Fixtures and Squad: Australia tour of South Africa 2011

The much awaited competition is about to start. Both teams have included some young force to strengthen their strategies. Brett Lee, the Australia fast bowler, has been ruled out of the South Africa tour due to appendicitis. He will undergo surgery in Cape Town.

Tour will start on 13th October and will end in the last week of November. They will face 2 T-20s, 3 ODIs and 2 Test Matches. 

Hashim Amla has been confirmed as stand-in captain for the injured AB de Villiers, while Mark Boucher has been recalled as wicket-keeper for the one-day internationals. David Miller is also recalled to the ODI squad, while Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn have been rested from the Twenty20 matches.

Big-hitting Cape Cobras batsman Richard Levi is the only new face in either squad, having been named in T20 party. The 23 year-old has scored 593 runs in the shortest form of the game at an average of 28 and a strike rate of over 135.

South Africa's Twenty20 Squad:  

Hashim Amla (captain), Graeme Smith, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Richard Levi, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Robin Peterson, Johan Botha, Heino Kuhn, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

South Africa's ODI Squad: 

 Hashim Amla (captain), Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Johan Botha, Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson, Mark Boucher, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

On the other hand, Experienced Australian left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has been left out of the national T20 squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa, while Victorian batsman David Hussey loses his spot in the One-day lineup.

Young fast bowlers Patrick Cummins and James Pattinson have won selection in both squads, while rising all-rounder Mitchell Marsh claimed a berth in the T20 lineup.
  

Australian Twenty20 Squad: 

Cameron White (c), Shane Watson (vc), Doug Bollinger, Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, David Hussey, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Stephen O’Keefe, James Pattinson, Steven Smith, Matthew Wade, David Warner

Australia's ODI Squad:

Michael Clarke (c), Shane Watson (vc), Doug Bollinger, Patrick Cummins, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Steven Smith, David Warner 

Tour Schedule

13th October: 1st T20I, Cape Town

16th October: 2nd T20I, Johannesburg

19th October: 1st ODI, Centurion Park

23rd October: 2nd ODI, Port Elizabeth

28th October: 3rd ODI, Durban

9th-13th November: 1st Test, Cape Town

17th-21st November: 2nd Test, Johannesburg

India Red enter final with 2nd win in a row

India Red enter NKP Salve Trophy final with 2nd win in a row. Putting up a dominating all-round show, India Red stormed into the final of the NKP Salve Challenger Series after thrashing India Green by eight wickets in the rain-hit second match of the tournament here today. 

It was second win for India Red in as many days as they had defeated India Blue in the series-opener yesterday.

The Gautam Gambhir-led India Red side dismissed India Green for a paltry 170 in only 37.5 overs after opting to field and then easily overhauled the revised target of 152 with 78 balls to spare.

India Red were given 42 overs to achieve the target. Part timer Yusuf Pathan was the pick of the bowlers for India Red, grabbing four for 25 in only 7.5 overs.

While chasing, Gambhir led from front with a 53-ball 57 as he laid the platform for easy win by putting on 100 runs for the first wicket along with Abhinav Mukund (61).

Gambhir was dropped by Mohammed Kaif off paceman Abhimanyu Mithun when he was on just 14 and India Green had to pay for the mistake.

Kaif, who is a reliable fielder, knew what blunder he had committed as Gambir smashed Harbhajan for a six and a four in the next over and continued to find boundaries during his stay at the wicket.

India Red were 45 for no loss in eight overs when skies opend up and stopped play. On resumption, Mithun finally got Gambhir when he lofted one straight to Ishwar Chaudhary at mid-off.

Gambhir's knock was studded with six fours and a six and Mukund also hit as many boundaries and took 70 balls for his innings before being caught and bowled by Chaudhary. Ambati Rayudu (16) and Yusuf Pathan (7) steered the side home without any hiccup. 

India Red will take on the winner of tomorrow's match between India-Green and India-Blue in Thursday's final.

Sachin, Sehwag, Gavaskar, Kumble and Bedi nominated for ICC's all-time greatest Test team

Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and opener Virender Sehwag are among the list of players nominated for an online poll to select the greatest team of all-time on the occasion of Test cricket's 2,000th match. 

The historic match will take place between India and England at Lord's from July 21 to 25, and the ICC has called on supporters from across the globe to select the greatest team of all-time. 

While Sehwag has found a place in the list of openers, which also has the likes of former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, Tendulkar has been short-listed for the middle-order batsman's slot. 

However, no Indian player has found a place in the shortlist for the slot of wicketkeepers and fast bowlers, while the 1983 World Cup winning Indian team captain Kapil Dev is in the reckoning as an all-rounder. 

