The PCB has requested national coach Waqar Younis to return to Pakistan after the Ireland tour, instead of going to Australia, to discuss manager Initikhab Alam’s report on the West Indies tour

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2011The PCB has requested national coach Waqar Younis to return to Pakistan after the Ireland tour, instead of going to Australia, to discuss manager Intikhab Alam’s report on the West Indies tour. Waqar was supposed to go to Australia to see his wife, who is unwell, but has been asked to return to Pakistan if her illness is not serious.”We want to discuss in detail the report of manager Intikhab Alam on the tour and if Waqar comes here it will help us discuss the report in a better way,” Subhan Ahmed, CEO of the Pakistan board told reporters in Lahore.There has been speculation over differences between Waqar and Shahid Afridi, and matters apparently came to a head during Pakistan’s recent tour of West Indies, where Afridi was the captain for the limited-overs leg of the tour. Afridi was reportedly unhappy with what he saw as Waqar’s interference in selection; one report claimed Afridi almost walked out of a selection meeting ahead of the fourth ODI against West Indies and had to be persuaded by Intikhab to come back.Afridi hinted at these differences upon his arrival from the West Indies for which he was issued a showcause notice by the PCB and subsequently was replaced as Pakistan’s ODI captain for their tour of Ireland. Afridi pulled out of that tour and has since announced his “conditional” retirement from the international game, as a mark of protest against the way he has been “humiliated” by the PCB. However, Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman said that there were “solid reasons” for the removal of Afridi as ODI captain and the board would take appropriate action after submission of the tour-report after the conclusion of the West Indies tour as well as deal with Afridi’s showcause notice.Former Pakistan cricketers have criticised the board’s handling of Afridi. “This is a mistake of [the] PCB administration. Afridi never took any names while he criticised the policies and board took note of that. Why [is] no one in the government taking notice of PCB’s actions of last three years?” Moin Khan told AFP. Wasim Akram agreed that the board had been unfair towards Afridi, but said the captain should not have gone public with the team’s issues. “As Pakistan captain, Afridi should not have made his differences with [the] coach public and should have solved them without coming to the media,” he said. “But the PCB has also not tackled this fairly.”Subhan said that Afridi would not be part of the meeting and added that the PCB would first discuss the report with the team management.

Katherine Brunt bowled England to a 34-run win in the final of the NatWest Women’s Quadrangular series with a career-best 5 for 18

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jul-2011
Scorecard
A fired-up Katherine Brunt bowled England to victory with a career-best 5 for 18•Getty Images

Katherine Brunt bowled England to a 34-run win in the final of the NatWest Women’s Quadrangular series with a career-best 5 for 18 – her third five-wicket haul in one-day internationals – as England continued their successful run this summer.Australia had been impressive with the ball too, with Sarah Coyte picking up four top-order wickets, but England eventually reached 230 mainly thanks to Lydia Greenway’s fluent fifty and a rapid 43 from wicketkeeper-batsman Sarah Taylor.Brunt started Australia’s slide early, nipping out Meg Lanning and Leah Poulton in quick succession as their chase got off to a faltering start. Shelley Nitschke, playing in her final match for Australia, was denied a grand finish as she had her stumps rattled by Brunt, the third wicket falling with just 33 on the board.Alex Blackwell and the in-form Jess Cameron sparked something of a recovery, but when Isa Guha bowled Blackwell for 34 and left-arm spinner Holly Colvin picked up the big wicket of allrounder Lisa Sthalekar soon after, Australia were 80 for 5 and England in control.Cameron responded with some brutal batting that gave Australia hope, slamming eight fours and two sixes in a 77-ball 75. She took her team to within 80 runs of their target before Brunt returned and had her caught by Guha as England seized the ascendancy once again. Brunt had her fifth wicket when Coyte holed out to Arran Brindle, and England stormed to the win soon after.They hadn’t been quite so dominant with the bat, however, and needed to rebuild after Coyte got past both Danielle Wyatt and Laura Marsh to reduce England to 19 for 2 after they had lost the toss and been inserted in bowler-friendly conditions.Captain Charlotte Edwards and the experienced Claire Taylor slowly repaired the damage, grinding their way to a 36-run partnership before Edwards was trapped in front of her stumps by Sthalekar’s offspin for 31. England slipped once again when Taylor cut Nitschke to point with the score at 88, but Greenway and Sarah Taylor immediately set about the bowling with some enterprising batting.Greenway used the sweep to good effect and also cracked the only six of the innings over long-off as she and Taylor added 82 for the fifth wicket. Taylor fell before she reached fifty, and Greenway was eventually dismissed to give Coyte her fourth wicket, but Brindle slammed 27 from just 18 balls to boost England to what was ultimately a match-winning total.

