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Shahid Afridi has said that the victory in the one-day series over New Zealand has filled Pakistan with confidence, especially since the win was not due to individual genius but through teamwork

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Feb-2011Shahid Afridi has said that the victory in the one-day series over New Zealand has filled Pakistan with confidence, especially since the win was not due to individual genius but through teamwork. The 3-2 triumph was Pakistan’s first series success since 2008.”What has given us the confidence to do well in the World Cup is that nearly every player contributed towards our series win in New Zealand,” Afridi told reporters at Karachi airport on Monday. “You can never expect to win depending on just one or two players. Every player has to contribute in some way.”Pakistan will be without the three players who were banned on charges of spot-fixing – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – but Afridi said that the team was focused on the cricket, and not off-field events. “The team has become mentally tougher and is hungry for success.”All three players received lengthy bans earlier this month, and Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said it was time to move on from the controversy. He also said the hearings in Doha hadn’t distracted his players during the New Zealand series. “It is important that it’s finished now and we can start afresh,” said Waqar, who had been coach during the England series last year when the spot-fixing scandal erupted. “A lot of controversies affected Pakistan cricket, I am happy that it’s over now.”I am sure this one-day series win will give us a good build-up for the World Cup,” he said. “We have good momentum, having played South Africa recently and now this hard-fought win in New Zealand gives us good momentum for the World Cup.”Pakistan have warm-up matches against Bangladesh in Mirpur on February 15th and against England in Fatullah to finetune their World Cup strategies.

A round-up of the latest action from the MetBank Pro40 Championship, Zimbabwe’s domestic limited-overs competition

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2011The bowlers dominated Mountaineers’ 33-run win over Mid West Rhinos at the Harare Sports Club, with 20 wickets falling in under 76 overs of play. Timycen Maruma seemed the only batsman to come to terms with conditions, slamming five sixes in his quickfire 59 to boost Mountaineers to 163 all out. Rhinos’ chase never got going, the visitors chipping away with spin and seam alike to seal the victory in the 37th over.The Rhinos seamers soon had Mountaineers’ top order reeling after Vusi Sibanda won the toss and decided to field. The score had slipped to 77 for 6 before Maruma’s solo effort, Justin Lewis and Paul Franks picking up a wicket apiece and Graeme Cremer striking twice. His innings carried them to 145 before Ed Rainsford, who had picked up the wicket of opener Jonathan Beukes and effected Hamilton Masakadza’s run out, returned and trapped him lbw. Rainsford also removed Shingirai Masakadza and Tinashe Panyangara to finish with 4 for 27.Rhinos lost star batsman Brendan Taylor in the first over and had stumbled to 60 for 6 in the 17th over before some lower-order resistance from Franks and wicketkeeper Riki Wessels. After the early wickets had been shared by the seamers and young legspinner Natsai Mushangwe, Prosper Utseya’s introduction to the attack sent the innings into freefall. He ripped through the tail, finishing with 3 for 10 as Rhinos were bowled out for 130 in the 37th over.No result was possible in Matabeleland Tuskers’ game against Mashonaland Eagles at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Tuskers reaching 32 for 2 in 12 overs before the weather closed in

Ricky Ponting is confident Australia’s pace attack can threaten every team in the World Cup, after they proved too good for Zimbabwe in the 91-run win in their opening game of the World Cup on Monday

