All posts by csb10.top

All Today’s Yesterdays – August 6 down the yearsAugust 5| August 71998
Lucky numbers for Mark Butcher, who scored his maiden Test hundred in his 13th Test, against South Africa at Headingley. It was a vital contribution: England won by only 23 runs to take the series 2-1.1997
Sanath Jayasuriya’s date with destiny. He woke on 326 not out, within 50 of the highest score in Test history, against India in Colombo. But Jayasuriya added only 14 before he fell to Rajesh Chauhan for 340. There were a few other records though: Sri Lanka stormed to 952 for 6 – the highest score in Test history – and Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama batted throughout two full day’s play. In all they added 576, a record for any Test wicket. Pity poor Indian spinner Nilesh Kulkarni. He nabbed Marvan Atapattu with his first ball in Test cricket – and ended with figures of 70-12-195-1.1999
The day Peter Such got a standing ovation – for a duck. Such had survived 51 balls and 72 minutes against New Zealand at Old Trafford – and helped Mark Ramprakash add 31 – but his reception summed up the desperate, almost blackly comic, mood of English cricket. Rarely has it got any lower than this. England didn’t lose this Test, but their first-innings 199 came off a buttock-clenching 109.1 overs, and then New Zealand took 496 pieces of candy off a desperate England attack. Rain gave England a reprieve … but only for two weeks. Thirteen days later, at a dark, dank Oval, England lost the match, the series – and became the worst team in the world according to the Wisden World Championship table.1953
Slow left-armer Iqbal Qasim was born. Often partnered by Abdul Qadir, he took 171 wickets in 50 Tests for Pakistan and his 7 for 49 against Australia in 1979-80 is in the Wisden 100.1994
In a drawn match at Headingley, South Africa’s Peter Kirsten scored his only Test century at the age of 39. His half-brother Gary Kirsten was also in the team. The next Test at The Oval, which England won to square the series, was Peter’s last.1985
A captain’s innings of 146 not out by Allan Border saved Australia from defeat at Old Trafford after England had led by 225 on first innings.1966
Opening batsman Peter Lashley took the ball and dismissed Geoff Boycott with his third delivery in Test cricket, the only wicket he took for West Indies, whose win at Headingley sealed the series.1933
Birth of Indian batsman Kripal Singh, who scored 100 not out in his debut Test innings, against New Zealand in 1955-56, but managed only another 322 runs in the rest of his 14-Test career.Other birthdays
1911 Norman Gordon (South Africa)
1947 Tony Dell (Australia)
1965 Vince Wells (England)
1969 Simon Doull (New Zealand)
1971 Piyal Wijetunge (Sri Lanka)

Philip Weston, the 29 year-old Worcestershire left-handed opening batsman who joined the county in 1989, has been released from the final year of his contract. He has joined Gloucestershire on a two-year deal.Weston appeared in 170 first-class matches for Worcestershire, scoring 9,132 runs at an average of 34.07 with 17 hundreds. He was not as well-suited to limited-overs cricket in which he played 128 matches, scoring 2,157 runs at an average of 20.94 but he did manage two centuries.He captained England at Under 19 level and in 1991 scored 146 in an Under 19 `Test’ against the Australian Young Cricketers side captained by Damien Martyn and including Adam Gilchrist.He comes from a sporting family of the highest pedigree. His brother, Robin, has played for Durham, Derbyshire and Middlesex, while father, Mike, played minor counties cricket for Durham and was a notable rugby union international winning 29 England caps.Director of cricket at Gloucestershire, John Bracewell, said: "For some time we have been searching the country for a tall left-handed opener who likes to get forward. The last two years, we have witnessed Philip Weston’s skills from the wrong side of the county line. We believe Philip has the skills to contribute in all forms of cricket and, at the age of 29, is in his most productive years.”The players and I believe that Philip is a major signing for us in our pursuit of the best balanced team in county cricket.”We welcome both Philip and his wife Sarah to GCCC and wish him every success."