Legendary Bishan Singh Bedi and Anil Kumble have been shortlisted for the spinner's role in the dream team. 

Sir Donald Bradman and West Indian great Viv Richards are in the fray for the middle-order's slot, while attacking wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist is pitted against South Africa's Mark Boucher for the stumper's position. 

Legendary West Indian pacers Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding and Pakistani great Wasim Akram have been shortlisted in the bowler's category along side champion spinner Shane Warne. 

The ICC's website is seeking votes from the fans and cricket lovers across the world to pick the dream Test team from a shortlist of 60 players split into five categories. 

The fans will be asked to pick two opening batsmen, three middle-order batsmen, a wicketkeeper, three fast bowlers and one spinner. 

The public vote on ICC's website closes in two days' time with results set to be announced the week before the 2,000th Test. 

The shortlist for Dream Team: 

Opening batsmen: Geoffrey Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Hanif Mohammad, Virender Sehwag, Herbert Sutcliffe, Victor Trumper. 

Middle-order batsmen: Don Bradman, Greg Chappell, Wally Hammond, George Headley, Brian Lara, Javed Miandad, Graeme Pollock, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar. 

All-rounder: Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Aubrey Faulkner, Richard Hadlee, Jacques Kallis, Imran Khan, Keith Miller, Wilfred Rhodes, Gary Sobers, Frank Worrell. 

Wicketkeepers: Les Ames, Mark Boucher, Jeff Dujon, Godfrey Evans, Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Alan Knott, Rod Marsh, Clyde Walcott, Wasim Bari. 

Fast bowlers: Curtley Ambrose, Sydney Barnes, Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, Malcolm Marshall, Glenn McGrath, Fred Trueman, Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram. 

Spinners: Bishen Bedi, Richie Benaud, Lance Gibbs, Clarrie Grimmett, Jim Laker, Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Bill O'Reilly, Derek Underwood, Shane Warne.

Sachin meets Federer at Wimbledon

India’s Icon Sachin Tendulkar and world number 3 tennis player Roger Federer came face to face on Saturday.

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Sachin, along with wife Anjali, was present in the Wimbledon Royal Box to watch Federer’s third round match against David Nalbandian.

They both met each other after the match and shared a few light moments. The meeting lasted for an hour.

Sachin, a regular visitor at the Wimbledon Championships every year, tweeted after the meeting: 

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Fixtures for Domestic Tournaments 2011-12 season

The Tour, Programmes and Fixtures Committee of the BCCI finalized the dates of the various domestic tournaments for the 2011-12 season, in a meeting at the Cricket Centre on Saturday, 18 June 2011.

The BCCI Corporate Tournament for the Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy will be played from 1 September to 8 September, in Vishakhapatnam, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Jaipur will host the Irani Cup game between Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy winners in the previous season, and the Rest Of India, from 1 October to 5 October. 

The NKP Salve Challenger Trophy will be played at Nagpur from 10 October to 13 October. 

The league stage of the Ranji Trophy (Elite) will be played from 3 November to 24 December. The groupings are as follows:

Elite A (eight teams) – Rajasthan, KSCA, Mumbai, Railways, UPCA, Punjab, Saurashtra, Orissa.

Elite B (seven teams) – Baroda, TNCA, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Bengal, MPCA.

The knockout matches will be played from 2 January 2012 to 23 January 2012. 

The Ranji Trophy Plate group matches will be played from 3 November to 9 December. The semi-finals will be played from 21 December to 24 December. The winners of the semi-finals will qualify for the knockout stage of the Ranji Trophy.  

Groups – Ranji Trophy Plate: 

Plate A – Andhra, Services, Kerala, Vidarbha, HPCA, Tripura.

Plate B – Maharashtra, Goa, Hyderabad, Jharkhand, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir.

The Duleep Trophy will be played from 27 January 2012 to 16 February 2012. 

The inter-state one-day league will be played from 20 February 2012 to 28 February 2012. 

The All-India inter-state knockout tournament for the Vijay Hazare Trophy will be played from 5 March 2012 to 12 March 2012. 

The Deodhar Trophy will be played from 16 March 2012 to 19 March 2012.

The inter-state T20 zonal league will be played in September-October 2011. The All-India inter-state T20 knockout tournament for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, will be played from 23 March 2012 to 27 March 2012.

The exact dates and venues of all the tournaments will be announced next month, after each association / zone confirms its venues. 


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NatWest Women's T20 Quadrangular Series in England: Australia beat India by 8 wickets

Australia registered a thumping eight-wicket victory over India in the first match of the NatWest Women's T20 Quadrangular Series at Toby Howe Cricket Ground, Billericay to begin the series on a winning note. 

