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Northamptonshire build commanding lead

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Northamptonshire took an iron grip on the third day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershire

25-May-2012
ScorecardNorthamptonshire took an iron grip on the third day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershire despite an unbeaten century by the visitors’ Hamish Marshall.Gloucestershire managed to avoid the follow-on before they were bowled out for 268 with former New Zealand international Marshall making a brilliant 117 not out from 196 balls. Northants then extended their lead to 389 as they closed on 246 for 5 with Scotland international Kyle Coetzer making 86 off 127 deliveries including two huge sixes over midwicket.Gloucestershire began the day on 156 for 6, 255 runs behind their opponents and needing another 106 to avoid the follow-on, with Marshall resuming on 49 and wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty on 9. Marshall quickly completed his half-century off 105 balls with a single off David Willey with the sixth ball of the day.Batty, however, was unable to add to his overnight score before he walked when he was caught by his opposite number David Murphy after edging Lee Daggett.Ed Young failed to score off five deliveries before he was trapped lbw by Willey but Marshall and Ian Saxelby hung in to add 90 for the ninth wicket. This set a new Gloucestershire record against Northants, going past the previous best of 84 made between David Graveney and Brian Brain at Bristol in 1981.Marshall completed his 20th first-class century off 165 balls but Saxelby was to perish on 30 when he was pinned lbw by Con de Lange. James Middlebrook finally brought the Gloucestershire innings to an end with the final ball before lunch when Liam Norwell edged him to Northants captain Andrew Hall at first slip.Middlebrook threw his wicket away on 19, 18 overs into Northants second innings, when he chipped Will Gidman straight to Saxelby at mid-on. But fellow opener Stephen Peters completed his half-century in the third over after tea off 99 balls as Northants steadily extended their advantage.But he departed on 58 when he gloved his attempted reverse sweep off New Zealand international Kane Williamson to Marshall at slip. Coetzer went on to reach 50 off 93 deliveries but his superb knock came to an end when he smashed Saxelby to Williamson at midwicket.David Sales then retired hurt on 33 after seemingly pulling a muscle running a single towards the wicketkeeper’s end. Alex Wakely was then stumped by Batty off Williamson before Willey launched the same bowler to Saxelby at deep square-leg with the last ball of the day.

Sri Lanka Premier League set for August this year

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Sri Lanka Cricket has signed a new deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to hold the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) in 2012, ESPNcricinfo has learned

Tariq Engineer07-May-2012Sri Lanka Cricket has signed a new deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to hold the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) in 2012, ESPNcricinfo has learned. The deal was signed on May 5 and the tournament has been tentatively scheduled to be held between August 10 and August 31, just ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 that will be held in Sri Lanka in September.The SLPL was supposed to kick off last year, with SLC’s then interim committee signing a five-year deal with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to organise the event. However, the Sri Lankan board was forced to postpone the tournament after the BCCI refused to allow its players to participate at the last minute, causing a delay in the naming of the final composition of the teams and affecting overall preparations for the event. In addition, the interim committee that signed the deal was subsequently replaced and there was criticism of some of the clauses in the contract by the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).A new set of administrators were elected in January and they have been negotiating with Somerset Entertainment Ventures to resolve their differences. The new deal has addressed the concerns raised by the COPE report and has been cleared by the office of the Sri Lankan attorney general, ESPNcricinfo understands.The format of the tournament remains the same. SLPL will have seven teams that will play each other in a league format followed by semi-finals and finals. The games will most likely be played in Colombo and Kandy. Last year’s event was scheduled to kick off on July 19, 2011, with the final to be played on August 6. The tournament hit its first hurdle when the BCCI decided to withhold its permission to allow Indian players to take part on the grounds that Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which owned the commercial rights, would be handling the contracts for international players and that it could lead to complications, should disputes arise over payments.In order to assuage the Indian board, SLC was willing to back the Indian players’ contracts so that their financial interests were protected, but that was not enough to satisfy the BCCI. There were also suggestions that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi had a hand in the event, but SLC and Somerset Entertainment Ventures repeatedly denied them, as did Modi.

Morgan blazes 49-ball century

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Eoin Morgan sent a timely reminder to the England selectors by hitting the fastest century of the season as Middlesex crushed Lancashire by 167 runs at Lord’s.

