Tiwary strikes third consecutive ton

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A round-up of the third day’s play of the sixth round of matches of the Ranji Trophy Elite, 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2011Group BAn exciting final morning can be expected in Kolkata as Bengal are 34 runs short of taking the first-innings lead while Delhi need two wickets to grab three points. Such a scenario was possible only because of Manoj Tiwary, who compiled his third consecutive first-class century, and is now 37 runs adrift of a second double-century this season. Beginning the day on 84 for 4, Bengal survived an early morning scare after Sourav Ganguly was dropped by Shikar Dhawan at second slip off Parvinder Awana on 19. Though Ganguly managed to reach his 88th first-class fifty, he was living dangerously and eventually played into the hands of Yogesh Nagar at gully, trying to chase a wide delivery off Pradeep Sangwan.Tiwary remained unruffled, picking runs through the day at a consistent pace. He cobbled together vital partnerships with Laxmi Shukla and Subhomoy Das to keep the Delhi bowlers busy. Tiwary did blame Bengal’s experienced batsmen for playing the wrong shots but was positive about overtaking Delhi in the morning. “They [Delhi] have already taken the (second) new ball. There isn’t much movement in the wicket now and whatever grass is there will go with the mowing tomorrow,” Tiwary told the media after the day’s play.Haryana were facing the prospect of an innings defeat against Madhya Pradesh in Rohtak after fast bowler TP Sudhindra’s career-best seven-for made the hosts follow-on. Haryana were dismissed for just 126 in reply to MP’s 487, with Sudhindra adding three more wickets today to his haul of four on the second day. It was only captain Amit Mishra’s unbeaten 45 that carried Haryana past 100. Their troubles grew when Sudhindra struck with the third delivery of the follow-on innings, removing Rahul Dewan for a duck. Nitin Saini and Sunny Singh fought back in a century stand, but Asif Ali bowled Saini for 53 to leave Haryana needing another 214 to avoid an innings defeat. Sunny remained unbeaten on 75 to give Haryana hope that they could achieve that.An unbeaten 138-run alliance for the fifh wicket between the rookie pair of Pratharesh Panchal and Manprit Juneja helped Gujarat recover from a top-order failure to reach 293 for 4 in Ahmedabad. Parthiv Patel had only made four when he edged an away-going delivery from Jagannathan Kaushik, and was brilliantly caught by R Prasanna in the third over of the Gujarat innings. Avi Barot and Niraj Patel managed to get the starts but both fell to offspinner Sunny Gupta. When Priyank Panchal, too, was dismissed by Gupta for 80, Gujarat were in trouble at 155 for 4. But Parmar dug in with a dogged, unbeaten 45 and debutant Juneja hit 14 fours in his unbeaten 84 to ensure that there were no further jolts for the hosts on the third day. Despite their gritty efforts, Tamil Nadu‘s 698 is still looking miles away going into the final day.Group AA solid batting show from their top order put Rajasthan in a position to declare early on the final day and have a crack at Saurashtra in Jaipur. After Pankaj Singh completed his first five-for of the season and Saurashtra were bowled out for 265, conceding a first-innings lead of 131, Aakash Chopra produced an unbeaten 87 to put Rajasthan firmly in control. Vineet Saxena and Hrishikesh Kanitkar provided Chopra with support, both making scores in the 30s. Pankaj, the second-highest wicket-taker last Ranji season, has carried on with the same grit this year, too, and was confident of having a second go at the visitors, who on 11 points, are desperately searching for positive result to keep their knockout hopes alive. Pankaj said he just took advantage of Saurashtra’s anxiousness.”The pitch was mostly good yesterday but it wasn’t consistent. Today it was far slower. I knew the batsmen would go for false strokes if I hit the right areas. They were always under pressure and I just took advantage of it,” Pankaj told .If the fog does not play spoilsport for the fourth successive day in Lucknow tomorrow, Uttar Pradesh will entertain hopes of overtaking Mumbai‘s first-innings score to grab the vital three points they need so desperately to keep their knockout prospects alive. So far 83 overs have been lost to fog and on Thursday play was delayed by 135 minutes. Out of the 73 overs scheduled, only 53 could be bowled.As soon as Mumbai lost their final wicket in the first over of the morning, UP reached 166 for 2 in reply to Mumbai’s 414 before bad light curtailed the day’s play. Though UP lost Tanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif before reaching a score of 100, the pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Parvinder Singh played enterprisingly to stitch together an unbeaten 68-run partnership for the third wicket. Bhuvneshwar was lucky to survivie after being dropped on seven at square leg by Abhishek Nayar and then on 27 by Kaustubh Pawar in the slips. In contrast Parvinder, one of the prolific scorers for UP, played aggressively, hitting five boundaries including two sixes in his 52-ball stay so far.Interestingly, in a scenario where more than 90 overs are lost due to bad light, the rule states that both teams would share at least two points each. But with Suresh Raina in their ranks, UP will hope to get the lead without having to rely on the elements.Orissa require another 86 runs, with five wickets in hand, to overhaul Railways‘ first-innings score of 379 in Delhi. Orissa’s openers put on a stand of 124 in all, after resuming on 108 for no loss. Subhrajit Sahoo was out for 70 to end the partnership, but another steady stand followed between Paresh Patel and Subit Biswal. Paresh fell just five short of a hundred, triggering a mini-collapse. Orissa went from 202 for 1 to 205 for 5, before Abhilash Mallick and Govind Podder steadied them with an unbroken partnership of 89. The veterans Sanjay Bangar and Murali Kartik, who bowled the maximum overs on the penultimate day, hold the key in stopping Orissa from taking away the three points now available from this match.On a gloomy day in Bangalore, Punjab became the first team to take the first-innings lead against Karnataka this season. Mayank Sidhana’s second half-century of the match, and bad light that ended play more than an hour early made a draw the likeliest result as Punjab ended the day nearly 200 ahead with only three wickets down. Read the full report here.