Paul Close and Chris Donaldson have been appointed physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach for New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2011Paul Close and Chris Donaldson have been appointed physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach for New Zealand.Close previously worked for the BCCI at India’s National Cricket Academy and had a stint with the Indian team. Prior to that he was physiotherapist for Bangladesh.Donaldson, a former New Zealand sprinter, was with Otago Cricket where he headed the strength and conditioning programme. He has also worked as a strength and conditioning consultant for the New Zealand Winter Olympic team, the New Zealand netball team (Silver Ferns), Otago Rowing and also travelled to Australia with the New Zealand Emerging Players cricket side.Donaldon takes over from Bryan Stronach who takes on a new role as coordinator of the national strength and conditioning programme while Close replaces Dayle Shackel who reverts back to his role of injury management and physiotherapy coordinator.”We are fortunate to have the expertise of Paul Close who returns to New Zealand after gaining valuable experience from his time with the Indian and Bangladesh national teams,” John Wright, the New Zealand coach, said.”Chris’ high performance background is well known to New Zealanders and he is a world class operator. His work with Bryan Stronach is important as we look to take our fitness to higher levels.”

Durham skipper Phil Mustard will consider trying to do a deal with Hampshire’s acting captain, Jimmy Adams, on the final day of the rain-ruined County Championship match at Chester-le-Street

12-Aug-2011
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Durham skipper Phil Mustard will consider trying to do a deal with Hampshire’s acting captain, Jimmy Adams, on the final day of the rain-ruined County Championship match at Chester-le-Street. After only 30 overs were bowled on the first two days, play began at 1pm and Hampshire moved on from 77 for 3 to 230 for 6 before bad light ended play at 4.58pm.”I think they are quite keen to do something,” said Mustard. “We were tempted to try for full bonus points, which would have put us 17 points clear at the top.”But we don’t have time to get them and our rivals have games in hand, so we would like to go for a win if possible. It’s in our favour that we are batting last and we would try to knock off a target.”Despite a fine innings of 90 by Neil McKenzie and a brisk half-century from Dimitri Mascarenhas, Hampshire’s overall run rate is 2.77 runs an over. The one batting point they have gained still leaves them 49 points adrift of safety and if they are to have any hope at all of avoiding relegation they need to win.Hampshire suffered an early setback today when James Vince retired on 19 after trying to soldier on following a back spasm. Sean Ervine made only 3 before pushing the ball into the covers and failing to beat Mark Stoneman’s direct hit.McKenzie began the day by leg glancing the sixth ball from Callum Thorp for four, taking him to 50. It was the third of his nine boundaries to come from that stroke. Vince drove Graham Onions’ first ball to the cover boundary but after surviving a big lbw appeal when a yorker hit him on the foot he was soon in trouble and needed treatment from the physio.When Chris Rushworth replaced Onions his first ball was greeted by a short-arm pull as McKenzie took two fours off his first over. The South African continued to dominate and had made 90 out of a total of 143 when Rushworth moved one away from a perfect length to have him caught behind.Wicketkeeper Michael Bates then dug in to help Mascarenhas add 72. The former England one-day man drove strongly, hitting nine fours in his 64-ball half-century before edging Mitch Claydon to Mustard. Bates reached 28 off 99 balls and needs three more to equal his best score.

Nathan Hauritz, the Australia offspinner, was struck in the face during an altercation at a nightclub and required facial surgery

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Sep-2011Nathan Hauritz, the Australia offspinner, was struck in the face during an altercation at a nightclub and required facial surgery. The incident was investigated by police but Cricket Australia’s general manager of cricket operations, Michael Brown, said Hauritz decided against pressing charges.Hauritz, who is recovering from a dislocated shoulder he suffered during the home one-dayers against England in January, has been sanctioned but CA refused to release any details of the penalty.The incident took place in Hervey Bay, Queensland, a fortnight ago but the matter was not resolved by CA until September 8. “By his own admission Nathan said he was immature and silly,” Brown told the . “He had a few drinks, the incident occurred, Nathan was struck by a patron. Nathan has chosen not to lay any charges, which is his right. We’ve investigated the matter and it has been resolved internally.”I have great sympathy for what Nathan has been through. No person deserves to get whacked in the face. All parties are happy with the outcome and we move on. He’s a bit sheepish and he’s learnt a valuable lesson.”Hauritz has received medical clearance to play for New South Wales in the Champions League Twenty20 in India starting on September 23.

