Category Uncategorized

Alex Obanda, the 19-year old Kenyan batsman, has injured his right ankle and will miss the four-day ICC Intercontinental Cup match against Bermuda starting tomorrow.Obanda, who scored an 82-ball 79 in the first ODI against Bermuda, sustained the injury while fielding in the second match and was unable to bat as a result. The injury also forced Obanda to sit out of the final ODI against Bermuda on Sunday.It was earlier thought that Obanda would be fit to play the four-day match but the doctor treating him warned that the injury was likely to be aggravated in the event of Obanda returning anytime soon.Obanda was instrumental in Kenya’s nine-wicket victory over Canada in Nairobi earlier this month, scoring 83 while putting on a 122-run third-wicket partnership with David Obuya that laid the foundation for a first-innings score of 393.The victory earned Kenya a maximum of 20 points and a fifth place going into the second game with Bermuda. Their opponents, meanwhile, are still seeking a win after two matches in the first-class tournament.

Adil Rashid, Yorkshire’s teenage legspinner, hopes to return to full fitness by the end of January following the diagnosis of a stress fracture in his back.”I’m really looking forward to getting in some practice,” Rashid told Yorkshire’s website. “I can’t wait for the new season to get underway. I thought I was suffering from only bruising when my back began to hurt, but then I had a scan, which revealed I was suffering from a stress fracture.”I had to take a complete rest. I was absolutely gutted, because I had to turn down the invitation to go on the trip to India with England’s emerging players in the autumn, and then I couldn’t be selected for the England Under-19 tour of Malaysia, which begins in late January.”Rashid, though still only 18, was somewhat of a sensation in the summer. He took 6 for 67 on his Championship debut against Warwickshire, en route to 25 wickets in five matches. Against the touring India Under-19s, he took 8 for 157 and struck 114 to confirm his immense promise with both bat and ball.”It has been very disappointing and frustrating, but I’m over it now, and am eager to get started,” he added. “There is no question of me not being fully fit by the start of the new season, and one of my aims is to play in every Championship match for Yorkshire in 2007.”I could, of course, even get picked to play for England, and although I am not expecting that to happen quite so soon I will certainly do everything to grasp the opportunity should it arise.”

Legspinning allrounder Collins Obuya, one of Kenya’s heroes in the 2003 World Cup, has struggled to live up to the potential he showed then. Shortly after the tournament he suffered a knee injury, and since then he has suffered from the yips and a crisis of confidence.But thanks to private sponsorship raised by the Kenyan Cricket Association, Obuya will fly to Australia next week to spend time with Terry Jenner, the legendary legspin coach who is widely credited for helping Shane Warne scale the heights of international cricket.”Collins has struggled with is bowling ever since that knee injury in 2003 and we decided it would be wise to have him work with a specialist on his action as we try to get the players fit for the World Cup,” explained KCA chief executive, Tom Tikolo. Obuya was signed by Warwickshire shortly after the World Cup, but the knee injury quickly ended his county ambitions. He suffered another blow when an appendicitis caused him to miss the 2004 Champions Trophy in England.Although he is now fit, Obuya has struggled to find any consistency with the ball. In four Intercontinental Cup matches this season his four wickets have cost 61.25. This has impacted on his batting, with only one fifty in six innings and an average of 18.00.Jenner is renowned for his one-on-one coaching technique, and it is expected that Obuya will stay with him while in Australia.