New Zealand may be well into their World Cup campaign but soon after the Cup is completed, however far New Zealand progresses, a side has still to be picked for the tour of Sri Lanka.The tour, which starts on April 15, involves two two-day warm-up games, two Tests, starting on April 25 and May 3 respectively, and a one-day tri-series with Sri Lanka and Pakistan starting on May 10, with New Zealand’s first game on May 11, in which the New Zealanders will play the other two sides twice with a final being played on May 23.Given the fact that Nathan Astle will be missing from the side in order to have surgery on his knee, and that top-order batting spaces, as well as possible bowling spaces will be available, there is plenty of incentive for batsmen playing in the State Championship to be making a mark.With that in mind, the top of the run scoring list for the Championship lacks some names that might normally be expected to be there, most notably Mark Richardson and Matt Horne.Both are potential Test openers for New Zealand.Lou Vincent was used as Richardson’s opening partner in the home series against India this year but there was never the sense that he had claimed the position for himself.And if run scoring is anything to go by, it may not be an issue that has been cleared up, to this stage at least.Going into today’s seventh round of games in the Championship, Richardson had scored 227 runs at 32.42 so far from his five matches. That placed him in 21st place on the list for most runs and with Pakistan’s Mohammad Wasim and Gloucestershire county professional Craig Spearman out of the running, 19th on the list.Horne was four places further back on 220 runs at 31.42.Sitting on top of the list was Wellington’s consistent Richard Jones, who had 438 runs at 43.80, but perhaps more significantly with the longer term aim in view, in second was Rob Nicol with 436 runs at 54.50 and Tim McIntosh 425 at 53.12.Wasim was next in line with Michael Papps the only other New Zealander to have scored more than 400 runs with his 402 at 44.66.Given that Richardson is unlikely to be overlooked unless affected by injury, the way may well be clear for the selectors to look at introducing new blood.Where does Mathew Sinclair fit into all this? Is Jones at 29 years out of the selectors thoughts? Or is the inclination to draft a younger player into the side?The other area of interest is in the faster bowling stakes.Shane Bond is a must to be in the side before joining with Warwickshire in the County Championship. But who might accompany him: World Cup squad members Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills, or the recovering from injury Ian Butler and Shayne O’Connor?Where do Jacob Oram and Andre Adams fit into the picture? Will some of the players be regarded as one-day specialists and sent for the latter part of the tour? Where does the 12th man from the Indian series Michael Mason fit into the scheme of things? And what of Chris Cairns?At the moment, Iain O’Brien heads the bowling list with 25 wickets at 15.60. Andrew Penn is second on 23 wickets at 18.91 while O’Connor has 22 wickets at 18.13.Mason is behind Wellington’s Matthew Walker (22 wickets) on 21 wickets at 18.95 while Butler, who has played only three games has 14 wickets at 18.71.And what of the spinning situation? Clearly a slow bowler will be needed to accompany Daniel Vettori. The best-performed to date is the former international Paul Wiseman with 12 wickets at an average of 38.33.Left-arm slow Bruce Martin has nine wickets, as does Glen Sulzberger, but their respective averages are 23.22 and 53.11. Leg-spinners Brooke Walker and Aaron Redmond have eight wickets each, at averages of 33.75 and 30.37.It is not exactly the most dazzling case to put before the selectors. So the last four rounds offer plenty of scope for potential team-members.Although there has been a plethora of one-day cricket, it is worth remembering that the incumbent Test team is: Richardson, Vincent, Stephen Fleming, Craig McMillan, Astle, Scott Styris, Oram, Robbie Hart, Vettori, Tuffey and Bond.