Bangladesh’s bowlers led them to an easy six-wicket win over Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy in the first game of the Bangladesh Cricket Board Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2011
ScorecardBangladesh romped to a six-wicket victory over an overmatched Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy (BCBA) at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Having put BCBA into bat, opening bowlers Rubel Hossein and Shafiul Islam struck early and often to reduce their opponents to 30 for 4 in just the seventh over. Left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo then got into the act, taking three wickets in four balls as the lower order offered no resistance whatsoever. Rubel then returned to claim the last two wickets to finish with figures of 4 for 22 while Shuvo ended up with figures of 3 for 10. The last four batsmen all made ducks. In total, there were eight scores of four or less, with five zeros. Tanveer Haider topscored for Academy with an unbeaten 24.Tamim Iqbal wasted no time chasing down the meagre target of 76, smashing five fours and a six in a quickfire 36 from 37 balls. There was a bit of a hiccup as Bangladesh lost three wickets with the score on 54. Tamim was bowled by Alauddin Babu before Shahriar Nafees was bowled by Sohag Gazi and Shuvagato Hom was runout for a duck, but Alok Kapali calmed any nerves with a run-a-ball 22 as Bangladesh wrapped up the game with 31 overs to spare.

Kevin Pietersen has tried to put to bed talk about his future in one-day cricket by insisting that he wants to play for England until at least the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2011Kevin Pietersen has tried to put to bed talk about his future in one-day cricket by insisting that he wants to play for England until at least the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Pietersen is back in the ODI set-up for the series in India, having been rested for the last month of the home season, but is under pressure to perform after a lean two years in the 50-over format.Pietersen is likely to slot back in at No. 4 when the series starts next week following two warm-up matches although in his absence the likes of Ravi Bopara and Jonny Bairstow have staked their claims. Before leaving for the tour Alastair Cook, the one-day captain, spoke about wanting Pietersen involved all the way to the next World Cup but also said that players had to earn their selection with consistent performances. Pietersen hasn’t scored an ODI hundred since November 2008 and over the last two years his average has languished in the low 20s.”I don’t know how many times I need to say it till you stop asking the questions,” Pietersen said. “I want to continue playing until the 2015 World Cup, and then we’ll reassess. No one’s ever guaranteed their place – for their country, for their county, for their club side.”There’s a lot of different permutations and different things that can happen. It’s just a case of enjoying every day, and also realising how fortunate we are. If there’s any place you want to come and play one-day international cricket, it’s here in India.”Pietersen used his break from the game – which included missing the one-dayers against India and the Twenty20s against West Indies – to completely get away from cricket. He moved house in London and spent time with his family, which has become an increasingly important part of his life and the main reason he has admitted to not being a fan of long tours.He has also said that, while retaining the hunger to play all three forms of international cricket, he enjoyed not having a gruelling schedule of training. “I wanted to take a complete break, and get that bug back for training. That’s the first break I’ve had without an injury for England. It was much appreciated.”The hardest part of playing all three forms of the game is turning up on training day and doing warm-ups – I think it takes a couple of years off your career. To not have to turn up to training days was an absolute blessing. But you do miss the cricket, participating and competing – because we’re all competitors.”After he was left out of the one-day squad last month, it emerged that Pietersen had a wrist injury that required some management and he had an injection before leaving for India. “I’ve got something in my wrist,” he said. “I had a cortisone injection a few days ago, and cortisone just before I left. It’s just a case of getting through this tour and seeing where we are at the end.”Pietersen, though, will need to fight through some minor discomfort because England won’t wait for him to rediscover his one-day mojo forever.

A cultured Hashim Amla and controlled AB de Villiers established a priceless partnership to take South Africa’s advantage to a considerable 199 over Australia on day three

The Report by Daniel Brettig19-Nov-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Pat Cummins looked a level above the other members of the touring attack on the second morning•AFP