Aslam, Nawaz make it two in two for Pakistan Under-19s

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A century from Sami Aslam and a five-wicket haul from Mohammad Nawaz helped make it two wins out of two matches for Pakistan Under-19s in the tri-nation tournament in South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2012
ScorecardA century from Sami Aslam and a five-wicket haul from Mohammad Nawaz helped make it two wins out of two matches for Pakistan Under-19s in the tri-nation tournament in South Africa. Despite a late collapse, Pakistan managed to get to 260. While South Africa Under-19s managed to stay in the chase till the 35th over, the required run-rate had risen to almost eight runs an over, and they succumbed to the pressure, getting bowled out for 206 in the end.Nawaz and legspinner Usman Qadir were the men who ran through the South African middle and lower oder. Half-centuries from Chad Bowes and Diego Rosier had taken the hosts to 143 for 2 in the 35th over. Qadir dismissed Rosier and three balls later Nawaz had Bowes caught behind. The new batsmen were under pressure to attack from the outset and Nawaz took advantage, helping himself to four more wickets to finish with 5 for 33. Qadir, who had taken two wickets in Pakistan’s victory over Zimbabwe Under-19s the previous day, finished with 3 for 53.Pakistan had been put in, and their openers put together a 143-run partnership. Babar Azam got his second half-century of the tournament but it was Aslam who dominated the partnership. Aslam scored 112 off 133 balls including 11 fours. When Aslam was dismissed in the 40th over, Pakistan were 216 for 3 and looking at an imposing total. However, they got just 44 runs off the last 10.4 overs while losing six wickets. Nineteen-year-old fast bowler Rabian Engelbrecht disrupted Pakistan’s progress, dismissing Aslam and Adnan Mehmood off consecutive balls before accounting for Nawaz four overs later. Left-arm spinner Lesiba Ngoepe made sure the tail did not add quick runs, and finished with 3 for 47.While the end to Pakistan’s innings was disappointing, the work of their openers had ensured they reached a defendable total, and their bowlers completed the job.