Brydon Coverdale22-Feb-2011Ricky Ponting is confident Australia’s pace attack can threaten every team in the World Cup, after they proved too good for Zimbabwe in the 91-run win at Motera on Monday. Australia have gambled on a bowling unit full of speed for this tournament and Mitchell Johnson took 4 for 19 in the opening victory, while Shaun Tait and Brett Lee also fired.The Zimbabwe top-order batsmen were jumpy against Tait and Lee in particular, but the captain was most pleased by the accuracy of Johnson, who he believes can be one of the stars of the tournament. Although it’s difficult to draw from that performance how Australia will fare against the stronger teams, Ponting is confident that no batsman will enjoy facing the trio.”If we get those three up and running and bowling as well as they can, then I don’t care what team we’re playing against or what conditions we’re playing in, that intimidation is going to be there,” Ponting said. “Those three guys are pushing 150kph and with the conditions that we’ve seen, the ball’s going to reverse at different times here as well.”If we’ve got those three guys bowling well in reverse-swinging conditions, then it’s going to be difficult. They can intimidate because they can use their short balls well. They generally don’t give too much away either. If they’re all bowling well, we’ll go a long way in the tournament.”Ponting described Johnson’s effort against Zimbabwe as one of the best spells he had seen from the left-armer in one-day cricket, and his two wickets in two overs early in the innings helped halt Zimbabwe’s fight. Johnson has taken 32 ODI wickets at 21.25 in India and he is set to overtake Nathan Bracken as Australia’s most successful bowler in the country.Ponting believes that Johnson will succeed in the subcontinental conditions again, after an Australian summer in which it seemed like the bad old Mitchell Johnson was back to stay. But having been axed for the Adelaide Ashes Test, Johnson began to regain his form, and even before the Zimbabwe outing, the captain was confident he could be one of the key men in the World Cup.”With the skill set he’s got, he could be one of the players of the tournament, there’s no doubt about that,” Ponting said in the lead-up to the opening match. “We saw in the last couple of games in Australia how dangerous he can be with the bat. He went in as a pinch hitter in Sydney and got 50-odd for us there and changed the way the game was going.”He went to Perth then, and probably bowled as well as he bowled for the whole summer, got 3 for 18 or something and got a few runs as well. He’s in pretty good shape at the moment. He’s got the chance to be one of the outstanding players in this tournament.”Australia left Doug Bollinger and John Hastings out of their series opener, and after the success of the attack it is unlikely there will be any changes for their second match against New Zealand. Jason Krejza also showed some promising signs against Zimbabwe, collecting 2 for 28, and should hold his place for Friday’s game.

A round-up of the fourth round of games

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2011UAE extended their unbeaten run to four matches in the World Cricket League Division 2, completing an impressive eight-wicket win chasing just 87 against Uganda at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai. The win ensures UAE a place in the tournament’s final on April 15.Choosing to bat, Uganda were not able to get any partnerships going; the best in the innings was a paltry 15 runs. Left-arm spinner Shadeep Silva struck early – as he has done through the tournament – removing opener Akbar Baig to trigger Uganda’s collapse. The spinners continued to trouble the Uganda batsmen, with offspinner Mohammad Tauqir picking up two wickets in a five-over spell, and the side’s second left-arm spinner, Ahmed Raza, running through the middle order with figures of 4 for 17 in 7.1 overs.UAE were steady in their chase, knocking off the runs in just 17.2 overs. Opener Amjad Ali anchored the innings, finishing with 40 not out. Raza was Man of the Match for his four wickets, and said the fact the wicket had been played on a lot helped him. “This is the fourth time this wickets been played on and today it definitely helped me as a spinner,” he said. “It’s a good wicket and I felt I needed to prove myself today after a comparatively poor performance yesterday against Hong Kong.”I don’t think the conditions really helped Uganda, and we felt coming into this game that we had the upper hand as we beat them in the warm-up fixture we played before the event started. We’d really like to face Namibia in the final and beat them; it would be a great way to end the tournament.”