Ricky Ponting has expressed surprise at Shoaib Akhtar’s insipid performance with the ball in Australia’s second innings in the Melbourne Test, which Pakistan lost by nine wickets. Akhtar, who had been steaming in at around 145kph in the first innings, considerably shortened his run-up and his pace in the second, allowing Australia to canter to their 126-run target for the loss of just one wicket.Australia started their run-chase ten minutes before lunch on the fourth day, and though they lost Justin Langer during that period, Pakistan could make no further inroads. “We had a bit of a feeling for those couple of overs before lunch that he might have really charged in and let some fly there,” Ponting said, according to a report in the , “but he didn’t then, so I wasn’t that surprised when he didn’t do it after that.”I don’t know whether he was carrying some sort of injury or not, but I would have thought that little spell before lunch and the spell after lunch was the perfect time for someone like him, of his pace, to run in and bowl as quick as he could. I was surprised that he did come off that short run and didn’t really extend himself as much as he did in the first innings.”Maybe they were resigned to the fact that, only having the three bowlers in their side today, they weren’t much of a chance of winning so they might have been saving some petrol for Sydney. But I would have been very disappointed if I was the captain and that was my bowler running in and bowling like that, and I knew what he could do.”Akhtar did ping Ponting on the helmet once, even with that shortened run-up, but he generally bowled at less than 140kph and was repeatedly pulled away by both Ponting and Matthew Hayden, and returned figures of none for 35 from seven overs.Bob Woolmer, the coach, suggested that Akhtar might have been conserving his energy for the Sydney Test, which starts on January 2. “Shoaib Akhtar bowled a lot for someone of his pace and the length of his run-up. I think he was saving his energy for the next Test match.”Woolmer went on to praise Pakistan’s performance, terming it a huge improvement from Perth, when they were thrashed by 491 runs. “I think they fought very hard,” he said. “I actually feel they did really well. There were one or two decisions that could have gone either way that might have made a difference, specifically when we were batting, and those are the kind of things that sometimes turn a game. For two days I thought we were really competitive. Danish Kaneria just gave everything the whole way through. The fielding was pretty good and I just felt it was a much more positive attitude.”

Close South Africa 151 for 1 (Smith 80*, Kirsten 9*) trail England 173 (Gough 34, Ntini 5-75) by 22 runs
Scorecard

Honeymoons are meant to last rather longer than 48 hours. But for Michael Vaughan, the harsh realities of Test captaincy are suddenly all too apparent. After losing the toss and being asked to bat first in seamer-friendly conditions, England were rolled over for a dismal 173 in less than 49 overs, a total that was soon put into perspective by yet another effortlessly solid opening stand from Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith.By the close, South Africa trailed England’s first innings by 22 runs, with nine wickets remaining. Smith himself was still there on 80, taking his series tally to 442 runs after less than two matches, and his career total past 1000 runs in only his 11th Test. Still only 22 years old, and with the scalp of one England captain under his belt already, he now has a second victim caught flush in the crosswires.Vaughan’s first day in charge couldn’t really have gone much worse. England lost five wickets in the first session alone, and had slumped to 118 for 9 before Darren Gough and James Anderson provided a fig-leaf of respectability with a last-wicket stand of 55. But the simplicity of their partnership merely demonstrated the good nature of the pitch. There was some customary early movement, ruthlessly exploited by South Africa’s seamers, but it was nonetheless a bold decision from Smith to field first. With a bit of application from England’s batsmen, it could have backfired horribly. Instead, Smith has stolen yet more of the initiative in this series.South Africa were even a bowler short, as Dewald Pretorius picked up a side strain after four ineffective overs. But Makhaya Ntini, Andrew Hall and Shaun Pollock were more than a match for England’s batsmen. Ntini was the pick of the bunch, bowling fast and straight from wide of the crease to pick up 5 for 75, his best figures in an overseas Test, while Hall, who only last week was seeing out his season with Worcestershire, celebrated his 28th birthday with 3 for 18, including two in five balls before lunch. Pollock, as ever, maintained an exemplary line and length, but was grossly under-rewarded for his efforts.The danger signals were evident from the earliest overs. Marcus Trescothick was never allowed to settle, and after being dropped by Smith himself at second slip, he over-compensated for Ntini’s tight line and inside-edged a forcing shot onto his own stumps (11 for 1). Mark Butcher started in fine fashion by thumping Ntini for three fours in successive deliveries, but then nibbled a superb outswinger from Pollock straight into Andrew Hall’s midriff at third slip (35 for 2).Nasser Hussain was greeted to an ovation seldom seen at Lord’s, but he was over-eager throughout his brief stay, and was eventually bowled all-ends-up for 14 as he attempted an ambitious drive at Hall (73 for 3). Hall then struck again in the same over, as Anthony McGrath (4) gave his critics further ammunition by playing across the line to his fourth ball and squirting a leading edge to mid-off (77 for 4).Vaughan, at this stage, was doing his best Michael Atherton impression, clinging onto the wreckage as everyone else leapt overboard. But when Ntini returned to the attack, Vaughan heaved a pull shot to Neil McKenzie at fine-leg, who steadied himself to take a comfortable catch (85 for 5).