Franchises perturbed by Sahara pullout

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A number of IPL franchises have expressed concern about the potential damage to the IPL’s image from Sahara Pune Warriors’ abrupt withdrawal from the league

Tariq Engineer05-Feb-2012A number of IPL franchises have expressed concern about the potential damage to the IPL’s image from Sahara Pune Warriors’ abrupt withdrawal from the league, with some saying the decision might make sponsors think twice about associating with the tournament in the future. An hour before the player auction on Saturday, Sahara India Parivar cut its ties with the BCCI, withdrawing its sponsorship of the Indian team and its ownership of the IPL Pune franchise. The announcement took the other franchises “completely by surprise” and has thrown the schedule and format of the tournament into doubt again.”When a franchise like this walks, it is not good for the league,” a team administrator told ESPNcricinfo. While he said allowances must be made as the IPL is a new product and, as with any new business, there will be teething problems, he said the reasons “why this is happening are not good”.The Pune Warriors are the fourth team over the past 18 months whose status ahead of an IPL season remains unclear. In 2010, the BCCI terminated Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab but they took the board to court and won the right to participate in the 2011 IPL. Last September, Kochi Tuskers Kerala became the third team to be terminated, though one of the team’s co-owners said last week that they plan to file a case of their own in court and are confident of being part of the 2012 season despite their players having been sold to other teams.It is this uncertainty over which teams will be part of the league, franchises said, that sends the wrong signal to sponsors and partners. No business likes uncertainty. Franchises typically sign multi-year deals with their sponsors. But if a sponsor can’t be sure the team they are backing will remain in the league, they are going to be jittery about committing their money and resources.The operational details of the IPL – number of matches, dates etc – are up in the air as well but, beyond the logistics, it is the constantly shifting goalposts that add to the confusion. It renders decision-making by both franchises and their partners more difficult because the underlying factors that determine those decisions are unclear. A sponsorship deal for a team that plays 14 matches will naturally differ from one for a team that plays 18 matches. If you can’t be sure of the number of matches, it becomes that much harder to put a value on a contract.Adding to the league’s concerns is the fact that the 2011 IPL produced the lowest television ratings of any of the four seasons, an average Television Viewer Rating (TVR) of 3.91 per game, down 29% from 5.51 in 2010. Even the final, which drew a TVR of 6.96, paled in comparison to the 12.85 rating in 2010. It was also the first final to draw a single-digit rating.Santosh Desai, brand analyst and managing director of Future Brands, said he felt that the 2012 season would be a crucial barometer of the IPL’s long-term prospects because of a number of coalescing factors, including the general slowdown of economies around the world and the other problems surrounding Indian cricket at the moment: the national team’s poor performances away from home and the loss of the domestic broadcaster. In such a scenario, he said, something like the Warriors quitting the league takes on a larger significance.”[The IPL] is sentiment-driven. The moment you take away the good cheer, everything looks darker and gloomier. It begs greater scrutiny on the part of the franchises of the harder, more rational aspects of the IPL. From every single quarter there seems to be some reason for doubt. So this could be the most challenging season.”Desai also said a lack of proper governance, going back to when Lalit Modi was the IPL chairman, was part of the problem. “Once you build something, you need a steady hand, someone with a long-term perspective. Auctions are too frequent. If you look at the manner of the BCCI overall, the conflict of interest issues have not been resolved. So certainly governance is an issue.”It’s too early, though, to say the IPL itself is in serious trouble. When the NBA went on strike last year, the consensus opinion was that the league’s viewership would suffer if and when the league started up again. The strike was eventually called off and six weeks into the 2011-12 season, television ratings are up across the board.Sahara’s issues with the BCCI relate largely to the IPL. In 2008, Sahara’s bid for one of the first eight IPL franchises was “thwarted”, as it said; in 2010, Sahara successfully bid US$370 million for the Pune franchise but later asked the board for a refund of what it called its “extra bid money” stating that its bid price had been calculated on the basis that 94 matches would be played per season from 2011 onwards but only 74 matches were played last season. Other requests, such as not having player retention to create a “level-playing field” or allowing one extra foreign player for the two new teams were also turned down.Some are also still hopeful that a compromise can be reached between Sahara and the BCCI. “We sincerely hope the parties come to a consensus and a solution is reached in the best interest of the league and cricket,” a franchise official said.