10-Jun-2012ScorecardEoin Morgan will hope to return to international cricket in England’s ODI series against West Indies•AFP

Eoin Morgan sent a timely reminder to the England selectors by hitting the fastest century of the season as Middlesex crushed Lancashire by 167 runs at Lord’s.Morgan, who struggled in both Tests and one-day internationals during the winter, showed that he is back to his audacious best by reaching his hundred off only 49 balls, 17 fewer than the previous quickest by Durham’s Phil Mustard against Nottinghamshire last Sunday.He went on to make 116 off 54 balls with 11 sixes and six fours and, with Paul Stirling, Morgan’s fellow Irishman, making a rapid century of his own as Middlesex ran up a total of 350 for 6, their highest in one-day cricket. It was always going to be too many for Lancashire who slumped to 55 for 5 before Paul Horton’s defiant 49 enabled them to reach 183.The stage had been set for Morgan by a second wicket partnership of 142 in 20 overs between Stirling and Joe Denly, who had made 58 off 57 balls with six fours and a six when he sliced Gary Keedy to backward point.It was not long before Stirling completed his century off 84 balls and he had scored 119 off 99 balls with five sixes and 12 fours when Keedy had him caught at square leg off a top-edged sweep but he was to be upstaged by Morgan in a third wicket stand of 126 in only 11 overs.A scoreboard showing 168 for 2, a short boundary on the Tavern side of the ground and a Lancashire attack containing three left arm spinners could not have been more inviting for the Morgan.He had scored only 66 runs in four one-day internationals for England and did not get a game for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. But ahead of the naming tomorrow of England’s squad to face the West Indies he was back to his best.He impudently reverse-swept his first ball from Keedy for four, straight drove Ajmal Shahzad for his first six soon afterwards and then began peppering the Mound and Tavern Stands with a fusillade of sixes which had spectators ducking for cover.One of them off Sajid Mahmood took him to his first century for Middlesex in any form of cricket since 2009 and he was trying to clear the boundary again when he was caught at wide long on off Keedy, who emerged from the onslaught with the exemplary figures of 5 for 55.

Aaron suffers injury setback

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Varun Aaron, the India fast bowler, has suffered a recurrence of a back injury that had ruled him of India’s tour to Australia last year and is likely to be out of cricket till at least September

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2012Varun Aaron, the India fast bowler, has suffered a recurrence of a back injury that had ruled him out of India’s tour to Australia last year. He told ESPNcricinfo that he was targetting a return during the Champions League T20 in October.Aaron, whose last international game was in December in an ODI against West Indies in Visakhapatnam, returned to competitive cricket during the IPL. He played eight games for his franchise, Delhi Daredevils, and picked up eight wickets.”There was a slight niggle, but I was still good enough to bowl at my best during the IPL,” Aaron told the . “But as soon as I experienced the pain again, I returned to the NCA some five weeks back.””The back injury must have relapsed after the IPL,” TA Sekar, Daredevils mentor, said. “He was 100% fit during the matches he played and he even bowled at 145 kmh-plus in them.” Sekar said it was only after putting Aaron through the franchise’s rehab schedule that Daredevils decided to play him; Aaron played his first game only midway through the tournament.”Ideally the board should have sent him to Australia for treatment in December itself, especially since they had a qualified physio in Evan Speechly with them,” Sekar said. “The two-month delay really cost him.” Aaron was sent to the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore for his rehab after he was ruled out of the Australia tour.Aaron, who has played one Test and five ODIs for India, has had a history of back trouble, having suffered two stress fractures soon after he made his Ranji Trophy debut for Jharkhand in the 2008-09 season. He first played for India during the ODI series against England last October and made his Test debut the following month against West Indies. He was picked in India’s Test squad for Australia, but once the stress reaction in his back was diagnosed, he was replaced by Karnataka seamer R Vinay Kumar.

