The bare statistics of Jack Stackpoole’s first-class career as a medium-fast bowler are unremarkable but his real claim to fame was he was one of only two men to dismiss Don Bradman first ball

Martin Williamson16-Dec-2010The bare statistics of Jack Stackpoole’s first-class career as a medium-fast bowler are unremarkable – three matches for Queensland immediately before World War two brought an end to cricket for the duration – but his real claim to fame was he was one of only two men to dismiss Don Bradman first ball.Stackpoole, who has died at the age of 93, was born in Queensland but raised in South Australia, returning home as a teenager and after impressing in Grade cricket, he was drafted into the state side for their home Sheffield Shield match against South Australia. His debut was remarkable.Bradman won the toss and batted, but South Australia were bowled out inside two sessions, Stackpoole taking career-best figures of 6 for 72, including Bradman, caught at silly mid-on, much to the disgust of a large crowd who had turned up to see the Don bat. He took 3 for 66 in the second innings as Queensland sneaked a two-wicket win.Stackpoole modestly told The Argus newspaper it was “just the luck of the game … I don’t want to be made a hero at Don’s expense because I am a great admirer of his.”After two more appearances the war stopped competitive cricket and Stackpoole went on to serve in campaigns against the Japanese in the Far East. He returned and continued bowling steadily in Grade cricket but was not given another chance for Queensland. He went on to become a state selector.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has promised that all the details of the Pakistan spot-fixing investigation will be revealed once the verdict is announced on February 5

Andrew McGlashan in Melbourne15-Jan-2011Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has promised that all the details of the Pakistan spot-fixing investigation will be revealed once the verdict is announced on February 5. The six-day tribunal in Doha concluded without a final decision and it was revealed two Tests were now under scrutiny.The key development over those days, where information was scarce and carefully controlled, was the charges brought against Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt in relation to The Oval Test, the third of the series, which wasn’t part of the initial spot-fixing controversy that erupted after a News of the World sting during the Lord’s Test that concluded the contest.Amir and Asif were cleared regarding The Oval match before the conclusion of the hearing in Doha but Butt, the Pakistan captain for the series in England, remains under investigation. Despite that news becoming public, Lorgat wouldn’t elaborate on the details which led the ICC to extending their investigation towards the match Pakistan won by four wickets to level the series.”You’ll recall when we held a press conference when the spot fixing first broke in London, Sir Ronnie Flanagan [the head of the ACSU] and myself indicated that wherever the evidence leads us we will proceed to investigate in absolute detail,” Lorgat told reporters in Melbourne.”As we proceeded with the initial Lord’s Test that was the subject of the original investigation there were certain leads which led us to The Oval Test match. We weren’t prepared to leave any stone unturned so we presented certain charges for that match as well.”We don’t comment on investigations, we don’t report on ACSU matters and once all of this is said and done and the verdict is out a more full report will be provided.”Despite the delay in the final outcome of the hearings, which means the decision will be given even closer to the World Cup, Lorgat was satisfied with how the investigation had moved. “I am pleased with the progress we have made,” he said. “It is a short space of time, it is a complex matter and it is running alongside a criminal investigation. I believe we have done very well to get to this position with a six-day tribunal that has sat and now we await a judgement.”None of the three players central to the controversy will be involved in Pakistan’s World Cup campaign, but the new date for a ruling on the case is just two weeks before the tournament launches on February 19. As much as the ICC try to separate the two it is likely to provide a significant cloud of the major global one-day competition.