Edwards blitz gives England Women series

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Driven by a blistering century from Charlotte Edwards, England Women cruised to a 59-run win against New Zealand Women in Lincoln, sealing the three-match one-day series 2-0 in the process

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2012
ScorecardCharlotte Edwards struck 20 fours in her unbeaten ton•Getty Images

Driven by a blistering century from Charlotte Edwards, England Women cruised to a 59-run win against New Zealand Women in Lincoln, sealing the three-match one-day series 2-0 in the process. Edwards, the captain, picked up on her fine form from the previous match, stroking 137 not out from 88 balls in the rain-hit match that was reduced to 26 overs a side.England’s total was built around two substantial partnerships – the first was a 98-run stand between Edwards and Sarah Taylor for the second wicket that came at nine-and-a-half runs an over, followed by a 47-run fourth-wicket partnership, complied at over 10 an over. Such was Edwards dominance, that Lydia Greenway contributed but nine runs to the latter stand.Chasing an imposing revised target of 224, a target that required them to score at 8.62 runs an over, New Zealand cracked. Five of their top six got into double figures, but only Amy Satterthwaite could manage a half-century, top scoring with 69 as the hosts folded for 164. New-ball bowlers Anya Shrubsole was the most effective of England’s bowlers, claiming 3 for 28.”We went out there with a mindset of Twenty20 cricket and it paid off,” Edwards said after the match. “It was great to contribute myself. I feel I’m in the form of my life.”It’s a great wicket here, so we went out and got stuck in and to get 219 was a fantastic effort. We knew that would always put New Zealand under pressure. We bowled and fielded well on a good pitch. It was difficult conditions in the wind and it was cold, but the bowlers bowled well with Anya up front.”The final match of the series will be played at the same venue on March 5.

England wait on Broad's fitness

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England will make a late decision over whether Stuart Broad is fit for the final warm-up match ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Mar-2012England will make a late decision over whether Stuart Broad is fit for the final warm-up match ahead of the Test series against Sri Lanka. Broad turned his left ankle shortly before the start of the three-day game against the Board XI in Colombo and was withdrawn from the contest.He trained with the squad ahead of the second three-day outing and began to move more freely as Monday’s session progressed, but the management had still to decide whether to give him an outing against a Development XI or hold him back for the first Test in Galle, which starts on March 26. Ideally for England, Broad would play ahead of the Test so he can continue to adjust to the heat and humidity during the short series.”He’s been recovering okay and he will be fitness tested this afternoon. After he’s had a bowl we’ll decide whether we are going to play him,” Andy Flower, the England team director, said. “That decision could be made after training or in the morning when we see how he pulls up then.”In Broad’s absence, Steven Finn played against the Board XI and collected four wickets in the match, continuing the good form he showed during the one-day series against Pakistan in the UAE. James Anderson claimed match figures of 7 for 40 and England also have Tim Bresnan available as another pace-bowling option.Broad and Anderson had formed a formidable new-ball attack in the UAE and England’s 3-0 whitewash had nothing to do with the performance of the bowling unit. England ended that series playing two quicks and two spinners, as Monty Panesar returned to partner Graeme Swann, and the indications are that they will continue with that balance against Sri Lanka. Panesar took 5 for 37 in the first innings against the Board XI and Swann claimed 3 for 33 in the second as both got overs under their belts ahead of the first Test.England could also benefit from Sri Lanka’s schedule, which will see them complete their Asia Cup campaign on Tuesday before a quick turnaround heading into Galle, although failing to reach the final means they have three extra days to prepare.”I think it is probably not Sri Lanka’s ideal preparation,” Flower said. “They are very experienced cricketers and they will be used to switching from one format to another. But I think they might be slightly undercooked on that front and obviously we’d like to take the initiative.”There’s still some acclimatisation time left before the first Test and this game is part of that,” Flower added of England’s preparation. “Our guys played superbly in the first three-day game. Now we have another and we would like to play to win that as well getting the right time in the middle that our guys need.”Our preparation has been excellent so far and I imagine by the first Test we will be ready.”