A cultured Hashim Amla and controlled AB de Villiers established a priceless partnership to take South Africa’s advantage to a considerable 199 over Australia on day three.Each were close to being dismissed by Pat Cummins in the first over after lunch, but they survived the bullets of the 18-year-old debutant and defused the other significant threat of the spinner Nathan Lyon on a wearing pitch. Ultimately, when bad light ended play early again, they would walk off happily, having taken command at a Wanderers ground populated by the most bountiful crowd of the Test.Australia’s captain Michael Clarke sorely missed the bowling of his deputy Shane Watson, rendered immobile by a hamstring complaint, and leaned heavily on Cummins, who already looks a level above the other members of the touring attack. His morning spell to Jacques Kallis was compelling, and provided cause for Australian optimism even as Amla and de Villiers showed immense poise to build a union from the uncertain beginning of 90 for 3.What Cummins lacked most of all was support, for Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle in particular were unable to generate the sort of chances that their seniority and past experience in South Africa should have demanded. As with Ricky Ponting and Brad Haddin, their international careers may soon be marked harshly on this evidence.Already 59 overs have been lost to the weather, and South Africa may be little more than another session’s batting from pushing their lead beyond Australia’s reach – even if the tourists manage to rid themselves of the batting horrors of Cape Town and the first innings in Johnannesburg.Sunnier skies at the start of the day had Johnson resuming the attack, completing his opening over with a shortened run-up. The gambit seemed to be geared towards achieving a higher-arm action and a greater chance of swing, but it brought no early wickets as Australia’s narrow lead was quickly swallowed up.Cummins was much the more vexing proposition for the openers, and after Jacques Rudolph had made a fluent start he hooked unwisely at a swift short ball and skied the simplest of chances for Haddin. Graeme Smith interspersed edges through the third-man region with the occasional sparkling drive and was looking good for more when spin was introduced.Lyon dropped onto a nice length in his first over to Amla, and then set about tempting Smith outside off stump. A modicum of rough provided the natural variation that Lyon enjoys, and when one ball bounced and turned a little more than Smith budgeted for, the airborne cut was taken in the gully.Clarke immediately took Lyon off to try Cummins, who set about Kallis with all the venom of a genuine strike bowler. In the space of 19 balls – reminiscent of Ishant Sharma’s fabled spell to Ponting in Perth in 2008 – Cummins made Kallis look decidedly uncomfortable, no more so than when one throat ball was only parried down off glove and bat handle with a fair helping of luck. An airy play and miss soon followed, and the bowler completed a comprehensive victory over his quarry when Kallis sparred at a delivery seaming away and edged to Clarke at slip.Not content with Kallis’ wicket, Cummins soon had de Villiers hopping around and calling for medical attention when a searing yorker struck him on the boot, and South Africa’s batsmen were happy to see lunch.On resumption Cummins went desperately close to removing both batsmen in the first over of the afternoon. After de Villiers presented a difficult return catch that failed to go to hand, Amla was pinned in front of his stumps, but was given not out by the umpire Billy Bowden. Australia’s referral was well-founded, but millimetres shy of matching the ICC’s parameters to overturn the original call.Two overs were all Clarke asked of Cummins, before he embarked upon something of a holding operation in which he rotated his bowlers briskly in the absence of Watson and even delivered two overs himself. Amla and de Villiers attacked when they could but also throttled back at times, careful not to over-reach as South Africa had done on day one.Lyon was partially blunted via the use of sweeps and reverse sweeps, Siddle bowled presentably, and Johnson achieved some of his desired swing from a reduced run-up. But the tourists’ hopes were now heavily pinned on Cummins, who in his second spell of the session lacked some of the rhythm and energy of the morning, spearing a few too many projectiles down the legside.Tea came and went but the skies were darkening as Amla and de Villiers resumed. They added another 38 runs against opposition that had started to look beleaguered, de Villiers advancing to swing Lyon into the stands at wide long-on and Amla showing heavenly balance to twice dispatch Johnson through the covers.As speculation swirled ever more intensely around Ponting’s future, he was brought on to bowl in dying light – to a chorus of boos, no less – and swung the ball a little. It would be the final over of a day that shaped initially towards the fielding side, but for the first time in the match ended with the batsmen very much in command.

Dean Brownlie spent the first 25 years of his life in Australia. Now he is trying to thwart them in Test cricket.