The procession continued in the afternoon session. Stewart pulled Ntini straight to Paul Adams at square leg for 7 (96 for 6), and when Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles and Steve Harmison were removed in quick succession, complete humiliation was on the cards. Gough and Anderson averted that, but when it came to their day job, they were once again badly off-colour.It was left to Steve Harmison to make the breakthrough, as Gibbs played on for 49 (133 for 1). England, however, should have struck in the fourth over of South Africa’s reply, when Smith drove loosely at a half-volley from Anderson. But, as if breaking his spirit was not enough, Smith managed to pick out Hussain at point, who fumbled once before letting the ball drop agonisingly to the turf. Hussain, apparently, had injured himself in the warm-up and had been kept out of the slip cordon as a result. Sometimes, there is just no place to hide.Click here for today’s Wisden VerdictEngland 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Michael Vaughan (capt), 3 Mark Butcher, 4 Nasser Hussain, 5 Anthony McGrath, 6 Alec Stewart (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Ashley Giles, 9 Darren Gough, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 James Anderson.South Africa 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Graeme Smith (capt), 3 Gary Kirsten, 4 Boeta Dippenaar, 5 Jacques Rudolph, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Shaun Pollock, 8 Andrew Hall, 9 Dewald Pretorius, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Paul Adams.

The last few weeks have been hectic for wicket-keeper batsman Rob Turner who has been awarded a well earned benefit by the club in 2002.In addition to working for west country stockbrokers and club sponsors Rowan Dartington in Weston Super Mare, Rob has been busy finalising the arrangements for some of the event that are scheduled to take place during the season.Earlier on today he told me, “I’ve fixed quite a few bits and pieces for next year,and the Launch Lunch will take place at the County Ground in Taunton on Friday March 22nd.”Before then Rob will be hosting a tour party of forty people to watch several of the New Zealand v England matches in the early spring. The tour which sets off on February has proved to be so popular that it is a sell out.For those who have missed out on the New Zealand trip Rob is organising a similar trip over Christmas 2002 and New Year to watch some of the Australia v England test matches.Rob told me, “I’m very much looking forward to my Benefit Year and I want to do well on the field. I need to have things in place beforehand so that I can concentrate on playing.”Several items relating to Rob’s Benefit Year are now available, all of which would make excellent Christams gifts including a traditional tie, a bow tie and a matching top pocket handkerchief.The tie is in two shades of dark blue, and features the Somerset Wyvern in maroon and the England crest in black, with Rob’s logo and signature in silver.The suggested donation for the traditional tie is £10, the bow tie is also £10, and the handkerchief is £2.50. The suggested donation for the whole set is £20.Certainly the traditional tie looked very smart indeed when I saw it modelled by Ian Blackwell this morning!Rob has also produced a Benefit Calendar for 2002 which features 12 pages of A3 quality glossy action shots taken during the 2001 season and featuring the C and G Trophy Final at Lord’s. Once again this is available by donation which is suggested should be £6.The highly acclaimed artist Terry Harrison has painted a montage to commemorate the Lord’s Final, and a limited edition run of just 500 copies has been produced. The print will be available before Christmas.Orders or further information about any of the above items, or any events for Rob’s Benefit Year can be made by contacting Doreen Barnes on 01455 230489, or e mail, [email protected] can also be obtained from The County Stores in Taunton, Boundary Sports at the County Ground, or the Somerset County Cricket Club office.