Daredevils get Jayawardene, Pietersen boost

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ESPNcricinfo previews the 11th match of IPL 2012 between Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings in Delhi

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria09-Apr-2012

Match facts

Tuesday, April 10, Delhi
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big picture

Delhi Daredevils have played Chennai Super Kings twice at the Feroz Shah Kotla, and both times the Daredevils have posted imposing totals (187 and 185), only for the Super Kings to overhaul them. The Daredevils’ overall record at their home ground isn’t impressive either – they have lost 13 of their 23* games here.But when they take the field on Tuesday, the Daredevils will be relieved to have Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen joining them. Both batsmen were in good form in the recently concluded Test series and should find a place in the playing XI that appeared a bit low on ammunition in Bangalore. At the bowling front, Umesh Yadav, who had a bout of cramps in the last game, is available for selection and will add sting to the attack with Morne Morkel and Doug Bracewell. If Irfan Pathan can support the trio with his swing bowling, this line-up has the ability to spice up even a slow pitch at the Kotla.Super Kings struggled in their first game against Mumbai Indians but found their groove against Deccan Chargers. Their well-oiled batting artillery has power hitters all the way down to No.8. However, MS Dhoni hasn’t hit a boundary in the first two matches and he is due for some big shots in this game.The match has the potential of turning into a bat-out, however, the subplot – a contest between Daredevils’ pace attack and Super Kings’ slow bowlers – could be just as interesting to watch.

Players to watch

Mahela Jayawardene scored 354 runs in the two Test matches against England and he brings that form and ability to score quickly with nimble shots. Besides bringing solidity to the team, Jayawardene’s presence could help Virender Sehwag relax.R Ashwin has bowled seven overs for 32 runs in his last two games for Super Kings without a wicket. As a lead spinner, he has been economical, but with big names in the opposition, will he rise to the challenge?

2011 head-to-head

Last year, the two teams played each other only once, in Chennai, where a Dhoni onslaught (63 off 31 balls) helped the Super Kings beat a Sehwag-less Daredevils by 18 runs.

Stats and trivia

  • Suresh Raina has hit 79 sixes in his IPL career, which is second behind Adam Gilchrist’s 83.
  • Virender Sehwag’s strike rate of 169.15 is the highest in IPL, six points more than Chris Gayle’s.
  • Super Kings lead Daredevils in the head-to-head 4-3.
  • Daredevils’ home record is the second-worst, after Deccan Chargers.

    Quotes

    “I know the Delhi Daredevils fans would have liked the Colombo Test to end in three or four days so that we could play last night’s [April 7] game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. But KP and I had other ideas.”

    “I try to think what the batsman might want to do before each delivery. But I’ll stick to bowling flat and quick. Taking wickets in one match doesn’t mean I will suddenly start tossing up the ball.”
    *Includes three Champions League matches

Surrey maintain winning start

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Half-centuries from Tom Maynard and Zafar Ansari helped Surrey maintain their winning start to the CB40 as they overcame Durham by 60 runs at The Oval.

20-May-2012
ScorecardZafar Ansari boosted Surrey’s total with a brisk 60•PA Photos

Half-centuries from Tom Maynard and Zafar Ansari helped Surrey maintain their winning start to the CB40 as they overcame Durham by 60 runs at The Oval.After winning the toss and electing to bat Surrey were in trouble on 47 for 3 – with Mitchell Claydon taking all three wickets in 12 balls – but Maynard’s 77 steadied the ship and Ansari’s unbeaten 60 helped the hosts to 221 for 7.Durham lost wickets at regular intervals to undermine their chase and they were all out for 161, with Jade Dernbach, Stuart Meaker, Matthew Spriegel and Gareth Batty claiming two wickets apiece.The win was the third of the campaign for Surrey, the defending CB40 champions, and keeps them top of Group B, while Durham slipped to their first defeat.Steven Davies, Rory Hamilton-Brown and Jason Roy all made bright starts, but Claydon left the hosts reeling. Davies, attempting to cut, was caught behind and two overs later, Hamilton-Brown was bowled on the walk, trying to repeat the stroke that had just brought him a boundary off Graham Onions. In the eighth over, Roy crunched two successive fours off Claydon, who had his revenge when he found some extra bounce and the 21-year-old batsman edged behind.Maynard added 58 in tandem with Zander de Bruyn but, in the space of four balls, de Bruyn was bowled through the gate by Gareth Breese and Spriegel was undone by a turning delivery from Scott Borthwick. Maynard then joined forces with Ansari, putting on 85 in 15 overs for the sixth wicket. Having taken the batting powerplay at start of the 34th over, Surrey added 62 runs in the final six overs.Maynard eventually went, caught low down at extra cover off Onions for a magnificent 77 off 94 balls, though not before Ansari had lifted Claydon over midwicket for six. Ansari then took charge, bringing up a 51-ball half-century, which he celebrated by pulling Onions for a maximum and finished unbeaten on 60 off 55 deliveries.In reply, Durham lost Phil Mustard, miscuing Dernbach to Roy at mid-off, in the third over. Ben Stokes swung Meaker over backward square leg for six only to be stumped off Spriegel, who struck again four overs later when Mark Stoneman was caught down the leg side to make it 59 for three.Without taking any undue risks, Gordon Muchall and Paul Collingwood combined to add 61 in 14 overs. But the pendulum swung in Surrey’s favour in the 28th over when Collingwood was bowled for 32, looking to sweep off-spinner Batty.With Will Smith playing on to Jade Dernbach and Muchall picking out Maynard at long-on off Batty having made 41, the visitors were left needing 89 off the last nine overs.Things went from bad to worse for Durham when Breese had to retire hurt with an injury to his right ankle. Liam Plunkett defiantly launched Dernbach straight back over his head for six, but ran out of partners when Meaker bowled both Onions then Claydon.