Wily Masters helps even up contest

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David Masters helped Essex fight back against promotion favourites Derbyshire after a four wicket haul by spinner David Wainwright had secured maximum bowling points for the Division Two leaders at Derby

28-Aug-2012Derbyshire 28 for 3 trail Essex 245 (Napier 52, Wainwright 4-64) by 217 runs
ScorecardDavid Masters helped Essex fight back against promotion favourites Derbyshire after a four wicket haul by spinner David Wainwright had secured maximum bowling points for the Division Two leaders at Derby.Wainwright took 4 for 64 and Mark Turner two wickets as Essex were bowled out for 245 but the visitors hit back by reducing the home side to 28 for 3 at the close.Masters followed a season’s best of 35 with the bat with 2 for 3 in seven overs on his return from a side strain and Graham Napier, who top scored with 42, also claimed a wicket to leave the game in the balance.Derbyshire dominated the first part of the day after their decision to put Essex in was quickly justified as Tony Palladino struck against his former county by having Jaik Mickleburgh caught behind for five in the fifth over. It was the seamer’s 49th Championship victim of the season but he was kept waiting for his 50th as Essex subsided to the spin of Wainwright and two needless run-outs.After Tom Westley had played down the wrong line at Tim Groenewald and Owais Shah had been beaten for pace by Turner, Wainwright got a ball to spit at Mark Pettini who was caught off his glove by Wes Durston at first slip.Ryan ten Doeschate has played some explosive innings against Derbyshire in the past and he briefly threatened to leave his mark on them again when he drove Wainwright over long on for six.But he made a misjudgement on 29 when he went back to Wainwright and was lbw to the arm ball and although James Foster was dropped by wicketkeeper Tom Poynton and saw a top edge hook carried over the ropes by Palladino, he did not make Derbyshire pay.The Essex captain had moved to 31 when he pushed Wainwright to mid on, set off for a single which was never on and was run out by yards thanks to Wayne Madsen’s direct hit.When Adam Wheater was lbw to a full length ball from Turner, Essex were 151 for 7 but Napier and Masters at least earnt their side a batting point with a stand of 74 in 19 overs. Napier fell to Wainwright when he edged a big drive to slip and Maurice Chambers’ attempted slog ended in the hands of backward point, leaving Masters to drive the spinner for six before he was run out going for a second run.Masters continued the Essex recovery when he bowled Madsen, who made a double century in the previous game, for two and had Usman Khawaja well caught low down at second slip by Westley for a 14-ball duck.Palladino was sent in as night watchman but Napier trapped him lbw in the penultimate over to end an absorbing day’s play on a high note for Essex.

Davis, Coulter-Nile help WA to victory

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A bright 93 from Liam Davis and a striking allround display by Nathan Coulter-Nile helped Western Australia to a 25-run victory over Victoria

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2012
ScorecardLaim David held the WA innings together•Getty Images

A bright 93 from Liam Davis and a striking allround display by Nathan Coulter-Nile helped Western Australia to a 25-run victory over Victoria in the domestic limited overs match at the WACA ground.Mitchell Johnson also claimed a trio of wickets for WA as the Bushrangers fell short of what had appeared a quite manageable chase at the change of innings.The Warriors’ innings was a series of fits and starts apart from Davis’ innings until Coulter-Nile emerged at No. 8 to thump 42 from 31 balls and lift the tally near 250. The sometime Australia seamer John Hastings used his height to good advantage on the early season surface to snare four wickets.Victoria’s reply was deliberately paced, the No. 3 Chris Rogers and the wicketkeeper Peter Handscomb going closest to a substantial union in their stand of 50. However both fell after making starts, and the required rate climbed ever higher from that point.Andrew McDonald and Michael Hill made handy scores and Will Sheridan clumped 25 from only eight balls, but Coulter-Nile’s quartet of wickets – plus a pair of run outs – was critical in helping the Warriors to ease to their first points of the summer.

Dhoni wants home pitches to turn more

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MS Dhoni wasn’t convinced the home surfaces are helpful enough to India’s spinners and urged curators to prepare tracks with more bite