Post his Test retirement MS Dhoni wanted a little comfort. He wanted to enjoy his game, so he wanted more time to play his game and therefore believed he should bat at No.4. But as a senior player, for the juniors to develop better and for the team’s sake, he decided instead to return to batting in the lower middle-order and be the finisher for India.”I would say more about my side of the story,” Dhoni said. “If you see once I left Test cricket, I thought ‘Now I am going to enjoy my ODI cricket, I want to bat up the order’. But when I come over here, I see my team, I see the playing XI and I find it very difficult to promote myself because we have that pressure of who is going to bat at No.6, who is going to bat at No.7?”And if you see stretches of cricket where teams have done well, the lower order has contributed a lot irrespective of the format. Your lower order needs to perform. So that was the reason I came back over here and I am still batting at No.5 or 6 because I find it really difficult; I can’t really put too much pressure on some of the other youngsters in the side. After playing so many ODIs, if I can’t do it, there are not many who will be able to do it. It’s something that I have to do.”And he provided a fine example of his skills – if perhaps a modified version where he starts slowly and dabs the ball for singles and twos before flexing his shoulders – in Indore, scoring 92 off 86 balls and remaining unbeaten as he guided India past a top-order collapse.”I felt we needed partnerships at that point of time,” he said. “Once we lost Rahane and a few other wickets fell, I was thinking, ‘Maybe I should play the big shot. I am not sure how long the lower order batsmen will survive with me.’ But that was the period I said, ‘No. Let’s look to play a few more deliveries. Let’s look to play 50 overs and if a few more wickets fall, maybe [if it had been] the last couple of wickets [that were left] I will look to hit, but it was important that we got some kind of partnership going at that point of time.”But the 247 for 9 that he helped India get to still wasn’t anywhere close to his expectations. “I thought it was a score we can look to defend. But it was not a safe score where you say, ‘okay let’s go in and if we bowl well we will win the game.’ What was important for us was getting the early breakthroughs and that was provided by the spinners.”This is the kind of victory in which the contribution of the bowlers was more than the batsmen, if you compare them, because some bowlers also contributed in terms of runs. In a score of 247, if the bowlers are contributing a score of around 40, that means a lot. I feel very happy about the fact that the bowlers won us the match.”But when asked to rate his own innings, which was vital to giving the bowlers a chance and lifting their morale up as well, Dhoni simply chose to explain the impact of a first victory in this series so far.”It’s a very good victory for us, the reason being, if you see the first game we played at Dharamsala, apart from that one over, you can say those four or five minutes we were really into the game but we were not able to win the game,” Dhoni said. “The same thing happened in the last game we played as well, Kanpur, where we were in the game but we lost a few wickets and we lost it at the wrong time because of which we were not able to win the game.”So a lot of times you play good cricket for maybe 80-90% of the game but it depends whether that 10% bad phase, how bad it was and what was the timing of that particular error that happened, that can had a big impact on the game. I feel this win was very important for us and at the same time its good to see our bowlers defend 250-odd runs on a wicket that was good to bat on.”The Indore crowd played their part as well. Sensing the turning of the tides after Faf du Plessis fell for a well-made fifty and David Miller got a first-ball duck, they produced an enchanting sight. The Holkar Stadium was packed. Well over 25,000 people. And as one, a very large majority brandished their cell phones with the flash on. It was a scene out of a Bruce Springsteen concert. One that made Dhoni and the team take a lap of honour in thanks for their support.”The people of Indore have supported us a lot, specially when there was a dull phase in the middle when South Africa had a partnership going and we weren’t getting wickets. When we got 1-2 wickets, the crowd got vocal. It helps when you are playing at home and have the support of your home crowd. Along with us, they have also supported AB de Villiers – we (fans) share our love freely. If we like somebody, we really get behind them.”But that doesn’t mean India are home free. The five-match series is tied 1-1 and Dhoni saw plenty of room for improvement. For example, finding an allrounder who can connect the top-order and the tail.”No.7 is very crucial,” he said. “Even in this game if you see, Mishra was our best bowler in the last game. But we had to drop him, the reason being we want that No.7 to bat. Axar gives us slightly more than Mishra because in the modern game you can’t play with six batters and five bowlers. That day is gone, you can’t really compete when it comes to that.”But you need somebody who can bat at No.7. And you know, the few people who are there for us – Stuart Binny is one, Jadeja and Axar. These are the three people who can bowl and bat. Other than that there are not many. There are few others in the domestic circuit who are doing well so we will definitely will like to have a look. Because ideally in this game we would have liked to play Mishra, but it just makes it impossible to think about Mishra batting at No.7 and then Harbhajan or Harbhajan at No.7 followed by Mishra.”It just puts too much pressure on the batsmen who are on top because in situations like these when you lose early wickets or you lose a few wickets in quick succession in the middle overs, it just puts tremendous pressure on the two batsmen who are batting. Imagine, you are supposed to hit a six, you want to play the big shot, but you have to be 110% sure once you are hitting, it has to go over the boundary.”So these are the kinds of pressure that you tend to take and there is no easy way out. It’s very easy to say on paper that this is the combination we should go with, but excuse me, cricket is not played that way. You need to have people who contribute.”