PCB hires psychologist to help Amir

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The PCB has hired a psychologist Maqbool Babri to help banned fast bowler Mohammad Amir with his rehabilitation

Umar Farooq09-Jun-2012The PCB has hired a psychologist to help banned fast bowler Mohammad Amir with his rehabilitation. Amir was released from jail in February after serving half of his six-month sentence for his role in the spot-fixing scam and was banned from cricket till 2015 by an ICC tribunal.The PCB is keen to welcome Amir back to top-flight cricket once he has served his ICC ban. The PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf has been insisting that Amir would be given financial support while undergoing rehabilitation.”A psychologist, namely (Maqbool) Babri, has been hired for Amir,” PCB director education Wasim Bari told ESPNcricinfo. “PCB has been planning for his educational programme and is starting with the psychologist to support him after the fallout of the spot-fixing scam.”He will have sessions as a part of his psychological rehabilitation and later will decide his further educational programme,” Bari said. “The influence of the incident obviously added some ill feelings and memories with Amir that need to be sorted out to give him a fresh state of mind.” He didn’t reveal the duration of the programme or when it starts.Soon after Amir’s release from jail, he decided not to appeal against the ICC’s ban before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The ICC advised him to undergo a rehabilitation programme, and recently he appeared in an educational video on behalf of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.The PCB arranged a rehab programme starting with Babri, who will be a familiar face for Amir. Babri, a psychotherapist and a certified clinical hypnotherapist, had earlier been hired during Pakistan’s conditional camp in 2009 before their victorious World Twenty20 campaign.”It’s a challenge for me but I will do my best to counsel Amir so that he can find his way back to international cricket,” Babri told . “Amir is an exceptional talent and we must help him regain his place.”

Bell makes fine-tuned fifty

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Ian Bell continued his excellent recent form with a half-century at Edgbaston as he returned to red-ball cricket

Jon Culley at Edgbaston12-Jul-2012
ScorecardSteve Magoffin eventually forced a mistake after Ian Bell had made a half-century•Getty Images