Hyderabad chased down a high target to register a close two-wicket win in their Ranji one-day match against Kerala at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.Winning the toss, Kerala batted first and racked up 273/8 in their allotted 50 overs. The stars of the innings were VT Suresh, AN Kudva and Sunil Oasis. Suresh and Kudva put on 124 runs for the second wicket, with the former scoring 63 and the latter making 70.Further down the order, Oasis made a brisk 47 off 49 balls. For Hyderabad, JS Yadav took 4-34, and was easily the best of the bowlers on view.Hyderabad opener GA Shetty made a sedate 59 at the top of the order, proving the anchor role in a well-planned innings. His partner A Nand Kishore scored 32, but it was Anirudh Singh who really provided the impetus, making an unbeaten 86 off 80 balls.AS Yadav, giving good company to Anirudh Singh, made 41 off as many balls. Hyderabad squeaked in to victory in 49.3 overs, making 274 for eight.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) announced today that their three-year television, radio and sponsorship deal with WSG Nimbus had been terminated.An official BCCSL release issued this afternoon from Colombo states: "The Master Rights Agreement between the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) and WSG Nimbus Pte. Ltd. has ceased to exist.""The BCCSL has called for expressions of interest for the television rights, radio rights, title sponsorship and ground runners from the companies which were short-listed by the pervious administration."According to a BCCSL spokesman, WSG Nimbus had paid for the England and Indian tours to Sri Lanka earlier this year, but had "repeatedly delayed payments" to the extent that the board was being put in a "serious financial situation."They claim that WSG Nimbus’s failure to meet payment deadlines in the run-up to the scheduled West Indies tour of Sri Lanka forced them into taking action.The BCCSL sought the advice of the Attorney General last week and, according to the BCCSL, he was in agreement that the "terms of contract had been breached" and that the agreement therefore "ceased to operate."The BCCSL then sought and received an injunction from the Commercial High Court in Sri Lanka, which prevents WSG Nimbus in interfering in negotiations with other rights brokers and broadcasters.Earlier in the year, just before England’s tour, the BCCSL had also taken action in the courts against WSG Nimbus. On that occasion the dispute was settled amicably, but BCCSL now maintains that the terms of that settlement were not fully adhered to.The BCCSL has called for fresh tenders for a three-year period, starting November 2001, which includes tours by West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Pakistan, England, Australia and South Africa.Despite the potentially devastating effects of America’s war against Afganisation on tours to the Asian region the BCCSL remained upbeat about the future negotiations."Sri Lanka has steadily risen up the Test and One-Day ratings," said the board spokesman. "We have some high profile and very exciting players and with a number of top teams coming to Sri Lanka over the coming three-years we are optimistic of reaching an excellent deal for Sri Lankan cricket."Trans World International (TWI) narrowly lost out on the original deal, reputed to be USD 27.1 million, and are now believed to be favourites to secure the rights.WSG Nimbus had also been negotiating a new three-year team sponsorship deal in recent weeks. The BCCSL claimed today that this would not be affected, saying that the successful company, believed to be Dilmah Tea, was now dealing directly with the board and was expected to formally sign on Friday.