Muttiah Muralitharan has signed a two-year deal with Gloucestershire exclusively for Twenty20 cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Feb-2011Muttiah Muralitharan has signed a two-year deal with Gloucestershire exclusively for Twenty20 cricket. Muralitharan will be free of international commitments for the period, since he is set to call time on his international career at the World Cup. He retired from Test cricket last year with an unprecedented 800 wickets, and is the leading wicket-taker in one-dayers as well, with 517 dismissals. Following his international retirement, his time is likely to be divided between Twenty20 leagues, including the IPL, a potential guest spin-coach role in Australia, and the Gloucestershire assignment.”I am really looking forward to playing for Gloucestershire,” Muralitharan said. “It is a young exciting team and I hope I can add some experience to the mix. The last time I played at Bristol I took five wickets and I look forward to an exciting t20 competition with the Gladiators.”Announcing the news on the GCCC website, Gloucestershire chief Tom Richardson said: “Signing Muttiah Muralitharan has given everybody in the club a great boost and there is a real buzz about the place. He is someone who can add huge value and we are all very much looking forward to working with him.”The club’s director of cricket, John Bracewell, and team captain Alex Gidman echoed Richardson’s views. “This is an exciting, and once in a lifetime opportunity to work and play with one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game,” Bracewell said. “Whenever I have watched and observed Murali he has always had and shown an infectious love for the game of cricket. This is something that I personally am looking forward to working with.”I can’t wait to meet and to play with Muttiah Muralitharan. From the players’ point of view, it will be a great experience and I am sure we will learn a huge amount from him. This has given us a huge boost going into the 2011 season.”In addition to Muralitharan, Gloucerstershire are actively pursuing an overseas player to stay for the whole season.

For the past three months Canada’s squad has been hard at work preparing for their country’s fourth appearance at the World Cup

Umar Ali 11-Feb-2011For the past three months Canada’s squad has been hard at work preparing for their country’s fourth appearance at the World Cup.In squad are five players aged 20 or younger – Nitish Kumar, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Hamza Tariq, Hiral Patel and Parth Desai – all five of whom played in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup team, and are now looking ahead to their first outing on the main stage.”The Under-19 World Cup experience really helped me [become] knowledgeable of what level the other Under-19 players in the [ICC] member countries are at and how to fine tune my game to become a better cricketer,” said stand-out batsman Gunasekera.”A lot of players came through the Under-19 World Cup [team], so it was a good experience and I got to know what international cricket is going to be [like],” added fellow batsman Patel.With such a young group, it’s understandable to think the long road training for the World Cup would grow tiresome, but they see it as an experience they’ve been waiting for their entire lives. “My goal was to play in this World Cup in 2011 and I’ve been preparing for a much longer time than the three months,” said Gunasekera. “From the day I picked up a bat my dream was to play at a World Cup and I think all of the players here that’s what they dreamt of when they picked up a bat or a ball.”Since beginning their World Cup training process in India back in November, Canada have participated in a number of tours and the youngsters have been able to stay concerned with the task at hand to overcome the gruelling regime en route to the World Cup. “We don’t think that far ahead when we’re on other tours, so that’s how we stay focused every time we go on tour,” said Patel. “Yeah we’re away from families but it’s World Cup time.”Though it’s a privilege for the young group to play on the world stage, participating amongst the elite is not the ultimate goal. Rather, producing results that have never been seen for Canada is on the minds of the youthful core.”Make a name for Canada at the World Cup, since we’ve only won one game [at the World Cup]. The first thing that comes to my mind is Ireland reaching the Super 8 [at the] last World Cup, so I think we have to at least repeat that,” said Gunasekera.With such lofty goals the youngsters understand what it will take for the team to reach the quarter-finals. “We know what we have to do, what the team has to do to succeed, we all know our roles and goals, so it’s hard to lose focus as long as we stick with the team,” said backup wicketkeeper Tariq.There’s no shortage of experience on the Canadian roster and the younger members have used all the experience available to improve their own games, inheriting the enthusiastic work ethic the elder players demonstrate.”Looking at all the senior players and how you get [there] pushes you when you’re practising. You want to do what they’ve done to get to where they are right now,” said Tariq. “They share their experiences with me so that’s helped me a lot and they’ve gone through the system as well, so their experience I use as my guidelines to help me survive at this level,” added Patel.Though the older players are there to assist their younger counterparts, Gunasekera says it’s ultimately up to the players themselves to improve. “I think all their experience [will] help you transition to the national system and once you’re there I think it’s up to you how you handle the situation and how to improve from there.”

