All posts by csb10.top

Match facts

Thursday, April 3, 2008
Start time 1000 (local) 1400 (GMT)

The big picture

A victory in the opening Test in Guyana has given Sri Lanka a golden opportunity to claim their first series win in the Caribbean. A win here would also give them a special record: they will become the first visiting side to complete a clean-sweep in the West Indies. Australia came close five years ago, when they won the first three Tests but a record-breaking chase in the final Test in Antigua snuffed out their hopes of a whitewash.Sri Lanka pulled off a 121-run win in the opening Test in Guyana, with Chaminda Vaas engineering the triumph with a splendid 8 for 109. It was their first Test win in five attempts, giving them a shot at an unprecedented sweep.The fact that a scheduled warm-up game was cancelled, owing to logistical reasons, is unlikely to dampen Sri Lankan spirits. Mahela Jayawardene has urged his side to go for a win while Chris Gayle, his counterpart, has plenty of problems with regard to team selection. It will no doubt be an uphill task but West Indies have a record to defend and plenty of pride to play for. The weather, though, might have the final say.

Form Guide – West Indies

Last five completed matches: LWLLLPlayer to watch: Amit Jaggernauth’s exclusion from the side for the first Test created a lot of controversy but he’s likely to win his Test cap in front of his home crowd. Jaggernauth’s chances were vastly improved with his match-winning performance in the final round Carib Beer Series match against Barbados last weekend. He is the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 40 wickets at 14.40.

Last five completed matches: WWWDWPlayer to watch: Thilan Thushara offered steady support to the experienced bowling duo of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan with match figures of 5 for 129 runs from 37.5 overs. One among the long line of left-arm seamers to have played for Sri Lanka, Thushara made his Test debut on Sri Lanka’s previous trip to the Caribbean five years ago. He subsequently faded but grabbed the opportunity in the first Test to stake his claim for a longer tenure.

Team news

West Indies will be without allrounder Ryan Hinds, who has a hamstring strain. It means Sewnarine Chattergoon, now fully recovered from the illness, is set to make his Test debut ahead of Devon Smith. He is likely to open along with Chris Gayle. There could also be a rare sight of two specialist spinners in the West Indian squad with Jaggernauth in line to join left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn in the side. The other option was to pick Fidel Edwards as a third fast bowler to support Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor.Sri Lanka were sweating over the fitness of Prasanna Jayawardene, who missed the final stages of the Guyana Test because of a hamstring injury, but he is set to retain his spot. Ishara Amarasinghe remains an option, instead of Rangana Herath, but it’s difficult to see Sri Lanka making too many changes to the winning side.West Indies (probable XI) 1 Chris Gayle (capt), 2 Sewnarine Chattergoon, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Daren Powell, 9 Jerome Taylor, 10 Sulieman Benn, 11 Amit Jaggernauth.Sri Lanka (probable XI) 1 Michael Vandort, 2 Malinda Warnapura, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Thilan Thushara, 10 Rangana Herath, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.Umpires: Simon Taufel, Billy Bowden.

Pitch & conditions

Rain could play a part in the way the pitch behaves. Brian Davis, the groundsman, has spoken about a seamer-friendly track but things could be way different if West Indies choose two spinners. “Surely nobody wants all pitches to be built just for batsmen,” he said.Weather: The forecast isn’t too rosy with showers expected on the second, third and fifth days. The opening day could be overcast too.