How long will it be before there is a full-blown transfer system in English county cricket? The answer to that question might be that there is one already in place; it is just that no money changes hands between counties.The topic has returned as a current issue with the news that James Ormond, who opened the bowling for England in the Test that has just finished in India, has signed a three-year contract with Surrey. The 24 year-old had been with Leicestershire since he was 17, and has been building up an impressive track record.Ormond played for England Under-19s and England A before making his full Test debut at The Oval last summer against Australia. He made his county debut for Leicestershire in 1995, since when he took 225 wickets at an average of 25.67 in first-class cricket and 101 wickets at 22.57 in one-day cricket.As is all too common in the modern game, however, a small county club – or a county club perceived to be small – does not have the allure or financial clout of a large, metropolitan county that has a Test match ground as its headquarters. It says much for Leicestershire that despite this handicap they won the championship in 1996 and 1998 and reached the final of the C & G Trophy last season.Leicestershire will not be amused to see photographs of Ormond kitted out in his new Surrey garb holding up a shirt with “Ormond 13” emblazoned upon it, just as if he was a footballer signing for, say, Manchester United. In cricketing terms, that is a fair analogy.Surrey now have 15 players with international experience on their books. That might appear excessive, but with such playing strength comes obligations to honour Test calls, and they will argue that they need a large pool of proven talent to withstand absences on international duty and injury. Sir Alex Ferguson frequently sings from the same hymn sheet.It could have been Fergie, but was in fact the Surrey chief executive Paul Sheldon, who said: “This is a tremendous signing for the club and will give us the strength in depth to challenge for all four major competitions next season.” Or it could have been Wenger, O’Leary or Houllier.The player himself is quoted as saying: “I am extremely excited about signing for such an ambitious club. To be playing in a side with so many talented and experienced players I hope that I can improve my game as well as help Surrey win more silverware in the future.” It could have been Fowler….ad nauseam.Nobody can attach any blame for this to Surrey or Ormond. The club’s purpose is to be as successful as possible. It is an admirable objective and to achieve it there is a need to have the strongest possible playing staff.Certainly no blame should be apportioned to Ormond. A promising cricketer with abundant talent and a very friendly, open personality, he has every right to run his career as he sees will be most beneficial for him.While feeling sympathy for Leicestershire at losing a fine prospect that they had nurtured so carefully over the years, and while feeling certain misgivings that it is not an altogether desirable trend in the game, there is no avoiding the facts.The cosy, amateurish way of English cricket in the 20th century has gone for good. It is now a fully professional sporting business. The time will come when there will be one group of counties producing players and another buying them in. Some will not survive because they will not have the financial muscle, which is why there is such jockeying for position now.The main danger is that the great sympathy that the English public has for cricket might well be dissipated. Unless there is something tangible to replace the old-fashioned charm of cricket, the appeal might just prove to be an illusion.

The Celtic fringe is rising. After the successes enjoyed by Scotland in their debut season of National League cricket, today it was Ireland’s turn to shine – and they did it in style with a romping ten-wicket win against a dishevelled Zimbabwe side at the Civil Service ground at Stormont.Jason Molins, Ireland’s captain, led from the front as he smashed 107 not out from 101 balls with 14 fours and two sixes – the first century for Ireland against a touring team since Andrew Dunlop’s against South Africa in 1998. And with the help of their adopted Aussie, Jeremy Bray (67 not out), the Irish cruised to their first victory over a touring team since their famous crushing of West Indies in 1969.The fact that Ireland won with over 16 overs to spare emphasises how much of a stroll it was for Molins and Bray. They both made light of the heavy outfield and were in command all the way. Molins, in particular, dominated the bowling, driving and pulling powerfully and being particularly severe on Gary Brent, who clearly had not yet acclimatized.Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe’s acting captain, called on eight bowlers in search of a breakthrough, but none of them, not even the three who played in the last Test against England, could make any inroads.But it was a different story for the Irish bowlers as Paul Mooney and Gary Neely struck early on to reduce Zimbabwe to an embarrassing 12 for 3. Dion Ebrahim (52) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (50) did then engineer a recovery of sorts, but Zimbabwe’s eventual total of 182 was never going to be enough.The weather conditions were as variable as the Zimbabwe batting – a bit of drizzle, a bit of warm sun, but mostly overcast. For the Zimbabweans, the worst was first. Douglas Marillier drove optimistically at the third ball of the innings and Paul Mooney knocked his leg stump out of the ground, without a run on the board. Charles Coventry followed suit in Mooney’s next over, before Richie Sims was caught in the slips off Neely for the second duck in the innings.Disaster loomed, but Ebrahim and Matsikenyeri engineered a recovery by adding 96 for the fourth wicket. Ebrahim dug in without looking convincing, as he had done in the Riverside Test, while Matsikenyeri played with the ease and technique he shows in Zimbabwe domestic cricket but rarely against international opposition.Matsikenyeri was the first to reach his half-century, but then became over-ambitious and was easily stumped off Andrew White. Ebrahim also suffered a loss of concentration, bowled by Kyle McCallan as he attempted a forcing stroke off the back foot, and when Sean Ervine was slow to respond to Tatenda Taibu’s call for a quick single, Zimbabwe were back in the bog at 133 for 6.It was once again left to Taibu, captain for this brief leg of the tour, to salvage the innings. He found a useful partner in Travis Friend, who contributed some big hits in his 22. But when Friend was caught behind, the end came in a familiar flurry. Gary Brent was superbly caught and bowled by Andre Botha without scoring, and then Taibu (35) was caught at fine leg off Botha attempting a Marillier-esque scoop over the keeper. Waddington Mwayenga was last man out, caught off Neilly in the final over, to complete a poor performance and pave the way for another humiliating defeat ahead of the NatWest Series.

