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A knee injury has ruled West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul out of the Caribbean Twenty20 starting this weekend

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jan-2013A knee injury has ruled West Indies fast bowler Ravi Rampaul out of the Caribbean Twenty20 starting this weekend. Rampaul is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks, and his place in the Trinidad & Tobago squad has been taken by quick bowler Rayad Emrit.”After a medical assessment and an MRI scan, it was decided that he would not be fully fit for the tournament,” T&T manager Omar Khan said, “and the recommendation is to rest him rather than taking a risk and playing him and he breaks down during the tournament which could put him out for a longer period of time.”T&T are defending champions of the Caribbean T20, and have a squad full of renowned players, including Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine. Still, Khan said the absence of Rampaul will be a big loss. “It is a disappointment because Ravi is a West Indies bowler and he is one of our main bowlers in terms of opening the bowling and bowling at the death. We obviously have to make some adjustments and the technical staff will be looking at different strategies having lost Ravi as an option.”T&T open their campaign on Sunday against Jamaica, another of the frontrunners for the tournament.

West Indies Women notched up an eight-wicket win against South African Women in a Twenty20 match in Gros Islet, St Lucia, on Saturday.

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jan-2013
Scoreboard and ball-by-ball detailsDeandra Dottin was playing in her 50th T20 international•WICB

West Indies Women notched up an eight-wicket win against South African Women in a Twenty20 match in Gros Islet, St Lucia, on Saturday. West Indies chased down a target of 114 with ten balls to spare.South Africa could only muster 113 runs in their 20 overs, after choosing to bat, thanks largely to a 57-run fourth-wicket partnership between Mignon du Preez and Cri-zelda Brits, who were also the top-scorers for their side. Fast bowler Shanel Delay, offspinner Stafanie Taylor and legspinner Shaquana Quintyne picked up two wickets apiece for West Indies.The home team never looked in trouble chasing the modest target, in spite of losing a couple of wickets. Opener Kycia Knight and number four batswoman Deandra Dottin kept the innings on track. The latter struck three fours and three sixes in her unbeaten innings of 48 and was ably supported by Knight, who scored 33 off 46 balls.This was Dottin’s 50th Twenty20 international, making her the first West Indies Women’s player to the landmark. Dottin was felicitated for her achievement by the WICB, and later said she had enjoyed the occasion: “It felt special when I was batting out there. I was a little nervous but I settled quickly. It was a special occasion, with me becoming the first woman from West Indies to play their 50th match, and I was made to feel really good by my team-mates, the fans in the crowd and the WICB.”The two teams will play their next T20 match on Sunday.

Two attacking knocks and a collapse secured Dhaka Gladiators’ 29-run victory over Chittagong Kings in Mirpur

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Shakib Al Hasan led Dhaka Gladiators to a strong total•Bangladesh Cricket Board

Two attacking knocks, by Shakib Al Hasan and Tillakaratne Dilshan, and a collapse – eight wickets for 37 runs – secured Dhaka Gladiators’ 29-run victory over Chittagong Kings in Mirpur. The win gave the Gladiators second spot in the points table at the end of the group stages.They suffered an early blow after being put in to bat, when opener Joshua Cobb was dismissed cheaply in the second over. However, Dilshan helped steady the innings, with a 66-run stand with Anamul Haque, who scored 23. After Dilshan departed in the 12th over for 49 off 38 balls Shakib, who ended with 59 off 29 balls, added 75 runs with Darren Stevens, dominating the partnership, and lifting the run-rate to 8.40 by the end of the innings. Ryan ten Doeschate was the most expensive bowler, conceding 45 runs in his four overs.The Kings, however, were in the contest when Nurul Hasan and Marshall Ayub added 72 runs for the second wicket in 48 balls. But spinners Mosharraf Hossain and Dilshan brought the home side back with two quick wickets each, and the Kings couldn’t recover. Six of the last seven batsmen scored in single digits, and they slipped from 92 for 1 to 129 for 9 in the penultimate over. Four bowlers took two wickets each.The match did not hold much consequence, however, with both teams already in the final four.