Siddarth Ravindran in Bangalore30-Aug-2012Over the past year, India may have had two of their most humiliating series defeats in England and Australia, but their recent home record remains respectable. A major factor in that has been the spin pair of R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, who between them have taken 60 wickets in the previous four home Tests. Watching New Zealand’s batsmen grope and prod at the spinning ball last week during the Hyderabad Test, you’d think the BCCI has decided to play to India’s strength by preparing turning tracks. MS Dhoni, though, wasn’t convinced the home surfaces are helpful enough to India’s spinners.”Frankly, we were expecting turning tracks, the last two wickets I don’t see them as turning tracks,” he said a day ahead of the Bangalore Test. “This wicket also doesn’t look like a turning track. We have put our request through and after that whatever wickets are provided we’ll have to play on them.”Despite Ashwin and Ojha dominating the Hyderabad Test, Dhoni urged curators to prepare tracks with more bite for the spinners. “You know the subcontinental speciality should be spin and I think we should stick to it. In the last match the spinners got lots of wickets but still I thought it was a hard-working wicket for them. Ashwin bowled brilliantly and Ojha had to keep it tight so I felt like if we can get a bit more spin and bit more bounce for the spinners it will be really good.”Much of India’s home success in the 1990s had come using a three-spinner strategy, the most prominent trio being Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan. When asked whether India were pondering using that tactic in Bangalore, Dhoni scoffed, “Have you seen the wicket?” suggesting that he expected it to assist the quick bowlers.While India rely heavily on spin, New Zealand are dependent on their fast bowlers, frequently deploying a four-quicks strategy in recent times. “I think they have a good bowling side especially on this kind of wicket and in overcast conditions they will come up with a good bowling plan and execute their plans well,” Dhoni said. “Hyderabad was a bit different as there was not much for the pacers, still their fast bowlers got wickets.”That’s one reason India were not complacent despite the all-too-easy victory in Hyderabad. “You don’t need to be overconfident, that has never been the case with us,” Dhoni said. “We are a side that respects the opponents whoever we are playing, wherever we are playing. Whatever we did right in the first Test, we will have to repeat everything.”

Pujara included in Mumbai A squad

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Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan, neither of whom play for Mumbai, have been named in the Mumbai A squad for the warm-up game against the visiting England side

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Oct-2012Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan, neither of whom play for Mumbai, have been named in the Mumbai A squad for the warm-up game against the visiting England side, to be played at the Dr DY Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai from November 3 to 5.Saurashtra don’t begin their Ranji Trophy campaign until the second round of matches starting on November 9, which freed up Pujara for this tour game. While Pujara has taken over the No. 3 spot in India’s Test side after Rahul Dravid’s retirement earlier in the year, Delhi opener Dhawan will get another chance to show his prowess against a top-notch bowling attack after scoring two hundreds and a half-century in his previous two first-class matches.Dhawan was originally named in the 14-member squad for the first tour game against England, to be played at the Cricket Club of India’s Brabourne Stadium from October 30, but had to withdraw as his wedding is scheduled for the first day of the game.There had been some controversy over the decision to not pick any spinners in the India A squad for England’s first warm-up game. For the second game, the Mumbai selection panel, headed by the national chief selector Sandeep Patil, included one specialist spinner and another part-timer in the squad led by Suryakumar Yadav. Twenty-year-old legspinner Sagar Gorivale will be assisted by part-time offspinner Abhishek Raut.Mumbai A squad: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Hiken Shah, Bhavin Thakkar, Sufiyan Shaikh (wk), Nikhil Patil (Jr), Abhishek Raut, Kshemal Waingankar, Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr), Sagar Gorivale, Javed Khan, Neelkanth Parab, Bravish Shetty, Shardul Thakur.

Ponting to retire after Perth Test

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Ricky Ponting has announced his retirement from international cricket, on the eve of the third Test against South Africa in Perth