Stats

Finally, some much-needed PR for Karachi and the National Stadium: including thisTest, ten of the last eleven matches here have produced results. Whatevertalk there always is of the pitch, it manages to be overshadowedeventually by producing a winner. And provided you have thebowlers, it has always been a ground given to reverse swing, an art thatalways makes for an entertaining spectacle.Old balls have regularly been made to do remarkable things amidst theconcrete surrounds of the National Stadium. India were safe at 108 for twoin 1982-83 here, before Imran Khan skittled them for 197 after tea; onlyone of his eight victims wasn’t bowled or leg-before and if Wasim Bari,’keeper that day, is to be believed, were there corners to be navigated onthe pitch, Imran would have done so.Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis didn’t much mind Karachi either, especiallyduring the 1990-91 season. New Zealand would have felt secure at 167 forthree on the first day, though by its end and the next morning, the Ws hadmade sure their total didn’t go past 196. West Indies too disintegratedtwice suddenly in their Test here later that season, both bowlers sharing15 of the 20 wickets to fall.And Karachiites still recall Waqar’s five-wicket haul in the ODI againstthe West Indies from the same tour: chasing 212 from 40 overs, DesmondHaynes and Richie Richardson had a handle on the situation with a 138-runpartnership for the second wicket. The return of Waqar, after a spankingin his first spell, brought a swift, spectacular end, 139 for one ending205 for seven.There have been more, but why does battered leather take to Karachi somuch? For such a little-understood phenomenon, answers are understandablyvague. But ex-cricketers, Wasim and Waqar among them, point first to thesea breeze that filters in from the coast roughly15km south. Drierconditions and traditionally rough outfields have always helped, ensuringthat reverse swing is always a factor at the ground.Waqar, now bowling coach, worked especially with Umar Gul and Shahid Nazirbefore the match, with a scuffed up ball, knowing it would play a part. Inhindsight, it was a handy session, for at various junctures through theTest, the old ball told. Not as extravagantly as it has been known to, butenough. On the second day, Gul winked out three top-order batsmen in 11balls, Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan castled by deliveries that swungbig and late. In essence, if the Test wasn’t decided during that period,it was set up.And for stretches of the last day, it appeared as if only some old ballmagic would sweep aside what periodically threatened to be stoutresistance, especially as clouds gathered and the light faded. It didn’twork out that way entirely thanks to Danish Kaneria – leg-spin beinganother of the ground’s old, enjoyable weaknesses – but Gul fracturing awell-set Sarwan’s foot in the morning was a moment as important as it wasunfortunate. In tandem with Nazir and Abdul Razzaq, all others weretroubled if not dismissed.It wasn’t hurled at the pace it has been known to be delivered at andneither was the parabola it cut as much a banana as it can be. Andultimately the old ball really had only Razzaq’s time-honoured tail-endremoval to show at the death. But swing it always did and the atmospherewas forever pregnant with its threat. Lara acknowledged later that this particularability was especially handy. “Gul, Nazir and even Razzaq all swung theball late. On such dry pitches and in such conditions, it is an addedadvantage to be able to do it.”Reverse swing, leg-spin, a cool sea breeze, permanently bright weather andnow 21 Pakistan wins out of 38: as advertising goes, selling points forvenues don’t get much better than that.

A series between England and Pakistan rarely passes off without incident. In the past there has been Mike Gatting’s finger-wagging at Faisalabad, Aaqib Javed’s bouncers at Old Trafford and Saqlain Mushtaq’s missed no-balls at the same ground. More recently Shahid Afridi showed his dancing skills in the middle of the pitch last winter. That series ended 2-0 to a committed and talented Pakistan team as England’s Ashes hangover began to set in. The rematch is shaping up to be a tasty encounter.Already there have been plenty of incidents to talk about and the tour is barely two weeks old. Pakistan were less than impressed at how their warm-up match against England A developed into a meaningless draw, England have a stand-in (and third choice) captain who has just lost five ODIs on the bounce, while the pace bowlers on both sides continue to drop like flies.Pakistan have moved into second place in the rankings after England’s 1-1 draw with Sri Lanka and start the series as marginal favourites. But Inzamam-ul-Haq said England “were still a good team” before adding: “It doesn’t matter where you are in the rankings. Every series is a new series and if you play good cricket you’ll win.” And Pakistan are not at their strongest with Mohammad Asif ruled out and Shoaib Malik (elbow) and Younis Khan (knee) doubtful.”Unfortunately he hasn’t reacted properly to the injection he had so he will be out,” said Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, regarding Asif and then added about Malik: “He’s struggling. He had a cortisone injection last night so it depends what happens to it as a reaction.”However, Andrew Strauss, in his first pre-Test press conference as captain, was well aware of Pakistan’s threat. “The thing about the winter was their unpredictability. They can turn a game round in one session and you can’t afford to relax against them.”Despite the distractions of injuries and all the talk over the captaincy situation, Strauss is ready to lead his country. “The selectors have shown a lot of consistency. Fred [Flintoff] obviously captained the side very well in India and did a good job against Sri Lanka. I’ve said all long I’m very happy to do the job if other people feel I’m the right man to do it. There’s no leadership contest or anything like that.”Strauss will have to have his wits about him, the opening encounter is vital. Pakistan have been shorn of their two leading strike bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, for most of the series while Asif misses this Test. But quick bowlers – with the ability to swing the ball both ways at pace – grow on trees around the streets of Lahore and Karachi and they have solid reserves in Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul. Pakistan’s trump card, however, is Danish Kaneria who bamboozled England in the winter and will enjoy the drying pitches and extended warm spell.Despite their injury problems, Inzamam is confident in his team: “The batting is more experienced than the bowling and if we put a big score on the board we have a chance to win this game.”