Half-centuries by Sean Williams and Keith Dabengwa helped Zimbabwe Select avert the follow-on in their four-day game against Sri Lanka A in Harare. With a day left in the match, the Sri Lankans were at 106 for 4, with a lead of 219 runs.Zimbabwe started the day needing 74 to avoid the follow-on with four wickets in hand. Williams, a former Zimbabwe Under-19 captain, put on 51 with Dabengwa before being bowled by offspinner Dilruwan Perera for 52.Captain Prosper Utseya then supported Dabengwa before being caught in the slips off the bowling of Perera. Gary Brent managed only 3 before being dismissed leg-before to bring in last man Christopher Mpofu. The Zimbabwe innings folded at 313, a deficit of 113 runs, when Mpofu edged a Chamara Kapugedara delivery to first slip leaving Dabengwa stranded on 62. Perera, who top scored in the first innings, was the most successful bowler, picking up four wickets.Zimbabwe took four second-innings wickets, including that of the in-form Kaushal Silva and didn’t allow any partnerships to develop. As in the first innings, Utseya was the most effective bowler – bagging two wickets.A draw should boost the Zimbabweans as they have lost all their games against the visiting India A and South Africa A teams earlier this year.

It’s hard to describe what Gravy did. He can’t explain it himself. He doesn’t like to be called an ambassador, yet he represented Antigua in the manner best befitting it: with joy. Gravy is a performer. He cross-dresses and dances and writhes and swings from the rafters and puts on a show that you will not ever forget. For twelve years he kept doing it. In many ways, he was the face of the Antigua Recreation Ground more than Viv Richards or Curtly Ambrose.It’s easy to stereotype Gravy. A chap slightly off his rocker, a blazing extrovert, an attention seeker, and a man with no worries. Actually, he is soft, sober, sentimental. On the record he has always said that his official retirement – exactly two cricket seasons ago – had all to do with the fact that he had given 12 years of his life to another country, USA, and so wanted to give exactly 12 years to his own country.Off the record he will tell you of the hurt that came along with never, ever being given any financial support even when he had requested it, from sponsors or from the Board. Continents away, Percy Abeysekara is flown around with the Sri Lankan team as official cheerleader. Gravy says he has never received a cent for buying the costumes he wore every day of cricket at the ARG. Today, he says, the guys at the gate ask him for a ticket if he wants to enter.He has not walked away in disgust – and he hasn’t gone to the press about this because it may show Antigua in poor light – but he cannot be asked, for anything in the world, to return to his act.So, the summer of 2000 it was when he walked around the ground in a white wedding dress and waved goodbye. "When everybody came to the edge of the balcony with the cameras and the flashin’ and the waves and the thank-yous, it felt like I wasn’t touching the ground."It was quite by accident that Gravy started doing what he did. He visited his first Test here in 1988. It started to rain during the presentation ceremony, and the podium was left open. "Something told me, Gravy, this is your time. I went down on the podium, in the rain, and started dancing. Everybody was excited about it. They loved it."Gravy now runs a little stall by the Sir Vivian Richards Pavilion with his girlfriend, Hyacinth. "I been talkin’ to her 6 years before I held her hand." Why? "Everything takes time, and good things come to those that wait."At least three posters mourn Gravy’s retirement. One of them says that ARG grounds men are on strike because Gravy retired. Thus the dead pitch. Another one illustrates the great triangle of retirement. Curtly Ambrose forms one side, Courtney Walsh the other, and Gravy the third. It’s actually quite apt if you listen to Gravy’s most cunning plan of all:"The only three people who knew what I was going to do was myself Gravy, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. We had a plan and we used it systematically. When the water cart comes onto the field, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh supposed to get the drinks first. Then I start my antics. That is when I’m at my best, when the water cart is on the ground. It allows me a chance to make the opposition not to be a part of the water cart. They forget to drink the water because they’ve never seen anything like me. They’re thirsty and they’re back in play. They’re listening to me, watching me. By that time, Ambrose and Walsh have taken their wickets."The nicest thing anyone has told Gravy has come from Viv Richards. "Gravy,what you’re doing," Richards told him, "keep on doing it, cause the world is happy when you do it.""Everybody tells me that they miss me. What they don’t know that I miss it more than them."More Roving Reporter
The King’s maa
Remembering Frank Worrell
`It got to me. Big time’
Awesome
Meet the CEO
Sobers is a hero – official
‘Murray would have ate that, maan’
She’s on the ball
The romantic
Just lukewarm