The curator at the MA Chidambaram stadium has expressed satisfaction with the way the pitch for the Chennai Test, which was termed “ugly” by the two captains, behaved over the duration of the Test

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Feb-2013The curator at the MA Chidambaram stadium has expressed satisfaction with the way the pitch for the Chennai Test, which was termed “ugly”, behaved over the duration of the Test. The pitch took turn from the first day, but held together till the fifth.”I like to see a result in Test cricket, and the fact that the game went five days says to me that it’s a pretty good Test match wicket,” K Parthasarathy, the curator, told the .”We started by making the entire pitch firm. After that we watered it selectively. The areas on either side of the stumps were kept dry, and so turned out to be loose. The line of the stumps was watered and rolled, so it stayed firm through the Test.”Australia lost all their wickets in the Test to the spinners, with R Ashwin inflicting maximum damage. “Australia need Raffa Nadal here in Chennai on the clay,” Shane Warne had tweeted with a picture of the third-day pitch. But James Pattinson, with his extra pace, also managed a five-wicket haul in the first innings. Both the captains also said the pitch played better than expected.”If I had kept the entire pitch dry, people would have called it under-prepared. But now nobody is complaining,” the curator said.Parthasarathy had used the method of selective watering back in 1998 when Australia lost to India by 179 runs. Warne, who frequently bowled round-the-wicket line during that series, struggled to make an impact as Sachin Tendulkar took the attack to him.”I kept the square patches outside the leg stump, on either side of the wicket, really hard. It was difficult to get turn from that part as there would be no rough there.””After that game, Warne came to me and asked why he wasn’t getting the turn and others were. I told him it was because of his dodgy shoulder, that was to be operated later in the series.”

Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh batsman, has been ruled out of the rest of the ODI series against Sri Lanka due to a hairline fracture on his right thumb

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Mar-2013Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh batsman, has been ruled out of the rest of the ODI series against Sri Lanka due to a hairline fracture on his right thumb. Tamim picked up the injury while fielding in the first ODI in Hambantota, a match in which he had earlier hit his first one-day century in three years.Tamim was hurt attempting to stop a powerful shot from Kushal Perera in the seventh over of the chase. He started wringing his hand in pain after being struck by the ball and went off the field. He was taken for scans to a hospital, where an X-ray revealed the fracture.”It is a fracture which normally takes around 4-6 weeks,” Tamim later said. “For further information, I will go to Dhaka day after tomorrow. I will have an MRI, but it is definitely a fracture.”The news is a major blow for Bangladesh, who are already without two of their most experienced players in Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza. Tamim had returned to fitness little over a week ago after a wrist problem that he suffered at the Bangladesh Premier League forced him out of the opening Test in Galle.Sri Lanka are currently 1-0 up in the series, with two more ODIs to play. The tour ends with a Twenty20 on March 31 in Pallekele. Bangladesh’s next assignment is a Zimbabwe tour, with the first match scheduled to start on April 17.

Northamptonshire’s early season form has suggested that are promotion candidates as David Willey runs through Essex

Tim Wigmore at Wantage Road19-Apr-2013
ScorecardDavid Willey grabs a caught-and-bowled during his five-wicket haul•Getty Images

After missing out on Championship promotion by a point in 2011, Northamptonshire endured a miserable 2012, with only two Championship victories and dire performances in both the CB40 and Twenty20. But a squad that could be backed at 20-1 to be Division Two champions before the season started has so far hinted at possessing the quality, balance and depth to justify talk of Championship promotion.Under conditions that remained good for batting, David Willey produced a compelling display of left-arm swing bowling to seal an innings victory over Essex halfway through the third day. The highlight was when Ravi Bopara, whose 41 had been a rare source of solace amid the disintegration of Essex’s top order, was deceived into playing at a ball that shaped away from him. The dismissal came only a few deliveries after Willey had changed his angle from around to over the wicket, and was his fifth of the innings.In a match-clinching spell of 6-2-15-3 shortly after lunch, Willey showed an array of talents. He displayed the classic left-armer’s trait of being able to shape the ball back in from around the wicket, but it was a ball that went straight on that accounted for James Foster, playing for swing that wasn’t there. A spectacular caught-and-bowled then claimed Greg Smith.It completed Willey’s best first-class game yet: match figures of 8-110 to complement a perky 76. As an allrounder and left-armer there may be those saying he could be considered for England, but Willey’s bowling, impressive as it was, could do with a little extra pace – and coach David Ripley believes he could yet put on another yard – to trouble batsmen less complicit than Essex’s were here. But he would not be undeserving of an England Lions call-up for their match against New Zealand next month.After bowling out Essex for 183 in the first innings, Northants will have been even more thrilled to have dismissed them for 207 in the second. While the pitch offered some assistance for seamers on the first day, it flattened out – as it often does at Wantage Road – on the second and third. Northants displayed unrelenting discipline, seldom straying from their line outside off stump and trusting that rash shot selection from Essex’s batsmen would do the rest.That it certainly did. Of Essex’s top order in the second innings only Bopara and – at a push – Foster could not honestly claim culpability for their dismissals. The wickets of Rob Quiney, who had played well for 56, and Mark Pettini, both swiping outside the off stump attempting to cut balls when more attritional batting was required, were particularly disappointing. They could learn from Maurice Chambers, who played with admirable disciple for his 65-ball 3.