England, too, are in the position – a familiar one to them – of having to patch-up their bowling attack. It’s a case of gaining one and possibly losing yet another. Steve Harmison is back but Matthew Hoggard is still a doubt and a decision won’t to be made until the final minute. With the warm weather around, Monty Panesar will have a key role. “If he [Panesar] can go at two an over in India against their batsmen, it proves he’s pretty tricky to get away,” said Strauss, “so if people do go after him, he’s got more chance of taking wickets.”Undoubtedly the strength of both sides is in the batting. If Pakistan so desire they could have Kamran Akmal as low as No. 8 although the loss of Malik and Younis would cause some problems. Salman Butt and Faisal Iqbal will come in at the top of the order if both the others are ruled out.England’s top-order oozes runs, or at least it should do. It only performed in fits-and-starts against Sri Lanka, usually relying heavily on Kevin Pietersen and Marcus Trescothick. With the captaincy armband, Strauss needs to rediscover the art of making Tests centuries while Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell are probably fighting over one spot when Flintoff returns and must convert starts into substance.It is impossible for England not to look ahead but, while the wheels have not come off the Test side in the same way as the one-day team, they are starting to look distinctly wobbly. They know the winter challenges but must forget what is happening in four months time. It is the here and now which is important and that starts at Lord’s tomorrow morning.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Andrew Strauss (capt), 3 Alastair Cook, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Geraint Jones (wk), 8 Liam Plunkett, 9 Matthew Hoggard/Jon Lewis, 10 Steve Harmison, 11 Monty PanesarPakistan (probable) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Faisal Iqbal, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shahid Afridi, 7 Abdul Razzaq 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Mohammad Sami, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Danish Kaneria

Shane Watson is confident he’ll be fit for the World Cup as he tries to put the disappointment of missing the Ashes series behind him. He’d been penciled in to take the No. 6 role before breaking down ahead of the first Test at Brisbane and when he re-injured himself in a domestic one-day match he was ruled out of the series.His place initially went to Michael Clarke and when Damien Martyn retired following the Adelaide Test Andrew Symonds was drafted in, cracking his maiden Test century at the MCG. However, Watson now wants to move on and focus on the challenges ahead.”It’s a massive opportunity missed,” he told the . “Roy’s [Symonds] performances have definitely taken the opportunity away from me, but there is a changing of the guard and hopefully I will get my chance at Test level.”If there is an opportunity I will be raring to go. The main thing is I still believe in myself. I feel a lot more comfortable in international cricket, but when you get injured you leave the door open for other people.”Watson is aiming to return to action later in January and be available for the latter part of the Commonwealth Bank Series. Australia then have a three-match Chappell-Hadlee series in New Zealand before the World Cup.”That is my goal now, to make sure I’m right to be picked for the World Cup,” Watson said. “This has been the most frustrating injury of my career. It should have been only three or four weeks but it’s dragged on and on.”

