Phil DeFreitas (three for 35) were the main beneficiaries. Trevor Ward then made 84 as the hosts took a first-innings lead within the day, closing on 207 for five.In Division Two, there was a clatter of wickets at Derby. In all, 23 fell in a day when the leaders Middlesex lost their last two while adding only one run to their overnight score. Both wickets went to Kevin Dean who finished with six for 59. Then Ashley Noffke had the even more impressive figures of eight for 24 as Derbyshire were skittled out for a mere 137. However, Dean then claimed another four wickets and there four for Jason Kerr as the Middlesex second innings came to a close on 150 to set Derbyshire 306 to win. At the close they had taken 45 off the target, but had lost a wicket in doing so.The last five Essex wickets fell for the addition of 95 runs on the second day of their match against Durham, who were then reduced to 99 for four before bad light brought a premature end to the day. Michael Gough is still at the crease, 41 not out, but Durham trail by 364.Two other sides with an interest in the promotion race are involved in a high-scoring match at Trent Bridge. Paul Franks was undefeated on 57 when the Nottinghamshire first innings came to an end with the total on 404. Worcestershire then got within 42 runs of that total and still have four wickets in hand thanks to an unbroken seventh wicket partnership between David Leatherdale (110) and Steve Rhodes (122) who have shared a stand worth 242 so far.Matt Cassar became the third batsman to score a hundred in the Northamptonshire innings of 592 for eight declared. Having held back the declaration for Cassar to reach his milestone, Northamptonshire then took two Gloucestershire wickets before Craig Spearman (64) and Matt Windows (53) stayed together to the close when Gloucestershire were 149 for two – still a daunting 443 behind.

Wasim Akram is set to topple another record Monday when he becomes the highest capped player in One-day Internationals by usurping former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s 334 appearances.But the 36-year-old veteran, who is already going great guns, has set his sights on next year’s World Cup – which is going to be his last assignment.”Every match in which I have wore the Pakistan colour is a memorable one. Despite all hiccups and turbulence in my career, it was worth playing for the country,” Wasim said Sunday.Wasim is already the leading wicket-taker with 463 wickets, almost 90 more than his closest rival and compatriot Waqar Younis.”I never played for records. My ambition was to take wickets. But naturally it is nice to have so many wickets in the bag. It makes me prouder when I look back at my career and recognize that I have done something for the country,” he said.Wasim had three tenures as captain and now believes he has to concentrate on his fitness and stay focussed for the World Cup.”I enjoyed captaining the country. It was an honour. But now in the twilight of my career, I don’t think I can afford extra pressures. I need to concentrate on my fitness and form because these will be the two factors that will keep me motivated to carry on.”Yes, there was a time when I was not enjoying the game. I don’t deny that I even thought of calling it a day. But then I am lucky to have sincere friends, especially my wife Huma, who lifted my morale and helped me get back on track.”If you ask me what I desperately need now, then the answer is to win the World Cup. I know how it feels to be a member of the World Cup winning team. If I ever think of a return of my achievements, then it’s the World Cup. I know the people want it desperately and so do I,” he said.Wasim was the Man-of-the-Match in the 1992 World Cup final. He led Pakistan to the final in the 1999 event where his team lost a lopsided match to Australia.”Pakistan is a multi-talented team and in my books, it is the favourite for next year’s tournament. The boys are working hard on that mission. But we need a bit of luck and support of our fan club to realize the dream,” the former captain added.Most one-day appearances (before the start of Morocco Cup):334 – Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Mohammad Azharuddin (India).325 – Steve Waugh (Australia).295 – Sachin Tendulkar (India).283 – Salim Malik (Pakistan).278 – Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka).273 – Allan Border (Australia).269 – Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka).268 – Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan).265 – Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka).

Christmas Nets and group coaching is back by popular demand to provide the ideal fun activity for all kids during the Holidays.Our Christmas coaching schemes are open to boys and girls between the ages of 7 – 16 years.Courses are aimed at both beginners and the more experienced players with group coaching for the younger ages and hardball net coaching for the older age groups.The sessions will be tailored to the different age ranges, so all the basic fundamentals of the game can be covered.These skills will include batting, bowling, fielding, wicket keeping and competitive match play.Sessions will run on the 27th December and the 2nd and 3rd January between 10:30 – 12:30 and 1:00 – 3:30pm.If you are interested in receiving further information or a booking form please contact Kelly Evenson or Amy Smart at the Warwickshire Cricket Board on 0121 446 3615.