The tournament that also involves England and New Zealand pits the four nations together in a T20, followed by an ODI, series in a bid to earn the No. 1 position in women’s cricket.

Opting to field first in the series opener, Australia bowled India for 62 in 18.2 overs.

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Pacer Clea Smith set the ball rolling, sending back openers Poonam Raut and Anagha Deshpande early.  Sarah Coyte then followed with the key wicket of Mithali Raj. It was all downhill from there for India. Batting at No. 4, Harmanpreet Kaur tried to salvage the innings with 41 runs off 49 balls with three boundaries and two sixes. The rest of the batting line-up failed to even make five runs each. The second highest score, six runs, came in the form of extras. As many as four batsmen were out for zero.

Giving away only five runs in four overs and claiming four wickets, Coyte was the pick of the bowlers for Australia.   

Chasing 63 runs to win, Australia reached their target comfortably for the loss of two wickets.  Australian opener Leah Poultan remained unbeaten on 31 runs and along with Meg Lanning (23 runs) helped Australia reach their target in just 10.2 overs.

Brief scores: India  62 all out in 18.2 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 41, Sarah Coyte 4/5, S Nitschke 2/10, C Smith 2/ 16) lost to Australia 63/2 in 10.2 overs (Leah Poultan 31*, Meg Lanning 23) by 8 wickets




On the other hand, England Women made it two one-sided matches on the opening day of the quadrangular series with a comfortable eight-wicket victory over New Zealand Women at Chelmsford.


England's spinners proved a key weapon, as Holly Colvin and Laura Marsh shared five wickets, while Aaron Brindle marked her return to international cricket with 3 for 11. Needing barely four-an-over for victory England had few problems during their chase as captain Charlotte Edwards led the way with an unbeaten 40.


Brief scores: England Women 86 for 2 (Edwards 40*) beat New Zealand 83 (Colvin 3-17) by eight wickets

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Tendulkar makes history in India win

India batsman Sachin Tendulkar became the first player in history to score 2,000 runs at the Cricket World Cup, as the hosts eased to a five-wicket win over the Netherlands on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 189 runs to win, India booked their place in the quarterfinals of the tournament with 13 overs to spare in Delhi.

Tendulkar, 37, was playing in his 40th World Cup match and reached a score of 27 before he was caught by Bradley Kruger off the bowling of Pieter Seelaar.

Nicknamed "the little master", Tendulkar made his World Cup debut in 1992 and has hit five centuries and 13 fifties in cricket's premier 50-over competition.

Mat  Inns  NO  Runs  HS   Ave    100  50   40     39      4     2009   152   57.40    5   13

India first team to seal quarter-final place

India became the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup with a five-wicket win over the Netherlands in New Delhi.

Chasing 190 to win, the home side were wobbling at 139 for five - thanks largely to Pieter Seelaar's three for 53 - and it needed a patient knock of 51 from Yuvraj Singh to see them through.

Earlier, Netherlands were thankful to a face-saving 38 off 36 balls from Peter Borren after two wickets apiece from Yuvraj and Piyush Chawla and figures of three for 20 from Zaheer Khan had threatened a collapse.

Having won the toss, Holland got off to a positive start and reached 50 in the 14th over, but spin came to the hosts' rescue as Chawla bowled Eric Szwarczynski (28) and Yuvraj had Wesley Barresi (26) given out lbw.

Borren, who smashed three boundaries and two sixes during his late cameo, and Mudassar Bukhari (21) together put on 38 for the eighth wicket as Holland managed to scrounge out 55 runs in their last seven overs.

In reply, openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were boisterous from the word go, as the former hit three successive boundaries off ten Doeschate to become the first batsman to record 2,000 ICC Cricket World Cup runs.

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The duo raced to 69 inside eight overs, but Seelaar's inroads brought Holland right back into the game.

First Sehwag's hasty cut had him caught at point for 39, before Tendulkar (27) and Yusuf Pathan (11) fell in the 10th over to leave India on 82 for three.

Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj steadied the ship after Virat Kohli's (12) dismissal and comfortably notched a 40-run stand before Gambhir was stumped out after a run-a-ball 28.

However, India seemed well in sight of the win at that point and Yuvraj, partnered by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (19 not out) fittingly hit the winning boundary that brought up his 50 as well.

ESPNcricinfo Awards: Sachin, Laxman, Steyn and Gul grab Major

Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Dale Steyn have won the top awards in the fourth annual ESPNcricinfo Awards, announced in Bangalore.

The other winners were Umar Gul, Michael Hussey and Tim Southee.