Sussex’s members looked quizzically at one another when Mushtaq Ahmed’s name was not mentioned in the team to face Surrey at Hove. It was later revealed that Mushtaq, Sussex’s whirling legspinner, underwent keyhole surgery on his right knee on Wednesday.”We made the decision very quickly on the Wednesday morning,” Mark Robinson, Sussex’s cricket manager, said. “We were originally hoping that we would just play him in four-day cricket up to the Twenty20 window where he’d then have the operation.”However, on reflection, we felt it wouldn’t be right to compromise our strike bowler by having him playing in discomfort, so, with the amount of unsettled weather around and the fact our club surgeon said he could get him in that day, we felt it was the wisest decision to make. It is a routine operation that many sportsmen have and we are hopeful that Mushy will be back between two and three weeks.”Mushtaq was replaced by Ollie Rayner, the young offspinner, as play finally got underway at Hove after the first day’s washout.

The issue of a bowling coach for the Indian team, a cause championed by Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, will be discussed by the Indian board at its working committee meeting on December 23, after consulting the coach and the captain. This means if a coach is to be appointed, it will not happen during the current series in South Africa.Vengsarkar has been pushing the case and recently took it upon himself to speak about it with Sharad Pawar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). While it is not unusual for a selector to make suggestions of this kind, it is uncommon that they be made public at a press conference, as Vengsarkar did.”The bowling attack is a bit inexperienced and may require guidance,” Vengsarkar told Cricinfo, when asked about the rationale behind his thinking. When asked if this was perhaps too close to the World Cup to bring in a bowling coach, his response was: “So? All the more reason why it is important, isn’t it?”However, it will be hard for him to push his case elsewhere. Neither coach Greg Chappell nor captain Rahul Dravid have come out in favour of a full-time bowling coach for the team; the duties are currently performed by Chappell’s deputy Ian Frazer.The BCCI, too, is unlikely to jump at Vengsarkar’s suggestion and make an appointment immediately, it was learned. “It is a suggestion that has come forward from the chairman of selectors, but it is not something we can take a decision on unilaterally,” a top BCCI official told Cricinfo. “We will have to consult the coach and the captain and see what their views are on the subject. Then we will discuss the matter at the working committee meeting.”Vengsarkar has a supporter, though, in Kiran More, his predecessor as chairman of selectors. “It’s a good idea to have a bowling coach,” he told Cricinfo. “The board should have had appointed one earlier though, maybe a year ago. Now it may be too close to the World Cup to appoint someone new.”When asked if it was the role of the chairman of selectors to put forth suggestions of this kind, More said, “Suggestions are always given from former cricketers, whether they are selectors or not. It’s then up to the board to do what it feels is correct.”What Vengsarkar’s statements have done is to set off a chain reaction among potential candidates with several former cricketers putting their hands up. One of the first to do so was Venkatesh Prasad, the former India fast bowler. “You cannot mess around with technique at the highest level”, Prasad had told Cricinfo on the sidelines of Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy match at Mysore soon after Vengsarkar’s statements were made public. Prasad has completed the Level III coaching program and is currently working with the Karnataka team.TA Sekar, the former Tamil Nadu and India fast bowler – who has been heading the MRF Pace Foundation’s program in Chennai since 1987, working closely with Dennis Lillee, the former Australian fast-bowling great – was also in contention for the job, according to information received by Cricinfo.From time to time India has had former fast bowlers sharing their expertise with the team, as Andy Roberts did in West Indies, and later Jeff Thompson in Kuala Lumpur. The only time India used a bowling coach over any length of time was when they toured Australia in 2003-04, when Bruce Reid, the former Australian left-arm fast bowler, was appointed to work with the team.