Raza is likely to get his wish as Namibia moved on to six points, after they got the tournaments’ highest total and beat Bermuda by 86 runs at the other ground of the Global Academy. With their impressive net run-rate, Nambia are out of reach of the other sides. Against Bermuda, they racked up 297 after electing to bat, with Ewald Steenkamp, Sarel Burger and Craig Williams all getting half-centuries. Steenkamp got 87 at the top of the order, and along with Burger, who got 59, gave the team a steady start. But the two had taken their time getting their runs and it needed Williams to play a whirlwind innings of 74 from 35 balls to get Namibia to a big total. Williams’ knock ensured Nambia scored at 10 runs an over in their last 14 overs. He hit seven sixes in his innings and knocked the wind out of Bermuda.The target always looked too stiff for Bermuda, and the loss of three early wickets didn’t help. Dion Stovell tried keeping them abreast of the required-rate with his 73 off 67 balls, and Lionel Cann got 53, but Bermuda were bowled out in 42.3 overs for 211. Left-arm spinner Louis van der Westhuizen was the most successful of Namibia’s bowlers, taking 4 for 14.The loss means Bermuda have no chance of making the final, but they can still stay in the division by staying in the top four. Their coach David Moore was impressed with the attitude of the batsmen but felt they needed to last longer. “In terms of batting we set off like a house on fire with Stovell and Cann, but those boys should really be getting centuries,” he said. “Our bowling was disappointing, it began very well but we just lost it.”Papa New Guinea’s seamers Hitolo Areni and Rarva Dikana took seven wickets between them to help their side successfully defend 217 against Hong Kong at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. PNG picked up wickets at regular intervals, and only five of Hong Kong’s batsmen got into double figures. Nizakat Khan got 55, and Najeeb Amar and Hussain Butt got thirties, but the rest of Hong Kong’s batting crumbled and they fell 43 runs short. PNG’s total was built on the back of Christopher Kent’s 59 and Mahuru Dai’s 43.

Confusion remains over Elton Chigumbura’s position as captain of Zimbabwe, but it would appear he has been retained ahead of Zimbabwe’s return to Tests in three months’ time

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2011Confusion remains over Elton Chigumbura’s position as captain of Zimbabwe, but it would appear he has been retained ahead of Zimbabwe’s return to Tests in three months’ time.It had initially been thought that Chigumbura was on the brink of handing in his resignation, wanting to concentrate on regaining his own form, but subsequent reports in local newspapers suggested first that he would retain control of the Twenty20 team but hand over the reins in the longer forms, and then that no resignation had happened and that Chigumbura was still in charge.”I’m still the captain of the national team and you can seek confirmation from Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC),” Chigumbura reportedly told . “Yes, at one time I contemplated quitting the post but I never officially tendered my resignation.”This would appear to contradict comments previously attributed to ZC managing director Ozias Bvute in the same newspaper, in which he explained that “the board only received a formal resignation letter from Chigumbura recently and they are still deliberating on the issue. Honestly, there is no hurry at all to name the new captain as the international calendar only resumes in August. There is still a lot of time before that.”It was suggested that Chigumbura had been pressured into his initial decision, but decided to stay on as captain after talks with ZC officials. “Chigumbura never intended to quit and most of the players know that,” a source allegedly told .”He was willing to continue working hard and regain his form and that is what he told the officials who were asking him to step down. He is a talented player and he has not become the worst over night and it is unfair for ZC to strip him now. It is a sensitive issue which had the potential to degenerate into another fight with Takashinga as they were already planning to protest moves to oust the player.”Chigumbura, 25, has enjoyed some notable successes since taking over from Prosper Utseya, including victories against India and Sri Lanka in a triangular series, in which Zimbabwe finished runners-up, at home. His own form has dipped alarmingly, however, as he’s averaged 21.06 with the bat and 158.50 with the ball in 20 ODIs as captain and was a disappointment at the World Cup.Batsmen Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Masakadza, who was controversially left out of Zimbabwe’s World Cup squad, were apparently in the running to take over the captaincy. Left-arm spinner Ray Price, who recently joined the Mumbai Indians squad in the Indian Premier League, emerged as the fans’ favourite to take over the leadership role, topping a poll in the , Zimbabwe’s largest government-owned newspaper.

Spinner Gary Keedy produced a stunning spell as Lancashire Lightning secured their first win in the Friends Life t20 with an eight-run victory over Worcestershire Royals