Seven of the last 12 days of scheduled cricket at Edgbaston had been complete washouts, including four days of international cricket, so in a summer in which spectators have been grateful for any entertainment, the 65 overs possible before another wet weather front announced its arrival were well received, not least because they contained more evidence of the wonderful form in which England’s Ian Bell currently finds himself.The only disappointment was that it amounted only to 57 runs, ending unexpectedly with a mistimed pull that went straight to the fielder at midwicket. The ball before had been driven past mid-off with superb timing, bringing him his 10th boundary, but Steve Magoffin, Sussex’s Australian seamer, then served up a shorter delivery, effectively a long hop. It should have been despatched but perhaps Bell was taken a little by surprise.Nonetheless, Bell had served his own purpose, which was to keep himself ticking over ahead of next week’s opening Test against South Africa. After a run of six scores of 53 or above in eight innings, including the brilliant 126 at the start of the one-day series against West Indies, he has hardly looked a batsman in need of practice and was given the option to miss this match, in common with his clubmate, Jonathan Trott, who chose to rest.But Bell took the view that form against the white ball is not necessarily the same as form against the red ball and decided to play, which was all the more commendable given that his wife, Chantal, who is expecting their first child, had a morning appointment to undergo a routine ultrasound scan that he also wanted to attend. In the event, aided by a 12 noon start, he was able to do both.”It’s all down the individual, whatever gets you in the right frame of mind for a Test match,” he said. “With the weather we have had it is good to get any time in the middle. I have been feeling in good nick and I just want to keep that going.”I’ve never felt that nets give me the best preparation for a Test match. I don’t know whether that makes me a bit old school but I always feel that if I can get 50 in the middle it gets me in a better place than a hundred nets. If we go to The Oval and we have to train indoors, say, at least I’ve got this under my belt.”It was a bit of a scramble getting here. I didn’t arrive on the ground until half an hour before the start and Jim Troughton was ready to go in at three if necessary. But Ashley Giles and Jim were brilliant. They said to take all the time I needed and slot in where I could, but it worked out well in the end.”It took Bell a while, in the event, to shake off his one-day instincts, as Monty Panesar discovered when his erstwhile England colleague went down the pitch to him twice in his first few deliveries. Panesar had been bowling well, as he has for much of the season, and it looked as though Bell wanted to take an aggressive approach, perhaps to knock the left-armer out of his rhythm.In fact, Bell had to fight against himself, to rein himself in, but it did make for entertaining viewing and Panesar’s figures took something of a hit as a result.Troughton, as captain, would have been pleased to be 175 for 3. His decision to bat first, given that the field has taken so much water, looked to be a slight gamble, but Varun Chopra and Will Porterfield batted sensibly and had put on 66 before the latter, looking well set, was leg before to Panesar, playing back to a ball that skidded through the rough.James Anyon and Naved Arif Gondal struggled with their line for Sussex but Magoffin was dangerous and Panesar tight and challenging. He had Chopra well tied down at one stage and claimed him as his second victim just after lunch. Chopra seemed unhappy with umpire Steve Gale’s leg before verdict, perhaps thinking he was too well forward, but these days the benefit of the doubt is less readily awarded.

Australia need to 'adjust' to UAE conditions – Sutherland

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Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland has said Australia will ‘need to adjust to’ the conditions in the UAE for their upcoming series against Pakistan, but the adjustment they must make will not be ‘that significant’

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2012Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland has said Australia will ‘need to adjust to’ the conditions in the UAE for their upcoming series against Pakistan, but the required adjustment will not be ‘that significant’.Australia are set to play three Twenty20s and three ODIs in the UAE in in August and September, with the matches beginning in the late evening to avoid the worst of the daytime heat. The heat and the decision to start the one-dayers at 6pm – meaning the scheduled finish is 1.45am – continue to be an issue with the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) though.”It’ll be hot, but the sun’s not going to be shining and that’s probably the really important factor there,” Sutherland told . “In terms of the hours, it’s not ideal but at the same time it’s just an adjustment that the players will need to [make]. It’s the same for both teams.”There are many people in the world who work different hours and these will be different hours for our players, unconventional hours for cricket perhaps. But the game’s only going a couple of hours later than it would ordinarily, so I’m not sure that adjustment is really that significant.”CA officials will visit the UAE next week, to assess the conditions. There had been much debate over the actual make-up of the series, which is a ‘home’ series for Pakistan. The ACA had expressed its concerns about playing ODIs in such hot weather, prompting the series to be changed to a six-match Twenty20 affair, which was approved by the ICC in June. However, the PCB then approached the Australian board, putting forward a request to review the composition of the series once again. ESPNcricinfo understands that the series’ broadcaster had objected to six Twenty20s for commercial reasons. The new schedule was announced by the PCB earlier this month.The venue of the series had also been an issue. It was initially scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka but Pakistan were forced to search for an alternate venue after Sri Lanka backed out in May, citing the clash in the dates with the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League.