Pakistan will consider using Umar Akmal as a wicketkeeper in their remaining group games in a bid to offset the disastrous glovework of his elder brother Kamran

Osman Samiuddin in Pallekele09-Mar-2011Pakistan will consider using Umar Akmal as a wicketkeeper in their remaining group games in the World Cup in a bid to offset the disastrous glovework of his elder brother Kamran. Akmal senior missed three chances in Tuesday’s big loss to New Zealand, including the centurion Ross Taylor twice in three balls when he was on 0 and 4.Those chances come on the back of two missed stumpings in the win against Sri Lanka and over four years of constant, error-strewn performances. “It [keeping with Umar] is very much an option and we might try it in the next game,” captain Shahid Afridi told .As a sign of Pakistan’s concern over Kamran’s form with gloves and bat – he has only three dismissals so far and averages less than 30 as a batsman – Afridi did not rule out the possibility not playing him as a specialist batsman and dropping Kamran altogether. “We have five days now before our next game, so whatever is better for the team we will try it,” he said.Kamran is the only specialist wicketkeeper in the squad but Umar kept for the side in one ODI against South Africa last November, after Zulqarnain Haider fled to London. He was also behind the wickets for three T20s in New Zealand soon after.”If you see him train, he puts in a lot of hard work. I don’t know why but luck has deserted him,” Afridi said. “He is also upset about his performance [against New Zealand] and he realizes it too.” Asked by the channel how “luck” seems to have deserted him so often in the last four years, Afridi smiled and said, “I can’t give an exact answer to that. My job is to back him, to support him and hopefully he will do his best.”If he is dropped, it will not be the first time in the last four years it has happened to Kamran. After a promising couple of years as the first-choice replacement for Moin Khan and Rashid Latif, Akmal’s performances began to dip on the 2006 trip to England, where he persisted behind the stumps despite a finger injury.But Pakistan stuck with him until June 2008, when Sarfraz Ahmed kept for the side in the Asia Cup. Kamran returned soon after, however, with no discernible improvement in performance. Only in January 2010 was he next axed and it took the monumental failure of the Sydney Test, where he missed five chances in all, for Sarfraz to be flown out for the final Test in Hobart.In Pakistan’s next Test against Australia at Lord’s last summer, Kamran was back again, however. After three more poor Tests, Zulqarnain Haider came in to replace him, but a contentious finger injury ruled him out after his debut. Yet again, Kamran returned to keep wickets in the last two Tests of the summer.He was subsequently caught up in the fall-out of the spot-fixing scandal and the PCB refused to clear his selection for the series against South Africa in the UAE and the third Akmal brother, Adnan, took his place in the two Tests. But the board’s integrity committee finally cleared him in December, allowing for his selection in the ODI series against New Zealand and the World Cup squad.His long-term future is again under question now. After the game, Waqar Younis, the coach, said “After the World Cup maybe we can think about it, but we are in the middle of the tournament and I don’t think we can make such a change right now.”Pakistan took a day off from training on Wednesday but the team management said it would sit down and go through the loss and plan for the next game, against Zimbabwe on March 14.

Andre Nel, the former South Africa fast bowler, has left Surrey by mutual consent

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2011Andre Nel, the former South Africa fast bowler, has left Surrey by mutual consent.
Nel had one year remaining on his contract but both sides have agreed to end the deal prematurely. Nel, 33 claimed 76 wickets in all competitions during two injury-marred seasons with Surrey but is now looking for a new club.”Whenever Andre was on the pitch for Surrey we never received anything less than 100 percent from him,” Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, told the club’s website.”Sadly, those times were not as frequent as we all would have liked and the agreement that has been reached is beneficial to us all. He was a huge character both on and off the field and we wish him the very best for the future.”Nel, who has Kolpak status and therefore does not count as an overseas player in English domestic cricket, is keen to find a new county to continue his career with. “I enjoyed my time at Surrey and whilst it’s a shame to not be returning, I know I still have a lot to give and hope to return and terrorise some more county batsmen soon.”