The sun finally shone in Kandy, but that did not brighten the mood of theWestIndian players, who suffered yet another batting collapse; a capitulationthat squashed any faint hopes of squaring this Janashkathi National Testseries and leaves them with a desperate fight for survival tomorrow.This morning a draw appeared a near certainty after two rain-ruined days,but Sri Lanka dominated the day to such extent that they now have a goodchance to finish off the Kandy jinx.Sri Lanka bowled out West Indies for 191 and then added 128 for one in theirsecond innings to finish the day with a healthy 225 run lead on a pitch thatis offering both the pace bowlers and spinners encouragement.With Brian Lara waiting in the wings, setting totals is a dangerous businessand no easy targets will be offered tomorrow. Sri Lankan coach Dav Whatmoresaid afterwards that they were looking at 300-odd in 80 overs (105 overs arescheduled tomorrow) depending on how quickly they are able to score.In normal circumstances, the West Indies would be expected to salvage adraw. But so meekly did the batsmen play today that a further calamitousperformance cannot be ruled out.After three innings so far in the tour, there is the widespread belief thatthe West Indies fifth wicket signals the eminent innings close. In Galle thelast five wickets yielded just 25 and 13 runs respectively. Here, theyrealised 24 runs.One dare not wonder their plight had Brian Lara not been batting somewherenear his regal best. He followed scores of 178 and 44 in Galle with abrilliant 74 before he was last man out today.West Indies, starting the fourth day on 39 for one, lost regular wicketsthroughout their 66.5 over innings. The early damage was inflicted byMuttiah Muralitharan, who took three wickets in the morning and four in all,but the most eye-catching performance came from Chaminda Vaas.Vaas, normally the team’s journeyman, has been working hard during the last12 months to try to master the art of reverse swing. Today he showed he hadgone a long way towards learning that devastating skill, as the old ballbent all over the place in a final six over burst that yielded four wickets(6-3-12-4).He was pulled into the attack by acting captain Marvan Atapattu after afrustrating 41 stand between Lara and Ridley Jacobs, who had swept his wayto 24. Second ball, though, he dragged the ball onto his stumps.Mervyn Dillon, back in good health after his mystery chest injury, thenplayed and missed four times before edging a low catch to Kumar Sangakkarabehind the stumps.Vaas’s next ball veered into Dinanath Ramnarine’s pads at the last momentand umpire John Hampshire upheld the appeal. Pedro Collins averted ahat-trick but was also trapped lbw for a 21-minute duck.Vaas should also have been awarded the wicket of Lara, with another sharpinswinger, but it did not prove expensive. Lara left high and dry by hiscolleagues, tried to farm the strike, but was eventually trapped lbw byMuralitharan.Earlier in the day, Ramnaresh Sarwan started the Caribbean procession inMuralitharan’s second over of the morning, as he lost his balance and wasbowled through the gate for 17.Chris Gayle had looked in prime form last night, hitting the ball withtremendous power. This morning he started more cautiously, but havingfinally opened his boundary count with two rollicking drives off Vaas andthen Muralitharan, he flailed wildly at an inswinger from Nuwan Zoysa andlost his middle stump.Three wickets down for 72, the onus once again fell up captain Carl Hooperand Brian Lara. They battled hard in the opening stages, as both Zoysa andMuralitharan bowled good spells, but runs started to flow freely whenleft-arm spinner Niroshan Banadaratillake was brought on to bowl.Muralitharan was reintroduced from the opposite end and he finally won abattle of pad play with Hooper, who was caught stranded on his crease andadjudged lbw by umpire Gamini Silva.Marlon Samuels has looked totally at sea against Muralitharan and he quicklyedged a catch behind for a duck.In a long evening session Sri Lanka’s openers started the second inningscautiously, mindful of collapses in previous situations in Kandy.Jayasuriya went onto score 53, his first half-century of the tour, before hedrove straight into the covers. Marvan Atapattu batted out the day and was58 at the close.