Copeland may return

Trent Copeland will play as Northants’ overseas player for the first seven Championship matches of this season, but coach David Ripley explained that the club plan to review the situation with a view to signing another overseas player – Copeland returning could be one possibility – for the final five Championship games of the season, from August 20.

“We’re not a bottomless pit, our budget is tight,” he said. “We’ve done very well and the club’s been very supportive to get the squad together that we’ve got. There’s not a lot of money left in the budget for us to take that on. Realistically we’d certainly have to be in the top half of the league and pushing.”

Reflecting on the victory, admitted “it was a good toss to win” and said that the 228 runs added for their last two wickets proved decisive. “They’re good players and we said they’re good players but they batted – rather than sulking because they’re down the bottom – with purpose and that swung the game our way. The match-winning effort was that few hours where the game swung massively in our favour.”Ripley believes Northants could win Championship promotion. “Absolutely. I’ve said right from the start we’ve been very competitive generally over the years in four-day cricket. We perhaps haven’t been the same in one-day cricket and we’ve focused hard on our one-day skills.””We’ve got a good balance in that seam attack. Trent Copeland is relentless and has got good skills; Andrew Hall is a master of hitting the seam; David gives us left-arm and swing; and Steven Crook gives us a bit of cutting edge and a bit of pace so I think we’ve got a good variety in that attack.”On Willey, Ripley added: “He’s come a long way in 18 months. He’s a good professional, he looks after himself very well off the field. He’s an absolute athlete – his caught-and-bowled, not many in the country would have taken a catch like that.”Based on this evidence, there is every chance a disciplined side with the longest batting line-up in the country – and, in Matthew Spriegel and Olly Stone, some solid players who have yet to appear – may yet challenge for promotion. For Essex, this performance, coming on the back of conceding 409 for 5 against Gloucestershire at Chelmsford last week, will raise some serious questions. Their coach Paul Grayson was unavailable for comment.Instead, it was left to Bopara. “They bowled relentlessly on a length, they bowled very well as a unit which we can learn from I think,” he said. “It really showed us how to get stuck in with the ball. I didn’t think anything was special when it came to their batting – we had them 170 for 8 but unfortunately their last few batters played really, really well and you’ve got to give it to them.” He admitted that “we kind of did lose control” during Northants’ game changing lower-order intervention.Compounding their problems, Essex could yet face a points penalty on account of their slow over-rate in this match.

England’s Ashes hopes have been boosted by the news that Kevin Pietersen is provisionally scheduled to return to cricket on June 12 for Surrey against Sussex at Arundel

George Dobell11-May-2013England’s Ashes hopes have been boosted by the news that Kevin Pietersen is provisionally scheduled to return to cricket on June 12 for Surrey against Sussex at Arundel.Pietersen was forced home from the England tour of New Zealand and subsequently ruled out of the IPL, the home Test series against New Zealand and the Champions Trophy after he was diagnosed with bone bruising to his right knee. The ECB had previously suggested he would begin full training “by the middle of June”.A return against Sussex would allow him a minimum of three first-class games before the start of the Ashes. Surrey play Yorkshire in the Championship on June 21 before England take on Essex in a four-day warm-up game ahead of the first Test against Australia at Trent Bridge, which begins on July 10.Micro-fracture surgery on the problem still remains a possibility but it is understood that Pietersen will be 100% fit on his return and there will not be any long-term implications for his involvement in all three formats for England.Pietersen suffered the injury to his knee during a warm-up match at Queenstown ahead of the Tests against New Zealand and, although he played in the first two matches, he was ruled out of the decider in Auckland and returned home. A brace was fitted and rest prescribed but his return has proved more problematic.The question of Pietersen’s workload arose last summer when he retired from limited-overs cricket, citing the England schedule. He was subsequently persuaded to return – following a destabilising stand-off that saw him dropped from the squad – and was rested for the ODI and T20 series against New Zealand in February. In 2009, he missed three Ashes Tests after suffering an Achilles problem.The possibility of Pietersen returning ahead of schedule comes after England named a squad to play New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s featuring Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, who both underwent elbow surgery over the winter. As expected, Jonny Bairstow will continue to deputise for Pietersen in the middle-order.