John Buchanan has revealed that he had written to Shane Warne in the aftermath of his drug suspension just before the 2003 World Cup, asking him to “take responsibility and wear the consequences of his actions”. Warne had been handed a one-year ban for taking a banned diuretic which he claimed had been given by his mother in “totally innocent” circumstances.The Herald Sun reported that in his soon-to-be-released book If Better Is Possible, Buchanan had expressed disappointment over Warne’s stance and wrote, “How could he be so vain, so stupid, so self-centred to forget about the team? Why did he think he was bullet-proof?”I sent him a long email, the essence of which was that through his dismissal from the team he had been given a second chance that not all of us are fortunate enough to get. If he wanted to take it, he had the opportunity to take responsibility and wear the consequences of his actions.”Their relationship was perhaps at its frostiest after Buchanan criticised Warne’s fitness levels during the 2001 tour of India. Warne, on his part, has been a vocal critic of Buchanan and has been scornful of several of his training techniques such as the pre-Ashes boot camp in 2006.Buchanan also said that though the relationship between the two has never had “best buddy status”, he had huge respect for Warne’s achievements.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammad Hafeez struck a rapid fifty to take Peshawar Zalmi to 182•PCB

West Indies’ Twenty20 captain Darren Sammy held his nerve with the ball, conceding just nine runs off the final over to guide his team Peshawar Zalmi to a thrilling three-run victory against Karachi Kings in Sharjah.After 39 overs of a contest that swung one way and then another, the equation was that Karachi needed 13 runs off six balls; Peshawar needed three wickets to secure the win and go top of the table. Sammy bowled full and wide first ball, and Ravi Bopara, who had almost single-handedly brought Karachi back into the game, whacked a six over the cover-point boundary. Bopara then helped himself to a two next ball. Five needed off four balls, with Karachi holding the edge.Bopara could have sealed a famous win off the next ball, but sent Sammy’s full toss straight down the throat of long on. Peshawar were lifted, and Usama Mir could only manage a single off the fourth delivery. Karachi knew they had to run for anything, and their sneaky attempt at stealing a bye off the fifth ball was unsuccessful, as Mir was run out. That left Mohammad Amir, the new man in, with the unenviable task of hitting four off the last ball. After a huge discussion between Sammy and his captain Shahid Afridi, Sammy ran in to bowl the final ball from around the wicket. His wide yorker was not accurate, but Amir failed to get any bat on it, and the Peshawar players broke into wild celebrations.A close finish was the last thing on everyone’s mind, especially Peshawar’s, when they reduced Karachi to 48 for 5 in a tough chase of 183. However, Bopara inspired a turnaround, blasting five fours and four sixes during a 33-ball 67 which threatened to take the game away from Peshawar. Bopara put up fifty-plus stands with James Vince and Sohail Tanvir, but unfortunately for Karachi, fell right when his team needed him the most.Earlier, Mohammad Hafeez blasted his first fifty of the season to power Peshawar to 182 for 4. Peshawar, opting to bat, began on the front foot, as Hafeez and Tamim Iqbal put up an opening stand of 93, before late blitzes from Sammy and Afridi lifted the team past the 180-run mark. Hafeez slammed seven fours and three sixes during his 59.

Habibul Bashar is looking at the tour of Sri Lanka as an opportunity to bat himself back into form, especially since he doesn’t have the additional pressure of captaincy resting on his shoulders. Bangladesh play a full series against Sri Lanka, but Bashar’s focus was on the three Tests.Speaking to ahead of Bangladesh’s departure to Colombo, Bashar, 34, said he was keen on reminding the selectors of his worth. “After playing for a long time in the national team, there is hardly anything to prove as a player. But it’s altogether a different tour for me as this time I am not the captain of the team rather my main focus is to return among the runs to keep my place as a performer in the team.”I am not concerned about my career and right at the moment my main objective is to score runs as much as I can. The one-day series is not in my mind because I am only focusing on the Test series. I know how difficult the condition is but I am very confident.”After Bashar renounced the one-day captaincy last month, many expected him to quit the short format of the game altogether. But Bashar, despite an average of just 21.68 from 111 matches and the heavy criticism against him, felt that the extremely young Bangladeshi team still needed his experience.Speaking on his relatively low-profile image as captain, Bashar said: “Maybe I was not always the centre of attraction but I was always in the there, somewhere. The fact is that my batting was a bit hampered by the captaincy role. But now I can enjoy my batting fully.”Bashar said the last tour to Sri Lanka in 2005, where Bangladesh were swept in both the Tests and ODIs, was the worst of in his career as captain but he believes that this team is more confident. “I must say that the boys are now more confident. It is not easy to perform well in Sri Lanka where even the big teams, except world champions Australia, struggle. Our last tour was a disaster but I don’t think it would be same this time.”