Brydon Coverdale06-Dec-2011The pavlova last year, Dean Brownlie this year – Western Australia’s finest have been ripe for the poaching by New Zealand recently. Then again, from Russell Crowe to Keith Urban, from Ruth Park to Rebecca Gibney, Australians have been claiming New Zealand’s best as their own for decades. It’s about time a few went the other way.Brownlie might have missed the news stories last December when the Oxford English Dictionary determined that pavlova was a New Zealand invention and was not, as Australians had asserted, created at Perth’s Esplanade Hotel in 1935. If he hadn’t caught up with those reports it would be understandable. This time last year, Brownlie was just settling in to his second season with Canterbury.He had lived in Perth for the first 25 years of his life, his primary connection with New Zealand the fact that his father was born in Christchurch. Now, he is not only playing Test cricket against Australia, but thriving: in the first Test he was New Zealand’s leading scorer, with a fighting 77 not out in the first innings and 42 in the second.It was the kind of performance that made onlookers wonder how Brownlie had spent so long in Perth club cricket without earning a place in Western Australia’s side. He played some junior cricket with Shaun Marsh, but by his own admission wasn’t seriously in the reckoning for a state call-up.”I don’t think I was that close,” Brownlie told reporters in Brisbane, before the team flew to Hobart for the second Test. “I was scoring a few runs, but given the quality of players in WA, probably didn’t score enough runs to demand a spot. It was more a cricketing decision [to move to New Zealand]. I just wanted to give it a go and see what happened. If I got a first-class game – awesome.”Brownlie’s efforts in the Gabba Test certainly left more of a mark on Michael Hussey than any grade performances in Perth over the past few years. Hussey said he didn’t remember playing club cricket against Brownlie, but he was impressed by his work in Brisbane.”I thought he played very well,” Hussey said. “He showed great temperament, against some pretty hostile bowling there for a while, coming in for the second innings in particular when the team was under extreme pressure, I thought he applied himself really well. It is a shame we couldn’t keep him in Australia … but I thought he played really well, showed a great temperament and a good, solid technique as well.”Brownlie, 27, has now scored two half-centuries from his two Tests and appears to be one of the most stable parts of a faltering batting order. He hopes he can continue to thwart the Australians, his countrymen for most of his life, when the second Test starts at Bellerive on Friday.”Two years ago I was playing club cricket in Christchurch. I never thought I’d be at the Gabba playing a Test match. It was awesome,” he said. “I haven’t really had too much to do with them [the Australian team], so it wasn’t really a change of scenery. It was an awesome experience.”And it was one that wouldn’t have come without gambling on a trip across the ditch.

David Warner is not thinking about the possibility of being Australia’s Twenty20 captain, and is focussing on sweeping India 4-0 in Adelaide

Daniel Brettig18-Jan-2012Umesh Yadav’s bouncer is not the only thing making Australia’s opener David Warner dizzy right now. At Sydney’s Olympic Stadium he was peppered with questions about his captaincy aspirations, which may be pushed further if he is appointed to lead Australia’s Twenty20 team in two internationals against India in February.While Warner deflected most of them with due deference to the incumbent, Cameron White, he also reinforced Australia’s desire to complete a 4-0 sweep of India in the final Test at the Adelaide Oval from January 24.”As Michael Clarke said the other day after the game, celebrate your win, but at the end of the day we want to try and beat the second team in the world four-nil,” Warner said. “That’s a massive thing for us at the moment. Where we are placed at the moment, our goal is to become No. 1 again by the next Ashes in 2013. If we can keep working towards that, our goals will be achieved.”In response to the question of whether or not India look a beaten team, Warner was frank in suggesting it would be difficult for some members of the touring party to visualise scoring plenty of runs in Adelaide given their recent returns.”There might be a lot of people in their shed wondering how they’re going to score runs,” Warner said. “In my mind there is probably only one player, and that’s Sachin Tendulkar, who looks like he’s using a sight screen when he comes out to bat. [But] the other players, they’re all world-class players. You look at the amount of runs they’ve got in the top six in their careers it’s phenomenal … We are expecting them to show some aggression in this next Test.”Beyond the Test lie the T20s and the triangular ODI series. A groundswell is building to have Warner installed as the national T20 captain, following glowing assessments of his leadership capability from the head coach Mickey Arthur and the former Test opener Simon Katich, among others. But Warner was careful not to tread on White’s toes, even as the Melbourne Stars captain endures a dire Big Bash League.”One day it might happen but for now Cameron White is the captain. And I am still going to be playing by his rules,” Warner said. “He is a class player, we’ve seen that many times with Cameron that he can come out and fire … with Cameron’s ability with the bat to clear the fence, we are backing him 100%.”I am just excited and overwhelmed that they are looking at me as a possibility for the future. It’s a massive achievement for people to say that but at the end of the day I just have to concentrate on my cricket.”For now that concentration is still affected by the after-effects of Yadav’s blow to the side of Warner’s head, a rare lapse during his 180. Warner said he was in regular touch with Australia’s physio Alex Kountouris but was on course to be fit for Adelaide.”I think I’m over it. I had a little bit of a dizzy spell yesterday morning. I spoke to Alex Kountouris about that and it’s generally what happens,” Warner said. “I was fine when I got hit. I didn’t have a black out or anything. You’ve just got to try and get up and keep playing.”At the moment it’s a day by day thing. I’ve got to speak to Alex this afternoon about how I’m feeling. At the moment I’m feeling quite fine. I can’t say I have been waking up and seeing Umesh hitting me in the head with the ball. You don’t really like getting hit in the head … Hopefully next time I can just keep my eye on the ball.”