Daniel Brettig29-Nov-2012As emotional as anyone has ever seen him, Ricky Ponting lost his customary composure when telling team-mates of his decision to retire from international cricket on the eve of the third Test against South Africa in Perth.For so long the stony-faced embodiment of Australian cricket, Ponting and other members of the squad wept as they came to terms with the fact a Test career that began at the WACA ground in 1995 would end at the same ground 17 years later. “I tried to tell them a lot, but I didn’t get much out,” Ponting said. “As I said to the boys this morning, they’ve never seen me emotional, but I was this morning.”If the decision drew a previously unseen well of feeling from within Ponting, its reasons were coldly logical and team-oriented. After failing twice with the bat in Adelaide and thrice in this series, having given himself the best possible lead-in via domestic cricket Ponting concluded that he was no longer good enough to perform at the level he preferred. For so long Ponting’s watchword had been consistency – now he spoke ruefully of “consistent failure”.Other considerations included choosing the best circumstances in which to allow his successor in the batting order to get started, a question Ponting had also pondered when handing over the captaincy to Clarke in 2011. As befitted a man whose proudest career achievement is to have played in more Test wins than any other cricketer, Ponting was also keen for the announcement to inspire, not overshadow, Australia’s tilt at the world No. 1 ranking in this match.”It’s a decision I thought long and hard about, put in long consideration about the decision, at the end of the day it was about my results and my output in this series so far,” Ponting said. “It hasn’t been to the level required for batsmen and players in the Australian team. My level of performance hasn’t been good enough.”I want to be a consistent performer, and if you look back over the last 12 or 18 months I haven’t been able to perform consistently. I’ve had moments of really good stuff, and prolonged moments of cricket that’s been below my expectations and below a par level for me, so there hasn’t been one dismissal or one moment, it’s just been in my own eyes reasonably consistent failure. That’s why I believe the time is right now to be making this decision.”Following a poor start to the Test series with low scores in Brisbane and Adelaide, Ponting said he was troubled by the “tentative” manner of his dismissals. In Adelaide he was bowled twice in the same match for only the second time in a career that began in 1995.That double was the catalyst for a typically frank interview with his first Test captain Mark Taylor on Channel Nine on the fourth morning in Adelaide, in which Ponting said he was soon to be discussing his future with the selectors. Discussions about retirement commenced during the Test, though Ponting said he always retained the support of the selectors, and made the call himself.”I believe so, there’s been all sorts of things in the papers the last couple of days and I know certainly with my captain and my coach I couldn’t have had any more support from those guys,” Ponting said. “They’ve been the ones who’ve been most verbal about their support.”This is not a decision that’s been made by the selectors, this a decision that’s been made by me, and I’d like to thank all those guys for the support they’ve given me over the last 12 months. There were probably moments when they thought long and hard about ending my career and I’m glad I’ve got the opportunity to finish this way and on my terms.”The effect of Ponting’s retirement was writ large across the red eyes of the captain, Michael Clarke. In summing up the few days leading up to the announcement, Clarke became so teary that he recalled the welling up of emotion that accompanied Kim Hughes’ exit as captain in 1984. While the reasons were entirely different, the feeling was equally strong – Clarke could not answer another question about his team-mate, friend and predecessor as captain.”I didn’t have a feeling it was coming,” Clarke said. “Ricky spoke to me after the Adelaide Test match and made his decision I guess over the last few days. The boys are obviously hurting at the moment. He’s been an amazing player for a long time. [Deep breath and starts to tear up]… and that’ll do me for today. Sorry, I can’t answer that.”Ponting will play out the domestic season for Tasmania and the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL. He does not yet know what will be ahead of him beyond the summer, but gestured towards his wife Rianna and children when queried about what the future held.”I’ve got a few months of cricket yet, which I am really looking forward to. I really enjoyed the start of this season playing cricket with Tasmania and back with some of my mates – really I place I haven’t spent a lot of time for near on the last 20 years. So I’ll enjoy that for what it is, but this is my new team here,” Ponting said, pointing to his family.As for the question of his contribution to cricket, Ponting had a simple and affecting answer. While delivering it he came close to tears again, those his team-mates had shared a few hours before.”I know I’ve given cricket my all,” Ponting said. “It’s been life for 20 years. Not much more I can give.”

IPL player auction on February 3

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The player auction ahead of the Indian Premier League’s sixth season will be held on February 3, it was announced on Friday

Amol Karhadkar21-Dec-2012The player auction ahead of the Indian Premier League’s sixth season will be held on February 3, it was announced on Friday. The decision was conveyed to all nine franchise representatives during a workshop in Jodhpur. Later in the day, IPL chief executive Sundar Raman tweeted the news.Though the venue for the auction is yet to be finalised, the representatives were told it would be held “in a metro”. The auction, which is likely to see 37 players going under the hammer, was earlier expected to be held on January 12. However, the IPL authorities decided not to let it clash with India’s one-day series against England (from January 11-27).Meanwhile, besides briefing the representatives about the auction date and schedule, the workshop had the IPL organisers making various presentations related to player regulations, sponsors’ obligations, etc. It was followed by one-on-ones with each of the nine team owners.”It was a routine exercise, similar to what has happened during the earlier workshops,” a franchise official said, preferring anonymity. “The workshop has kind of symbolised that the new season has indeed begun. It’s time for everyone to start preparing.”