Yorkshire were unable to force a victory over Hampshire despite dynamic bowling by Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom on a tense final day

14-May-2011
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Yorkshire were unable to force a victory over Hampshire despite dynamic bowling by Tim Bresnan and Ryan Sidebottom on a tense final day of their County Championship match at Headingley.Hampshire were twice in big trouble, at 7 for 4 and later on 130 for 8, but Kabir Ali and Danny Briggs survived the final 13.4 overs to claim the draw. The visitors had been set a target of 289 to win off 59 overs but in the end they were happy to close on 153 for 8, leaving Yorkshire still searching for their first home Championship win of the season.And there was further concern for Yorkshire when Bresnan had to leave the field with a tight calf muscle at 102 for 6 after bowling a second spell of three overs. Bresnan was unable to take the field again and director of professional cricket, Martyn Moxon, confirmed it was the same calf muscle which the England all-rounder injured during the World Cup.Fears that Yorkshire had batted too long before declaring six overs into the afternoon session on 165 for 8 appeared unfounded as Bresnan picked up three wickets and Sidebottom one in the space of 14 balls at a cost of just one run.Openers Jimmy Adams and Liam Dawson had scraped together only six runs by the eighth over when Bresnan sent both of them packing in three deliveries, Dawson falling lbw to one which kept low and Adams departing to a great catch at the second attempt by Joe Root at short leg.Johann Myburgh was lbw to the first ball of the next over from Sidebottom and the slump continued as Neil McKenzie was also lbw driving at Bresnan. A double bowling change brought on Steve Patterson and Ajmal Shahzad – Bresnan resting with figures of 5-3-2-3 – and Patterson kept up the pressure by having James Vince caught low down at second slip by Adil Rashid and bowling Nic Pothas off stump.Hampshire were 54 for 6 but captain Dominic Cork was not prepared to give in easily after capturing eight wickets in the match and he soon notched the eight runs he required to complete 10,000 in first class cricket.There was plenty of fight left in Sean Ervine, also, and as the stand developed he cut Sidebottom for four to reach his 50 off 62 balls with seven boundaries. The pair had added 73 in 19 overs and Yorkshire were becoming increasingly anxious when Cork was dismissed lbw by Rashid for 22 and three runs later the leg-spinner bagged the crucial wicket of Ervine who drove gently to captain Andrew Gale at mid-off.Amid mounting tension, Kabir and Briggs managed to whittle down the overs and neither the return of Shahzad nor the spin of Rashid was able to shift them.Yorkshire embarked on the final day on 62 for 3 with an overall lead of 185 but their progress was severely restricted by excellent bowling by Kabir who took four of the five wickets to fall.The only batsman to make any real progress was Gerard Brophy with an unbeaten 37 but he suffered painful blows on the right hand from both Cork and Ali and had to go to hospital for an X-ray which showed bruising and swelling around his thumb, his place in the field being taken by Gary Ballance.

Centuries from Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara helped the Sri Lankans reach a strong position against Essex

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2011
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Kumar Sangakkara struck form with an unbeaten century•Getty Images

The Sri Lankans had a satisfying opening day against Essex as centuries from two top-order batsmen left them in a strong position. The man likely to take the place of injured captain Tillakaratne Dilshan in the third Test, Lahiru Thirimanne, and the out-of-form former captain, Kumar Sangakkara, both made hundreds on a rain-hit day to make it a day of toil for the Essex bowlers.It was not Sangakkara who led the side but Thilan Samaraweera, who chose to bat. The rain which has dogged much of the tour followed Sri Lanka to Chelmsford, and only 14 overs were possible before lunch, with three stoppages of play. Tharanga Paranavitana, who has made plenty of runs on the tour, and Thirimanne began brightly putting on 53 before showers forced an early lunch.Paranavitana nicked to the wicketkeeper soon after the break to give left-arm medium-pacer Tymal Mills his first wicket in first-class cricket, and that proved to be the only breakthrough for Essex till about half an hour before stumps as Thirimanne and Sangakkara put on 152 for the second wicket.Thirimanne, a 21-year-old left-hand batsman who plays for Ragama, was reprieved at third slip on 11 by Tom Westley and he capitalised on the chance, making his maiden first-class century outside Sri Lanka. He hit 15 fours in his innings but it was Sangakkara who was the more adventurous batsman, sprinting to an unbeaten 148 by stumps with the help of 23 fours and a six. Thirimanne retired at tea, to give the other batsmen a hit.Sangakkara added 67 with highly-rated Dinesh Chandimal and the Sri Lankans had cruised to 290 for 2 before Ravi Bopara, leading Essex for the first time, struck twice in an over late in the day. He removed Chandimal and Samaraweera in the space of three deliveries but it wasn’t enough to prevent it from being Sri Lanka’s day.

Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch is hanging onto his job as stubbornly as he once did the batting crease.

Daniel Brettig07-Jun-2011″Digger” by nickname and by nature. Midway through the independent review that will determine his future, Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch is hanging onto his job as stubbornly as he once did the batting crease.The Don Argus review is now deep into the process of interviewing some 60 persons of interest relating to Australian cricket, as Argus and panel members including Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Mark Taylor assess what must be rectified in order to avoid a repeat of last summer’s disastrous Ashes series.Hilditch has been interviewed, and said he was yet to worry about what conclusions might be drawn about his leadership of a selection panel that has stumbled and bumbled as much as the team itself over the past three years.”I’ll just keep doing it until someone wants me to stop,” Hilditch said of his future. “It’s one of the greatest periods in the sense that it’s just so demanding, but at the same time it’s exciting for the players because they have great challenges, and we have great challenges as a selection panel to get it right.”I’ve been very lucky; I didn’t have much of a contribution to Australian cricket as a player, but I’m really enjoying this role, doing the best I possibly can. If someone decides there’s a better way to go then I’ll be fully supportive of that as well.”Hilditch’s contract expired at the end of the World Cup, but he was granted a stay of execution by Argus’ desire to leave things as unchanged as possible while the review is in progress.”That’s a really exciting process; I’ve been part of it and I think it’ll come up with some strong recommendations for all parts of Australian cricket,” said Hilditch. “It may well lead to a review of the selection panel, but that’s not something I have to worry about; I’m just doing the best job I can.”James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive and an ex-officio, non-voting member of the review panel, said the integrity of the process was of great importance.”It is well and truly underway. I understand people will want to know how things are proceeding there and I’m certainly not going to give a ball-by-ball commentary,” he said. “But the integrity of the process in working through that review is very important to the panel chairman and the panel members, and one of the things as part of that process, is it’s very important for us to spend time with key stakeholders in an interview sense. It’s an in-depth process.”We’ll be interviewing in the vicinity of 60 people, but until we’ve gone through that interview process stage and distilled all the other submissions from other parties, we’re not going to be able to look at outcomes.”Such outcomes will include whether or not Hilditch can be permitted to continue chairing the selection panel in a part-time capacity. Having taken Australia through a period of transition that is almost a generation old but has shown little sign of blooming into sustained success, Hilditch said much depended on the next group of young players developing into “champions”.”We’re still playing pretty good one-day and Twenty20 cricket,” he said. “Test cricket is our big concern, and we’ve injected players into that, young batsmen, and two very exciting young quicks. We really need to find two or three champions in the next two years and in some of those young players we think we’ve got two or three champions.”

The eight new teams in Australia’s Big Bash League will each have a $1 million salary cap to spend on their 18 players

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2011The eight new teams in Australia’s Big Bash League will each have a $1 million salary cap to spend on their 18 players. Cricket Australia has confirmed the figure, and while the minimum playing contract has been set at $20,000, there is no maximum, so international stars like Chris Gayle are free to demand hefty six-figure sums.Gayle has reportedly set his price at $250,000, which would leave little room to manoeuvre for whichever side signs him up. The Perth Scorchers are expected to make an offer to Gayle, who has been a major drawcard for Western Australia in the Big Bash over the past two seasons, but other teams could also chase his services.The teams can begin signing up players from 9am on Thursday, and they have three weeks to secure at least 14 players. By December 9, a week before the competition kicks off, each team must have signed 18 men, which can include up to two international players.Shahid Afridi will be another international star in the sights of the city-based sides after his retirement from international cricket, but the pool of potential signings will be small, with most countries involved in international series during December and January. The recently-retired Muttiah Muralitharan would have been a potential drawcard, but he has instead chosen to play in New Zealand’s domestic Twenty20 tournament.