03-Jun-2011
ScorecardSpinner Gary Keedy produced a stunning spell as Lancashire Lightning secured their first win in the Friends Life t20 with an eight-run victory over Worcestershire Royals.Keedy claimed 3 for 15 in his four overs at Old Trafford to help turn the match around. At the end of the seventh over Worcestershire were coasting at 72 for 3 in reply to Lancashire’s 154 for seven. But Keedy, along with wicketkeeper Gareth Cross who made three stumpings, changed that as the Royals finished on 146 for 9.Moeen Ali hit six boundaries off as many balls in the opening two overs as the Royals raced to 26 at the end of the second. But he did not add to his 24 as he was trapped lbw by Kyle Hogg in the third.Vikram Solanki and Alexei Kervezee kept the run rate above 10 as the Royals passed 50 in the fourth. But Lancashire began to turn the game in their favour when Simon Kerrigan bowled Solanki for 13.Kervezee’s innings of 21 from just 10 balls ended in the next over as he chipped Hogg to Stephen Parry. Keedy then ripped the heart out of the Royals. James Cameron was caught in the deep by Steven Croft in Keedy’s first over, then Cross stumped Aneesh Kapil off the first ball of his next as Worcestershire slumped to 83 for 5.Cross struck again in Keedy’s final over as Ben Scott went for 6, and he made it a hat-trick of stumpings in the 16th as Gareth Andrew fell to Croft. Parry ended Daryl Mitchell’s resistance before Chris Whelan was run out in the penultimate over as Worcestershire fell short.Earlier, having won the toss, Tom Smith and Stephen Moore put on 38 in the opening four overs for Lancashire, with Moore smashing five boundaries against his former employers. Jack Shantry broke the partnership in the fifth when Smith was caught by Kervezee for 18. Moore followed in the next over from Whelan for 28.Paul Horton and Croft put on 42 for the third wicket in six overs before they both went in the space of three balls. First Horton was bowled by Ali for 20, and Croft followed in the same over lbw for 14.Solanki claimed his only wicket of the innings when Mitchell pulled off a brilliant catch to send Cross back for nine. Jordan Clark was dropped twice in successive balls in Shaaiq Choudhry’s last over by Shantry and Solanki, but he fell two overs later for 15, bowled by Andrew.Luke Procter led a late Lancashire rally, smashing 17 from just seven deliveries before he was bowled by Shantry, with Hogg’s 14 from 12 balls taking Lightning over the 150 mark.

Luke Sutton, the Derbyshire captain, has said that player power was the reason why coach John Morris and his assistant, Andy Brown, were told they were no longer wanted by the club

ESPNcricinfo staff16-May-2011Luke Sutton, the Derbyshire captain, has said that player power was the reason why coach John Morris and his assistant, Andy Brown, were told they were no longer wanted by the club.Morris and Brown were released from the contracts on Wednesday, midway through Derbyshire’s drawn Championship game with Essex. Club chairman Chris Grant canvassed each member of the first-team squad to find out the feeling within the playing staff and the coaching pair were subsequently released.”The fact that the reason for him [Morris] not having his contract extended was to do with the dressing room does make it untenable for him to continue,” Sutton told BBC Sport.”We were consulted individually because it was a big decision for the committee and the new chairman to make. In my opinion, that was the right thing to do. I think it’s fair to say the dressing room put their point across to the new chairman and that was reflected in the decision.”I only know what I said to the chairman. I was the last player to speak to him, so my conversations with the chairman were not only my feelings, we were also discussing the collective feelings he had gathered together. In truth, I was pretty sure I knew what the reaction would have been. I think you would have to say it was overwhelmingly negative.”The players feel a responsibility to make it clear to everyone where we stood because we have a brand new chairman who has made a very big decision and will take some flak for it and a large part of that responsibility is down to the dressing room.”I think it’s important that is expressed because I don’t want to just leave our new chairman hanging there to take the flak with the committee. The easier decision for the chairman was to extend his contract. What he has done is make a very tough decision very early on in his chairmanship.”Derbyshire are not looking for a replacement for Morris or Brown as yet, with Sutton, academy director Karl Krikken, bowling coach Steffan Jones and committee man Tony Borrington, a former Derbyshire player, filling the roles of Morris and Brown at least until the end of the season.Sutton, who returned to Derbyshire during the off-season after a spell at Lancashire, admitted that the events will affect the players but is hopeful that in the long term the best outcome has been found.”This has been a shock for everyone but it is very difficult for the guys in the dressing room because they know they are involved in something that people will talk about and that’s quite a destabilising thing,” he said.”I think we will be absolutely fine. It will take time to bed down a little because events have moved very quickly. It is very emotional, very raw, but we have got a very honest group of players and some good people at the club. The players have got a responsibility now to get on with it and we will. I can honestly say our spirit is outstanding and that won’t get less, it will strengthen.”

Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, has said Chris Gayle’s criticism of him in a public statement will not distract him from getting the national team into shape

Sriram Veera at the Kensington Oval02-Jul-2011Ottis Gibson, the West Indies coach, has said Chris Gayle’s criticism of him in a public statement will not distract him from getting the West Indies team into shape. Gayle, in a release, slammed the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and Gibson for what he claimed was unjust treatment that had resulted in his exclusion from the team. Gayle wrote that while he was not retiring from international cricket, he would seek opportunities outside the West Indies since he could no longer wait for the board to resolve its differences with him. Gibson said the matter now rested with the board and that neither he, nor the team, will be affected by Gayle’s comments.”I don’t want to say ‘no comments’ but it’s a board matter now,” Gibson said. “Chris knows that and it’s got nothing to do with me anymore. We had a meeting last weekend. Chris knows my stance. If he has come out and made these statements it’s up to him.”The board knows what my feeling is on the whole thing. We are trying to build a team, a team that can get competitive and start to win. Everybody has a part to play in that and Chris Gayle, too, has a part to play in that. If he has decided – and it seems so from a lot of things he has said – that he doesn’t feel he can be a part of that, he is choosing his own path and that’s up to him. Whatever Chris or anyone else has to say, that is outside the team bubble completely.”Gayle was scathing in his criticism of Gibson. “He [Gibson] is a man who sought my advice when things were not going well,” he said. “I could never imagine he would deliberately try to destroy my character, reputation and livelihood or question my commitment to West Indies cricket. I would not have believed, until I saw it in black and white, that he would devalue my leadership and try to destroy me without giving me a chance to respond.”In his reaction, Gibson reiterated he was concentrating solely on his team’s performance on the field. “It’s been going on for a while and I am trying my best not to get distracted by it. I have 13 other players here and the ODI squad and a whole lot of bigger issues to deal with.”I believe – and you might say otherwise – there are signs of improvement in our team. We are fielding well, the bowling unit is good – we have bowled India out twice. We need the batsmen to support our bowlers and if they start doing that we have the makings of a side capable of winning matches.”Gayle has been a big part of West Indies cricket for the last ten years and has been an influence on some of the young players in the current squad. When West Indies beat India in the fifth ODI, Marlon Samuels, who hit the winning runs, ran all the way to the stands to celebrate the victory with Gayle. While individual players may deal with the matter differently, the team, as a collective unit, will not get distracted by the current impasse, Gibson said.”You can’t stop a guy from being friendly with Chris or going on to the internet and talking to him. I can assure you that we don’t sit and have team meetings and discuss Chris Gayle; we discuss cricket. Gayle is not a subject of discussion in team meetings.”Gibson insisted West Indies were improving. Focus and direction have been his watchwords since he took over as coach in January 2010 and he said the concepts had sunk in with the team. “I said this to the guys: ‘I have come to build a team and you have to look at all the ingredients you have to build that team. And that team, the end product, might not include all you guys sitting in this room because we have got to have a direction.'”People have to understand the direction the team needs to go in to be successful. If everybody does what they want then there is no team.”So the team has to have a focus and I believe I have given them the focus. And direction. You can see the energy on the field. Chris is not in that team and obviously from what he is saying he doesn’t agree with the direction the team is taking and yet the team is improving. So he must ask himself that question too.”

A round up of the fifth day of matches of the European Championship Division One Twenty20