In a new twist of event in what now seems to be an unending saga, it appears as though certain members of the WICB’s Management Committee are determined to see the back of CEO, Gregory Shillingford. The revelation was contained in a letter to board members seeking clarification on his further employment with the WICB.Shillingford, who along with former president and vice president (Rousseau and Joseph) in May fired West Indies team manager, Ricky Skerritt by email, now seems headed out of office himself.According to Shillingford, he was told by Marketing Manager Chris Dehring on Thursday that he (Dehring) had been asked to act as CEO by two board members since they were going to ask him (Shillingford) to leave office within 30 days. This of course, came as a surprise and was the reason for Shillingford’s latest letter to board members.In his letter dated 5th July, Shillingford wrote: “This afternoon Mr. Chris Dehring disclosed to me that Board members Messrs DeSouza (Richard) and Singh (Chetram) of the WICB management committee asked him to act as CEO because they were going to ask me to leave the WICB within thirty days.””This information has been confirmed to me by other members of staff who relate that the same members of the management committee told them that ‘come what may Shillingford will be out of here within 30 days.’ “It is useful to note that all of this was happening while both the president and vice president designate of the WICB (Wes Hall and Val Banks), were visiting the board’s headquarters and meeting the staff in Antigua.The CEO’s letter continues thus “This afternoon, prior to Chris Dehring and other staff disclosing the above to me, I had a meeting with Messrs DeSouza and Singh who spoke to me about plans for Andrew Sealy to hold on until December 2001, for Richard Jodhan to hold on for a month to six weeks following his letter of resignation dated July 3, 2001, and the hiring of staff to be deferred until the new president and vice-president were installed.””At no time did they disclose to me their plans to terminate or sever my services at the WICB. No evaluation of my performance since taking up the post as CEO has been carried out by Messrs DeSouza and Singh, nor has there been an evaluation by the members of the current management committee.””In the circumstances I find the behaviour of the two directors strangeand certainly not in keeping with proper professional practice. I therefore require clarification by the Board of the above action and of my position as chief executive officer. Please treat this matter with the seriousness and urgency it deserves.””I hate to forecast where we are going. The same fellows who accused Pat (Rousseau), Clarvis (Joseph) and myself of not going through the proper channels in dealing with Skerritt, are the same ones who are doing this. On top of that, they have not evaluated me, they have said nothing to me. My file is clean. The only thing in it is my letter of appointment.”However, the WICB in response to the above admitted that “the management committee was concerned about issues that emerged from that process (firing of Skerritt) in connection with Mr Shillingford.” The release further confirmed that “while a meeting took place between Mr Shillingford and two members of the management committee on Thursday the issues pertinent to Mr Shillingford were not addressed at that meeting since the two members opted to defer the discussion until the full committee was available.”One thing that was confirmed though, was that “the management committee had however considered the option of discussing an amicable separation agreement, if this was felt to be necessary and appropriate following discussions with Mr Shillingford.” The approval of the full board would be required to implement such action. Shillingford was appointed CEO in November to replace the retired Steve Comacho.