As MS Dhoni received the ICC ODI Championship Shield and a cheque of US$175,000 at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, a few of his team-mates gave their captain a standing ovation

Nagraj Gollapudi in Cardiff03-Jun-2013As MS Dhoni received the ICC ODI Championship Shield and a cheque of US$175,000 at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff, a few of his team-mates – including Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja – standing on the balcony outside the dressing room gave their captain a standing ovation. Receiving the award from David Morgan, the former ICC president and current Glamorgan president, Dhoni made a witty remark: “They are clapping for their share.”And when the time came to sign off, Dhoni checked with the ICC official as to whether he could keep the shield or should hand it over to the BCCI. ” (Is this mine or should it go to BCCI)?” Dhoni asked with a smile.Dhoni’s casual banter seemed strange, given the atmosphere that is currently enveloping Indian cricket in the wake of the tumultuous events of the past three weeks. Dhoni had remained silent on the alleged corruption before he flew out from India and immediately after he landed in England. Today was no different, as the Indian players maintained a safe distance while passing the small group of media at the ground.Irfan Pathan, after finishing an interview with the tournament broadcaster, innocently walked towards the small media contingent gathered nearby. But to his and everyone’s surprise, the Indian media manager told him that he would not be speaking to the media. It was a farcical moment, which caught both the player as well as the media off guard.According to the tournament rules, though it is not mandatory for teams to field a player for media interaction, teams like Australia and West Indies have allowed a player on non-match and non-preview days to speak to the media. On Monday, Australian batsman Adam Voges spoke, the previous day his team-mate Mitchell Starc had had a chat.In contrast, the Indian board has instructed the team management to keep a tight check on their players’ activities. Being around the players, you can sense their reluctance to talk freely. On Saturday, after India had got the better of Sri Lanka in Birmingham in their first warm-up match, Dinesh Kartik was asked to give his opinion on the DRS. Kartik checked with the media manager if it was okay for him to respond, before he said something.This cautious approach by the Indian management is not new, considering they have kept media interactions in the last couple of years to the bare minimum. However, given the low point that Indian cricket is passing through, the very least the fans can expect is some open and honest chatter from the players. Even funny remarks like the one Dhoni made could allow them to retain the faith.

Australia’s fast bowlers will not be rotated during the Investec Ashes series but the much-debated rotation policy will live on in one-day cricket, according to the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland

Brydon Coverdale25-Jun-2013Australia’s fast bowlers will not be rotated during the Investec Ashes series but the much-debated rotation policy will live on in one-day cricket, according to the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. Speaking on ABC radio on the day after the sacking of coach Mickey Arthur, Sutherland said that Australia’s selectors would be choosing the best XI for each of the upcoming 10 Tests rather than resting players based on workload.The rotating of fast bowlers – or “informed player management”, as the national selector John Inverarity called it – caused controversy last summer when Australia left Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus out of the Perth Test against South Africa after their heavy workloads in the previous Test. It was later revealed, though not at the time, that both men were suffering from injury niggles that meant they would not have been operating at full capacity had they played at the WACA.Similarly, Mitchell Starc was left out of the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka at the MCG despite the fact that he had taken 14 wickets in the previous two Tests. Again, it was later revealed that Starc was suffering from bone spurs in his ankle and the team management believed it would have been too great a risk to play him, based on the information they had been given by sports scientists on the likelihood of Starc breaking down.”I think certainly looking ahead to the Ashes series in England and next summer in Australia you won’t see any of that rotation policy, as you call it, in the fashion that we have in the past,” Sutherland said on ABC radio. “It’s about providing opportunities to players for a team that’s in transition so the selectors can see, give players opportunities at international level and see how they cope with that and respond.”For well over a decade the Australian selectors have adopted a policy of doing that particularly with one-day cricket. I’ve got no doubt that will continue but for Ashes Test matches we will day in day out be picking our best team.”The new coach Darren Lehmann, who is also a selector, is known to be an advocate of picking the best side for every game and it appears he will get his wish in Test cricket. But the rotating of players also became an issue during the limited-overs portion of the Australian summer, when Channel Nine was frustrated at the absence of several star players like Michael Clarke (who was injured) and David Warner from the first ODI against Sri Lanka.Earlier this month, at the announcement of a new broadcasting deal, the Channel Nine chief executive David Gyngell said he was not a fan of rotating players but that it was a matter for Cricket Australia to decide. The abbreviated schedule of ODIs this summer – there are only five to be played against England in January – could mean that rotation in home games becomes less of an issue even in the shorter formats.Sutherland also conceded in his ABC interview that Arthur could be considered a scapegoat for the recent on-field and off-field failures in the Australian camp and that everyone involved in Australian cricket needed to take some responsibility.”People will no doubt say Mickey Arthur is a scapegoat in this and to some extent he is but realistically as head coach you need to take responsibility for the performance of the team,” Sutherland said. “The players also need to stand up. We all do.”