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2011Denmark emerged triumphant against Guernsey in the battle of the group-toppers in the semi-final in St Clement. In a combined batting effort, that included a knock of 40 from opener Shehzad Ahmed and useful contributions from the rest, Denmark posted 136. Rizwan Mahmood made an unbeaten 22 and Shehzad was involved in an opening stand of 55 with Freddie Klokker. Guernsey were spineless in their reply, bowled out for 78 after capitulating to offspinner Bashir Shah, who took 4 for 23. Opener Tim Ravenscroft made 24, but the others simply didn’t step up.Italy sealed their place in the tournament final, overcoming Jersey by 14 runs in St Martin. The backbone of their innings was a half-century from Damian Crowly, who made 55 in 44 balls with two fours and three sixes. Wicketkeeper Hayden Patrizi assisted him with an innings of 28, and Italy managed a competitive 133. In their response, Jersey were on track at 97 for 3 in the 16th over, with captain Peter Gough and Tony Carlyon adding 41 for the fourth wicket. But Crowley removed both batsmen in the same over and the rest of the batting failed to measure up, reaching only 119 in the end.France beat Austria by five runs in St Saviour to qualify for the fifth-place final in the European Championship Division One Twenty20. Arun Ayyavooraju made a run-a-ball 48 and was supported by Usman Khan’s 25 in France’s score of 113. It was a gettable target but none of the Austria batsmen got going. Opener Aman Deep fell for 25, Syed Qamar made 18 and only two others got to double-figures. Legspinner Zika Ali took 4 for 12 and his spell proved decisive in keeping Austria to 108.In the other fifth-place play-off semi-final, Norway beat Belgium in a last-over thriller in St Brelade. For Belgium, wicketkeeper Ali Raza top-scored with 31 and was supported by contributions of 24 from captain Simon Newport and 15 from Shaival Mehta. Though Norway lost wickets at regular intervals in the chase, their batsmen managed enough to seal victory with four balls to spare. Zaheer Ashiq and captain Zeeshan Ali made 26 and 21 respectively, pacing their innings well, and Iftikhar Hussain scored at better than a run-a-ball for his unbeaten 31, which made the difference in the end.Germany thrashed Croatia in the ninth-place play-off semi-final in St Helier. Captain Asif Khan smashed 56 in 25 balls and was aided by quickfire cameos from Kashif Mahmood (39 in 20) and an unbeaten 37 in 16 balls from Kashif Haider. Germany notched up an imposing 222 and Croatia, not helped by the fact that there was only one batsman who captialised on starts – Nikola Davidovic made 47 in 30 balls – only mustered up 132.Gibraltar defeated Israel in the other nine-place play-off semi-final in St Brelade. Josh Evans and Herschel Gutman picked up three wickets each to restrict Gibraltar to 110. In an innings that lacked big contributions, opener David Coram top-scored with 32. However, the score proved more than enough. Only one Israeli batsman – Itamar Kehimkar – reached double-figures, as Gibraltar, led by Ross Harkins’ 3 for 6, eased home by 43 runs.

A round-up of the action on the second day of the final round of three-day matches in the Emerging Players Tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2011India Emerging Players reached an excellent position to force an innings win over Australian Institute of Sport at Endeavour Park No.2 in Townsville.Overnight batsmen Ajinkya Rahane and Ashok Menaria notched up centuries to take India into the lead and the rest of the top and middle order also cashed in. A series of useful partnerships and an attacking century from Saurabh Tiwary helped bat AIS out of the game. Manoj Tiwary made 59 off 62 balls, smashing five sixes. Once Rahane and he were dismissed, Saurabh stepped up with Manish Pandey in a dominating stand. Saurabh struck 14 fours and seven sixes in his 151 off 148 balls while Pandey’s 66 came off 50 balls, a knock laced with six sixes. The AIS bowlers struggled to contain the runs and were only able to bowl out India after conceding a lead of 229.Captain Ryan Carters put up a fight in the second innings as his team tried to save the game, remaining unbeaten on 56, but lost two partners before the close. AIS ended the day on 93 for 2, still 136 adrift.In a match dominated by the bat so far, South Africa Emerging Players held the advantage at the end of the second day against New Zealand A at Endeavour Park in Townsville. After New Zealand had racked up 382 for 7, opener Reeza Hendricks and No.4 batsman Farhaan Behardien went about leading South Africa’s reply. The pair came together at 101 for 2 and added 225 for the third wicket, scoring centuries along the way. Hendricks remained unbeaten on 184, striking 14 fours and seven sixes while Behardien also dealt in boundaries with six sixes in his 116. Behardien was bowled by seamer Brent Arnel, the most economical of New Zealand’s bowlers, but South Africa reached 374 for 3 at stumps, just eight runs behind what New Zealand managed.