As selectors and medical staff fret over his workload, Josh Hazlewood thinks he is getting better with each successive spell this summer. Even so, he realises that a quick demolition job on West Indies in Hobart is likely to be his best chance of turning out in both the showpiece Melbourne and Sydney Test over the Christmas/New Year holidays.Much extra responsibility fell upon Hazlewood’s broad shoulders when Mitchell Johnson retired after the Perth Test and then Mitchell Starc suffered a foot fracture early in the Adelaide day/night match that followed it. His response was a commanding nine-wicket performance that suggested he thrived on being thrown the ball more expectantly by his captain Steven Smith.However the selection chairman Rod Marsh has stated that it is unlikely Hazlewood will be risked in all six Tests this summer, meaning it will be largely up to the bowler himself to earn the right to play by taking wickets in a swift enough manner to give him the required rest between matches – as was the case two summers ago when Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle were retained throughout the 5-0 Ashes sweep due to matches ending quickly.”I definitely wouldn’t want to be rested for either of those last two games and especially not this one, the first against the West Indies,” Hazlewood said. “I hope I can play all of them, depending on how much workload we have. If we can take these 20 wickets as quickly as possible I don’t see why I can’t play all three Tests.”The quicker you get the 20 wickets obviously the easier it is on the body. We had a tough initiation in Brisbane and in Perth on those wickets but we will be patient, it’s something I think we need to work on against the West Indies, build pressure that way and then the wickets will come hopefully.”Marsh has previously been part of a selection panel that angered fast bowlers by withdrawing them from the Test team for preventative reasons. In 2012 both Harris and Starc were left nonplussed to be asked to cool their heels after strong performances in the previous match, the former missing a Trinidad Test after excelling in Barbados and Starc scratched from Boxing Day despite bowling Australia to victory over Sri Lanka in Hobart.”I guess with my history of injuries people are entitled to their opinion but I feel as good as I have through my career,” Hazlewood said. “I think I showed last summer I bowled quite a few overs in the Tests I played and got through the majority of the winter tours as well. I’m feeling better the further I get in my career.”You have got to be honest with the selectors and coach and Smithy. They value the fast bowlers’ opinions on how you feel, as long as you are honest it’s good communication to and fro. They take a lot from how the bowler feels and how the physio sees things.”There is another decent break after this game and then the hardest ones are probably the last two back to back. But I am feeling pretty good at the moment, and hopefully it stays that way.”Australia are in very much a transitional phase due to the aforementioned retirement of Johnson and Harris, plus those of Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and Chris Rogers. But in Hazlewood they appear to have a bowler who can thrive on the extra responsibility on home turf, while also knowing from the experiences of the Caribbean earlier this year how to bowl to a brittle West Indian line-up, who had their own preparation affected by rain on their afternoon training session at Bellerive Oval.”We are obviously going to miss both Mitches, they both bring different things to the bowling attack but I guess it is good that I am the one who Smithy turns to,” Hazlewood said. “Especially in that second innings in Adelaide, that added pressure I enjoy, hopefully it brings the best out of me, if I continue to bowl like that that would be good.”I thought we bowled quite well in the West Indies as a group, Nathan Lyon included. If we can do something like that in these three Tests and build pressure on them, keeping building those dots up, the wickets will come.”