David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, has revealed a trial is underway during the current Ashes series to enhance the role of the third umpire by feeding him direct pictures

Nagraj Gollapudi18-Jul-2013David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, has revealed a trial is underway during the current Ashes series to enhance the role of the third umpire by feeding him direct pictures that would avert controversial incidents like Stuart Broad getting away with a thick edge in the first Investec Test last week. Broad stood his ground having edged a ball from Ashton Agar, after the on-field umpire Aleem Dar failed to spot the deflection off the bat. Having spent all their reviews, Michael Clarke’s Australia were left high and dry.Speaking on the BBC’s , Richardson admitted it was frustrating that, in the age of technology, Broad managed to escape. “It is, of course,” Richardson said. “For that reason, up to the third Test, we have a trial going on, independent of what is happening on the field, to allow the third umpire to have a bank of televisions where he can actually choose and get access to the technology much quicker than he would if he simply relies on the director or producer sending him the pictures up to him. If we progress along these lines … there is an opportunity for the third umpire to have the say and to overrule where he thinks an obvious mistake has been made.”Richardson stressed it was a long-term process but the ICC remained optimistic. “I don’t think people should think it is going to be introduced for the next series,” Richardson said. “It is at a very basic phase and we need to progress a lot further before we get it on board in a match.”Speaking on the unusual move by the ICC to reveal the assessment of the three umpires (Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena and Marais Erasmus) and the various decisions they made during the Trent Bridge Test, Richardson reiterated that it was necessary bring the numbers out into open to erase certain doubts. However, he indicated that the ICC would not make it a norm to make the umpires assessment public.”We will take on a case-by-case basis,” Richardson said. “In this case we had put everything in perspective because it was an unusual Test match. There were so many decisions to be made, almost 75% more than normal.” The ICC release had stated that the on-field umpires made a total of seven errors, three of which were uncorrected.Not included in that list was a controversial ruling in favour of Australia debutant Ashton Agar, who was given not out when England appealed for a tight stumping. Richardson reasoned why it was not considered a mistake. “We have got a team of three who look at it,” he said. “First of all the match referee. Then if there is a bit of doubt then it goes to Vince van der Bijl, our umpires’ manager and then it goes to Geoff Allardice [the ICC’s manager of cricket]. They all felt there was just that element of doubt: was his foot in the air, maybe there was a spike on the ground? So there was just not enough for the third umpire to give actually give the decision against the batsman.”Asked if there was scope for benefit of doubt in favour of the player Richardson said primarily the ICC was looking for definitive proof to make a decision, “as far as it is possible”. He cited the example of the England of Joe Root, who was adjudged lbw at Lord’s on Thursday morning. “Anyone other than maybe an English supporter would acknowledge that it was fractionally pad first. In which case the correct decision, unfortunately, is out,” Richardson said.Richardson followed that by revealing an aspect of how the umpires’ assessment worked. “Let us say the on-field umpire had got it wrong, and he thought it was bat first,” Richardson said. “Then we will mark that technically incorrect because we say, look, there must have been some doubt in your mind so you have actually made a good cricket decision. So we don’t mark him in his personal records as having made a mistake. But technically it was an incorrect decision and we get it changed.”On Wednesday, the MCC’s World Cricket Committee, restated its backing for the DRS while pointing out that to make the system much more streamlined, the ICC needed to take control of it. But Richardson was defensive about such a step.”People say ICC should take complete control of technology,” he said. “Today we have two Hot Spot cameras, some ball tracking cameras and a couple of slow-motions cameras. But next year there will be something else … there will be real-time Snickometer. Then next year there is something else. So in a way we don’t want to hamper development. But it is going progress and it is going to become even more difficult to resist taking full advantage of the technology that gets developed. Our strategy has been: let us introduce technology but not on the basis they are just ball counters and coat hangers.”Richardson said that introducing various technologies into the game was never to make the role of the umpires obsolete. “We want them to be part of the game, the on-field umpires in particular, and that is why one of the reasons why we like the idea of them making the decision and then the players, if they really disagree, asking for it to be reviewed,” Richardson said.