Awards are for the following categories -

• Best Test Batting Performance: VVS Laxman (India) - 96 v South Africa, 2nd Test, Durban 
• Best Test Bowling Performance: Dale Steyn (SA) - 7 for 51 v India, 1st Test, Nagpur 
• Best ODI Batting Performance: Sachin Tendulkar (India) - 200 not out v South Africa, 2nd ODI, Gwalior 
• Best ODI Bowling Performance: Umar Gul (Pakistan) - 6 for 42 v England, 3rd ODI, The Oval 
• Best T20 Batting Performance: Mike Hussey (Australia) - 60 not out v Pakistan World Twenty20 semi-final, St Lucia 
• Best T20 Bowling Performance: Tim Southee (New Zealand) - 5 for 18 v Pakistan, first Twenty20, Auckland

Laxman won the Test batting award for his 96 on a seaming pitch in Durban, while Steyn took the bowling prize for his 7 for 51 against India in Nagpur on a flat batting track. That both players overcame unfavourable conditions and led their teams to historic wins was important in their beating some impressive competition.

The one-day batting award also went to a performance from an India-South Africa game: Sachin Tendulkar's remarkable unbeaten double-hundred in Gwalior, the first in the 40-odd years of the existence of the format.

It brought Tendulkar his second consecutive win in the category. He won last year for his monumental 175 in a lost cause against Australia.

Tendulkar's and Gul's performances were ranked No. 1 by 10 jury members, Steyn's by eight and Laxman's 96 by five.

This contest reflects that the rivalry of India-SAwas the key contest of the year.

India begin World Cup-2011 campaign with a bang, beat Australia by 38 runs

Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh spun India to a thumping 38-run win over Australia  in their first warm-up game of the Cricket World Cup in Bangalore on Sunday.

Chawla (4/31) and Harbhajan (3/15) exploited the conditions to perfection and troubled all the Australian batsmen on a turning track at Chinnaswamy Stadium to earn a morale boosting victory for India.

Earlier, Indian batsmen failed to live up to expectations as they were bowled out for 214 in 44.3 overs after electing to bat. Virender Sehwag top-scored with a 56-ball 54 while Yusuf Pathan made a 39-ball 32. None of the other top-order batsmen could make substantial contribute.

Chasing a modest 215 for a win, Australia were cruising at one stage on 118 for two before Chawla and Harbhajan cast a web around Australians to bowl them out for 176 in 37.5 overs in front of a packed crowd.

Surprise inclusion in the World Cup squad, Chawla proved his critics wrong and brought India back into the match with a double strike in consecutive deliveries in the 29th over and took two wickets later to play a huge role in India's victory.

The leg-spinner was a revelation as he extracted big turn from the track and varied his deliveries to unsettle the Australians.

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Ponting, who returned to competitive cricket after a finger injury lay-off, top-scored for Australia with a hard-earned 57 that came off 85 balls after opening duo of Shane Watson (33) and Tim Paine (37) had given them a flying start.

 

Sourav Ganguly retires from cricket

India’s most successful captain — the man who single-handedly galvanised a bunch of talented players into a winning side — won’t play again. The God on the off-side has announced his retirement from competitive cricket.


Breaking his silence on the IPL controversy, he said, he was playing Ranji only to stay fit for the league. And he doesn’t see any possibility of playing IPL again. So he’s hanging up his boots.

But he expressed disappointment at not finding a place in 10 IPL teams in which 70 Indians were selected. “I had the runs. Players of my age, Gilchrist, Dravid and Laxman are still actively involved. I haven’t been able to put the finger on why I was left out.
Cricketing logic and past form suggests I should have been picked. There are several reasons I could have been dropped, but not for cricket.”


So there will be no resurrection for the man, who like a phoenix has sprung surprises every time people thought his innings was over.


But Ganguly doesn’t feel betrayed by Shah Rukh Khan.
“SRK spoke to me about a possible role as KKR mentor. I don’t think KKR needs a mentor. I see no role there. The team already has enough expertise in Whatmore and Akram. I wanted to play and not mentor the team. I didn’t see myself in the sort of a role Kumble has chosen.”


But such is his love for the Kolkata outfit that he was disappointed over how the team has been handled, especially over the past two seasons.


His passion for the game won’t die. His IPL dream flickered when Kochi wanted him after the auctions. But the franchises put a spanner in the works. And Ganguly was left in the cold again.


Ganguly, the man who along with Sachin was part of one of the most destructive opening pairs in history won’t swing the willow again. Rather, he will still be part of the game, but not on the field. “I am mentally preparing myself for an administrator’s role at some stage. I would love to be part of the Cricket Association of Bengal at some point of my life. I also would love to coach the Indian cricket team as well.”


Cricket Association of Bengal is home turf. But the Bengal Tiger could also eye the chair of the Indian Cricket Board. Nothing is impossible for the unputdownable Dada.